Chapter 00068: Memory or Illusion
# Memory or Illusion?
Chapter 68
Novel: After the Immortals Disappeared
Chapter 68: Memory or Illusion?
Even though it was less than two feet away, the thing was still shrouded in a shadowy haze, making it impossible to discern its shape or figure.
It was unclear what kind of monster it was, but within the shadows, four red flames flickered, resembling eyes.
Staring at those four eyes, He Lingchuan knew this thing wasn’t human.
It extended a long, slender limb and plunged it into his chest.
The movement was so fast that He Lingchuan couldn’t even see its claws clearly before he let out a scream of agony.
The pain was soul-deep, unbearable.
Of course, he wasn’t going to just sit there and take it.
He threw a few hard punches at the shadow, but it seemed to have no effect whatsoever.
At that moment, he suddenly felt like he had seen this scene before:
A few months ago, on Gourd Mountain, his original body had been pounced on by a sand leopard, and both of them had fallen off a cliff to their deaths!
Yes, that was the scene.
As soon as this thought crossed his mind, everything around him became clear.
Above him was a blue sky, swaying green trees, and a cliff that was getting farther and farther away in his vision.
Pouncing on him was that light yellow, spotted sand leopard!
The sand leopard had its jaws wide open, ready to bite through the artery in his neck.
There was no way out for him—he was either going to be bitten to death or fall to his death.
He Lingchuan couldn’t help but curse, “Get lost! What the hell does this have to do with me?” This was supposed to be what his original body had seen and endured before death.
It had nothing to do with him!
As soon as he cursed, the scene blurred again.
The blue sky, white clouds, and cliff disappeared.
The light around him became chaotic, like a mix of lines, shapes, and a painter’s palette.
Then, he fell heavily onto the ground.
Concrete ground.
The stars were twinkling in the sky, but it must have rained earlier because the ground wasn’t completely dry, and small puddles had formed in the depressions on the road.
He Lingchuan landed in one of these puddles, splashing dirty water all over the sand leopard’s face.
The monster seemed confused, looking around, and even the force it used to control its prey weakened unconsciously.
The air was filled with the aroma of jianbing guozi (a type of Chinese crepe).
He Lingchuan was stunned.
This intersection looked eerily familiar.
Wasn’t this the route he used to take on his way home from work?
He turned his head and saw the jianbing stall at the corner of the street.
The sign that read “3 yuan each” was written in bold with a marker, the handwriting as ugly as ever.
Wait, was this that night?
He turned his head to the left and, sure enough, saw a little girl in a dress.
The girl’s mother was busy shopping by the roadside, completely unaware that her daughter was chasing a rolling coin all the way to the middle of the street!
At that moment, a car came speeding toward them.
What a familiar scene.
This was the memory he should have.
If everything went as it had before, he should have rushed across the street with the girl in his arms, saving her from this disaster.
But now, things had changed.
He and the sand leopard were standing between the car and the girl.
He was lying on the ground, while the sand leopard was standing up, looking around, clearly caught off guard by this scene.
In the next instant, the car ran over them.
Well, to be precise, it ran over him.
As for the sand leopard, it was directly hit by the front of the car, then dragged under the tires, making a crisp “bang” sound.
The car then skidded across the road until it crashed into a wall and came to a stop.
He Lingchuan scrambled to his feet, gasping for breath.
He checked his body—no injuries?
The pickup truck’s hood was smoking, and the engine had stalled.
He scratched his head.
In his memory, the car that had hit them back then was a sedan, but here it was a high-clearance pickup truck.
Had he remembered wrong, or was this place wrong?
A crowd was slowly gathering around the scene of the accident.
The little girl picked up the coin, smiled at him, and ran back to her mother.
He Lingchuan shook his head and walked over to the wall.
Under the tires, it wasn’t the sand leopard anymore—it was the shadowy figure he had seen earlier.
It was pinned down, unable to move, and it stretched out a claw toward He Lingchuan in frustration.
He wasn’t stupid enough to get close, so he took two steps back.
Soon, the shadow shrank into a small ball and disappeared.
“What the hell was that?” He Lingchuan muttered.
Then he noticed a faint blue mark on the wall where the car had crashed.
He wanted to take a closer look, but suddenly, the world spun around him, and everything went dark again.
…
He Lingchuan blinked, still not fully awake.
Something in his vision was growing larger and larger—four huge fangs?
Even in the dim light, the fangs seemed to glow.
Suddenly, something round flew toward him, hitting him in the stomach and sending him flying three zhang (about 10 meters) away.
The massive jaws that had been aiming for him missed and instead bit into the city wall, slowly lifting its head again.
It was the black flood dragon.
From this angle, the damn thing was enormous.
He Lingchuan pointed at it and cursed, “You ungrateful bastard! You turn on me the moment you’re done with me! After I helped you fight… and set off fireworks!”
The curse didn’t feel satisfying because his chest and stomach had taken a heavy blow.
Every time he tried to breathe, he felt nauseous.
The black flood dragon ignored him and turned to chase after a white light in the air.
He Lingchuan then remembered that this thing had hit him in the face earlier and probably invaded him.
Otherwise, how could he have experienced those bizarre scenes?
Zeng Feixiong came over to help him up. “Young Master, forgive me. The rolling stone was thrown by me. Are you alright?”
“You saved my life. Hic, I’ll reward you heavily later!” He Lingchuan saw that the thing that had knocked him away was a rolling stone from the city wall, slightly smaller than a millstone.
It was supposed to be used in a catapult, but Zeng Feixiong had thrown it to save his life.
The force behind it was real, though.
Thankfully, He Lingchuan’s body was strong.
If it had been He Yue who took that hit, he probably would have suffered internal injuries and been bedridden for over a month.
The person who had injured him was now being rewarded.
The things happening here were getting more and more surreal.
After escaping from He Lingchuan, the white light finally remembered to go after Nian Songyu.
It was incredibly agile.
The black flood dragon tried to intercept it several times, but its massive size only made it easier for the light to slip through.
Sun Fuping noticed the white light’s movement and quickly picked up Nian Songyu to meet it.
The black flood dragon swung its tail, sending Sun Fuping flying.
But Sun Fuping was quick.
He threw Nian Songyu toward the white light before he was hit.
The two finally met in mid-air, and the white light entered Nian Songyu’s body through his nose and mouth.
Just before the black flood dragon could swallow him, Nian Songyu woke up.
He took a deep breath, and a red light flashed in his eyes.
The giant phantom behind him reappeared, now twice as large as before.
Correspondingly, its two phantom blades also grew twice as long, reaching an astonishing eight zhang (about 26 meters)!
Nian Songyu gripped the long blade and swung it upward in a diagonal slash, aiming for the black flood dragon’s gaping maw.
The people on the city wall saw what looked like moonlight flashing and mercury spilling as the black flood dragon’s head was split in two, the lower half falling heavily to the ground.
“No way?” Zeng Feixiong was shocked. “It’s that weak? All that size for nothing.”
The black flood dragon was dead.
What were they supposed to do now? Die with it?
(End of Chapter)