Inside the ruined building, the pale gray light filtered through the layer of vines outside the window, falling onto the cracked concrete floor.

Ethan leaned his back against a wall that had peeled away over half its layer of paint. His left arm had been sealed by Laira with an extremely thin layer of flame, stopping the leftover Void energy from continuing to erode it. His hand had nearly vanished, the forearm burned black and cracked, enough to send a chill down anyone’s spine at just a glance.

The pain was still there.

Each beat.

Each beat.

But Ethan didn’t let himself sink into the pain for too long. He used his right hand to open the faint communication screen before him, attempting to send a positioning signal for the seventh time.

[Sending coordinates.]

[Signal unstable.]

[Spatial fluctuation exceeds the limit.]

[Sending failed.]

The last line appeared, then quickly dissolved.

Ethan looked at it, his gaze unchanged.

Laira stood beside the broken window, her amber-red eyes looking outside. Ever since Ethan was injured, she had hardly left his side by even half a step. Although the atmosphere outside had grown quieter, her body was still taut as a drawn bowstring; the moment any fluctuation drew near, the flame in her palm would immediately blaze up.

Ethan said in a low voice: "Still no good."

Laira turned her head to look at him. "The space here isn’t stable enough?"

"Yeah." Ethan closed the communication screen. "The signal can transmit out partially, but not enough for the Academy to lock the coordinates. If they forcibly send supplies into this kind of area, there’s a high chance the items will be thrown somewhere else, or be torn apart by the space along the way."

Laira frowned. "Then let’s change locations."

Ethan was silent for a brief moment. Then he looked at his left arm and calmly said: "We will. But before finding a stable area, we need more energy crystals."

Outside the building, from deep within the neighborhood swallowed by the forest, several hoarse roars rang out. Not the shriek of the Void Bone-Wing Dragon. Those sounds were more chaotic, weaker, like a group of low-tier monsters being drawn near by the smell of blood and energy fluctuations.

Laira immediately looked outside.

After a while, she said coldly: "Not strong. Mostly Black Iron. The strongest is probably only around Bronze."

Ethan nodded.

He had already guessed.

Although this building was quiet for now, Ethan had just leveled up and had also just been seriously injured. The smell of blood, the Heaven’s Gate fluctuation, plus the trace of Void residue on his arm, all of it was like an enticing signal to the creatures in the Anomalous Coordinates.

If they just sat waiting for supplies, they would only be surrounded bit by bit.

Ethan said: "Laira, go out and kill them. Collect the energy crystals."

Laira immediately turned her head. "No."

Her answer was very fast.

She didn’t even need to think.

Ethan looked at her.

Laira stepped up before him, her voice dropping low: "I won’t leave you alone in this condition. Just now in the blink of an eye, you lost a hand. If I leave, who knows what might appear again?"

Ethan calmly replied: "If you don’t go, we’ll still die. Just die more slowly."

Laira froze.

Ethan continued: "We can’t just count on supplies from outside. The Academy needs stable coordinates. To have stable coordinates, we have to move. To move within the Anomalous Coordinates, we have to be strong enough. The fastest way right now is to hunt monsters, take the energy crystals, then let me absorb them."

Laira pressed her lips together. "But your arm—"

"I’m still alive." Ethan cut her off. His voice wasn’t loud, but very clear. "Being alive means I can still keep going. As long as I grow stronger, you’ll grow stronger too. When you grow stronger, I’ll be safer. This is the only cycle that benefits us in this place."

Laira fell silent.

Her amber-red eyes looked at him for a long while.

Ethan knew she was worried. From the moment he used his hand to block that fireball, Laira’s state had changed noticeably. She was still dominant, still dangerous, still able to kill monsters without blinking. But when she looked at him, her gaze always carried a kind of unease she couldn’t hide.

Ethan slowly lifted his right hand and placed it on the back of Laira’s hand.

"Laira, I’m not telling you to go too far. Just clear out the area around this building. If there’s a strong fluctuation, come back immediately."

Laira asked in a low voice: "You’re sure?"

Ethan replied: "I’m sure."

"You won’t go and do something dangerous again while I’m not here?"

Ethan looked at her. "If I said I definitely won’t, would you believe me?"

Laira stared at him.

After a few seconds, she gritted her teeth. "No."

Ethan curved the corner of his mouth slightly. "Then I’ll tell the truth. I’ll try not to."

Laira was so annoyed she wanted to bite him, but in the end she didn’t. She bent down and gently pressed her forehead against Ethan’s. Her voice was lower than usual: "Ethan, you have to live."

Ethan replied: "I’ll live."

Laira looked at him once more, then slowly stood up.

In the moment she turned around, the softness in her eyes vanished. In its place was the coldness of a Crimson Dragon. Her dragon wings spread open behind her back. Dark red flame coiled around her fingertip, very small, very stable, but enough to distort the air in the room.

Laira said: "I’ll be back very quickly."

Ethan nodded. "I’ll wait for you."

Laira stepped out through the broken window.

Right after, she vanished from Ethan’s sight, leaving only a thin streak of red flame in midair.

Outside, roars immediately rang out.

Then explosions.

Not too loud.

Because Laira was trying not to draw in stronger creatures.

But each time the red flame flashed among the ruined buildings, a roar fell silent. Ethan sat in the dark room, listening to the brief sounds of battle outside. He didn’t need to see it with his own eyes to know the result.

To Laira, the Black Iron or Bronze monsters were just resources on the move.

Ethan let out a breath.

After Laira left, the room immediately grew much quieter.

Quiet enough that the pain in his left arm became all the more distinct.

Ethan lowered his head to look at the part of his arm that had been burned black.

The left hand that had once existed there had vanished. All that remained was the burned, dry bone and flesh temporarily sealed by Laira’s flame. He didn’t know whether there would be a way to restore it later. In this world, high-tier recovery items, regeneration skills, or a few special powers could all make limbs grow back. But right now, all of them were very far from him.

A cold feeling rose up in Ethan’s heart.

Not fear.

But a clearer awareness of reality.

He had just opened Laira.

Received [The Sun-Fire Divine Seal].

Opened a rank S Heaven’s Gate.

Possessed [The Eye of Truth].

All of it sounded like a perfect start.

But if he died in this Anomalous Coordinates, everything was just the moon in the water, flowers in a mirror.

Ethan closed his eyes for a few seconds.

When he opened them again, his gaze had grown calmer.

"I have to live."

He said it very softly.

Not saying it for anyone to hear.

But as an order to himself.