The Real Awakening

Finally done with this volume! I’ll likely take a break for now as I focus on school and try to slowly finish the current ongoing volumes of my other two series. But don’t worry, I’ll be back eventually!

Clatter…clatter…clatter…

The rumbling clatter of the metal wheels striking against the rails echoed in a rhythmic pattern.

Suddenly, the train went skreeee— 

The slight force from the inertia jolted Ye Xiao awake.

“The train’s already arrived at the station. How long do you plan on sleeping for?”

A familiar frosty voice rang out next to him.

Ye Xiao rubbed his eyes and lifted his head. Su Mu was currently shooting him a sideways look of disdain. He extended a single finger to jab it at Ye Xiao’s head and push it off his own shoulder, then flicked at the drool on his clothes in disgust.

Ye Xiao blankly stared at him, then whirled his head around to see hazy sunlight shining in through the window.

It was daytime.

Dawn broke from the east, the morning sun gradually rising above the horizon to emit golden rays of light across the distance.

“Wh-what’s going on? Why am I on the train? Weren’t we in…”

Ye Xiao muttered this as he lifted his wrist to check his watch in confusion.

It was currently 6:35 AM.

After racing across the long distance throughout the night, the train had already reached the station and was currently coming to a stop at the platform.

Soft background music began to play from the speakers, followed by the announcer’s kind voice.

The final carriage they sat in was very empty. Aside from Ye Xiao and Su Mu, there were only two other extremely familiar figures that stepped out from the train doors one after another.

That’s…Yuan Meng Yu?

And…Zhang Xiao Long?

Ye Xiao hurriedly leapt up from his seat to rush out of the carriage and onto the platform to chase after them. However, after being knocked around by the thronging crowds, he lost sight of where they went.

He blankly stood in the middle of the bustling herds, glancing left and right to search for them. In a momentary lapse of concentration, he caught a vague glimpse of two silhouettes, one male and one female, at the end of the platform before they were swallowed by the boundless sea of people

What’s going on? Where are they going?

Ye Xiao stared and stared in perplexity. But when he turned his head, he was shocked to discover that the final train carriage was gradually changing shape, like a framework of dominoes. In an instant, it completely transformed into a line of bees that dispersed, buzzing as they flew off into the distant horizon.

And in the morning fog far away, there seemed to be a large door made from weaving thistles and thorns that was slowly opening.

An old and deep voice rang out as though chanting a spell…

—When the night of the cocoon breaking arrives, the door of thorns will open. 

—The triumphant monarch will return with sacrificial blood on their lips as a pledge of allegiance at the mist of dawn.”