Chapter 231: Section 172: Another You (Part One)
Opening his eyes, Malin stared at the unfamiliar ceiling for a moment before turning his head to look beside him; there was no sign of Clovis, and the soft large bed was also gone.
Sitting up, he found himself sleeping on the floor, in the small room he first laid eyes on when he came to this world.
It was a basement in the Southern District.
At this moment, dust ruled the room, and Malin saw a tiny skeleton in the corner, clutching its knees; he fell silent for a while—how had he entered the crevice again?
Was this the timeline where he couldn’t escape this room and ultimately starved to death?
Glancing at his own hands, the World Tree Sapling hadn’t followed him, so Malin subconsciously initiated the Sacred Dwelling; no wails of souls being delivered as expected, nor were there any screams of Spirits at death’s door; finally, Malin walked to the room’s door, stretched out his hand to push it, and then kicked the door open with one foot.
There were no noisy sounds as he’d imagined; the city was shrouded in fog, with the roar of machinery coming from afar, and Malin could smell the stench of burning and rust in the air... That was indeed the smell of pollution.
Recalling his current location, Malin headed north along the street, beginning his search for the girls.
First stop, the Church of the Goddess of Harvest. Malin stood in front of the abandoned building for quite a while before finally deciding to head to Jessica’s house; unsurprisingly, it was still in a state of complete abandonment.
Undeterred, Malin continued his search only to find every residence empty; the city seemed as if it had been abandoned, with only the humming of machines occasionally accompanied by wild animals dashing past in front of Malin, utterly unafraid of people. Curiously enough, he encountered a bear Spirit, which only glanced at him before turning its clearly well-fed body away without any intent of attacking.