A parallel world.
That referred to other worlds that existed parallel to the original world—similar, yet different.
In this world, there was the same universe as the original world, the same planet, and even the same history and people. At the same time, however, certain developments had produced different results for unknown reasons.
For example, species that had already gone extinct in the original world might still survive here.
Countries that had once perished in the original world might also have been saved here.
Under such circumstances, this world continued to develop and eventually drifted farther and farther from the original, becoming another world that was similar yet different. This was what people called a parallel world.
Su Ming had now encountered exactly such a situation.
In other words, he had crossed into a parallel world and become this world's Su Ming.
As far as Su Ming knew, this world had apparently been just as ordinary as Earth long ago.
But this world had two sides.
One was the surface, where all kinds of life, led by humanity, lived.
The other was the underside, which was filled with vicious monsters.
There was no order there, nor any life forms aside from the vicious monsters.
The monsters constantly slaughtered one another and fed on blood, turning that place into a chaotic, dark hell.
That was the Spirit Fiend Abyss, a place on the underside of the world inhabited by vicious monsters known as Phantom Demons.
Originally, the surface and underside of the world would never intersect.
They were like the two sides of a mirror. Neither could reflect, touch, or see the other.
If those two sides never intersected, this world would have remained just as ordinary as the one Su Ming had originally lived in.
Unfortunately, for unknown reasons, the present world dominated by humanity had become connected to the Spirit Fiend Abyss, where the Phantom Demons lived.
As a result, the distance between the present world and the Spirit Fiend Abyss had been reduced without limit.
The result was that the bloodthirsty, murderous Phantom Demons began invading the present world, posing an unprecedented threat to every living thing there.
Humanity was powerless to resist the Phantom Demons.
Not only did Phantom Demons possess supernatural powers beyond human imagination, but their physical structures were entirely different from those of humans. Even the weakest Phantom Demon could recover from grievous injuries at a speed visible to the naked eye, displaying terrifying vitality.
Thus, humans were slaughtered at will by the Phantom Demons, devoured, and drained of blood, as fragile as ants.
Some especially powerful Phantom Demons could even alter the terrain with ease, churning up the very land of the planet.
Therefore, although this world was still Earth, still the Blue Star familiar to Su Ming, the influence of the Phantom Demons had caused it to develop countless stark differences.
For example, this world no longer had the countries familiar to Su Ming. Even the cities had changed, becoming enormous Base Cities built to oppose the Spirit Fiend Abyss and the Phantom Demons.
The city where Su Ming currently lived was a Base City called Longyao City, with a population of more than sixty million.
Su Ming had already been in this world for a year.
That said, his parents were still the parents he knew, and his home had not changed either. It was still a small apartment with four bedrooms and two living rooms. Even his neighbors and social connections had not changed much, and his life before the age of seventeen was not very different from what he remembered.
If not for the city having changed, along with his address, Su Ming would definitely have suspected that he had crossed into a fake world.
However, although his life experiences and social connections had not changed much, his surroundings and circumstances were completely different.
For example, the school Su Ming now attended was no longer an ordinary educational institution. It was a training institution for Phantom Demon specialists that specifically recruited Warlocks and Hunters, commonly known as the Demon Hunter Academy.
Warlocks and Hunters were professionals who had emerged under the influence of the Spirit Fiend Abyss. They possessed special physiques and powers, granting them the ability to oppose and hunt Phantom Demons.
Su Ming had become a Warlock studying at the Demon Hunter Academy.
Not only him—even Lei Hao and Ye Bai, whom he had known since childhood and had always kept in touch with, had been admitted to the Demon Hunter Academy alongside him. One had become a Hunter, the other a Warlock, and all three were now students there.
The first rule of the Demon Hunter Academy was: Students must take the eradication and opposition of Phantom Demons, as well as the protection of Base Cities and ordinary civilians, as their duty.
Because of this rule, aside from their daily studies, the students of the Demon Hunter Academy also had to accept various missions.
Most missions involved hunting Lesser Phantasmal Demons that had escaped from the Spirit Fiend Abyss into the present world, rescuing ordinary civilians persecuted by Phantom Demons, or collecting special materials and items.
Completing missions earned them all kinds of rewards, including but not limited to money.
Today, Su Ming, Lei Hao, and Ye Bai had accepted a mission to eliminate a Scream Devil hiding in the warehouse district and recover its wings.
The mission was not very difficult. It was only Rank C. Among the six mission levels—S, A, B, C, D, and E—it was merely mid-to-low level.
After all, the Scream Devil was only a Lesser Phantasmal Demon, a common weakling in the Spirit Fiend Abyss. If not for its ability to fly and its extremely high mobility, which made it somewhat difficult to eliminate, the mission could never have reached Rank C. Reaching Rank D would already have been generous.
Even so, the three of them had nearly made a mistake and allowed the Scream Devil to escape. This showed just how troublesome Phantom Demons could be.
"Well, it's not like we're anything more than ordinary students at the Demon Hunter Academy. We're not even elites, let alone comparable to the top students, are we?"
After turning in the mission, Lei Hao walked out of the Mission Hall while casually carrying a sword larger than a person, speaking as he did.
"That isn't an excuse for your carelessness."
Ye Bai, walking beside him, showed him no mercy.
Yet the fact that Ye Bai had not denied Lei Hao's statement showed that he was telling the truth.
Compared with ordinary people, the three of them were naturally much stronger.
But in the Demon Hunter Academy, neither their grades nor their strength could be considered outstanding. Even if they were not at the very bottom, they had always hovered around the middle—neither rising nor falling. They could only be called ordinary students.
If that were not the case, the three of them would not have teamed up to complete a Rank C Mission.
In other words—
"We're just Side Characters at the Demon Hunter Academy, right?"
Lei Hao spoke without a care.
This time, it was not Ye Bai who answered him, but Su Ming, who had remained silent until then.
"Is being a Side Character bad?" Su Ming suddenly said. "No matter what kind of situation you're in, all you need to do is run errands. You don't have to risk your life saving the world like the protagonist and become a hero in everyone's eyes. You also don't have to be sacrificed at some unknown point and casually receive a death flag like those supporting characters. Isn't that pretty good?"
Su Ming's argument made Lei Hao and Ye Bai blink.
Then both of them laughed.
"True. Being the protagonist in this world is dangerous." Ye Bai pushed up his glasses and spoke very realistically. "Putting everything else aside, just look at the elites in the academy. They have to complete a difficult Rank A Mission every month. Whenever danger appears somewhere in Longyao City and the academy needs to send students to fill out its forces, they're usually the first ones selected. The top students have it even worse."
"Exactly." Lei Hao spoke bluntly. "In our Hunter Department alone, several elite students ranked in the top hundred have died on Rank A Missions this month."
"Isn't it the same in the Warlock Department?" Ye Bai sighed. "Last month, an upperclassman who taught us the Twelve Forms went with an instructor to carry out a Rank A Mission. He died too. That senior was famous for being a good person. He was popular and talented, and many teachers felt it was a shame when he died."
That was the cruelty of this world.
In the end, only a minority of people could oppose the Phantom Demons.
Whether one became a Warlock or a Hunter, it was never something that could be accomplished easily.
The Phantom Demons, on the other hand, could threaten the lives of most people even at their weakest.
One or two of them would not be a problem, and hunting them would not be difficult. But if a large number of Phantom Demons invaded the present world together, it would become a massive disaster.
For that reason, whenever the Phantom Demons launched a large-scale invasion, the human Base Cities were usually short of manpower.
Naturally, the missing personnel could only be drawn from the Demon Hunter Academy. That was why so many missions were assigned to the academy and completed by its students.
Warlocks and Hunters were both extremely high-risk professions.
But humanity had no other choice. It could only continue resisting. Otherwise, becoming blood food for the Phantom Demons would be the fate of all humankind.
Su Ming said as much.
"My wish is to be a Side Character. I want to scrape by until graduation at the Demon Hunter Academy, and keep scraping by even after graduation. I absolutely refuse to be the bird that sticks its head out and charges into battle."
Su Ming spoke with deep conviction.
Lei Hao and Ye Bai were not surprised.
That was because this was far from the first time Su Ming had said it.
The only problem was—
"Side Characters have their own sorrows."
"Without strength, the Side Character is the one most likely to receive a death flag."
Lei Hao and Ye Bai both said so.
And it was true.
As a Side Character, one might not attract attention or be pushed out as a scapegoat when danger appeared. But if one was too weak, one might die beneath a Boss's full-field area attack at any moment, becoming a disposable extra not even worthy of a name.
In the eyes of anyone who did not know the truth, Su Ming's wish would only be a joke.
But—
"Wouldn't it be fine to stay hidden until I become invincible?"
Su Ming smiled at his two companions.
Lei Hao and Ye Bai immediately burst out laughing.
"Right. Just develop quietly. Once you're invincible, every problem will be solved."
"The only concern is whether a Side Character can survive long enough to rise above the rest."
The two of them chatted idly, exchanging one comment after another.
Su Ming walked at the very back, still smiling, while his consciousness sank into his mind.
There, a screen unfolded quietly like a virtual image.
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