Chapter 36
The Gobi Desert night was bitterly cold, the wind whipping up sand like countless tiny ice knives scraping against her skin. Chen Mengzhou found a sheltered, sunken area in the rock face, barely shielding her from the wind and chill. Her injuries stabilized thanks to Chu Li's strange spiritual nourishment and the restoration of her own abilities, but the exhaustion from the intense exhaustion and mental shock washed over her like a tide, finally drowning her completely.
She curled up under the cold rock, her consciousness sinking uncontrollably into darkness.
No longer pure nothingness.
This time, the dream was bizarre, yet it had a heart-pounding sense of "reality".
She seemed to be floating in a boundless void composed of countless broken mirrors, each reflecting a different scene, a different "possibility."
She saw a towering tower like a mountain, gleaming with a cold metallic luster. A beam of energy light pierced through the sky and earth from the top of the tower. Below the tower was a crowd of people who were orderly but numb like worker ants - was that the ideal "perfect future" of Fortress Area A?
In the other mirror, the earth completely collapsed, and the turbulence of time and space fell from the sky like a waterfall, swallowing everything. A huge, indescribable shadow was wriggling in the depths of the cracks - was that the end of the "Pandora" project when it completely got out of control and the door was wide open?
Another mirror revealed a vibrant yet strangely twisted jungle, where plants and animals had undergone incomprehensible fusion and mutation, and human figures were rare and terrifying - was that another form of "evolution"?
The scene changes rapidly, breaking and reassembling.
Suddenly, the images in all the mirrors blurred and distorted at the same time, and finally froze -
No longer fragments of the future.
But...this is what is happening now!
Chu Li's figure appeared in a mirror.
She wasn't in the desolate Gobi Desert, but in a room... imbued with a sense of technology, yet strangely cold? The walls were a softly luminous material, windowless, with only a tightly closed alloy door. She sat on a simple bed, hugging her knees, head bowed, her expression unseen. But the loneliness and oppression that emanated from her, a sense of incompatibility with her surroundings, pierced through the dream and transmitted clearly to her.
She seems to be...under house arrest? Where?
The next second, the scene in the mirror zoomed in, focusing on Chu Li's slightly trembling fingertips. She was using her fingernails to very slowly and carefully carve a twisted symbol on the ground, resembling a lightning bolt piercing a circle—the symbol of Kronos!
Who is she sending a message to?
Immediately afterwards, the other mirror lit up!
The scene moved at high speed, as if viewed through the porthole of a speeding aircraft. Below, the charred, shattered earth flew by. The viewer was a stern-faced man wearing the uniform of a senior "Scavenger" commander. He was coldly issuing orders into the communicator:
"…Analysis of target S-07's transmission energy signature complete… Approximate area targeted: West Seventh District's Gobi Desert… Deploy all Hound units, coordinating with the Foundation's exploration team, to conduct a comprehensive search… Prioritize recovery of the Kronos Key… If necessary, render the target harmless…"
Hounds! Foundation exploration teams! They've roughly located her area! The hunt hasn't stopped, it's intensified!
The dream scene switches again!
This time, it was a chaotic, constantly exploding and reforming vortex of energy—the very remnant of the core of the S-114 explosion! And at the center of this raging energy, an extremely tiny, almost imperceptible distorted spot of light, like a virus, slowly and tenaciously absorbed the surrounding chaotic energy, quietly growing!
Is it the remnant of the monster that tried to pass through the "gate"?! It wasn't completely destroyed?! It's using the energy of the explosion to reshape itself?!
A strong sense of crisis pierced into Chen Mengzhou's dream like an ice cone!
Just then!
All the mirrors shook violently, and then went dark.
In the endless void, only the last mirror was still lit.
In the mirror, there is no longer a scene, but a pair of eyes.
Chu Li's eyes.
She seemed to have penetrated layers of space and was "looking" directly at Chen Mengzhou in the dream.
In those glass-like eyes, the usual sarcasm and coldness were gone, leaving only a deep, complex, almost overflowing sadness and eagerness.
Her lips didn't move, but an extremely clear thought resounded directly in the core of Shen Mengzhou's dream:
[——Run——] [——They’re coming——] [——Don’t trust the “Foundation”——] [——And don’t… trust me completely——] [——Come find me… but… not now…——] [——To the west… at the “Weeping Wall”… we’ll… meet again——]
Thoughts are intermittent, as if suffering from great pain and interference.
The moment the last sentence fell, the mirror shattered!
The entire dream space began to collapse violently!
Chen Mengzhou suddenly woke up from his dream, sat up, his heart pounding wildly, and cold sweat instantly soaked through his already thin clothes.
The cold wind from the Gobi Desert blew into her collar, making her shiver, but it was far less chilling than the last glance and thought in her dream.
The dream... was too real! Especially Chu Li's final warning and... that promise?
The "Weeping Wall"? What's that? The west side?
She subconsciously touched her chest, and the cold black compass pressed against her skin, as if the throbbing from her dream still lingered.
Chu Li was under house arrest? Was she warning him? Why? What did "Don't trust me completely" mean?
There's also a joint search by the Foundation exploration team and the Hounds... They're getting close!
Chen Mengzhou took a deep breath of cold air and forced himself to calm down.
Whether the dream was a premonition, an illusion, or some kind of communication across space, the approaching danger was certain.
Can't stay.
She quickly stood up and checked her condition. Her injuries had mostly healed, and her abilities had also recovered a lot, at least she could protect herself and move.
We must leave here immediately and head west.
Go find the so-called "Weeping Wall".
Go to that appointment with the future that is hard to tell true from false and full of unknowns.
She took a last look at the Gobi Desert where she had temporarily lived, her eyes determined.
Then, he turned around, took a step forward, and his figure quickly merged into the deepest darkness before dawn.
Only a series of lonely footprints were left on the sand behind him, which were soon wiped out by the wind and sand.
It was as if no one had ever been here.
Only the sad and anxious eyes in the dream, and the words "we will meet again", are like a brand, deeply engraved in my heart.
The road ahead is unknown and full of dangers.
But she had no choice.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
