Chapter 385: Daybreak

“Wah...wahhh...”

“Wahhhhh...”

So noisy. Can’t you let me sleep for a little longer?

He was sleepy and so very tired. He just wanted to keep sleeping, but the girl’s crying voice wouldn’t let him. It was irritatingly difficult to ignore.

Finally, he sighed and opened his mouth, only to realize to his surprise that he wasn’t in his bed, sleeping in, but lying in a world of darkness.

He stood up and looked around. There was nothing.

“Wahhh...”

The girl was crying again.

Suddenly, a lightbulb lit up not far from him, illuminating a corner in the darkness. He walked toward it and came to make out a child’s bed, a wardrobe, a shut door, and a shut window. Since there was no wall and it was all pitch black around him, the window and door appeared to be floating in the air.

By the bed, a girl sat on the floor.

She looked to be three or four, and her unusually small figure made clear her malnutrition.

Her silver hair was messy, and she wore a loose red dress that didn’t fit her frame. In her arms were a patchwork of a doll. She sobbed with sorrow and helplessness.

“What’s wrong?” He went up to her.

The girl stopped crying and sniffed, her red nose twitching. She looked up at him with her swollen big eyes, crimson in color.

“Big sister’s gone. I’m scared.”

“Where’s your sister?”

The girl shook her head. “She said she would be home by nightfall, but she hasn’t come back.”

He assured her, “Your sister will be back. Don’t worry.”

“Yeah.” The girl nodded before looking back at him. “Who are you, Big Brother?”

“Me?” He paused. He couldn’t remember his name.

“You’re Gao Yang, aren’t you?” the girl said.

That’s right

, Gao Yang realized with a start.

I’m Gao Yang.

“How did you know my name?”

The girl wiped her tears and smiled a little bashfully. “You’re my friend, my future friend. Sometimes, I dream of you.”

“Friend?” Gao Yang was taken aback, but then he remembered. “Ah, you’re Fresh Snow, when she was little.”

“Yeah.” Fresh Snow beamed.

Rat-tat-tat.

Suddenly, someone knocked. Fresh Snow shot to her feet and ran to the door excitedly. “It’s Sister!”

She opened the door without a wall. Behind it wasn’t darkness, but a brightly-lit world.

It was as if the door connected two different spaces at different times.

Outside the door wasn’t Fresh Snow’s sister, White Dew, but a little boy in white t-shirt, denim shorts, and sandals. Rested on his shoulder was a blue bug net.

“Fresh Snow, let’s catch some cicadas.” The boy smiled happily.

Gao Yang paused.

Wasn't that me when I was a child?

The boy seemed to have noticed Gao Yang too. He was confused at first. Then he broke into an innocent and friendly smile. “Are you coming with us, Big Brother?”

Gao Yang smiled.

Why not?

He slowly walked to the door and looked out into the world on the other side. It was a familiar courtyard with many children playing around. The sky was blue and the clouds white. The afternoon breeze rustled the thriving camphor tree, accompanied by the constant chirps of the cicadas.

“Don’t run around. It’s gonna be time for dinner soon.” He could vaguely hear the dorm keeper calling out.

It was...the orphanage he grew up in!

The urgency rising in his heart compelled him to walk faster, before he could step out of the door, however, Fresh Snow, who was already outside, shouted.

“No!”

She grabbed the little boy’s hand and looked at Gao Yang seriously. “You must not come out.”

“Why?” Gao Yang felt a strong nostalgia for his childhood, and he really wanted to go catch cicadas with them.

“Have you forgotten, Gao Yang?” Fresh Snow asked seriously.

“What?”

“You died.” Fresh Snow blinked. She didn’t seem particularly sad. “You were killed.”

The memories came back to him all at once.

Yes, I’m dead.

Although everyone and I have done our best and fought to the last breath, fate did not change.

I died. My heart was carved out and crushed by Lilia.

It’s all over.

Gao Yang smiled bitterly. “Yeah, I died.”

“It’s okay, Gao Yang,” the little girl said from outside the backlit door, grabbing his hand. “We’re good friends. Good friends don’t let each other die. This will be the first and last time, though. I can’t protect you another time.”

Gao Yang couldn’t speak. Everything around him vanished all of a sudden, leaving only the door and the world on the other side of the door. Even the space he was in was gone. The white light was going to sweep over everything.

The little boy and the little girl waved at Gao Yang.

Then the little boy, before disappearing into the light, looked at Gao Yang and smiled at him. “Forget me, Big Brother.”

“Don’t ever look back, okay?”

...

Having crushed Gao Yang’s heart, Lilia looked for the Element Rune Circuit he should have on him.

After two seconds, though, Gao Yang’s injured right hand, which had dropped lifelessly, lifted all of a sudden to seize Lilia’s wrist.

Lilia started.

How is this possible?!

Gao Yang’s empty chest started mending, and a heart grew anew, both flesh and blood—it was a red heart filled with eerily beautiful black curses.

Fresh Snow’s curse could resurrect a life once.

Gao Yang had half of her curse in his body, which was the mysterious power the system had sensed in him. Now, the energy had been triggered.

In the blink of an eye, the rib cage and muscles regenerated too. Even the other injuries on Gao Yang’s body and face were quickly recovering.

Gao Yang’s eyes widened, radiating golden light.

[Lucky levels up.]

[Level 4 Lucky: maximum stats increase to 1000.]

[Willful Power granted: allow the reallocation of all stats outside of Luck, ignoring the limit of maximum stats. The state lasts for 10 seconds, with a cooldown of 48 hours.]

[Teleportation levels up.]

[Level 5 Teleportation: Allow one to teleport 15 meters. Cooldown: 0.7 second.]

[Stats Bonuses of Level 5 Teleportation: Strength + 700, Agility + 1300.]

[Added Perk: may go through special obstacles and walls outside of barriers and realms.]

[Fire levels up.]

[Stats Bonuses of Level 5 Fire: Willpower + 650, Charisma + 130]

[Maximum temperature increases to 2100 degrees Celsius. Grants full immunity to regular fire damage.]

[Fire Punch’s damage output doubles.]

[Replicate levels up.]

[Level 5 Replicate: Allow one to replicate any Talent with a serial number greater than 10.]

[Method: Touch the target’s body for 0.6 second.]

[Number of Talent Replicated: 2. Storage Duration: 8 hours.]

[Use Duration: 20 seconds. Cooldown: 4 hours.]

[Stats Bonuses of Level 5 Replicate: Willpower + 700, Charisma - 200.]

[Status Screen updated.]

[Constitution: 500 Endurance: 500]

[Strength: 1013 Agility: 1610]

[Willpower: 1332 Charisma: 391]

[Luck: 813]

“It’s my turn,” Gao Yang said impassively.

Lilia suddenly felt a killing intent and will that were powerful enough to tear her to shreds in an instant. She was going to back off, but Gao Yang was still holding onto her wrist.

Without hesitation, she let go of Gao Yang’s neck and transformed the hand into a sharp blade, cutting her left hand off. She went as far as amputating herself to run from Gao Yang.

But it was too late.

Bam!

Gao Yang’s fist slammed into Lilia’s chest at tremendous speed, sending her flying through the air.

Midair, she curled her fingers while enduring the pain of her heart almost getting shattered, attempting to summon elements to protect herself.

But Gao Yang was already there, by her side.

Shock and fear flashed through the purple eye on Lilia’s forehead. How? How was he so fast? Not even at her prime would her speed and power be his match.

She would never know the answer to the question: Gao Yang had activated Willful Power.

In the next ten seconds, his stats had been temporarily adjusted.

[Constitution: 1 Endurance: 1]

[Strength: 1902 Agility: 1610]

[Willpower: 1831 Charisma: 1]

[Luck: 813]

“Fire Punch!”

Gao Yang’s tightly-clenched right fist collided with Lilia’s chest with overwhelming fiery energy, shattering her bones and flesh and penetrating her chest.

Growl.

A giant fire dragon roared and sunk its fangs into Lilia, soaring into the night sky, leaving a trail of crimson red that was so vibrant that it hurt to look at. Like a shooting star in reverse, it cast the whole city in a bright light, as if ready to burn a hole into the dome.

At that moment, even the blood moon paled in comparison.

More than ten seconds later, the dragon gradually dispersed, and Lilia was gone without leaving even a corpse behind. She had been rendered into nothing.

Epilogue, the leader of pride monsters, was dead.

So was Lilia, a former awakener.

Gao Yang stood where he was and waited for his stats to go back to normal. Panting, his almost blinded eyes started picking up on the colors and light around him, and his almost deaf ears caught the piercing car alarms. He also came to smell the burnt and metallic smell in the air, feeling the breeze with his almost numb face.

He was back in this world, yet his brain was still blank.

He slowly sat down, folding his legs together.

In his sight was a street block, or what remained of it. None of the roads, public facilities, or houses was intact, like the aftermath of a barrage of missiles bombing the place.

He closed his eyes and sat quietly, unmoving like a piece of rock.

Then at some point, the blood moon above him was gone, and the blood fog near the ground dispersed.

Sensing something, he slowly opened his eyes. On the horizon at the end of the road came the first ray of the day, the orange light shining warmly on his face.

Overwhelming exhaustion had been sweeping over him since the moment the battle ended, but Gao Yang held on, fighting to stay conscious.

For this exact moment.

The day broke.

The Crimson Tide ended, and humanity hadn’t gone extinct.

Gao Yang allowed his eyes to fall shut.

His only thought was to sleep, to fall into a long, deep slumber.

Outside of death, it would be the longest he ever slept in his life.

[End of Act 3]