Changes in the Worldline

After two days of publicity, a large crowd had gathered in the town's Central Square.

In terms of crowd size, the only time it had come close was on the very first day, when everyone had just arrived.

With everyone watching, Qian Zheng touched the crystal at the center of the square and chose [Promotion]. Before long, a transparent wave of energy appeared, and Qian Zheng vanished in a flash of light.

"What happened?"

"So this is [Promotion]? Did he really leave?"

"Can we really leave too?"

"That's wonderful!"

The gathered crowd fell silent as one, then quickly broke into discussion.

Amid the chatter, Zhao Gang stepped onto a nearby wooden platform he had built.

He didn't begin his speech right away. Instead, he showed everyone his right arm. As they watched, a few breaths later, it transformed into a black giant snake nearly ten meters long.

Gradually, the people below stopped talking and fell silent.

At that moment, Zhao Gang controlled his arm to have the snake's head bite through a nearby wooden stake, provoking gasps from the crowd.

Zhao Gang took a deep breath. "I'm not Wang Chen, and I don't have his gift for public speaking. But you've all seen the power I've just shown you.

"We aren't trapped here to wait for death. We can leave this place, just as Qian Zheng did.

"Not only that, we can gain power—power like mine.

"The Mist beyond the town isn't what we should fear. What's frightening is that we've been numbing ourselves all along, too afraid of death to take that first step forward.

"The truth is, I could leave just like Qian Zheng.

"But I can't bear to see you, my fellow humans, stay here and wait to die. So I've decided to stay for a month.

"During that month, I'll do everything I can to help everyone gain the power of the Weird and pass [Promotion] to escape this godforsaken place.

"So I hope you'll work with me and take that first step forward..."

Zhao Gang's heartfelt speech was met with thunderous applause from the crowd below. Even Feng Buzhi, standing in a corner, clapped a few times.

Feng Buzhi glanced to the side and saw Shadow staring blankly at Zhao Gang on the platform, as if he were shedding tears.

Feng Buzhi asked, "Are you crying?"

Shadow made a wiping motion, but since he had no physical body, he didn't actually have tears.

Shadow looked at Feng Buzhi and saw him clapping.

"I didn't think you'd clap," Shadow said. "Were you moved by Zhao Gang's words too? This is what our Human Race's pioneers are like. Whenever our people face a crisis, someone like him always steps forward..."

"Boss, so this is where you are... Make way, make way! Damn it, I told you to move—how dare you glare at me? Get lost..."

Before Feng Buzhi could answer, the burly, fearsome pirate captain from the Caribbean had already muscled his way through the crowd.

"Boss, let me tell you, Zhao Gang's a real piece of work. Last night, he made me go over his speech with him more than ten times and kept asking if he'd memorized it well. I told him it sucked, but he still wouldn't let me leave. In the end, Qin Chengming wrote him a script, then made me listen to it several more times. He said my opinion was really objective, but he still wouldn't let me go!"

Pei Chao, the big-bearded man, spat, then looked at Shadow beside him.

Perhaps because of his fight with the Tiger Man last night, Pei Chao's state of mind had improved ever so slightly. In his eyes, Shadow's figure seemed a little clearer.

Pei Chao asked Feng Buzhi in confusion, "Boss, why do I get the feeling Shadow's looking at me like he's got a grudge?"

"Maybe what you just said ruined Zhao Gang's image," Feng Buzhi replied.

Feng Buzhi and Pei Chao's conversation made Shadow angry all over again.

This was supposed to be a moving rally for the Human Race, but somehow, around Feng Buzhi and Pei Chao, it had taken a strange turn.

This time, though, Shadow held himself back. He noticed that the area was crowded, and if he let himself speak and his Eerie Whisper reached the people around them, it would be a disaster.

So Shadow stood off to the side, fuming.

Pei Chao seemed to remember something. He came up to Feng Buzhi and said quietly, "Boss, this isn't a good place to talk. There's something I want to tell you."

Feng Buzhi soon followed Pei Chao away from Central Square to a relatively quiet street. Shadow followed too, looking puzzled.

Pei Chao hesitated for a while, then scratched his head. "Boss, honestly, I don't want to tell you about this. It's embarrassing. But that guy seems dangerous, so I thought I'd better let you know."

Feng Buzhi asked in confusion, "Did something happen last night?"

Shadow looked just as confused. Pei Chao had already used [Repair] to restore his body, so there was nothing unusual to see.

"Last night, a Tiger Man suddenly appeared in the Mist and attacked me. He nearly killed me. He looked a bit like the Monsters that have been attacking you at night these past few days. His left arm could release blue flames, but there was one difference: he could talk."

"He could talk?"

Feng Buzhi wondered whether to capture the Tiger Man and interrogate him, then noticed how bewildered Shadow looked.

"Could a foreign race have infiltrated this place? I've never seen anything like this," Shadow said.

Pei Chao glanced at Shadow, puzzled. Though he still couldn't fully understand the meaning of the Eerie Whisper, he could hear the confusion and uncertainty in Shadow's words.

Pei Chao quickly continued, "Boss, when that Tiger Man fought me, he said a lot of things. He called me some kind of great pirate and seemed to know me. Then he used some ability on me, something called [Ghost Servant Art], to turn me into his slave. If you hadn't kept making me drink Reagent No. 4 these past few days, that Tiger Man bastard might've gotten his way."

Feng Buzhi raised an eyebrow. "You mean it used an ability that could turn you into a slave?"

Pei Chao said, still shaken, "Yeah. His eyes gave off a purple light, and I could feel him trying to control me."

Feng Buzhi nodded slightly. "In that case, we can't let it escape. Take me to where you fought, and we'll investigate."

In fact, Feng Buzhi hadn't been very interested in the Tiger Man to begin with.

If he ran into it, he planned to capture and interrogate it. If not, he wouldn't worry about it.

But the Tiger Man's [Ghost Servant Art] had caught his interest. He wanted to learn it.

If he could use [Ghost Servant Art] during the Deep Abyss Trial, interrogating the foreign races in the Abyss would be much easier.

Feng Buzhi decided to do everything he could to capture the Tiger Man and force it to reveal its [Ghost Servant Art].

Feng Buzhi turned his head, still lost in thought. Something was happening in the town's Central Square: a mysterious blood-red beam suddenly fell from the sky, seemingly striking the Town Crystal...