Chapter 516

He didn’t know how long he’d slept, but woke up feeling refreshed and clear-headed.

He slowly opened his eyes; the blinding sunlight made him instinctively raise a hand to shield them.

“It’s you, little Qi Ming…” The familiar voice startled him.

He opened his eyes fully and saw beneath him a five-pointed star pattern like a magic circle, and before him stood an elderly man with white hair and mismatched eyes.

When their gazes met, Qi Ming’s mind went blank for an instant.

“Grandmaster Dao Long? No way… Am I awake?” Qi Ming rubbed his head, then looked around.

Around him, a century-old ginkgo stood silently, its golden fan-shaped leaves occasionally drifting down to form a soft carpet on the lawn. Automatic sprinklers rotated, spraying droplets that arced into tiny rainbows before vanishing soundlessly into the green grass.

Such a familiar scene.

There was no mistake—this was the 【St. Dim Mental Sanatorium】 in England—a psychiatric hospital for the elderly.

Here, two elderly men got along exceptionally well with Qi Ming.

One was 【Sir Humphrey】, former British Cabinet Secretary, whose tales of political maneuvering with prime ministers Qi Ming loved to hear—he learned much from them.

The other was the elderly man before him, 【Dao Long】, whose self-told stories were wildly fantastical.

He claimed he had once been an evil black-qi sorcerer who made the world tremble, defeated great masters, wiped out rogue demon monkeys with a wave of his hand, bankrupted himself chasing the legacy of a wicked dragon, and ended up where he was today.

Everyone else dismissed it as the ramblings of a madman.

Only the former Qi Ming, due to his own unusual experiences, believed “All wonders exist within the six directions,” and trusted that the man had once been a remarkable figure.

Dao Long stared at Qi Ming and spoke: “It seems you’ve realized your current situation. So what exactly happened to you?”

What happened?

Qi Ming began to recall: he had, with the help of his comrades, transformed from the 【Struggle Coronet】 into the unprecedented 【Miracle Coronet】, then destroyed Chaos Dark and Sphia Black Hole.

Overwhelmed by mental exhaustion, and knowing that being swallowed by Sphia Black Hole’s “Death Whisper” wouldn’t kill him—only transport him to another timeline—he chose at the last moment to go with the flow and was consumed.

The memory ended. Qi Ming had two thoughts.

First: he regretted it deeply—if he’d held on just a little longer, he might have seen what lay inside the black hole—perhaps even a Rainbow Sea from 【Star Traveler】.

Second: Holy shit, I woke up in St. Dim Mental Sanatorium—and I saw Grandmaster Dao Long.

That means—after passing through the black hole, I returned to my original world!

Returning home this way? Unbelievable!

Qi Ming stood up, stretched, and took a deep breath.

After fighting through nine deaths and one life, he had finally returned to his homeland!

I’m back—yeah!

Dao Long studied Qi Ming, dressed in the Victory Team uniform: “So you were outside this world before, and somehow got summoned here by me?”

Qi Ming looked at the magic circle beneath him: “Summoned?”

Dao Long sighed deeply: “This world has become incomprehensible to me—demons and monsters now openly charge about, keeping me awake at night.”

“I just wanted to summon some powerful figures to eliminate them, but you showed up instead.”

Demons and monsters openly charging about…

Was it the Ancestor Alien Beast 【the·one】?

Qi Ming: “What’s happened?”

Dao Long handed him his phone: “Search it on your smartphone.”

Qi Ming swiped to unlock and checked the time first.

Hmm—the flow of time differed across universes; he had spent five months in the Hybrid Universe, but here only half a month had passed.

Yet in this half-month, chaos had erupted: a colossal beast appearing in public view stirred immense upheaval, gripping the hearts of every nation.

Qi Ming searched on Google, and a string of news headlines appeared.

《The U.S. Pentagon Confirms: The 【the·one】 from Fiction Has Appeared in the Real World, Attacking Los Angeles; F-22 Squadrons Intercepted and Drove It Into the Pacific》

《the·one Appears in Tokyo Bay! Japan Self-Defense Forces Deploy F-35As, Suffer Counterattack; Prime Minister Calls Emergency Cabinet Meeting》

《India’s Nightmare! the·one Attacks New Delhi Air Base, Wiping Out an Entire Squadron of “Rafale” Fighters; No Pilots Survived》

《UN Security Council Holds Emergency Meeting: the·one Classified as a “Global Extinction-Level Threat”》…

Clearly, the Ancestor Alien Beast 【the·one】 was demonstrating its astonishing evolutionary ability, rapidly growing stronger and becoming a global threat.

From recent footage in India, it had evolved wings, transforming into the ultimate form from 【Neckster】, and now possessed the ability to withstand missile strikes unharmed and mobility far exceeding that of fighter jets.