Whether They Looked Up or Down, People Gazed at the Same Phantom Moon

"Silver Wolf!"

The sudden shout interrupted Silver Wolf's thoughts. She turned back impatiently.

Vernacular Poet was striding over from afar, accompanied by a purple-haired woman.

The woman wore round-rimmed glasses.

Her long purple hair draped over her shoulders, and an indescribable smile lingered in her eyes behind the lenses. She did not walk quickly, yet she always remained half a step behind Vernacular Poet.

Silver Wolf glanced at her, then at Vernacular Poet. "Who's that beside you?"

Vernacular Poet had just been about to introduce her.

But the woman extended her hand first. "Hello, hello—"

She smiled quite naturally. "Wolf Venerable?"

Silver Wolf's brow twitched slightly.

The woman continued, "I heard you're their boss. Seeing you in person truly lives up to your reputation—you've completely got the bearing of a venerable one." She paused. "My name is Daiya."

Silver Wolf did not take the hand she offered. She merely stared at her.

Daiya's smile remained unchanged.

Yet a data interface quietly unfolded before Silver Wolf's eyes.

[Daiya]

[Level: 10]

[Age: ?]

Silver Wolf's gaze settled on that question mark.

Her level was only ten.

Yet her age could not be read.

And...

She could not tell whether the other party was a player or a native.

That was rare.

Silver Wolf gave Daiya a once-over.

Daiya seemed to finally realize that her abrupt appearance might have disturbed them.

"Uh..." She withdrew her hand. "Did I interrupt you?"

Silver Wolf shook her head. "No."

"That's good." Daiya sighed in relief, then turned serious. "I came this time because I heard that Wolf Venerable was beautiful and kind-hearted, and willing to help us deal with some problems."

She pointed into the distance. "The passage at the Great Rift has been very unstable recently. Monsters occasionally come out of it. We've tried many methods, but no one knows what exactly is happening on the other side."

After listening, Silver Wolf nodded. "Lead the way." She looked at Vernacular Poet. "Everyone, come."

Vernacular Poet nodded. "Okay."

At the same time, he opened the party channel and sent a message to Windchaser and Sunken Crow, who were still investigating other areas.

Before long, the group regrouped.

Daiya led them off their original route, around several patches of woodland, and finally stopped beside an inconspicuous puddle.

The puddle was hidden among several old trees, surrounded by a ring of damp moss.

The water was shallow, barely enough for two people to stand in. No matter how they looked at it, it was just an ordinary pond.

Vernacular Poet stood at the pond's edge in silence for several seconds. "This?"

Daiya nodded. "Right here."

Vernacular Poet scratched his head.

Windchaser crouched down and took a look as well. "You didn't hear some wild rumor again and bring us to another con artist, did you?"

Vernacular Poet: "..."

"When have I ever..."

"Before."

"That time was an accident."

"What do you think?"

Vernacular Poet decided to keep quiet.

Daiya hurriedly waved her hands. "It's not what you think." She pointed at the puddle. "This place really is special. Usually, there's nothing here, but whenever a certain special power gets close, it reacts."

"And then..." She swallowed. "A lot of monsters come out of it."

Silver Wolf crouched down and lightly touched the surface with one finger.

Nothing happened.

So she simply drew upon a bit of Elation's power. A faint ray of light fell from her fingertip, and ripples immediately spread across the water.

The next second—

Splash!

Several black shadows suddenly sprang out of the puddle.

"Wah—!" Daiya screamed, then turned and ran.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Sunken Crow did not even draw his blade, because those monsters were rather...

Strange.

Their bodies were tiny, their limbs resembling some kind of soft toy, yet their heads were enormous dice whose faces constantly changed numbers.

[???]

[Level: Unable to Determine]

One of the monsters even turned its head and looked at Silver Wolf.

Silver Wolf looked back at it as though it were Return to Silence's relative.

"I wondered what it was." She casually raised a hand. "Come out."

A beam of light descended beside her.

Weird Bean appeared out of thin air. After landing, he looked around to either side first.

Those wise eyes quickly locked onto Silver Wolf, as though silently asking:

Boss, what are we eating today?

Silver Wolf pointed at the dice monsters in front of them.

Weird Bean nodded.

He opened his mouth.

Crunch.

A few seconds later, silence returned to the pond's edge.

Windchaser: "..."

Vernacular Poet: "..."

Daiya poked half her head out from afar. After confirming it was safe, she cautiously ran back.

"That's the situation," she said solemnly. "I don't know what exactly is happening on the other side either."

Silver Wolf looked at the puddle. "Mm."

She stood up. "Then let's go in and take a look."

Vernacular Poet froze. "Go straight in?"

"Mm." Silver Wolf looked at everyone. "Stand farther back."

The others immediately retreated.

Silver Wolf summoned Weird Bean again.

"Go."

Weird Bean looked at the puddle, then at Silver Wolf, seemingly confused.

Silver Wolf pointed at the pond.

Weird Bean: "..."

He still walked in. The instant he touched the water, the entire pond suddenly lit up.

Boom—!

There was no fire and no shockwave. It was as though some force had torn the surface apart from the middle, revealing a pitch-black space.

Weird Bean, along with all the water in the pond, was swallowed by that darkness.

The next second.

Space suddenly contracted.

Everything went black before everyone's eyes.

As this world turned over, the moon revealed its true face.

When Silver Wolf opened her eyes again.

The first thing she felt was cold—a dry, icy, deathly cold.

In the distance, a vast forest stretched outward.

But that forest was already dead, every tree colored gray-black.

Bare branches reached toward the starry sky, and the occasional withered leaf drifted down from above.

The moment it hit the ground, it crumbled into ash.

Daiya was the first to speak. "Damn." She turned in a circle. "Where are we?"

Silver Wolf glanced at her. "Why did you come over too?"

Daiya immediately shook her head. "I don't know."

Windchaser rubbed her eyes. She stared at the forest in the distance for several seconds, and then her voice rose slightly.

"Wait, isn't this the place we saw before?"

Vernacular Poet's expression changed as well. He slowly said, "...Is this the other half of the moon?"

Sunken Crow raised his head and looked toward the sky.

Silver Wolf glanced down at the ground beneath her feet, then summoned Weird Bean again. "Stay with them for now."

Weird Bean nodded.

Then he went to stand beside Windchaser.

Silver Wolf lowered her body slightly.

The next moment, she shot directly into the sky.

She flew higher and higher, her view rapidly expanding.

The gray-black forest extended all the way to the horizon. At its end lay a dried-up silver lake.

And at the very center of her vision—

A colossal tree still stood there.

It was the World Tree they had once seen at the historical node.

Only now.

It had completely lost that silver-green sense of life.

Its massive trunk was gray-black, vast parts of its crown had withered, and some branches had even snapped, hanging in midair like the enormous corpse of something left behind.

Silver Wolf hovered in the air for a long while as data slowly appeared in her goggles.

[World Tree]

[Status: Incomplete]

[Abyss Connection: Residual]

[Forest Moon God: Unknown]

Silver Wolf narrowed her eyes slightly and descended back to the ground.

Vernacular Poet immediately came up to her. "Where do we go next?"

Silver Wolf pointed into the distance. "The World Tree." She paused. "Let's go take a look."

The others followed the direction she pointed.

Deep within the gray-black forest, that dead giant tree stood there in silence.

Silver Wolf chewed her bubble gum and turned around. "Let's see whether this Forest Moon God is dead or alive."

The four of them, along with Weird Bean, headed toward the World Tree.

And they did not notice—

Behind them.

That inconspicuous puddle still existed. A faint ripple spread across its surface, while within the pool hung a complete full moon.