A Gaze Across Time and Space

Under the cover of night, Yuan Zhu walked home alone. Without consciously thinking, relying only on the instincts this body had accumulated from living in Running City for years, he identified the direction of his home.

As if he had turned on automatic navigation, his mind wandered while his body adjusted course twice before slipping into a secluded side road and heading on foot toward the residential district in the east of the city.

Running City was not a law-governed society with a sound legal system and surveillance cameras everywhere. Though mouse-shaped devices with glowing red eyes occasionally hung outside roadside shops, they were only for theft prevention and offered no help whatsoever in maintaining public security.

As a result, nighttime security was terrible. It was the peak period for theft, robbery, murder, and illegally replenishing lewd energy. It was not even midnight yet, but the roads were already sparsely populated, cold and deserted.

Vehicles occasionally passed by, but there was none of the bustling splendor of streaming traffic and glittering neon lights. A few streetlamps had been installed along the sidewalks, but one could only encounter a lamp every hundred-odd meters.

Usually, one had to travel through darkness for a stretch before being illuminated by the limited range of orange light, only to soon enter another long expanse of darkness. Rather than lighting tools, these streetlamps were more like tools for guiding people at night and keeping them from taking the wrong road.

Walking alone down an unfamiliar street, watching his shadow stretch ever longer beneath the feeble lamplight, Yuan Zhu felt as if he had come to a foreign land as a tourist. At the thought that he could never return to Earth, the loneliness of being a stranger in a strange land welled up within him.

"Grr..."

A strange animal cry tore through the night, putting him on alert. In his memories, Running City was a mountain city nestled in a basin, perpetually enveloped by the mist from the Mist Mountain Range. The problem of wild animals running rampant at night was especially severe.

Whenever night fell, beasts from the nearby forests would enter the city in groups to rummage through garbage heaps for food. Or they would simply settle in warm places such as the sewers and coexist with the city.

Thus, aside from the robberies, murders, and illegal demon replenishment perpetrated by humans at night, cases of beasts injuring and devouring people, venomous insects killing people... and people vanishing without a trace were also extremely common. Everyone had nearly grown accustomed to it.

After all, the Mist Mountain Range was so vast that beasts like brown bears and gray wolves could never be exterminated. What was more, dangers even more formidable than wild beasts lurked within the mist.

Rather than take meaningless precautions in advance, it was better to learn to get used to it. Going out less at night, not going out at all, or at least traveling in groups with something for self-defense had become common sense.

Ding-dong... ding-dong...

Just as he quickened his pace, intending to pick up speed, a crisp bell chime with extraordinary penetrating power traveled through the darkness and straight into his ears.

The sound was too distinctive, as though it contained a force that warned and awakened, capable of driving away the dangers hidden in the dark. The mere sound of it jolted his spirits, and then his mind was drawn toward it.

Yuan Zhu's movements stalled. Pulled by an invisible force, he stopped and turned toward the source of the bells, then widened his eyes.

Huh? Running City's night was clearly shrouded by dark clouds, the sky so dim that not a single star could be seen. Yet in the direction he was looking stood the suddenly appeared entrance to a small alley, where a beam of pure moonlight shone down from the sky, illuminating the alley mouth hidden in darkness.

Where had that moonlight come from? No, why was there a pale blue moon hanging in the sky?! Realizing something was wrong, Yuan Zhu shifted his gaze slightly and discovered that aside from the clear, cloudless sky above the alley, with bright moonlight and twinkling stars, every other angle remained pitch-black. There was not a trace of starlight, let alone a night sky or moonlight.

When he looked back at the alley, the moonlit scene formed an angle, as if someone had cut off a corner of another place's night and moon and pasted it above Running City, visible only from a particular angle.

Beep beep beep! Spacetime distortion fluctuations detected. Unknown Pollution Energy is beginning to gather and surge. Please move away as soon as possible...

Just as expected! He had run into another anomalous incident.

Yuan Zhu felt unexpectedly settled. He was already somewhat numb to these sudden situations; he was not even panicked or afraid, maintaining an inexplicably calm state of mind.

He just did not know whether such incidents were so common on Du Ling Star that everyone could encounter them frequently, or whether he was particularly attractive to them because he possessed the Great Wilderness Immortal Scripture. (A magnet-for-trouble constitution.) Ding-dong, ding-dong!

The piercing bell chimes seemed to ring beside his ears, pinning down his feet just as he wanted to move. Then he heard hurried breathing and frantic footsteps approaching from afar, fleeing toward him from deep within the alley.

Yuan Zhu frowned slightly. Since he could not avoid it, he simply would not. His entire attention was drawn to the abruptly appeared alley, and by the moonlight, he made out a line of carved words at its entrance: Little Sweet Water Well Alley.

Running City's nights were dim and gloomy, its architectural style permeated by industrial oppression. Large numbers of three- and four-story cement buildings continued to spew billowing Black Smoke even at night, which gathered and mingled with the mist above the city. At street intersections, road signs generally clearly displayed street names; there had never been stone carvings.

Yet the alley opposite him lay beneath a bright moon and sparse stars, its architectural style entirely different from Running City's. It featured new-style pavilions and towers where cement and wood combined, mortise-and-tenon joints coexisted with industry. It had the exquisite beauty of Eastern-style architecture, while cement and steel reinforcement strengthened the structures, expanded their scale, and reduced costs.

This was clearly another world! Another city! No wonder the immortal scripture had warned of spacetime distortion fluctuations.

So had someone crossed through time and space again? Or was this a "normal" local natural phenomenon?

Just as he remained on guard and considered whether to use his cheat to deal with this sudden situation, a man dressed in the same style as the locals of Running City came rushing toward the alley entrance, clutching a package with a face full of panic and exhaustion.

After clearly seeing the dark, ruined, industrial-style corner of the city across from him, the man's face erupted in wild joy. He ran even faster, clutching the package tightly to his chest as he gasped and shouted, "Help! Save me, quickly!"

Ding-dong... ding-dong...

The bronze bell rang again. The man's expression changed at light speed, wild joy switching to terror. An intense pressure spread from the end of the alley, crossing time and space to envelop Yuan Zhu in Running City as well.

The Little Elf promptly reminded him: Beep beep beep! Unknown Pollution Energy has surged drastically! It is recommended that you activate the Aberrant Spiritual Root and enter Tiger Demon Form.

The fleeing man was still more than ten meters from leaving the alley, his expression anxious and desperate. Seeing that Yuan Zhu remained unmoved by the scene, his eyes suddenly darted as a plan came to him.

He pointed at Yuan Zhu, who was watching coldly from the sidelines, and barked, "What the fuck are you standing around for? Help me stop him, or forget about getting your share!"

Clatter, clatter...

The sound of iron chains colliding rang out. At the end of the alley appeared an armored warrior clad in black metal Wen Shan Armor, his head enclosed in a classical helmet, his eyes covered by Night Vision Goggles, and his mouth and nose likewise concealed beneath a breathing filter.

In his left hand, he carried a blood-red lantern, with a small bronze bell hanging from its handle. Each step he took made the bell collide and ring with the vibration of his footsteps, its sound instantly spreading outward in rings.

His right hand was wrapped in coils of iron chain. At the end of the chain was a mechanical grappling claw. In addition, a saber, hand crossbow, command token... and other equipment hung from the black-armored warrior's waist.

The man clutching the package to his chest continued to run desperately, hoping to cross the area illuminated by moonlight and rush into the pitch-black, deathly still Running City.

The Wen Shan Armor warrior in the gas mask followed at an unhurried pace. Beneath the moonlight, his face under the helmet was covered in shadow; only his goggles reflected the lantern's red glow as he locked gazes with Yuan Zhu from afar.

Their gazes met. Tension, oppression, scrutiny... immense pressure crashed down upon him. In his purely human form, Yuan Zhu found it somewhat difficult to endure.

This was a formidable enemy. Unlike those Pollution Demons whose bodies had been warped by pollution, possessing only strength and no reason, the classical Eastern warrior before him brought Yuan Zhu an unprecedented sense of oppression.

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