Chapter 44
The cold rain pounded against the leaves and also against Shen Mengzhou's already soaked shoulders. Chu Li was very light, lying on her back, breathing weakly but evenly, like an exhausted child, trapped in a nightmare from which he could not wake up.
With every step, her body screamed with pain and exhaustion. The emptiness brought on by mental exhaustion was more excruciating than the physical trauma. But she couldn't stop. This forest seemed peaceful, but no one knew what might emerge next. The Foundation, scavengers, or even other unknown dangers could follow any trace.
They had to find an absolutely safe place where both of them could catch their breath, treat their injuries, and especially... find out Chu Li's condition.
Her spatial perception was nearly non-existent, and she could only rely on her most basic senses of sight and hearing as she cautiously navigated the dark forest beneath the rain. Fortunately, she didn't walk far before a dark, gloomy cave entrance loomed ahead—a small cavern, its entrance obscured by dense vines, appearing dry and secluded.
Carefully pushing aside the vines, they found a small space inside, but it was large enough for two people. The ground was dry sand, and there was no smell of wild animals.
Safe for now.
Chen Mengzhou gently placed Chu Li in the driest corner of the cave, then slumped down at the entrance, panting heavily, raindrops dripping down her hair. She forced herself to gather her last bit of energy and carefully check Chu Li's condition.
Aside from weakness and unconsciousness, there were no obvious injuries. But Chen Mengzhou could sense that the immense and unique spiritual power within Chu Li was now like a lake ravaged by a storm, chaotic and silent, even... with an indescribable sense of exhaustion.
As if it had experienced a huge consumption.
Was it the manipulation of that "echo"? Or was it the backlash of the final explosion?
Chen Mengzhou took out the last bit of clean drinking water and carefully moistened Chu Li's chapped lips. The girl swallowed unconsciously in her coma, and her brow seemed to relax for a moment.
After treating Chu Li, she began to examine her own injuries. Most of them were flesh wounds and energy backlash, which looked scary, but with her recovery ability, she would be able to recover after a period of rest. The most troublesome thing was the exhaustion of her mental strength, which could not be recovered in a short time.
She leaned against the cold rock wall, closed her eyes, and tried to enter the deepest level of meditation to speed up her recovery. But as soon as she closed her eyes, the scene of that abnormal space, the strange smile of "Chu Li", and the twisted and painful heads of Zhao Junlin, Xiaozhou and others... came back like a nightmare.
And the complicated look in Chu Li's eyes during the final explosion...
She suddenly opened her eyes and her breathing became a little rapid.
His gaze fell on the unconscious Chu Li's face again.
Quiet, pale, and fragile, it was completely different from that hollow and eerie "echo."
Which one is the real her? Or... both?
Time passed in the silent sound of rain. The sky outside the cave gradually darkened, but the rain showed no sign of stopping.
Sudden!
Chu Li's body twitched violently!
Let out an extremely painful, suffocating gasp!
Chen Mengzhou instantly became alert and rushed to her side.
Chu Li's eyes were tightly closed, but a fine layer of cold sweat oozed from her forehead. She bit her lower lip so hard that it almost drew blood. Her body began to tremble uncontrollably, and a suppressed, broken whimper came from her throat.
“…No…don’t…” “…Let go…Mom…” “…It hurts…” “…It wasn’t me…I didn’t do it…”
Intermittent, extremely painful mumblings escaped from her lips.
Was she having a nightmare? Or... was she experiencing some kind of mental regression?
Chen Mengzhou tried to hold down her trembling shoulders, but found that her body temperature was rising rapidly and was frighteningly hot!
This wasn't just a fever! It was a sign of her mental power going out of control! If this continued, her consciousness and even her brain might be burned out!
"Chu Li! Wake up!" Chen Mengzhou slapped her cheek hard, trying to wake her up.
But Chu Li didn't react at all, instead he trembled even more violently, and his mumbling turned into screams!
“…Keyholes! So many keyholes!!” “…Behind the wall…they’re crying…” “…It’s not me! You forced me to do it!!”
Her mental power began to overflow uncontrollably, the air around her was slightly distorted, and gravel on the cave wall fell down!
We can’t wait any longer!
Chen Mengzhou gritted her teeth, a flicker of determination in her eyes. She stretched out her hands, put her index and middle fingers together, and gently tapped Chu Li's temples.
Then, she forcibly squeezed out her exhausted mental strength, and carefully, like the most delicate scalpel, she probed into Chu Li's chaotic and violent mental world!
—Mind intervention! Extremely dangerous behavior! If you’re not careful, both of you will become idiots!
Buzz!
It was as if I had crashed into a boiling sea of storm with lightning and thunder!
Countless broken memory fragments, distorted perceptions, painful howls, cold experimental data... impacted Chen Mengzhou's consciousness like a tsunami!
She saw the cold needle and the shadowless light... She saw her mother's desperate eyes as she was dragged away... She saw Dr. Adrian's feverish face... She saw the bizarre fragments in the vortex of the "Dream Weaver"... She saw the coldness and emptiness when the "echo" took over her body... She even saw herself... From different perspectives, cold, evaluative, and occasionally flashing with a hint of complex emotions...
The huge flow of information and emotional impact almost overwhelmed Shen Mengzhou's consciousness! She held on to her mind tightly, like a reef in the raging sea, struggling to find the core of Chu Li's consciousness.
Found it!
At the very center of the storm, a small, curled-up ball of light, entangled by countless chains and icy data streams... was Chu Li's true consciousness, struggling in agony, about to be completely swallowed up by the surrounding chaos.
Chen Mengzhou gathered all his strength, transformed into a warm yet firm light, and slammed into those cold chains and data streams!
laugh!
Just like a red-hot iron meeting ice water, a violent conflict breaks out on the spiritual level!
Chu Li suddenly let out an extremely shrill scream and his body arched violently!
Chen Mengzhou also groaned, and blood flowed from the corner of her mouth again, but she did not retreat, and her mental power rushed forward even more violently!
She knew that this was not hurt, but...liberation!
Snap!
It's like something is broken!
The chains and data streams wrapped around Chu Li's core of consciousness suddenly broke and dissipated!
Outside, Chu Li's body trembling suddenly stopped and the high fever quickly subsided.
The mental storm slowly subsided.
Chen Mengzhou withdrew his hand as if exhausted, and collapsed to the ground. His vision went dark, and the last bit of his mental strength was exhausted.
And Chu Li slowly, slowly... opened his eyes.
Those glass-like eyes were no longer empty, nor were they filled with the mockery or coldness from before. Instead, they were filled with extreme fatigue, confusion, and... pain that was so deep that it could be seen to the bone.
She stared at the ceiling of the cave for a long time, as if trying to confirm where she was.
Then, she slowly turned her head and her eyes fell on Shen Mengzhou, who was slumped beside her, his face as pale as paper and his breath weak.
Their eyes met.
There was dead silence in the cave, with only the sound of rain outside.
for a long time.
Chu Li's lips moved, making a dry and hoarse sound, so soft that it was almost inaudible.
"...Why...save me?"
Chen Mengzhou closed his eyes tiredly, then slowly opened them again, his voice still hoarse: "...I don't know."
A brief silence.
Chu Li slowly sat up, hugged his knees, buried his face in them, and his shoulders trembled slightly. There was no crying, but the silent trembling was more suffocating than any wailing.
Chen Mengzhou did not disturb her, but just leaned against the rock wall quietly to recover his strength.
After a long time, Chu Li finally raised her head. There were no traces of tears on her face, only a kind of almost numb calmness. But deep in her eyes, something was different. The cold shell that had always enveloped her seemed to have cracked.
"...You...saw everything?" she asked softly, her voice still hoarse.
"I saw some." Chen Mengzhou replied.
Chu Li lowered his head and looked at his pale and slender hands, which were stained with countless blood and despair.
"...that thing...'Echo'...it's me...and it's not me." She began to narrate, her tone flat but with a slight tremor, "It's the Foundation...it's 'Dream Weaver'...and this damn 'Wall'...they left...an imprint in my brain. Normally it's dormant...When I'm weak, or close to the 'Wall'...it wakes up...and tries to take over me..."
"What does it want to do?"
"...Go home." Chu Li forced a smile that was uglier than crying. "It... or rather, those things on the 'other side' that created it... they want to pass through the 'wall'... and return here... They think... this is their 'homeland'... and I am the most suitable 'coordinate' and 'container'..."
Chen Mengzhou's heart was shaken. Homeland? Those strange creatures thought Earth was their homeland?!
"That explosion..."
"The explosion... injured it... and also... temporarily severed its connection with the 'wall'..." Chu Li hugged himself tightly, as if he was very cold. "I... I barely managed to regain a little control... but... it's still... in my mind... just dormant for the time being..."
She raised her head and looked at Chen Mengzhou, her eyes complicated and difficult to understand: "You...you could have taken advantage of that time...to kill me. That would...be the safest way."
Chen Mengzhou was silent for a moment, then said calmly, "And then? Wait for the next 'container' to appear? Or wait for the 'wall' to completely collapse?"
Chu Li was stunned.
"Your pain and hatred shouldn't be exploited or defined by those things." Chen Mengzhou looked at her, his eyes calm but sharp. "Only you can decide who you are and what you should do."
Chu Li stared at her in a daze. In his glass-like eyes, there seemed to be something frozen that was slowly melting and cracking, revealing a flame hidden deep underneath that never went out.
She turned her head sharply, her shoulders shaking slightly again.
This time, Chen Mengzhou heard extremely suppressed, broken sobs.
She didn't say anything else, just waited quietly.
The rain had stopped at some point, and the faint morning light shone through the cave.
After a long time, Chu Li finally stopped shaking. She wiped her face fiercely with the back of her hand, and when she turned back, although there were still traces of tears on her face, her eyes had changed.
It was a look that had lifted some of the burden, yet carried an even heavier determination.
She looked at Chen Mengzhou, her voice still hoarse, but with a hint of strength.
"……Thanks."
Then she paused, took a deep breath, as if she had made some kind of decision.
"I know... a secret of the Foundation."
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