At that moment, Yoren felt everything click into place. The pieces of the puzzle he hadn't even realized he was assembling suddenly fit together with absolute clarity.
He remembered.
Yesterday, after coming home from school, he had been lying on his bed, lazily playing Arknights on his phone. He had just finished a mission when an unusual prompt appeared on his screen:
"Human, are you willing to change this world with your actions?"
Two choices. "Yes" or "No."
At first, he thought it was some kind of special event or maybe a prank from the developers. Just as he was about to tap "No" out of sheer skepticism, a flash of lightning split the sky outside his window, startling him so much that his hand jerked—and the phone slipped, smacking him right in the face.
Then, everything went black.
Holy hell… is that how I got there? Was that my method of traveling between worlds? Death by phone-to-face impact? How ridiculous could it get?!
But no—there was no mistaking it now. The dull ache in his head, the soreness in his waist… they were proof. Proof that everything he had experienced wasn't just some elaborate fever dream. The Terra world was real. Vina was real. Winter was real. Indra's brutal kick was real.
He clenched his fists as the realization settled deep into his bones.
Next to him, Zhang Yuan raised an eyebrow. "What's with you? You look like you just figured out the meaning of life or something."
"Shut up. Let me think."
Under the baffled gazes of Zhang Yuan and the school nurse, Yoren strode to the infirmary window, gripping the windowsill as if steadying himself against the weight of his thoughts.
Two timelines. Two separate worlds.
When he had first arrived in Checheng, the fruit vendor told him it was 3:40 in the afternoon. But in this world, he had left school at around 5:00 PM. Meaning, the flow of time wasn't exactly synced. The difference didn't seem drastic, but it was enough to confirm they weren't running parallel.
That meant he wasn't just dreaming Terra. He wasn't living a delusion. He was actually existing in both places.
But that also led to another pressing question—
What happened if he died there?
Unlike some VR fantasy, this wasn't a game where he could just log off. If he got himself killed in Terra, he wouldn't respawn. He would disappear. No body. No funeral. Just a missing person report that would eventually be abandoned.
So why go back?
He had the choice to forget. To wipe the slate clean, delete the app, and live a normal, safe life. If he pretended none of it had ever happened, he could graduate college, get a stable job, live out his years in peaceful ignorance.
Wouldn't that be the right choice?
But…
Yesterday, he had drawn ten Kings of Advancement.
Yesterday, he had drawn ten Winters.
Some people say that deep bonds transcend time and space. That even when separated by worlds, an unspoken connection can persist. Like how you suddenly think of someone, and moments later, they text you. Something unseen, something science can't explain, ties people together.
Even across dimensions, across realities, that bond had called out to him. They were calling out to him.
Vina, who told him to come to Victoria one day for a home-cooked meal.
Winter, who was too proud to ask for help but always bore the weight of others' suffering.
And Amiya… the girl who had yet to appear, the girl whose dream was to save everyone, even if it meant burning herself away to achieve it.
Yoren exhaled sharply.
He knew his answer.
Of course he would go back.
Because that's just the kind of fool he was.
A grin crept onto his face, slow and reckless, before it erupted into laughter—full, unrestrained, almost delirious.
Zhang Yuan flinched. "Okay, I take it back. You are crazy."
Yoren wiped a tear from his eye and clapped Zhang Yuan on the shoulder. "I'm not crazy. I'm just excited."
"For what? Getting admitted to a psych ward?"
Yoren smirked. "Nah. I'm just looking forward to seeing an old friend."
Zhang Yuan gave him a sideways glance. "Bro, are you even listening to yourself?"
"Hey, I have a question for you."
Zhang Yuan sighed. "What now?"
"If you met your favorite operator in real life, what's the first thing you'd do?"
Zhang Yuan thought for a moment, then shrugged. "I dunno. Take her to a supermarket? Buy her some good food? Gotta make sure she eats well, right?"
Yoren nodded, a satisfied glint in his eyes. "Yeah. That's a good idea."
He stretched, rolling his shoulders as if shaking off the weight of his revelation.
"Zhang Yuan, lend me a hundred bucks."
"What? Why?"
Yoren grinned. "I'm taking someone out for dinner soon."
Yoren plopped down, hands planted on the floor in surrender.
"Vina, I was wrong."
Vina stood up from the sofa, balancing on one bare foot, the other still missing its slipper. She looked down at him with exaggerated disappointment.
"First day in the gang, and you're already slacking off? Tsk, tsk, Yoren. This is really disappointing."
"Hey, sorry, sorry," he muttered, digging into his pocket. His fingers fumbled around before pulling out a red plum candy. He awkwardly unwrapped it, then paused.
"Sister, smoking is wrong."
He stuffed the candy back and pulled out something else—a green-wrapped Alps lollipop.
"Big sister eats candy. Apple-flavored. A token of friendship."
Vina narrowed her eyes at him, but she plucked the candy from his fingers.
"Tch. Fine. I won't pursue it this time. But don't make it a habit."
"Oh my, my," Yoren teased, bowing dramatically. "Your kindness knows no bounds."
"Yeah, yeah. Now go fetch my slipper."
"Yes, boss."
Yoren retrieved the slipper, crouching to help her slide it back onto her foot. He knew no matter how many times she had come to wake him up, he wouldn't have heard her—because there had been no one in the room.
"By the way, why didn't you just come in if I didn't answer?" he asked.
"You locked the door."
"Like that's ever stopped you before."
Vina folded her arms, shifting her weight onto one hip. "Tsk. How was I supposed to know if you sleep naked? I'd rather not be traumatized."
At that moment, Kate pushed through the makeshift wooden planks hastily nailed over the shattered front door. Since Winter had blown the original one off its hinges, the gang had done a slapdash job patching it up.
Yoren watched, amused, as Kate bent backward like a circus acrobat, squeezing through the narrow opening. He whistled.
"Damn, didn't know you were that flexible. You hiding something from us, big guy?"
Kate shot him a look before turning to Vina.
"Found the cars. Two of them. They're parked outside."
"Good," Vina nodded, all business now.
Yoren scooted closer. "So what's the plan?"
Vina pulled out a map, spreading it across the coffee table. Her finger landed on a marked point. "Victoria confirmed the coordinates at noon. The disaster site is here."
Yoren leaned in, studying the map. "That's... not wilderness? What are those black marks?"
Vina nodded. "That used to be Mandel City, a big Ursus settlement. Twenty-seven years ago, a natural disaster wiped it off the map. They didn't have mobile city tech back then, so the whole place turned to ruins."
Yoren let out a low whistle. "And now, twenty-seven years later, the place gets wrecked again? Bad luck. Real bad luck."
"No one lives there anymore," Vina continued. "The whole region is abandoned, so no one noticed the natural disaster when it hit. That's why we're getting in before anyone else."
"Makes sense." Yoren sat back, processing the information. He could see it now—an untouched land, raw Originium deposits waiting to be taken. But also, danger. "So, when are we heading out?"
"Tonight. We'll meet up with the mercenaries Indra contacted tomorrow. We leave in a few hours."
Midnight.
Under the cloak of darkness, the Glasgow Gang slipped out of Chernobog.
Two large jeeps carried them through the snowy roads, the engines humming low against the silence of the night. Eleven people, including the two infected members, were packed into the convoy.
Yoren sat in the first car with Vina and Indra. The space was comfortable, and Kate took turns driving with another gang member.
The journey would take two days. Two days through the cold, through uncertainty, through the danger that loomed beyond the headlights.
Kate glanced back from the passenger seat. "The road ahead is smooth. If you wanna sleep, now's the time. I'll wake you if anything happens."
Vina didn't reply, but her posture remained rigid, her attention fixed ahead. Yoren noticed she was still wearing that same thin black coat, her shorts leaving her legs bare against the Ursus cold.
"Aren't you freezing?" he asked.
"I'm used to it," she muttered. "Victoria's not much warmer, anyway."
"Still, cold is cold."
"What do you want me to do? Knit a sweater on the spot?"
Yoren grinned. "Nah, I got something better."
He turned and rummaged through a plastic bag before pulling out a glass bottle.
Vina took it, squinting at the label. "What's this? Water?"
"That, my dear Miss Vina, is Niulanshan Erguotou."
"...Is it alcohol?"
"Oh, it's more than alcohol. It's warmth in a bottle. A gift from my homeland. Try it."
Twenty minutes later.
Vina had one arm slung around Yoren's neck, her cheeks flushed crimson.
"Yorennn... you don't understand..." she slurred, gesturing wildly with her free hand. "Back in Londinium, I—hic—I was ruthless! I held up my hammer and went from the east square to the west! From west to north! BAM! One hit, one down! I was—hic—the real terror of the underground!"
Yoren struggled to keep a straight face as she practically hung off him. "That so?"
"Damn right!" She hiccupped. "And you, you, my little underling, should—should—respect your boss!"
Indra, watching from across the seat, sighed. "You and your bright ideas, Yoren."
Yoren looked at the two empty bottles of Niulanshan rolling around on the seat and sighed dramatically.
"Man, I should've brought more."