Chapter 454: Chapter 454: Nightmare Space

“Why are you here?!”

It seemed that influenced by the information system of the dead World Fragment, Artemis only just realized and exclaimed.

“Something went wrong, we came to check it out.”

I vaguely stated, as the situation with the World Fragment had become even more complex, and dealing with it properly would indeed require careful consideration.

“Come to check it out…” Artemis muttered to herself, it took a while for her to grasp the meaning of those words, “Wait!! Are you saying you can freely travel between two worlds!?”

“That’s not difficult,” Big Sister said indifferently, “To handle troubles related to the world, crossing Planes is an essential skill.”

“That means, you could help us…”

Artemis’s face immediately lit up with ecstasy, no longer the calm and decisive demeanor she initially had. The blonde ponytailed girl almost screamed uncontrollably, she abruptly stood up, leaning almost entirely in front of me.

Her expression reminded me of Lilina from the past, that inherently deceitful person also used the same method to deceive a lot of my sympathy, but now all I had was a fake Lolita terrible to the core… Uh, it seems I digress.

“Stay calm.” Big Sister immediately restrained the somewhat out-of-control Artemis. We could understand her feelings. This seemingly ordinary and bustling world hid a tomb-like cold truth behind it. Anyone would dislike living here, and accomplishing a miracle like traveling through time was naturally bound to place high hopes on us. However, the truth was solving this issue was a hundred times more complex than one could imagine. We couldn’t even confirm the cause of this World Fragment’s existence, let alone the principles behind it. Its emergence was something even Dingdang couldn’t explain, let alone how to rejuvenate a dead World Fragment. And even if we didn’t save this world, simply taking Artemis and the others away seemed impossible. No matter how much they appeared to have normal free will, they were ultimately Information Ghosts who had died along with their world, or, to put it another way, Information Integration Unities that entered unstable quantum states and hadn’t dissipated. What would happen if such bodiless Information Ghosts entered the Main Material Plane? No one would dare take that risk.

Thus, although I was very willing to help this girl, things really weren’t that simple.

Calming Artemis down didn’t take too long. This stubborn and strong girl possessed an astonishing psychological endurance; she truly deserved to be a leader in two worlds. Her strategic mindset and overall vision were far beyond her years.

We explained all the difficulties to Artemis. Even though understanding such complex matters was quite difficult for a high school girl, she calmly accepted the fact that even we were temporarily powerless–something that greatly surprised us.

“Anyway, not all hope is lost,” Lin Xue comforted Artemis, who was biting her lip and staying silent, with partial sincerity. “I can see the future, and you are still part of it, but we just don’t know what to do about it yet.”

“Tell us about this world; what exactly happened here, and what is happening now? This is crucial to whether we can save you or not.”

Artemis shook her head: “I don’t know, it all happened overnight. I was just a normal high school girl back then, never thinking I’d experience such events… That night was so ordinary; Hu Wen and I were walking by the school pond, everything was fine, but then… Suddenly, a very intense flash of light appeared in the sky, just for a moment, and then we all lost consciousness… When I awoke, the world had turned into this, a dead, isolated city…”

“It might be a constant star explosion,” came the tentative deductions from Bubbles and Taville leading the think tank in real-time, “but a constant star explosion usually has extended precursors, visible to the naked eye during the day, which doesn’t match Artemis’s description. The second possibility is a Genesis flash from a Conqueror-class event, whose light can instantly vaporize an entire constant star system, matching Artemis’s description and the conditions for creating quantum ghosts–i.e., information fragments. However, this possibility is the least likely; the destructive power of a Genesis flash mainly targets tangible matter, and its Law Strike strength isn’t strong enough. We need more information.”

As for the situation in this world now, Artemis didn’t know much. After all, she had just been an ordinary high school girl before. Even if she had great leadership talent or had honed a resilient spirit through her experiences, she couldn’t completely compensate for her lack of knowledge. The theories and patterns she deduced about the “Death World” were utterly useless to us; the only things worth noting were a few terms.

Awakeners referred to those students who gathered around Artemis and maintained their free will. Being key points of informational projection between two worlds, and a special link connecting them, there was a bustling activity of information around Artemis. This even made her vicinity in this world a minor explosion of information, allowing her companions to retain their free will. Additionally, in her vicinity, there were occasional signs of the students “waking up” from their slumber, which was why Ling Yin had “harassed” her classmates in the classroom–she had been searching for companions, and Artemis’s unique power was one of the critical reasons she could lead the “Awakeners.”

However, the occurrence of “Awakening” was exceedingly rare. Even in the years following the world’s destruction–though it could have been much longer, since time seemed incredibly chaotic here, and all conventional methods of timekeeping were useless. Artemis merely thought that years had passed, but in reality, the passage of time in their world had already stopped–it was no wonder Hu Wen and Ling Yin were so surprised when they saw us.

On the other hand, “Slumber” was the exact opposite phenomenon. In this Death World, “sleep” was a forbidden term, as it meant losing all self-will and joining the ranks of the walking dead “ghosts.” Sadly, compared to the rare occurrences of “Awakening,” the likelihood of “Slumber” seemed quite high; constantly, awakened students would suddenly fall into slumber, turning into those ghosts who listened intently in class or moved mechanically around campus. Initially, hundreds of companions had gathered around Artemis at the dawn of the world transforming into a massive block of quantum state information. Yet now, fewer than twenty still retained their consciousness…

“Stay in a few special rooms in this building governed by me, frequently interact, even if the conversations are meaningless, and don’t wander outside too much. Avoid excessive interaction with the rigid ‘ghosts’… and many other skills, which we learned after sacrificing hundreds of companions over such a long time.”

Artemis spoke slowly, her voice laden with deep sorrow.

What kind of strong heart must an ordinary high school girl have to bear such a heavy burden?

“We will do our best to help you, as it does not conflict with our original intent.”

The kind-hearted Big Sister earnestly said to Artemis.

Right, there was no conflict. Although this world fragment posed a threat to our real world, as long as we severed the interconnected law threads between the two, the threat would no longer exist. Severing them was our task anyway, except initially, the plan was to destroy this drifting fragment after completing the separation, and now it changed to saving it.

Though this second step looked a hundred times more difficult than the original plan, however… just as Big Sister said, we’ll try our best. If all else fails, let God Dou Ding take a crack at it; I refuse to believe that guy, after retaking so many exams, hasn’t progressed at all!

We talked with Artemis for a long time, of course, mostly it was Artemis talking on her own. This girl had been oppressed for too long. Despite her showing such strength, living a nightmare-like life in this tomb-like city, being regarded as the sole pillar by her own companions was almost unimaginable for an ordinary girl. Moreover, since the informational projection between the two worlds had been disrupted for unknown reasons, she even lost that comforting “Dream World.” Under such immense pressure, even the strongest could show their vulnerable side. Hence, when Artemis saw us, who she once deemed as characters from a dream, appearing alive before her, she showed an extraordinarily warm enthusiasm–it was hard to imagine that this girl was once the leader of the terrifying Olympus Organization on Earth, and she had nearly overturned the entire human society!

“By the way, what were you thinking at that time, seeking the power of ‘God’ and leading the Olympus Organization to challenge the world? Those ideas seem a bit cliche, don’t they?”

After becoming more familiar, Qianqian was immensely curious about this former enemy, and she practically became best friends with her, chatting together closely.

“This…” Mentioning this topic, Artemis immediately became embarrassed, “If I said I had thought everything was just a dream of mine, even a self-indulgent fantasy, would you believe me? Even now, I still feel somewhat surreal about all of you…”

Then we all went “oh.”

Looks like here’s another student poisoned by YY novels–and those are something typically read by boys, aren’t they?

“Is it getting dark soon?”

While chatting, Artemis suddenly looked up at the bright sky outside the window and said something out of the blue.

“Dark? The sun is still so high…”

Qianqian began to reply, puzzled, but she soon couldn’t go on. It seemed that the sun had never moved from its position in the center of the sky the entire day.

In this world, nothing could be explained by common sense.

Indeed, less than a minute after Artemis’s words fell, the sky outside suddenly darkened.

There was no process at all, as if God were a poorly funded, irresponsible animation director with a disjointed production team, who decided to cut the sunset transition effect directly from the stage play called “World” to save costs. The screen just flickered and with a “biu”, the starry sky replaced the original clear blue sky.

Then, the pile of oddly placed books and chair fragments in the center of the classroom spontaneously combusted, defying all physical laws. The blazing bonfire cast eerie shadows around the spacious classroom, and Qianqian immediately gleefully ran off to play with the fire with Lilina.

“Although it’s difficult to judge the exact passage of time in this world, the changing of scenes like day and night can still be traced, which relate to the shape of the clouds above, and over time, we’ve also grasped some patterns of this chaotic world,” Artemis said, lost in thought as he watched the bonfire that, although burning fiercely, left the books and wood beneath unscorched, “For instance, this flame that always ignites itself, when it turns blue, daybreak is about to come.”

“This world is really bizarre.”

Big Sister and I glanced at each other and simultaneously exclaimed.

“There’s not even a sunset!”

Sunset! What a bleak doomsday world it was, utterly incomplete without a sunset, damn it!

“Sunset? There was one a few days ago,” Artemis chuckled, seeming to find joy in the company of the no-good Imperial Leaders, although he didn’t think his own exclamation was funny at all, “But not anymore, now it just gets dark immediately when the time comes, with no transition. God knows where the twilight of this world has gone.”

The vanished twilight?

I suddenly remembered the twilight scenes that inevitably came every morning in the outside real world, and then I sighed, “I think I know where your twilight is…”

“Collision of two worlds?”

After listening to my explanation, Artemis couldn’t help but widen her eyes. Law entanglements, information pollution, world collisions–a series of rare terms burrowed into her ears, sparking immense interest in this young girl who was still at an age of intense curiosity. In this timeless world, Artemis and the others had indeed achieved a different kind of eternal life. Just when Qianqian had been busy discussing with Lilina the tastiest way to roast the World Tree’s tender shoots, she suddenly bounced back and began explaining the multi-universe model to Artemis, poisoning the poor girl named after the Moon God with her hodgepodge of flawed theories…

At that moment, a deep, mournful “woo woo” sound from an unknown source suddenly entered our ears. It was like the sobs of the night wind, instantly silencing everyone around.

“Ah… Ah Jun,” Qianqian quickly slid into my arms, “did you hear something?”

“What is that…” I held the slightly trembling Qianqian in my arms, looking around in confusion. Qianqian was not afraid of ghosts, but such a creepy, eerie sob would unsettle anyone. Big Sister, with her usual composure, and the clueless Lin Xue seemed unaffected, but Qianqian, who would be just an ordinary girl under normal circumstances, was visibly freaked out.

“Boss, I’m scared…” Qianqian had just calmed down when the troublesome Fake Lolita, Lilina, also moved closer, making her way into my arms and then getting elbowed away by Qianqian.

“Great, it’s starting again.” Artemis, however, seemed quite calm–perhaps this kind of phenomenon was quite normal in this world?

Just as I was about to ask what was going on, the ground suddenly shook.

Then, like a collapsing dream, the walls around us suddenly crumbled!

It was hard to imagine such a thing–generally, some walls in a building are load-bearing, and their collapse would certainly cause the roof to crash down. But when the walls around us silently fell into rubble, the ceiling strangely… floated away sideways?

Where were the other ceilings? The outside corridors? Where had all those things gone?

After the abnormality began, the Chemistry Department activity room was like a deserted island at sea, bobbing uncertainly amidst the intense shaking around. The old building’s corridors and stairs seemed to come to life, twisting and moving within our sight. Even a segment of the stairs brushed past Artemis’s hair as it flew by, and a concrete base with a half-broken rebar attached slowly fell from not far away. Meanwhile, a classroom that originally was on the first floor–or the wall facing the classroom–rose before our eyes and then hung at the end of a corridor that had warped into an S-shape. It was only then that I suddenly realized why I had previously seen a security room, supposedly on the bottom floor, at the third-floor staircase…

It was like an absurd nightmare; the entire building warped and deformed before our eyes. We, inside, felt as though we were in the belly of a nightmare beast. Faced with such a bizarre scene, even Big Sister looked tense, and Qianqian outright closed her eyes and curled up in my arms. Back in the Kepulu Star Zone, she had faced billions of insect swarms without fear, but today, faced with this bizarre, absurd situation, she was scared–just as a brave warrior might slay countless enemies on the battlefield but still wake from sleep in fright from a creepy nightmare, the scene here was bizarre as if right out of a dream.

I do wonder, though, if Qianqian could really be linked with “a brave warrior.”

As for Lilina, the little girl was also curled up in my arms now, sharing the space with Qianqian. It was clear she was genuinely scared; I could feel the distinct trembling of her delicate, soft body, which was why I didn’t just throw her out as I might have done usually.

“Ha, look at this nightmare-like world!”

Artemis staggered in this bizarre scene, unsteady from the shaking, yet the girl stubbornly moved forward until she reached a blazing bonfire, then, seemingly ignoring the flames, pulled out a book.

“It looks like this will last a while; we could read for a bit.”

Holding the still-flaming book, Artemis turned her head, smiling like a blooming flower. (To be continued. To find out what happens next, please visit www.wuxiaworld.site. More chapters are available. Support the author, support genuine reading!)