Chapter 342 Old Friend

After confirming that no one else had chosen to withdraw, the level eight wizard in the air nodded slightly.

"good."

He said no more, but simply raised his hand and waved it gently towards the void behind him.

In an instant, the simulated sky above everyone's heads slowly opened up to both sides like a curtain, revealing the deep and boundless starry sky outside.

Against that starry backdrop, a massive, dark, and ominously sinister circular spatial rift, with its constantly twisting edges and an ominous suction force, floated silently, like the eye of a colossal beast staring down upon all the wizards who were ready to go.

Go!

The voice of the level eight wizard resounded like a great bell throughout the entire ship plane:

"Set off!"

...

...

"Jeremy, get up and eat! You'll be late for school if you don't get up now!!"

A familiar yet somewhat hurried female voice pierced through the door, forcibly pulling Jieming out of his drowsy state.

He sat up somewhat blankly, rubbed his eyes, and felt the sunlight outside the window was a bit too bright.

My brain felt as if it were veiled by a thin gauze, my thoughts were sticky and sluggish.

He instinctively grabbed the clothes from the bedside—a set of seemingly ordinary teenage casual wear—and mechanically put them on. Then, he swayed as he opened the bedroom door and walked into the living room.

The air was filled with the aroma of food.

The mother, wearing an apron, was bringing the last plate of stir-fried vegetables to the table.

As always, Father sat in his special chair, his eyes fixed on the ultra-thin television screen hanging on the wall, from which came the clear and articulate voice of a news anchor:

"...A military spokesperson confirmed yesterday that the 7th Composite Fleet has successfully captured the third jump node on the outer edge of the 'Charon' system, inflicting heavy damage on the alien creatures... Next is our local news: the city hall is calling on citizens to actively participate in the 'Clean Beach' volunteer activity; registration opens today..."

Fleet battle... pristine beach?

The mix of two completely different pieces of information made Jamie feel even more dizzy.

He shook his head and headed to the restroom.

The cold water splashed on my face, bringing a brief moment of clarity, but the eerie sense of unease still lingered.

The scene before me, my mother's voice, the news... everything felt strangely familiar, yet it was all through a layer of frosted glass, making it hard to see clearly.

He always felt that he had forgotten something very important.

"Hurry up, Jemin! The soy milk is getting cold!" His mother's voice came again.

Jemin wiped his face with a towel and sat down at the dining table.

Before me is a standard home-cooked breakfast: golden fried dough sticks, milky white soy milk, and two plates of bright green stir-fried vegetables.

"Eat more. Today is your first day at university, so be energetic," his mother nagged, picking a fried dough stick for him.

The father finally looked up from the news, glanced at Jieming, and said in a flat tone, "Listen to your mother, don't be late."

Jemin grunted in agreement, lowered his head, and began to chew his food.

The taste is normal, just like the food we usually eat at home.

The family chatted casually at the dinner table, discussing nothing more than neighborly relations, the weather, the news, and advice for his university life.

Jemin unconsciously echoed, as if this had been repeated countless times.

After dinner, Jieming returned to his room and began packing his schoolbag.

The brand-new textbooks, stationery... everything looked perfectly organized.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

Then came her mother's footsteps, the sound of the door opening, and then her joyful voice: "Oh my, it's Xiao Ai and Xiao Wei! Come in, come in!"

She turned and called into the house, "Jieming! Hurry up, Xiao Ai and Xiao Wei are here to pick you up for school!"

Two young voices came from outside the door.

A clear, cheerful female voice greeted her with a laugh.

Another male voice, with a hint of helplessness, corrected her seriously, "Auntie, my name is Victor, not Victor."

Still immersed in the strange feeling that he had forgotten something, Jemin picked up his schoolbag, sauntered out of the room, said "I'm leaving" to his parents, and then turned to the door.

A man and a woman were standing at the door.

The girl had a bright smile; it was Amy.

The boy's expression was slightly serious; it was Victor.

“Ha! Jemin! Too slow!” Amy said with a laugh.

Jemin looked at them and, almost instinctively, as he had done countless times before, greeted them:

Good morning, Amy, Victor.

The two of them responded to him naturally.

However, the moment that greeting fell...

boom!

Jemin felt as if his brain had been struck hard by an invisible hammer!

All the chaos and viscous feeling was shattered in an instant!

He froze on the spot, his pupils contracting sharply, as if he were witnessing the most unbelievable sight in the world, staring intently at the two people in front of him!

Amy?! Victor?!

They...they weren't already...dead?!

Why are they standing here alive?

And they even became his classmates?

They're here to pick him up and take him to college?!

wrong!!!

He himself is even more wrong!

Why did he blend into the scene so naturally?!

Get up, eat, and get ready for school like a real, ordinary student?!

For a moment just now, he even thought it was all perfectly natural!

He's not some college student! He's Jemin! A wizard!

A level three wizard from Norren Academy in the Star Ring Federation, who has come to participate in the Plane War!

He possesses the cultivation of the Nascent Soul Realm, he has the Purgatory Sulfur Plane, and he has the Black Giant Legion!

As memories flooded back, Jemin immediately understood what had happened:

He got infected!

When exactly was it?!

Was it the instant you crossed that spatial rift? Or even earlier?

A chill ran down his spine and up to his head, making the hairs on his body stand on end.

Beneath the surface of this world's peace and tranquility lies a suffocating terror capable of silently ensnaring a million wizards.

He tried to maintain a calm facial expression, but the turmoil inside him was almost overwhelming him.

He quickly looked inward and sensed his dantian—the nascent soul was still there, but it seemed to be wrapped in an invisible membrane, and the flow of spiritual energy was obscure and almost stagnant.

He immediately focused his attention on his left wrist, which was empty. Upon entering this area, the magical artifacts he was equipped with were gone.

He could sense that deep within his sea of ​​consciousness, his natal magic treasure, the Five Elements Rainbow Mirror, still existed.

Jieming sensed that the protective magic treasure, Xuan Gang Red Dust Barrier, was still functioning normally, without any fluctuations or warnings, and even the liquid refined gold had not been consumed.

It's not reacting... is it because this isn't an illusion at all?

Impossible! How could this not be an illusion?!

Jemin's back was instantly soaked with cold sweat.

He looked at Amy and Victor, who still had smiles on their faces, at his "mother" busy in the kitchen behind him, and at his "father" in the living room who had refocused his attention on the news.

He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

Now is not the time to panic.

He had to figure out what was going on.

"Let's go, we'll be late if we don't hurry," Amy urged with a smile. Her smile was just as Jemin remembered, without any trace of pretense.

Jemin nodded, forcing a smile that was no different from his usual one.

"Okay, let's go."

He took a step forward, following his two "deceased" companions, and left this seemingly warm but actually incredibly eerie "home," stepping into this unknown world.

(End of this chapter)