This Is Real

In an alleyway in Jinguan City that was completely silent and deserted, a man wearing a white embroidered shirt appeared out of thin air, tumbling across the ground a few times before a black handgun fell out.

Hiss~

An Yang quickly steadied himself, flipped up, and hurriedly picked up the handgun from the ground, looking left and right before stowing it away in his portable space and dusting off his shirt.

He took out his phone and frowned.

"Where is this? Weren't I just at home?"

"According to your location coordinates, this is still Jinguan City, and not far from the Chosen One's residence."

An Yang paused for a moment, asking in confusion, "Weren't I at home before the travel, so how did I end up running here?"

The phone in his hand remained silent for a long time before a line of text flickered across it.

...The Earth rotates.

The expression on An Yang's face stiffened.

"This explanation... why didn't you just throw me into Africa!"

"My calculation system has been unused for a long time, so minor mistakes are quite normal. The repairs are already complete."

"Fine, just don't really throw me into Africa. Anyway, it's a good thing no one's here, otherwise with this handgun dropping like that, I'd be heading straight to the police station."

The phone screen went dark.

An Yang was already at his wit's end with this phone that possessed heaven-defying abilities. He rubbed his aching waist and walked out of the gloomy alley.

A ray of sunlight beamed down on his face. Though it had only been a single month, it gave him the surreal feeling of a lifetime apart. What he had experienced over the past month truly felt just like a dream.

This mission had lasted for a little over a month in the world of Léon: The Professional. Perhaps due to the Prelude, his harvest was immense. Two firearms including accessories and a number of bullets lay in his portable space, along with several abilities that others dreamed of.

"Mm, I still have around seventy thousand US dollars left. I wonder if I can use it in the real world. At the current exchange rate, six sevens are forty-two... Wait, did I suddenly become very rich?"

"Is this really not a dream?"

An Yang walked down the street, his mind somewhat dazed. To this day, he still dared not confirm whether this was real, much less that he had just pulled the trigger twice and killed a man from so far away.

Suddenly, the crowd ahead erupted into a commotion, and a woman's shout rang out.

"Catch the thief, catch the thief! The thief snatched my bag."

"In broad daylight, the two of you actually dare to snatch my bag. Stop right there!"

Two young men quickly parted the crowd and rushed toward An Yang. The one in the lead held a fashionable LV bag in his hand, glancing backward every now and then.

Perhaps because An Yang was blocking their path, the man with the bag didn't hesitate to reach out and shove An Yang, then strode forward to run.

An Yang was quite tall at one meter eighty, and not at all skinny, but people nowadays generally looked out for themselves and wouldn't easily court trouble. Moreover, the two of them looked big and strong, so this thief had never imagined that An Yang would make a move against them.

Yet right now, An Yang was feeling agitated and had just received the transmission of Mastery of Combat (beginner). It would have been fine if this thief hadn't provoked him—he could have just run on past—but the guy had to go and seek death by shoving him.

Bang!

Before the crowd even saw clearly what had happened, this thief sprawled out flat on the ground, a huge bump rising on his forehead, and the pink limited-edition LV bag also slipped from his grasp.

Facts proved that a beginner's Mastery of Combat was still a mastery of combat, at least on a professional level, far surpassing ordinary hoodlums.

Mastery of Combat told him that before reaching the master level, one must never allow opponents to retain the ability to fight back. He had to seize the advantage and fight all the way through, otherwise things would very likely flip over on him!

Thus, just as the hoodlum tried to struggle to his feet, An Yang unhesitatingly stepped forward and stomped his foot down on the man's head. The move was so simple, yet appeared so violent.

Bang.

With a muffled sound, the corners of the surrounding onlookers' eyes all twitched, and they subconsciously swallowed, watching the pool of blood formed by the thief's head colliding with the tiled sidewalk, which couldn't help but make their hearts skip a beat.

An Yang turned his head to look aside. The other youth subconsciously took a step back, drew a dagger from his waist, pointed it at An Yang, and put on a fierce facade as he said:

"What do you want? This is none of your business, we're all people who mix in the streets. I'm warning you... advising you to leave a way out for everything."

An Yang stared in a daze. Only now did he truly and deeply feel that everything the time-space travel phone had brought him was real, including the strength. Though it gave him a sense of unreality, it was also intoxicating.

A tall woman rushed over, picked up the bag from the ground, raised her head with a joyful expression, and said to him, "Thank you. This... my name is Song Hanshan, and this time it's all thanks to you."

An Yang glanced at her. She was dressed very fashionably, wore light makeup, and was quite pretty—an unquestionable great beauty with a strong presence. Judging from the LV bag in her hands, her family background should also be quite good.

Yet he had no time to care about these things. How should he put it? Having just obtained an incredible fortuitous encounter, his mind was a mess.

The hoodlum nearby looked at him with ruthlessness in his eyes, gritted his teeth, and rushed toward him, stabbing his dagger out fiercely. The man still had a shred of sense, aiming for the stomach, as after all, no one could afford to take responsibility for a human life.

Ah!

The pretty woman shrieked. Having been pampered since childhood, where had she ever witnessed such a scene?

"Hmph, courting death!"

An Yang was quick-witted and agile. He hadn't reached the point of catching flying blades bare-handed, so instead he sidestepped to dodge the move, effortlessly using the momentum to push the man away, and when the distance was just right, he ruthlessly kicked the hoodlum right in the crotch.

Bang.

Hiss!!! Ah!!!

Watching the hoodlum's distorted facial features, the onlookers seemed to hear the sound of an egg shattering to pieces, and a slight chill ran through their lower bodies.

The youth clutched his crotch and collapsed to his knees, completely overwhelmed by the excruciating pain. He didn't even care about the dagger that had dropped onto the ground.

The pretty woman stared in a daze, taking a long time to react before hurriedly pulling out her phone from her bag and making a call.

"Mister, wait a moment, I'm making a phone call."

"Hello, Uncle Lin, I'm over at Wutong Road right now and ran into a bit of trouble. Hurry up and bring some people over. Yes, it's quite urgent."

The pretty woman hung up the phone and looked at An Yang's upright figure, her eyes seemingly sparkling as she spoke while extending a hand.

"Alright, I'll handle the rest of the matter. Thank you truly so much. Let me introduce myself again, my name is Song Hanshan, nice to meet you."

An Yang glanced at her. He had to admit that this woman's appearance was stunning, especially with the light makeup that made her look like an ethereal fairy. Her bodily curves were also exceptional, and her exquisite, fashionable attire further amplified her advantages, making her look extremely charming.

"Hello, my name is An Yang..."

Just as he was speaking, he suddenly felt the phone in his pants pocket vibrate. The hand he had just extended pulled back, and he took out his phone to take a look, drew a deep breath, and expressionlessly put it back into his pocket.

Song Hanshan felt a bit awkward and withdrew her hand as well.

Yet she didn't mind. Seeing An Yang put his phone away, she spoke again: "An Yang, right? Thank you for helping me just now. You were so cool a moment ago, taking down those two thieves in just a few moves. Do you practice martial arts?"

An Yang frowned and didn't answer her. After checking his phone, he already had quite a notion of leaving, and said, "Leave the rest of the matters for you to handle, I won't get involved. I'll be leaving first."

Song Hanshan was stunned, then hurriedly said, "Please wait, I haven't thanked you yet."

An Yang shook his head, turned around, and walked away: "No need, I have some things to take care of."

Song Hanshan froze for a moment, then hurriedly chased after him: "Mr. An Yang, leave a contact method. I will definitely thank you properly. Hey, Mr. An Yang..."

An Yang remained silent without uttering a word, though he secretly quickened his pace and soon vanished around the corner.

Leaving Song Hanshan standing there in a daze, looking down to inspect herself, failing to understand where her usual charm had gone. It took her a long time to react, and a tiny glint of starlight filled her eyes.

"Such a cool man."

Before long, a black commercial vehicle roared up, and almost immediately after, several police cars arrived at the scene as well.

"How much time has passed since the day I left?"

This time, only a line of text appeared on the phone screen without any sound being emitted.

"According to the Noether Spacetime Formula, entering the Origin World from any base world results in a 10:1 time ratio between the Origin World and the base world. The Chosen One spent 33 days in the Origin World, and approximately three days and seven hours have passed in the real world."

An Yang nodded, took a deep breath, and asked again, "Did anyone call me these past few days?"

A photo of a pretty young girl materialized on the phone screen, accompanied by a line of data and an eye-catching number.

"Yes, a young girl named Ji Weiwei called you 28 times."

An Yang's expression shifted drastically. Three days had already passed, so this girl wouldn't have called the police, would she?

"This is bad, call her back quickly."

The call connected swiftly, and a girl's voice came through, sounding very crisp.

"Hello?"

"Cough cough... Hello, it's me, An Yang."

"An Yang?! Where the hell did you die off to? I've been looking for you for three days, and your phone couldn't be reached."

"Uh... I dropped and broke my phone when I resigned, so see, I just bought a new one."

"Bullshit, then why didn't I find you when I went to your place? You're not at home, right? Don't think I don't know that you hide your key on the doorframe. I slept at your place the day before yesterday, and if you didn't come back soon, I was going to call the police."

An Yang paused, asking in bewilderment, "How did you know I put the key on the doorframe?"

The voice on the phone instantly softened considerably, seeming to sigh as it said, "Don't feed me that nonsense, honestly confess: why did you resign and smash your phone? Did you suffer some grievance? Where did you run off to these past few days? Hey, wait a minute, you didn't go looking for prostitutes, did you!"

Sweat broke out across An Yang's face, but he had no choice but to bite the bullet and change the subject, saying, "You really like to meddle, don't you? Right, you aren't still at my place, are you?"

"No, my mom called me to go back, saying my dad is seriously ill. I'm in the car right now. Oh, we've entered a tunnel, I'll call you later."

"Is Uncle okay? Hello?"

An Yang slowly lowered his phone and finally let out a sigh of relief.

Ji Weiwei was an old friend of his. As for how old, he couldn't really remember; they should have been playing together since they were very young, and their bond went without saying.

Ji Weiwei's parents and his own parents both lived in Yan City and were both teachers, residing in the same faculty housing compound. The two of them grew up together in Yan City from kindergarten through university, staying together all the way through high school in the same class, only parting ways when they entered different departments in university. It was no exaggeration to call them childhood sweethearts. Back in university, he frequently went out to eat with Ji Weiwei, a matter that often brought him teasing from his roommates.