On the National Path, an SUV was driving toward Central City.

The road was flanked by desolate wilderness and seemingly endless guardrails. Unobstructed sunlight glinted off the vehicle’s metal parts.

The National Path on the east side of Yangzhi City split in two directions. One led east to Yuanwang Port, and the other was the one they were on now, which went directly to Central City.

This road saw little traffic. People from Central City rarely ventured out, and outsiders without official status wouldn’t choose this route to get in.

Cheng Zitong drove steadily and at a perfect speed. They had set out in the morning, and five hours later, they were approaching the region of Central City, arriving at a checkpoint on its outskirts.

Cheng Zitong slowly stopped the car. "Xiaochuan, once you’re past this checkpoint, you’ll be in Central City territory. This is as far as I’m taking you. Someone from the Central Hospital will come pick you up. Just wait for them over there."

Chen Chuan said, "Alright, Teacher."

He got out of the car, retrieved the Snow Monarch Blade from the back seat, and took his suitcase from the trunk. Cheng Zitong got out as well, looked up at the sky, and said, "Man, this sun is still so blinding." He then put on his sunglasses.

He walked over and patted Chen Chuan’s shoulder. "Xiaochuan, once you get settled in over there, don’t forget to let me know you’re safe."

Chen Chuan nodded and said, "Teacher, I’ll be going now."

Cheng Zitong waved him off. "Go on."

Chen Chuan bowed to him, then straightened up and walked toward the checkpoint.

When he reached the movable barricade, two Patrol Officers came forward to inspect his transit documents. Seeing that everything was in order, they had the barricade moved aside and let him pass. It wasn’t until he emerged on the other side that he heard the sound of the car driving away behind him.

He looked up. The highway stretched straight ahead, and he could now faintly see Central City at its end.

Buildings of varying shades of gray stood on the horizon. Countless tall, jagged structures rose ramrod straight. A high bridge leading out to sea traced an arc like a rainbow before gradually vanishing into the sea mist. Compared to Yangzhi, which was now far behind him, it looked like another world.

Under the vast, azure sky, he stood facing this new world, holding the Snow Monarch Blade and his suitcase. The road at his feet was the only line connecting the two.

After watching for a moment, he set down his suitcase and checked his watch. It was two o’clock in the afternoon. According to what Cheng Zitong had told him, the person coming to pick him up would arrive a little after two.

However, the entry and exit procedures for Central City were complex and highly inconvenient for anyone without the right status, so there might be a delay. Cheng Zitong had told him to wait patiently. In any case, there were phones, telegraphs, and simple lodging available by the checkpoint, all for a fee.

He stood there quietly, silently circulating his Furnace Breathing Method. As it neared three o’clock, the sound of a vehicle approached from down the road.

Hearing the noise, he looked up to see a worn, armed SUV driving toward him. It slowed to a stop five or six meters away, and a head poked out. "Academy Member Chen Chuan?"

Chen Chuan sized him up. The man was in his forties, wearing polarized sunglasses, with somewhat messy hair. The laugh lines around his mouth and nose were deep, his beard looked like it had been deliberately trimmed not long ago, and his lips were slightly chapped.

’This isn’t what I expected. The man shows no sign of being a Fighter, and he doesn’t seem like a teacher from the academy. Maybe he’s just some kind of staff member?’

’It makes sense, though. It’s the New Year holiday, and those teachers don’t know me. There’s no reason for them to go out of their way to pick me up. The person they’d send would usually be someone of lower status.’

He said, "I’m Chen Chuan."

"Good enough." The man didn’t ask Chen Chuan for any ID. He just jerked his head toward the back. "Get in. Sit in the back."

Chen Chuan walked over, opened the back door, and got in. Once he had closed the door and settled in, he noticed a thin line running from the man’s ear to the back of his neck—the mark of an Implant. He glanced at it, then asked, "How should I address you, Teacher?"

"Whoa, don’t call me Teacher." The man quickly waved his hand. "I’m not one of your Wuyi teachers. It’s the New Year, see? Wuyi Academy put out a contract to pick up a student. My reputation is decent, and I’ve made the run to Yangzhi a few times, so they sent me... Buckle up."

The man waited for him to fasten his seatbelt, then started the vehicle. He executed a swift, clean U-turn and headed toward Central City.

After driving for a bit, he said, "Name’s Qi Gao. Just call me Old Qi. Say, student, you got all your ID documents with you? Security is tight in the city. It’s a real pain to get in if you don’t have everything."

Chen Chuan replied, "I have them all." Then he asked, "So, you’re saying it’s possible to enter the city without documents?"

"You can, but you’d have to take a detour and accept the risks. I’d be at risk, and so would you. It’s better to avoid trouble when you can."

Old Qi glanced at the rearview mirror. "Brother Chen, first time in Central City, right?"

There was no reason to hide it. Chen Chuan said, "Yes, it’s my first time."

Old Qi smiled, a hint of mystery on his face. "The checkpoint to enter the city is up ahead. You’ll need your documents there. You’ll see what I mean when we get there."

They drove along the road for just under half an hour, getting closer and closer to the city ahead. In some of the nearer spots, he could already see silver-gray skyscrapers against the blue sky.

The guardrails along the roadside had long since disappeared, replaced by a series of inverted-bowl-shaped platforms. They looked a bit like pillar bases without pillars. It seemed a person could walk on them, but their purpose was unclear.

Old Qi said, "This is it. Get out." Grabbing a case, he pushed his door open and got out first.

Chen Chuan looked outside. The area was still completely empty, with no one else around. It didn’t look much like a checkpoint. He also pushed his door open and got out.

Old Qi placed the case on the ground, then crouched and opened it. With a CLICK, a cloud of cold air escaped. It was filled with ice cubes. He reached in, grabbed a few, and tossed them aside. Buried in the center was a sealed bag. He pulled it out, tore it open, took out the contents, and tossed it to Chen Chuan.

Chen Chuan caught it and saw it was a mask that covered the upper half of his face. It seemed to be made of bone but felt very light. The eyeholes were covered with a transparent, lens-like film. Along the two edges of the mask were two small, white worms, squirming slightly. They looked as if they were growing right out of it.

"Put on the mask," Old Qi said from where he stood.

Chen Chuan fitted the mask to his face. It seemed to adhere easily. The sides of the mask curved over the tops of his ears, resting there perfectly.

Once the mask was on, the intense glare from outside was blocked. Although it only covered the area around his eyes and cheeks, he felt a sense of being cut off from the world.

Just then, the two small worms slowly extended downward and began to burrow into his ear canals. Only their tips entered, and they seemed to self-adjust, shrinking slightly until they fit snugly.

At the same time, he saw a very faint, almost unnoticeable sign of phasing on his Second Self. He thought for a moment and decided not to let his Second Self divert this external intrusion.

The moment he made that choice, his vision first went dark, then flickered erratically. A hissing sound filled his ears.

When he looked forward again, the entire city suddenly appeared before him in a different form. The once pale, gray buildings were now draped in layers of rainbow-colored neon and swirling ribbons of light. They pulsed and stretched, extending as a curtain of light into the clouds, soaring all the way to the heavens!

Floating above the dazzling lights were massive projections of all sorts of figures and flickering, shifting scenes. Old era, new era, realistic, grotesque—they seemed to have been pulled from the timeline and jumbled together in a dislocated space.

His ears were now filled with a cacophony of noise, a mix of countless languages and fragmented, chaotic sounds.

Light, shadow, sound—everything rushed toward him at once, enveloping and surrounding him. Each element seemed to vie for his attention, but every time he tried to focus on one, it was washed away by the ensuing torrent of information, gone in an instant.

"Hey, hey, Brother Chen, can you still hear me?"

The voice seemed to come from far away, but it was the only coherent and recognizable sound. Chen Chuan turned his head and saw Old Qi yelling at him, waving one hand frantically in front of his face while placing his other hand by his ear, repeatedly making a gentle tapping motion.

The way he hunched his neck, pressed his palm to his ear, and closed his eyes looked slightly comical, like someone trying to soothe a child to sleep, but the meaning it conveyed was perfectly clear.

Chen Chuan raised his hand and gently tapped the side of his head twice. The worm in his ear suddenly contracted. In that instant, the world inside the mask went dark again. Everything he had seen vanished without a trace, the cacophony of sounds disappeared completely, and the world returned to how it was before.

He reached up and slowly took off the mask. A distant wind blew over, carrying a bit of dust and rustling the tips of his hair. The surroundings were silent and vast. The cluster of buildings in the distance still stood there quietly, as if what he had just seen was merely an illusion.

Old Qi stared at him, looking him up and down, a hint of astonishment in his eyes. "Brother Chen, you alright? Most people can’t handle this thing their first time. Some even pass out. You’re really something else. Staring at it for that long and you’re still fine?"

Chen Chuan held up the Bone Mask in his hand and asked, "Old Qi, what is this?"

Old Qi shrugged. "The Dashun government calls it a ’Realm Token.’ We usually call it a ’Yin Yang Ceremony.’ There’s also a technical name... what was it again..."

His eyes seemed to flash with a strange light. "Oh, right, ’Biological Domain Interactive Link Technology.’ Other companies have their own names for it, too. There are a lot, anyway. You saw Central City just now, right?"

Chen Chuan nodded.

"Then... welcome to the real world."

Old Qi spread his hands, his expression a mix of excitement and mania, his voice laced with what seemed to be both hatred and love. He gazed toward Central City and exclaimed, "What you saw when you arrived was just the incomplete, hidden side. What you just witnessed... that is its complete and true form."

...

...