"Then I'll make breakfast and wait for your return."
After bowing, he turned and left.
"Look, even Uncle Fang is cheering you on!" Raven remarked from Huai Shi's shoulder. "You have to try harder!"
"What if I feel even more powerless?"
"Then think of something good. Like your savings?" Raven suggested. "The more than ten million I spent is down to just over eight hundred now. You need to work harder to provide for the family!"
"Please, just stop talking, will you?"
Huai Shi felt even more drained, his whole being seeming to turn a ghastly pale.
Not wanting to deal with this pest, he picked up the invitation and walked onto the lawn.
According to Raven's translation on the invitation, participating in the competition was very simple. He just needed to hold the invitation, wander a few circles at a three-way intersection at the appointed time, and the organizers would receive his signal and pull him into the Border.
It sounded unbelievably convenient.
But the problem was... where to find a three-way intersection! Finding a crossroads was easy, but suddenly being asked to find a three-way intersection was a headache. With no other choice, he had to do as Raven instructed; after all, any road would do, even one at his own home. He had Uncle Fang create a small path on the lawn with a weed whacker during the day.
This doesn't seem reliable at all, does it?
Under the tranquil moonlight, Huai Shi stared at the crude three-way path on the lawn before him. Holding the invitation, he took a step forward, then froze.
Fog began to rise.
The more he moved forward, the thicker the fog became. He followed the ritual on the invitation: standing firm at the intersection, walking ten steps in each of the three directions, and then returning. By then, the fog was so dense he couldn't see his own fingers.
In a brief moment of trance, Huai Shi thought he heard the faint sound of bells.
The fog dissipated suddenly.
He was back at the three-way intersection.
But this time, it was not on his home lawn, but rather a bustling intersection wide enough for several carriages to gallop back and forth.
In fact, various old-fashioned carriages were coming and going. Aided by the lanterns hanging on them, Huai Shi could glimpse beings inside that were human-like but not quite human. Even the coachmen had scales or gills on their faces.
They were pulling not just horses, but also all sorts of strange creatures.
An early, basic car even chugged past him, leaving behind a choking plume of smoke. Atop it, an arrogant green-skinned Goblin was shouting, "Move away, move away, move away, don't block the road!"
Huai Shi obligingly moved to the side. When he looked at the street sign, he found the text completely unfamiliar.
As his gaze lingered, the text on the sign writhed like a living thing, then transformed into Dongxia script: To the left, White City; to the right, Green Island Food Festival; to the back, Gray Shore.
"Head to Green Island, and remember not to take the wrong direction," Raven reminded him. "This is an intermediary Border; getting lost here would be very troublesome."
"Food Festival?" Huai Shi was astonished. "Are you sure?"
"Just go! Why ask so many questions!"
"Fine, fine, fine..."
As Huai Shi moved forward, he felt the number of fellow travelers along the road increase, as if they were emerging abruptly from foggy side paths.
Most appeared human, many of them Sublimators emanating a faint glow. Each was armed with various weapons and looked quite formidable. A few, in particular, filled Huai Shi with a sense of threat.
Those individuals looked down at people with eyes that seemed to see them as food!
Before he realized it, the ground beneath his feet had turned into a concrete road. In the distance, lights like those of an amusement park flickered, and the air buzzed with the murmur of a crowd.
But when Huai Shi raised his head, a chill struck him, and he stood rooted to the spot.
Raven looked at his stunned expression and couldn't help but sigh. "What is it? So jumpy... Don't let people think you're from the countryside, okay?"
"But, but... the, the sky!"
Huai Shi looked up blankly at the Sky Dome, or rather, what should have been the Sky Dome...
Above the Sky Dome, the brilliant starry sky had vanished. In its place, a surging ocean rolled!
Numerous undercurrents churned, waves cresting again and again, sending spray flying, yet they never fell towards the ground. The vast and boundless Dark Ocean enveloped everything.
He could vaguely make out white sails leaping and voyaging on the storm-tossed waves. Despite the tens of thousands of meters of distance, Huai Shi could even hear the faint roar of countless colliding water currents.
The sea churned incessantly, its violence and turmoil constant, as if at any moment it would pour down from the entire sky, drowning everything.