“Lyra Ashwood—even if I die, I’m dragging you down with me...”
The voice burned with rage. It came to her ears from far off, faint and blurred, like it had torn through time itself. Unreal. Hollow. Yet sharp enough to make the skin crawl.
Lyra snapped her eyes open.
Darkness pressed over her like a lid.
Before she could get a clear look, her whole body dropped with a bang from midair.
The fall was not that high. What she landed on was not that hard either—if anything, it was a little soft. But the impact still shook the ache straight into her bones.
“Hiss...”
She sucked in a breath, grimacing, and braced a hand to push herself up.
Then she froze.
Right in front of her was a pair of huge, sunken green eyes.
Dead eyes.
There was no life in them, no light, no reflection at all, yet they still gave off a strange, bitter coldness.
Her gaze lifted.
The thing’s head, the one with feelers, had been sliced away by half. Rotting flesh hung open, exposing pale bone underneath. Green fluid kept seeping out, thick and foul. There was no trace of red blood, but the stench of gore was so heavy it turned the stomach on the spot.
Hideous. Twisted. Enough to make anyone’s scalp tighten.
Lyra’s heart gave a hard jolt.
She had been lying on top of it.
No matter how steady her nerves were, she still got startled clean out of herself. She jerked upright and stumbled back in a hurry, only to step into empty air and tumble to the ground in a miserable roll.
Only then did she realize—
The place she had fallen onto was a mound of stacked “monster” corpses.
High. Dense. Layer upon layer.
Lyra looked up and swept her eyes across the surroundings. In that instant, a chill ran from the back of her neck straight down her spine, and a thin sheet of cold sweat broke out over her back.
The land around her was barren. Not a blade of grass. Not a shred of life.
Only corpses everywhere.
Broken limbs. Torn flesh. Mangled bodies strewn across the ground.
It looked exactly like a butchered killing field left behind by something merciless.
A gust of wind blew over.
The thick smell of blood mixed with the stink of rotting, fermenting flesh and rushed into her face. The foulness was so violent Lyra bent over and threw up everything in her stomach on the spot.
“Ugh—”
She retched until there was nothing left but bitter acid.
Then, behind her, came a sudden rustle of footsteps.
“Who’s there?”
Her whole body tensed. She whipped around at once.
What she saw was a robot in military uniform.
The exposed metal on its body was silver. Its face was a sheet of cold metal too, human-shaped but not human, stiff and deadpan. Right now, it stood there with a pair of round blue eyes fixed on her, without the slightest trace of emotion.
Hell.
A robot?!
Lyra Ashwood gave a violent start and froze for a beat.
Where in hell was this place? And why was there even a robot here?
She clearly remembered what happened before this. She had been locked in a brutal fight with a demonized spirit array master. Then, out of nowhere, some freak force yanked her hard. When she opened her eyes, she was already here.
Was she dreaming?
A dream about a robot fighting green-eyed monsters?
Lyra Ashwood was completely dazed. Then the robot spoke. Its voice was flat, metallic, without the slightest rise or fall.
“Black Sea No. 1 Life-and-Death Battlefield. Search log, day two. One survivor found.”
No telling who it was reporting to. After that, it turned to ask her, “Survivor, state your name.”
“Lyra Ashwood.” She answered on instinct.
“Congratulations. You have passed the military training camp selection. Follow me back to Guanghui No. 2.”
What?
Lyra Ashwood felt like her head was stuffed with fog, but one thing she knew for sure—she did not want to stay in this place any longer. The ground was littered with torn corpses, the air thick with blood so heavy it almost stuck in her throat. So she hurried after it without another word.
As she walked, she tried sounding friendly. “So you’re a robot? A smart one? You got a name?”
The robot looked cold as iron, but it answered everything she asked.
“My name is Xiya. I am responsible for locating and receiving the trainees from your batch who passed the selection.”
Oh. So that was the military camp thing it mentioned just now.
Though, by all rights, that ought to have nothing to do with her.
Lyra Ashwood pressed on, “Xiya, what place is this exactly? Are we still inside Huaxia?”
The robot turned its head and glanced at her. Its expression did not change. Its voice stayed as rigid and mechanical as ever.
“Is your brain damaged? This is the Black Sea region of the Blue Star Starfield, a life-and-death battlefield designated No. 1.”
Blue Star Starfield. Life-and-death battlefield.
What kind of madness was that?
Lyra Ashwood’s pupils tightened. A bad feeling rose in her chest, cold and sharp.
“What era is it now?”
Xiya thought like a machine. It did not question why she would ask something like that. It simply judged that her head was probably not right.
“Star Epoch Calendar, year 2413.”
———— Author’s Note ————
Reading Guide:
1. This is sci-fi + light fantasy. All settings are entirely made up by the author.
2. The female lead is a total crowd-crusher, absurdly overpowered, full-on Mary Sue to the extreme. Logic is loose, the tone is wild and silly, and the story does whatever it wants. If that’s not your thing, feel free to leave—no need to curse at it. Also known as: “The Days of a Big Shot Showing Off Are Gone” and “One Shattered Glass Heart of a Big Shot.”