The following afternoon.
"Delicious!"
Outside the Yueyao Milk Tea Shop, Zhu Xiaoming gave a thumbs-up.
The milk tea shop stood at the entrance to Jiang University, jointly opened by Zhong Yue and Lu Yao. In just a few days, somehow, the two girls had become as inseparable as glue and lacquer—and even gone into business together.
The side wall of the shop was covered in lush, verdant Boston ivy.
Zhu Xiaoming let out a full belch and pointed at the ivy on the wall.
"I think there's really no need to clear out this ivy. It's the finishing touch."
Then he pointed at the three empty cups on the table.
"The flavor is incredible. As expected of milk tea made by Yaoyao herself—perfect!"
Goosebumps rose all over Lu Yao's body, and terror filled her face.
"Bro, I'm begging you, can you stop calling me Yaoyao??"
Zhu Xiaoming grinned wickedly and shamelessly leaned closer.
"Yaoyao, you don't like that nickname? Yaoyao."
Lu Yao knocked him flat with one punch.
"No sleeping here," Zhong Yue said, covering her mouth as she laughed.
Zhu Xiaoming rolled back onto his feet, dusted himself off, and chuckled.
"What a pity Zhang couldn't come. He said he had things to deal with today and had to head out on a long trip tonight. Well, he's the one without the good fortune—he doesn't get to taste milk tea made by Yaoyao herself!"
Lu Yao clutched her cheek.
Her teeth hurt.
As the three bantered and roughhoused.
A figure had appeared before them at some point, carrying an air that kept others a thousand miles away—lonely, cold, distant, and utterly out of place.
Like a clump of snow huddled in a shadowy corner during this blazing summer, refusing to melt no matter what.
"Nuanyu?" Lu Yao froze. Of the three, she was barely acquainted with Chen Nuanyu; they had exchanged a few words before.
"Mm."
Chen Nuanyu nodded lightly, her wine-red hair falling loosely over her shoulders.
"One milk tea."
Zhu Xiaoming blinked. Genius Chen drank milk tea too?
From the rumors at Linshu Middle School, this young lady supposedly never touched even a drop of sugar.
"Coming right up." Lu Yao answered and quickly made a cup of milk tea.
The milk tea shop had only opened in haste and had not hired any staff yet, so for now, she and Zhong Yue were personally handling everything.
"Here you go, Nuanyu."
"Mm."
Chen Nuanyu took the milk tea but did not drink it. Instead, she asked,
"How much?"
Zhu Xiaoming said carelessly,
"We're all classmates. Why talk about money? You're the first customer on opening day, so it's on the house!"
Chen Nuanyu merely asked again, calmly,
"How much?"
Zhu Xiaoming paused.
The atmosphere abruptly turned chilly.
More footsteps came straight toward them. The three facing each other looked toward the newcomer. Zhu Xiaoming and Lu Yao showed no particular reaction, but Zhong Yue sprang to her feet with a whoosh.
"G-grandpa?" she forced out.
"Zhong Shan" leaned on a cheap wooden cane and nodded gently at Zhu Xiaoming and Lu Yao.
"You're both Xiaoyue's friends, right? I often hear Xiaoyue mention you."
"Really?" The carefree Zhu Xiaoming failed to notice Zhong Yue's abnormality and laughed. "Hello, Grandpa. Do you know what my name is?"
"You must be Zhu Xiaoming?"
The old man smiled, then looked to the side.
"And you must be Lu Yao?"
"Huh? You really know us?" The two were astonished, while Zhong Yue only felt a chill creep up her spine.
After a moment of silence.
"Why are you here?" she asked cautiously.
"Didn't I say so? Once I finished dealing with things these past two days, Grandpa would try and see whether he could guide the Visualization Method into the entry stage." The old man smiled kindly, leaving both Zhu Xiaoming and Lu Yao stunned.
Guide someone into the entry stage of the Visualization Method?
Even Chen Nuanyu, standing there like an ice sculpture, glanced at the old man from the corner of her eye—only to discover that he was looking at her as well.
Their gazes met for an instant.
Just that instant.
Chen Nuanyu saw her own reflection in the old man's eyes, and then something bizarre happened.
The reflected version of herself in those pupils was clear beyond measure.
She could even see the reflected eyes—and then, within those eyes, she saw herself again, repeating over and over.
Like two mirrors facing each other, extending infinitely without end.
It was like falling into some indescribable abyss of the mind, falling, falling, and falling again.
Weightlessness.
Absurdity.
Panic.
Everything around her became invisible and imperceptible. Between heaven and earth, only the old man's eyes remained, along with the endlessly stretching reflections within them.
Smack!
The old man shifted his gaze. The two opposing mirrors shattered, and Chen Nuanyu woke from her endless disorientation and broke free. She staggered three steps back, knocking over the small wooden table in front of the milk tea shop with a clang.
Then she continued stumbling backward, bracing herself against the rough side wall of the shop.
Several pairs of eyes looked at her in confusion.
Chen Nuanyu panted, staring in horror at the old man—then suddenly turned an even more horrified gaze upon the side wall she was leaning against.
It was an ordinary brick wall, with some of its paint peeling away.
But.
Where had the lush Boston ivy on the wall gone??
When had it disappeared?
As Chen Nuanyu stood there in shock.
At some point, the old man had arrived before Zhong Yue. He stretched out a hand, lightly tapped her head three times, then brushed it over her.
Zhang Fusheng invaded the girl's mental world.
His aged voice echoed through her mind like morning bells and evening drums.
"Perform the Visualization Method."
The echoes rang out again and again, never ceasing.
Zhong Yue involuntarily operated the Morning Sun Basic Visualization Method, visualizing blurry Heavenly Light at daybreak and rolling clouds of dawn.
With a movement of Zhang Fusheng's will, the Heavenly Light blazed brilliantly and the rosy clouds became like a sea. Only then did the muffled sounds of those three taps upon her head explode beside Zhong Yue's ears.
She was enlightened as if receiving an initiation, seeing Mysterious Factor emerge within her senses, scattered through the air around her.
Morning Sun Basic Visualization Method, Visualization Method, entry achieved.
The transaction was complete.
She opened her eyes and looked around blankly. Zhu Xiaoming and Lu Yao were staring at her with concern, but Chen Nuanyu was gone, and so was "Grandpa."
She asked instinctively,
"Where are Genius Chen and Grandpa?"
"Genius Chen left a while ago." The two then asked in surprise, "What grandpa?"
Zhong Yue's heart skipped a beat. She staggered back several steps, crashing into the side wall of the milk tea shop, into the lush Boston ivy.
"Have you identified him??"
Inside the white van, several team members were sweating profusely.
"The facial comparison is complete. Zhong Shan, eighty-four years old, a First Refinement martial artist, terminal cancer patient, receiving treatment at Ankang Tumor Hospital."
One team member wiped away his sweat and stared at the footage playing on repeat.
The recording was remote surveillance footage targeting Subject One, Chen Nuanyu. Everything had been normal until she arrived at a milk tea shop.
Then things went wrong.
In the footage, the old man listed in the records as Zhong Shan walked up to the milk tea shop.
After that, whether it was Subject One or the other three "passersby," all of them simultaneously froze in place, utterly motionless, as though they had—
Fallen into the [Divine Realm].
Then the old man turned around and looked toward the white van from one or two kilometers away.
The instant his gaze reached them.
The video image distorted. By the time it became clear again, the old man had vanished without a trace.
The team member took a breath.
"Terminal cancer? An ordinary old man? First Refinement?? Look at this—what part of it matches up?"
He swallowed.
"Archive the footage first. Have someone go to Ankang Hospital and retrieve Zhong Shan's full medical records. Also, has the captain's mental healing been completed?"
"No. The captain suffered excessively severe mental contamination. It will take at least three or four more days before the restraints can be removed and the captain can return to normal."
Everyone in the van fell silent.
Before you continue