Is What Slips Through the Hands Ungraspable Sand, or the Falling Debris from the Collapse of the Attic of Life

"Roar!"

The bear-like Origin Beast was forced back half a step as Chen Yuan struck it head-on.

A flash of surprise flickered in its eyes, quickly replaced by even more savage fury.

With a deafening roar, its other paw tore through the air with a gale-force wind, slamming toward Chen Yuan once more!

A surge of adrenaline rushed to Chen Yuan’s head, his heart pounding wildly in his chest—not just from fear, but from something deeper.

Damn it!

He’d just stepped outside and seen this scene, acting on impulse without thinking of the consequences.

Now, retreat was no longer an option.

Gritting his teeth, Chen Yuan’s blade erupted with an unprecedented radiance. Instead of dodging, he swung upward to meet the massive paw head-on!

"Schlick!"

The blade severed the entire paw in one clean strike, splattering black-red blood everywhere.

But the sheer force of the impact sent Chen Yuan stumbling back seven or eight steps.

A metallic taste filled his throat—blood threatened to spill from his lips, but he forced it back down.

Leaning on his sword, he staggered back to his feet.

For a fleeting moment, Old Wang’s venomous face flashed through his mind.

"My wife and son died…"

Yeah. His wife. His child.

They’d been heroes, fallen on the front lines against the Origin Beasts.

So why the hell was Chen Yuan sitting safe and sound in the command room?

Bullshit!

Sure, he was afraid of death.

But that didn’t mean he was too cowardly to fight.

It was just that, as a tactical officer, his strength wasn’t usually needed on the battlefield.

Now, though, something far more overwhelming consumed him.

Chen Yuan charged again toward the enraged bear-like Origin Beast.

Meanwhile, at the breach, more Origin Beasts poured in like sharks drawn to blood.

Seventh-tier, eighth-tier—even two ninth-tier beasts had already shattered the hasty defenses of the initial security team, storming straight into headquarters.

The battle instantly escalated into chaos.

Explosions of energy, the clash of metal, the tearing of flesh—screams and roars intertwined.

An engineer clutching a backup energy module sprinted toward a damaged barrier node when a panther-like Origin Beast lunged at him like lightning from the side.

"Look out!"

A security officer threw himself in the way, shielding the engineer with his own body.

"Thud!"

The beast’s razor-sharp claws tore through his armor, leaving deep, bone-exposing gashes across his back.

The officer grunted in pain but locked his arms around the beast’s neck, roaring with his last breath, "Go… fix it!"

Tears welled in the engineer’s eyes, but he didn’t hesitate. Jaw clenched, he kept running toward the node.

Scenes like this played out everywhere near the breach.

Fighters held the line with their own flesh and blood, buying precious seconds for repairs.

But the situation was far from stable.

Not far away, Su Muxue was desperately holding off a ninth-tier flying Origin Beast, preventing it from assaulting headquarters.

Yet the other ninth-tier beast rampaged unchecked, pushing the battle to the brink of disaster.

This one was a wolf-like monstrosity, its body armored in dark cyan scales.

Every pounce left another soldier dead.

Ordinary attacks barely scratched its hide, sparking harmlessly against its impenetrable scales.

Blood and gore painted the cold ground.

In mere moments, it had breached the second makeshift defensive line, now advancing toward the engineering team working on the repairs.

If they fell, the breach would never be sealed—and the consequences would be catastrophic.

"Stop it! Someone stop it!"

A few security officers, eyes bloodshot, rushed forward, trying to block its path with their bodies.

"Thud! Thud! Thud!"

The cyan-scaled wolf tore through them effortlessly, reducing them to mangled remains in seconds.

It was too fast. Too strong.

Seventh-tier fighters might as well have been made of paper before it.

Chen Yuan’s heart clenched as if gripped by an invisible fist.

He scanned the battlefield.

Right now, Su Muxue was the only ninth-tier fighter in the entire Origin Zone.

So… who the hell was going to stop this ninth-tier monster?

Him?

He could barely handle an eighth-tier bear—how was he supposed to fight something even stronger?

Logically, he wanted to run.

But as the commanding officer, this gap was his to fill.

And damn it, he was the one in charge right now.

"Goddammit…" he muttered under his breath.

With a sudden motion, he drove his sword into the ground and summoned a blood-red card shimmering with ominous energy.

On its surface, a hazy, blood-formed wraith snarled silently.

This was his trump card—a card with devastating side effects. Using it would cripple him, maybe even kill him.

He hesitated, staring at the card.

But in those few seconds, the cyan-scaled wolf closed in further.

A single tail swipe slaughtered four more men.

If he didn’t act now… who would?

Someone had to hold the line.

The card’s energy surged into his body.

The wraith on its surface seemed to come alive, unleashing a wave of bloodthirsty fury.

Chen Yuan’s body visibly withered slightly, his skin cracking with crimson veins.

The wolf-like beast sensed the threat. It halted, turning its icy gaze onto Chen Yuan.

Then—it moved.

A blur of cyan, faster than before, lunged straight for him!

From the card, a colossal blood-red specter roared into existence, meeting the beast midair with a clash that shook the earth.

The sheer force of their collision cracked the ground beneath them.

Chen Yuan’s blade ignited with dark crimson flames, leaving faint red trails in the air as he struck.

The attack seemed almost effortless.

Yet it carved a wound across the wolf’s left foreleg.

Dark, unnatural blood oozed out, tendrils of red creeping beneath its scales.

Chen Yuan had hoped this would slow the beast down.

But the wolf didn’t even flinch.

Instead, it attacked with even greater ferocity—each strike unleashing gale-force winds, shaking the earth beneath them.

It was enraged.

Chen Yuan dodged and weaved, narrowly avoiding the relentless onslaught.

But no defense was perfect.

As he spun away from one attack, the wolf’s tail lashed out from behind, smashing into the back of his knee.

Payback for that earlier wound.

Staggering, Chen Yuan nearly collapsed—but in that split second, he drove his blade into the wolf’s back.

The sword barely pierced three inches before lodging in the beast’s dense scales.

Chen Yuan’s jaw tightened.

He was already at a disadvantage. Now, with his knee injured, this might be his only chance.

If he missed it, he wouldn’t get another.

With sheer brute force, he detonated his weapon.

"BOOM—!"

The deafening explosion reverberated through the entire headquarters!

A violent shockwave of energy radiated outward, flinging nearby source beasts and combat personnel into the air.

Dust and debris filled the air.

As the shockwave subsided slightly, everyone hurriedly looked toward the aftermath.

There, the cyan wolf-like source beast stood with large patches of its scaled armor shattered, blood dripping from its wounds as it let out a pained growl.

Clearly, Chen Yuan's desperate strike had dealt it significant damage.

But it was still standing!

Meanwhile, Chen Yuan lay sprawled on the ground, gasping for breath, drenched in blood, his energy depleted to the brink.

The crimson phantom shrouding his body had already dissipated.

"Cough… cough…"

He spat out mouthfuls of blood, his vision beginning to blur.

The cyan wolf-like source beast struggled for a moment before barely managing to rise from the ground.

It shook its head, its ferocity only intensifying.

Though grievously wounded, the vitality of a ninth-tier source beast was tenacious…

It knew it was dying…

But before death claimed it…

Step by step, it advanced toward Chen Yuan, who had lost all ability to fight back.

Some brew time into tea, watching the froth rise and fall until clarity is restored.

Others steep their years into poison, drinking deeper, thirstier, until consumed by desire’s flames.

Yet in the end, all arrive in this world empty-handed, and leave the mortal realm the same.

Perhaps Chen Yuan was the latter.

The longer one lives, the more one accumulates.

And when death comes, the harder it becomes to let go.

Even if he knew—nothing could be taken with him.

Still, he stubbornly tried to grasp at something, anything.

Chen Yuan reached out a hand, only to clutch a handful of dirt.

He opened his palm.

The battlefield wind scattered the grains…

Chen Yuan couldn’t tell whether what slipped through his fingers was unholdable sand,

the crumbling debris of life’s fleeting tower,

or everything he had desperately fought to keep.