Fragments That Seemed Familiar

"Damn, this tree was hard to climb."

Sitting on a sturdy branch in the canopy, Tao Yu panted lightly.

He had no idea what species this tree was. On the ground, surrounded by similarly towering trees in the rainforest, he had not felt much about it. Only after climbing it did he realize it was several stories tall.

With a rifle and magazines weighing over ten pounds on his back, it had taken quite some effort.

Only the Basic Breathing Technique had made up for his lacking physical fitness. If it had been his old self, he probably would not have been able to climb up at all.

Physical fitness really was his weakness.

But this climb had also made Tao Yu discover another new advantage of his.

It was probably a boost brought by One Proof, Eternal Proof. Even though he felt somewhat tired and his stamina had clearly been depleted, none of his strength, reaction speed, or other abilities had declined in the slightest.

The soreness was still soreness, but it did not affect him. That strange contrast left him somewhat unaccustomed to it.

It was just a pity that the feeling of fatigue and soreness could not be offset by Mental Immunity. Otherwise, he could have exploited a bug.

Come to think of it, soreness and fatigue were merely warnings from the body. If Mental Immunity could truly block them, that would actually be bad.

Sitting on the branch with one hand hooked around the trunk to keep from falling, Tao Yu raised the receiver in his hand, its surface dusted with bits of bark, and finally saw a faint signal indicator.

That made him breathe a sigh of relief. The frequency had already been adjusted—the company's public broadcast channel.

He stood and raised his hand high, extending his wrist above the canopy and swaying it from side to side. At last, he heard a voice from the receiver.

"...There is another radio frequency here, but it carries no Wish Power aura. It is most likely a radio station belonging to the world fragment itself. We should gather in that direction as much as possible. I will update broadcast information every day at noon, and the message will repeat until six in the evening..."

Hearing that cool, detached voice, Tao Yu froze slightly. What was going on?

But the voice soon finished speaking and began mechanically repeating itself. It was probably a recording that had been set up to replay like a phonograph.

"We regret to inform everyone from Starfall City that we appear to have encountered a rare Space-Time Anomaly. We failed to bind with the company's stationed region, and our equipment has received no signal from the company at all..."

What a bombshell right from the start. The speaker was most likely the twins from the Floating City.

As influential figures born in Rome, it was only natural that they possessed all sorts of rare tools. It was likewise unsurprising that they could directly broadcast a notice to every other nearby member.

And if even the high-end equipment in their hands could not receive information from the company's base, then their judgment could only be true!

A Space-Time Anomaly? What the hell! Why did he have to run into such a low-probability event?

Uh...

Tao Yu immediately thought of his divinity. Could there be a chance that he had caused this?

He then cast those complaints aside and silently continued listening to the radio broadcast.

According to the Sun siblings, this place was at least a hundred thousand kilometers from the company base in terms of distance—at least two or three times the circumference of Earth's equator!

Even at the shortest possible estimate, there might be several world fragments in between. Given the Abyss's danger and unpredictability, that distance was an impassable chasm. And it was highly likely to be even farther, with even more world fragments in the way!

So there was no point even thinking about finding the company base and receiving its protection. If they really had the ability to cross such a distance, who the hell would need protection?

The one tiny advantage of that damned company was gone too. What crap.

But there was another piece of good news. They had received a broadcast from another radio station, spoken in a language they could not understand.

Combined with their conclusion that the signal carried no Wish Power aura, that station most likely belonged to native lifeforms within the world fragment.

It was not a gathering place for another outside company, organization, or race. It might just be inhabited by natives of this world fragment, but at least there might be somewhere to rest. A radio station meant there might be civilization of its own, and perhaps they could make contact.

They might not be able to understand a language just by hearing it remotely, but after encountering the natives, they could use Wish Power to translate meaning face-to-face.

This was one of the gifts of the World Will, allowing pioneers to travel conveniently among the myriad worlds.

It was said that some powerful mental-type individuals did not even need Wish Power and possessed skills that allowed them to communicate on their own.

Once they reached the place with the radio station, its basic foundation would also make it easier to temporarily establish a new gathering point.

"...Encountering a Space-Time Anomaly makes you unfortunate, but being able to come here with us is also your good fortune. With us as the core, we will build a new company gathering point, and all of you will become its founding members!"

That familiar motivational ending full of empty encouragement gave Tao Yu a new understanding of their current situation.

But at that moment, Tao Yu felt a faint tremor run through the tree trunk.

The tree was thick and sturdy, but its height was what it was. Having climbed almost to the top, Tao Yu was especially sensitive to vibrations.

Using his height to look around, he found that although many of his sightlines were blocked by branches and leaves, he could still see the foliage in the jungle shaking. Judging by the amplitude and frequency, something big seemed to be approaching.

No, not merely something big. Something long—big and long!

Then, in the next instant, Tao Yu's eyes widened as an enormous snake head emerged from behind a corner concealed by trees. A snake head the size of a water tank completely overturned his understanding of normal snake dimensions!

No matter how long ordinary snakes grew, they were not usually that thick. The one Tao Yu had eaten was three or four meters long, yet weighed only around fifty pounds. Even a Giant Snake seven or eight meters long would weigh about as much as an adult.

It was not impossible for two adults who knew what they were doing to capture a seven- or eight-meter python barehanded. Tao Yu had simply slashed that python twice with his bayonet, and it had become a meal on his plate.

But this one, with a head the size of a water tank, completely shattered Tao Yu's understanding and brought an indescribable sense of oppression.

At the same time, Tao Yu rapidly searched through memories of films and television from his previous life.

He seemed to have seen something similar in a movie before.

Right, a snake of that size!

That made Tao Yu feel rather strange.

The Abyss devoured countless worlds and contained vast numbers of world fragments, with the materialization of all kinds of fantasy worlds being the first to bear the brunt.

After the world Tao Yu now inhabited had been invaded by the Abyss, he had learned from scattered bits of information that many world fragments came from the various stories, literary works, myths, and legends passed down in this world.

It was just that over so many years, many stories had faded away under various restrictions. Tao Yu could only obtain limited information from his parents.

Yet whether through language or other clues, Tao Yu could determine that this was not Earth, and that all of its stories had nothing to do with Earth.

Even his divinity's Outer God certification had effectively been personally granted by the World Will.

So why had something resembling a film from Earth appeared here?

Was it a coincidental legend of the same kind? Or had a world fragment from Earth appeared due to the Space-Time Anomaly?

Did that mean...

Earth had also begun to be devoured by the Abyss?

With memories and knowledge from his previous life, Tao Yu never lacked imagination or associations. He vaguely formed some guesses and deductions.

Even the Space-Time Anomaly might be connected to this—to himself...

Then, in the next instant, he saw that the giant python had likely been drawn by the Serpent Meat. It opened its jaws and swallowed his bag and the miscellaneous items beside it in one gulp.

"You goddamn bastard!"

Casting his guesses aside, Tao Yu sat firmly on the branch without the slightest fear. He raised his AK-style rifle, aimed it at the giant python, and pulled the trigger.

Given the lethality of bullets against carbon-based lifeforms, Tao Yu did not care at all about this grotesquely oversized python. As long as he hit a vital spot, it would die!

With his eyesight, was he really going to let it escape?

Rat-a-tat-tat!

The injured giant python swiftly curled up and, carrying the bag and roasted Serpent Meat it had already swallowed, instantly slipped out of Tao Yu's field of fire. Sitting on the branch, Tao Yu could not help feeling speechless.

I was clearly aiming at its head...

He had never expected that his eyes and hands could keep up, but the quality of the firearm could not.

The bullet spread was way too wild...