Chapter 48: Chapter 5: The World in the Dark Night 1
The information is immense.
Just as Su Ziyu was contemplating whether Jack’s words could be trusted and what secrets might be hidden within them, a slight change occurred in the data stream of the mental space, and then some information was transmitted to his mind.
"Corruption phenomenon detected in the current plane, activating autonomous response mode of the Space-Time Monitor System."
"Mission released: Investigate the cause of corruption in the current plane."
"Mission reward: Increase in authority level! Activate plane coordinate positioning!..."
Since the activation of the autonomous response mode in the previous world, the original function of the data stream seemed to be gradually restoring, like it was meant to target some bizarre corruption phenomena.
Plane coordinate positioning?
Could it locate the world he once visited?
A sense of joy arose in Su Ziyu’s heart, seeing a glimmer of hope to return home. The authority level of the Space-Time Monitor System seemed to be related to the Hourglass of Time, suggesting that he might truly use the power of the Hourglass to return.
"Curse? Nightmare? Corruption?"
Su Ziyu glanced at two Great Elves inside the cabin, who had transformed into monster-like entities, and pondered, "Where should I start my investigation? The existence of this world is quite eerie! Not only are there Great Elves, but also Witches—I wonder what kind of monsters we’ll encounter!"
"I hope the BTL82M Anti-Material Sniper Rifle I brought along will still be useful."
This seems to be a supernatural world.
Su Ziyu looked around at the mist; this fog felt somewhat familiar to him because when he met Lina, the village had such mist during the night. The Ghost-faced Monkey’s worship of an Evil God’s statue also controlled others in this environment. He suspected this world’s monsters might be similar to that incident, and dealing with these supernatural entities might not be as straightforward as eliminating radiation mutants.
All the Great Elves were asleep.
They slept deeply, seemingly dreaming, yet he was unsure what constituted their dreams. Occasionally, their dreams prompted them to perform strange actions like chewing, biting, and tearing, with their black, sharp fingernails sometimes grazing the air.
No one knew where Jack had gone.
Su Ziyu was sure that the man was the one called ’deviant’ during the day, Pick, yet he seemed disinterested in Pick’s daytime demeanor.
Who was he?
What was he?
Second personality? Subconscious? Another soul? Or something else entirely?
To unravel all the mysteries here, Su Ziyu had to find a way to get more information from him.
The entire town was very quiet.
At this moment, Su Ziyu wasn’t sleepy at all. He cautiously made a round and arrived at the edge of the fence. The moon in the sky was slightly reddish, and no stars were visible. The fog outside the town grew thicker, and faint wailing sounds could be heard, seemingly mixed with other noises.
The town was not large.
All the Great Elves were asleep, and Su Ziyu vaguely seemed to hear something. He carefully climbed over the fence and walked outside.
"These trees?"
The fruit trees along the road had changed in appearance; their lush green leaves and bright red fruits seen during the day had all withered, twisting in grotesque postures, with barren trunks bending in one direction, as if they had been dead for a long time.
Various mushrooms grew in the fields by the roadside, emitting a faint glow, in bizarre shapes and vibrant colors, swaying gently with the night breeze.
The sunflower fields, on the other hand, were very quiet.
Su Ziyu took a deep breath and quietly walked over, though there was wind, the sunflowers remained motionless.
Suddenly.
A sunflower closest to him moved slightly, then slowly turned, revealing a bizarre, dull, and spine-chilling human face. The eerie face was wrinkled, resembling about seventy or eighty percent of the daytime Great Elves.
Time seemed to momentarily freeze.
Then.
The sunflowers simultaneously turned their heads; the bizarre, dull faces all turned towards Su Ziyu, and they simultaneously grinned, exposing eerie smiles that made one’s skin crawl.
Every sunflower was adorned with an aged human face.
They smiled bizarrely and dully, fixatedly staring at Su Ziyu.
At that moment.
Su Ziyu felt as if his head was about to explode, as though needles were piercing it, his spirit rapidly weakened, and even his consciousness was slightly dulled. He couldn’t help but want to grin, his facial muscles appearing close to losing control, forcing him to slowly reveal a sinister smile identical to those human faces on the sunflowers.
Yet Su Ziyu didn’t fully notice due to the intense mental pain, only feeling his face grow stiff.
"Alert! Alert!"
"Detected source of mental pollution!... Please evacuate immediately!..."
Slap! Slap!
Finally reacting, Su Ziyu slapped himself twice, then grabbed his own face with both hands, forcibly pulling back the sinister smile that was about to appear. He gritted his lips tightly, turned around, and fervently rubbed his face until he felt control return to his facial muscles.
At the same time.
As Su Ziyu turned away, all the sunflowers in the eerie sunflower field also turned their heads, one by one; the aged human faces gradually lost their smiles, expressionlessly facing away from Su Ziyu. It was as if only when Su Ziyu didn’t look at them would they refrain from turning to gaze at him.
"Don’t look! Don’t look!"
"Absolutely must not look at them again!"
Su Ziyu forcibly suppressed the urge to turn back, keeping his pace forward until he returned near the town. Only then did he stop, feeling drenched in cold sweat.
"What on earth are those things!" Su Ziyu’s heart was racing; the tension had yet to subside.
He felt mentally drained.
Though he felt no physical fatigue, his spirit seemed to have exhausted entirely, his mind becoming sluggish, his head sleepy and heavy.
He needed rest.
No more mindless wandering.
Su Ziyu quickly returned to his room, falling asleep within minutes.
The mist outside thickened.
The entire town was enveloped in an eerie silence, with only faint wailing from the night wind. Under the black night sky, everything seemed sinister and bizarre, like another entirely different world.
Jingle jingle!
As Su Ziyu fell asleep, a crisp and melodious bell echoed far into the night. A slender figure in a black cloak strolled through the desolate and silent fields, soon reaching the outskirts of the town. She appeared to sense something, sniffed the air, then transformed into smoke and vanished on the spot.
.........