Chapter 870: Awakening Five Days Later / The Colorless Bottle

Tick... tock....

The hands of the pocket watch never ceased their motion.

In the darkness.

Ye Qiyan felt as if he were lying atop a soft, warm mound of dough, utterly comfortable.

He had a dream.

In the dream, he seemed to have returned to his own home, the one he'd had before entering the Wasteland.

He was well aware this was a dream.

But here, the exhaustion plaguing his body seemed to vanish completely.

Eating, sleeping, playing games...

Such simple daily routines, yet they possessed a strange power that mended his overworked body.

Until... how long had it been?

He didn't know.

Ye Qiyan simply heard a familiar chime by his ear.

The dream was over. Time to wake.

"Mmm..."

Exhausted, sore, his entire body feeling like it had been taken apart and hastily reassembled.

Ye Qiyan slowly opened his eyes. What greeted his sight wasn't the ceiling of the carriage, but something blocking his vision.

The pillow beneath his head was incredibly smooth, as comfortable as the finest silk.

Pale, slender fingers gently brushed against his cheek.

Their owner lowered her gaze, meeting his eyes with a pair of tender, watery orbs.

"Master~ You're awake."

Lisette, his maid.

"Cough... Lisette, how long was I out?"

The maid blinked, then extended one hand in front of her master, palm open.

"Five days?"

"Five days and five nights~"

"That long, huh..."

Ye Qiyan was at a bit of a loss for words. As he moved to raise a hand to his forehead, he realized both of his arms were encased in weights of different softness and pressure.

He looked down.

There he saw, on his left and right, an excited Eve and a serene Red Tears each clutching one of his arms.

Noticing that her master had finally looked at her, Eve happily wiggled her ears. She wanted to pounce on him, but worried that Ye Qiyan might still be unwell, she held back and simply pressed her face directly into his palm.

On the other side, Red Tears blinked. She held his other hand tightly against her chest, her posture resembling that of one in prayer.

From Lisette, he learned that during the five days and five nights he had been unconscious.

The Wasteland had become utterly silent.

Although the weather display on the Sunny Doll indicated that some changes were occurring, beyond the train, all remained as quiet as ever.

Not even a single monster had appeared.

This was strange, because Ye Qiyan was not currently wearing the 【Witness of the End】 title.

By all rights, the monsters should have continued chasing the train.

But because of this, Eve, after staying on the roof for two days, had come down and remained by his side, guarding him ceaselessly.

And Red Tears...

From the day he had fallen unconscious, she, who had never once expressed any emotion, had been clinging tightly to Ye Qiyan's hand, refusing to let go.

News of his awakening quickly reached all the companions on the train.

Taking the shaved ice handed to him by WALL-E, Ye Qiyan leaned back against the familiar spot by the window, pulled it open, and let the cool breeze wash over his face.

"Whew..."

He pulled up the Light Screen.

In the span of five days, it seemed he had missed quite a few messages.

Still, he first called up his personal interface.

【Stamina: 29 (Genuine Fatigue!)】

【System Recommendation: Continue resting】

【Spirit: 600 (Shadow of the End) (Witness Truth and Falsehood)】

"Five days of sleep, and this is all I've recovered... Well, at least the MAX next to Genuine Fatigue is gone."

Before he could switch the Light Screen.

Miatira's voice echoed unbidden through the broadcast system.

【Ding-dong! Detection: You have awakened. Miatira will now perform the final settlement for the previous station】

【Due to 【Colorless】, the 【Divine Core】 of False God·Twelve Eyes has been annihilated】

【Obtained: Beacon of Memories·Farewell World·Golden Departure Day】

【Obtained Despair World Conquest Reward: 7,777 Train Coins】

【Obtained World Item: Glory Laurel】

【Obtained Title: Hero】

【Congratulations, you have passed the 【Trial of Colorless】】

【Station Evaluation: MAX!!!】

"Hey, over seven thousand Train Coins, not bad at all."

Ye Qiyan was overjoyed.

"Oh, right, speaking of which, there was something I never got a good look at, wasn't there?"

He remembered the item Colorless had left him before departing and immediately took it out from his Storage Unit.

Colorless's luminous mist dispersed with the wind, revealing the true form of the item within.

It was... an ink bottle?

【Colorless's Bottle】

【Contains a sliver of 【Colorless】's authority】

【Usable at any time, without any consumption. Within a small radius (from 1,000 meters to 100,000 meters), initiate a restricted, miniature End. This End is under your control】

【Upon activation, permanently alters the topography of an area, devouring all color within that region, except for [Ye Qiyan and all beings belonging to Ye Qiyan]】

【"How can a victor not take something from the vanquished? Ye Qiyan, remember to use it when you're in danger. I'm not good at crossing worlds. Before we meet again, don't you dare lose to anyone else!

By——Faded Pinnacle·Colorless"】

An End. An End with no cost, with a controllable range.

A smile spread across Ye Qiyan's face.

That guy really knew how to pick out rewards.

"Not bad~"

Ye Qiyan handed the ink bottle to WALL-E, instructing it to place it beside the 【Final Spark】 and the 【Horn of the End】.

Perhaps this ink bottle wasn't capable of mustering the same power to destroy an entire world as those other two.

But by comparison, Ye Qiyan preferred this bottle.

This was the third End-related item he possessed.

Add to that the 【End】 from his system permissions, as well as the 【Abyss】 and the 【Door of the Death Realm】.

And in Ye Qiyan's eyes, 【Shaya】 and 【Zhao Xi】 were utterly on par with the End.

If you counted it that way, could he wipe out eight worlds in one go?

But... it still wasn't enough.

Ye Qiyan let out a soft sigh, his mind filled with the image of himself unable to withstand the power of the 【Dream Trace】.

"Five hundred points of Stamina is a drop in the bucket, the Spirit is manageable... Ugh, I'm still far too weak."

Ye Qiyan shook his head, but soon his expression hardened with resolve once more.

He had to keep getting stronger. Strong enough to defeat 【Colorless】's true body even without 【Dream Trace】. Strong enough that one day, he could stand alongside the pinnacle of the Golden Tribe and take on seven opponents single-handedly.

And then... surpass them all!

With his mind made up, Ye Qiyan cast aside the disappointment in his heart and turned his attention to the other two rewards mentioned by the system.

【Title: Hero】

【When equipped, all Natives in any Station World will recognize you as a 【Hero】, and their disposition towards you will increase】

An ordinary title. Ye Qiyan paid it no mind.

【Glory Laurel (Level 13)】

【You are the first person in history without the bloodline of the Golden Tribe to obtain this honor】

【However, the Golden Tribe has vanished. This laurel, perhaps... no longer holds any meaning】

"No meaning... huh?"

Ye Qiyan curled his lips into a smile.

Perhaps to others, this item truly was meaningless.

But what if he were to use it as material alongside 【Mythical Gem】 to craft Dynamic Train Skins?