Chapter 37: Awakening’s Toll and Hallucinations

After running a short distance in front of the mall, I immediately turned and extended my right hand.

Numerous small flames erupted from my palm, incinerating the charging zombies until nothing remained.

My newly awakened flame ability proved even more potent than I had imagined, certainly justifying the immense suffering I had endured to gain it.

I suddenly recalled how, due to insufficient core energy, my failed awakening had led me to repeatedly bang my head against a wall.

Even now, my head throbbed with persistent pain.

There were fewer than two hundred zombies in total, and my flame division ability instantly incinerated half of them.

If one burst of flame ability wasn’t enough, I would simply unleash another.

Maintaining my outstretched right hand, I willed my body’s energy to concentrate in my palm. The previously dim flames there instantly surged, roaring to life once more.

At my command, hundreds more small flames materialized around my hand, swiftly soaring towards the remaining zombies.

In moments, I was the only living soul left standing before the mall.

Layers of black ash carpeted the ground around me, and amidst them, dozens of crystalline cores glittered, radiating a dazzling, almost hypnotic glow under the sun.

Yet, I found myself in no mood to appreciate the luminous spectacle of so many cores.

Gasping for air, I slowly lowered myself into a crouch.

Still, it wasn’t enough! My current level was too low, and the newly awakened flame ability consumed an exorbitant amount of energy.

Using the flame ability twice in quick succession left my head reeling, nearly causing me to collapse to the ground.

But the situation was far from optimistic! Within mere seconds, my vision swam into darkness.

****

When I next opened my eyes, something felt profoundly wrong.

Hadn’t I just been standing before the mall? Why was I now in a dense, green jungle?

Before me stood a woman with her back turned, clad in a form-fitting white gown that accentuated her curvaceous figure, making her appear strikingly alluring.

Her long, silver-white hair danced in the breeze, further emphasizing her slender frame.

‘This silhouette… it seems familiar,’ I thought.

Just as I hesitated, rooted to the spot, wondering whether to approach, the woman facing away from me suddenly turned around.

Her face made my jaw drop in utter shock; this silver-haired woman was my own sister!

“Brother, even though you abandoned me, I still can’t let you go. So, let’s die together!”

A sorrowful smile graced my sister’s face before she plunged the dagger in her hand into my chest.

Unable to move, I could only passively endure the agonizing pain of my heart being pierced.

Then, I watched in horror as my sister withdrew the dagger, smiled faintly, and plunged it into her own heart.

…

“Bai Han, you truly are heartless.”

Before my mind could fully process the shock my sister had inflicted, the scene before me shifted once more.

This time, it was a woman I didn’t recognize.

She wore an ancient imperial gown, its crimson robes accentuating her fair complexion, making it appear even more delicate and rosy. A single scarlet cinnabar mark between her brows added an ineffable touch of beauty.

However, the woman’s face was strikingly dignified and classical, giving her an incongruous air with her current attire.

“Since that’s the case, I shall sever your head!”

After uttering these words, the woman in the crimson imperial gown materialized a long, black blade in her hand.

With a mournful gaze, she brought the black blade down towards my neck.

The next moment, my head fell to the ground.

…………

“Bai Han, you were clearly meant to die by my hand!”

‘No way!!! Not again!!!!’ I thought.

Gazing at Shen Qing before me, I felt as though I was being toyed with to the brink of death.

Shen Qing was still dressed in a black qipao, adorned with delicate white patterns.

Her long hair was swept up and secured with a white hairpin.

While her elegant and cold beauty held a certain allure, it paled in comparison to the crackling lightning that danced within her palm.

It continuously radiated an aura of palpable danger.

As Shen Qing finished speaking, a bolt of lightning as thick as a pillar instantly descended upon my head.

It struck me, sending a paralyzing jolt through my body, and I immediately lost consciousness.

…

My eyes snapped open with a jolt, and a throbbing headache forced me to slowly turn my head, surveying the familiar surroundings.

I was still in front of the small mall.

The familiar expanse of black ash and crystalline cores around me confirmed that I was back in reality.

Enduring the tumultuous pain churning in my head, I disregarded the black ash covering the ground and immediately sprawled forward, seizing the nearest crystalline core.

Before I could consciously direct it, my body instinctively absorbed the core’s energy, immediately replenishing the emptiness within me.

Only after consuming one core did I begin to feel better, the pain in my head significantly subsiding.

With the pain lessened, I finally had the capacity to think.

‘What exactly were those visions just now?’ I wondered.