Chapter 341: Setting Off

The next morning, Chen Ling walked out of the inn.

"No need to see me off. You haven't fully recovered yet, so try to minimize physical activity," Chu Muyun said, wearing a gray wool coat and adjusting his glasses. "The Boundary Train station isn't far from here; I can go by myself."

Chen Ling nodded. "Where are you planning to go?"

"No matter where I am, the Medical God Dao is always in demand... The Dusk Agency has issued me a mission to travel elsewhere, which will take about a month."

"Alright, see you next time then."

Chu Muyun glanced behind Chen Ling and said, "That senior may seem unapproachable, but she is actually a very good person. The day you suddenly exploded, she carried you and ran for hundreds of kilometers in one breath, killing her way through several Calamity encirclements before reaching this town to save your life..."

Chen Ling was stunned. Come to think of it, he had no idea how he had arrived in this town... He hadn't expected that Plum K had brought him here on foot. No wonder they had arrived so quickly.

"I understand."

"Also..." Chu Muyun hesitated for a moment before saying, "Once you go to the Theater Dao Ancient Treasury, be extra careful... That place is not simple."

Before Chen Ling could ask what he should be careful about, a figure slowly walked down the inn stairs. Seeing Plum K descending, Chu Muyun immediately shut his mouth and said no more.

"I'm off. See you next time."

"Right."

Chu Muyun’s figure disappeared at the end of the road.

As for Heart 9, who was standing to the side...

"Senior, I’ve never been to the Theater Dao Ancient Treasury. Can I tag along for fun?" He looked at Plum K with shining eyes.

"Get lost."

"You got it."

He turned around and left, saying he was going to find Plum 8 in the main city.

Of the nine people who came out of the Aurora Boundary, only Chen Ling and Plum K remained... Perhaps because the climate was warmer, Plum K was wearing a black cheongsam today, her waterfall of black hair tied up high, giving her an icy, aloof temperament.

She glanced at Chen Ling indifferently. "Let's go."

Without waiting for Chen Ling to answer, she walked straight along the desolate town path, and Chen Ling stepped in to follow beside her.

"Senior, what place is this?" Chen Ling looked around the unfamiliar town and asked, puzzled.

This place was completely different from the Aurora Boundary. Perhaps due to the climate difference, the houses here were far less bulky and rugged than those in the Aurora Boundary; most were white-walled with gray tiles, giving it the feel of a water town in the south. The roads weren't the cold, hard dirt paths of the Third District, but were paved with a layer of gravel.

Old utility poles stood in the fields, tangled wires crisscrossing under the azure sky. Wisps of cooking smoke rose from white houses in the distance, and the surroundings were incredibly quiet.

Chen Ling recalled the scenes of visiting relatives in the countryside with his parents when he was a child. The town before him was just like those villages back then... Compared to the cold and rigid environment of the Seven Districts, this place felt much closer to the Earth in Chen Ling’s memory.

"A town on the edge of the Red Dust Boundary," Plum K replied calmly.

"As for the name, I don't know... There are hundreds of towns like this in the Red Dust Boundary."

Chen Ling nodded thoughtfully. It seemed that different boundaries had different geographies and climates, so many things were different. For instance, there was no division into Seven Districts here? And there didn't seem to be any Enforcers?

Although curious, Chen Ling had no time to explore the local customs; this was, after all, just a stopover.

As the two continued forward, the houses and roads around them grew fewer, until they reached the edge of the boundary and saw an ancient stone tablet standing on the earth. A giant "×" was deeply carved into the surface of the tablet, and a striking warning was engraved in small characters below:

"[Outside the Red Dust, a Forbidden Zone for Life]."

Come to think of it, the Red Dust Boundary didn't seem to have as clear and distinct a border as the Aurora Boundary. In the Aurora Boundary, as long as you saw the end of the aurora, you knew you were stepping outside the boundary... But here, there was no such obvious marker, so they had to use this stone tablet as a warning.

This tablet stood here, and everyone within the boundary saw it as if they were seeing the Grim Reaper, as if crossing it meant stepping into an endless abyss...

But at this moment, Plum K didn't even glance at it as she walked straight out.

Chen Ling followed with a blank expression.

A forbidden zone for life?

No, he was going home.

The moment Chen Ling’s feet stepped outside the boundary, he suddenly felt the world spinning. When he looked back, his feet were already firmly planted on the ground.

"This is..." Chen Ling’s brow furrowed.

He had never felt this strange sensation when entering the Gray World from the Aurora Boundary.

Chen Ling looked back in confusion, only to find that the road he had come from had disappeared. A lead-gray sky and pitch-black earth occupied his entire field of vision, and behind him was a field of swaying, pale flowers.

He didn't know what species these flowers were; they were over half a meter tall, their surfaces shimmering like jewels, and their deep green stems grew tiny tentacles, beautiful yet eerie...

A breeze blew, and the pale flower field swayed silently, as if ghosts were beckoning to Chen Ling, wanting to keep him here forever.

Was this a special species in the Gray World?

Chen Ling stared blankly at the sea of flowers. The vast Red Dust Boundary had vanished without a trace. He tentatively took a step back, but he didn't return to that deserted path; he remained standing within the pale flowers, as if the town and the boundary from just moments ago had been a hallucination.

Where did the Red Dust Boundary go???

"The Red Dust Boundary is different from the Aurora Boundary. Once you're out, you can't just go back in whenever you want," Plum K, dressed in her cheongsam, stood amidst the swaying flowers like a pine tree standing in the snow, her temperament ethereal.

"The Theater Dao Ancient Treasury is still some distance away. Follow me."

Seeing this, Chen Ling had no time to search for where the Red Dust Boundary had gone, so he could only suppress his doubts and follow behind Plum K.

After entering the Gray World, the bright red opera robe he wore was like a lantern in the dim world, incredibly conspicuous. He and Plum K, one black and one red, walked across the desolate earth, with only the sound of whistling wind around them.

Knowing he was about to arrive at the Theater Dao Ancient Treasury, Chen Ling felt conflicted...

In his mind, he recalled the voice he had heard in the memory fragments—the mysterious person who claimed to be his master. If he truly reached the Theater Dao Ancient Treasury, what would happen? Would his confusion find answers? What were the people in the Ancient Treasury like? Would he meet the 'End Role' again?

Thinking of this, Chen Ling couldn't help but ask:

"Senior, I... no, what is your sect, the Theater Dao Ancient Treasury, like?"