Huang Yi flew over the blood-colored plains until evening, and seeing it was about ti for dinner, he logged off.
Getting up from the bed in his cell, Huang Yi went to the window and gazed into the distance.
Outside, a few sparse sprouts of green grass had appeared, bringing a hint of spring to this harsh Rose Prison.
In the blink of an eye, he had spent another year in this prison, yet still had no idea when he might leave here and truly welco freedom.
Life is like a novel, requiring a long prologue before reaching the exhilarating monts. Countless dull days must be endured in silence before the mont of realizing one’s dreams arrives.
There are tens of thousands of nights in life, but when you look back through the novel of life, only a few pages remain morable—the rest serves rely as a buildup to those pages.
Those students enduring ten years of hardship for the day their na appears on the exam list; those athletes practicing day after day only to shine at the Olympics; those singers basking in stage glory might have sung silently for decades before gaining fa.
Huang Yi was the sa. He endured year after year in this prison just for the day he could leave.
He withdrew his gaze, left the cell, and headed to the cafeteria.
Upon exiting, he vaguely sensed sothing amiss. The fellow prisoners he encountered all walked silently, with no greetings or casual banter. Upon reaching the cafeteria, the strangeness was even more pronounced: it was much quieter than usual, and everyone ate silently with a slightly heavy expression.
"Guo Yongwen, what’s happened?" Huang Yi took a portion of dinner, found any random seat, and asked the fellow prisoner beside him.
"Hello, Brother Yi!" The prisoner nad ’Guo Yongwen’ nodded in greeting, speaking heavily, "A fellow prisoner died today at four in the afternoon!"
"Died?" Huang Yi was taken aback, putting down his chopsticks, "How did he die?"
"That prisoner was already seriously ill and had applied many tis for release to seek treatnt, but was consistently denied by the World Federation. Recently, his condition suddenly worsened, and he couldn’t even get out of bed. He had to be helped to als each ti. At four this afternoon, his roommate logged off the virtual world to use the restroom and found him lying motionless on the bed, his eyes lifeless, only then realizing he was dead."
Hearing this news, Huang Yi felt inexplicably lancholic. Even though he had grown accustod to seeing death, such instances of sickness and death still moved him to lant life’s fragility. Fate is truly unpredictable; soone seemingly well yesterday could be gone forever the next mont. He didn’t know when he himself might beco one of them, leaving this world forever.
"The World Federation is really a piece of work! Who knows how many people they’ve indirectly killed with their thods!" Huang Yi sighed deeply, shaking his head in lant.
"What can we do? All we can do now is endure. As long as we hold out until the day the World Federation falls, perhaps we’ll gain freedom." Guo Yongwen said hopefully, "Brother Yi, things are actually much better now. Ever since we got virtual devices that allow us to enter the virtual world, the suicide rate in our prison has significantly decreased! Last month, I found a girlfriend in the virtual world, and things between us are going well. If one day I get out of prison, I’ll marry her, and I hope you’ll attend my wedding, because without you, I wouldn’t have entered the virtual world and t her. Otherwise, I’d probably be like many fellow prisoners, finding a mate to spend my life with here."
"Alright! I’ll definitely be there then!" Huang Yi nodded.
Before virtual devices were available, many fellow prisoners had turned to homosexuality. Prisons, devoid of the opposite sex for long periods, beca so of the most populous places for homosexuality.
But the appearance of virtual devices changed that. Many prisoners without girlfriends found partners in the virtual world.
Yet these relationships are very fragile, limited to the virtual world alone unless they leave prison soday.
Huang Yi thought again of Qin Shiyu; their love too could only exist within the virtual world. He always dread of one day being released, proudly holding Qin Shiyu’s hand like any ordinary couple, to shop and watch movies.
For this goal, he had struggled for many years and would continue to strive.
...
After dinner, Huang Yi returned to the prison, took a cold shower, and checked the forum.
"Super First-Class Master from Africa [Soul] becos the ninth Heaven-Sent Hero worldwide, nad [Spirit Demon]!"
Upon entering the forum, Huang Yi imdiately saw this striking headline news!
Soul was a Super First-Class Master on par with the Pharaoh in the African Region. Back when Huang Yi was undergoing the Hero Trial at Oskan Royal Academy, he competed with Soul for the last share of Heroic Aura.
Both Huang Yi and Soul completed the Hero Trial simultaneously back then, but Huang Yi believed that he didn’t perform well enough, and that last Heroic Aura should have gone to Soul. However, when he t Deputy Headmaster Divinr Marksman Ica later, Ica awarded the last Heroic Aura to Huang Yi. Soul was very upset and even questioned the Deputy Headmaster, only to receive the response of a "Moral Paragon."
After that, Huang Yi hadn’t seen Soul again. There were rumors that Soul would participate in the national war on the Hero’s Continent, but he never appeared. Presumably, because Huang Yi took his hero spot, his plans were disrupted.
Now, the soul has finally beco a hero. It’s not hard to speculate that the soul must have had other extraordinary encounters later on. It’s likely that they discovered that mysterious island with the organ, absorbed the heroic aura inside, and ultimately beca a hero.
Huang Yi continued looking at other news on the forum—
"[Ice Queen Frozen Lemongrass], commissioned by the Oskan Royal Academy, leaves The Second World to perform a mission in the Ice and Snow Plane."
"A juvenile Starry Behemoth unexpectedly appears on the New Zealand continent, leading New Zealand’s super-first master [Abigail]and hundreds of New Zealand player masters to hunt it!"
"Three ordinary Korean players discover a relic of the Feathered Race from the Primordial Era and obtain a massive amount of treasure!"
"Unstoppable montum! Russia’s leader [Giant Bear]makes a strong move, breaking the world records of the 230th and 240th floors of the Tower of Pantheons overnight!"
"The new issue of the world master rankings is out! Thunder God retains the first position, God of Slaughter firmly stays at second, Pharaoh is third. Soul rises ten places, breaking into the top five."
...
Scanning through, the hopage is filled with deeds accomplished by masters from various countries. Since Huang Yi and others initiated the Heaven-Sent Era, players from countries around the world seed to have gone mad, achieving incredible feats every day. Every minute, players are discovering new extraordinary encounters, advancing to the ranks of masters. The veteran super-first masters before are also working hard to consolidate their positions.
In the world master rankings, Thunder God and Huang Yi firmly hold the top two positions. However, with their current extrely high strength, large progress has beco very difficult, and their leading advantage is continuously narrowing as they are chased rapidly by masters behind them.
After browsing through so popular threads, Huang Yi left the forum and entered The Second World.
He rode on the Soul Warhorse, continuing to rush towards the central area of the Blood-colored Plains.
The main purpose of his trip was twofold: firstly, to see if he could discover the Nagas and figure out why they ca from the First World to track the Demon Clan. Secondly, to explore the Blood Castle on his way, to see if he could uncover so clues related to Bloodhoof.
The Blood-colored Plains are vast, and Huang Yi had yet to reach the central area but instead faced nurous dangers along the way. Sotis, while flying calmly, suddenly the ground would erupt with bursts of blood light, and just a slight misstep could result in death.
At this ti, the Blood Moon Continent was deep into the night, with the Bright Moon hanging high, obscured by that Red Star, casting a layer of blood-red light upon the Blood-colored Plains below.
A lush forest lay below, the night wind blowing, causing the canopy to sway, producing the rustling sound of leaves colliding, adding more tranquility to the deep night.
"Hmm?" Just then, Huang Yi suddenly noticed a faint light ahead in the forest, flickering under the trees.
Upon flying closer, he found that the light seed to be a campfire!
The Blood-colored Plains are extrely dangerous, and rarely do intelligent beings dare enter. Huang Yi hadn’t found any intelligent creatures along the way, only ordinary wild birds and wild chickens, yet unexpectedly he saw a campfire in the deep-night forest.
This indicates that soone is there.
Huang Yi quickly put away the Soul Warhorse, quietly landed in the forest, stepping on the damp moss and fallen leaves, and carefully groped towards the campfire’s direction.
In no ti, Huang Yi arrived near the campfire, looking through the dense branches and foliage, seeing a campfire lit under a large tree ahead, with a hunter facing away from Huang Yi, roasting a wild chicken by the campfire.
The hunter wore ordinary animal skin clothes, with a bow on his back and a few short knives and daggers at his waist, resembling an ordinary hunter.
From Huang Yi’s angle, he couldn’t see this person’s face, but only his solitary back, casting an unsteady shadow in the flickering campfire light.
"Friend from afar, co over and eat so roast at!" At this mont, the silhouette suddenly spoke with a hoarse voice.
Huang Yi was shocked in his heart; he had approached carefully, deliberately trying not to be discovered, but unexpectedly the person still noticed him.
Moreover, the voice sounded sowhat familiar, as if Huang Yi had conversed with him before!
————
Sorry for not updating last week. On the 25th, I had a fever reaching 39.5 degrees and took a cab to the hospital for IV treatnt at night. My temperature kept fluctuating for the next few days, but now it’s down, and I’m resuming updates.
A big thanks to "zdidib" and several other book friends for their generous rewards recently. The comnts section hasn’t been answered for a week, but should be uniformly replied to in the coming days.
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