Chapter Seventy-One: Mission Failed!

As I had expected, the doorway was indeed blocked by massive stones and sheets of iron. Yet, these obstacles were nothing before my strength and the keen edge of my titanium alloy blade. I raised the knife and slashed away relentlessly, hacking the boulders into countless fragments. More rocks collapsed due to the structure, but none could halt my advance. After several more minutes, I finally cleared a path through which I could escape. No, to be precise, I now stood atop the ruins, for there was no longer any path to follow.

But where were Huo Bing and the Fourth Master?

The doorway had been tightly sealed, meaning they could not have left! With no time to survey the outside world, I turned and rushed back inside. Could there be some hidden tunnel within the central control room?

After some time, I slumped to the ground in despair. There was nothing—absolutely nothing. Only myself. It was as though Huo Bing and the Fourth Master had been pulverized to dust by the explosion, leaving not a trace of their existence.

Impossible. It defied all reason. My memories couldn't be false! Unless... I was the one who was false! Was this all just a dream of mine?

The more I thought about it, the more plausible it seemed—just like the last time I fainted. Yet, something was still wrong. This time, everything felt too real—so real it was hard to believe. This was the place where I had been, and these were the surroundings that should have existed after the explosion. The last dream had been pitch-black and surreal, a boundless darkness through which I wandered for years without ever reaching an end.

No matter what, I had to go out and see for myself.

Gripping the titanium blade tightly, I stepped out once more, standing squarely atop the ruins this time. I examined my surroundings closely; the chemical plant was still recognizable, but it had been flattened completely. Where I stood was now a massive crater, and the enormous moon hung in the sky, bathing the desolation in its light.

Something was wrong.

After such a chemical plant explosion, the air should have been thick with toxic gases and dust. Yet, there was nothing—no heat, not even a trace of a blast wave. Instead, I felt a bleak, biting chill that I had not noticed before. The more I thought about it, the colder and more piercing it felt, as if the cold seeped into my very bones.

"Huo Bing! Fourth Master!"

I stood atop the control room and shouted with all my might, and only the endless echoes returned, haunting my ears.

What on earth was going on?

I leaped down from the roof, trying to climb from the depths of the crater to level ground. The pit must have been several hundred meters in diameter—the very epicenter of the explosion, the destruction unimaginable. Even the areas not blasted into craters couldn't have fared much better. The blast must have affected several kilometers at least.

"Strange, why isn't there a single corpse? Were they vaporized completely?" I muttered to myself, treading upon the scattered debris. There were no corpses anywhere.

"If this is a dream, then damn it, let me wake up already!" I shouted into the sky, but nothing happened.

Crack!

I slapped myself hard. It hurt, but I was still here. I hadn't woken up.

"Genetic Ecological Chain, you were making so much noise just now—come out! Speak!" I called out in my mind, but there was still no response.

Damn it! They're all playing games with me!

Suddenly, something cold and light began to drift down from the sky, and I froze, halting my climb.

Snow?

Why was black snow falling?

I reached out and caught a flake in my palm; it melted instantly, leaving nothing behind. At first, it was just a fine dusting, but soon the flakes grew larger, like goose feathers—thick, black snow swirling everywhere.

I hugged my arms to my chest, shivering violently—it was so cold, unbearably cold! The chill that had been gnawing at me was now overwhelming; I felt as if I might turn into an ice sculpture at any moment.

I breathed warm air into my palms, watching it instantly turn to white mist. The temperature had to be below freezing. And I was still dressed in little more than rags.

Who would have thought that such heavy snow could fall in May, that the air could be so bitingly cold?

I was now more convinced than ever this was a dream. No matter how polluted the world, black snow did not fall like this—not in such wild, relentless torrents.

I planted my knife in the ground and slowly sat down.

Would I die in a dream?

With a wry smile, I asked myself mockingly: if this truly was a dream, could I freeze to death here?

I had no strength left. I didn't want to move. The cold had almost frozen my bones solid. If this was real, I wouldn't last much longer before freezing to death.

I slowly raised my head, wanting to take the pale moonlight as the last pure sight of my life. But when I looked up, I was stunned by what I saw.

A blood-red moon dominated the sky.

Crimson spread across its surface, leaving only a tiny central portion still struggling to shine with white light, as if desperately resisting the invasion of blood. It was as though the last glimmer of light in the world was about to be swallowed up.

"Ah..."

A sudden sigh snapped me back to my senses. I listened intently, unsure if it was my imagination.

Where had that sigh come from?

"Are you looking for me?"

I started in alarm and leapt to my feet, scanning the surroundings. At last, I spotted a shadowy figure at the very center of the crater.

I gripped my titanium blade and strode toward him, stopping when I was less than ten meters away. That distance was safe enough for me—no matter what he tried, I would have time to react. Even if he drew a gun, I was confident I could neutralize him within ten paces.

"Who are you? Why are you in my dream?"

"Oh? This is your dream? And how do you know that?"

"Cut the crap—could this possibly be the real world? Have you ever seen a place like this?"

"You're not me—how do you know I haven't?"

I narrowed my eyes at this strange figure, wrapped in a black trench coat and with his back to me. "Would you stop the theatrics? Turn around and show me your real face."

He sighed again. "No, I can't. I don't want to frighten you, or force you to look upon this rotting face."

I gripped my blade tighter and said harshly, "You—you're not human? Are you one of the corpses? What a coincidence, I just met a talking corpse, and now here's another."

The man in the coat laughed. "Oh? Then you've already met Bai Ye?"

"Bai Ye? The guy in the white lab coat? If I catch him again, I'll kill him for sure!" Just thinking of that man in white filled me with rage—if not for him, none of this would have happened.

"Hmm... kill him? If you can, you might give it a try," the man in the coat said, his tone unreadable, leaving me unsure what he meant.

We fell silent for a moment. At last, he turned to face me, but he wore a mask.

Ha! So afraid to scare me?

"You... sigh, still no change. Up to now, not a single change. Just the same as always," he said, hands in his pockets, head down, idly kicking at the dust.

I couldn't make sense of his cryptic words—no change, still the same—he sounded like some kind of mystic.

"If you have something to say, just say it. Why all the roundabout nonsense? Maybe you're not tired, but I'm exhausted just listening," I said, planting my knife in the ground and sitting down carelessly, curling up as much as I could to ward off the cold.