Chapter 88 The world inside and outside

at the same time.

All the faint noises from the neighboring house disappeared.

All sounds ceased abruptly.

Duan Xi's expression changed slightly, and he suddenly stood up, gun in hand. "Everyone outside is gone!"

It was exactly midnight.

Because they have been underground for a long time and cannot distinguish between day and night, people's biological clocks are disrupted. On their way here, they saw many people walking in the corridor.

Duan Xi's spiritual body remained outside the door.

I witnessed everyone disappear in an instant.

Xie Tu stared blankly at the ceiling, pondering why the sound of dripping water had disappeared.

Two worlds, one inside and one outside?

He looked away, pointed to his forehead, and asked Yun Zhao, "Has the color of the flames changed?"

Yun Zhao understood what he meant; he suspected that the rules had already been established.

She came up to him, leaned closer, and reached out to touch the golden flames dancing on his forehead. "It's still golden, but the color seems to have darkened."

It wasn't as bright as when I first came in.

Why?

I didn't sense any dark matter encroaching upon me, nor did I sense anything amiss with his emotions...

What do gatekeepers rely on to collect emotions?

The little bluebird had been standing on top of the main body's head, and now the two were very close together, with it extremely close to the annoying creature.

The little creature tilted its head and used its silver beak to suddenly poke at the man's forehead.

Xie Tu stared at her for only a few seconds before taking two steps back, dodging the little creature's sharp beak, and simultaneously shifting his gaze away.

He could clearly sense the guide's unique aura, faint yet seemingly possessing a mysterious attraction.

Whenever we get too close, I have to consciously try to stay calm.

The little bluebird missed its target.

Ugh, those annoying sentries.

Xie Tu ignored Qingluan, who was deliberately causing trouble, and turned to call out to his teammates with a stern face, "Go out and take a look!"

"yes!"

Yun Zhao had already withdrawn his hand, bent down to pick up his military backpack, and casually asked, "What did that rustling sound mean just now?"

"What was that rustling sound?" The rabbit turned around, looking somewhat bewildered. "Was there a sound just now?"

Yun Zhao froze, instinctively looking at Xie Tu.

Xie Tu's eyes darkened. "We didn't hear anything."

Yun Zhao pursed his lips, "It was the sound that suddenly appeared when the time jumped to twelve o'clock. The sound was very loud, like it was right next to my ear..."

The sentries have excellent hearing; it's impossible for them not to hear.

She realized that it seemed only she could hear the 'scratching' sound.

Like that will-o'-the-wisp, only she could see it...

"The sound was a bit like 'snap' and a bit like 'swish,' similar to the sound of turning pages." Yun Zhao didn't know how else to describe it; this was the most accurate word she could think of.

Song Liang interjected, "Could it be related to the gatekeeper?"

Yun Zhao shook his head: "I don't know."

Xie Tu didn't speak, but drew his Tang sword and grabbed the backpack strap of the person next to him. "Let's go out and see what happens."

"receive."

Tao Haohao had already opened the door, revealing the view outside.

The group of people came out of the room.

The entire corridor was deserted.

A dim oil lamp hung on the wall, its faint light illuminating a corner of the corridor.

The dark matter seemed to become denser, drifting in the air, exuding an endless sense of gloom and permeating an eerie silence.

One corner of the connecting corridor of the circular building faces the oval-shaped plaza.

The square was also deserted, and the soldiers on duty had all disappeared.

Looking at the oil lamps hanging on the wall, Tao Haohao suddenly had a thought and whispered, "Could the gatekeeper be an oil lamp?"

The only flames present in the entire contaminated area were these oil lamps.

Could it be related to the will-o'-the-wisps on their foreheads?

"That makes sense!" The team members thought it was possible.

Duan Xi suggested, "Then let's try turning off these oil lamps?"

Xie Tu switched to his communicator to check the pollution concentration, which was 79%. He did not object upon hearing this.

It's better to tinker around haphazardly than to have no idea at all; you never know, you might just stumble upon something useful.

He grabbed Yun Zhao's backpack strap and turned around to signal her to follow.

Yun Zhao had no choice but to follow him.

The two of them went to room B-2206 next door.

Xie Tu used his Tang sword to pry open the door lock and enter to investigate.

The layout was exactly the same, with twelve bunk beds. The beds were messy, and some living supplies were stuffed under the beds, indicating that the room was occupied.

But now the house is empty.

Xie Tu glanced at it, then left and used the same method to pry open the two adjacent rooms.

The same result.

Everyone vanished in an instant.

Yun Zhao found a small, round, portable mirror by the door. She squatted down, picked it up, and looked at her forehead again.

There was still nothing there.

Yun Zhao put down the mirror and put it in his pocket. "Let's go check out B2205."

2205 is the residence of the young man named Qi Ling.

The flames are different colors, so the situation might be different.

Xie Tu: "Mm."

In the corridor, the team members stood outside the door and had already extinguished the two oil lamps nearby.

They didn't continue their actions, but waited for the captain and Yun Zhao to come out.

"Yun Zhao, take a look, has the ghost fire on our foreheads changed?"

The two oil lamps nearby went out, making the view dim.

A group of people, fearing she couldn't see clearly, took out their flashlights and shone them on their own faces.

The light shining on their faces... well, made them look pale and eerie.

Yun Zhao was silent for a moment, then said, "Put the flashlight down first."

"Okay, okay." The group quickly put away their flashlights.

Yun Zhao then examined it carefully and said, "No change."

Song Liang breathed a sigh of relief, and the group continued along the corridor, extinguishing all the oil lamps.

Xie Tu and Yun Zhao arrived at the door of B-2205, pried open the lock, and revealed the scene inside.

The nearby oil lamps were out, making the room very dark.

Neither of them went inside.

Yun Zhao didn't have the sentries' night vision, so she took out a flashlight from her backpack and stood at the doorway, shining it on each bed.

Then, she saw the upper bunk against the wall inside, with a faint arched shadow.

It's Qi Ling.

He didn't disappear?

"Try waking him up."

After Xie Tu finished speaking, he deliberately struck the iron bed frame with his Tang sword, making a loud 'bang bang bang' sound.

The loud noise startled the teammates who were turning off the lights.

Duan Xijia's peregrine falcon peeked over cautiously, its gait somewhat comical, resembling a hunched-over old man with his hands behind his back.

Seeing that everything was alright, the peregrine falcon shook its head and ran back to its host.

The loud banging echoed down the corridor, but the person on the bed remained unresponsive.

Duan Xi received feedback from the spiritual entity, learning that they had found someone who hadn't disappeared, and rushed over, "Captain, could he be the gatekeeper?"

Otherwise, how can this particularity be explained?

Xie Tu stopped tapping and said calmly, "No."

His obsession with going home was strong, but he couldn't explain the will-o'-the-wisp and the strange noise Yun Zhao had just heard.

'Crackling'? 'Swish'?

What exactly does that sound represent?

Duan Xi was somewhat disappointed upon hearing this.

They were constantly worried that the flames on their foreheads would change; this unseen danger was truly frustrating.

Yun Zhao spoke up: "What I'm more curious about is, where did the missing person go?"

After a moment's thought, Xie Tu offered his conjecture: "Perhaps there are two worlds in the 28th contaminated zone, the surface world and the inner world. Maybe they are distinguished by the color of the flames. The people with gray-black flames stayed in the surface world, while we came to the inner world."

That explains why Qi Ling is here too.

Because the color of his flames was different from everyone else's.

This also explains why there are two timelines, one above ground and one underground, because Shelter 28 is composed of two separate worlds.