Zongman: The post-2D era

When she finally walked in front of Feng Feng, she patted his shoulder gently and smiled: "Thanks to you, I was able to defeat these guys who tried to subvert Totsuki Academy."

Feng Feng's pupils dilated, his head buzzed, and the Chinese words that made promises to the underworld in his memory were like branding irons!

He is also a Chinese!

Chapter 963: Dark Cuisine World

Wednesday, February 17

New strategies for the new Yuanyue Academy are being posted on the campus network.

The news about Queen Erina Nakiri of Totsuki being attacked by unknown persons was replaced by a video of a failed marriage proposal, which was still marked in red and pinned at the top.

Feng Feng held the phone in his hand, ignoring the noisy discussions around him, and entered the copy of the Cooking Master Boy with a mixture of excitement and curiosity.

In the copy, Sakura Matou had been waiting for a long time.

Inside the dungeon, a vast expanse of wasteland comes into view, with yellow sand filling the sky and dead branches and leaves scattered all over the ground, presenting a doomsday-like desolate scene.

Feng Feng stepped into this wasteland. There was soft sand under his feet and he seemed to sink into it with every step.

Sakura Matou was wearing a lavender robe and standing on a protruding boulder. Her face was as calm as water, but her eyes revealed a bit of determination.

The surroundings were quiet, with only the occasional sound of sandstorms in the distance, adding a touch of liveliness to this dead silent world. The sun shone obliquely, stretching the shadows of the two people long, as if time had frozen at this moment.

Feng Feng frowned, looked at Matou Sakura, and asked, "Why has this world become such a desolate place? I remember that there should have been a prosperous country here, but now there is only yellow sand and dead branches all over the sky."

Matou Sakura sighed softly and looked into the distance, as if recalling something: "The prosperity of the past has all become a thing of the past."

"There was once a glorious civilization here, but it was wiped out by a sudden disaster. The disaster took away the vitality and left only this endless desolation. Wind, can you feel it? Under this land, there are still fragments of the past, waiting for us to explore."

Feng Feng and Matou Sakura embarked on a journey of exploration, traveling through the desolate world where withered yellow and gray were intertwined.

They came to a half-collapsed ancient city wall. Although the wall was mottled, one could still feel its former grandeur.

On top of the city wall, vines are entwined, like chains of time, tightly connecting the past with the present.

Feng Feng gently pushed aside the vines, revealing a stone tablet engraved with ancient characters. The sunlight shone through the clouds onto the stone tablet. The characters flickered with a faint light, as if telling a forgotten history.

Sakura Matou squatted down, gently touched the words with her fingertips, her eyes flashing with curiosity and awe of the past.

Feng Feng and Matou Sakura continued to move forward in a deserted world. After going through countless hardships and obstacles, they finally saw an unusual reflection on the horizon.

As they got closer, the reflections gradually gathered into a huge monster - a modern city constructed of cold and hard metal, which looked particularly abrupt against the desolate background.

This city has no sky in the traditional sense. It is covered by a thick metal dome. Under the dome, neon lights flicker and shine on the cold silver buildings, exuding a beauty that is both sci-fi and depressing.

On the streets, various mechanical creatures shuttled around. They had different shapes, some had complex mechanical structures like insects, while others imitated the appearance of humans but revealed a cold and mechanical feeling that did not belong to this world.

The air was filled with a strange aroma mixed with the smell of motor oil, which was a unique sign of the dark cuisine world.

Feng Feng and Matou Sakura stepped into the metal city. The cold and hard metal road surface under their feet reflected the cold light of their figures.

In the center of the city, there stands a tall tower with a huge black flag embroidered with strange patterns hanging on it, as if it is the emblem of the dark culinary world.

They were led into the tower, and under the dim light, a leader in a black robe sat upright on a high-backed chair, his face hidden in the shadows, revealing only a pair of deep eyes.

The leader spoke slowly, his voice low and magnetic: "In this world, most people have fled to more distant dimensions, leaving only us lonely souls who are unwilling to give up. We rely on hunting resources from other copies for a living, and this is our last stronghold."

Feng Feng looked at Matou Sakura firmly, with a hint of pleading in his tone: "Sakura, can we do something to save this world?"

Upon hearing this, Sakura Matou shook her head gently, with a hint of sadness in her eyes.

The leader also leaned forward, seeming to be extremely concerned about Matou Sakura's answer.

She whispered, "Feng, it's not that I don't want to, but I can't do anything. Every copy has its own predetermined fate. It will eventually go from prosperity to desolation, and finally disappear in the endless time and space. Look at the edge of the metal city. The cracks have quietly spread. That is a sign that this world is about to collapse."

As she spoke, Matou Sakura pointed into the distance, and saw tiny cracks spreading like spider webs on the edge of the metal city, reflecting cold silver light, which looked particularly dazzling against the desolate background.

Feng Feng's eyes suddenly turned cold, he clenched his fists, and his questioning voice echoed in the metal tower: "You planned the assassination of Food Wars! Do you know how much suffering the creatures in that world have endured because of it!"

The leader nodded slightly, his face still hidden in the shadows, only his deep eyes flashed with an inexplicable light:

“Yes, I did it. But it was also to find a glimmer of hope. You know, the origin of the world of Food Wars! contains the power of revival, which is the only hope to save this desolate land.”

As he spoke, he slowly stretched out his hand, palm facing upwards. Light seemed to gather in the void, and a blurry picture gradually emerged -

That was the prosperous scene in the world of Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma, with lush greenery and delicious food, which formed a sharp contrast with the desolation in front of us. The picture flowed and finally stopped in a bright light, which seemed to contain endless vitality and hope.

Feng Feng and Jian Tongying looked at each other, with complicated emotions in their eyes. The leader slowly bowed, with an unquestionable determination in his request:

“You two, for this last hope, please give up your support for the Shokugeki no Soma world. That is our only chance of survival.”

Feng Feng frowned and his fists trembled slightly. He looked at Sakura Matou and saw a trace of struggle in her eyes.

"It makes no sense to sacrifice one person to save another, and that's how the world should be!"

Finally, the two nodded silently and turned to walk towards the tower gate. Their backs stretched out in the dim light, and every step seemed to be heavy with the past.

Sakura Matou's steps were slightly staggering. She raised her hand and gently wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes. Outside the door, the desolate yellow sand and the coldness of the metal city intertwined into a picture of despair, as if silently telling the end of the world.

"The ending of every dungeon is like this, but the Shokugeki no Soma world is an exception, just because you participated in it!"

"I will try to change the world!"

Chapter 964: The Invisible Man in the Research Institute

Thursday, February 18

The campus network is releasing new guides and news about the new Yuanyue Academy.

The video of Totsuki Queen Erina Nakiri's failed marriage proposal is still marked in red and pinned at the top.

Feng Feng and Matou Sakura came to the research institute they had not visited for a long time.

The moment they stepped into the research institute, Feng Feng and Matou Sakura frowned at the same time.

Under the soft light, the laboratory was unusually tidy. The glassware on the test tube racks gleamed, as if each one had been carefully wiped.

An unfamiliar experimental record sheet was spread out on the table, with neat handwriting recording data they had never seen before.

The air was also filled with the freshness of disinfectant and the subtle aroma of some unknown reagent, interweaving into an inexplicably tense atmosphere.

The two men searched the empty room with their eyes, secretly wondering which daring student had the audacity to sneak into this holy place of academia without permission during the holidays.

Feng Feng and Matou Sakura looked at each other, their eyes full of disbelief.

They walked quickly to the surveillance screen, and the timestamp on the screen clearly showed that the door of the institute had never been opened since they left.

In the dim surveillance footage, the empty corridor was so quiet that it made people feel uneasy. Only the occasional breeze brushed a corner of the curtain, as if an invisible hand was controlling everything in secret.

Feng Feng's fingers tapped lightly on the table, making a rhythmic sound that formed a sharp contrast with the unusual surroundings. Matou Sakura stared at the screen, trying to find clues of the intruder from every pixel.

Feng Feng and Matou Sakura slowly approached the telephone microwave oven that looked ordinary but exuded a hint of weirdness. Its surface was covered with an imperceptible layer of thin dust, and it looked particularly old in the dim light.

The two exchanged a tacit look, and Feng Feng pressed the hidden button next to the microwave oven lightly. With a slight mechanical turning sound, the lid of the microwave oven slowly rose. Inside was not the familiar heating cavity, but a mysterious device full of complex circuits and flashing lights.

Sakura Matou stared with bated breath, and saw a display screen embedded in the center of the device, on which a series of difficult-to-decipher codes were scrolling rapidly, like ghost signals in the middle of the night, making people feel chilly.

Feng Feng frowned, turned his gaze to Matou Sakura, and asked in a low voice: "Do you remember what the original telephone microwave oven looked like?"

Matou Sakura shook her head slightly, her eyebrows twisted into a ball of doubt. Her voice was particularly clear in the quiet research institute: "No, there have never been any complicated devices in the research institute, let alone any hidden functions. Unless... there is a transparent person here."

As soon as he finished speaking, an inexplicable cold wind blew by, the lights in the laboratory seemed to flicker, and the shadows of the two people were strangely distorted on the wall.

Matou Sakura unconsciously clutched the corner of her clothes, her eyes wandering around, as if she could really catch an invisible figure in the air.

Feng Feng slowly looked around, an indescribable fear spreading in his heart, as if there was some unknown existence quietly observing them, making the entire space full of depression and uneasiness.

Feng Feng had no choice but to turn around and walk towards an old computer next to the bookshelf. The screen was glowing with a dim light, like an ancient wise man in deep sleep.

He tapped the keyboard to wake up the system and began to look through the information about the Institute copy. The words on the screen jumped, and each line of code seemed like a secret code leading to an unknown world.

Sakura Matou held a flashlight, and the beam of light wandered around every corner of the laboratory, trying to illuminate the secrets hidden in the darkness.

The light beam swept across rows of test tubes and finally stopped on a scattered drawing. The complex design on the drawing vaguely echoed the code on the computer screen, as if suggesting some kind of connection, but it was elusive.

Feng Feng and Matou Sakura were about to pack up the scattered documents and prepare to leave this research institute filled with a strange atmosphere.

Suddenly, a faint light attracted their attention. They saw a yellowed piece of paper stuck on the half-open lid of the telephone microwave. The edges were slightly curled, as if time had left traces on it.

A few lines were hastily written on the note in black ink. The handwriting was crooked, revealing a sense of urgency and anxiety.

Under the dim light, the words on the note seemed to have life, jumping into their eyes and bringing an inexplicable chill.

Feng Feng reached out and carefully took the note. The two of them moved closer, their eyes fixed on it. Every word on the paper seemed to be telling an unknown secret, making the atmosphere in the entire space even more solemn.

Feng Feng and Matou Sakura stared at the yellowed note. The handwriting on the note was particularly dazzling under the dim light.

The designated time "8 o'clock tomorrow night" and location "research institute" were like some kind of mysterious call, which made the two of them feel an indescribable premonition.

The beam of Sakura Matou's flashlight trembled slightly, and the light spot reflected on the note also jumped.

Feng Feng pursed his lips tightly and gently stroked the edge of the note with his fingers, as if he could feel the weight of time.

Inside the research institute, every sound was amplified infinitely, and the air was filled with a tense feeling as if a storm was about to come. People couldn't help but hold their breath, waiting for that unknown moment to come.

Feng Feng and Jian Tongying carefully put away the note and left the research institute. The night was as dark as ink, the moonlight was dim, and on the tree-lined avenue outside the research institute, the shadows of the trees were swaying, as if every leaf was whispering.

Their footsteps echoed in the empty campus, and each step was an uneasy rhythm. The dim lights of the teaching building in the distance formed a sharp contrast with the dark path, like the boundary between two worlds.

The beam of light from Sakura Matou's flashlight occasionally swept across the stone tablets on the side of the road. The inscriptions on the tablets appeared dimly in the interweaving of light and shadow, adding a bit of weirdness.

Feng Feng looked back from time to time, always feeling that there was a pair of invisible eyes watching from behind, which made his back cold. The campus at night seemed to hide countless unsolved mysteries, waiting for them to uncover step by step.

Feng Feng stopped and turned to look at Matou Sakura. In the night, her eyes flashed with an uneasy but determined light. He asked softly, "Sakura, will you go to the institute tomorrow... according to the time on the note?"

The moonlight shines through the sparse clouds, scattering on her face, reflecting a touch of determination. Matou Sakura holds the flashlight tightly, and the beam is firmly cast forward. Her voice is soft but full of power:

"No matter what lies ahead, we have to face it. At eight o'clock, at the research institute, we will go together to uncover the truth behind this."

After saying this, she took a step forward and continued to move forward. Her back was elongated in the dim light and shadow, and every step she took was full of determination and would not allow for retreat.

"This is our world. We have nothing to fear!"

Chapter 965: The Station Above the Worlds

Friday, February 19

On the campus network, the video of Totsuki Queen Nakiri Erina's failed marriage proposal is still highlighted in red but has dropped from the first place.

The first one was replaced with a warning: There are temporal phenomena in the Dimension Research Institute, please be careful.