Chapter 898: Swept Away into the Distance
Something happened?
Bohemia"s heart skipped a beat. She dropped the cloth bag and rushed into the room. The room was filled with a heavy, sticky smell of blood and medicine. A bed soaked in the soft light pouring in from the skylight stood alone. The white gauze curtain cast a hazy glow, obscuring the figure inside.
Is that Yu Yuan?
For a moment, Bohemia hadn"t realized what was wrong with the figure she saw. It wasn"t until Bliss suddenly walked briskly to the bedside that she snapped out of her daze and asked in shock, "What... what happened to him?"
"Come here quickly!"
Bliss turned her head and instructed Bohemia before swiftly closing the gauze curtain.
At first glance, Bohemia couldn"t help but be astonished. This man had youthful features, skin, and hair full of vitality, even though he had experienced near-death. However, his face and body were covered in intricate, dark blue tattoos, dense patterns that concealed every inch of his skin, making it impossible to discern his true appearance.
The only thing certain was that the reason his shadow appeared so ethereal and faint was because he was about to be transported.
"Is it time for him?" Bohemia was a little unsure of what to do, her hands propping up her chin as she bent down and asked.
But it wasn"t Bliss who answered her.
"...No, it"s not." The man called Yu Yuan"s eyelids trembled a few times, and he opened them slightly, devoid of any hint of moisture. When he saw Bohemia, he seemed momentarily startled, then s.h.i.+fted his gaze. "Bliss..."
"She"s a friend of Lin Sanjiu"s. She came to pick you up." Bliss immediately understood what he wanted to ask—she always seemed to be constantly gauging and observing people"s hearts.
"Xiao Jiu...?" Yu Yuan exhaled and a look appeared on his face that could not be clearly described as either a bitter smile or a sigh. His voice was weak as he asked, "Is she alright?"
His lips and skin had lost all color, contrasting starkly with the black and white of the tattoo. However, this stark contrast was gradually fading, like a cloud shadow dissipating in the water, about to be scattered by the wind.
"She"s doing great. But why haven"t you been transported yet? Transportation is usually quick." Bohemia casually asked, but her expression suddenly froze, and she hurriedly asked, "Wait, what do you mean by "not yet"?"
"I still have four months..." Yu Yuan had to pause and took a slow breath before continuing, "before the transportation date."
Even though she had antic.i.p.ated it, Bohemia still stood there in a daze. She looked Yu Yuan up and down and noticed that the fingertips of the young man"s hands exposed outside the blanket had become so faint that they were almost invisible. Through the faint outline of a fingernail, she could clearly see the diagonal texture of the bedsheet below.
Bliss was also shocked. She observed him for a moment and furrowed her brow. "But you"re really going to be transported... I can"t be mistaken. Your body has already started to become translucent."
"Yes... It started just a moment ago. It"s been several minutes... I don"t know..." Yu Yuan said, then suddenly bit his lip and fell silent, seemingly recalling something.
He also thought of the Great Deluge.
Bohemia looked at him, and that thought emerged in her mind for some reason.
"Are you sure you didn"t remember the date wrong?" Bliss still asked softly from the side.
Bohemia was wary of Bliss being present and didn"t want to speak too explicitly. After considering it for a moment, she took out one of the paper cranes Lin Sanjiu had given her, intending to quickly convey this message to her before Yu Yuan was transported away—not only did the transportation start before the designated date, but even the duration of the transportation was no longer certain. Yu Yuan"s transportation process could potentially be prolonged indefinitely or even disappear at any moment.
This is the first time she witnessed the teleportation mechanism malfunctioning with her own eyes.
...All previous experiences and references were useless.
The translucent man lying on the bed seemed like the shattered fragments of a towering building, scattered and falling apart. It meant that the world rules she had grown accustomed to since childhood, the familiar and adaptable rules of life, her hometown where she was born and raised but couldn"t quite say if she liked it or not, were all about to collapse.
Only at this moment did Bohemia truly feel the unprecedented reality of the Great Deluge.
As she took out the paper crane, she noticed a faint blue light s.h.i.+mmering on her nail polish. Upon closer inspection, she realized her fingers were trembling.
Not only her fingers... even the palms of her hands were covered in a thin layer of cold sweat.
She felt like a helpless fallen leaf in a torrent, about to be swept away into endless solitude and the unknown, more terrifying than anything else.
"...Luckily, I had prepared the visas in advance," just then, Bliss"s half-sentence coincidentally reached Bohemia"s ears. She was taken aback, clutching the paper crane tightly and looking up at the two people, she asked, "V-Visas? You have visas?"
"Bliss gave them to me," Yu Yuan looked at his gradually transparent body, still propping up the quilt, his complexion not looking great, "She knew... I wanted to go to the Olympics."
"There happened to be a consular officer who played a big role," Bliss tilted her head and smiled at Bohemia, her red dress resembling a fiery red cloud under the setting sun, setting off her cool and snow-white skin, "...I got more than ten visas from him."
The Olympics... Bohemia had learned from her years of experience that the more uneventful a place"s name was, the closer it was to h.e.l.l. She didn"t understand why Yu Yuan insisted on going to that particular world, but now there was no time to ask. Who knew how much time Yu Yuan had left—she hastily recorded the situation in the paper crane, flicked it away, watching it flap into the sky and disappear through the small window above.
"Now even having visas may not be secure," Bohemia muttered, then sat down at the edge of the bed with a thud.
Yu Yuan apparently understood the meaning of her words quickly, and his face turned pale. Bliss turned to look at the two of them, furrowing her brows slightly, but she didn"t ask anything.
After hesitating for a few seconds, Bohemia whispered, "Your injuries haven"t healed yet. What will you do when you get to the new world?"
Yu Yuan raised his eyes and looked at the canopy for a while before exhaling deeply.
"What can I do?... Just take it step by step," he hoa.r.s.ely said, as if he wanted to smile, but his breath only dispersed weakly.
For a moment, no one in the room spoke, only a heavy silence gradually weighed down on everyone"s hearts. The air seemed to be saturated with a b.l.o.o.d.y smell, giving up its entanglement and clinging murkily around the people. It was only a few minutes later that Yu Yuan chuckled softly, breaking the silence, "...I"m still here."
He said he was still here, but most of his body had already become completely transparent. Only his chest, shoulders, and head still retained color and contours—although the transportation process had been prolonged, the process of gradually becoming transparent and eventually disappearing seemed unstoppable.
Had his chest and everything below it already arrived in another world? Bohemia couldn"t help but wonder.
"Do you still have your special items and such?" she suddenly asked. It wasn"t her usual style to show concern for others, but this man in front of her—Bohemia didn"t know why, but she just didn"t want to imagine the possibility of this injured person being thrown into another world without warning, facing unforeseen dangers.
Who knew when she might be the one caught under such a cruel iron fist?
Yu Yuan simply nodded. His chest had become invisible, the faint transparency consuming his neck.
"Well, then—"
Before Bohemia could finish her sentence, a small white figure suddenly flew in through the skylight, moving several times faster than before, as if aware of the urgent situation. The paper crane landed in her hand, and Lin Sanjiu"s fast, anxious, yet still methodical voice came through, "Yu Yuan, I"m too far away from you right now. It"s probably too late for me to rush over. You must remember the experiences I told you about regarding the Olympics... but without a communicator, your plan is probably impossible to achieve. Bliss!"
Bliss seemed surprised to be suddenly called out, her blue eyes darting.
"I left a special item in your building the last time I was there. You didn"t forget, did you?" Lin Sanjiu"s tone was resolute, leaving no room for doubt, "After the battle, you must have retrieved it. Now, I hope you can give that [Battle Item] to Yu Yuan."
While everyone was still stunned, she explained the usage of the [Battle Item] fluently—Bohemia was dumbfounded. How much would something like that, which could transform into whatever you wanted it to, be worth? Lost in thought, she heard Lin Sanjiu continue, "Yu Yuan, you have had contact with a communicator before, so you know how to use the [Battle Item] to mimic a communicator. My... my little brother should still be near the Olympics. The moment you open your eyes, the first thing you must do is contact him immediately! In the Olympics, there shouldn"t be any extraterrestrial dangers like the Salvation of G.o.d, so you will definitely have time to call him, don"t worry."
For some reason, she hesitated a little when she said "little brother," as if she wasn"t quite sure how to define their relations.h.i.+p.
"Remember, make contact with him as soon as possible, tell him I sent you, and let him know you"re injured. You must ask him to come and pick you up immediately!"
Yu Yuan curled up the corners of his mouth slightly and blinked slowly at the paper crane.
Bliss had already disappeared from the room like a burning cloud. After the paper crane delivered a series of reminders and instructions, she reappeared from a corner of the room as if she didn"t need doors or windows to freely move in and out of the building.
Yu Yuan no longer had hands to catch the [Battle Item]. He opened his mouth, and Bliss placed the small object between his teeth, giving him a soft smile, "Thank you for accompanying me these past few days... Take care."
Bohemia lowered her head, tightly clutching the hem of her shorts. When she raised her head again, the paper crane fell silent, the sunlight illuminated the dust, the canopy, and the bed, but there was no one there anymore.