Chapter 278

Chapter 278

After a speechless shock, one question after another began to pop up over Xiao Lin's head.

This is very strange.

There was no doubt that this was the original body.

The ritual had not failed; they, as substitutes, had re-established a mystical connection with the original body. On this basis, any physical contact would naturally trigger some changes in the original body.

He had deliberately touched "Junior High School Lin’s" eyes just now. If "Junior High School Lin" were the original body, his actions, symbolically, should at least have made the original body aware of him, or more awake, reclaiming the magic power.

But nothing happened. The failed Xiao Lin almost doubted his grasp of mysticism until this moment.

"How is this possible?" he muttered blankly, "It shouldn't be like this."

In the dream, the original body turned into a pigeon with feathers that shimmered a dark green.

Not that the original body couldn’t turn into a pigeon—this was just a dream, and turning into anything in a dream wasn’t strange. But this was the original body’s dream, and the original body should be the center of it.

But in reality, it wasn’t. The center of the dream was "Junior High School Lin." In the escape that just occurred, the original body was merely a supporting character.

Being attacked, being hunted, the thrilling escape, and the miraculous companions—all these experiences belonged to "Junior High School Lin." The black pigeon wasn’t unimportant, but he was acting for "Junior High School Lin."

"Is it a split?" Xiao Lin, who was already used to being with himself, analyzed, then refuted himself, "If it were a split, that would mean both are the original body, which wouldn’t explain why one reacts to me and the other doesn’t."

This isn’t a split; "Junior High School Lin" isn’t the real Lin.

But that’s not important right now. What’s important is—

Original body! Your eye change shows you’ve regained your sense of magic, so why are you still cooing? Don’t you remember anything?!

***

Indeed, he remembered nothing. The black-feathered pigeon only felt the novelty of this new yet familiar power.

His perception broadened. Even though he couldn’t see, he somehow knew that after a brief stay on the rooftop, all kinds of forces in the city had reacted.

By "reacted," it doesn’t mean people started organizing resistance. It means the mastermind behind the disaster began taking more extreme measures, just to kill "Junior High School Lin" as quickly as possible.

Helicopters were already airborne, armed personnel inside aiming their guns here, ready to fire. From a distant place came a whistling sound, a nuclear missile launched from a silo, trailing a long plume of flame toward this area.

No matter how you looked at it, it seemed like a dead end. Yet the black-feathered pigeon wasn’t afraid; instead, he interfered with these attacks at will.

Bullets? They exploded before even leaving the barrel, and the armed personnel attacking the innocent junior high school student screamed in agony, their hands covered in blood.

Nuclear missile? The rocket carrying the nuclear warhead sprouted feathers, flapped its wings, and flew into space, its tail flame transforming into a rainbow.

Those suddenly abnormal people, like NPCs glitching, froze in place. Blood peeled off their bodies, and their hollow, rust-colored eyes slowly regained a glint of reason.

The burning city began to rain, the truck that crashed into a street-side store reversed, and those who had died rose again. One, two, three, wounds healed; four, five, six, hearts resumed beating.

The black-feathered pigeon was surprised.

Huh? I can do such things?

It’s... like a god.

The words "traverse," "become a god," and "pollution" spoken by the three little figures earlier, triggered by certain keywords, came back to him.

While flying, the black-feathered pigeon was about to ponder when he heard his substitute shouting loudly on his back.

Speaking of which, whose personality does this resemble?

Without remembering anything, the black-feathered pigeon instinctively grumbled, but he didn’t dismiss the substitute’s opinion. He lifted his head at the substitute’s shouts.

The city tonight was so unfamiliar and chaotic, making the stars in the night sky seem even more familiar and peaceful.

Pigeons are small animals that can navigate by starlight. Each of those distant lights, he remembered, and greeted them while flying.

No matter whether this city was destroyed or rebuilt, they would remain.

No matter whether life on this planet thrived or perished, they would remain.

Thinking this way, even if people are temporarily overwhelmed by joy and sorrow, as long as they look up, look up at the stars, they can stand up again, heads held high, moving forward.

Their faint light has taken billions of years to reach here. Billions of years later, will they leave Earth and reach the source of the light?

That, of course, is—

"Impossible."

A malicious voice said.

The stars in the night sky began to fade, like candles lit in an open field, extinguishing as the wind blew, or like grains of rice scattered on the ground, being pecked by a flock of hens.

One by one, handful by handful, the night sky lost its adornments, and a terrifying darkness enveloped the Earth.

The black-feathered pigeon could almost see a monstrous creature leaning over the Earth, His hands closing together, the fragile Earth in His palms.

Undoubtedly, with just a slight effort, the Earth would dim like a candle; with just a slight effort, the Earth would be pecked away like grains of rice.

After all, the Earth is just one of the stars.

"This can’t happen," a fearful voice cried, "I won’t allow it!"

Who is speaking? The black-feathered pigeon thought in confusion. Why did this voice echo in his heart?

Countless jumbled words surfaced, and that voice, that voice that sounded like his own, spoke heavily:

"I can accept that those who have passed are gone... I can accept that I never saw them one last time... But the people around me now must not suffer the same fate. Traversing time to a strange Earth is overwhelming, but isn’t the most terrifying thing that the Earth itself cannot be preserved?"

"I must do something! I can do something...

"Far away, seemingly out of reach, but still worth striving for...

"Fallen Heaven, come on, you may have successfully polluted me, but I want to see—

"Where your 'stars' are!"

The response from the Fallen Heaven was a roar.

This cunning foe now roared in anger: "Let go!!!"

The dark sky, devoid of any twinkling stars, sprouted vast patches of rust-like crimson. The center of this crimson could no longer bear the pressure and burst open with a loud pop, forming a large hole.

The embers left after the death of the stars poured down through these large holes. What was supposed to be a clever move by polluting Mirror Pupil turned into a nightmare as the Fallen Heaven, dragged into the dream by Mirror Pupil, angrily repeated the actions it had taken in reality, intending to drown the last remaining stronghold of resistance in the universe with the embers of the stars.

Thus, the city that had just recovered suffered another blow. Skyscrapers collapsed, and people who had just regained consciousness were trapped under concrete and rubble, their dark blood seeping through the cracks.

The dream trembled. Once, the divine battle between Mirror Pupil and the Silver Moon Maiden in the dream caused a large number of members of the Aberrant Sect to become brain-dead and vegetative. Now, Mirror Pupil, who bore the weight of this dream, groaned.

Better to wake up, better to give up.

The pollution screamed amidst the vibrations.

You can break free from me. As a deity with followers and believers, you should purify yourself as soon as possible.

Why continue to delve deeper into the pollution, clinging tightly to the Fallen Heaven?

Can you really find what you're looking for?

Countless voices shouted, and the black-feathered dove with silver eyes struggled between waking and dreaming.

He wanted to light the stars again, rebuild the city, and help those who had fallen stand once more. But the more severe pollution was distorting the image of the stars in his mind, telling him that the city had always been a ruin, and urging him to kill more people.

Thus, Hui Cui and others saw the city trying to rebuild itself, overlapping with the city that had collapsed.

They saw the dark sky once again filled with stars, only for the stars to go out again.

They saw people living normally in the city, only for chaos to erupt the next moment, with blood and slaughter covering every inch of concrete.

"I understand!" Hui Cui's Stand No. 1 suddenly said, "Just as we suspected, the main body isn't unable to wake up; he chose not to wake up first, to capture the Fallen Heaven with the dream!"

"When the main body has the upper hand in the dream, everything is normal, like when we first entered," Stand No. 2 said, "But maintaining a connection with the Fallen Heaven leads to pollution. When the Fallen Heaven and pollution gain the upper hand, people go mad, attack each other, and try to grab him."

"He" refers to "Junior High School Lin" hanging from Hui Cui's claws.

"Just capturing the Fallen Heaven, why did he even give up control of the dream?" Stand No. 3 observed the dream's protagonist, who seemed even more bewildered than they were, seeing nothing special about this "Junior High School Lin." He then said, "Forget it, in any case, we need to help the main body now."

"How can we help?" Hui Cui asked.

"As mirror stands," Stand No. 1 said, "there's only one way to help."

"I'm coming!" Stand No. 3 said, grabbing the main body's feathers and starting to climb toward the main body's head.

He struggled through the feathered undergrowth, reaching the main body's neck.

The silver-glowing eyes of the black-feathered dove were not much larger than the small heads of the stands. The small figure with black hair and silver eyes, dressed in a judge's uniform, met his own face in the mirror-like eyes and said irritably, "Being a dove in Hui Cui's dream can be considered a bit of fun, but right now, you should change back to your original form!"

As he spoke, he raised his hand and pressed it against the smooth surface of the eye.

In the mirror-like eyes, the reflection also raised its hand. With their palms touching, inside and outside the mirror, their magic connected directly.

Silver radiance erupted! The black-feathered dove elongated in the glow.

At the same time, the intense, overwhelming roar weakened, and the young god, nearly forgotten what the normal world was like, reset successfully, his spirit refreshed. A vast wave of magic swept through the entire dream.

The dream was instantly rebuilt, skyscrapers rose instantly, and the stars twinkled again.

Suppressing the Fallen Heaven and the pollution, Lin, who emerged from the silver radiance, slowly landed on the ground of the dream city.

He saw "Junior High School Lin" landing opposite him and the white-gray dove that had grabbed Lin down.

What is this?

Lin was puzzled for the first second.

In the second second, remembering everything, Lin felt the ground beneath his feet silently crack.

Why?

Because, as the god of dreams, he wanted to find a hole to hide in—ahhhhhh—!!!!