The collapse started when Kiana came to the door

It was as if the savior who was about to embark on a lonely road was just a simple fantasy. The real him was just an ordinary programmer who had never undergone a super transformation surgery and could not kill a Honkai beast with a baseball bat.

Was it because his newly awakened brain was gradually getting rid of the chaos and sleepiness? Suddenly, a clear and pleasant voice came to his ears. He focused his sight in the direction of the sound and saw a pair of the latest in-ear headphones.

Since there were no other sounds nearby, even the slightest voice became extremely clear after Kevin became aware of it.

He picked up the headphone cord and inserted it into the ear canals of both ears, one on the left and one on the right. The fairy lady's flawless and moving voice became clearer as the headphones gradually approached his ears.

"Hmm...am I too tired?"

Although it was an emotional radio station that he was used to listening to, when the extremely penetrating and pleasant tones entered Kevin's auditory system through the sound unit in the headphones, he saw in a trance a beautiful picture that should not belong to human beings.

——Although she gave herself the online nickname "Miss Pink Fairy", she did decorate herself with a pair of fairy-shaped earrings when she was live streaming.

But there is no doubt that as a fellow tenant of the Golden Courtyard, Kevin is very sure that the extroverted pink-haired girl is a human being who is no different from ordinary people.

It's just that because of her innate affinity and her sincere character towards everyone, she has gained a considerable weight in the hearts of her online fans and her cohabitants.

So, why did I think that Alicia was a real pink fairy at that moment? Kevin rubbed his brows and sighed deeply.

As expected, it was because I worked overtime for a week straight, that’s why——

Just as Kevin was about to check the progress of the remaining work as usual and return to the Golden Courtyard to rest early after a long absence, a sci-fi-style ringtone suddenly rang from his trouser pocket.

Kevin was stunned for a moment, took the earphones out of the ear frames, and then took out his mobile phone from his trouser pocket.

Caller ID: “MEI”.

The moment he saw the name and avatar, Kevin felt his breathing become a little faster. He stretched out his finger to the answer button, but stopped just before touching the screen.

For some reason, this should be an extremely certain "reality" and not a very rare scene, but the moment Kevin received the call, he suddenly felt that the boundary between reality and dreams became blurred.

This feeling, as if in a dream, was just like...his beloved would never be able to call him on his cell phone again.

After ringing tirelessly for a minute, the ringtone naturally stopped.

Kevin stared blankly at the phone screen which had returned to the lock screen, and the eye-catching words "Missed call: MEI". He suddenly had the urge to slap himself hard in the face.

He hurriedly unlocked the screen and called back without hesitation.

A second later, the person on the other end answered the call. He swallowed nervously, and a thousand words flowed through his mind, but in the end, he turned into a pretentious voice: "M...MEI, it's so late, is there something wrong?"

"..."

Although the person on the other end of the phone did not speak at first, Kevin could still clearly hear the slight gasp echoing in the receiver.

After a moment, the young woman on the other end of the phone, who should be Dr. MEI, said in a complicated tone: "Kevin, are you...also...?"

"What...what's wrong?" Kevin smiled stiffly, "You are so serious all of a sudden, did I do something wrong?"

"No, you misunderstood." Mei's voice softened unconsciously, perhaps realizing that it was inappropriate to call her boyfriend who was working overtime in the middle of the night. "It's just... I have something I want to talk to you about in person. Kevin, if you can make it, can you pick me up at the airport?"

"What? Airport?" Kevin was stunned. He stood up unconsciously. "Four hours later?"

"Well, I've booked a flight for an hour later. If nothing unexpected happens, I'll arrive at your city's airport about four hours later, which is around 2 a.m." Mei's voice was softer than ever in the receiver. "I know this may be a little embarrassing for you, so if I can't leave for the time being, I can also visit you directly in the Golden Courtyard. However, before that, I still hope to meet you in person, after all..."

"——I'll be there right away!"

"Eh?" Kevin's voice suddenly rose and changed its tone, making MEI, who was sitting in the waiting hall, unable to react for a moment. "Wait, Kevin, you don't have to--"

beep - beep - beep -

Hearing the busy tone coming from the receiver, MEI slowly put down the phone to her ear, and her mature face with glasses showed an expression of dumb laughter.

She gently closed her eyes and slumped down in her seat in the waiting hall, looking somewhat exhausted.

As the person who knows Kevin best in the world and to whom the word "one" may very well not exist, this genius, who was so smart that he had published a groundbreaking paper on the world's top scientific research platform when he was in high school, had already sensed the abnormal atmosphere from Kevin almost the millisecond after Kevin opened his mouth.

These are clearly just some vague memories similar to dreams. If it were someone else, they would naturally regard those illusory images as their own imagination and forget them in a short time.

However, Dr. MEI's extremely rational thinking circuit meant that she could not have absolute trust in her five senses and cognition.

Whether it is feelings or cognition, they are things that can be deceived by external forces.

Therefore, the moment she woke up, MEI did not choose to follow her body's instincts and let the sudden memories fade away. Instead, she took advantage of the time before they disappeared and immediately made a phone call to the man she trusted most in both "real" and "dream" memories.

Although the call had been hung up, from just a few words, MEI had already come to the conclusion he wanted based on his understanding of Kevin and his extremely powerful rational thinking logic.

There is no doubt that the strange phenomena that happened to me and the sudden appearance of blurry images were not just dreams.

Even though there is no way to confirm whether it really happened or not, whether it is true or not, judging from Kevin's performance, he should have seen some exactly the same or seemingly similar scenes as himself.

——After understanding this, everything else is no longer important to MEI.

Be it the researchers' conference that is about to be held, or the papers and lecture materials that he has spent more than half a year preparing, or even the cutting-edge technologies and revolutionary theories that may determine the future direction of the world - all of these cannot be compared with the mere word "Kevin", and are not even qualified to be put on the scale for comparison.

Since the big boy who had followed her all her life lost everything on "the other side", no matter what those scenes were about, MEI believed that she had the obligation to stay by his side even if she had to put everything aside.

It doesn't matter even if those pictures are fake.

——No, or rather, MEI sincerely hoped that those cruel scenes were facts that had never happened. Kevin did not lose everything, and he did not die in the process of leading mankind. These things were all groundless fantasies.

And my completely irrational behavior today was just a spur of the moment action.

How wonderful it would be if that were the case.

The waiting time was much longer than expected. MEI never thought that one day he would be so anxious. In another city, Kevin, who had run more than 20 kilometers on foot, also expressed a very similar feeling to MEI at this moment.

It was a hot summer day, and probably because it had just rained heavily during the day, there were puddles of rainwater on the ground. The air was filled with a strong smell of water, and dense swarms of tiny insects were flying under the street lights.

Kevin ran towards the airport, hating his weak body with his disordered breathing.

Although he has a good figure and can easily attract a lot of screams from young girls even if he debuts as an idol directly if he dresses up a little, he was also a basketball player for a long time when he was in school.

However, after becoming a corporate slave who worked overtime for thirty or forty hours straight throughout the year, even though he managed to maintain his figure, his athletic ability was still much weaker than when he was still in school.

Of course, if there was a track and field coach who knew that this guy could run 20 kilometers without stopping in about 40 minutes, he would probably kneel in front of Kevin and try to pull him into his track and field team.

Even though Kevin's athletic ability has weakened a lot, it is still much better than that of most people in this world - even most professional athletes.

The city airport is located about thirty kilometers away from the office where Kevin works.

But when Kevin finally arrived at the airport gate and saw the rows of cars parked in front of the parking lot, he suddenly froze in place.

That's right. It was not until this moment that he realized that if he wanted to pick someone up at the airport, he should bring his own car along - yes, as a senior IT person who worked overtime all year round, Kevin's salary level had indeed allowed him to save enough money to buy a private car.

What's more, even if he didn't have a car, he should get one. Even if he was not aware of his athletic ability, Kevin knew that Dr. MEI would never run 30 kilometers non-stop like him - unless he really wanted MEI to overwork like the one he saw in his dream...

Pah! What was he thinking about? Kevin shook his head, throwing the idea of ​​this game hell out of his mind, and then looked around anxiously.

What should I do? Should I run back to the company and drive the car over now? There is indeed enough time, but... Kevin raised his arm, stabilized the sweat odor on his body, and then showed an expression of disgust.

...Let MEI stay with this thing in a narrow and confined space like a private car? Putting MEI's wishes aside, if Kevin really did this, he probably wouldn't be able to forgive himself.

Call the Golden Courtyard companions for help? Kevin turned on the phone screen, checked the time, and then immediately turned off the phone screen.

No... For the sake of my girlfriend, it would be unforgivable to disturb them at nearly midnight.

But if he didn't ask for help from his companions in the Golden Courtyard... where would he find a car for MEI?

Just as Kevin was getting anxious, a gentle-sounding whistle suddenly sounded from behind him.

Chapter 4: The gathering of heroes (k)

Did he block the way for others to pass? Kevin subconsciously walked to the side of the road, but found that he was not standing on the motor vehicle lane, and the private car that honked at him did not move forward, but honked again.

He turned his head, his face lit up with joy, and walked to the car door in two steps.

"Su, why are you here?"

The car window slowly lowered with a soothing damping sound.

"……Ugh."

Su, who was sitting in the driver's seat, turned his head, kept his eyes closed, and sighed softly.

"MEI guessed that you were so anxious to pick me up at the airport that you forgot to bring your car, so after you hung up the phone, she called me."

"I just didn't expect that before I arrived at the office building where you were working overtime, you had already rushed to the airport gate without stopping."

After saying that, Su leaned his upper body toward the back seat, took out a set of clothes, and handed them in Kevin's direction.

"It's so hot, you must be sweating. There are still about two hours until the flight arranged by MEI arrives. You should find a hotel and take a good shower. I've brought out all your clothes."

"Thanks, Sue, you're so helpful." Kevin's eyes lit up, and he took the change of clothes from Sue's hand, then scratched his hair a little embarrassedly, "Also, I'm sorry to bother you to come out so late at night."

"It's no trouble. There's no need for too many apologies and thanks between us." Su smiled gently and shook his head. There was suddenly a hint of inexplicable sadness on the smile on his face. "Besides, when MEI called me, some strange accidents seemed to have happened in the Golden Courtyard."

"Accident?" Kevin said a little confused.

"..."

Su was silent for a moment, then said softly, "As for the details, let's wait until you and MEI return to the Golden Courtyard together before discussing it. After all, this matter cannot be said to have nothing to do with you."

"...I see." Kevin nodded. "Well, I'm going to the hotel over there first. We can talk when I come back."

After saying that, Kevin trotted away.

Su looked at Kevin's back disappearing from his sight from afar, and couldn't help but sigh softly again, and drove his car to the parking strip nearby.

"I hope that all this is just a fantasy bubble without any reason..."

Although he said such words, Suna still had his eyes closed and a detached expression, as if he had already come to the conclusion implied by his own words.

Two hours passed quietly in the dark night.

Compared to the sweaty look when he left, when Kevin appeared in Su's sight holding MEI's hand and dragging a suitcase, he seemed to have completely gotten rid of his previous embarrassment.

I don’t know if it’s because she has been busy with scientific research for a long time, but compared to Kevin’s tall and well-proportioned figure that can easily become an idol, MEI who is following behind him looks much fuller.

Not only the places where fat should be, but even some places where fat shouldn't be, seem to have a slightly unsightly curve that is visible to the naked eye.

Well, it seems I should find an opportunity to talk to Kevin about this and ask MEI to pay more attention to his health.

"Long time no see, Sue."

Mei didn't read what Su was thinking.

Rather, with her extremely objective and rigorous attitude towards everything, even if she knew Su's suggestion, she might agree with the other party's words after careful consideration.

"Well, it's been a long time, MEI." Su nodded, "Let's get in the car. Everyone in the Golden Courtyard should still be waiting for us to go back."

"Looking at my phone call, I really disrupted everyone's rest rhythm." MEI said apologetically, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. In fact, before you contacted me, everyone woke up at the same time." Su shook his head. "So, you don't need to apologize to us. Rather, at this time, it may be a blessing for everyone in the Golden Courtyard to have a famous doctor like MEI to provide advice."

"Hmm? Staff officer? What is a staff officer?"

After sitting firmly in the back seat with MEI, Kevin asked in confusion.

"Do you have anything you want to talk to MEI about?"

"It's about the dream I just saw." Su started the car engine and said softly, "Before Dr. MEI contacted you, Kevin, did you have a strange dream?"

"——Dream?" Kevin frowned, lowered his head and thought for a moment, then suddenly closed his mouth.

"Although the details may vary, generally speaking, the images that people see in their dreams are not pleasant things."

The scene outside the car window slowly receded.

On the deserted street, Su drove his car steadily while paying some attention to talking to Kevin and MEI who were sitting in the back seat.

"Disasters that wipe out civilization, deaths happening around me one after another, the passing of important people, and natural disasters that are difficult to resist—"

"Although everyone thought it was just a simple nightmare when they woke up, no matter what, if it was just a nightmare, it would be too unusual for all the residents of the Golden Courtyard to have had the dream at the same time."

MEI nodded: "That's right, and it's not just you who live in the Golden Courtyard, even me and... Kevin, we all saw those scenes inexplicably."

“——?” Kevin suddenly came back to his senses and laughed dryly. “Wait, what do you mean even me? I probably never told you…”

"Ugh……"

"Ugh……"

Su and Mei sighed in sync.

Su raised his arm and turned the rearview mirror located in the center of the roof towards Kevin.

"Before you say that, you might as well take a good look at your face." Su said in a sad tone, "Not to mention me and Mei, even strangers who don't know you can easily see that, Kevin, you are not in a very good condition."

Following Su's words, Kevin looked at himself in the rearview mirror.

What a pale face it was.

Confused, uneasy, and afraid...

Perhaps realizing that Kevin was not in a good mood, MEI calmly stretched out her hands and covered Kevin's slightly sweaty palms with her own.