Lin Lan nodded thoughtfully.
"Wait a minute..." He felt something was off: "You can actually see me, can't you?"
"Of course."
The old man grinned, a cunning light flashing in his dark red eyes: "Your naive look was rather amusing, so I didn't remind you."
Lin Lan: ...
Alright, alright, you want to play games, huh?
Just as Lin Lan rolled up his sleeves, preparing to showcase the skills he honed in his past life in Zu'an, he heard a ripping sound. The old man tore the last blank page from the book and shoved it into Lin Lan's hand.
"No more jokes, I don't have much time left, so let's get straight to the point."
The old man said slowly, "I only have this one page left, take it, I believe it can help you fend off the Apocalypse Shadow over there."
"Uh... thank you..."
Lin Lan had to swallow back the poetic words he was preparing.
Next, he looked into the old man's peculiar eyes and asked a question that had lingered in his heart, "Where exactly is this place, and why is there a Celestial Calamity?"
"This is Loya Star, the last homeland of the Elves. As for the cause of the calamity..."
Sparks fell from the cracks in the sky, the old man raised his head and spoke in a very light tone: "It's because I can no longer carry the history of the Elves."
Under Lin Lan's surprised gaze, his frail body instantly became grand and towering, those gigantic wings stirred up a gust, unfolding and shielding Lin Lan from several pieces of flying debris.
"I have carried history for thirteen thousand two hundred seventy-two years, three months, twenty-six days, seven hours, fifty-four minutes, and thirty-three seconds."
The ancient Red Dragon sheltered the boy beneath him, his slit eyes gazing at the collapsing world: "But the pages are used up, I really can't carry it anymore."
Lin Lan's expression grew more astonished as he noticed the Red Dragon's body covered in shocking black cracks!
Those cracks rooted deeply in the Red Dragon's flesh, growing infinitely, tearing apart the sky and the earth, dragging everything into the Abyss.
It turned out...the mythical creature before him was the root of the calamity.
Lin Lan furrowed his brows.
The scene before him could only be described as cruel.
In the very center of the apocalypse, the Giant Dragon breathed weakly, lying on the ground, its scales engraved with dense texts.
The continuation of civilization requires historians as the cornerstone, but the historian before him clearly could no longer hold on.
"In this long span of time, I've seen too many pioneers rest eternally in the cold night..."
The Giant Dragon's voice interrupted Lin Lan's thoughts: "But the survivors always stubbornly pass the torch in their hands, once again and again raising the seeds of civilization high."
"I believe they will surely find a way not to rely on historians anymore, so... I beg you..."
The Giant Dragon lowered its fierce head, looking at Lin Lan, looking at the spectator who did not exist in history:
——"Don't give up on them, don't give up on the future, don't give up on hope."
Lin Lan's lips moved slightly, wanting to say something, but the world fell silent for a moment, as if offering its last farewell to the historian.
What followed was collapse! Collapse! Collapse!
The weight of history utterly crushed the Giant Dragon's body, causing reality to lose its foundation, and the weight without a place began to tear the world apart, creating black and grim wounds.
Everything thus collapsed into the void's hollow.
The world named Loya froze in the moment of destruction, like a grand and magnificent painting.
Lin Lan awoke from the dream.