Chromie flew through the air with every ounce of her strength, sensing the timeline vibrating violently.
She deeply regretted believing Wayne's lies, which had trapped her inside the game for nearly half an hour.
But she had no choice. In the past, she could have used the unique abilities of the Bronze Dragonflight to step into the future, glimpse the opponent's intentions, and then return to this moment to decide how to respond. Or, if something went wrong, she could return to a specific point in time to correct the deviation and reset the timeline.
However, Wayne was "outside the three realms and not within the five elements." She had tried these two types of magic when she first came to stop him from killing Onyxia, but like rivers flowing into the sea, they had ultimately vanished into nothingness. She had tried a few more times over the past few days, with the same lack of result.
She could only push herself to fly faster, hoping to reach the scene before things became irreversible.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
With the rhythmic beating of her dragon wings, a journey that would take a day of casual riding or half a day of hard galloping took her less than twenty minutes.
She felt a sense of relief; because her flight altitude was high enough, the city guards had not noticed her, let alone shown any hostility.
Yet, something was strange. Why were the streets so empty today?
"Oh no!"
Chromie immediately grew tense. Stormwind City, which should have been bustling, was deserted. Only guards stood at their posts. What else could cause this besides a major event putting the entire city under martial law?!
She dove toward the gardens of Stormwind Keep, transformed back into her human form, and sprinted toward the Throne Room.
She was no stranger to this place, but not a single person living here recognized her. That was because she had never visited this place in the current timeline before.
In those other times, Wayne did not exist, so there were no matters related to him. She had been in a state where she could correct the world's timeline however she pleased as the one responsible for it.
Unlike now. As long as any timeline involved this net cafe owner, it became completely impossible for her to enter and interfere. This was the fundamental reason why she had risked violating the Bronze Dragonflight's principles to intervene personally.
However, she soon fell into a state of immense confusion.
She followed the long, slightly upward-sloping corridor toward the Throne Room at the end. At first, she tried to avoid the patrolling guards, but seeing that the event on the timeline had already started, she stopped caring and ran inside with her short legs.
But upon reaching the Throne Room, she found three people standing side by side, as still as wooden statues.
On the far left was Countess Katrana, dressed in her black and red robes, holding a staff in her right hand.
To the right...
Besides the three of them, the circular Throne Room contained a ring of guards and a few officials whose names Chromie couldn't recall.
But King Varian was nowhere to be seen.
This wasn't entirely unexpected, as it was said he had been feeling unwell since his return. It was reasonable for these three to manage national affairs.
However, these people just stood there, completely indifferent to Chromie's appearance.
"What is going on?!"
Though baffled, she walked forward.
"Respected Prince..."
Anduin spoke: "Hello, citizen."
Chromie quickly replied: "Hello, Your Highness."
Anduin spoke again: "Are you satisfied with your life in Stormwind?"
Chromie froze. "Uh... very satisfied. May I ask..."
Before she could finish, Anduin said again: "Hello, citizen."
Chromie's eyes widened. She looked at Anduin in disbelief. "Your Highness, you...?"
Anduin continued to repeat: "Are you satisfied with your life in Stormwind?"
Chromie hurriedly turned her gaze toward Bolvar standing beside him. "Duke, what is happening here?"
Chromie: "I am here because of a very important matter!"
Chromie: "Duke, what's wrong with you?"
Chromie was going frantic. She reached out and grabbed Bolvar's arm, but the former Regent's arm felt like solid rock; she couldn't budge it at all.
Seeing a glimmer of hope, Chromie shouted, "Please listen to me, Duke!"
In a state of extreme shock and fear, Chromie managed a single word: "You..."
She backed away a few steps, looking at her surroundings. "This is right. This is Stormwind Keep!"
Her brain began to scramble. "Could it be...?"
Chromie discovered that as long as she spoke to the Bolvar and Anduin in front of her, no matter what she said, they would cycle through those few specific phrases.
If she responded too many times, Bolvar's replies would even carry a hint of obvious annoyance and anger.
For example:
"I'm busy!" "Do you have a problem?" "Go away!" "You're annoying me!"
But it was still a repetitive cycle.
Even when he expressed anger, Katrana on the other side and the guards around the hall remained standing perfectly still, eyes fixed forward, indifferent to the Duke's angry words echoing through the hall.
This was not normal. It defied all logic.
Chromie steeled her heart and revealed her true form as a Bronze Dragon right there in the Throne Room!
But even then, everyone in the room remained motionless upon seeing the dragon!
At this moment, she knew she had been played, though she had no idea how such a thing had been achieved.
She angrily exhaled a breath of bronzed, yellowish-brown dragon breath. The breath actually passed right through Bolvar's body and rushed toward the back, even seeping into the walls of the room.
She rose to fly out, only to find the roof was real. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't break through the masonry. So, she flew back toward the garden the way she had come.
The guards along the way continued as if nothing had happened—patrolling where they should patrol, standing guard where they should stand.
Chromie flew above Stormwind, looking down at the empty town. There were almost no residents anywhere. There were shopkeepers standing in a few stores, but there were no customers in front of them.
Similarly, every person was like a wooden statue, motionless, with no communication between them.
Chromie quickly recalled everything she had just experienced.
Entering Stormwind—no one. On the way here—she had been in too much of a hurry to notice, but thinking back, it seemed there had been no one then either!
Wait!
From the moment she took off from the net cafe until now, she hadn't seen a single passerby on the road!
In a daze, she caught a glimpse of Goldshire. It, too, seemed empty and deserted!
"Could it be... that I was wrong from the very beginning?!"
She snapped out of her thoughts and suddenly saw a sight that made her feel as if her cold sweat would soak through even her dragon form!
Behind the soaring spires of Stormwind Keep, the tops of the hills were not only barren of vegetation, but the colors were patchy.
Where one color met another, the lines were perfectly straight—as if they had been patched together!
She finally realized that Wayne's trickery, which started when he lured her into playing the game, had not stopped even now!
She beat her wings and began to fly back, intending to reach the net cafe at top speed. Even if she had to resort to force, she had to find out the truth!
Meanwhile, inside the net cafe, Wayne—wearing the VR glasses—was drenched in sweat. Outside his cubicle, Chen and Amy watched him with concern.
Tess and Li Li waited at the door, as Wayne had instructed.
In Wayne's ear, there sounded...