"What the hell..."
Little Wei spotted a cloud of gray in the distance—dust kicked up by collapsing buildings. Even from this far away, she could almost smell the choking particles in the air.
She sneezed twice.
Only after wiping her nose did she grasp the severity of the situation.
Damn it!
The dormitory buildings had collapsed—two or three of them.
A grotesque, fleshy tentacle emerged from the swirling dust, massive enough to be horrifyingly visible even from this distance.
Youyin’s grip tightened on the balcony railing.
Looks like one round of this "game" had ended in disaster.
Who knew how many lives that creature had absorbed by now?
It was probably expanding its hunting grounds.
Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place.
Meanwhile, Little Wei stared at the monster, studying it until recognition dawned.
Wasn’t this thing straight out of Ultraman?
"The first zone has collapsed. The killers inside must have escaped by now," Youyin muttered, clenching her fists.
"Oh, that? I saw your so-called 'killer' earlier. How about we call them 'Replicants'?" Little Wei’s tone was eerily calm.
"Replicants? Not bad."
Wait—this wasn’t the time to debate nicknames.
She’d almost let Little Wei derail her.
"So, what do we do now?" Little Wei turned to Youyin.
This was one question she really had to ask.
Honestly, she just wanted to lie down and give up.
Fresh out of a shower, her brain felt like mush—no energy left for thinking.
"We need clues. These monsters have weaknesses. We have to find what’s unusual in this city and dig into the hidden details," Youyin explained.
Little Wei’s head throbbed harder at the flood of words.
What kind of nonsense was this? Why couldn’t she understand any of it?
In her opinion, they should just fight and get it over with.
"I’ve already marked our first target," Youyin added.
Little Wei looked at her. Under the dim moonlight, half of Youyin’s face was shrouded in shadow, her expression unreadable.
"We’re going back to the school."
"Are you insane?" Little Wei blurted.
"Then why the hell did we leave in the first place?"
"Call it a shower break. But I said we’re going back—not right now." Youyin patted Little Wei’s shoulder.
"Don’t you think the best way to solve a problem is to start at the source? So we have to investigate the school."
Her lips curled slightly. "But like I said, we’re not going yet. We wait until those monsters move on."
"Are they attacking the city?" Little Wei pressed her lips together, anxiety creeping into her voice.
Youyin took her hand.
"They are. But we can’t afford to focus on them." She sighed when she saw Little Wei’s furrowed brow.
"Those things can’t be killed."
In the novels, countless professional players had tried—only to learn that lesson in blood.
This wasn’t a world where brute force could win.
Brains were required.
Too bad Little Wei didn’t have any.
"Really?" Little Wei glanced at her staff.
Truthfully, she could wipe out all three monsters right now. But something about this felt off.
Especially the Replicants. They didn’t belong in a normal world. And after all this time away, she hadn’t sensed Youyin’s Replicant tailing them—only after getting off the bike did she notice it.
Almost like… it teleported.
Wait, no—it did teleport. Youyin had mentioned that.
Little Wei had read enough horror stories to know: anything that could teleport was bad news.
And this place was crawling with them.
Maybe… this wasn’t the real world at all?
Her gaze drifted to the blood-red crescent hanging in the sky.
"Let’s eat first. We need to move—find a high-rise to hide in, observe, and wait for those things to leave—"
A creaking door cut her off.
Someone was here.
Youyin turned toward the entrance. A black-clad killer stood frozen in the doorway, a chilling sight.
"Jump the balcony."
Little Wei grabbed Youyin’s hand.
It was now or never.
Before the killer could lunge, Youyin leaped without hesitation.
She expected a bone-shattering landing—but instead, she landed on something narrow. A staff? No, more like a magical broomstick.
"You’ve got to be kidding me," Youyin muttered, stunned.
So her companion’s class was Archmage?
Sounded straight out of a fantasy novel.
The killer reached the balcony and peered down at them. With a flip, it followed.
Little Wei tightened her grip on the staff.
"Go."
At her command, the staff shot forward like a bullet.
It wasn’t that Little Wei didn’t want to fight. The space was just too cramped for a proper showdown.
Besides, she had reservations about Youyin’s Replicant.
They landed atop the city’s tallest skyscraper.
The staff was too fast—the Replicant couldn’t keep up.
Youyin, now seated, examined the staff with fascination.
"This thing turned into a dagger earlier, right?" she asked.
Little Wei nodded, scanning their surroundings before plopping down cross-legged.
"I’m exhausted," she groaned.
Her head felt ready to split. Probably from the adrenaline of being chased.
"You okay?" Youyin asked, concerned.
Leaning against the wall, Little Wei watched as the monster’s tentacles speared through buildings.
Screams echoed. She shut her eyes.
Fresh out of the cultivation world, she hadn’t fully readjusted to this mindset.
"Youyin… what if this is all a dream?" Little Wei looked up.
"A dream?" Youyin blinked, then laughed. "That’d take one hell of a hypnotist to pull off."
The words struck Little Wei like a slap.
Right.
A hypnotist.
Or a game architect. If this was designed, the creator must be reveling in it—somewhere in this world.
Like a formation’s core, they needed to find the "eye" to break it.
Otherwise, there was no explaining the Replicants—or their damn teleportation.
Even in Ling Wanbai’s world, nothing had been this absurd.
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