Chapter 738: Knocking Sound

Chapter 738: Knocking Sound

Suddenly, an unexpected, ghostly roar shattered the silence, plunging the computer screen that Zhou Ming was intently staring at into an abyss of complete darkness. Almost immediately, Zhou Ming sensed a peculiar change in his surroundings; it was as if the world around him was receding into silence. The familiar hum of his computer’s fan began to fade away, the distant, persistent buzzing of the refrigerator gradually diminished, and the entire room was enveloped in a strange, unsettling quiet. The atmosphere felt as though it was transforming into something otherworldly.

This bizarre occurrence unfolded right after Zhou Ming had entered the phrase “Inverse Singularity” into his computer’s search bar.

He blinked in confusion, then, with a sense of unease, he pushed his chair back and stood up. The chair moved back without a sound, his feet made no noise against the floor, and even a pen that he accidentally knocked off the desk landed silently on the ground.

For a few heartbeats, Zhou Ming feared he had suddenly gone deaf.

But then, he realized it wasn’t his hearing that was malfunctioning. It was the very environment around him that was altering; the room was growing increasingly dark.

The lights flickered out, leaving every object in the room to be slowly swallowed by a chaotic, shadowy haze. Everything began losing its color in the encroaching darkness. The patterned curtains were the first to lose their vibrancy, fading into a dull gray and white. This color-draining effect spread to his desk, chair, and even his bed. One by one, the objects in his room turned monochrome before being gradually consumed by the deepening shadows...

It felt as though each element in a complex system was being systematically shut down. Within moments, the room as Zhou Ming knew it transformed into a space filled with chaos and gloom. When even the surrounding walls vanished, he was left in an engulfing, absolute darkness.

Zhou Ming stood frozen, surveying his new, eerily dark surroundings with a sense of odd familiarity and a peculiar comfort.

After some time, his eyes began to adjust to the dimness. In the midst of the chaotic shadows, he noticed some indistinct shapes that piqued his curiosity.

With a moment of hesitation, Zhou Ming walked towards these shapes, his mind racing with thoughts about what they could be, judging from their position and distance.

He began to discern several distinct objects in the heart of this dark, chaotic void. These appeared to be lifelike “models,” suspended in what should have been the far end of his room.

Names like the Vanished, White Oak, Pland, Frost came to mind... and there was the “World Tree” Atlantis, eerily floating in the air.

These objects lingered in the vast, seemingly lifeless expanse, appearing to be the sole remnants in this transformed “world.”

Zhou Ming gazed in awe at these floating “collectibles,” his mind racing with an onslaught of questions and theories.

Why is this happening? What does it all mean? What message is this surreal experience trying to convey to me?

In the midst of the enveloping darkness, the “World Tree” Atlantis appeared to Zhou Ming like a floating potted plant, spinning gently as if adrift. Its branches tenderly extended into the void, either exploring the space around them or growing without direction or intent. Zhou Ming observed this miniature representation of the World Tree with a mix of curiosity and hesitation. After a brief pause, he tentatively reached out a finger towards it.

It was in this moment of reaching out that Zhou Ming became acutely aware of a startling transformation in his own body. With a sense of wonder and disbelief, he observed that his flesh and blood had morphed into a cosmic display of starlight. His being was now filled with dense galaxies and shimmering nebulae, giving the impression of a mist of stars. The stars within him seemed to hang motionless, reminiscent of an ancient, starry illusion painted on the dome of a deep, dark ocean.

Yet, something about this cosmic transformation felt different, unfamiliar.

As Zhou Ming gazed in surprise at his arm, his thoughts were interrupted when his finger made contact with a branch of the World Tree.

In that moment, his “mind” was inundated with a deluge of information, so vast and complex it defied human comprehension. Within this torrent of data, Zhou Ming felt as if he were traversing through an eternity of existence in an instant – witnessing the birth of primitive deities, the emergence of the first life forms, giant trees, vast forests, flowing rivers, towering mountains, evolving civilizations, and a tapestry of memories...

Preparing to rest, though his supernatural, star-like body seemed beyond the reach of fatigue, he began to sit. However, just as he was about to lower himself, something caught his eye—a fine, barely visible ‘bright edge’ flickered momentarily in his peripheral vision, a brief glimmer in the unrelenting darkness.

Instantly, his eyes widened in alertness.

It was a slender line.

Without a second thought, he reached out and grasped the line. The slight tension he felt assured him it was real, not a figment of his imagination.

Zhou Ming quickly lifted the line for closer inspection. After a moment, he traced its origin to where the line extended beyond an unseen boundary outside the ‘cocoon.’

Standing up slowly, line firmly in hand, he observed it effortlessly piercing through the ‘invisible barrier’ he had never been able to breach, floating into the vast, unending darkness outside. The other end of the line vanished into the void, its destination or connection unknown.

Zhou Ming cautiously tugged on the mysterious line several times, each pull met with a gentle resistance that seemed impossible to overcome. He was reluctant to exert more force, fearing he might sever this singular link to the world beyond his current confinement.

After a period of deliberation, Zhou Ming decided on a course of action. With a deliberate motion, he summoned a small, pale green flame to his fingertip, gently guiding it towards the thread.

In an instant, as if pulled by an unseen magnet, the flame was absorbed into the thread’s core, vanishing completely.

The connection he had with the flame abruptly ceased.

Zhou Ming blinked, taken aback by this unforeseen development. The bond with his flame, something he had always maintained, even across formidable barriers like the deep sea that felt like another dimension, had never been cut off so completely before!

Was this mysterious occurrence a result of the thread or the unseen barrier’s interference?

These thoughts swirled briefly in Zhou Ming’s mind. But before he could ponder any further, he felt a sudden emptiness in his hand—the thin line had vanished.

Before he could fully process this, a deep, resonating hum filled the space around him. Then, light and color flooded his vision as if a system rebooting after a temporary shutdown. The walls, windows, roof, floor, and all the furnishings in the room reemerged in a spectacle of bright lights and shifting shadows!

Caught off-guard by this abrupt transformation, Zhou Ming instinctively retreated, steadying himself against a nearby shelf. The branches of Atlantis brushed against his arm as he did so.

“Don’t I even get a little warning... This is my ‘home’ after all...” He couldn’t help but murmur to himself, slightly shaking his head while his eyes scanned the room, reassessing his surroundings. Then, as if sensing something, he abruptly looked up.

At that very moment, a sound echoed through the quiet of his bachelor apartment—

“Knock, knock, knock...”

Someone was at the door.