Chapter 76 World D: The End. The three returned to the alternate dimension and...

The three returned to the alternate dimension and discovered that Xingyun was no longer there.

Ethan was still smiling, a faint smile, but it was less intense than at the beginning. He took out something.

The screen suddenly lit up, revealing a dark background with squares of varying sizes.

Ethan's smile faded further. He tapped the screen twice, zooming out to reveal a new section, where a red dot finally appeared.

After watching for a while and seeing the red dot still flashing in the same spot, a smile finally returned to Ethan's face.

"Huh? What are you looking at?" Ethan put his things down and turned around to find Ethan motionless, so he walked closer out of curiosity.

In the past, Ethan would never have asked others such private questions, but perhaps Ethan's influence was too strong. His outgoing and lively personality made Ethan feel like he was a friend he had known for years, not someone he had just met.

Because Ethan kept refusing his kindness while they were shopping, he made a series of remarks, basically saying that they were the same person and he was just himself, so why should he be so polite? He managed to convince Ethan to some extent.

"It's nothing." Ethan tossed his things into his storage space, carrying bags of stuff but looking nothing like someone who'd been shopping all day; he was full of energy: "Let's organize our clothes!"

After Ethan and Ethan finished tidying up their clothes, they found that Starfall had returned and was once again battling with his pile of work.

Ethan and Starfall were chatting and laughing. Ethan could only see Starfall with his back to him. Ethan was gesturing exaggeratedly with a smile, and Starfall was nodding. They seemed to be having a great time.

Turner watched them chat from a distance, his expression somewhat ambiguous. As for Ethan? Seeing that he really liked some of the herbs in his collection, Ethan generously let Ethan take some, just not all of them. He should leave some for Ethan, since Ethan was going to save him and there were still many unknown dangers in the world. It was better to be on the safe side.

Although Ethan said he didn't need to repay it, Ethan still silently made a mental note of it as a gift. In this world, favors must be repaid, and he could never express his gratitude enough.

They didn't go out to play on the second and third days, staying in the alternate dimension the whole time. The group was quite happy to have some peace and quiet, and before they knew it, it was the evening of the third day.

Ethan, wearing gloves, carefully took out the herb he really wanted from the display case, afraid of damaging it in the slightest.

"Can we talk?"

Lost in his own world, Ethan was pulled back to reality by a sudden remark. He carefully picked up the herbs and turned around to find it was a meteorite.

“Of course, Lord Starfall.” Ethan continued what he was doing, not looking up, listening intently: “What do you want to talk about?”

Although Lord Xingyun is very important, the plant in his hand is also very important. He is still listening, so it shouldn't be considered disrespectful, right?

Starfall didn't speak immediately, but turned to look in Ethan's direction. Turnas was saying something in front of him, and Ethan was listening with a smile, seemingly unaware of what was happening in their direction.

Just in case, Xingyun lightly tapped her fingertip, and an invisible barrier quickly appeared, enveloping the two of them and isolating them from sound.

"I hope you can grant me a request." Starfall spoke softly, as if afraid of disturbing something. He looked at Ethan, his tone almost a plea.

"?!" Startled by Starfall's tone, Ethan looked up abruptly, a look of surprise on his face: "Lord Starfall... just tell me what's wrong, and I'll do it if I can. There's something strange about the tone you're using."

"..." Starfall paused for a moment, ignoring the question, and went straight to the point: "Do you possess the coordinates of this world?"

"Hmm? Yes, yes." Ethan didn't understand why Starfall said that for a moment, but then he thought that it wasn't a good thing for people from other worlds to know his coordinates. What if they attacked? Was it because of this? He just wanted to remember to repay the favors slowly in the future. Only he knew the coordinates. If he didn't remember them, how could he repay the kindness of these people who were willing to lend him their power... It was a lot of power, and it couldn't be repaid with just a few words of thanks.

“I hope you never come to this world again. Now, destroy your coordinates and give them to me.” Starfall’s face was expressionless, but his words were icy cold: “I don’t want to see you in this world again.”

"Did I...do something wrong? Or am I worried that I'll leak the coordinates to others and cause unnecessary invasions into this world?" Ethan's inner voice was panicking, and his face was filled with anxiety: "We can sign a magical contract. I won't tell anyone. We can even sign a contract that prevents anyone from knowing the coordinates by any means!"

Starfall made a pause gesture, and Ethan's rambling words were instantly silenced, like a duck being suddenly choked, leaving him staring blankly at him.

“Listen, that’s not what I meant…” Xingyun was about to say something, but froze, as if she sensed something, and mechanically turned her head back little by little.

In the distance, the two had stopped talking at some point. Tenas, who was standing several steps away from where he had started talking to Ethan, looked at Ethan with a complicated expression.

Ethan, even the faint smile he always wore when no one was around, disappeared. He stared at Xingyun for several seconds before slowly managing a smile.

Starfall silently reached out his hand, his fingers, covered by black gloves, lightly touched the air, but as expected, he didn't touch anything.

...It's all over.

"Ethan, don't listen to Lord Starfall's nonsense!" Ethan had approached unnoticed, and by the time they heard his voice, he was already in front of them. He pressed down on Starfall's stiff hand, which was frozen in mid-air, and then grabbed Ethan's arm. His tone was a bit complaining, and he was all puffed up with anger: "He's just angry with me! Lord Starfall is such a petty person! He holds a grudge over such a small thing! I've apologized so many times, and he actually tried to lie to you so you wouldn't come again! Then who am I supposed to play with?! Ethan, my dear Ethan, don't listen to Lord Starfall. You must come and play with me again. Next time you come, I can still lend you some power."

Starfall remained silent.

"Ethan, I'm telling you, I'm really angry! Lord Starfall is so mean! He doesn't want you to play with me just because he's angry with me, how could he do that..." Ethan saw that Ethan was about to turn into a pufferfish with anger, his hair almost standing on end, and he kept babbling: "I've already apologized, how can he still be so unreasonable? He's also secretly retaliated against me, more than once, why is he still angry? I've been trying to make up for so long, I thought he had finally forgiven me, but I didn't expect him to still be angry!"

Seeing Ethan, Ethan quickly tried to calm him down, making mumbled noises and not really listening to his rambling. He was just trying to soothe him and calm him down.

It took Ethan a lot of effort to calm Ethan down and get him back to normal. Starfall remained silent throughout and didn't know when it left. By the time Ethan noticed, his mouth was so full he could have hung a water bottle on it.

“I’m really angry!” Ethan said to Ethan.

Ethan patted him reassuringly on the shoulder, then looked at Ethan with curiosity as he took out his toolbox: "What are you going to do?"

“Earrings,” Ethan said.

Then he took out an unidentified block and started welding it on the metal table.

The sparks were almost blinding Ethan, so he squinted and stepped back to watch Ethan work.

Ethan discovered that Ethan had added a lot of strange things to it.

Good heavens! Halfway through, he suddenly pulled out a potion and tossed the still indistinct earring into it. At first, it hissed, probably due to the high temperature, but after things calmed down, the potion slowly sank at a visible rate, the earring absorbing it.

"Hmm... what is that?" Ethan looked at the transparent potion with some hesitation. In his memory, potions were all colorful, and transparent ones were rare.

"It's a sleep aid that helps you fall asleep quickly, like that hazy state where you're almost asleep but can still hear external sounds and probably perceive some behaviors." Ethan patiently explained to him, "It's a really good one for falling asleep. Do you want it? If so, I can give you some."

"No, no, I don't need to sleep. I can be full of energy even without sleep," Ethan refused his offer.

Ethan just smiled and didn't say anything.

Finally, Ethan took out the earring. The potion had been completely absorbed by the earring, and only then did he see the true nature of the earring—it was a completely black stud with a silver star pattern in the center.

The time for separation always comes quickly, and the morning of the fourth day arrived very soon; Ethan and Turner were leaving.

Ethan and Starfall saw them off, and Ethan said with reluctance, "You brought your clothes, right? Be sure to take them with you. Next time you come, I'll take you to play again."

“Okay,” Ethan replied to his counterpart, whom he also quite liked.

The two stepped into the portal together. After the portal disappeared behind them, Tenas said as he walked, "Ethan, maybe... we shouldn't come to this world again."

Ethan was shocked: "! Why?"

...

The scene shifts back to Ethan's world.

As the last bit of space around the portal disappeared, Ethan turned to Starfall, who remained expressionless: "I'm a little angry, Lord Starfall."

Starfall didn't respond to him, and Ethan didn't need his response either, continuing to speak to himself: "You actually told Ethan not to come to this world again, so you trust him a lot? And not me?"

Starfall stared at him coldly, without saying a word.

“…How annoying, Lord Starfall.” Ethan let out a slightly mocking laugh and helplessly shrugged: “I respect your choice, but if you continue like this, I’ll have to change my mind.”

Ethan gripped Starfall's tie with his left hand and pulled it down hard, forcing him to bend over.

An earring had appeared on his right hand without him noticing, and he swiftly pressed it into Xingyun's left earlobe, staining his fingers with crimson blood.

“Wearing something still suits you better.” He smiled. “Goodnight, Lord Starfall.”

Xingyun tried to stay conscious and remove the earring, but after swaying twice, she finally collapsed.

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Author's note: The next chapter will be told from Turner's perspective, revealing the true nature of the world. It's not from Ethan's perspective, so some things have been hidden.

Surprised? Unexpected?

As I've hinted at it several times before, in the previous chapters, after I finished writing from Tenas's perspective, I went to write the side stories about the two of them.

He didn't lie to Ethan, but he blurred some things out.