Chapter 510: The Thirty-Eighth Day of Transmigrating into an Alien War Novel

Chapter 510: Day Thirty-Eight in the Alien War Novel

When he could see clearly again, An Cheng found himself standing in a completely unfamiliar place.

He instinctively tightened his grip on An Yi's hand—it was still in his palm, warm and steady, like his only anchor in the darkness.

Then he looked up and took in his surroundings.

Then he froze.

The sky was a deep, dried-blood red, solid and still.

The sky hung low—no sun, no moon, no stars. Only a uniform, oppressive dark red.

The ground was charred black, dotted with bizarrely shaped plants.

Off in the distance, there was a... lake?

It was a pool of viscous liquid, its surface bubbling with tiny bubbles that burst with a dull "glug" sound.

The liquid crept slowly, writhing as if alive, yet it gave off no strange smell.

Farther off, jagged black mountains rose against the horizon.

This was a world he'd never seen, never even dreamed of.

Silent. Oppressive. Eerie.

Like a corner of hell, like the heart of a nightmare.

An Cheng's eyes went wide as he stared in shock at everything around him.

"Th-This... where is this?"

He murmured, his voice barely a whisper, as if afraid of disturbing something.

"Another world." An Yi's voice sounded beside him.

An Cheng turned to face An Yi.

An Yi stood beside him, relaxed, almost casual.

He was dressed simply, just as he had been in the room moments ago, but in this dark red world, the outfit seemed out of place—yet oddly fitting.

As if... he'd always belonged here, belonged to any world.

"I call it the 'Aberrant World.'" An Yi added, his gaze sweeping over the surroundings. "The creatures here are nothing like the ones on Earth."

"The Aberrant World?" An Cheng repeated, his mind still struggling to take in the scene before him. The word was unfamiliar, but its meaning was plain—different species, different world.

"Mm-hm." An Yi nodded, lifting his hand to point at the distant lake. "There are creatures there—pretty powerful, but not intelligent beings."

He said it simply, but the weight of it was staggering.

Another world. Creatures. Formidable power. Non-sapient beings.

It took An Cheng a few seconds to fully process those words.

Then he suddenly remembered the grayish-white creature he'd seen in the room earlier.

"So... that thing you mentioned you were going to study—"

"The Riftborn." An Yi finished his sentence, his tone flat. "They're the ones who tamed those powerful creatures from this world and used them to launch invasions on other worlds."

He paused, as if gathering his thoughts, then went into more detail: "The one I showed you earlier was a Riftborn. Their race has a special ability—they can lock onto the coordinates of parallel worlds and slip through space."

"They tamed those powerful creatures in this world—I call them 'Aberrants'—and then sent the Aberrants to invade other worlds, claim territory, and plunder resources."

He said it all so casually, like he was spinning a fantasy tale.

But An Cheng got it.

He caught the key words: parallel worlds, space traversal, invasion, occupation, plunder...

He also caught An Yi's last line: "I extracted some of their abilities and have been studying them."

An Cheng stared at him, feeling like he'd been hit in the head.

He watched An Yi standing in this bizarre world, calmly talking about things he could barely wrap his head around, and then it suddenly clicked:

"Invading other worlds?" he asked, his voice dry. "Then... Earth..."

"Mm, but don't worry." An Yi's eyes crinkled into a smile. "That won't happen anymore."

An Cheng stared at An Yi for a long moment, then spoke slowly, his voice barely a whisper: "Did you stop it?"

An Yi thought for a second, then nodded. "Mm... I guess so."

He was still vague about it, but that was enough.

An Cheng was at a loss for words.

He looked at An Yi—at this young man standing in a bizarre world, calmly admitting he might have saved the world—and a tangled mess of emotions surged through him.

There was shock, confusion, unease, but more than anything... a realization bordering on desperation.

He suddenly understood, on a deeper level, what An Yi had meant that day by "that's still very short."

Short.

An Yi was way more extraordinary than he'd ever imagined.

It all fell into place.

He understood why An Yi was always so calm, so composed, as if nothing mattered—because in his long, long life, a human lifetime, human joys and sorrows, human loves and hates... might truly be just a brief play, a dream that would soon be over.

He understood what An Yi's occasional flashes of wisdom and world-weariness—so beyond his apparent age—really meant.

An Yi... was not an ordinary person at all.

He might have lived for a very, very long time.

He possessed power so great—power capable of resolving a world-level crisis.

He might... not even be human.

An Cheng stood there, staring at An Yi, and his lips started to tremble.

So he... a person this ordinary...

Can he really be worthy of An Yi's tender compassion?

Does he really stand a chance of getting into An Yi's heart?

After his brief life is over, will An Yi just forget him that easily?

Could he... make An Yi remember him just a little longer?

An Yi looked at An Cheng. He reached out and gently touched An Cheng's face.

His fingertips were cool, the gesture tender. "Scared you?" he asked, his voice soft.

An Cheng shook his head, then nodded, and finally whispered, "Just... a little taken aback."

He paused, then looked up at An Yi, that almost fanatical feeling flaring up again in his eyes. "But Xiao Yi, I love you."

He said, "No matter who you are, no matter how long you've lived, no matter what you've become... I love you."

"I'll spend every last bit of my life with you, every day, every moment, until the final second of my life."

An Yi smiled at him, his eyes brimming with a tender light, the corners of his mouth curving into a soft, warm smile.

"I know," he said softly.

Then he paused, as if weighing something, and finally spoke: "Since you said you'd always be with me..."

He turned and walked toward an open patch of ground not far away.

There, the earth was scorched black, where nothing grew, not even a single blade of grass, with only jagged black rocks strewn across the ground like the bones of some great beast.

An Yi stood at the center of the clearing, turned around, and looked at An Cheng.

"Then I'll offer you a choice."

He said, his voice calm, but every word landed clearly in An Cheng's ears: "This world holds a kind of energy that can corrode living creatures and change their very makeup. If you can survive it, it might awaken superhuman powers, transform your body, and let you live longer."

Energy erosion. Superhuman powers. A changed body. A longer life.

A longer life.

Staying by Xiao Yi's side that much longer.