Boundless Void Domain

The moon was bright, and the stars were few.

As the bell for the end of evening self-study rang, students walked out of the classrooms in small groups, chatting and laughing as they strolled through the night. After a day of hardship, this was perhaps their most relaxing time.

No homework, no teachers, just a few good friends by their side. After showering at home, they could comfortably climb into bed and rest. What could be better?

And amidst this scattered crowd, a large group of over a dozen people cut through the throng, walking steadily and orderly towards the outside of the school.

In their center, a boy with black satin wrapped around his eyes was like the filling of a dumpling, completely enclosed.

Such a large group immediately attracted the attention of all the surrounding students.

"Actually... I can walk back by myself, really." Lin Qiye's mouth twitched slightly as he spoke with some helplessness, "I can see, it's just that my eyes are a bit sensitive to light..."

"No need to say more, classmate Lin Qiye!" Jiang Qian interrupted Lin Qiye, speaking righteously, "We promised your aunt that we would take good care of you, and we will definitely do it!"

"That's right, Qiye. Our homes are all in the same direction, so it's on the way."

"It's on my way too."

Lin Qiye: ...

Honestly, he wished he was the one being isolated right now. After spending so long in darkness, he wasn't used to this feeling of being cared for by so many people; it made him feel awkward.

Of course, his aunt and Yang Jin didn't count, because they were his family.

But since people had good intentions, he couldn't say anything and could only follow the crowd forward helplessly.

"I have to turn right at the intersection ahead, but I can walk with you for a bit longer."

"I have to turn here, I'm leaving now. See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow."

"..."

As they got further and further away from the school, the classmates surrounding Lin Qiye said their goodbyes and left one by one. After a few minutes, only five people remained by Lin Qiye's side.

The previously noisy atmosphere gradually quieted down, and the space suddenly felt more spacious. Lin Qiye let out a long sigh of relief.

"Do you guys think... that mist will really revive and swallow Great Xia?" Li Yifei asked curiously, turning his head with his backpack on.

"Didn't you hear what those experts said? The probability of the mist reviving is very small, it might not change at all in the next hundred years. As for what happens after a hundred years... well, we won't be around then, so why worry so much?" Jiang Qian rolled her eyes.

"Sigh, you know as well as I do that those so-called experts are the most unreliable. What if we finally get into university, and before we can even enjoy life, the mist swallows the entire Great Xia? Wouldn't that be a huge loss?"

"So that's why you're slacking off every day and not focusing on your studies?" Jiang Qian walked up to Li Yifei and said seriously, "I have to remind you, Teacher Wang already said that if you get last place on this exam again, you'll have to move your desk to the front of the classroom."

"Got it, got it," Li Yifei said with a sheepish smile.

"However, I really don't think that mist can revive again," Wang Shao, who was walking at the front, suddenly said. "In the end, the mist is just a natural phenomenon. After reaching a certain critical point, it will gradually recede, just like the Ice Age. After the glaciers covered the land, as the temperature rose, they slowly receded, and a new era followed."

"I know what you're talking about, it's called the Natural Disaster Theory, right? It's quite widely accepted now," Jiang Qian nodded.

"What if... this mist isn't a natural phenomenon?" At this moment, Lin Qiye, who had been silent, suddenly spoke.

Wang Shao was stunned for a moment, then chuckled, "Qiye, you don't actually believe those so-called theologians, do you? That the mist is related to supernatural powers?"

"It's the 21st century, we should believe in science. There aren't that many ghosts and spirits in the world," a classmate named Liu Yuan interjected.

Lin Qiye didn't answer. He knew best whether there were things beyond science in this world, but there was no need to tell outsiders about these matters.

Li Yifei mumbled softly, "I actually think the world would be more interesting if those things really existed."

"Why are we talking about all this useless stuff? These things aren't what we should be concerned about. Instead of agonizing over whether the mist will revive, it's more realistic to just sleep in more during the three-day holiday for Survival Day," Jiang Qian said with a smile.

"Yeah, holidays are the most practical!"

At this moment, in the old district of Cangnan City.

A man was carrying a signpost, walking unhurriedly through the desolate and dim streets. The old streetlights cast faint rays of light, stretching his shadow longer and longer...

He glanced at his phone and stopped at a narrow street entrance.

"This is it..."

He muttered, put down the signpost he was carrying, and straightened it.

Under the flickering streetlights, the shadow of the signpost flickered in and out of existence. And on the black background, several bright red characters were extremely striking!

-- NO ENTRY AHEAD!

The man leaned against a streetlight, lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and then turned on his earpiece.

"Captain, the third signpost is in place."

"Received. Begin."

"Okay."

With the cigarette in his mouth, the man walked up to the signpost, placed his thumb between his teeth, and bit down hard!

A drop of blood oozed from the wound. The man squatted down and used his blood-stained thumb to draw a long horizontal line across the four characters "NO ENTRY AHEAD"!

His eyes narrowed, and an inexplicable aura erupted from him.

He looked up at the dark night sky and murmured in a voice only he could hear...

"The Forbidden Zone, the [Boundless Void Domain]."

The next moment, the bloodstains on the notice board in front of him faded rapidly, as if absorbed. Immediately after, the four characters "Forbidden Ahead" flashed with a red light!

Then they gradually returned to their original appearance.

The man sat down on the ground with a plop, let out a long sigh, and complained.

"Damn it, I'm drained again..."

At this moment, if someone were to look down at Cangnan City from the sky, they would notice three points of light flickering near the old city district. Then, using these three points as vertices, an equilateral triangle of dark red rapidly outlined itself!

The instant the triangle formed, the half of the old city district it covered began to gradually disappear, as if it had been erased from the map...

However, from ground level, the old city district remained the same old city district.

At the same time, in the center of this triangle, six black and red cloaked figures streaked across the sky like lightning!

The man at the forefront looked up at the dark red sky, reached back to grasp the hilt of his sword, and narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Ghost-faced Man cleansing operation, commence."