Carl felt he had never been both so anticipatory and flustered.

The ship was sailing swiftly in the distance was the familiar San Francisco harbor.

“We can truly return home through this ship! “

Carl exclaimed passionately, “My god, it’s true, we are heading home at last! “

-｛Radio-frequency, ephemeris, Feb qi distro2 ‘Sink retail track’ Distribution ephe3 Calr monitoring. Carl! Iblight / trajectory trackwatch…｝**｝

-｛the general distribution runs along a rich experience of the distributor Fake is marking for me… through developed glory orchestrated node. This pen lives broad in an id at full pitch… in so calling me from a deep starting code for key. (…)this preparation ephe O. now mapping into premature radiance spawning re-umb**｝

｛…Want…invest…｝

Distributor? Oh, right… Hah, this is far more than just the birth of radiant light! Karl sneered inwardly as the thought flickered through his mind—this is nothing short of a miracle, a veritable “flash of brilliance “!

-｛Distributor Fake Fish gave me a Neutral Review.｝

The First Mate walked up to him. “Captain, after all our hard work, we’re finally about to return to your homeland. “

The man gazed into the distance at the towering skyscrapers.

Was this Mist Country?

Those soaring buildings were covered with dazzling square grids of blue, like stretched crystalline nightmares, densely spreading across the entire ground and soaring high into the sky, resembling a celestial trench that devoured all life.

“This… ” The First Mate pondered briefly, then turned with a smile:

“Captain, sometimes what we see may seem a bit strange, but that’s only because we’ve been at sea too long—it could just be an illusion. You must have heard of mirages, right? “

“Illusion? ” Karl turned, puzzled. “Did you see any illusion too? “

“Ah, no. ” The First Mate breathed a sigh of relief. “As long asyoudon’t think anything’s wrong, that’s fine. “

｛Gold… wants… to invest in me…｝

｛…Dustman… wants… to invest… 1…｝

As if sensing something, the First Mate frowned. He immediately reached out and placed a hand on Karl’s shoulder.

“Look at that, time flies, doesn’t it? We’ll soon be saying goodbye to the ocean. You don’t ever want to come back here, do you? “

Karl felt a sudden dizziness, and then he realized the ship had somehow already docked. Except…

Why did this port look so strange?

The First Mate gazed listlessly ahead at the harbor, which had finally started to look normal.

No wonder they’d mistaken me for the captain—fixing things myself really took some effort.

He stared with satisfaction at the grand port ahead, though the buildings beyond… he simply didn’t have the strength left to alter so many distant, twisted sights.

Heaven only knows what’s always rattling around inside that man’s head.

“What’s going on? Am I… really back? “

Suddenly, this skeptical voice reached the First Mate’s ears.

-｛Distributor February. Di’an gave me a Favorable Review.｝

“What are you talking about, Captain? Of course we’re back. We’ve returned to Fog Nation! “

“No! ” The First Mate suddenly gripped his head, staring in shock at the harbor ahead!

And just then, the whole world gave a shudder.

Bracing himself with one foot planted backward, the First Mate stared incredulously at the world around him, now rippling like waves…

Not cracks.

That guy—just moments ago he was so lost in it, how could he suddenly snap himself awake?!

“Captain, you aren’t coming back, are you! ” the First Mate blurted out quickly.

Just as he gathered some energy, ready to say more…

Shriiing!

A gleam of deep-blue sword-light, like a meteor splitting the long night, swiftly carved the world apart!

“What, this is… “

{The Gaze-dispelling Sword… }

BOOM!A fierce gale swept through. The First Mate’s face went pale, and in a flash of his silhouette, he vanished.

-｛Distributor May·Valkyrie has marked a new node for the glorious prelude she is gestating for me.｝

-｛Distributor Tataminki expresses “Hurrah. “｝

Yang Zicang, who had walked into this place, stood in the empty void at the broken chasm of the world, turning his head to glance back at the distant, blurring figure.

Kim Tae-cheol approached from behind like a man stepping onto a nonexistent stage.

“Ah, it’s the Chairman? And Manager! “

“You’re almost awake yourself, huh. “

Having said this, Yang Zicang frowned and looked up. Kim Tae-cheol stared ahead, stunned, his mouth agape.

On the seashore before the towering buildings stood a magnificent, medieval-style port of gray-black steel.

No matter how hard it tried to appear futuristic, it was merely a figment of that era’s people—an oar of an unsinkable ship forged from high-precision technology, born from futuristic fantasies…

The entire illusory realm began to twist.

Karl dropped his hands in disappointment and walked over.

“You okay? ” asked Kim Tae-cheol.

“I’m fine… Thanks, both of you, for saving me. Going back to my hometown was really just a dream. “

“This is not the time for words like that. “

-｛Distributor May·Valkyrie gazes at the life experience we are now gestating.｝

Kim Tae-cheol raised his head gravely. “Chairman Yang, what about Aiwen of the Red Model? He voluntarily came to help us. We absolutely must not let down a person like that. “

“Fail? Fail how? ” Karl looked up, his gaze shifting back and forth between the two.

“This problem… mm, it’s simple. “

“Simple? “

Yang Zicang raised the sword in his hand. After these few uses, he had become rather familiar with the blade, as well as how the essence of shredding delusional illusions could be dispelled.

｛I, the Great Quadrangle, begin communicating with the “Ether Foundation · Gaze-dispelling Sword “.｝

｛Channel, the bow!｝

As the specific coordinates emerged in his mind, he slashed down with one stroke, and a passageway was swiftly cleaved open—like a cracked version of the distorted portal from City 11.

Yang Zicang stepped through and, in an instant, materialized at the bow, swiping his sword in a cut beside him.

｛Ether Foundation · Gaze-dispelling Sword commences “Break Delusion “!｝

Emerging from the channel, Kim Tae-cheol and Karl watched Yang Zicang swinging the ancient treasure blade wildly—jerking left and right on the deck, slicing at emptiness amid flickering fragments of scenes that kept shattering.

After a bout of wild swings, he immediately appeared several meters away.

“This… ” Kim Tae-cheol’s eye twitched. “It really is a simple method… just a bit… tedious in the process. “

Ten-odd minutes later, Yang Zicang, rubbing his arm, stepped before the few people resting in the small boat—bringing Li Aimin, completely drained, and the dark-red fire axe whose speech was dizzy-laden.

-｛Distributor Loki Tata Mingqi, drawing on vast experience, indicates that I may have already fully conceived the Radiance.｝

Whew…

-｛Distributor Loki Tata Mingqi expresses “Expectation. “｝

-｛Distributor Tata Mingqi increases the price of the brilliant prelude I am conceiving by 50%.｝

Yang Zicang ignored the continuous stream of mental transmissions from Tatar Mingqi. As he stopped paying attention, they quickly faded into faint background noise, no longer distracting him.

“President, this sword of yours… where did you get it?” The few of them looked at the weapon with envy. This guy really had a lot of good stuff.

Yang Zicang raised the sword and gazed at it, saying, “It… was obtained by a former owner of this ship who took me to find it…“

“Huh? It’s from this ship?” The three of them let out incredulous shrieks.

As Yang Zicang was explaining to them.

Inside a shimmering field of psychic Ether, a man with a face vaguely resembling the First Mate’s stared coldly at the deck above, as if his gaze could pierce through the planks and fall upon them.

{First Mate, what do we do? That guy actually found that weapon. }

{Can we still succeed? }

{We’re not really going to have no way to keep living, are we… }

{Quiet. } The First Mate turned his head, looking at the gray-black shadows around him, exuding panic. {Things aren’t settled till the last step; no one knows how it’ll really turn out. }

He twisted his head back, staring upward.

{Hmph. This mysterious newcomer is so forceful. It shows he’s a person with a lot of experience. Someone like that won’t be tied down by this ship. }

{Your meaning? }

{He’ll leave. If all else fails… }

The First Mate looked at a faint gleam of light shining on his own hand.

{Sir, you can’t be thinking of! }

{This is your last ‘flash,’ sir. }

{One investment, exchanging for a ship – it’s still pretty worth it. }

The man’s expression was desolate as he spoke.