Chapter 346: The Sky Gate (2)

Chapter 346: The Door in the Air (Part II)

The door was very thin, almost like a sheet of paper. Lin Xiaofeng and the others had studied it when Zhu Ning was in "meditation," guiding her around the door as if they were tour guides. Behind the door... was another door.

It was just an ordinary door, with both sides looking similar, and no room behind it.

This was the first time Zhu Ning had seen such a fantastical contaminated zone, completely defying logic. How did this door get up here?

And there was no additional information. If they wanted to know more, they seemed to have to go through the door. Zhu Ning asked, "Does this happen often?"

She wanted to clarify whether it was just her bad luck or if others experienced the same thing.

Pei Shu said, "Traversing the water droplet cluster is inherently dangerous. Many convoys have disappeared around here. It's a matter of luck, fifty-fifty. I haven't encountered anything like this before, so it seems the missing convoys ran into something like this."

Pei Shu even took out his notebook, as if he had made a significant discovery. He wrote while speaking, "I'm used to bad luck, but you really have it rough."

Following Zhu Ning, the probability of encountering contaminated zones far exceeded that of ordinary people, and they were always bizarre ones.

Zhu Ning: "..."

Thank you, you're really good at compliments.

Zhu Ning asked, "What are you writing down?"

Pei Shu: "Discovered a door in the air, remote contact shows no abnormalities, no energy distortion outside the door, pollution concentration at normal levels, awaiting second contact."

Pei Shu sketched the door, added simple annotations beside it, and even wrote down the names of the team members, as if they were part of an investigation team.

Zhu Ning: "You're so interested in this door?"

Pei Shu usually only organized and recorded information about other contaminated zones afterward. This was the first time he started so early.

Pei Shu: "This door appeared suddenly, with no external clues. Below it is the water droplet cluster. I want to leave something valuable for future generations before I die."

Zhu Ning: "..."

Should she say Pei Shu was responsible, or that he took life and death lightly?

This was the first time Zhu Ning had seen a high-altitude contaminated zone. Weren't contamination spores supposed to not fly this high? Zhu Ning asked, "If I purify at this height, what will happen to the contamination spores?"

After serious thought, Pei Shu answered, "They might be crushed and eliminated?"

Zhu Ning didn't expect this answer. When contaminants were killed, they turned into contamination spores, and she thought humans could only do that much. It turns out they could be eliminated?

Zhu Ning analyzed the situation, "No clues, just a door. Opening Chen Qihang's notebook might provide more information, but we're in mid-air. If the danger level increases, we might meet our end soon."

With a notebook, entering most contaminated zones was like having a turbo boost, allowing them to quickly understand the background. However, this contaminated zone was too dangerous. The ground-level water droplet cluster could kill quickly, and the consequences of increased danger were unpredictable.

Bai Cheng: "I can go in and check."

Bai Cheng was clear about her role and had already untied her body bag.

"Bai, don't rush to sacrifice yourself," Zhu Ning wasn't raising Bai Cheng as a pathfinder dog. She couldn't afford to lose teammates constantly. "If it's a different world inside, are you sure you can still share memories? What if this door cuts off all connections?"

Bai Cheng paused, and Zhu Ning saw it was effective, so she continued to reason, "If you can't come back, how will you leave us a clue? We're stuck here, and your body is precious. Don't waste it recklessly."

Bai Cheng let go, and Zhu Ning saw she had been convinced. She continued, "I think contaminated zones can be roughly categorized. Like the house that chased me, which was a spatial type, also accessed through a door."

Zhu Ning: "If the space behind this door extends infinitely, it would be best suited for group combat. We shouldn't split up; acting together is better. I suspect once we separate, we won't find each other again."

Pei Shu scribbled in his investigation notebook like a stenographer at a meeting, recording the leader's speech. Zhu Ning was afraid he would write down something like "the leader knows nothing."

Zhu Ning glanced over, and Pei Shu's notes were all normal, and he kept nodding. "Go on."

Zhu Ning: "That's it. We'll hover for two days, specifically..."

Lin Xiaofeng interjected, "Forty-seven hours."

Zhu Ning: "So it's less than two days. The deadline should be shorter. We need to reserve some energy to escape the water droplet cluster. If I get injured and can't control the vehicle, we won't make it."

Bai Cheng: "Let's aim to resolve it within forty hours."

Pei Shu felt a toothache. These people were really bold, not only planning to enter the door but also aiming to "clear" it within forty hours.

The group adjusted their protective suits, all having resistant constitutions, but this was their first time feeling a bit fearful. They ensured their suits were sealed; behind the door could be hell itself.

The temperature outside the car was 150 degrees, so they needed to activate the cooling system in advance.

Lin Xiaofeng carefully maneuvered the flying car close to the airborne door, like a rocket docking. After two attempts, with Zhu Ning's assistance, they aligned the right side of the car door with the door frame. They left a meter gap because they didn't know if the door opened inward or outward.

The group organized the flying car and their personal items. Zhu Ning gave a signal, indicating she was going to open the window. Everyone else was already prepared.

The cooling system was running in the car. When the window was lowered, a wave of heat rushed in. An ordinary flying car would have melted long ago.

Zhu Ning braced against the heat, feeling like she was in an air fryer, a trembling little french fry that could be blown away if she didn't hold on tight.

Zhu Ning reached out of the window, feeling like she was at a highway toll booth, handing over the toll.

Half of her body protruded, and she glanced down, immediately retracting her gaze. It was too high, her heart pounding as she hovered ten thousand meters above the ground, the deep pit below seeming incredibly distant.

Fear of heights is ingrained in human DNA, and Zhu Ning was brave enough not to tremble.

A faint click, and Zhu Ning froze, turning the doorknob.

Her heart raced; the door was actually open. Zhu Ning didn't even need a universal key. As she paused, Lin Xiaofeng watched nervously, fearing the door might suddenly open, and a tentacle could drag the entire car away.

The door was definitely old, creaking as Zhu Ning took a deep breath and pulled it open.

Zhu Ning opened half the door. Pei Shu and Bai Cheng were in the back seat, blocked by the door, unable to see inside. They only saw Zhu Ning's stiffened half-body protruding.

Zhu Ning lingered for no more than three seconds before immediately releasing her hand, as if she had seen something bizarre. The door, losing its pull, was battered by the wind, clattering against the frame.

"What's wrong?" Pei Shu asked nervously, his right hand ablaze with flames, while Bai Cheng also prepared to support. The door in mid-air, behind it could be countless eyes or something even stranger.

Zhu Ning closed her eyes, seemingly struggling to describe what she saw. She organized her thoughts and said, "I saw an eye."

It must be some unknown creature, Pei Shu thought, imagining a monster behind the door. Zhu Ning continued, "At first, I saw a very large eyeball, bulging with red blood vessels. In front of it, I felt as small as an ant, but..."

When she opened the door, she found herself staring at an eye, and when the huge eyeball moved, it seemed like the moon was rotating.

Before opening the door, Zhu Ning had predicted that seeing an eye would feel familiar, but just a second later, the eye blinked, and its eyelashes, like a giant roller shutter, opened and closed before her.

Then the eye retreated, and Zhu Ning saw eyebrows and a nose bridge, followed by a human face, and finally, a complete face.

The man had black hair, yellowish skin, and acne, his skin condition so poor that comparing it to the moon's surface wasn't an exaggeration.

Countless pits and blackheads spread out before Zhu Ning. She guessed that if she were to fall into one of those pits, she wouldn't be able to climb out. A single pore seemed like an abyss, and the oily scalp might as well have been a swamp.

He was a young man, probably around twenty years old, with oily skin. He said something, as if noticing something and about to bend down to check again. Zhu Ning reacted quickly and immediately closed the door.

The world behind the door was vast to her; she could easily be crushed by a finger.

Pei Shu frowned, "So there's another world behind the door? With people like us? No... super giants?"

Zhu Ning's words were strange, making Pei Shu suspect she was dreaming. But considering the scale, a pimple to them would be a massive crater, meaning they were smaller than ants.

A super-large monster wasn't scary; a human with the same face, yet so enormous, was terrifying.

Zhu Ning's attention was not focused. She looked down at the deep pit created by weapon bombardment, thinking it might be a pimple.

The land was bombed because someone had popped a pimple, and the pus that spewed out resembled a mushroom cloud.

Thinking about it, Zhu Ning found it somewhat amusing and said, "We might be inside a model."

In that world, there was also a door. The man seemed to be inspecting something, and voices suggested there were at least three others behind him.

Zhu Ning recalled carefully; this door opened in their sky but in a miniature model in the other world.

The flame on Pei Shu's finger extinguished, finding it hard to respond to Zhu Ning's words. Instead, Bai Cheng asked, "Is this the truth of the world? Our world is actually a model? The end of the world is because the model was damaged? The source of pollution is the creator of the model?"

Zhu Ning exclaimed, "Very likely? Congratulations, we've found the truth?"

Pei Shu: "Not funny at all."

Bai Cheng asked, "Any more information? What does the model we're in look like?"

"Let me think," Zhu Ning said, "I didn't see much clearly, just remembered it was quite dark, not a normal environment, certainly not a child's dreamy Barbie castle, quite realistic."

Bai Cheng: "Maybe the way out is through the door?"

Since there was no other way around, it seemed only the other side of the door held any clues. Zhu Ning was unsure; if they crossed through the door, could they really return?

Their plan was rough; they would move together, with Zhu Ning leading, Lin Xiaofeng following closely, and Pei Shu bringing up the rear.

Zhu Ning opened the door again. This time, she didn't see anyone's eye or hear any sounds; it seemed those people had left. Zhu Ning suspected that at their current size, they were barely visible, like specks of dust in the air.

Knowing what lay beyond the door made it less frightening. Zhu Ning cautiously slipped inside, holding the door open for the others to follow.

When it was Lin Xiaofeng's turn, she couldn't help but glance down. As she stepped through, the vehicle swayed, and her feet felt empty, as if she were stepping into the void. Her vision spun, and before she could react, she found herself in another world.

Lin Xiaofeng felt dizzy, as if she had drunk too much or taken a hallucinogen. She felt like she was endlessly spinning and falling, with no goal or endpoint. The world seemed to crumble and expand, magnify and shrink, destroy and rebuild.

"Xiaofeng?" Zhu Ning's voice called out, "Xiaofeng?"

With a snap, Lin Xiaofeng felt pressure on her eardrums. Zhu Ning snapped her fingers next to her ear, and suddenly everything became clear. She saw Zhu Ning and the others.

Bai Cheng had another version of herself on her back, both wearing protective suits. Pei Shu leaned against the wall, breathing heavily, still adjusting. Zhu Ning supported Lin Xiaofeng, checking her condition.

Lin Xiaofeng came to, looking around. It appeared to be a room, where everything was much larger to her. There was a bed, a table, and even a delicate sink.

The model was highly realistic, unlike a typical human house, with no ceiling, just open space above.

The model was incomplete, with some areas unpainted. The door was brown with a small metal handle, but even the smallest details were larger than they were.

Lin Xiaofeng thought, they had truly entered another world, like five black specks of dust.

Compared to the model, they were tiny. Zhu Ning, about the size of the doorknob, jumped and hung onto it. Using both arms, she twisted and opened the door again, but this time, it led to another room, and the yellow sky was gone.