Chapter 38From the moment the cell phone struck Yoren’s cheek, his entire understanding of reality had been shattered and reshaped.

  In a warehouse in Chernobog, he had met Winter and Veena.

  On the road to Mandel City, he had encountered Brother ACE and Snowsant.

  Dark Crow, Big Bob, Red Knife, Frost Moon—he had stood at the edge of life and death, cwing his way through despair to find hope. In those fleeting moments between survival and annihition, he had endured.

  It felt like an adventure game, where he fought through levels, uncovered hidden mechanisms, defeated bosses, and saved the heroine. His methods were clumsy, but he had managed.

  But now, he had hit a game-breaking bug.

  This was an obstacle no one in Terra could overcome. Not him, not anyone. This was the archenemy of all living things—

  The Scourge.

  Yoren took one st look at Snowsant and Ifrit, safe within the Absolute Domain.

  Then, without hesitation, he turned and ran, dragging his wounded body across the ruined streets of Mandel City.

  His mind was bnk. He had no destination, no pn—only the instinct to run. Perhaps he would run until the moment the fire swallowed him whole.

  The meteorite shower drew closer. The crushing weight of impending doom pressed down on him, stealing his breath. This was the power of a natural disaster—an absolute force, indifferent and unstoppable.

  "Boom!"

  The first meteorite struck City A. The impact sent a shockwave ripping through the streets, obliterating entire buildings in an instant. The bst expanded outward, consuming everything in its path.

  Yoren barely had time to register the deafening roar before the shockwave caught him, unching him through the air.

  "Boom! Boom! Boom!"

  More meteorites smmed into the city. The earth trembled. Fire and debris filled the sky, blotting out the sun. The force of the explosions sent Yoren crashing onto the rooftop of a shattered building.

  Dazed, he struggled to his feet, his body screaming in protest. He turned toward City A.

  A sea of fmes stretched as far as the eye could see.

  "Damn..."

  He clenched his fists, but the restless energy that had once surged within him was gone. Perhaps, faced with the sheer force of the natural disaster, even that strange power had abandoned him.

  It didn’t matter.

  He knew now—there was no surviving this.

  This was the end.

  Standing atop the ruined building, Yoren spread his arms wide, mirroring a scene from Titanic. The fire-lit sky reflected in his eyes, and a bitter smile tugged at his lips.

  Then, with a voice steady and unyielding, he gave his final farewell to the world.

  Raising both middle fingers to the heavens, he roared at the sky—

  "Natural disaster, fuck you!!! Ahhh!!!"

  "Boom!"

  As if in response, the next meteorite struck directly beneath him. The explosion detonated with a force capable of tearing the city apart. The world vanished in a blinding fsh.

  For a fleeting moment, there was nothing.

  No sound.

  No color.

  Perhaps, this was what the victims of nuclear devastation felt in their final moments.

  A massive meteorite detonated in the heart of Mandel City, wiping everything from existence.

  "Bang!"

  Yoren’s head smmed into his pillow.

  Beside him, his phone hit the floor, its screen shattering into a spiderweb of cracks.

  The room was dark.

  The only sound was the steady ticking of his bedside clock.

  "Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick."

  Face buried in the pillow, he y motionless.

  On the wall, a Rem poster watched him in silence, stained with dried blood.

  "...Oh."

  A quiet ugh escaped him.

  Then another.

  And another.

  "Hahaha... Haha... Hahahahaha!"

  Yoren flipped onto his back, staring at the ceiling.

  He wasn’t dead.

  He was back in his original world.

  He appeared calm, but his fingertips trembled.

  "This game... Arknights... is too real."

  A wave of fear crashed over him. Even after facing death countless times, nothing had prepared him for the sheer terror of a natural disaster.

  It was absolute.

  It turned everything to ash in an instant, as effortlessly as crushing an ant.

  Maybe he should feel lucky.

  Maybe he should be relieved.

  But he wasn’t.

  This was the third time he had been ejected from Terra.

  The first time, he thought it was just a dream.

  The second time, he woke to find his shoulder wound bleeding onto the wall.

  The third time, he had barely escaped divine fire, now marked by infection.

  His wounds still ached. His skin still burned as if the fmes had followed him back. Every moment in Terra remained vivid in his mind.

  And yet, he was back here.

  Lying in his bed, in a world untouched by war, natural disasters, or infection.

  Next door, a newlywed couple had just finished arguing. Upstairs, an old woman had finally rocked her grandson to sleep. Outside, a delivery man made his st rounds for the night.

  Everything moved forward as usual.

  If he just y here, the sun would rise, another day would begin, and life would go on as if nothing had changed.

  The first two times, he had chosen this world.

  But now... he had no choice.

  Because now, he was infected.

  After a long silence, Yoren slowly sat up. He reached for his fallen phone, plugging it into the charger.

  The screen flickered back to life, cracks distorting the dispy.

  His fingers moved mechanically to open Arknights.

  Before he could, a string of missed calls popped up.

  Then, WeChat messages flooded in, all from the same person—his best friend, Zhang Yuan.

  The timestamps varied.

  [Yoren, you okay today? If something’s wrong, talk to me.]

  [Yoren, why weren’t you at school?]

  [Yoren, I saw you haven’t logged in. Are you quitting?]

  [Yoren, Chapter 5 is dropping soon! Save your pulls for Ch’en!]

  Expressionless, Yoren stared at the messages, his mind slowly reconnecting with this familiar world.

  He gently wiped the cracks on his phone and took a deep breath.

  Then, he typed a reply.

  [Bro, you free tomorrow? Come with me to get my phone screen repced.]

  After a pause, he added another message.

  [Then come with me to the hospital.]

  Zhang Yuan responded almost immediately.

  [Finally, you replied! Wait, hospital? What’s wrong?]

  [I’m sick.]

  [What kind of sick?]

  Yoren’s fingers hesitated before typing three stiff words.

  [Ore disease.]

  Zhang Yuan’s reply was instant.

  [LMAO, stop messing around. If you’ve got oripathy, then I’ve witnessed a natural disaster firsthand.]

  Yoren exhaled sharply, staring at the screen.

  He wasn’t joking.

  And soon... Zhang Yuan would understand.

  In the early morning, sunlight streamed through the window, casting a golden glow across Yoren’s face.

  He opened his eyes but didn’t move, staring bnkly at the ceiling.

  He had dreamt—a warm, joyful dream. But as soon as he woke, reality pulled him back into its cold embrace.

  He reached a hand toward the ceiling.

  He wanted to hold onto that dream. To make it real, if only he could.

  But there was no time for wishful thinking.

  With a quiet exhale, Yoren sat up.

  His wounds still ached, though they had improved. Examining them carefully, he realized they had healed far faster than they should have.

  His body was no longer that of an ordinary person. Perhaps the oripathy had altered his physique, accelerating his regeneration. Or maybe it was that strange power.

  He couldn’t remember exactly. He only recalled being pinned down by Dark Crow in that building, something hard shoved into his mouth, and then—darkness. When he regained consciousness, he had torn Big Bob apart with his bare hands.

  Thinking back, fear flickered across his face.

  At that moment, it was as if his body had fused with something else. His skin had erupted in unnatural patterns, pain so severe it should have rendered him unconscious—but his mind had remained painfully lucid.

  He was certain Dark Crow’s dagger had pierced his heart.

  But then, a white light had fshed, and in an instant, his body was whole again.

  Was this the so-called Originium Arts?

  Had he subconsciously activated something powerful?

  Standing, Yoren stretched out his left hand toward the Rem poster on his wall, trying to summon that strange energy.

  A minute passed.

  Nothing happened.

  He lowered his sore hand, frustration creeping in.

  His left side burned with heat, while his right side was ice cold. The sensation was bizarre—like two opposing forces trapped in one body.

  Beyond that, he was powerless.

  Suddenly, his stomach churned violently.

  He lurched forward, rushing toward the bathroom, but after only two steps, his strength failed. His legs buckled.

  "Ugh—!"

  Blood gushed from his mouth, spttering onto the floor.

  Yoren clutched his stomach, curling into himself like a wounded animal, his body convulsing.

  It was strange.

  There was no pain.

  But the sensation was far more terrifying—it was as if his very life was draining away.

  If his instincts were right, the Originium in his blood was spreading. His contaminated blood was ravaging his internal organs, accelerating his decline.

  For ten agonizing minutes, he y there, trembling, until the sickness gradually faded.

  Bracing himself, he struggled to his feet.

  An unbearable itch tore through his neck, like a leech burrowing under his skin.

  "Bang!"

  He spped a hand against his neck, fingers brushing against something hard.

  His movements froze.

  No way.

  He had only been infected yesterday. How had Originium crystals already formed on his skin?

  Was his human body more fragile than those of Terra’s inhabitants?

  Yoren stared at his trembling hands, feeling like an experiment gone wrong. His mind raced with questions, but he had no answers.

  He didn’t understand the forces at war inside him. He didn’t know how badly the oripathy had damaged him. All he knew was that if this continued, he would die—and become just another mindless, infected husk.

  Stepping into the bathroom, Yoren turned on the cold water and stood under the freezing spray, letting it ground him.

  He wasn’t dead yet.

  He was still alive.

  Facing the mirror, he examined the two fingernail-sized crystal growths on his neck. They stood out, foreign and ominous.

  His reflection looked back at him—his face unchanged, still the same features.

  But his expression was different.

  The gloom in his eyes was unmistakable.

  After dressing in clean clothes, Yoren sat on the bed, lost in thought.

  His physical discomfort came and went. For now, he felt... normal.

  To test a theory, he pced his hand against the wooden headboard and clenched his fingers.

  "Bang!"

  The solid wood splintered beneath his grip.

  His body had changed.

  Sure, the bed was second-hand and cheaply made, but this kind of strength was beyond anything he had possessed before.

  His suspicions were confirmed—Originium was a double-edged sword. It destroyed the body while granting it monstrous strength, compensating for the life it stole.

  If he entered a world weightlifting competition now, he figured he could easily take second pce—provided he didn’t suddenly start vomiting blood mid-lift.

  He exhaled, his thoughts turning to what came next.

  Mandel City was gone, erased from existence. The historic Ursus trade city had been wiped off the map, leaving nothing behind.

  Snowsant and Ifrit should be safe. He had to believe in the Absolute Domain’s power. He had no other choice.

  He didn’t know how long the disaster would st or what remained in its aftermath, but he had no intention of returning right away.

  That was just how the world worked.

  There was no such thing as a perfect choice. People liked to believe they were in control, but fate had its own pns.

  A single, absurd coincidence—a phone falling onto his face—had sent him to another world.

  Even the best-id pns could be obliterated by forces beyond comprehension.

  Sometimes, taking the path no one else understood led to unexpected outcomes.

  And sometimes, following the path everyone deemed "right" ended in disaster.

  No one could predict the future.

  That was life.

  And that was a truth Yoren had always known.

  "Ding ding ding~ The phone is ringing~ Answer it quickly."

  His phone buzzed, shaking him from his thoughts.

  Pressing the answer button, Zhang Yuan’s familiar voice greeted him.

  "You up yet? I’m heading over now. Should be at your pce in twenty minutes. Want me to bring you some buns?"