494
After successfully advancing, Klein returned to the Future. Following a brief conversation, he strode toward his room.
A conjecture was about to be verified.
Inside his room, Klein waited several minutes before entering the washroom again. He set up the ritual once more and tossed Creeping Hunger, which was growing increasingly frenzied from the lack of food, above the gray fog.
He leisurely took off Creeping Hunger, which had immediately quieted down, and likewise placed it in the junk pile.
During his last exploration, he had discovered a bright "stairway" that seemed to lead to Heaven. He suspected that the number of steps was related to his own Sequence, so he had come to confirm it as soon as he advanced.
After walking for a while, Klein finally saw the sacred stairway formed entirely of light. Compared to before, another step had appeared out of nowhere, bringing the total to five.
As expected... Klein sighed, unsurprised.
Then he climbed the stairway, which seemed to have been built for giants, and reached the top.
He was now not far from the mass of gray fog suspended in midair. It seemed that with one more step, he would be able to climb up to it.
Lightning tore across the sky, illuminating the layers of gloomy buildings ahead.
With two swords on his back, Demon Hunter Colin Iliad pointed ahead and said:
"That is Afternoon Town."
His unkempt, graying hair swayed constantly in the wind blowing across the wilderness.
At these words, a bundle of cloth in a female physician's arms stirred. The physician hurriedly lifted a corner of the cloth. The infant, who had already grown a layer of soft silver hair, opened his eyes halfway, looked around, and yawned again.
"Chief..." the physician hurriedly began, only to see the