Chapter 11 Reflection

Having arrived in this world for a full day and night, everyone hadn't had a single bite to eat, let alone a drink of water. If things continued like this, they wouldn't need those bizarre things to come looking for them; they'd die of thirst.

So, everyone decided to split up and look for water and food.

At the same time, because of the curse the people of Black Rock Town spoke of, they also had to leave people to guard the flame, because only if the fire in the lighthouse didn't go out could they escape the curse.

After the incident with the motorcycle woman, even during the day, everyone felt a chill in the air. In the end, apart from the old woman, they decided to leave two more people behind, so they could at least look out for each other.

Su Xiaoxiao made the excuse that it was inconvenient to move around with her younger brother and hoped to stay, but Jiang Cheng and Chen Ran jointly rejected her, reasoning that Su An had strong perception, and going out might lead to the discovery of new clues.

In the end, Chen Ran and Liang Long were the ones left behind.

Upon hearing this news, Liang Long felt terrible all over. She seemed to want to argue her case a bit more.

But Jiang Cheng turned around and left with Fatty. Su Xiaoxiao took another look at Chen Ran and the old woman in the corner before leaving as well.

Liang Long looked like she wanted to follow them, but after noticing the inexplicable gaze behind her, she seemed to lose the ability to move. After a moment of blankness, she obediently sat down again.

Chen Ran still wore that amiable expression, but not towards Liang Long, but towards the mumbling old woman on the other side.

An intense sense of crisis crept up Liang Long's spine, little by little.

......

Jiang Cheng and Fatty strolled along the beach, the waves lapping at their feet, wetting their trousers. Their feet squelched "嘎吱嘎吱" in their damp shoes.

Jiang Cheng stared at his feet, occasionally glancing at the sea, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Doctor," Fatty asked curiously, "what are you looking at?"

"This sea... it's so clean..." Jiang Cheng said.

"It is pretty clean. Look how fine this sand is," Fatty used his foot to push aside a layer of fine sand on the ground, revealing that the sand underneath was still very fine. Setting aside the danger here, it was truly a resort destination.

"I'm not talking about that," Jiang Cheng exhaled, looking at the path wetted by the seawater under his feet, and continued, "Now is low tide. The mudflats have already been exposed. People who live by the sea will choose to take advantage of this time to scavenge the sea, which means they'll collect fish, shrimp, and shellfish that were trapped in the shallows and couldn't make it back to the sea in time because of the receding tide."

He pointed to a large, wide area in front of him. "But look, there's not even half a dead shell, let alone fish or shrimp. This sea... it's like it's empty."

Fatty blinked, then nodded as if he had just realized something, and said, "Doctor, you're right. I was wondering why the beach was so clean when I first got here. So that's why."

Under normal circumstances, the sea in the real world would definitely not be like this. Fatty seemed to have thought of something, his expression suddenly changing as he said, "Doctor, could this be a sign that something's about to happen?"

He licked his lips, his eyes darting back and forth, and continued, "I remember hearing about things like this. It was about how fishermen along the coast discovered something abnormal near the sea, and not long after, a great disaster occurred, killing many people."

Jiang Cheng shook his head. "It's different. The situation you're talking about is usually a sign before a tsunami. Tsunamis are usually caused by fractures in the seabed's crust, landslides, or volcanic eruptions."

"It usually manifests as deep-sea creatures, like oarfish, being stranded on the shore in large numbers, and whales ramming and killing themselves on the shallows, which is the opposite of the current situation."

The current situation was that the coast was excessively clean, with nothing at all.

Fatty swallowed and looked at Jiang Cheng, asking softly, "Doctor, do you have any ideas?"

The abnormality here was obvious, but for someone like Jiang Cheng, abnormality also meant clues.

In nightmares, he didn't worry about things or phenomena that looked strange, but he dreaded when everything seemed reasonable.

Stroking his chin, Jiang Cheng seemed to be thinking as well.

After waiting for a long time without Jiang Cheng paying attention to him, Fatty couldn't sit still any longer. He paused, and then said in a pleading tone, "Doctor, tell me what you're thinking, please. I'm a little scared right now..."

Jiang Cheng, uncharacteristically, didn't take the opportunity to scare him, but instead said directly, "Two possibilities," he began, "First, this place is being affected by some kind of bizarre power, leading to the current situation."

Fatty looked at Jiang Cheng, and after a long while, asked, "Then... then what's the second?"

"Hoo--" Jiang Cheng exhaled, looked up at Fatty's eyes, the latter couldn't help but be stunned for a moment. "Fatty," Jiang Cheng said slowly, "I suspect that this isn't our world at all."

Upon hearing this, Fatty paused for a few seconds, and then began to tremble all over. The doctor's words completely subverted their previous assumptions about nightmares.

In their original guess, nightmares were real events that had occurred in the past, a segment of real history that had been extracted by some force along the river of time. In other words, it had a beginning and an end.

No matter what the people chosen to enter did, whether they lived or died, it wouldn't affect the ending of the event as a real event.

All they could affect was the process.

But if nightmares weren't real worlds, but just... a misty dream, then naturally, it wouldn't need to abide by the rules of real events, which meant it had a beginning and an end.

More importantly... logic.

So...!!

It was likely unsolvable!

This meant that no matter what they did, what clues they obtained, or whether they uncovered the truth, the final outcome was death. The way they died could be illogical, bizarre, or even nonsensical.

Tsunamis, earthquakes, sudden building collapses, or even a few monsters suddenly appearing and tearing them apart...

All of this was possible.

After all, dreams don't need logic. They are just a suspended, existing in the illusory, inexplicable carrier.

"Doc...doctor..." Fatty's teeth were chattering as he thought about this. His eyes were slightly bulging. "You... you mean we..."

Jiang Cheng glanced at Fatty and roughly guessed what he was thinking. "This is just the most extreme example. It's probably not that bad. At least the missions we've experienced before were all traceable."

"Maybe..." Jiang Cheng thought for a moment, but in the end, he didn't say it.

"Doctor," Fatty said, "please, let me die knowing why. Next time I'm reincarnated, I'll know how to tell people in advance."

Jiang Cheng hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Perhaps... I mean perhaps, this place is just another expression of our world, uh... another way of expressing it."

"A way of expressing it?" Fatty stared blankly at the doctor, obviously not understanding what the latter meant.

"You can understand it as this place is real in our world, but this place isn't our world, but..." He paused, then looked up and said, "A reflection of our world."