Chapter 200: Cut Scene of a Lost Boy (2)

"Oh. Did he get noticed already?" The young child seated on her gaming chair looked at the vital statistics displayed on the large screen. She had simply given a small hint and now the world was reacting to it? She tapped her fingers on the arm rest and pursed her lips, "Well, it couldn't be avoided then."

She glanced behind her and watched the other individuals glued to their screen, not even uttering a single word in response to her own. "What boring individuals." One of her eyes twitched but she resumed back to watching, until another matter took importance and she ended up having to resolve that first.

It was up to them to resolve this matter if they could.

.

.

.

A strong gust of wind tore past him.

Goosebumps trailed across his skin. He jerked back and looked behind him. The same street but no one around him. Was he going insane?

He ended up elsewhere but still the intended place where he was supposed to be. It was confusing. This was Mou Gu's street, and he could even see the shop in the distance. But nobody was around. Han Jing's entire skin prickled—and he noticed something flashing across his screen.

[ Mana Sense Active ]

He narrowed his eyes and began to walk, quietly towards the shop. His gaze darted back and forth on the apartments and houses available in this district. Where the hell was everyone else? No life. No sound. No body. Nobody.

It was him and the world alone.

Not liking it any better, the situation that he was in. He ended up running and reaching the shop, the familiar sign of 'Mou's Family Diner' displayed outside of the small building. And yet nobody was there. No light. No signs of anybody being there at all. The door lay in front of him, urging him to open it.

Han Jing reached out, his knuckles ready to rap on the door—

When it sounded. The world turned itself over. Or rather, Han Jing looked up at the ceiling of the outside of the shop and realized he had fallen over—the eruptions of a howl that flipped him over. One moment he was on his feet and the next second he was on the ground. He still didn't know where he was, but one thing was sure, he wasn't safe.

The sounds had come from far off—at least he thought so.

Warmth trickled in his ears, a sensation that made him reach for it. His fingers made contact with a liquid that he didn't have to see to even deem it as blood. His blood. But it wasn't enough to stop him, it hadn't hurt as he thought it would. Maybe he was too detached to even take note of it. Slowly, he pulled himself to his feet. He placed a hand on the door and leaned against it.

Han Jing glanced behind him and still found the street empty, nobody was present and only the buildings and street lights were visible. There were still some sparse trees and shrubs, the attempt of a city to make it greener, but there weren't too many. There was even a car a couple meters down the road but no other human. He was alone and stuck here. He ended up looking up into the sky—and found darkness. Nothing at all.

No stars, no moon and not even a wisp of a cloud.

An unending stretch of darkness, that spread itself as far as his eyes could see it. The only recognizable things were his surroundings but even they made his skin crawl. Where the heck was he? Some underworld that looked exactly like his own? Something throbbed within himself. Until he caught note of what was on the corner of his vision. His screen was still working, and despite not checking it before—he whispered it to himself. "City Map."

Another screen displayed itself in front of him, and it was a map of this familiar place. He didn't check maps too much, but it was what he expected his place to have. The screen showed him all the streets and how they were all connected to one another, and his self was represented by a green dot. But more importantly, all the familiar landmarks were aptly placed and the street names were recognizable.

Even this System recognized this world to be the one he lived in.

So what the…? If he didn't know it, the Moderator probably would. He summoned the messaging app—but she was offline. The same went for the Wood Elf. A sigh escaped his lips as he placed a hand on his face. His fingers sticking itself to his face. He couldn't just stay like this. "Inventory?"

Nothing.

Not everything was available for him and he placed himself in this position. What a great decision to come here—but it might have happened even if he tried to get home. Would he still be able to get home? What happened to the others? They were probably alright if he was the only one stuck here—

Rustle.

His gaze caught something on the other end of the street, where the streetlights met with some of the stray trees and bushes that were still available in this place. He froze. He wasn't alone. Was it a dog? A stray animal? That was something he was placing his hopes up for even as he tensed himself for what was to come.

And it shot out of the shrubs—a creature of shadows.

"Ikikaeru!"

That word didn't even work either as the creature stopped and tilted its head toward him. Shadows weren't the most appropriate word, it had a white face and its body was pure black. And it did look like something what an animal would be—it was as small as a cat. Beady black eyes gazed at him with a curious look.

Han Jing gulped and held his breath.

Even if it looked relatively small, he had no idea what it was and it was better he remained unseen. But that was begging for a miracle when he was just standing outside of a shop and he was the only human in the vicinity.