I raised my right hand, palm facing up, and as I activated my superpower, a large amount of flames suddenly surged into existence in the center of my palm.

The flames gathered toward the center, forming a fireball nearly half a meter in diameter.

Superpowers are a concept commonly found in many fantasy stories. Some can stop time, others can control consciousness, and some can alter the body. There are also superpowers with complex mechanisms, requiring hundreds or thousands of words just to explain, leaving the listener confused.

Unlike those powerful or complicated superpowers, my superpower is incredibly simple.

In a word, it’s "manipulating fire."

I can summon flames out of thin air and control them, or manipulate any fire within my sight. It’s so simple that it’s almost a classic—so much so that in most fantasy stories with superpower combat themes, there’s usually a character who can manipulate fire in the early stages. And while I may not be able to do everything they can, I can at least do eight or nine out of ten things.

The "fireflies" I summoned earlier were essentially small flames, and the reason they could be used as scouting tools is quite logical.

For a normal flame to form, it requires the three elements of combustion: fuel, an oxidizer, and heat. However, my flames are conjured from thin air, without needing those material conditions. Or rather, all the material conditions are replaced by my mind.

My mind is the fuel, the oxidizer, and the heat.

In other words, my flames are my mind. The "fireflies" scattered around are simply "myself" spread out, allowing them to sense the surroundings on my behalf.

At the same time, naturally, since these are flames, they possess powerful destructive force.

I slowly lifted the blazing fireball, and it collapsed inward, transforming into a hot, glowing sphere the size of an eyeball. Then, I pointed forward, and the glowing sphere struck the solid concrete wall before me.

There was no obstruction, no explosion. The high-density light sphere effortlessly pierced through the concrete wall, like a spoon diving into tofu, and reached the space beyond the basement.

Through my mental connection with the flames, I was able to view the space outside the basement.

Then, I couldn’t help but hold my breath.

There was nothing—

The space outside the basement was completely empty.

No earth, no sky; no color, no sound... just endless darkness.

From the external perspective, the basement appeared to be a small concrete box suspended in an infinite void, and nothing else. Even when I manipulated the light sphere to go directly below, I couldn’t find any material supporting this "concrete box." In fact, not only were there no other objects, but even the most basic elements like air and gravity didn’t exist.

It was like outer space, but at least outer space still has countless stars, harmful cosmic radiation, and extremely sparse cosmic dust—there's still a certain "activity" to it.

But here, it’s different. It’s a complete and utter silence, a void.

It feels as though all matter has met its end, and this is a completed space-time.

Loneliness, terror, suffocation.

The endless emptiness of this void seemed to pour into my airways like an all-encompassing suffocation. This basement felt like a tiny speck of dust in a vast afterlife, and I was the only passenger on that speck, ready to dissolve into nothingness, turning into meaningless foam at any moment, vanishing without a trace in the void.

After sitting there in a daze for a long time, I dispelled the external light sphere and view, then sat on the ground, trying to collect my thoughts.

The idea of "returning to the real world through an unconventional method" was definitely not going to work.

Fortunately, even though the outside was a void, the air in the basement didn't leak out through the hole I had opened. While it's true that I can still function in a vacuum environment when I enter my "second form," and blocking such a small hole isn’t particularly difficult.

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On a lighter note, I realized that this phenomenon could lead to another discovery: certain physical laws don’t apply in this place. This finding could be considered a "discovery" in itself.

So, what should I do next? Should I really go back to studying the conditions under which the basement appears?

If there were still a connection between the "fireflies" set up in the real world and myself, I could try another approach, but the connection has long been severed.

It’s almost ironic—when Chang'an came knocking this morning, I was thinking that if he really encountered an abnormal event, I’d have the chance to showcase my abilities, like a comic book character showing off my powers while explaining my "ability setup"... Life rarely goes as planned. My superpower is useless in this situation.

Someone once said, "All fear comes from insufficient firepower," but no matter how powerful the firepower is, it probably wouldn't help in this particular situation.

Perhaps this is the inevitable dead end I must face, a fate that was bound to arrive sooner or later.

My superpower is undeniably simple and brutally strong, something anyone can understand. However, the supernatural is unpredictable, and no one knows what form it will take to bring someone to their doom. Even with a spear that can destroy everything and a shield that can defend against anything, there will still be many things that cannot be done.

I braced myself on my knees and stood up, pacing around and looking for any useful clues on the shelves.

The yellow cardboard boxes on the shelves weren’t completely empty; some contained small items like cartoon stickers, plastic keychains, and candles. None of them seemed helpful for the current situation. If it had been before, I might have been excited to take them as souvenirs, but now I had no such thoughts.

To focus my mind, I decided not to maintain the "fireflies" providing light from all directions. Instead, I lit a candle I found on the shelf and placed it on the floor. The basement returned to darkness, and the single light source in the darkness helped me concentrate, while also bringing back memories from the past.

Speaking of which, back in the third year of middle school, when I first awakened my superpower, the trigger was also related to a candle...

People who have had near-death experiences often say that when you're about to die, you inevitably start recalling the past.

Now that I’m suddenly recalling the past, is it because I know I’m about to die here?

Time still passed, second by second, and I don’t know how long it’s been.

My analysis of the situation still has no progress.

Since I’m not very hungry, that means there’s still a long way to go until dawn.

However, this is a space outside the real world, so perhaps the flow of time here follows an unusual rule. The outside world might have already passed more than a day, where I am abandoned by the world in this place beyond the universe.

Marxism says that a person is the sum of their social relations. At this very moment, I am undoubtedly cut off from all connections to society, not even knowing whether I can return. If I die like this, it would be more accurate to say I died as a nameless animal rather than as a human being.

Perhaps influenced by the strange environment, I even developed a more bizarre thought—what if I was always a resident of this underground space, never living in the real world, and everything in my life up until now has merely been an illusion?

I touched my pockets. Inside, I found my house key, but that doesn’t prove I’ve ever lived in a home outside; it doesn’t even prove that the "real world" in my memories actually exists. A key is a concept paired with a lock, but there are no locks here, so this metal object cannot be proven to be a key.

The ID card and change are the same. These items only hold meaning in society. Once removed from society, they are just objects with specific shapes—just like me now.

All the meaning built on the concept of "society" dissolves here. Whether it’s these objects, my personality, or even the clothes I’m wearing, they all seem to be dissolving into this dim space, revealing the most primal, natural nakedness.

In the midst of strange shivers, I felt a faint, intoxicated emotion. In this realm, completely isolated from everything, it felt as though I was gradually transforming into some unforeseen, otherworldly existence.

Those who live in seclusion are either beasts or gods.

Surprisingly, despite feeling fear, unease, and pessimism, there was one thing I did not feel: regret or panic.

Because I entered this place with determination and awareness.

As I mentioned before, part of the reason I sought adventures that transcended reality was a strong desire to know what kind of person I would become in such a moment. To speak frankly, I believed this might be categorized as a form of "seeking the way." And now, facing this predicament, this despair, and the imminent death that I face alone... it seems I have finally discovered a truer version of myself.

If it were the everyday version of me, perhaps I would be proud of myself now, feeling excited and happy, but the current me doesn't have such passionate emotions.

It's not that I've been overwhelmed by negative emotions. On the contrary, I feel an unprecedented sense of relief about myself right now.

This is truly a moment of clarity. No matter how many negative emotions arise in my heart, they cannot touch this peaceful state of mind.

However, I won't say anything like "to hear the way in the morning, to die in the evening."

I am very greedy, and this level of reward cannot satisfy my appetite.

I want to use my own strength to "clear" this predicament, to prove that I am not the kind of early-stage character who would die easily in an adventure story that transcends reality.

After that, I want to return home and see Ma Zao again. Eventually, I will make her reveal all her secrets. I also want to explore the mysteries of Mount Luo and the demon hunters, to understand how supernatural forces are distributed and structured in this world. There are so many more things I want to explore, countless in number.

— So, the question is, can I really do it?

Just like how negative emotions can't affect the clarity of my mind, no matter how much peace I feel, it can't deny the objectively existing deadlock.

It is precisely because I am calm that I understand clearly.

Perhaps, this is the end of my adventure.

My adventure is going to end just as it began.