Blue Card Starry Sky

Chapter 24 Another World
Lan Yu and his group filed into the portal, and Fire Phoenix followed without hindrance, so it seems that this portal only restricts high-level human powerhouses.

A series of white lights flashed before their eyes, and the five of them were instantly transported to a place. In this space, the sun and moon shone brightly, both hanging in the sky. As far as the eye could see, there was a desolate, endless desert and hilly landscape. There were already messy footprints on the ground, indicating that some people had already entered. Qin Lei said that two of their explorers had gone in first, but judging from the footprints, there were at least dozens of people, likely from the four major families. The heat and dryness here were irritating, and a powerful, oppressive force surrounded them, a gravitational pressure that prevented even the Fire Phoenix from flying, forcing them to walk. The abnormal energy fluctuations and doubled gravity made walking incredibly heavy and expended twice as much energy. Lan Yu decided that they shouldn't follow the previous group; instead, they should go in the opposite direction. It was midday, and the heat was intense, like being roasted alive. They needed to find a place to rest away from the scorching sun as soon as possible. The five-person group had been walking for several hours, and the landscape remained the same, with no place to rest or escape the sun.

"Strange, I'm almost dying from the sun."

"Consider your energy, everyone, let's keep going," Lan Yu encouraged everyone, saying that there would be a place to rest soon. Sure enough, the ruins of a temple soon appeared ahead. This was once a temple where people worshipped, and the stone walls were carved with sun patterns everywhere, clearly indicating that this was a sun temple, an abandoned sun temple.

Finally, they found a secluded room nestled in the sun. It was a stone hut surrounded by stone benches, the room tall and spacious, with a cool breeze blowing through from time to time – truly the perfect place to rest and recuperate. They drank water and ate dry rations to replenish their strength, then lay down to rest. Only then did they realize how long they had been walking; the sky outside hadn't changed at all, the sun and moon shining brightly on the earth with their usual harsh light. Here, there truly was no concept of time; there was no sunset, no night. It was always the same, the sun and moon shining together.

After a period of rest, everyone was in much better spirits. In this sweltering heat, they were unsure of where to go next. Lan Yu told them to search the area for anything they might find. They split up and had an hour to return to the stone house. Lan Yu made sure everyone returned immediately if they discovered anything unusual.

Lan Tian led the Fire Phoenix towards the rear courtyard of the temple's center. The temple grounds were vast, surrounded by dilapidated, abandoned houses, all constructed of stone. Where did these stones come from? Where were the people from before? What happened here? Lan Tian wondered, feeling utterly lost, but found nothing. Clearly, this place used to be a livable place, where people lived happily and frequently came to the temple to pray.

The further they went, the more buildings appeared. Behind the temple used to be a small town, but now all the buildings were in ruins, a desolate scene. In the ruins of a spacious arena, Lan Tian noticed something unusual: a massive crater had appeared, surrounded by the shattering, shockwave-like damage of an explosion. It was terrifying; the power of the explosion was unimaginable. What happened here to create such a huge crater?

Everyone returned to the stone house as agreed and recounted everything they had seen and heard. What happened here must have happened tens of thousands of years ago. Now the entire town has been weathered away, and there are no traces of human activity left. This must be an abandoned, desolate city.

Everyone felt that the people here had left, and that this place was just a desolate, otherworldly space devoid of life.

(End of this chapter)