3: Chapter 3: The Midnight Hour Has Arrived, Time Travel 3: Chapter 3: The Midnight Hour Has Arrived, Time Travel Editor: Atlas Studios In the coming days, Xia Yuan continued to study while occasionally glancing at online posts, referencing the replies from netizens.
Of course, compared to the valuable replies, most were oddball responses from unexpected angles.
“The poster might have been summoned by a magic girl from some Otherworld, and once they travel over, they’ll be contracted to become a familiar.”
“No, it’s definitely a magic beast that summoned him, and after crossing over, he’ll be contracted to become a magic girl…”
“Perhaps he was discovered by a Great Mage searching for Otherworldly life to use as experimental material.
Then he gets captured to become High Level experimental material, and the seven days is to construct a traction ritual based on coordinates!”
“Can’t afford to provoke!
Can’t afford to provoke!”
Xia Yuan calmly scrolled past these replies.
He was about to travel, and if he let his mindset get hijacked by these silly online comments, he’d really be doomed.
It’s worth mentioning that during these seven days, almost all of Xia Yuan’s meals and other physiological needs were resolved at a small downstairs restaurant.
After being terribly frightened on the day of rebirth, he developed a psychological shadow about his home’s bathroom, even going so far as to pay a high price to have a blast-proof door installed.
This left the workers installing the door quite puzzled: Do you have explosives in your bathroom?
Xia Yuan could only use the excuse of a toilet issue to cover it up, then ran off in embarrassment under the workers’ puzzled yet admiring gaze.
The seventh day, at dusk.
The setting sun sank in the west, the distant horizon blocking the last ray of sunlight.
Xia Yuan fondly glanced at the sunset’s afterglow before raising his hand to shut down his computer.
With the only light source gone, the bedroom instantly became exceptionally dark.
Xia Yuan hugged his knees and sat quietly, his thoughts in disarray.
Although he had tried his best to prepare, at this last moment, he couldn’t help having some wild thoughts.
Tonight I’m leaving this world…
Am I prepared enough?
What if I cross over to an uninhabitable area?
What if it’s not a crossing but rather dying on the spot?
What if the purpose of summoning me is to turn me into a pet, a familiar, experimental material, or something unprovokable?…
In the darkness, Xia Yuan silently pondered the potential outcomes of the future.
“Forget it, there’s no benefit in dwelling on uncontrollable factors.”
The more he thought about it, the more hopeless life seemed.
Soon, Xia Yuan abandoned these thoughts and began a final check of his prepared supplies to prevent anything from being overlooked.
After checking all supplies once more, he dressed neatly, wore his backpack, held his trekking pole, and quietly leaned against the chair, waiting for the time to leave.
The digital clock placed on the computer desk beside him, in the dim environment, the blood-red numbers reflecting in his pupils flickered second by second.
Slowly, yet steadily approaching midnight.
As night deepened, Xia Yuan felt no drowsiness whatsoever—
Finally, under his slightly anxious gaze, time moved to [23:59:59]
The moment the numbers reset to zero, Xia Yuan suddenly stood up without any warning.
But immediately, he nearly fell, barely managing to stand with the support of the trekking pole.
Then, in a manner akin to a three-legged crawling creature, he slowly moved towards the room’s door, adjusting his posture as he went and gradually becoming more agile in his movements.
During this process, Xia Yuan’s consciousness was in a state of mixed fear and curiosity.
He tried to stop his body from moving, but ultimately to no avail, as if he were merely an onlooker.
Slowly passing through the living room, he clumsily unlocked the blast-proof door, and once again, Xia Yuan found himself standing in front of the mirror.
At this moment, the mirror’s surface became abnormally pitch black.
As time passed, a gray-white tone began to spill over from the edges of the mirror, spreading outward continuously.
The bathroom’s environment started to lose color, resembling the setting of an old black-and-white photograph.
Xia Yuan watched the surrounding anomalies in amazement, just as a huge, irresistible suction suddenly emanated from the pitch-black mirror.
Following this force, his consciousness drifted away from his body and entered the mirror.
At the moment of passing through the mirror, Xia Yuan forcibly “turned his head,” taking one last look at his body.
In that glance, he noticed a detail with horror:
His reflection in the mirror was smiling with an extremely familiar grin at the corner of its mouth!
This time, he was outside the mirror!
The Mirror World was not as completely black as it appeared from the outside.
On the contrary, indescribable and even unseen brilliant colors surged through the void of space, with occasionally wonderful streams of light flashing in and out around him.
Strange energy wrapped around Xia Yuan’s consciousness, traversing this world at an astounding speed.
Over time, some of the peculiar energy ‘seeped’ into his consciousness.
Put simply, it was like wrapping a soaked towel around a roll of toilet paper, with some of the towel’s moisture gradually seeping into the roll.
Absorbing these infiltrating energies passively, the aura of Xia Yuan’s consciousness subtly altered.
The sensation of absorbing energy was quite pleasant, and as his consciousness was permeated by the energy, a notion of ‘warmth’ arose, which alleviated some of the ’emptiness’ from lacking a body.
Perhaps a long time had passed, or maybe just an instant; Xia Yuan could not be sure.
As his consciousness gradually started to drift, a faint yet clear sound reached his ears.
Encased in the remaining bizarre energy, Xia Yuan’s consciousness seemed to pierce through some membrane, detaching from that colorful world and re-entering a completely dark realm.
Yet here, he instinctively felt at ease, warm, and the sound of a heartbeat became unusually distinct.
Xia Yuan thought groggily, and then he sensed himself moving.
The darkness was pierced by brilliant light, and cold air enveloped his entire body.
Unival, northern Gloria Empire, Karlars Province.
Among the white-capped peaks on the southwestern side of the Mugaro Mountains, stood a grand pearl-colored ancient castle complex—Moon Castle.
Azure-gold-edged banners fluttered in the wind, with three long-tailed strange crystal bird emblems painted in the center.
Several ice hawks circled above the looming spires of the castle, letting out long calls from time to time.
In front of the towering gates of the castle stood a statue of a stern man, foot on a Giant Dragon, holding a long-handled magic wand.
Ancient Mani language was engraved on the gray stone plinth at the statue’s base as if etched by a sharp sword.
“The Crystal Bird shall not descend upon the mundane—”
“Radiant History Year One, Red Rain Moon, the twenty-fourth day—Audric Llo Olivendi”
Back in the room on Blue Star, after the anomalies in the mirror disappeared completely, Xia Yuan’s body silently gazed at its reflection in the mirror.
After a moment, it slowly collapsed and lay motionless.
The input method spontaneously tapped a line of words: He was actually killed by his own handsomeness!!!