Chapter 68: Memory or illusion?

Even though it was less than two feet away, the creature was shrouded in a mass of black shadow, making its outline completely indistinguishable. No one could tell what kind of monster it was, but four red flames glowed within the shadow, looking like eyes.

With those four eyes, He Lingchuan certainly wouldn't mistake it for a human. Then, it extended a long, slender leg and plunged it into his chest.

The movement was so swift that He Lingchuan couldn't even discern the shape of its sharp claws before he cried out in agony.

The pain was soul-deep and utterly unbearable.

He certainly wouldn't sit there and wait for death, but several hard punches to the shadowy creature seemed to have no effect at all.

At that moment, he suddenly felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

A few months ago, at Gourd Mountain, his original self had been knocked off a cliff by a sand leopard, and both had perished!

Yes, it was exactly this scene.

As soon as this thought flashed through his mind, everything around him sharpened into focus: the clear blue sky, swaying green trees above, and the cliff receding further and further from his view.

The creature pinning him down was none other than the light-yellow, spotted sand leopard!

The sand leopard had its mouth wide open, preparing to sever his carotid artery.

He had no way out—he would either be bitten to death or fall to his death.

He Lingchuan couldn't help but curse loudly, "Get out! What does any of this have to do with me?!" This was what his original self had seen and endured before dying; it had nothing to do with him at all!

As soon as he cursed, the scene blurred once more.

The blue sky, white clouds, and cliff all vanished, replaced by bizarre, kaleidoscopic light, like a chaotic collection of points, lines, planes, and a painter's palette.

And then, he fell heavily to the ground.

It was a concrete pavement.

Stars twinkled in the sky, but it must have rained earlier, as the ground wasn't completely dry, and small puddles had collected in the potholes on the road.

He Lingchuan landed right in a puddle, splashing dirty water all over the sand leopard's head and face.

The monster also seemed somewhat bewildered, looking around and subconsciously loosening its grip on its prey.

The aroma of jianbing guozi wafted through the air, and He Lingchuan froze in astonishment.

This intersection was eerily familiar—wasn't it the path he used to take home from work every day?

He turned his head and saw the jianbing stall on the street corner. The "Three Yuan Each" sign was written in bold, capitalized letters with a marker, its handwriting as ugly as ever.

Wait, was it that night?

He turned his head further to the left and, sure enough, saw a little girl in a dress. Her mother was shopping by the roadside, completely unaware that her daughter was chasing a rolling coin all the way to the middle of the street!

Just then, a car sped towards them.

This scene was all too familiar.

This was the memory he truly possessed.

If everything went as before, he should have scooped up the girl and rushed across the road, saving her from this sudden misfortune.

But now the situation was different: he and the sand leopard were directly in the path of the car, between it and the girl.

He was lying down, but the sand leopard propped itself up, looking left and right. Clearly, this scene was completely unexpected for it.

In the next instant, the car ran over them.

Strictly speaking, it rolled over him; as for the sand leopard, it was squarely hit by the front of the car, then dragged under the tires, letting out a crisp "thump."

Afterward, the car veered across the roadside, finally coming to a halt only when it crashed into a wall.

He Lingchuan scrambled to his feet, panting heavily. He checked himself all over. Huh, no injuries?

Smoke billowed from the pickup truck's hood, and its engine died.

He Lingchuan scratched his head. In his memory, the car that had crashed into him back then was a sedan, but here it was a high-chassis pickup truck. Had he remembered wrong, or was something wrong with this place?

As people gathered around the car accident in the middle of the street, the little girl picked up her coin, smiled at him, and ran to her mother.

He Lingchuan shook his head and walked to the wall. But under the car wheel, it wasn't the sand leopard; it was clearly the black shadow he had first seen.

It was pinned and couldn't move, unwillingly stretching out its claws toward He Lingchuan. He, of course, wasn't so foolish and immediately took two steps back.

Soon, the black shadow shrank into a small ball and vanished.

"What on earth was that thing?" He Lingchuan muttered. He then noticed a greenish glowing symbol exposed within the plaster of the wall where the car had crashed.

He wanted to get closer to examine it, but suddenly the world spun, and everything went black again.

...

He Lingchuan blinked, still not fully awake.

Something in his vision magnified infinitely—what looked like four huge tusks, two above and two below?

Even in such dim light, the fangs seemed to glow.

Suddenly, a round object flew toward him, striking his stomach and sending him flying more than nine meters away.

The colossal maw from above missed its target, biting into the parapet before slowly lifting its head.

It was the black flood dragon.

Looking up from this angle, that thing was truly massive. He Lingchuan pointed at it and cursed loudly, "How can you be so heartless, turning your back after getting what you want! And after I even helped you... provide fire support!"

His cursing felt unsatisfying, because the heavy blow to his chest and abdomen made him irritable and nauseous every time he drew a breath.

The black flood dragon ignored him, turning instead to pursue the white light in the air.

Only then did He Lingchuan remember that he had been hit in the face by that thing earlier, and probably invaded. Otherwise, how could he have experienced those bizarre, kaleidoscopic scenes?

Zeng Feixiong came over and helped him up, saying, "Forgive me, Young Master, that rolling stone was mine. Are you alright?"

"You saved my life, hic, I'll reward you handsomely later!" He Lingchuan also saw clearly that what had sent him flying was a rolling stone from the city wall, only slightly smaller than a millstone. It was meant for a trebuchet, but Zeng Feixiong had flung it to save his life.

But the force used was undeniably real. Fortunately, He Lingchuan was strong; if it had been He Yue taking that blow, he would probably have suffered internal injuries and been bedridden for over half a month.

He had to heavily reward and thank the very person who had injured him. The events unfolding here were indeed growing more bizarre by the moment.

After the white light escaped from He Lingchuan, it finally remembered to seek out Nian Songyu.

It was extremely agile; though the black flood dragon intercepted it repeatedly, its massive body proved too cumbersome, allowing the light to repeatedly slip through.

Sun Fuping noticed the white light's movement and quickly picked up Nian Songyu, rushing forward. The black flood dragon swung its tail again, sending him flying.

However, Sun Fuping was quick-witted and agile, preemptively throwing Nian Songyu toward the white light.

The two finally met in mid-air, and the white light directly entered the commandant, who still had his eyes closed, through his mouth and nose.

Before the black flood dragon could swallow him, Nian Songyu finally woke up.

He took a long breath, a red light flashed in his eyes, and the phantom giant behind him reappeared, now twice as large as before.

Correspondingly, its two phantom blades were also twice as long, reaching an astonishing eight zhang (over twenty meters)!

Nian Songyu then wielded the long blade, aimed at the black flood dragon's abyssal maw, and delivered an upward diagonal slash from below!

Those on the city wall seemed to witness a sudden flash of moonlight, like mercury spilling across the ground, as the black flood dragon's head was split in two down the middle, its lower half falling heavily to the ground.

"No way?" Zeng Feixiong exclaimed in surprise. "Is it really that useless? All that size for nothing."

The black flood dragon was dead. What about them? Were they doomed to follow?