Return

Below the video, the original poster had written a frantic, incoherent message.

"Just now! I'd been hiding at home all day, but I couldn't stand it anymore, so I went up to the roof to see what was going on. And then I saw this!

It's absolutely real! I swear on my ten-year-old account!

It flew in from the east, circled twice in the sky, then headed west...

It was moving too fast. My phone could only capture this much...

But what on earth is going on with this world? Monsters were one thing, but now there are dragons?!"

Jiang Ran stared at the screen for a long time without saying a word.

He slowly leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers lightly on the desk.

Just as he'd thought.

This world was home to the creatures from the Classic of Mountains and Seas—beings capable of reshaping heaven and earth.

But then Jiang Ran suddenly realized something.

He got up at once and quickly browsed the other popular sections.

Inside the Abyssal Void, he didn't know why the forum hadn't deleted those posts.

But if they were still there after he returned, the people outside would definitely delete them right away.

He had to make the most of the time he had left with his phone.

Sure enough, besides the post about the dragon, plenty of people were discussing their own experiences.

Someone had seen a giant lizard that breathed fire.

Someone said they were hiding in a subway station when they heard a strange sound from deep in the tunnel—like a baby crying and a woman laughing at the same time.

Someone else had posted for help, saying one of their companions had been wrapped in a translucent shadow and looked as if all the life had been drained out of him. He was now unconscious and wouldn't wake up...

Others had posted, hoping to find people to band together with for warmth.

The information was jumbled, and it was hard to tell what was real.

But one thing was clear: people had entered the Abyssal Void all across the country, perhaps even the world.

And some of them had already encountered the supernatural.

Jiang Ran took photos of all the information with his phone, one by one.

He couldn't help making a strange face.

Something didn't seem right.

Compared to what everyone else had seen, Feng City, where he was... seemed a little too safe!?

But he didn't have much time.

Jiang Ran glanced at the countdown.

Only sixty seconds remained.

He immediately got up and tucked the remaining Spirit Crystals close to his body.

The countdown slowly reached zero, and his consciousness wavered for a moment.

It was like nodding off in the middle of the night from sheer exhaustion, your mind suddenly cutting out, only to reconnect a moment later.

Jiang Ran opened his eyes.

He was still standing in the middle of the living room.

A night breeze rustled outside the window, and the faint sound of cars passing drifted from the distance.

The world had come back to life.

And he had returned.

Having experienced it once before, Jiang Ran was much calmer this time.

He immediately reached for the tactical pouch at his waist.

The Spirit Crystals were still there, cool to the touch.

Almost at the same time, that familiar voice sounded deep in his mind.

[Next Abyssal Void opening: October 16, 00:00]

Jiang Ran furrowed his brow slightly.

He had entered for the first time at midnight on October 14. The next opening would be at midnight on October 16.

Two days between openings, and one day inside.

Was it a fixed cycle, or would it change later?

He set the question aside for now and picked up the phone on the desk.

The screen lit up, displaying the time:

October 14, 00:00:14.

Only fourteen seconds had passed.

Jiang Ran's gaze sharpened.

As expected, time in the real world had stopped completely while he was inside the Abyssal Void.

That discovery put him at ease.

If that was how it worked, it would save him a lot of trouble.

He wouldn't have to worry about people getting suspicious if he disappeared for a long time, or explain his whereabouts to anyone.

Jiang Ran sat back down at the computer.

He started it up, opened a browser, and logged into Mouhu.

He quickly typed in the keywords "dragon," "monster," and "Abyssal Void," then pressed Enter.

The page refreshed.

Nothing.

The viral post with over ten thousand clicks and thousands of replies had disappeared.

He tried a few other post titles he remembered, but found nothing.

"Just as I thought. They deleted them."

Jiang Ran closed the page, his expression calm.

He had expected as much.

An unnatural event on such a massive scale would inevitably cause panic if information about it were allowed to spread online.

But that had nothing to do with him.

Whether the posts were deleted or not, he had no intention of revealing that he could enter the Abyssal Void.

What mattered was planning what he'd do in the real world next.

Jiang Ran took a sheet of paper from the side.

He wrote down what he needed to prepare in the real world over the next 48 hours.

First, he needed to pick up some Professions he'd previously given up on.

For example, gun shooting and archery.

Those Professions weren't just useful for earning Profession Points; they could also be a great help in the Abyssal Void.

He could also work on a few easier Professions and earn those points as quickly as possible.

In the end, Jiang Ran filled an entire page...

Looking at the densely packed list, he felt a headache coming on.

He wondered if there was a Profession called Master of Time Management...

Meanwhile, at the police station a few streets away from Jiang Ran's home.

The officers were still busy in the lobby.

One of them caught sight of Liu San, filthy and disheveled in the holding room. He froze, set down the papers in his hands, and hurried over to him, brow furrowed.

"Liu San, what kind of stunt are you pulling now?!"

But Liu San was still unconscious. It wasn't until the officer called out to him repeatedly that he slowly came around.

When he opened his eyes and saw the officer, excitement flooded Liu San's face. He immediately grabbed the officer and cried, "I'm back! I'm back!!!"

The officer frowned.

After exchanging a look with another officer who had come over, he said gently, "Don't worry. You're safe now.

Can you tell me what happened?"

Liu San wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes... and composed himself. "What if I told you I went to another world... and even met Zhang Qiling? Would you believe me?"

The two officers exchanged a glance.

The older one fell silent for a moment, then said, "Let's check the security footage. And while we're at it, get him an appointment with psychiatry."

The next morning.

Jiang Ran got up on time, washed, and changed into a simple shirt and a pair of trousers.

He looked no different from usual.

A fresh-faced, gentle young teacher.

He put the Spirit Crystals in a small cloth bag and tucked it into a compartment in his backpack.

Before leaving, he glanced at the apartment building across from his.

Two police cars were parked downstairs. A few officers had put up a cordon, and a crowd of early-morning shoppers had gathered around the entrance, whispering among themselves.

Jiang Ran's expression remained calm.

The first person he had seen die through the Abyssal Void's window the night before lived on the fourth floor across the street.

The man who had drunkenly roared and was ultimately attacked by a monster.

As expected, dying in the Abyssal Void meant dying in the real world, too.

He looked away and left the residential complex.

He took a cab to school.

With his eyes closed, he rested in the car, repeatedly running through the details of the previous day's battle in his mind.

The driver had the radio on. The morning news was reporting several suicides and accidents.

Jiang Ran's eyelashes twitched, but he didn't open his eyes.

At Fengcheng No. 3 High School, in the counseling room.

Jiang Ran set down his backpack, brewed a cup of tea, and sat at his desk.

He took a heavy, thread-bound edition of the Classic of Mountains and Seas from his bag and opened it.

It was a reproduction of a Qing-dynasty woodblock edition, with illustrations and detailed annotations.

He turned to the Classic of the Great Eastern Wilderness and found the passage about the Abyssal Void, studying it word by word.

"East of the Bohai Sea... the waters of the Eight Directions and Nine Regions, the River of Heaven's current—all pour into it, yet it neither grows nor diminishes..."

The text was archaic, its imagery vast and grand.

Jiang Ran ran his fingers lightly over the page, lost in thought.

In the ancient texts, the Abyssal Void was where all waters converged—a place of endings, and of return.

But in that world, he had seen a copy of a modern city, along with all manner of monsters.

What connection was there between the two?

Was mythology reflected in reality, or had reality twisted mythology?

As he pondered, a knock suddenly came from outside the door.

Knock, knock.

Jiang Ran closed the book and looked up.

"Come in."

The door opened, and a teacher in charge of a senior-year class, Teacher Chen, came in.

Behind her was a thin boy with his head lowered.

"Teacher Jiang, do you have a moment?" Teacher Chen's brows were knitted with concern.

"Of course. What's wrong, Teacher Chen?" Jiang Ran stood up.

Teacher Chen gently guided the boy forward. "This student hasn't been doing well lately, and he won't talk to anyone.

He didn't even want to come to school today.

I had to go to his house and bring him here myself. Could you try talking to him?"

Jiang Ran looked at the boy.

He recognized him.

Zhou Ming, one of the top students in the senior science class. He was among the top ten in his grade on almost every exam, and often went onstage as the student representative to give speeches during morning exercises.

But the Zhou Ming standing before him was nothing like the spirited boy he remembered.

His head hung low, his shoulders were slightly hunched, his face was pale, and dark circles ringed his eyes.

"Sure, no problem," Jiang Ran told Teacher Chen. "Why don't you head back for now? I'll talk with him, then get in touch with you."

Teacher Chen hesitated, then nodded. "All right. Sorry for the trouble, Teacher Jiang."

She closed the door softly as she left.

The counseling room fell quiet.

Jiang Ran didn't speak right away. Instead, he walked over to the water dispenser, poured a cup of warm water, and set it on the coffee table in front of Zhou Ming. Then he sat on the sofa across from him.

"You're Zhou Ming, right?" Jiang Ran's voice was gentle. "I'm Jiang Ran, the school counselor. Sit wherever you like. There are no cameras here, and our conversation will be confidential."

Zhou Ming kept his head lowered, both hands gripping the knees of his uniform trousers so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

Jiang Ran waited for about a minute. When Zhou Ming still showed no sign of speaking, he tried a different approach. "Teacher Chen said you haven't been sleeping well these past few days. Have you been having nightmares?"

The boy's shoulders trembled slightly.

"Can you tell me what you dreamed about?" Jiang Ran slowed his speech. "Sometimes it helps to talk about what scares you."

At last, Zhou Ming slowly raised his head.

When Jiang Ran saw his eyes, he paused in surprise.

Those bloodshot eyes... held fear and exhaustion.

They didn't look like the eyes of a boy his age at all.

Zhou Ming parted his lips. "Teacher..."

He stopped for a long time, long enough that Jiang Ran thought he wouldn't go on.

Then the boy asked a question Jiang Ran never expected.

"Do you believe... there's a Second World?"