APTnovel Chapter 324: A Strange World
Chapter 324: A Strange World
"Big brother, wake up." Zhou Yuan seemed to hear a familiar voice in his daze.
Zhou Yuan slowly opened his eyes and saw Nana sitting on the ground, hugging him with eyes full of concern. Nana smiled broadly when she saw Zhou Yuan wake up.
Suddenly, Zhou Yuan looked extremely surprised. Nana followed his gaze and turned to look behind her. She saw that the sun in the sky was like a crescent moon, incomplete and dim. Hanging in the sky were nearly a hundred thin, long white ribbons of stars, all of which stretched across the sky.
Behind Nana, the front half of a huge warship was stuck in the ground, still emitting smoke. Zhou Yuan knew that it was his flagship.
Zhou Yuan rubbed his eyes, stood up, and looked at this incredible sight.
Zhou Yuan felt a chill down his back. He turned around and saw a surging sea in front of him. The sea surface was covered with gloomy, dark ripples, reflecting more than a hundred thin, elongated star bands.
Zhou Yuan felt his arm being held, and when he turned his head, he saw it was Nana.
"Brother, what are you thinking about?"
Big Brother? Why does Nana call herself "Big Brother"?
"Nana, you?"
"Big brother, I'm Lefia."
"You are Lefia?" Zhou Yuan was stunned, as if he were witnessing a bizarre scene from this world.
"Yes, big brother." Nana tugged at Zhou Yuan's arm, seemingly showing anger but also acting coquettishly.
Zhou Yuan was silent for a moment, then asked, "Where is this place?"
"New Earth."
Zhou Yuan stared at Nana's face, seemingly trying to find something unusual about it.
Nana met Zhou Yuan's gaze with intense intensity, and Zhou Yuan lowered his head slightly. "What's wrong with this world?"
"Big brother, the Ghibli triple helix fiber vortex destroyed everything and brought us to a bizarre world."
Zhou Yuan looked up at the more than one hundred thin white star bands in the sky, which looked like narrow bands of the Milky Way. Could it be that those white star bands were all part of a galaxy?
"Big brother, the Super Droplet has been destroyed."
"Nana..."
"Big brother, let me reiterate, I'm not Nana, I'm Lefia." After saying that, Nana pouted and walked towards the beach, stepping on the sand.
Zhou Yuan stared blankly at Nana's retreating figure.
Suddenly, Nana leaped into the sea. Zhou Yuan felt a chill and ran away quickly. He was very surprised that his superpower was no longer working. He used to be able to teleport.
Zhou Yuan arrived at the spot where Nana jumped into the sea, panting heavily. He took a deep breath and plunged into the water as well.
Zhou Yuan dived deep, desperately searching for Nana. He saw what appeared to be a person moving ahead and quickly swam over. When he reached the person, he was horrified to see that this person looked exactly like him. The person's body was swollen, floating motionless, with wide-open eyes staring at Zhou Yuan.
Zhou Yuan felt a chill and hurriedly swam upwards, paddling with his hands and kicking his legs, but he could never seem to reach the surface. Suddenly, Zhou Yuan saw several more corpses floating ahead, one of which was facing him. This time, Zhou Yuan was utterly desperate; those corpses looked exactly like him.
Zhou Yuan opened his mouth and inhaled a large mouthful of seawater. His mouth tasted salty, but he still tried his best to swim upwards.
Somewhere on the seabed, a new body of Zhou Yuan floats.
Everything returned to calm.
Suddenly, thousands of golden rays appeared in the previously dim sky, and the crescent-shaped sun in the sky became full. Under the radiant light, the more than one hundred narrow strips of stars in the sky disappeared, and even the warship that had been emitting smoke disappeared. The sea was still the same sea, but now it was sparkling.
A young and beautiful woman was walking on the beach. She turned around; it was Nana.
Several screams of surprise rang out.
"Ya Mei, the ending of your novel is just too... something!"
In the movie theater, Wei Shan had some complaints about the ending of Lefia's "The Legend of the Gods".
"Sister Shan, it's been four whole years, and he hasn't come to see us once." Lefia sighed.
The movie theater lights began to come on, and the audience started to leave their seats. Wei Shan and Lefia also got up and followed the crowd out.
After leaving the movie theater, Lefia and Wei Shan looked at the sky. Although it was three o'clock in the afternoon, the sky was dim. The crescent sun and the more than one hundred narrow strips of stars together formed this eerie world.
Wei Shan drove quickly towards home. The streetlights were on, and the pedestrians looked calm and collected, as if they were already familiar with this strange world.
“Ya Mei, the world underwent a sudden change four years ago. I guess Brother Zhou also met with misfortune, otherwise why wouldn’t he visit us even once in the past four years?”
"Yes, very likely. I hope he's alright."
"I'm curious, what was the meaning behind the ending of your novel?"
“I hope Nana can save him and be with him.”
"But Nana seems to be killing him in the movie."
"Not entirely. Nana has been cloning him, trying to find the one she's most satisfied with."
"understood."
Suddenly, the world brightened, the dim crescent sun disappeared, cars crashed into piles on the street, Wei Shan braked suddenly and felt the car jolt. Pedestrians on the road looked up at the sky.
Lefia and Wei Shan got out of the car and looked up at the sky. They saw more than a dozen narrow bands of stars appear in the sky. Like the previous hundred or so narrow bands of stars, these bands of stars stretched across the entire sky.
Everyone stared at the thin, long bands of stars in the sky, and a nameless fear gripped them all.
Four years ago, the wide, bright band of the Milky Way suddenly disappeared, turning into more than a hundred narrow, elongated bands of stars, and the round sun became a crescent sun. Then, nothing unusual happened for the next four years. Today, four years later, more than a dozen thin, elongated bands of stars have appeared in the sky.
According to observations from various observatories, from Earth's perspective, there are actually more than 1,800 narrow star belts around Earth, and Earth is located in one of the widest star belts.
Scientists from New Earth speculate that these elongated star bands, each a galaxy, have been torn into long, thin strips by a powerful force. As for why the Sun appears this way, scientists are baffled. According to various observation methods, the Sun is not obscured by any celestial body, yet it appears as a crescent shape. Strangely, calculations based on gravitational measurements of the major planets in the solar system show that the Sun's mass has not changed.
However, one thing still sparked heated discussion: more than four years ago, the bracelets of the deceased would disappear, and new bracelets would appear for the newly born. But since the strange phenomena occurred, the bracelets of the deceased have remained, and new bracelets have not appeared for the newly born. Therefore, people believe that the "gods" left the new Earth four years ago.
The evening television news naturally reported on the more than ten thin bands of stars that had newly appeared in the sky. Major news outlets and online platforms were abuzz with discussion and debate. Soon, people attributed these strange phenomena to the "features" of the "gods," believing they were caused by them. When more than ten thin bands of stars appeared again in the afternoon, people naturally assumed that the "gods" would soon visit the new Earth again.
On the sofa, Lefia and Wei Shan watched the news on TV.
"Ya Mei, do you think he will come back?"
"Maybe. Sister Shan, could you turn the TV volume down? Is someone knocking on the door?"
Wei Shan took the remote control and turned the TV volume down very low. Sure enough, there was a knocking sound at the door.
Lefia walked to the door and looked out through the peephole. What she saw surprised and delighted her.
Lefia quickly opened the door, and a young and beautiful woman rushed in. When Wei Shan saw this woman, she couldn't help but call out, "Nana!"
Nana gave a forced smile, her face seemingly troubled, and said in a low voice, "Lafia, Wei Shan, hello. Long time no see."
"Nana, where's Brother Zhou?" Lefia couldn't help but ask.
"Lefia, Wei Shan, I'm so sorry, Master..."
"What's wrong with him?" Lefia and Wei Shan asked in unison.
"Master, he is dead."
"Huh?" The two looked at Nana in surprise, seemingly unable to believe it was true.
"How is this possible?!" Lefia roared. "He's immortal!"
"Lefia, do you know where we are right now?"
Lefia and Wei Shan looked at Nana with suspicion, while Nana gave them a bitter smile.
"Nana, I don't know. I only know that strange changes have occurred in this world four years ago."
Wei Shan seemed to suddenly remember something and hurriedly asked, "Nana, you said Brother Zhou is dead, when did he die?"
"just."
"just?"
Yes, we have just arrived in this world.
"You mean those long, thin bands of stars that appeared in the sky this afternoon..."
"Yes, your galaxy arrived first; the Imperial Galactic Base just arrived in this space."
"Nana, how exactly did Brother Zhou die?"
"After the super-body droplet entered the Grimm Tri-Helix Fiber Vortex at superluminal speed, Brother Zhou remained unconscious. Later... you'll understand once you see this." With that, Nana's bracelet appeared, and a spherical hologram filled the entire living room.
Lefia and Wei Shan knew that the holographic image was showing Zhou Yuan's flagship command center.
Nana snapped out of her daze and moved away from Zhou Yuan. Zhou Yuan lay motionless on the ground, while the little bee kept calling in his ear, "Master, Master..."
Nana reached out and checked Zhou Yuan's breathing. He didn't seem to be breathing. Nana turned on her bracelet and began scanning Zhou Yuan's brain. The holographic display in front of Nana's eyes was blank. A tear rolled down from the corner of Nana's eye and dripped onto Zhou Yuan's handsome face.
"Master!" Nana suddenly cried out, unable to hold back her tears, and buried her face in Zhou Yuan's chest, shaking his body violently as she cried.
Zhou Yuan's face suddenly withered like weathering, and then his hands, feet and whole body shrank and shriveled. Nana watched in astonishment at the amazing changes in Zhou Yuan's body. When she reached out to try to hold on, Zhou Yuan vanished like dust, leaving no trace.
"What's going on? Brother Zhou is immortal."
"Lefia, I know."
"Although Brother Zhou's physical body is dead, perhaps his soul, or rather his consciousness, is still alive."
"Yes, that's what I think too. According to the flagship's surveillance, a white dot flew out of the flagship shortly after we arrived at this location."
"and after?"
"Later, I used various observation equipment, but I couldn't find that white spot. This world is too strange."
Lefia and Wei Shan were taken aback at first, then they understood. The crescent-shaped sun in the sky above the Earth and the more than 1,800 slender star bands around the Earth were strange.
"Now that Brother Zhou is gone, what will become of the Earth Empire?"
"I've come to seek your opinions. I believe we need the Kron Master for the time being to stabilize the situation and prevent the Empire from falling into division."
Lefia and Wei Shan exchanged a glance and nodded to Nana.
"Lefia, Wei Shan, I'll head back now." With that, Nana pressed a button on her bracelet, a flash of light, and Nana vanished.
In the flagship command center, Nana was tapping on a holographic screen. A handsome man had his left arm around Nana's slender waist, while his right hand was gently stroking her hair.
The Imperial Fleet's lifelike intelligent robots, which had been on standby, were activated. A glowing circular hole appeared on the back of each robot's head, and each hole was receiving a massive stream of consciousness data.
(PS: This book ends here, but the story isn't finished yet. Please look forward to the sequel, tentatively titled "Time and Space Ruins." The reason for ending this book is twofold: I've been too busy and too tired; my body can't handle it anymore, and I need to rest for a while. Because I'm a novice and type slowly, each chapter took me almost four hours. Don't worry, this book won't be abandoned. Thank you to all my readers for your companionship over the past year.)