You said mechs were going to fight monsters, but instead you're destroying stars with your bare

Chapter 129 Fantasy Rhapsody - Prologue
In a desolate volcanic landscape, a huge rock exuding an ominous aura stands abruptly.

The rock is about five or six meters high, completely black, and its surface is covered with dark red patterns that look like dried blood.

The surrounding ground was barren, and even birds dared not approach it.

A visible black mist, filled with a malevolent aura, swirled around the rocks, making the area appear even more sinister and terrifying.

"The Killing Stone?"

Li Zhe looked at the boulder and the name instantly came to mind.

In ancient Japanese legends, the Sesshōseki is the incarnation of the nine-tailed fox spirit Tamamo-no-Mae.

After being defeated by the Onmyoji Abe no Seimei, her resentment lingered and transformed into this poisonous stone.

Any creature that gets close to it will be killed by the poisonous gas it emits.

Unexpectedly, this legendary thing underwent such a change after being affected by the energy waves of the abyss.

Moreover, it exudes such strong spiritual energy.

Li Zhe could clearly sense that when he approached the Killing Stone, some materials in the maintenance hangar resonated slightly.

This led him to a bold guess...

Could this stone also become the "key" for me to break through my bottleneck?
With a mixture of curiosity and wariness.

He slowly approached the killing stone.

"Commander, please be careful. This stone has an extremely high level of mental pollution and may affect your mind," Xing warned.

"Don't worry, I'm also wearing a 'heart-protecting mirror'."

Li Zhe took out the Yata Mirror and indeed felt that the mental impact had been greatly reduced.

With his purest, most muscular body, he walked step by step toward the giant rock that exuded an ominous aura.

Li Zhe wanted to experience firsthand what kind of power this existence, which nurtured spiritual illusions, truly contained.

As the distance closed, the oppressive feeling of that spiritual energy grew stronger.

Li Zhe felt as if invisible steel needles were piercing his brain, and waves of sharp pain washed over him.

In the air, even whispers filled with temptation and resentment began to rise.

"come back……"

"stay……"

"This...is your true home..."

Li Zhe paused slightly in his steps.

A flicker of struggle flashed in his deep eyes.

But it was soon replaced by an even stronger will.

He circulated the energy within his body, forming an invisible barrier around him to resist the erosion of that spiritual energy, and then continued forward.

However, the instant he stepped into the ten-meter radius around the Killing Stone—

"Buzz!!!!"

A terrifying spiritual energy, indescribable in words and capable of tearing apart the soul, suddenly erupted from the Killing Stone!
Li Zhe felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, and his mind went completely black...

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"Li Zhe! What are you daydreaming about? The teacher is calling you!"

A familiar yet unfamiliar voice rang in my ears.

Li Zhe suddenly came to his senses.

I found myself sitting in a bright and clean classroom.

He was wearing a blue and white school uniform that he had long forgotten, relegated to the back of his memory. Around him were rows of youthful, innocent faces brimming with youthful energy.

On the podium, the homeroom teacher, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, was glaring at him with a look of utter disappointment.

"Li Zhe, I've explained this problem three times already. Did you even understand it? The college entrance exam is just around the corner, and you're still daydreaming in class every day... You..."

Li Zhe: "?"

This is……

What was my senior year high school classroom like in my past life?
Li Zhe's mind was slightly confused.

He subconsciously looked out the window.

The sun was shining brightly, and cicadas were chirping incessantly.

Everything seemed so real.

It was so real...that it instilled a sense of fear in him.

"Hey, what are you thinking about?"

A soft little hand gently poked his back.

Li Zhe turned around and saw a face that made his heart skip a beat.

She was a girl with a neat ponytail and a smile as bright as the sun.

She was looking at him curiously with her big, watery eyes.

"Are you already thinking about which internet cafe to go to for an all-nighter after school?"

The girl's voice carried a hint of playful teasing.

She was the only girl who ever made his heart flutter during his youthful years in his past life.

Unfortunately, that innocent feeling eventually faded away into the sea of ​​people with the graduation song.

This became a regret, though not insignificant, in his heart.

And now, she is standing right in front of me, alive and well.

Every frown and smile was exactly the same as the one in my memory.

"I……"

Li Zhe opened his mouth, but found that his throat was blocked by something, and he couldn't say a word.

He felt his consciousness being swallowed up by this false "reality," gradually sinking into depravity...

The illusion was like a silent ocean, gently enveloping Li Zhe's soul.

Li Zhe could only vaguely sense that he might be trapped in some kind of illusion.
He was floating in this ocean.

Past regrets and desires, like a colorful school of fish, swam and circled around him.

"Li Zhe, want to go to the movies this weekend? It's the new one... I heard it's really good." The girl's voice was filled with anticipation, and her cheeks were flushed with a lovely blush.

"Okay."

Li Zhe answered subconsciously, a long-lost sweetness welling up in his heart.

He felt as if he had truly returned to that summer, walking side by side with his beloved girl on a sun-drenched tree-lined path.

Sharing the same iced cola, chatting about the unrelated future.

There is no abyss, no monsters.

There was no mission so heavy it was suffocating.

Only the thrill of youth and boundless anticipation for the future.

very nice……

If only things could stay like this forever...

However, beneath this seemingly calm ocean, turbulent currents are brewing.

The illusion begins to shift.

The warm and inviting campus scene was suddenly stirred by a series of unsettling undercurrents.

The classroom debate, without anyone noticing, devolved into a heated argument.

"Why do you boys think it's your right to assume that girls should stay at home and be good wives and mothers? We have our own dreams and pursuits too! We don't want to be defined, we don't want to live the way you expect us to!" A girl with pigtails and a stubborn look in her eyes slammed her hand on the table. Her voice trembled with emotion, and her eyes were filled with tears.

"Pursue? That sounds nice!" A burly man with a buzz cut retorted without backing down, his face etched with exhaustion and resentment. "On one hand, they shout about independence, but on the other hand, they demand that men have a car, a house, and dowry, and bear all the financial burden. What kind of independence is that?"

(End of this chapter)