As Blaine's vision rose higher and higher, his shock only deepened. The metal structure in his sight kept expanding, and before he realized it, he was already several hundred meters up—yet he still couldn't see its full shape. That could only mean one thing: the object was so massive it exceeded the limits of his perception.
"Fuck… what the hell is this thing?"
At this point, Blaine was one hundred percent certain there were hidden secrets between Earth and the moon.
Judging by its rough outline, he guessed it might be a space battleship or some kind of secret base. But with his current abilities, he couldn't identify it.
"Since I can't tell what you are… maybe I can go inside and take a look."
His doubts, paired with his overwhelming curiosity, tugged at him. Blaine desperately wanted to know what "June 13" was. The unknown was tempting—and even if danger awaited, he would break through it. Maybe Blaine was the kind of cat that curiosity killed.
"With Hunter Space and teleportation, I've got two lives on me. What am I afraid of?"
Without wasting another second, he teleported.
When Blaine next opened his eyes, he had no idea how many days had passed. It was already noon.
The moment he woke, a sharp headache tore through him, like insects gnawing uncontrollably inside his skull. Meditation helped, but couldn't suppress the pain that seemed to burrow into his soul. Even the milky-white glow of the soul pendant—usually able to heal this sort of thing—had dimmed.
…
Only when his stomach growled did Blaine push through the pain and climb out of bed.
The only food left in the refrigerator was bread. (It seemed the one thing Blaine's home would never run out of was bread—bread no one ever ate.) It wasn't warm anymore, but he grabbed a piece and ate it anyway.
He turned on the TV to catch up on recent events—his usual morning habit.
"Good afternoon, viewers,"
"Here is the latest update regarding the 'Sunny Day White Moon' phenomenon from three days ago,"
"According to images captured by dedicated astronomers,"
"It's unclear whether the sunlight reflecting off the surface caused it, or if the moon produced the glow itself,"
"But a layer of white fluorescence appeared across the lunar surface,"
"As if someone placed a second ice-crystal mask over the moon."
"Not only were the craters invisible, but even nearby satellites were drowned out by the reflected white light caught on camera."
"And the moon was severely off-orbit at the time,"
"But for unknown reasons, it suddenly returned to its original position."
"We will await further scientific explanations."
"Hello, this is Queens Television."
"If we're talking about the hottest topic recently, there's no escaping the astronomical event from three days ago,"
"Not only did the moon deviate from its orbit,"
"But according to the Stark Radio Telescope, the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter also behaved abnormally."
"Please watch the footage."
In the video, Blaine was firing the Bow of Elements into the asteroid belt. However, the only thing captured on camera was the moment the magic array exploded—Blaine himself wasn't visible. Perhaps he was too small to be seen from such a distance. With countless Earths' worth of distance between them, it was already impressive the explosion was recorded at all.
"As you can see, the asteroid belt looked like someone set off fireworks,"
"Judging by the colors, several experts claim the blast was caused when a meteorite struck an alien reconnaissance craft."
"So is this a supernatural event… or are aliens preparing another attack on Earth?"
"The higher government agencies are taking this incident extremely seriously."
"Let's hear from the authoritative experts."
"I believe this is a sign of the world's end,"
"Due to humanity's overexploitation, Earth is reaching its limit,"
"And now it's seeking help from aliens. The end is near!"
"We must flee the planet immediately!"
'Beep—beep—beep—beep'
The so-called authoritative expert was cut off before finishing.
Blaine stared at the TV expressionlessly. He was used to this.
Everyone knew the United States was open-minded; people said whatever they wanted. They'd even talk like this in front of national leaders, let alone on TV. If that same expert were in China, he'd be charged with spreading rumors, inciting panic, disrupting public order, and half a dozen other accusations.
So U.S. broadcasts often cut off suddenly. Sometimes the studio forgot to mute the mic, and the audience would accidentally hear a "battle" or a "fight" behind the scenes.
"How boring. If only they knew—Earth was almost done for."
Blaine shook his head to himself.
Who would've expected his casual actions to create such chaos for Earth's people? Alien invasion? End of the world? People really could talk themselves into anything.
And this new term—"Sunny Day White Moon"—made him laugh. Of course the moon looked brighter than the sun. The Frozen Sky Burial Flowers had covered the surface in ice, then sunlight reflected off it. That's all it was. Experts, experts, connoisseurs indeed.
After resting a bit and feeling slightly better, Blaine decided to head out and restock the refrigerator.
As he brushed his teeth and washed his hands, a thought suddenly struck him.
"Three days ago? Both news channels said it happened three days ago."
"Why do I have no memory of that?"
"I remember the last place I was… was the moon."
Throughout the entire next day, Blaine tried everything he could—thinking, pushing, forcing his mind—but he still had no idea how he'd gone from the moon to waking up in his bed. He clearly remembered standing on the lunar surface the day before yesterday. So how had he suddenly woken up back home? Was all of it just a dream? Was Dormammu fake too? What happened in between? Why was his memory gone?
"Wait… what about this?"
A moment later, Blaine vanished.
Inside Hunter Space, Blaine held a glowing yellow sphere, frowning. No—he was gripping it with both hands, straining under its weight.
"Strange… isn't this the star core? So all of it was real!"
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