Translator: AnubisTL
After confirming that no one else chose to withdraw, the leading eighth-tier wizard in the air nodded slightly.
"Very well."
He said no more, merely raising his hand and waving it gently toward the void behind him.
In an instant, the simulated sky above everyone's heads parted slowly to the sides like a curtain, revealing the deep, boundless starry sky outside.
Against the backdrop of that starry sky, a massive, dark, circular spatial rift with a constantly twisting edge and an ominous suction force hung silently there, like the eye of a giant beast staring down at all the fully equipped and ready wizards.
"Go!"
The eighth-tier wizard's voice boomed like a great bell, echoing throughout the ship plane:
"Set out!"
"Jieming, get up and eat! You're going to be late for school!"
A familiar, urgent female voice pierced through the bedroom door, forcibly wrenching Jieming from the chaotic haze of sleep.
He sat up blankly, rubbing his eyes as the sunlight from the window stung his vision.
His mind felt as if it were covered in a thin veil, his thoughts sluggish and thick.
He instinctively grabbed the clothes by his bed—a set of ordinary casual wear for a teenager—and mechanically put them on. Then, he stumbled out of his bedroom and into the living room.
The air was filled with the aroma of food.
His mother, wearing an apron, was placing the final dish of stir-fried greens on the dining table.
His father sat in his usual chair, his eyes fixed on the ultra-thin television light screen hanging on the wall. The news anchor's voice was crisp and clear:
"...A military spokesperson confirmed yesterday that the Seventh Combined Fleet has successfully seized the Third Jump Node on the outskirts of the Charon system, dealing a heavy blow to the alien creatures... Next, we have our local news. The City Hall is urging citizens to actively participate in the 'Clean Beach' volunteer activity. Registration opens today..."
A fleet battle... a beach cleanup?
The two wildly different pieces of information clashed in Jieming's mind, leaving him even more groggy.
He shook his head and walked into the bathroom.
The splash of cold water on his face brought a brief moment of clarity, but the strange sense of dissonance lingered.
The scene before him, his mother's voice, the news report... everything felt hauntingly familiar, yet blurry, as if he were looking through frosted glass.
He couldn't shake the feeling that he had forgotten something crucial.
"Hurry up, Jieming! Your soy milk is getting cold!" his mother called out again.
Jieming dried his face with a towel and took his seat at the dining table.
Before him was a standard home-cooked breakfast: golden-brown fried dough sticks, creamy white soy milk, and two plates of vibrant green stir-fried vegetables.
"Eat more. It's your first day of university today, so you need to stay sharp," his mother nagged, placing a dough stick on his plate.
His father finally looked away from the news and glanced at Jieming. "Listen to your mother," he said flatly. "Don't be late."
Jieming hummed in response, lowered his head, and started chewing.
The food tasted normal—just the usual home-cooked flavors.
The family chatted casually around the table, the conversation revolving around the usual topics: the neighbors, the weather, the news, and reminders about his university life.
Jieming chimed in subconsciously, as if he had repeated these same responses countless times before.
After the meal, Jieming went back to his room and started packing his bag.
New textbooks, stationery... everything seemed perfectly in order.
Just then, the doorbell rang—ding-dong.
Next came his mother's footsteps, the sound of the door opening, and then her pleasantly surprised voice: "Oh, it's Xiao Ai and Xiao Wei! Come in, come in!"
She turned and called into the house, "Jieming! Hurry up, Xiao Ai and Xiao Wei are here to take you to school!"
Two young voices came from the doorway.
A crisp female voice greeted them with a laugh.
The male voice, however, corrected her with a hint of weary seriousness: "Auntie, my name is Victor. My surname isn't Wei."
Jieming was still lost in the eerie sensation that he had forgotten something. He slung his backpack over his shoulder and strolled out of his room, tossing a casual "I'm off" to his parents before turning toward the doorway.
A man and a woman stood there.
The girl, Amy, beamed with a bright smile. The boy, Victor, wore a slightly more serious expression.
"Ha! Jieming! You're too slow!" Amy laughed.
Jieming looked at them, and almost by instinct—as he had done countless times before—he greeted them:
"Morning, Amy, Victor."
They responded naturally, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
But the moment the greeting left his lips...
Boom!
It felt as if an invisible sledgehammer had smashed into Jieming's brain.
The chaos and mental fog were shattered in an instant.
He froze, his pupils constricting as he stared at the two figures before him, as if seeing the most impossible sight in existence.
Amy?! Victor?!
Weren't they... weren't they already dead?!!
Why were they standing here, alive and well?
And why were they his classmates?!
To pick him up and go to university together?!
No!!!
What was even more wrong was himself!!!
Why was he blending into this scene so naturally?!
Waking up, eating, and getting ready for school just like a real, ordinary student?!
He had even felt, for a fleeting moment, that all of this was completely normal!
He was no college student! He was Jieming! A wizard!
A third-tier wizard from the Star Ring Federation's Noren Academy, here to participate in the Planar War!
He possessed a Nascent Soul Realm cultivation! He had the Purgatory Sulfur Plane! He had the Black Giant Legion!
As his memories flooded back, Jieming instantly understood what had happened:
He had fallen for a trap!
When exactly did it happen?!
Was it the moment he stepped through that spatial rift? Or even earlier?
A chill shot straight up his spine, making the hair on his body stand on end.
Beneath the serene and peaceful surface of this world lay a suffocating horror, capable of silently claiming the lives of a million wizards.
He struggled to keep his face calm, but the raging storm within his heart nearly drowned him.
He quickly turned his senses inward to examine his dantian—the Nascent Soul was still there, but it seemed to be wrapped in an invisible membrane, and his spiritual power flowed sluggishly, nearly to a standstill.
He immediately shifted his focus to his left wrist. It was empty. The rune-imbued magical artifacts he had equipped before entering this plane were gone.
Yet, he could still sense his lifebound magical treasure, the Five Aggregates Rainbow Transformation Mirror, deep within his sea of consciousness.
Jieming also checked his protective magical treasure, the Profound Astral Red Dust Barrier. It was operating normally, showing no fluctuations or warnings, and not a single drop of its liquid adamantine had been consumed.
It's not reacting... because this isn't an illusion at all?
Impossible. How could this not be an illusion?!
A cold sweat instantly soaked Jieming's back.
He looked at Amy and Victor, their smiles unchanged. He saw his "mother" busy in the kitchen behind him and his "father" in the living room, his attention back on the news.
He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
Now is no time to panic.
I have to figure out what's going on.
"Let's go, or we'll really be late," Amy urged with a smile. Her expression was exactly as Jieming remembered it, showing no trace of disguise.
Jieming nodded, forcing a smile that looked no different from his usual one.
"Okay, let's go."
He started walking, following his two "deceased" companions out of this seemingly warm yet utterly bizarre "home" and into the unknown world.
(End of the Chapter)
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