Abnormal situation
"I say... don't you think that old man is a little strange?"
The three of them rode on the mecha beasts and climbed onto the shelf of the waterwheel and slowly rose up. After confirming that the old man on the shore could not have heard their conversation, Morina came over and expressed her point of view.
"It's quite strange."
Ruixia nodded and looked at Ximu, who had just withdrawn his gaze from below.
Even though they were so far away, they still didn't let down their guard. It seemed that Ximu's views were roughly the same as his companions'.
No wonder they are so cautious.
After wandering in this ghost place full of monsters and corpses for so long, it was a happy thing to finally meet a living person.
But the old magician's performance was really incongruous.
He seemed completely unaware of the anomalies in the woods and said nothing about the monsters hunting lost people. It seemed as if the so-called enemy attacks were the more serious situation.
Did he really not notice at all?
Or is it that the abnormality on the other side of the lake has not yet spread here, so he is not aware of it?
"Also, the commission he proposed seems reasonable, but it's also untenable..."
As she was speaking, Ruixia's voice suddenly stopped.
——Because Ximu suddenly took a step forward and reached out to hold his hand.
The girl's body temperature, which was lower than that of an ordinary person, gradually dissipated between his fingers, and the thoughts in his mind were so frightened that they scattered like birds and beasts, and Ruixia was immediately frozen in place.
He turned his eyes with difficulty and found that Ximu not only pulled his hand, but also held Molina next to him with his other hand. Only then did he slowly regain his senses and pulled his hand away embarrassedly.
The warmth of his palm suddenly disappeared, and Ximu looked at Ruixia in some confusion, even feeling a sense of inexplicable loss at his subconscious avoidance.
Why pull it away?
It was obvious that Morina didn't dodge.
"……What's wrong?"
The boy gathered his thoughts and expressed his doubts in the calmest voice possible.
"Confirm."
Not taking this little incident too seriously, Ximu took the initiative to let go of Molina's hand and explained, "I always feel that that person is 'different' from us in some ways. But I've observed his breathing, pulse, and even his shadow under the light, and he's no different from a normal person."
"Do you suspect that the old man is some kind of monster in disguise?"
Morina covered her mouth with one hand, then stretched her head and glanced at the old magician on the shore.
The old man did not continue to watch them. Due to the distance, it was difficult to see what he was doing at the moment. He only knew that he seemed to have turned around and sat down alone on the shore.
"'Different'? ...Could it be because, compared to us clear 'outsiders', he behaves more like a 'local'?"
Faced with Ruixia's speculation, Ximu did not dare to make a conclusion.
In fact, the old man behaved very normally, even too normal... But it was precisely because he had been trapped in the dense forest for such a long time before that this "normality" seemed particularly full of loopholes.
"Since you also think he's a little strange, why did you accept his commission?"
Instead of answering Morina's question directly, Ruisha talked about something else: "Remember the 'border' we encountered in the woods before?"
"Remember, no matter which way we go, as long as we cross a certain predetermined range, we will be randomly teleported back to a certain place in the woods."
Morina tilted her head, but she quickly understood what Ruisha meant and showed an expression of sudden enlightenment.
"You mean..."
"While I was talking to the old man, I took a quick look at the surrounding forest... Unfortunately, the energy flows in this area are very similar to those in the area across the lake."
"That is to say... we can't explore and leave normally there, so maybe it's the same here?"
"yes."
Seeing Morina's bitter face, Ruixia also smiled bitterly.
"Even if we leave him behind and continue exploring the surrounding area, I don't think we'll gain much... In that case, we might as well go inside this academy and take a look. And, look here."
As usual, the content on the screen unfolded, and Ruixia pointed to a very obvious break in the diagram, and there was some unconcealable excitement in her voice.
"The magic circle that previously enveloped the forest and had been trying to seize our power was clearly cut off at the intersection of the seal. In other words..."
"As long as we enter the sealed magic academy, we will no longer be threatened by it."
Xi Mu took up his words, and the two of them looked at each other tacitly.
"I see. No wonder you agreed to his commission even though he's so suspicious... So you just wanted to use this as an excuse to get in!"
Morina was naturally happy that she didn't have to use the mind-clearing spell to protect herself all the time, but the other two still didn't look relaxed.
"What's wrong? Any other questions?"
“It’s a big problem.”
As the waterwheel continued to rise, they were getting closer and closer to the platform on the rock wall. Ruixia and Ximu turned around at the same time, concentrating their attention there with bated breath.
"Didn't you hear the sound?"
Yes, there is indeed a sound.
In fact, as they gradually approached that place, some scattered conversations floated down.
But when you listen carefully, the words are not very clear. They are probably some chatting and joking, like there is a group of people carrying supplies there, mixed with jokes and insults like "Master Wizards have so many demands" and "Just do your job", which is very lifelike.
But the closer they got, the more disorganized and fragmented the voices became, and the content changed from relaxed daily conversations to screams and wails. Some people were shouting for help, some were breaking things while running, and some were shouting words of despair like "I can't take it anymore". After a crisp sound of falling into the water, there was no sound.
Molina subconsciously looked in the direction of the sound and seemed to see a corpse floating in the water, which disappeared in a moment.
"What's going on..."
Knowing that her teammates couldn't answer it either, she grumbled and leaned closer to them.
The waterwheel continued to rise, finally reaching its apex, slowly carrying them towards the first stop leading into the academy. But as their vision gradually cleared, the three of them subconsciously held their breath without a single expression.
No one.
There was no one on the material transportation platform where countless broken whispers were heard.
This time, Ruixia walked to the front of the team and directly opened the defensive barrier.
"Go ahead."
He didn't say much, but his meaning was very clear.
They couldn't just stay on the waterwheel and wander around because the situation was unknown. If they wanted to know what was happening here, there was no other way except to experience it themselves.
Fortunately, the three of them had already developed a good understanding through their previous collaborations, both large and small. After the water truck brought them to a safe distance, they acted almost simultaneously without much instruction, jumped down and landed safely and smoothly.
To be on the safe side, they did not choose a more spacious place, but instead landed right at the very edge of the platform.
As it turned out, they were right.
"this……"
Ruixia, who had been staring at the single mirror, suddenly changed her expression and took a deep breath.
Molina quickly asked, "What's wrong? What's going on?"
He didn't say anything, but just played the image out loud, sharing the vision with his companions.
Distortions, remarkably similar to the vortexes seen in the forest, lit up one after another on the map. Under the instrument's monitoring, the platform was not as intact as it appeared. The matter and energy that should have flowed smoothly were shattered, and on the screen, there was a chaotic program that was difficult to interpret.
Seeing abnormal alerts popping up one after another, Ruixia simply turned off the search function to prevent the instrument from being damaged and malfunctioning due to overload.
"That, that stinky old man! He clearly had the key, so why didn't he come back to retrieve the information himself... I didn't know this academy was so dangerous! He totally doesn't take our lives seriously! No way, I'm going to go back and scold him!"
Molina was furious and wanted to run to the waterwheel. Ruixia stopped her and said:
"This is the result of our instrument testing. Although the senior was hiding something from us, he might just have thought something was wrong at the academy and didn't necessarily know the details. And..."
He paused, then sighed again. "If we go back and fight him, and his key is taken away, we'll just have to keep wandering around in the limited woods. Once our resources run out, we'll end up trapped and dying like the other victims... This place may be dangerous, but it's a breakthrough after all."
"...Okay. I'll listen to you guys anyway."
Morina knew that it was impossible to fight a duel with an old magician who was much older than her, so she could only silently feel disappointed.
From what Ruixia said, he definitely won't rush in before finding the right passage... Forget it, he just has to wait anyway.
Sitting down naturally, the red-haired priestess wanted to talk to another companion who was also doing nothing, but when she looked up, she found that Xi Mu, who was always alert and sharp, had been silent since the beginning, and even looked a little dull.
What's going on?
She pulled Ximu's hand without using much force - but the silver-haired girl who was originally standing upright was like a puppet with its strings cut, her body tilted and she fell directly on her!
"... Ruixia, Ruixia! Something bad has happened. Look at Ximu...!"
Without being able to say anything clearly in a hurry, Molina quickly laid Ximu down and found that her eyes were still open, not blinking, as if some non-existent thing in the void had attracted all her attention.
Hearing her companion's exclamation, Ruixia quickly put down her analysis, forgetting all the taboos. While leaning over to check her heartbeat, she anxiously urged: "Are you being haunted by some illusion again? - Morina, is there any spell that can wake people up from hallucinations?"
"Oh, oh, I'll try."
Molina nodded hurriedly and took out her staff, but before she could start chanting the spell, the earring magic weapon Ximu was wearing suddenly made an ominous crisp sound.
Both of them turned pale at the same time, looking at Xi Mu who looked dazed and pale, not knowing what to do for a moment.
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