12 o'clock, Lujiazui. The sun was at its highest point. The first half of the day had come to an end, but with a turn, it entered a new journey. Chapter 555, the most "middle" number in decimal, and also an important turning point. Under the cool autumn breeze and the bright sunlight, in this coincidentally numbered chapter, Jack Young and Maggie Monroe stepped out of the Lujiazui light rail station.
The two of them held hands, fingers tightly intertwined—completely natural, but holding on really tight.
At the entrance, Jasper Xiao clapped his hands, shaking his head in deep emotion. Yang Shu was smiling too—relieved, gentle, content. Her smile was so charming it could make anyone swoon.
"Suddenly, I'm super jealous of you!" Ethan Zhuo ran over from afar, panting and shouting as he ran: "We work ourselves to death, and you end up being the winner in life? Plus, if you look closely..." He pushed up his glasses, looked Jack Young up and down, and growled through gritted teeth: "How come you got even more handsome again? Can you stop hogging all the fun, you jerk!"
Half-Grown Kid came over too, checking Maggie Monroe out from every angle. He rubbed his eyes, puzzled: "Why do you seem... different somehow? Why do you suddenly feel so extraordinary?"
"Of course she's extraordinary!" Senior Brother Mentor immediately threw his arm around Half-Grown Kid's shoulder. "Maggie has been running all over the place, and half of Jack Young's success today is thanks to her. She’s got that big-time lucky partner vibe, Jack—you really hit the jackpot!"
Whoosh whoosh—the Oriental Pearl Tower flashed a few signals. That was Apo sending a message.
"Morse code? Let me translate." Jasper Xiao, who’d mixed it up on World War II battlefields, shaded his eyes and muttered, "Greetings... Princess Consort?!"
After all the teasing, Maggie Monroe couldn’t hold back any longer. She let out a little whimper, let go of Jack’s hand, and, blushing furiously, threw herself into Yang Shu’s arms. Jack Young shamelessly kept horsing around with the gang—Jasper Xiao smacked his shoulder, Ethan Zhuo thumped his chest, and Half-Grown Kid looked him up and down with disdain, muttering, "Look at that goofy, grinning face—what a hopeless idiot!"
"You got a problem with that?" Jack Young reached out and messed up Half-Grown Kid’s hair, looking pretty proud. "So what if I’m an idiot? I’ve got a girlfriend now! Me, the eternal bachelor, finally got myself a girlfriend!—Wait, why do you all look so heartbroken?"
"N-no, it's fine, just let me be alone for a minute..." Senior Brother Mentor clutched his chest in mock agony, but then his eyes suddenly lit up. In a flash, he teleported in front of Yang Shu, looking all suave and sparkly-eyed: "To get back at Jack, I've decided to become his elder. So, gorgeous, would you like to..."
"Whoa!! Iron Mountain Lean!"
After all the fooling around, the whole crew—including Apo—finally gathered. Jack Young looked around at everyone present, feeling deeply moved. These were his closest friends, brothers, and family. Only people like this would plan and work so hard for him. He wanted to say thank you, but realized, honestly, words weren't necessary.
All he could do was give everyone a hearty slap on the shoulder. From now on, they'd be friends for life.
As for polite words—let’s skip those.
"So this whole thing was your scheme, right?" Jack Young gave Ethan Zhuo a light punch. "You really nailed it, hit me right where it counts. Honestly, being seen through by a dude—especially a dude who’s been to a GAY bar with me—is kinda painful."
"Don’t mention that GAY bar again!" Senior Brother Mentor instantly surrendered, then shot a look toward Maggie Monroe and snickered: "But this time, like I said, Maggie did most of the work. She set up the scene, planned the whole process, and most importantly—she managed to invite Daisy Summers. That’s all thanks to her."
Jack Young turned to look at Maggie Monroe, and she looked back at him. Without saying a word, Jack reached out and took her hand, not caring at all about the others around them. Why should he? Maybe the person he owed the most thanks to was this woman who’d always been by his side.
Maggie Monroe, in her shyness, also felt a hint of sweetness and the happiness of finally getting what she wanted.
She had a lot to say, but couldn’t get the words out. Two years—if you want to talk hardship, memories, or perseverance, she’d had just as much as Jack Young.
'Besides making people neurotic, do they do anything else?' Everyone was basically treating Jack Young like their crisis consultant now, and Half-Grown Kid piped up with the question.
'No idea. From the material world’s side, nothing seems off for now. But everything changes when you hit a tipping point.' Jack Young squinted, scanning the city, his eyes narrowing as he caught sight of the black mist swirling like thin fog, drifting purposefully. 'This world’s being interfered with. But it looks like they’re gathering strength, aiming for something. For now, they’re ignoring the physical world. So we’ve got a little time.'
'A purpose…' Half-Grown Kid suddenly got a weird feeling, growing anxious. He shook his phone, checked his fortune app, and then his face went pale: 'W-what’s today on the lunar calendar?'
'Lunar calendar?' Most folks these days wouldn’t know, but Jack Young was quick—his mental power did the math instantly. 'September 26.'
'September 26—burial, funeral, moving the coffin, breaking ground… Blood branch, lunar evil, four voids, eight winds…' Half-Grown Kid was frantically calculating, finally looking like a real fortune-teller. His finger stopped, face gone ghostly white: 'Catastrophe… I think we’re out of time.'
As Half-Grown Kid finished, somewhere else in the city, in a hidden chamber, a crystal coffin sat quietly. Several burly men stood guard, all wearing SD Syndicate badges.
The SD Syndicate guys were pros—never letting their guard down, even in a sealed room. But they were just regular folks, and in a dimension they couldn’t see, endless black mist gathered, sucking up all the city’s darkness, compressing and condensing in a frenzy.
'Hey, look—what’s that?' One of the burly guards finally noticed something, pointing at a spot in the empty air.
'Huh?' The others rubbed their eyes, hesitating. 'Looks like… a drop of ink?'
That’s right—the endless black mist had condensed into a single drop, about the size of a marble from childhood. This liquid was blacker than night, thicker than ink, breaking the barrier between fantasy and reality, visible even to ordinary people. Just one look at it sent chills down your spine.
Quantity finally turned into a critical change.
'How is there a floating drop of ink? Sound the alarm—someone’s messing with us!'
A harsh alarm blared. The guards moved to act, but the drop of ink suddenly sprang into motion. Drip—without any resistance, it pierced the bulletproof glass and landed right on the crack in the jade corpse’s forehead.
Crack! With a burst of sound, the crack in the jade corpse’s forehead spread and deepened. The fissure, which hadn’t broken the surface before, now split wide open, reaching deep inside.
That mysterious jade layer was finally breached.
In the next instant, a fierce, chilling wind burst out, freezing the shouting guards in place. It wasn’t any kind of immobilization spell—more like frogs meeting a snake, a soul-deep terror of a true apex predator.
Then, as every guard watched in horror, black, sticky liquid gushed out of the jade corpse’s forehead like a spring. The moment it hit the air, it exploded into a wild black storm, sweeping everywhere. The guards were swallowed up in seconds.
At the same time, Jack Young sensed it, Maggie Monroe looked anxious, and everyone with a sharp mind felt a sudden, catastrophic change coming.
Half-Grown Kid’s hand shook as he gripped his phone, voice trembling: 'It’s here!'
Boom, boom—thunder rumbled across the sky. Just moments ago, the sun was shining, the sky a beautiful blue, but suddenly everything went dark. Endless clouds and haze appeared out of nowhere, rolling over the city as people screamed and panicked. Like a giant whirlpool, it covered the sky, pressing down on everyone. The sunlight faded, and even though it was noon, you couldn’t see your own hand in front of your face.
The sky went dark.
Shrrip, shrrip—the sound was clear as the walls of buildings started peeling away, like they’d just aged a thousand years in an instant. The plaster didn’t fall down, but curled outward like a festering wound, tearing open the world’s surface to reveal its bizarre, true face.
A buzzing filled the air as countless insects went wild, crashing into everything and attacking people. Jasper Xiao frowned and unleashed holy light, creating a safe zone. Bugs hit the light and turned into burning sparks, sparks became dust, and from the dust, more black mist boiled up. Flowers and grass curled, twitched, withered—like they’d never been alive at all.
Life—gone.
Out of nowhere, black fog blanketed everything. Cars sputtered and died, lights flickered out. Countless people screamed and panicked, but the noise faded into the mist, like those mysterious missing radio waves—barely a whisper.
You couldn’t see your own hand—fantasy crushed reality.
The Sovereign is coming.
'Huh?' The others rubbed their eyes, hesitating. 'Looks like… a drop of ink?'
That’s right—the endless black mist had condensed into a single drop, about the size of a marble from childhood. This liquid was blacker than night, thicker than ink, breaking the barrier between fantasy and reality, visible even to ordinary people. Just one look at it sent chills down your spine.
Quantity finally turned into a critical change.
'How is there a floating drop of ink? Sound the alarm—someone’s messing with us!'
A harsh alarm blared. The guards moved to act, but the drop of ink suddenly sprang into motion. Drip—without any resistance, it pierced the bulletproof glass and landed right on the crack in the jade corpse’s forehead.
Crack! With a burst of sound, the crack in the jade corpse’s forehead spread and deepened. The fissure, which hadn’t broken the surface before, now split wide open, reaching deep inside.
That mysterious jade layer was finally breached.
In the next instant, a fierce, chilling wind burst out, freezing the shouting guards in place. It wasn’t any kind of immobilization spell—more like frogs meeting a snake, a soul-deep terror of a true apex predator.
Then, as every guard watched in horror, black, sticky liquid gushed out of the jade corpse’s forehead like a spring. The moment it hit the air, it exploded into a wild black storm, sweeping everywhere. The guards were swallowed up in seconds.
At the same time, Jack Young sensed it, Maggie Monroe looked anxious, and everyone with a sharp mind felt a sudden, catastrophic change coming.
(This chapter isn’t over yet ^.^—click next page to keep reading!)
Half-Grown Kid’s hand shook as he gripped his phone, voice trembling: 'It’s here!'
Boom, boom—thunder rumbled across the sky. Just moments ago, the sun was shining, the sky a beautiful blue, but suddenly everything went dark. Endless clouds and haze appeared out of nowhere, rolling over the city as people screamed and panicked. Like a giant whirlpool, it covered the sky, pressing down on everyone. The sunlight faded, and even though it was noon, you couldn’t see your own hand in front of your face.
The sky went dark.
Shrrip, shrrip—the sound was clear as the walls of buildings started peeling away, like they’d just aged a thousand years in an instant. The plaster didn’t fall down, but curled outward like a festering wound, tearing open the world’s surface to reveal its bizarre, true face.
A buzzing filled the air as countless insects went wild, crashing into everything and attacking people. Jasper Xiao frowned and unleashed holy light, creating a safe zone. Bugs hit the light and turned into burning sparks, sparks became dust, and from the dust, more black mist boiled up. Flowers and grass curled, twitched, withered—like they’d never been alive at all.
Life—gone.
Out of nowhere, black fog blanketed everything. Cars sputtered and died, lights flickered out. Countless people screamed and panicked, but the noise faded into the mist, like those mysterious missing radio waves—barely a whisper.
You couldn’t see your own hand—fantasy crushed reality.
The Emperor is coming.