Chapter 203: World went backwards!!!

The night was unusually quiet.

Nobody was asleep. Not just asleep, he was completely knocked out. After everything that had happened over the past few days, his body had finally decided that it had enough. Nobody lay across his bed, one arm hanging off the side, his blanket twisted around his legs, while Blossom Bunny slept nearby, curled up like a tiny stuffed animal.

For once, there were no emergencies. No villains, no System notifications, no mysterious masked strangers and no vampires. Just sleep.

Unfortunately, the universe apparently had other plans.

Behind the curtains covering Nobody’s balcony, strange lights flickered. Purple, blue, white then red. The colors moved across the curtains in shifting patterns, illuminating the room for brief moments.

Nobody didn’t react. His breathing remained steady.

Outside, the air itself seemed to distort. The balcony railing trembled slightly, and a thin crack appeared across one of the glass panels.

Crk...

The sound was faint.

Then another.

Crk...

A strange pressure spread through the room. The curtains moved despite the windows being closed, and a bright light suddenly flashed behind them.

The System appeared beside Nobody’s sleeping body.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Warning.]

[Warning.]

[Warning.]

[The user’s world is undergoing a significant change.]

[Reality stability is fluctuating.]

[Environmental structure is being altered.]

[Warning!]

[Warning!]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Nobody continued sleeping.

The System looked at him, then at the balcony, then back at him.

[User is currently unconscious.]

Another crack echoed outside.

Crk!

[User is also unlikely to respond to emergency notifications while sleeping.]

Nobody turned over. "...Mmm..."

The System remained silent for a moment.

[Correct.]

The strange lights intensified. For several seconds, the entire balcony seemed to bend.

Then...

Everything stopped. The lights disappeared. The cracks vanished, and the night became completely normal again. Nobody slept peacefully. He had absolutely no idea that the world around him had just changed.

......

Morning came.

Sunlight entered through the curtains as Nobody slowly opened his eyes.

"Ugh..." He rubbed his face and sat up. His hair was a mess, his blanket was halfway on the floor and Blossom Bunny was still sleeping nearby.

Nobody looked around. "Morning."

Silence.

Nobody blinked. "System?"

Nothing.

He waited before trying again. "Yo, System. Good morning."

Still nothing.

Nobody frowned. "...System?"

No response.

He leaned forward and stared at the empty space beside him. "Are you there?"

Silence.

Nobody pointed at the air. "You’re creeping me. You know, when you randomly appear whenever I don’t need you, that’s annoying. But when I actually need you and you disappear..." He narrowed his eyes. "...that’s even more annoying."

Still nothing.

Nobody slowly got out of bed. "Fine." He stretched and looked toward the window. "Let’s go out." He changed clothes, grabbed his wallet, and stepped outside.

The morning air felt different.

Nobody immediately noticed it. He stopped outside his apartment and looked down the street. "...Huh?"

Everything seemed familiar. But at the same time, something was wrong.

The buildings looked slightly different. The road markings seemed newer, a store that used to have a red sign now had a blue one, the trees seemed taller and even the arrangement of the streetlights looked different.

Nobody stood there for several seconds. "Did I sleep for a year?" He scratched his head. "No. That can’t be right."

He started walking. "Maybe I am simply tired. Maybe I am imagining things. Maybe after fighting a vampire, getting reality rewritten and almost dying several times, my brain had finally decided to malfunction."

"Yeah." He nodded confidently. "That’s probably it."

A woman walked past him while a bus passed through the intersection. People went to work and children headed toward school. Everything looked normal. That somehow made Nobody feel even stranger.

He continued walking until something suddenly came to mind. "The coffee shop." His expression brightened slightly. "Coffee."

He immediately changed direction. The familiar coffee shop should have been only a few minutes away. Nobody walked down the street and turned the corner.

Then he stopped. His smile disappeared. The coffee shop was gone.

Not destroyed. Not burned. Not damaged. It was simply...Under construction.

Construction barriers surrounded the building, while workers carried materials inside. A large sign hung across the front.

Nobody stared at it. "..." He slowly blinked. Then blinked again. "No."

He walked closer and looked through the barriers. The interior had been completely stripped down. New walls were being installed, the old tables were gone, the counter was gone, and even the sign above the entrance was different.

Nobody’s mouth remained slightly open. "No..." He took a step back. "I think..." He forced a smile. "...they’re reconstructing it." He nodded. "Probably." ℴ

Another worker walked past carrying wooden panels.

Nobody pointed toward the building. "They probably just decided to renovate." He laughed nervously. "No way, right?"

Nobody looked at the building again. "This is Alkon City. Shops get renovated all the time." He turned around. Then stopped. "...Right?"

There was no System to answer him.

Nobody’s smile faded. He pulled out his phone and searched for the coffee shop. The name appeared. But the address was different.

Nobody stared at the screen. "...What?" He refreshed the page. Same result. His fingers tightened around the phone. "Okay." He slowly put it away. "Let’s not panic." He took a deep breath. "If something is wrong..." He looked toward the distant skyline. "...Nathan Industries."

Aiden, Toma. That was the easiest way to confirm whether something was wrong.

Nobody immediately started walking faster. Then faster. Then he broke into a run.

.......

Nathan Industries came into view. Nobody slowed down as his eyes remained fixed on the familiar building.

At least...He thought it was familiar.

The structure looked slightly different. The logo had changed, the entrance was wider and the surrounding plaza had been redesigned.

Nobody stopped outside. "...No." He immediately walked through the entrance.

A receptionist looked up. "Sir?"

Nobody ignored her and continued toward the elevators.

A security employee stepped in front of him. "Sir, excuse me."

Nobody stopped. "I need to see Aiden."

The employee frowned. "Do you have an appointment?"

"No."

"Then I’m afraid you can’t go upstairs."

Nobody stared at him. "What do you mean?"

The employee remained professional. "Sir, company policy requires an appointment for visitors."

Nobody pointed toward the elevator. "Tell Aiden I’m here."

The employee looked confused. "Mr...?"

"Aiden." Nobody laughed awkwardly. "Aiden Nathan."

The employee’s expression became even stranger. "Sir, do you have a scheduled meeting with Mr. Nathan?"

Nobody’s smile slowly disappeared. "You know me."

The employee shook his head. "I’m sorry, sir."

Nobody looked around. More employees were watching him now. His heartbeat increased. "Just tell him Nobody is here."

The employee hesitated. "I’m sorry, but I don’t think..."

A voice interrupted them.

Everyone turned. A man had just entered the lobby. He was wearing an expensive suit. He appeared to be middle-aged, with a calm expression and confident posture.

Nobody stared at him. He had never seen that face before.

The man looked at Nobody, then at the employees and finally frowned. "What’s going on?"

The receptionist quickly explained. "This gentleman says he knows Mr.Aiden Nathan."

The man looked directly at Nobody. "You know my son?"

Nobody froze. "...Your son?"

The man’s expression became slightly suspicious. "Yes." He adjusted his suit. "Aiden is fifteen. He’s currently at school."

Nobody’s entire body went still. The lobby suddenly felt incredibly quiet.

Fifteen.

The word echoed inside his head.

Aiden fifteen. At school.

Nobody stared at the man, then at the building, then at the employees. His breathing became heavier. "...No."

The man frowned. "Excuse me?"

Nobody took a step backward. "No." He turned. Then he ran.

Nobody sprinted through the entrance without looking back. The security guard shouted something behind him, but he didn’t care.

He ran down the street, past pedestrians, past cars, past stores that looked familiar but weren’t.

His thoughts were racing.

Aiden was fifteen. Nathan Industries was different. The coffee shop was under construction.

The System was silent.

The city looked almost the same... But not quite.

Nobody finally stopped in front of a small pastry shop. He leaned forward, placing his hands on his knees while struggling to catch his breath. "Huff..."

He looked behind him. No one had followed.

He slowly stood upright. His hands were trembling. "No way..." He looked around.

People were laughing. Cars were moving. A delivery truck passed by. Everything was normal.

Nobody whispered. "No way, right?" He looked toward the sky. "System..."

Silence.

His expression slowly changed. "Please..."

Nothing.

Nobody swallowed. "Don’t tell me..."

He looked at his own hands, then at the unfamiliar street, and finally toward the distant Nathan Industries building. "...I woke up in the past version of my world."

For the first time since becoming self-aware...

Nobody had no joke. No sarcastic comment. No System to argue with. No explanation. Only the terrifying feeling that somewhere between last night and this morning...

His entire world had moved backwards. And no one had noticed. Except him. Far above Alkon City, hidden beyond the clouds, a faint distortion appeared again.

Something had changed.

And this time...It wasn’t going back.