20:58.

To be more precise, it should be—

20:58:23, 20:58:24...

Time was moving, but it was 20:58, not 21:26!

And so, increasingly fractured and starkly contrasted images began to emerge around Lin Yi...

One was of the Heretical Choir nodding and swaying their slender bodies in song, with the time on the clock face frozen at 21:26;

The other, was nothingness, with only a watch whose hands moved with the time, at 20:58:45 and still ticking away.

With the appearance of the stuttering frames, the sound of a train "rattling" through a tunnel grew louder in Lin Yi's ears, but just like a train thundering by, this roar of sound soon disappeared along with the vanishing frames.

Lin Yi found himself back in the layer where the Heretical Choir stood.

He slumped to the ground, letting Wei Liang lean on his knees; he had not even the slightest spirit left to wonder about the watch in the other scene.

He was just too tired, oh so terribly tired...

He glanced at Wei Liang, who at the moment was in a very strange state, resembling a kind of green-grey Human Sculpture, cold to the touch yet with a heart still beating, but at an incredibly slow pace, as if dead.

"Huff... huff..."

He breathed slowly, feeling as if he had just exercised a last-ditch effort, one that must have unleashed that kind of power...

Various thoughts flickered through his mind like a barrage of bullet comments on a popular video, each one a product of his strained thinking, for he had truly tried his hardest.

"Huff... huff... is it finally... over..."

Wei Liang did not emerge as the hero he had imagined, perhaps lacking the trump card Lin Yi had hoped for...

He wasn't disappointed; at this moment he felt a terrifying calmness, as if he didn't want to think about anything anymore, and the blazing golden flames in his eyes were dying out at a visible speed...

Darkness swept over like a tide, the devilish chanting of the Heretical Choir grew louder in the Grey Mist and fierce wind, more and more heart-pounding:

["I AvgruNnen av tåKe og mørke jaGer forTapte Sjeler fanTome"!]

["I AvgruNnen av tåKe og mørke jaGer forTapte Sjeler fanTome"...]

This time, they began to move, they started to step closer to Lin Yi, towering and oppressive like a grove of tombstone monoliths overgrown with moss, as if they could bury Lin Yi right where he stood.

Lin Yi wanted to struggle, but he had no strength.

Lin Yi wanted to fight back, but his body was completely unresponsive.

He was exhausted in both body and spirit.

He had passed the point of utmost exertion, now on the verge of complete depletion.

However, just as Lin Yi was about to be overwhelmed by the voice of the Heretical Choir, the watch on his wrist suddenly started to move again...

"Tick-tock..."

"Tick-tock..."

"Tick-tock..."

21:26, 20:59...

21:26, 20:59...

Time began to jump back and forth erratically.

Suddenly, as if sensing something, the Heretical Choir scattered swiftly in all directions like a pack of nocturnal beasts fleeing from a fire...

But something was faster than their dispersal...

"Bang—"

Something tore through the darkness, rolling over the Human Sculptures, Nocturnal species, and other non-human Units that made up the Heretical Choir...

Lin Yi mustered a bit of spirit and turned towards the sound, but the golden flames in his eyes had gone out, the thick and murky Grey Mist obscured his vision, and he could barely see two meters ahead; the weariness and weakness made his eyes as cloudy as those of an octogenarian.

Yet, he could still hear sounds, very clearly.

"Bang—"

Like a heavy object ripping through the evening wind, stirring up a heavy sound of tearing air, then rolling over many bodies.

"Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud..."

It was like something was shattering, a series of breaks, exuding a sense of unstoppable destruction...

The voice of the Heretical Choir was fading with terrible speed, the roaring of the fierce ocean wind and the waves were also moving away from him at an alarming rate...

The world where even light and shadow had collapsed was beginning to regain peace, and the floor and space beneath his feet, broken like Rubik's cubes, had restored themselves at some unknown point; the sticky substance of the Nocturnal species had also vanished, leaving only the twisted and shaking road ahead of him...

However, the Grey Mist remained.

Finally, that "bang" sound dissipated too, and Lin Yi was left with only one sound in his ears—

"Thud!"

"Thud!"

"Thud..."

Dim yellow lights started to emerge within the Grey Mist, growing brighter as they approached, slowly turning orange.

In that orange glow, a hazy figure could be faintly seen, and with a "thud, thud, thud," the heavy sound grew closer to Lin Yi...

Finally, the Mist seemed to scatter somewhat, the blurry figure gradually became clear, and eventually, a towering figure emerged before Lin Yi, a magnificent presence against the Grey Mist like a mountain, like... a deity.

The Security Guard.

It was the Security Guard.

Lin Yi gazed up, transfixed by the figure of the Security Guard standing before him like an ancient colossal bear, and *"gulp"*... he swallowed hard.

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