area51novel Chapter 172 Interlude: The Falling Sun
Chapter 172 Interlude: The Falling Sun
Chapter 172 Interlude: The Falling Sun
The sky was dark and gloomy, as if dark clouds were pressing down. The heavy, gloomy clouds were like a huge curtain, spreading rapidly from the northwest and enveloping the entire city.
The air was noticeably damp, a sign that a heavy rain was brewing and could come down at any moment.
However, this weather did not affect people's travel; the streets were bustling with people and incredibly lively.
There was absolutely no sense of tension from being oppressed by the dark clouds.
Some people think that Shanghai is a big city, a bustling metropolis where every inch of land is precious and the city never sleeps. This statement is not wrong, after all, many people are working overtime in the middle of the night, so it is indeed a city that never sleeps.
The neon lights on the Bund had long since been turned off, but the city was still awake. The signs on the commercial streets illuminated the night, and the lights of the skyscrapers were reflected on the dark clouds, creating a unique aesthetic.
"This is really weird."
In a villa area of an upscale residential complex, a bright white ferret was perched by the window, its large black eyes filled with curiosity as it gazed at the scene outside.
"Come on, it would be really weird if a passerby heard you speaking human language."
In the room behind the ferret, a girl with two buns in her hair is stretching out her arms, making final preparations for the upcoming filming.
She wore a bright red bodice with gold patterns that shimmered exquisitely under the spotlight, and a long red sleeve was casually wrapped around her waist, swaying gently with her movements.
A pair of bare feet lightly stepped on the carpet, and a blue gemstone anklet jingled softly at her ankle.
"It's just a rain shower. The weather is like this in the south. It's not like this is your first time staying here. Hurry up and come over. Don't cause any trouble."
"That's true..." The ferret tilted its head, its eyes gazing contentedly at the scenery outside the window. "But I feel like something's not quite right..."
Before he could finish speaking, upbeat music started playing behind him.
Thunder is rolling, I'm so scared, it'll strike me and leave me covered in dust. "...Hey!" The ferret turned its head speechlessly.
"Okay, okay."
The girl stuck out her tongue and paused the music on her phone.
"You're always so suspicious. If something really happens, it's not too late to talk about it once you sense the flaw."
Hearing the girl's voice, the ferret sighed softly. "Can you be serious? I'm doing this for our safety. This world is dangerous. You have no idea what happened to me back then..."
"Stop! Stop! Stop!"
The girl raised her hand and made a pause gesture.
"I've already mentioned your glorious past eight hundred times, please have mercy on me... How about this, you stop causing trouble, and after I finish filming the video, I'll go on patrol with you again, okay?"
Looking at the girl, the ferret propped its head up with its two little paws. "I really don't know what's so great about your dance videos. You were doing pretty well as a voice actress before, earning a lot of money."
"You still dare to talk back!" The girl stood with her hands on her hips, glaring angrily at the ferret. "If you hadn't come knocking on my door, I would have lost my temper long ago. How am I supposed to do my job if you drag me out on patrol every day?"
"Uh... this..."
"My CV was perfectly fine, but ever since I met you, I've been either late or absent. Who would dare hire me?"
At this point, the girl adopted the demeanor of Lin Daiyu, raising her hand to wipe away non-existent tears.
"...Now I'm forced to resort to selling my face, it's pathetic..."
"This is all your fault!"
The ferret immediately raised its hands in surrender when the girl pointed at it.
"I...I...I'm doing this for our safety, and besides, you're so good-looking, it's a shame you don't show your face."
"Hmph~"
The girl tilted her head back.
"You've got some nerve, kid!"
The girl waved her hand, stretched, and then straightened her posture.
"Anyway, I finally landed a big advertising contract. I need to hurry up and shoot the video for the client to review. Whether I can make it into the top 100 this year depends on this."
The upbeat intro started again, and the girl looked at her phone, casually waving at the ferret.
"It's perfect that you're here to help me out. Go check out the camera and see how it looks, and also check out the lighting. Let's try to get it in one take."
As she spoke, the girl fiddled with the dance moves that had already been broken down on her phone. She had put in a lot of effort to make this short video of just a few dozen seconds good.
But after a while, the girl didn't hear any movement from the ferret.
"Hurry up, what are you standing there for?"
Looking back at the ferret, I saw it was lying motionless on the windowsill with its back to me.
Noticing the ferret's movements, the girl rolled her eyes in exasperation.
"You bastard..."
The girl took a few steps and slowly walked to the ferret's side, looking at the ferret that was staring unblinkingly out the window.
She crossed her arms and shook her head.
I looked outwards, following the ferret's gaze.
"I already told you to leave after you're done taking the photos. What's so interesting about this rain? It's just... :"
The girl's words came to an abrupt halt.
In the dim light amidst the towering buildings, a vast and towering shadow was buried deep in the clouds.
Those hundred-meter-tall buildings looked like short grass under this shadow, and the girl couldn't even see the whole picture of this huge shadow through the floor-to-ceiling windows in front of her.
Amidst the flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunder, the shadow moved slowly.
The girl was completely speechless at this point; she could only watch helplessly as the towering shadow gradually tilted downwards.
"What... what is this...?"
"Aaaaaah!!"
The quiet alley was shattered by a piercing scream.
Under the dim streetlights, a wolf-fox figure stumbled out of the alleyway, knocking over the piles of cardboard boxes and garbage in its panic.
The stench of decay filled the air. The man had no time to think, not even bothering to pick up his lost shoes, and continued running forward.
"Help! Someone please help me!!"
The man shouted at the top of his lungs, but received no response.
This familiar street, the place I passed by every day after get off work, was now deserted, without a trace of life.
Despite having lived in this city for half his life, a sense of fearful unfamiliarity welled up in the man's heart.
He subconsciously looked back and saw a strange rabbit peeking out from around the corner of the box he had just rushed out of. Its blood-red eyes were fixed on him, and its empty expression gave off an indescribable terror.
Upon seeing the strange creature, the man instantly felt a chill run through his body. He screamed and scrambled towards the street.
The rabbit followed closely behind, its grinding teeth making a sound like a death knell. The man moved quickly, using almost all his strength.
The camera kept shaking, and the continuous escape had already exhausted the man, but he still dared not stop; it was his instinct for survival.
As the man ran wildly, a shadowy figure appeared in his field of vision under the streetlight ahead.
She was a woman with exceptionally beautiful features, wearing a black low-cut evening gown and a bonnet with flowers in her hair, giving her a uniquely charming aura.
However, this makeup and attire felt out of place and out of place with the current environment.
But the man couldn't care less about that at the moment; he ran wildly while waving and shouting.
"Run!!"
"Run! There's a monster!!"
The exclamations carried far across the quiet street.
The woman seemed to have heard the noise as well, and gracefully turned her head to look in the man's direction.
Seeing that the woman did not move, the man, panting heavily, grabbed the woman's hand, which was covered by a black openwork lace glove.
"Don't just stand there, let's go!"
A cold sensation met his touch, and the next moment, the man's body was brought to a stop by a tremendous force.
The man's brain was somewhat overloaded. He stared at the woman in front of him in astonishment, unable to understand why this slender woman could possess such great power.
But soon, the man noticed out of the corner of his eye a rabbit hopping toward him in an extremely strange posture on the street behind him.
"Monster! Monster!! There's a monster!!"
The man screamed in terror, his legs buckling instantly.
Even so, he still didn't forget the strange woman beside him.
"Hurry, get someone to save me, or we'll all die here!!"
The woman looked at the man holding her hand with great interest, and a slow smile slowly curved her lips.
The man, however, had no interest in appreciating the sight; he pointed with a startled cry at the strange rabbit not far away.
"You...you can't see it?!"
"It's coming!"
"monster!!"
The rabbit, which was more than half a person tall, grinned, its three-lobed mouth now covered in blood, its scarlet eyes filled with a thirst for flesh and blood.
The woman turned her gaze into the distance, and finally parted her lips slightly.
"That's not a monster..."
Upon hearing this, the man was taken aback.
Before he could figure out what had happened, the woman's shadow seemed to come alive, and with a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, it suddenly transformed into a whip, instantly piercing the rabbit's head.
click!
The dark crystal shattered.
Swipe!
A whooshing sound rang out, and the shadow that pierced the rabbit's head swiftly swung, slamming the rabbit's corpse against the street wall.
puff! !
Like a water balloon exploding on the wall, viscous liquid and broken bones splattered out instantly, adorning the low wall in front.
The man's mouth dropped open in astonishment.
Only then did the woman slowly utter the second half of her sentence.
"...I'm the monster, remember that?"
With difficulty, his gaze left the mangled rabbit monster and slowly moved to the woman's face.
The man was horrified to discover that the woman's eyes were completely black, like ink, and even the streetlights shining through them did not reflect light.
The next second, the man's eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the ground as if all his strength had been drained away.
Smiling at the unconscious man, the woman stuck out her tongue and licked her red lips, as if she had just tasted a delicious meal.
Just then, a strange, cold wind swept by, and the streetlights in the distance began to go out one by one. In just a few breaths, the streetlights overhead also dimmed.
The entire street was shrouded in darkness.
The woman frowned slightly and suddenly turned around to look.
Immediately afterwards, within the churning black clouds, a terrifying colossal object, towering into the sky, was slowly tilting and collapsing.
In the cold wind, the mad roars and furious shouts, enough to drive mortals mad, echoed continuously.
"The aura of a heretic?"
The woman narrowed her eyes slightly, her expression filled with doubt and confusion.
Her dark eyes stared curiously at the spectacular sight, and a smile played on the corners of her lips.
"The greedy one..."
Outside Licheng, a fierce wind raged throughout the city.
It howled and blew everything on the ground into the air, making the branches shake wildly and crackle.
The dark clouds rolled and churned like surging waves, piling up in layers, pressing down very low, as if to swallow the entire city.
Lightning, like a silver dragon, ripped through the sky, stretching out its body and claws wantonly.
The dazzling light illuminated the sky and earth in the blink of an eye, followed by a deafening thunderclap.
The entire sky seemed to pour out its anger, roaring down.
The torrential rain pounded against the glass, the immense force causing the windows to tremble violently.
In the dimly lit bedroom, a frail young girl huddled under the covers, shivering. Her eyes were tightly shut.
Her face was covered in tears.
A flash of lightning outside the window illuminated the wheelchair beside the bed, followed by a deafening clap of thunder that made the girl shudder.
She wanted to call out to her father, but just as she was about to speak, she suddenly remembered that her father had gone on a business trip with a friend and had not yet returned.
The caregiver was right next door, but the girl didn't want to expose her vulnerability to her.
Just then, a ghostly whisper came from behind, and the girl quickly covered her ears.
"No, stop reading it."
Her body trembled slightly, and the girl kept shaking her head with her eyes tightly closed, huddled under the covers.
"Stop talking, stop talking..."
The torrential rain lashed the entire city, and the girl's whispered murmur was instantly swallowed up by the noise.
"So you mean...:"
Tang Zijun stood on the cliff, toying with the pale white card with a hint of eerie green in her hand, muttering to herself.
"...The scene of the fall of the Tree Crown Royal City was affected by the collapse of the Reverse World, the Real World, and the Secret Realm."
As magic surged forth, magical girls across the nation witnessed the collapse of the Divine Tree?
"Woolen cloth:
Chang Lei opened his mouth, seemingly considering his words.
After a moment of contemplation, he nodded slightly and spoke.
"To be precise, everyone in the entire Eastern Hemisphere with even a hint of extraordinary talent has seen it..."
The words fell.
Snapped!
Tang Zijun slapped herself on the forehead.
"I'm truly impressed."
Behind him, looking at Tang Zijun's helpless expression, Chang Lei licked his lips, paused for a moment, and said with a smile.
"This, isn't this great? After all, you saved the world by using the rules of the Reversed World to remove the existence of Sir Skull. This is a feat that many people cannot accomplish."
Hearing this, Tang Zijun gave him a wary look. "But this is not the outcome I expected."
"I know you prefer to keep a low profile, but I think this is a good thing, isn't it? By using this incident to announce the arrival of the greedy, we can let everyone witness our power."
Chang Lei waved his fist excitedly.
"Firing the first shot in the comeback!"
"Hahaha!"
Chang Lei.
"Hahaha...Huh?"
"Shut up."
"oh...""