My physics masters couldn't possibly be grand mages.

Einstein stood at the tunnel entrance, saying nothing, but silently took the pipe out of his mouth.

Cindy released her left hand, and Aldridge's body fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

He wasn't dead. But he was clutching his heart tightly, barely clinging to life...

She lowered her head again, looking at Sylvia. Her dark red eyes held no emotion, only a scrutinizing gaze, as if she were examining a specimen.

"The Christian family," she said, "is still so impolite."

Char looked at Aldrich.

Even so, the person behind the scenes still did not appear, and not even Meredith came.

Now, it seems that their only option is to escape to 2072.

However, once you leave, it will be very difficult to return to the magical world.

The two worlds operate on an independent timeline, meaning that no matter how long they spend in 2072, it is but a fleeting moment to this world.

To put it simply, it's like blocking the spring.

Char couldn't imagine what way they could find to deal with this witch in 2072.

Nuclear bombs?

That would likely result in mutual destruction.

Char's brain was racing, and his gaze involuntarily drifted toward Einstein and Tesla.

Einstein's expression remained unchanged; he simply observed Aldrich quietly to the side.

After a brief silence, he seemed to have thought of something, raised his head slightly, and then strode towards Cindy, with Tesla following closely behind.

Their footsteps were calm, making a slight sound as they trod on the fine sand, but they sounded particularly loud in the open space.

This also caught Cindy's attention; she looked at Einstein with a look of keen interest in her eyes.

"He's a new sixth-tier member of the Tower of Truth," Victor said in a low voice. "Be careful."

"Sixth rank?"

Cindy temporarily released her grip on Sylvia.

Sylvia fell to the ground, clutching her neck and coughing violently, then greedily gasped for air.

Cindy looked at Einstein and frowned when she sensed that he only possessed magic power of about level three or four.

Are you sure?

"As soon as he arrived at the Tower of Truth, he turned the entire sky purple," Victor said.

Viktor and Einstein didn't arrive at the same time, so naturally he didn't see what happened on the platform.

Rumors themselves become distorted in the process of being passed down.

Cindy carefully observed Einstein as he approached, her brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

However, Einstein seemed to sense her confusion and spoke directly:

"In your eyes, I should only have third or fourth-tier magic power, right?"

Cindy remained silent.

Einstein continued walking, his grey-blue eyes calmly watching her, his face expressionless. His right hand was in his coat pocket, and his pace was neither fast nor slow, as if he were strolling in the hallway of his own home.

"Normally, there are two possibilities."

He tilted his head slightly, his tone remaining calm.

"One possibility is that I'm a liar."

He paused for a moment.

"Another one—I'm stronger than you."

Cindy didn't answer. She merely narrowed her eyes slightly, her gaze lingering on his face for a moment with a... the patience of someone scrutinizing prey.

"Interesting..." Her voice lowered further, "So... which one are you?"

"The latter. But you can give it a try."

Einstein's grey-blue eyes were as calm as a stagnant pool, yet they seemed to have seen through all her secrets.

"If I were only at the third or fourth tier, you could easily wipe me out with your power."

Cindy didn't speak.

Einstein's eyelids twitched slightly.

"Why not give it a try? Are you curious about where my confidence as a third-tier player comes from to be so calm? Or is it...?"

Cindy noticed his gaze gradually shifting downwards, focusing on his left fingertips—where there were several barely perceptible red lines, like veins or cracks in pottery.

Cindy's fingertips curled slightly, almost imperceptibly. The movement was so fast it was almost invisible, but Einstein still caught it.

Einstein continued.

"I can confirm that you didn't have this kind of crack on your hand before you fought Aldrich."

He didn't die. But I think... it's not because you're kind-hearted, right?

There's usually only one possibility for this... because she hasn't fully recovered to her peak condition due to years of being sealed away.

Einstein continued forward, getting closer and closer to Cindy.

Ten meters, nine meters, eight meters...

"You're hesitating, you're worried. You're worried that if I'm really stronger than you, and you attack me before you've recovered to your peak, it will expose your true strength. So you're choosing to stall for time."

He stopped a meter or two away from Cindy.

Cindy raised her head slightly, looking down at Einstein.

"Perhaps you really are stronger than me, but do you think you can walk away unscathed?"

"Char," Einstein suddenly called out Char's name.

Xia raised his head slightly and saw him raise the pipe he was holding in his right hand.

He was taken aback for a moment, and when he realized that Einstein was calling him over, he immediately guessed what Einstein wanted to do.

Char took a deep breath, walked slowly toward Einstein, and then respectfully took the pipe from his hands.

At this moment, he was only one or two meters away from Cindy...

His heart was pounding very fast, like a drumbeat.

Char felt as if he were walking on a tightrope suspended over a bottomless cliff; if he made the wrong move, he would fall into the abyss and never be able to escape.

Based on the battle scene just now, if the person in front of her wanted to, she could instantly kill everyone present.

Einstein did not answer. He simply raised his right hand, pointing his fingers toward Cindy.

A point of light appears on the fingertip.

Cindy frowned slightly; she recognized the spell as the manifestation of "Void," one of the twenty-four runes.

Define light from "nothingness".

A very ordinary first-tier spell.

She didn't understand the meaning behind the old man's casting of this magic.

"This magic," Einstein began, his voice not loud, but clearly audible in the vast underground space, "is called 'Exile.'"

Cindy stared at the point of light, her pupils reflecting the faint, flickering glow.

She had lived for over a hundred years and seen hundreds of different kinds of magic, but no matter how she analyzed it, it was just a very ordinary first-tier magic.

She really didn't know where this old man's confidence came from.

The unknown is the greatest fear.

She raised her fingertips slightly, finally preparing to strike first.

But in the next instant, Char suddenly took a step forward.

In an instant, they entered Cindy's one-meter range.

Char's mental energy enveloped Cindy, and he activated his own abilities at the same time.

Cindy felt her body being "anchored" by an invisible force.

Her eyes widened for a moment.

"you--"

Einstein didn't give her a chance to finish.

The light spots on his fingers suddenly exploded, and a pure white halo spread outward from his palm.

As the halo swept across Cindy's body.

She felt a strong sense of weightlessness.

Then, Cindy heard Einstein's voice coming from a very, very far place, with a strange echo, like the tolling of church bells.

"goodbye."

The next second, the light engulfed everything.

When I opened my eyes again, what came into view was the sky pressing down on my head like a lead weight.

The air was cold, carrying the smell of rust and mold.

She stood on a broken street.

On either side were collapsed and re-erecting, twisted steel skeletons—things that had once been buildings, very tall buildings, taller than any she had ever seen. But now only ruins remained, shattered glass everywhere.

In the distance, something was making a sound, and there was a faint tremor as if a huge creature was moving.

Cindy stood there, her bare feet on the cracked asphalt, her toes slightly curled.

Then, she turned her head and looked at Char standing beside her...