Dimensional Hotel
Chapter 367: Facing the End of the Past

Chapter 367: Chapter 367: Facing the End of the Past

The planet has been torn apart, the sky is ablaze, continental shelves are plunging into the molten core, and above the fragmented planet, crazed stars hang upside down. A dying giant beast slowly traverses from the top of the depleted atmosphere, crossing a rift that runs through the entire planet—and it is on the back of this beast that Yu Sheng and his group finally slowly descend.

The giant beast’s back is vast and boundless, like a large island floating in space. Around the beast, an unknown force condenses the last atmospheric structure, resisting the apocalyptic scene outside. And on this "land" lifted by the beast, like a solitary boat at the end of the world, there surprisingly exists a lush peach grove, with a clear spring pond and a bamboo house with a small bridge at its edge, seemingly man-made.

But the bamboo house has long been deserted, and the clear spring pond is almost dry. When Yu Sheng descended from the demon fox’s back, the only living person here was Zheng Zhi.

He was unharmed, sitting dazedly under a peach tree in the center of the grove, with an unfinished chess game laid out on the stone table in front of him.

"Nephew!!"

From a distance, Erin, sitting on Yu Sheng’s shoulder, began to shout loudly.

Zheng Zhi, who was in a daze, was instantly awakened. He hurriedly turned his head and finally saw Yu Sheng and others approaching on the back of the Silver White Demon Fox, along with the figures of True Man Qianji and Xuan Che flying in mid-air, a touch of joy immediately appearing on his face: "Brother Yu! Oh, finally you’re here! I thought I was really done for this time!"

Yu Sheng flipped off Hu Li’s back and quickly approached Zheng Zhi, followed by Luna and the long-haired princess— the Mermaid was the last to come down, and she was brought to the ground by the long-haired princess using her hair.

"Ah, Changfa and Mermaid, you two are okay too," Zheng Zhi showed a relieved expression upon seeing Changfa, "that’s great, I thought you two were thrown outside, which would have been deadly... I almost dragged you two down."

"To us, you’re the one who ’fell’ to the ’outside’!" Changfa quickly said and then sized up Zheng Zhi, "It seems you’re indeed quite lucky."

Zheng Zhi raised his hand to scratch his head, still a bit confused about the situation. His gaze then landed on Yu Sheng: "Brother Yu, is this the ’Exotic Realm’ you were exploring before?"

"Theoretically yes, but the scene we encountered last time we came in wasn’t this thrilling." Yu Sheng looked up into the distance, where the slanted horizon slowly rose from the edge of the giant beast’s back. The surface of the fractured planet was being silently cast out under the pressure of internal magma, with a massive amount of rock steam and tiny fragments dispersing into space.

Then he drew his gaze back, looking at his nephew, who was untouched thanks to the protection of the giant beast: "Have you been hiding in this grove all along? Ever since you ’fell’ in from the real world, you’ve been here?"

"Yes, I landed right here," Zheng Zhi nodded, "and when I first came down, there was an old man here..."

Yu Sheng hadn’t reacted much to the first part, but his eyes widened instantly at this moment: "What? A person? You met a person here?!"

"Ah, yes," Zheng Zhi was startled by Yu Sheng’s reaction but still answered quickly, "He looked like some sort of immortal being, said this peach grove was his and that the Qiankun Beast was his pet. I didn’t really understand, and then he wanted to play chess with me, but I told him I couldn’t, he seemed quite disappointed..."

As he spoke, he raised his hand to point at the stone table under the peach tree not far away.

The unfinished chess game quietly lay on the board.

In the Exotic Realm, there was a "person"?

"...I’ve never seen such a situation before, where there’s a ’person’ in the Exotic Realm, I bet Red Hat’s never seen it either," the long-haired princess muttered in disbelief, then suddenly turned to stare at Zheng Zhi, "So where did he go? The old man who wanted to play chess with you, where did he go?"

"He suddenly disappeared just now, said the time had come, and the Emperor had summoned him or something," Zheng Zhi replied honestly, "I originally wanted to ask him who he was, and by the way, ask if there’s a way out of here, but I didn’t even have time to start asking."

Yu Sheng and Erin looked at each other.

Beside them, True Man Qianji sighed, sounding somewhat regretful: "Ah, what a delay! If we had found this place a bit earlier, we might have had a chance to meet the ancestors..."

Next to him, Xuan Che spoke up instinctively: "Do you think, this is..."

True Man Qianji did not answer immediately but suddenly raised his hand, pointing to that corner of the slanted sky above the peach grove.

Xuan Che looked in the direction of the pointing finger, hesitated for a few seconds before his eyes suddenly widened.

"Recognized it?" True Man Qianji looked into his eyes.

Xuan Che just opened his mouth, his expression changed with difficulty several times without being able to utter a word.

The Lingxi Mirror that floated beside True Man Qianji then floated up, quietly reflecting the scene in that corner of the slanted sky.

At the end of the horizon, a torn crust was slowly ascending into space, intense lava forming a burning curtain between the fragment and the planet’s body. And on that torn crust fragment, one could vaguely still see the undulating surface structures—

Mountain ranges stretched endlessly, peaks stacked densely, past edifices transformed into dried-out shells.

Others might find it difficult to discern anything from the twisted, blackened fragments of Earth’s crust, but to Xuan Che and True Man Yuanling, no matter how charred or distorted those fragments are, they can instantly recognize their original form.

That was Qianfeng Ling Mountain torn from the planet’s surface.

The immense information overwhelmed everyone present, but just as Yu Sheng was about to ask Zheng Zhi for more details, a strange rumbling and an unsettling tremor interrupted everyone’s actions.

The "giant beast" beneath their feet suddenly emitted a death throes different from before, and along with this eerie sound came a violent shaking and a sudden sensation of tilting!

Yu Sheng jerked his head up, seeing beyond the beast’s back, the already slanted horizon was violently shaking, increasing its angle of tilt. At the same time, the entire ground was slowly "rising," with a sea of lava and fragments of the surface separating from the star, pressing down with an overwhelming sense of pressure!

Immediately following, another loud crash was heard from afar, a crumbling mountain collided with the beast’s body, countless fragments spurted out from its side, and fiery flames rose up like gushing blood at the edge of everyone’s vision.

The mermaid suddenly covered her ears tightly, as if she had heard something splitting her head open: "It’s dying!"

In fact, there was no need for her reminder; Yu Sheng felt it too—

The giant beast beneath his feet was dying rapidly, slowly descending towards the disintegrating star, and with the death of this amazing creature, the artificial gravity and atmospheric environment around it also began to unravel.

In the next second, Yu Sheng unhesitatingly opened a portal beside him: "Everyone, retreat!"

No one hesitated to waste words at such a critical moment. The training of the Special Service Bureau and the high discipline of the Fairy Tale Organization came into play, as Zheng Zhi, Changfa, and the Mermaid quickly passed through the door leading to the great hall of Queyun Palace in the real world, followed quickly by Xuan Che.

True Man Qianji, before entering the door, glanced back at the blackened debris of the old Qianfeng Ling Mountain spinning and disintegrating in the dark space. The red-lit starry sky reflected in the lens in his eye socket, as if recording this scene, before stepping into Queyun Palace moments later.

A sea of fire arose at the edge of the peach forest. With the death of the Qiankun Beast, the protective force surrounding the giant beast obviously dissipated together. Some scorching fragments ejected from the surface into space ignited the forest, the twisted flames spreading like a high wall across his vision, quickly consuming the clear spring pond, bamboo house, and small bridge at the forest’s edge.

"You guys should go too." Yu Sheng saw Hu Li had already returned to human form and nodded to urge Erin, Hu Li, and Luna.

Erin was stunned for a moment, quickly reacted: "...You must be kidding me, again?!"

"Yes, I plan to watch a bit longer here," Yu Sheng did not hide his thoughts, "This ’Exotic Realm’ is special in nature; there’s no telling what the scene will be next time I enter, and there might not be a second chance to collect ’this scene’s’ intelligence—You three go ahead, if Xuan Che and the others ask, just say I’m busy with other things and will return later."

"...Fine then, after all, I’m used to you dying outside every day," Erin sighed helplessly, climbed into Hu Li’s arms with ease, turned to wave at Yu Sheng, "We’ll head back first, so hurry over once you’re finished dying."

Hu Li just stared intently at Yu Sheng, holding back for a long time before clenching her fist: "Savior, be brave."

Yu Sheng: "..."

He felt that this fox at home and the puppet had become increasingly nonchalant about small matters of life and death regarding him...

In contrast, Luna’s reaction was much more solemn—she had no reaction.

Yu Sheng waved them off, sending Erin and the others away, then closed the door.

He turned to face the rapidly tilting, pressing ground, and took a gentle breath.

This was his last time breathing smoothly here.

The gale picked up, almost sweeping him into the air—the last layer of artificial atmosphere surrounding the Qiankun Beast dispersed.

The flames in the peach forest extinguished, and this world’s last small artificial ecosystem gradually came to a halt.

The giant beast beneath his feet died completely, becoming like those lifeless stone fragments of the planet floating in space surrounding it, slowly tumbling on. Some kind of remnant reflection within its body still occasionally caused slight tremors on the ground, and with gravity nullified, Yu Sheng felt his body gradually becoming light.

He looked up, seeing the shattered planet hanging high overhead, the scorching core laid bare by apocalypse forces, firelight filling his vision. At this moment, it was as if even the fundamental laws of gravity had "malfunctioned," with magma surrounding the core gradually revealing bizarre "blossoming" forms in space, and everything accelerating away from this planet.

Yu Sheng furrowed his brows slightly.

A hot lava "droplet" skimmed past the giant beast, then plummeted directly into the peach forest.

During his observation of the core, Yu Sheng was baked to a crisp.