"Second World?" Jiang Ran set down his teacup, his voice even. "From a scientific perspective, the multiverse theory is still only a hypothesis. However..."
This world was vast, and humanity might understand less than one ten-thousandth of it.
"So, Zhou Ming, why did you suddenly ask me that?"
Zhou Ming tightened his fingers around his hands. He lowered his head. "I had a dream last night. I was still in my room, but there was no sound outside the window. The streets were empty, and then..."
"Then what?" Jiang Ran prompted gently.
"Then... I saw monsters outside the window." Zhou Ming's voice began to tremble. "They had lots of legs, like spiders, but bigger, with human faces... They kept eating people. When there was nothing left to eat, they swallowed cars whole..."
He couldn't continue.
Jiang Ran waited quietly for more than ten seconds before asking softly, "Zhou Ming, do you believe what I've told you?"
The boy nodded.
"Good." Jiang Ran leaned forward slightly and rested his folded hands on his knees, a posture that showed he was listening carefully. "First, I want you to know that whatever you've been through, it isn't your fault.
"The human brain is complicated. Sometimes, when we're under too much pressure or exposed to certain information, we can experience incredibly vivid hallucinations.
"That's normal."
Zhou Ming's lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but Jiang Ran continued.
"Second, if these dreams keep affecting your life, or you find yourself in danger..." Jiang Ran paused and looked at him sincerely. "I suggest telling your parents or... asking the Federation for help."
"The Federation?" Zhou Ming stared at him, surprised.
"Yes." Jiang Ran nodded. "There are many things in this world we don't understand. Rather than trying to bear it all by yourself, it's better to leave it to professionals. What do you think?"
Zhou Ming was silent for a long time.
Jiang Ran didn't hurry him. He simply sat quietly, giving the boy all the time he needed to think.
After a long while, Zhou Ming finally let out a slow breath. His shoulders relaxed noticeably.
"Teacher..." he said quietly. "You're right. I... I'll talk to my parents."
"Good."
Jiang Ran rose with a smile and walked to his desk. He took a note from a drawer and wrote down a number.
"Here's my number." He handed the note to Zhou Ming. "If you need anything later, you can call me."
Zhou Ming took the note, folded it carefully, and put it in his school uniform pocket.
"Thank you, Teacher Jiang."
"You're welcome." Jiang Ran patted his shoulder. "Go home and get some rest today."
Zhou Ming nodded, stood up, and walked toward the door.
At the doorway, he suddenly turned around. After a moment's hesitation, he asked quietly, "Teacher... do you really think those were just hallucinations?"
Jiang Ran looked at him, his gaze calm and warm.
"I don't know," he said honestly. "But I believe that whatever the truth is, someone will find a way to deal with it. And you will, too."
Zhou Ming froze for a moment, then nodded faintly and opened the door.
It closed softly behind him.
[Psychology experience +76]
[Profession basic skill: Psychology Lv.9 (Max) has reached the maximum level]
[Congratulations, you have gained 5 Profession Points]
The notifications slowly appeared on the panel.
Jiang Ran stood still, the gentle smile slowly fading from his face.
He looked thoughtful.
He returned to his desk and sat down, lightly tapping his fingers against the tabletop.
The monsters Zhou Ming had described... compared with the ones Jiang Ran had encountered,
their strength wasn't even in the same league.
If Jiang Ran remembered correctly, Zhou Ming lived in the High-Tech District on the west side of the city, less than twenty kilometers from the old town in the east where Jiang Ran lived.
Could the monsters in two areas really differ so much in strength and type?
Jiang Ran frowned slightly.
There were still too few cases.
He couldn't determine the monsters' distribution patterns.
Jiang Ran shook his head, set the question aside for now, and picked up the Classic of Mountains and Seas from his desk.
He turned to the pages he'd marked earlier and compared them with the monsters he remembered.
There were no exact matches.
There were a few similar descriptions, such as, "It resembles a Zhi, with a human face, a yellow body, and a red tail. It is called Heyu," or, "It resembles an ox, with a white head, one eye, and a snake's tail. It is called Fei."
But neither was a perfect match.
Either they were variants, or... the Classic of Mountains and Seas didn't record all the creatures in the Abyssal Void.
Jiang Ran continued flipping through the book until he found the section on dragons.
He opened his phone, pulled up the video screenshot he'd saved the night before, enlarged it, and examined the dragon carefully.
Its blue-green scales appeared and disappeared among the clouds, but in the sunlight, they reflected a faint golden sheen at certain angles.
Two horns on its head, a long beard beneath its jaw, four claws...
Jiang Ran ran his finger along the page, finally stopping at a line of text.
"Mirage Dragon, a kind of jiao. It is naturally skilled in illusions and can exhale vapor that takes the shape of towers and city walls. It is also called a mirage."
Below it was an illustration of a blue-green dragonlike creature, with a small note beside it.
Its scales shimmer gold and green. It lives in Mirage City, and its true form is rarely seen.
"Mirage Dragon..."
Jiang Ran murmured the name.
It seemed that at least some of the creatures in the Abyssal Void could indeed be found in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.
Four fifty in the afternoon.
The school bell rang out across campus.
Jiang Ran gathered his things and locked the door to the counseling room.
As he reached the school gate, he paused.
Two police cars were parked outside. Several officers were speaking with the principal, their expressions grave.
A few students who hadn't left yet had gathered nearby, talking in hushed voices.
"I heard Wang Lei from Class Seven in Senior Year Three didn't come in today..."
"That's not all. Several kids from Senior Year Two are missing too. They all just vanished."
"When I came in this morning, I saw Li Wen's mom crying as she went to look for the homeroom teacher..."
Listening to their scattered remarks, Jiang Ran sighed inwardly.
If students this age were pulled into the Abyssal Void...
Unless they had weapons or were incredibly lucky, encountering a monster would almost certainly mean death.
Those things were far more eager to attack than wild animals.
But Jiang Ran couldn't do anything about it.
He looked away, walked out of the gate, and raised his hand to hail a taxi.
"Driver, Zhongshan Road in the old town."
The taxi merged into traffic.
Jiang Ran took out his phone, opened WeChat, and found the contact saved as Old Chen.
He typed, "Meet at the usual place tonight, seven o'clock."
The reply came quickly. "Sure. There's something I need to talk to you about, too."
Then Jiang Ran scrolled down and found the contact saved as Coach Meng.
The profile picture was a selfie of a woman.
Jiang Ran opened the chat and hesitated for two seconds before typing, "Are you free tonight?"
The words "typing..." soon appeared beneath her name.
A few minutes later.
Jiang Ran put his phone away and looked out the window.
There wasn't much time to spare.
He'd already maxed out Psychology, so there was no reason to stay in his position as a school counselor.
He'd need Old Chen to help him switch jobs.
As for Coach Meng, she owned a Shooting Club.
Jiang Ran had spent some time at her club before, first as a student and later as a coach.
He'd progressed so quickly that Coach Meng had insisted on dragging him to all kinds of competitions...
But Jiang Ran had turned them all down.
Soon, the taxi stopped in front of the museum.
Jiang Ran paid and got out. As he walked toward the staff entrance at the side, the security guard, Old Zhang, called out to him.
"Hey, Teacher Jiang!" Old Zhang leaned out of the window. "Didn't you get the closure notice?"
Jiang Ran paused. "Closure notice?"
"Yeah. It came in at noon. The museum's closed until further notice." Old Zhang said, "Director Wang left in a hurry. Maybe she didn't have time to let you know."
"Where did Director Wang go?" Jiang Ran asked.
Old Zhang shook his head. "No idea. It sounded like the order came straight from above. Director Wang got a call, packed up, and left."
Jiang Ran nodded. "All right, thanks."
He turned away and hailed another taxi.
Sitting in the back seat, Jiang Ran watched the streets race past the window. He couldn't help marveling...
The authorities had reacted fast.
The Federation had surely learned about people entering the Abyssal Void immediately.
The government had a huge number of personnel, and some of those who made it back alive would contact the authorities themselves. It was only a matter of time before they realized that cultural relics were the key to entering.
Jiang Ran just hadn't expected it to happen so quickly.
Less than twenty-four hours had passed, and the museum was already under lockdown.
In that case, he'd have to put his Artifact Appraiser profession on hold for the time being.
Jiang Ran glanced at the time.
There was still a while before he was due to meet Old Chen and the others.
So he changed his destination.
Back at home,
Jiang Ran sat on the sofa and looked at the panel.
The Martial Monk profession still had two basic skills and one core skill that hadn't been unlocked.
His top priority was to unlock all the skills.
Only then could he earn experience in the Martial Monk profession.
Jiang Ran looked at the two grayed-out icons below and didn't hesitate.
"Unlock."
[1 Profession Point consumed]
[Golden Bell Shield Lv.1 unlocked]
A stream of information surged into his mind.
How to circulate the qi and blood in his body, forming an invisible layer of energy between his skin, muscles, and bones.
Ordinary attacks would make the energy ripple and disperse on its own, absorbing the force of the impact.
Jiang Ran opened his eyes and tried to guide his qi and blood according to the technique.
A few seconds later, he felt an extremely faint resistance on the surface of his skin, like a thin membrane of energy.
It worked.
It was still very fragile, but it was real.
Jiang Ran drew the tactical knife from his waist and lightly tapped the back of his left forearm with it.
"Clang..."
A soft sound rang out.
An almost invisible ripple spread across his skin, and most of the force of the blow dissipated.
"Interesting." A glint flashed in Jiang Ran's eyes.
But instead of continuing to test the Golden Bell Shield, Jiang Ran moved on to unlock the second skill.
[1 Profession Point consumed]
[Eight-Step Cicada Chase Lv.1 unlocked]
Another stream of information flooded his mind.
How to channel his qi and blood to unleash a burst of speed far beyond the ordinary over a short distance...
How to dodge and weave within a small area, push off thin air, and briefly alter his path.
The key lay in coordinating the burst of qi and blood with his muscles.
Jiang Ran stood up and tried it in the open space in his living room.
He took his first step, pushed off with his foot, and his qi and blood burst forth from it in an instant.
His body shot forward so fast it left an afterimage. In the blink of an eye, he was at the other end of the living room...
A full seven meters!
And he'd taken only one step.
Jiang Ran steadied himself, delight shining even brighter in his eyes.
This was only level 1.
How terrifying would his burst speed be over a short distance at higher levels?
And this footwork wasn't limited to straight-line charges.
Combined with Combat Intuition, it would also give him an overwhelming mobility advantage in close-quarters combat.
Jiang Ran took a slow, deep breath, tamping down his excitement.
His gaze fell on the icon at the very bottom of the panel.
[3 Profession points consumed] [Buddha's Wrathful Vajra Lv.1 unlocked]
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