Chapter 155

Chapter 155

As they moved forward, the thick darkness faded slightly, revealing a few dimly floating lights in the air, the beams from everyone's headlamps. Further ahead, they could see the people nearby more clearly and also make out the ground.

Ding Hongsheng breathed a sigh of relief, "Finally, we're out. I was worried that if we didn't fall for its trick, it would have other ways to deal with us."

With the darkness no longer enveloping them, Chen Wenzhao thought of pulling his hand from Cai Tao's grasp, but Cai Tao held it so tightly that even after trying twice, Chen couldn't free it.

"It's okay now," Chen Wenzhao said.

Cai Tao didn't loosen his grip, "No, it's not. The light is still too dim, it's easy to trip."

Chen Wenchao, not wanting to be overheard, spoke in a lowered voice, "I’m more likely to trip now than if I were walking alone."

Cai Tao’s wolfhound, tied by a rope around its neck, stayed close to his legs, with its long tail draping over the back of the short-tailed crocodile.

Cai Tao glanced at him. Now that the light had brightened, he could finally see Chen Wenchao's expression clearly.

"Don’t glare at me, I meant well..." he slowly let go of the hand, muttering under his breath, "Who was it that clung to my hand so tightly just now? I couldn’t even shake it off. Now that I’ve been used, you turn on me so quickly..."

As they were about to leave the area, everyone in the team relaxed. Since they could see the path, they discarded their sticks and began to untie the ropes from their bodies.

Binu also extended a little paw, earnestly working to untangle the knot around Hei Shi’s neck.

"Brother, can you untie me? You tied a really tight knot earlier."

Yan Bubu asked Feng Chen to untie him, but Feng Chen just rested his hand on his waist, looking elsewhere. Just as Ji Yi was about to step out of the area covered in shy grass, Feng Chen suddenly shouted, "Ji Yi, stop! Everyone else, don't untie your ropes, stop right now!"

Everyone was startled by his loud command, freezing in the act of untying their ropes. Ji Yi's lifted left foot hesitated for two seconds before touching the ground, "What’s wrong? Did you find something?"

Feng Chen said, "There’s something off about this shy grass."

Everyone looked down at their feet.

"What’s off? Did their numbers increase?" Cai Tao looked around perplexedly.

Chen Wenchao nudged the grass next to him with his toe, "It is off. This shy grass isn’t retracting when we touch it."

"Indeed, it’s not retracting," Yan Bubu squatted down to touch the shy grass. The leaves allowed him to pinch them without recoiling like they used to.

Ding Hongseng asked, "Brother Feng, is there a problem if shy grass isn’t afraid of being touched?"

Feng Chen pulled up a plant of shy grass to examine it and then threw it back to the ground, "This grass’s nature of recoiling isn’t shyness, but a form of self-protection. The fact that it’s not avoiding my touch now is a big problem."

"You mean to say..."

"I suspect we haven't left Chaya Peak yet; we are currently in an illusion," Feng Chen brushed the dirt off his hands, "Everyone, don’t untie your ropes yet. Stay connected. Ji Yi, where’s your stick? Pick up a stick to probe the path as we move forward."

"An illusion? Besides auditory hallucinations, there are visual ones too? Are they trying to kill us here?"

Everyone, who had just untied their ropes, quickly wrapped them back around their waists. Ji Yi stood still, not daring to move, and said, "I threw my stick away earlier, should I go find another one? You’ll have to keep a hold of me."

"Don’t move around, use my stick to probe the path." Besides Feng Chen, everyone had discarded their sticks earlier. Now they passed his stick forward until it reached Ji Yi.

"So which direction do we go now?" Ji Yi asked.

Feng Chen instructed, "Let’s try to follow the original path."

"Okay."

Ji Yi tapped the ground in front of her with the stick, and seeing nothing unusual, she took a step forward. But when she tapped the ground again, she found that though it appeared to be soil covered with shy grass, the stick easily pierced through the soil layer, feeling no resistance as if there was only empty air.

"What’s going on?" she asked in surprise.

Cai Tao, who was right behind her, had been peering over to see what was happening and took a couple of steps forward to get a better look.

His toe kicked a small stone, which rolled towards Ji Yi but then suddenly disappeared into the soil, making a sound as if it had fallen off a cliff.

The sound of the stone bouncing down continued, and everyone’s faces changed upon hearing this.

"This is really an illusion; there’s a cliff right in front of us!" Cai Tao exclaimed in fear.

Just as Cai Tao finished shouting, Yan Bubu saw ripples forming in the air around them, like those in water. The scene shifted, light and shadows flowed, and suddenly the light became blindingly bright. In front of them appeared a vast, endless blue sea, and the ground covered in shy grass transformed into a sandy beach.

The scene was so realistic that his feet slightly sank into the sand, and the calls of seabirds echoed in his ears.

Everyone was stunned, standing still and looking around, with the quantum beasts also gazing around dumbfoundedly like their owners.

Moments later, Ji Yi exclaimed excitedly, "Haiyun City! This is the sea of Haiyun City. My home is in the town just behind this beach. As a child, I used to play on this beach every day. This is the beach in front of my house, before the earthquake."

Yan Bubu was unfamiliar with this beach; he was only six years old before the earthquake and only remembered Feng's house and his kindergarten vividly. However, Feng Chen recognized it, looking at the pointed rooftops peeking out from behind the trees, "Yes, I know this beach. It's in the Shangshui Town area of Haiyun City."

"I'm from Shangshui Town in Haiyun City!" Ji Yi's voice almost broke, "My home is just behind the beach. I can even see the roof of my house."

As Ji Yi's hand moved towards the rope around her waist, Feng Chen warned sharply, "Ji Yi! We are in the mountains right now!"

Ji Yi snapped back to reality, her mind clearing, but her hand remained on the rope.

"But, but this is so real," Ji Yi said, somewhat incoherently, looking at the rooftops, "That pointed roof is the town hall, and next to it is our primary school. I don't know what time it is now, but it should be almost time for school to end—"

"Can you feel the sunlight? Can you feel the sea breeze, smell the sea? This is still a trap, tempting you to lead us into its snare," Feng Chen interrupted sternly.

Prompted by Feng Chen's reminder, Yan Bubu realized that although he was standing on a beach and felt the sensation of sand underfoot, under such intense sunlight, he didn’t feel the corresponding warmth. Instead, he felt cold, and the scent in his nostrils was still that of damp earth and vegetation.

Ji Yi completely calmed down, wiping her face with her hand, her voice hoarse, "It captured my memory, that damn thing captured my memory."

"Yes, it captures your memory, feels your emotions, then replicates the most profound part of your memory," Feng Chen spoke calmly.

After a moment of silence, Ji Yi cursed towards the empty air, "Fuck your ancestors."

"Stay calm, we still don’t know what kind of thing it really is," Cai Tao patted Ji Yi on the shoulder, "Let's keep going as if we saw nothing, continue probing the path with the stick."

Ji Yi took a deep breath and asked, "But if we follow the original route, there's the sea ahead. Can we still go that way?"

Feng Chen replied, "This is an illusion, don’t mind what’s in front." He then lifted his wrist to check his watch, "My real-time map isn’t showing the current terrain or our location. Check yours."

Everyone opened their map devices, and as Feng Chen predicted, each device had lost functionality.

"The communicator has no signal either, we can’t even call the instructor for help," Ding Hongseng said.

"Right, it's all an illusion, let's go. Follow the original path," Ji Yi muttered, picking up the stick to probe the ground, leading the group towards the sea.

The group, tied together with the quantum beasts by ropes, walked into the sea. Yan Bubu could feel the slight resistance of the water gently swirling around his legs.

"This water..." Yan Bubu said to Feng Chen.

Feng Chen replied, "It's fake."

"I know, if you say it’s fake, then it must be, but I still feel like I’m in water."

"That’s because the scene is tricking your brain through your eyes, creating a false perception," Feng Chen covered Yan Bubu’s eyes with his hand, "Imagine we’re outside Haiyun City, on the sea, ready to drill a hole to catch fish for dinner. You can feel the wind on your face, and the ground under your feet is slippery, but the rope on your shoes provides grip, making it easy to walk..."

With his eyes covered and listening to Feng Chen's whispers, Yan Bubu slowly formed a dreamy smile.

Feng Chen's voice gradually stopped, then he softly asked, "Where are you now?"

"In Haiyun City, preparing to catch fish, and later we’ll go back for a grilled fish dinner. I’ll be sitting on the sofa watching a movie with Binu, and you and Sasaqa will be in the kitchen preparing the fish..." As Yan Bubu spoke, he gently removed Feng Chen’s hand from his eyes, and softly said, "Brother, I want to go home..."

Feng Chen was silent for two seconds, "After we finish everything here, I’ll take you home."

"Okay." Yan Bubu nodded and then widened his eyes in surprise, "Wow, it really was an illusion, I didn’t feel like I was in water just now."

Now the water had risen to his chest and Feng Chen’s waist. As he looked at the scene before him, he suddenly found it harder to walk and felt a pressing sensation from the water against his chest.

"Even though I know it's fake, my eyes keep deceiving me, making me feel like I’m still in the water. It's so hard to walk, it feels like my legs are floating," Cai Tao complained from behind.

Ding Hongseng, however, laughed, "I keep feeling like we're in some sort of cult ritual."

Yan Bubu turned his head to look around and saw their group and the quantum beasts, all tied together, struggling to walk in the deep water, and found it somewhat amusing.

He looked at Hei Shi and Binu to check their state. Hei Shi, though submerged in the water, walked steadily as if on flat ground. Binu, clinging to Hei Shi's mane, walked with high, tentative steps, clearly mimicking walking in water.

"Sasaqa is so impressive," Yan Bubu exclaimed in admiration.

Binu turned its head to glance at him in the water.

Hearing his praise for Sasaqa, Binu, unusually, did not show any jealousy but instead raised its chin proudly, as if basking in the glory.

As they walked further, the water grew deeper, and Yan Bubu, being the shortest in the group, was the first to have his mouth and nose submerged.

Despite knowing it was an illusion, the sensation of being submerged in water felt so real that he instinctively held his breath in a moment of panic, grabbing Feng Chen’s sleeve tightly.

Feng Chen immediately crouched down, submerging himself in the water, and then said to Yan Bubu underwater, "Look, I can breathe, and you can hear me talking. This is fake, everything you see is fake. Come on, breathe with me."

Yan Bubu always trusted Feng Chen's words implicitly, so even though he was surrounded by water, he began to breathe boldly.

"How is it?" Feng Chen asked.

Fresh air, with a moist earthy scent, flowed into his lungs through his nostrils, and Yan Bubu said with a laugh, "I can even blow bubbles for you."

The others were also submerged one by one, and Yan Bubu, watching their attempts to hold their breath in the water, laughed heartily.

Particularly Cai Tao’s wolfhound, which was desperately paddling its paws trying to float. But since it wasn’t real water, it awkwardly pawed at the ground, staggering forward like a drunken animal.

Gradually, everyone adjusted and began to breathe and talk comfortably.

"We're not going to encounter a deep trench, are we? I have thalassophobia, I can’t go through that," Ding Hongseng said, somewhat apprehensively.

Feng Chen said, "It’s okay, just close your eyes, and we will guide you through."

Yan Bubu also hurriedly added, "My brother knows what to do. If we come across a sea trench, I'll tell you about the frozen sea surface in Haiyun City, and you won't feel anything. In extreme cold, the sea surface freezes into a thick layer of ice. You can feel the wind in your face and the slipperiness under your feet. If you break the ice layer, you can see the dark, bottomless sea water beneath—"

"Stop talking! Just shut up now!" Ding Hongseng interrupted Yan Bubu.

"…You don’t think this method will work?" Yan Bubu asked.

Feng Chen chuckled softly and took Yan Bubu’s hand, "Never mind him, let him sink to the bottom of the sea trench."

"Cai Tao, what’s wrong with you? Breathe, Cai Tao! Are you trying to suffocate yourself?"

Suddenly, Chen Wenchao’s voice came from behind. Yan Bubu turned to see Cai Tao’s face turning pale, clearly not having breathed since entering the water.

Feng Chen then instructed, "Slap his back."

Chen Wenchao's palm landed heavily on Cai Tao's back, producing two loud thumps, making Yan Bubu’s body shake along with them.

"Cough, cough, cough, cough..." After the heavy blows, Cai Tao finally began to cough loudly, gasping for air, with wheezing sounds from his throat.

Ding Hongseng couldn’t help but laugh, "Old Cai, you can’t handle this, can you? In a little while, you’d be floating belly-up on the surface."

Cai Tao, still coughing, waved his hand, "Float, I can’t float up, this, this is fake water."