Chapter 116 World K: 2 At first, they thought they were seeing things...
At first, they thought they were seeing things, but after cautiously testing it, they found that it really was just a chicken statue, cold and hard to the touch.
After a careful inspection, finding nothing else, they ignored the statue and continued walking forward.
However, they soon realized that their judgment was wrong.
“There’s a flying chicken!” Little Ethan pointed to the chicken statue that was suspended in mid-air.
"Chickens...they shouldn't normally fly, right?" Little Nadia pondered. "Is this some kind of new breed?"
"What are you talking about?" Little Turnas looked at the densely packed chicken statues in this miniature city and, along with Yaroslava, instantly realized what was going on: "This! It's a world full of chickens!"
It seems that the one who hasn't been affected by his mind is little Turnas. Yaroslava felt a strange sense of relief.
She didn't know what Nadia and Ethan's personalities were like before, but seeing Turner's blank expression many times, she could guess that the other two probably weren't usually this carefree either.
She really does seem like a child who doesn't understand anything, speaking in a childlike way, but at times her words and actions remind her that they are not real children, but rather the ones being manipulated by their counterparts through time reversal, freeing them from the control of those three completely unfamiliar wills.
Since it's unclear what powers are manipulating or bewitching them, this is the only way to restore their sanity with minimal cost. If irreversible damage is caused, it would be a net loss. What if someone's method relies on brain control? The brain is extremely fragile; what if they become mentally impaired?
As Yaroslava watched the three small figures carefully observing the chick statues, her thoughts drifted away.
When...when will they be able to return to their original form? She desperately needs some reliable adults.
She needs someone with a mature mind who can face unexpected situations with her. Ideally, the other person should be the intellectual one, and it would be even better if they also know a little bit about martial arts.
I urgently need a reliable partner. When will I be able to find someone else?
When Yaroslava came to her senses, three children were already standing in front of her, each holding a chick, the kind that had just hatched.
Yaroslava, who had only been daydreaming for five minutes, thought: "?"
What's going on? Has she been spacing out for so long? They've even somehow managed to get the chicks out of somewhere.
Did she not just daydream for five minutes? What did she do with that time?
Little Ethan held the fluffy chick in his hands a little higher, as if to hand it to Yaroslava. Yaroslava hesitated for a moment and did not take it immediately.
"Our world! It's just like yours!" The chick in Ethan's hand uttered a child's clear voice, filled with anger and barely perceptible frustration: "Our city's will has vanished! It was stolen! And everyone was turned to stone!"
The chicken actually talked...
No, wait a minute, looking at it this closely, this little chick whose eyes are almost covered by its overly long head feathers sounds a bit like Ethan... Could it be...?
“He is my counterpart.” Little Ethan noticed the change in Yaroslava’s eyes: “This is indeed a world of chicks, everyone is a chick, and that being doesn’t even spare the chicks!”
Unconsciously rubbing the furry body of his counterpart in his hand, Ethan's thoughts drifted back to a few minutes earlier.
Then they discovered that there were chicken statues all around, as well as many tiny chicks. They were thoroughly searching for any trace left in this world when they realized that a gaze was watching them.
That subtle, unseen gaze, when they turned around, found nothing; everything was calm.
But they were also quite certain that something was following them, as were those faint, almost imperceptible sounds, the rustling of things rubbing together, which most people wouldn't have heard if their bodies weren't different from others.
They pretended not to have noticed anything and continued to touch things like curious children, their bodies tense, until they heard rustling sounds behind them again.
Now!
Three figures flew up simultaneously, heading straight for the source of the sound.
Then they stared at a bunch of chicks.
The chick looked no bigger than the palm of my hand, with fluffy, round, yellow feathers, and looked very cute.
If this were in the original world, Ethan might have squatted down to tease the chick and stroked its feathers. Who could resist such a cute chick?
But this isn't the world we know!
Every world is unknown, dangerous, and it's hard to tell whether it's friendly or hostile. And with so many chicken statues here, it's easy to guess that this is a world where everyone is a chicken.
But what's going on? What's with these chicks in front of me? Are they chicks that survived from this world?
The chicks were a little agitated by their sudden reaction, but they quickly calmed down. A chick with some white highlights stepped forward. She looked a little bigger than the other chicks: "Hello, traveler from another world. I am the guardian leader of this country in this world."
It was Reina's voice, a younger voice, which made Nadia and Turnas, who grew up with Reina, instantly recognize her. Only Ethan, who wasn't her childhood friend, looked at them and then at the chicks blankly.
The chick... spoke.
And why are there highlights on his head?! But these white highlights are really pretty. Little Ethan realized that he actually saw a familiar cold aura on a chicken.
Was he out of his mind? Where did this feeling of familiarity come from? He didn't even recognize the talking white-streaked chick.
A chick wearing a miniature cloak slowly walked up to him, looked up at him, and asked, "Are you Ethan?"
!!
It's his voice!
Ethan instantly realized the identity of the group of chicks in front of him; they were probably the chick guardians of this world.
Little Ethan crouched down, and little Ethan the chick jumped onto his hand.
The soft, fluffy feeling in his palm startled Ethan. He gently pinched the feathers and found them to be incredibly soft and fluffy, so much so that he didn't even touch Ethan's body.
Ethan touched little Ethan with his wing, looking very curious. The feathers brushed against him gently, causing a ticklish sensation, and little Ethan couldn't help but clench his hands slightly.
“You have so much hair,” Ethan said, looking at Ethan’s hair with his tiny, beady eyes. “You also look very soft!”
Hmph, that's a compliment!
Telling a chick how fluffy and soft its feathers is the best compliment.
Ethan usually takes great care of his fur! He used to take a bath every day with the magic potion that Lord Starfall made for him, and he would groom his fur for two hours every day. Even Lord Starfall had to say that his fur was indeed very fluffy!
Speaking of Lord Starfall, Ethan felt a little down; he missed Lord Starfall.
A few days ago, a giant hand suddenly appeared in mid-air and gently made a grasping motion. The city wills that were originally scattered all over the world seemed to be drawn by some huge suction force and flew into the hand in the air.
Before they could react, a laugh rang out in the air, and the hand, along with the will of each city, vanished.
The world seemed to freeze at that moment, every chicken was suspended in that instant, and even things floating in the air could not fall. The chicken guardians were in a panic, but still did not understand what had happened, and could only let their anxiety grow stronger.
Before being captured, Lord Starfall mustered all his strength to pluck a feather and throw it to him, disappearing before he could hand over anything else.
Yesterday, when Ethan was silently grieving while holding that feather in his virtual chicken space, the feather actually made a faint sound intermittently.
“E, Ethan…”
Ethan immediately snapped out of his negative mood and clutched the feather tightly: "Is it you? Lord Starfall?"
"Yes, it's me..." The voice on the other end was halting: "Come, there's no time to say more... There are worlds that have suffered the same fate, and the guardians there... are gathering power... to defeat this being..." Starfall's voice grew softer and softer.
"Lord Starfall—" Ethan called out anxiously, his voice as if there was no signal, sinking him into even greater worry: "So, what should I do?"
"Join them... sizzle... You need to be prepared for my reaction..."
The sound carried a hint of electricity along the way. As soon as the last words were uttered, Ethan unconsciously gripped the black feather tightly, unwilling to let go even though his wings ached.
"...What does this mean, Lord Starfall?"
There was only deathly silence in response.
"...Xingyun, sir?"
"..."
Lord Xingyun! ! !
After Ethan calmed down, he went to find Reena and explained the situation to her. He was still a bit confused, as he was just a newbie and not as knowledgeable as Reena. As a member of the Guardians, Reena naturally knew more than other chickens.
What if, what if even Ms. Reena doesn't know what this is? What will he do then? How will he find the guardians who share a similar fate with their world?
Does he have to go to different worlds to look for it?
Help, Lord Starfall! You told him before that he couldn't learn magic related to time and spacetime yet, and that he needed to mature a bit more before he could learn it. Now that this has happened, how is he supposed to open the world barrier and travel to other worlds to find other chicks in the same boat?
After listening to Ethan's account of what happened, Reena asked many more questions to confirm the truth of the matter.
"So—did your city's will really tell you that?" Reena sat at her desk, two towering rows of files swaying precariously, making Ethan afraid they would fall and engulf him. "He mentioned other worlds, and other worlds not just here, that have suffered from this kind of stolen city will, where time is paused, and everything is frozen?"
Ethan has been asked three or four times already, and he still hesitantly replies, "Yes."
"So he means he wants us to help those guardians who have suffered the same fate as us?" Reena pondered. "He mentioned gathering power, saying that the group of guardians wanted to reclaim their city's will by collecting power from different worlds, and make time flow again... He wants us to join, which proves he thinks this is quite possible... Although I don't know why she can believe him without ever having met him, the words of a city's will shouldn't be entirely without information—"
"—So?" Ethan looked up and asked cautiously.
“Of course—” The wings slammed onto the table, causing the mountain of documents to bounce in the air. Several crumpled documents fell miserably to the ground, turning into useless scraps of paper. “We should join them! It’s obvious, isn’t it? Following them might allow us to win and restore our world to its original state.”
"Then, what was Lord Starfall's final meaning?" Ethan asked, fidgeting with the tips of his wings.
Reena didn't reply immediately, but looked out the window. The sky was as blue as ever, and the bright sun warmed the chicken, making it feel like even its feathers smelled of sunshine. The white clouds made the sky even bluer.
In the distance lies a frozen city, where chickens of all sizes were going about their own business before the incident occurred.
Some people hurriedly left home with their briefcases, their only thought being to get to the company on time.
The chicks chirped and chattered as they met their good friends on their way to school. Hand in hand, they walked towards the nearby school. The chicks, dressed in their light yellow school uniforms, were very cute.
And there are chickens arguing and looking ferocious; time stands still, preserving their horrible faces forever.
“We might need to prepare ourselves mentally.” Reena sighed. “The sudden interruption could mean just losing contact with the world, or it could mean there’s a life-threatening situation. In any case, we need to prepare for the worst.”
"for example?"
"The city's will has fallen, all of it."
"..."
"But firstly, our losses would be enormous, and secondly, there are other worlds, and we can't guarantee that those other worlds will be the same..."
Ethan could no longer hear what Reena was saying; her voice faded into the distance, leaving Ethan trapped in a state of extreme terror and unwillingness to accept it.
Are you kidding me? Lord Starfall, you'll fall?
No, no, no, don't think like that. Maybe it's because of other things that you can no longer contact him?
Calm down, calm down, Ethan.
Ethan, feeling ice-cold all over, was trying his best to stop his wandering thoughts; he didn't want that possibility.
But reality is cruel; this terrible situation cannot be changed simply by him saying he doesn't want it this way.
It's alright, there might be a chance. I've heard Lord Xingyun say that, so that team should have some skills, right?
It's alright, you may not necessarily perish, Lord Starfall, there are still infinite possibilities.
After calming himself down, Ethan studied the magic of time travel. If the other party didn't pass through their world but instead went to another home further away, all his preparations would be in vain.
When the other group of guardians first arrived in their world, they hadn't yet realized that the guardians were gathered together to discuss the current rigorous reality, and they still didn't know why the guardians could speak and move normally.
As they approached the town, the Guardians finally noticed them, belatedly observing the strange-looking, unidentified other Guardians. Instead of immediately introducing themselves and explaining the level of danger facing the world, the dozens of chick Guardians simply hid together, watching over Ethan, Little Turnas, and Little Nadia.
Everything was fine at first, and they were all observing. But then they went crazy, touching the petrified chick and the petrified chick repeatedly, their petrification techniques were almost identical to those used for petting a cat.
Some chickens couldn't stand it anymore, because their ancestral graves were being disturbed, and they also had one of their own.
They wanted to go out and stop them immediately, but Reena stopped them, not wanting them to make any rash moves or make any more noise.
But to their surprise, they were discovered. Those strange-looking people, who didn't resemble chicks at all, worked together seamlessly and landed around them with a single leap. When they saw that what followed them were just some chicks, they were stunned.
Reena introduced herself first, hesitated for a moment, and then told the few beings in front of her, who were supposedly human, about what had happened in this world.
They felt a sense of shared sorrow, and after confirming their own identity as Ethan's counterparts, and then confirming the identities of Ethan's colleagues, they immediately scooped them up.
Although this is a bit disrespectful to the chicken, it's okay, the other person doesn't understand the intricacies of the matter.
Little Ethan didn't hold his counterpart in his hands like a precious treasure, but instead had him stand at the very center of his head, like a king surveying his vast land.
"Do you think we'll be able to save Lord Starfall?" Ethan asked little Ethan, who was lying on Ethan's smooth hair.
“Of course we will.” Ethan’s tone was firm, carrying an indescribable certainty: “We will rescue our Lord Starfall!”
No matter the cost, no matter how many worlds he has to travel to to borrow power, he will one day gather enough power to wrest the will of his city back from that other being!
Because of his mother! Selene had been stuck in place; he needed to resolve this crisis so that his mother could move again.
And it's also because of Xingyun! After spending so much time together, he had already come to regard Xingyun as family. Although he seemed aloof, Xingyun was actually quite gentle, and he had successfully filled the role of his father.
So he would do anything for the people and things he cares about, and to get the world running again.
Ethan seemed to be infected by his determination, and his previous confused look disappeared. The bright yellow chicks were full of energy: "We will do it!"
Not far away, little Nadia held her own counterpart and Reena in her hands, not daring to use too much force, afraid that she might hurt the two little chicks in her hands.
"That's right!" Little Nadia suddenly had a brilliant idea: "You're hens, aren't you?"
Although they didn't know why she asked that, the two chicks nodded anyway.
"Do you think you'll lay eggs when you grow up?" Little Nadia was extremely curious. Even without a rooster, a hen can still lay eggs; the only difference is that they won't hatch into chicks.
The two chicks immediately raised their heads, looking at Nadia's inquisitive face, and then gathered their strength.
"Aww—"
Little Nadia covered her head and ran away in a panic, crying, "Don't peck me! Don't peck me! It hurts!"
Yes, that's right. Reena and Nadia had just charged up and jumped onto Nadia, raising their heads high before slamming them down, pecking Nadia so hard she ran away, howling in pain like a poor child being bullied by a bullying chick.
Where is he pitiful? Ask him where he is pitiful?
What is she saying? What is little Nadia saying to the two chicks? How could she say something so offensive?!
Let them see, it's practically too little pecking.
Don't ask them such terrible questions when they're just chicks!
Why ask if it can lay eggs? Why ask that? Do you want to eat it?
In this world, everyone is connected at heart. Only after becoming partners and kissing your partner will you have a chance to get an egg! Even hens don't lay eggs normally!
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Author's note: I was writing in a very muddled way, and almost wrote about some things I dreamed about.
I'm a little chick, cluck cluck cluck.
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