Old You: Don't Save Me! I Beg You, Don't Save Me!

Old You lay sprawled atop the Drone for an hour, swaying so much he was nearly asleep by the time they finally reached the border.

The Drone descended rapidly, lights flared all around, and he jolted awake.

Seeing a group of uniformed people closing in from every direction, carrying all manner of equipment, he frantically flapped his wings and cried out at the top of his lungs:

"GIA—GIA!"

They put a curse on me!

They cast black magic on me!

Don't come near!

Don't come near!!!

He was too exhausted to speak human language anymore and could only scream desperately. Luckily, Little Oil Lamp promptly relayed the message, typing it out word by word on Shen Le's phone and reporting it back.

The message reached the command center and was swiftly relayed back. Someone directed the crowd through a loudspeaker:

"Spread out! Spread out!"

"CBRN team, move forward!"

"Exorcism team, follow up!"

"Everyone else, stay on guard!"

"Raise the riot shields! Raise them!"

"Get the disinfectant spray ready!"

Old You huddled in the center of the circle, trembling. I've been cursed and hit with black magic—I'm not covered in contagious germs...

I already feel awful enough. Don't spray me all over with disinfectant!

"Amitabha..."

"Infinite Heavenly Worth..."

A Buddhist invocation and a Daoist proclamation rang out simultaneously from opposite sides of the circle. Then, his vision suddenly went dark as something immensely heavy crashed down over him, enclosing him within it.

What?

What happened?

Old You reluctantly raised his head and saw that the brightly lit night sky around him had turned into walls of bronze and iron.

Looking closer, the "walls" surrounding him were actually round, with a dome overhead—slightly flat at the top, yet still somewhat curved.

The "walls" were covered in dents and pits, as though something