His mind seemed to be sinking in the Dead Sea.
The cold System Notifications sounded like songs from afar, twisting into strange female voices within his increasingly hazy consciousness.
Repeating in a loop, as if the essence of the world were nothing more than a looping mechanical sound.
Falling, falling endlessly.
Apart from Lin An's right hand, raised as he reached for the Light Sphere as if trying to grasp hope, he could no longer move.
If not for the struggle of his instinct for survival, Lin An even felt that perhaps he was already dead.
He was like a soulless shell, no longer able to bend even a single finger.
Only his will was burning—or rather, every cell, every atom, and every wisp of Mental Strength within his body was desperately stopping him from sliding toward death.
This force was so unwilling to give in that even after time had run out, it still stubbornly dragged along the last sliver of life.
Yet death after time burned to its end was something perhaps few living beings in the entire universe had ever experienced.
That was true exhaustion, true disappearance.
It was different from being killed by Chu Renmei inside the Secret Realm, and different from dying in the Aberration State or beneath the Dream Meme.
This time, Lin An experienced what death truly was for an incomparably long time.
Gradually, the raised right hand lowered, finally crashing slowly to the ground.
How ridiculous.
He had fought to kill his way toward a sliver of hope, but the price of that hope was his life.
Who knew how long had passed? Perhaps ten seconds, perhaps a minute.
After searching unsuccessfully more than a hundred times, the Exchange System finally lit up, indicating that it had found what Lin An needed.