Chapter 114 A Promise Worth a Thousand Pieces of Gold (Part Two): Lost, Empty, and Hungry...
The two people opposite him spoke incoherently, but because they both spoke so seriously, even with a sense of destiny, Du Yu felt a void in his heart for some reason.
Before she could figure out where this inexplicable emotion came from, footsteps suddenly came from outside the corridor, and Xiao Duyu's voice suddenly tightened: "Oh no, they've discovered us, let's go."
He had just hidden away to avoid encountering the enemy, but now that two important targets needed to escape, Du Yu disregarded everything else and was about to break out of the cabinet.
But the cabinet doors, which could be easily opened just moments before, were now as if glued together with the strongest adhesive in the world. Even with all his strength, Du Yu couldn't push them open. He could only hear the two of them push open the doors and their footsteps quickly fading away.
"Bang!"
Ignoring the stunned oncoming guests, Du Yu followed his urgency, staggered forward a few steps, and quickly opened the door, only to find an empty corridor.
——
"Have you calmed down?"
After confirming that the researchers who had been passing by had gone far away, Lin Qi felt a little relieved. He glanced at Du Yu with annoyance: "Although we still don't know what the rules of this spacetime rift are, you've already been to the Cross Prison. Don't you even know the common sense of avoiding natives in unfamiliar spaces?"
After the face-to-face meeting with the Blue Grid employees in the Tai Sui instance, Du Yu already knew that the so-called weekly instance was, in the eyes of those without the system, just a spacetime rift caused by various reasons.
A linear timeline breaks at a certain point, or it becomes another branch of the natural evolution of history. This strange existence, which seems different from normal time and space to the locals, is much easier to understand if we think of it as a dungeon in a game.
However, the upcoming season seems to have a strange filter on the Cross Prison. Apart from the Mist Hunters who walk deep into the gray fog year-round, even among the ability users in the lower city, not many know about spacetime rifts, let alone master the basic principles of exploring them.
After all, the Cross Prison only considers the level of a prisoner's superpowers; their knowledge and practical experience are not taken into account—except for those related to the rebels.
Do not make contact or attack proactively—this is the basic principle for exploring spacetime rifts, and it is considered niche knowledge even among experienced Mist Hunters.
After all, while exploring spacetime rifts might bring overnight riches, the possibility of instant death is much greater. It's also more likely that you'll enter completely clueless, and remain clueless until the rift collapses.
To someone unaware that this was a game instance, it was already very strange that a spacetime rift had appeared in the heavily guarded upper city; what was even stranger was that Linqi jumped in without much hesitation.
Her motives cannot be explained simply by "seeking death".
Linqi seemed oblivious to the scrutiny in Du Yu's eyes. After expressing her nervousness with a sarcastic tone, she curiously touched the overturned coffee table. "What should we do next? Generally, there's a node in a rift, or rather, a clear break in time... Was it those two little girls from earlier?"
When the spacetime rift is in a relatively stable state, its internal small space has its own set of operating logic. The fact that the two little girls were able to run around around clearly means that they are at least important players in the rift.
Is that why 1503 lost his composure just now?
A thought flashed through his mind, and he tentatively asked, "Normally, they couldn't have left so quickly... How are we supposed to find them now? It's not going to be easy."
In the real world, even if the two little girls were speed-based superhumans, they wouldn't be able to leave this experimental base—but even if it looks very similar to the real world, the spacetime rifts in the Chaotic Spirit Realm make it impossible to follow the logic.
Those two little girls might be at the experimental base right now, and after running around a corner, they could appear directly in a bar in the lower city—if this spacetime rift is that big.
That's what just happened. When the two little girls closed the door, Du Yu had already broken out of the closet. But when she opened the door, the two girls were nowhere to be seen in the straight, unturned hallway.
Even not far behind the door, a row of Martin boots was hanging upside down from the ceiling, completely defying the laws of physics. Seeing that the NPC was about to spawn, Linqi quickly pulled the stunned 1503 aside, swiftly closed the door to avoid the NPC's detection, which led to Linqi's sarcastic tone just now.
Du Yu glanced at the rest room, which was almost identical to the real one, and narrowed his eyes: "I roughly know where to find them... but we need to do something first."
"do what?"
"prison Break."
"ah???"
——
“Bishop Gu, this is it.”
Tian Yinuo strictly followed Cat Beard's instructions on the forum, not only strictly controlling other believers from getting close, but also not looking around much herself, until Gu Yinglan arrived before she approached.
For some reason, even though Gu Yinglan was just an ordinary person who was still catching up on the common knowledge of the City of the Sun, looking into those eyes that seemed to have weathered many storms always gave her a strange sense of peace.
Therefore, when Gu Yinglan, an ordinary person, took the initiative to ask to see the scroll, Tian Yinuo refused several times with insufficient confidence. However, she could not withstand the pressure and stood cautiously to the side, fearing that Gu Yinglan, as an ordinary person, would not be able to withstand the pressure of the strange scroll.
"You have done well, and the Lord will reward you."
The first person to discover the scroll, a believer who was isolated nearby, nodded. Gu Yinglan stepped forward under the other party's relieved gaze, but did not challenge Tian Yinuo's bottom line again. She reached out and touched the scroll, her eyes wandering thoughtfully over the strange patterns on the surface of the scroll.
"Did you notice anything?"
Seeing that Gu Yinglan didn't even blink, Tian Yinuo nervously opened her mouth. However, the reliable elder, who always answered her questions, did not answer her this time. Her eyes were fixed on the scroll, her pupils were unfocused, and her lips moved unconsciously.
Tian Yinuo focused her mental energy on her ear and finally heard Gu Yinglan's unconscious, repeated mutterings:
"...Yinglan, you absolutely won't believe what we've discovered in the south—an ancient civilization that has never been found before! A unique script, a wondrous culture, so mysterious, completely incompatible with existing civilization systems... I can't describe my feelings in words, but please believe me, I will rewrite history!"
"...Due to confidentiality agreements, this is all the ancient scripts I can send you for reference. Please reconsider my previous invitation. Believe me, this will reshape archaeology! — Your friend who longs to see you, Chen Xingzhi."
Reshaping archaeology?
Tian Yinuo listened intently to the passage several times, but still couldn't understand the meaning of Gu Yinglan's repeated recitation. It sounded like the contents of a letter, but what did it have to do with this strange scroll?
"...ancient civilizations never before discovered...an independent writing system...reshaping archaeology..."
Gu Yinglan murmured unconsciously, her unfocused pupils gradually focusing, her eyes filled with a complex mix of emotions: pain, surprise, and regret. Her brows were furrowed, and cold sweat rolled down her pale forehead.
She suddenly lunged forward recklessly, and when stopped, she gripped Tian Yinuo's arm tightly. Her pale face flushed an unhealthy red from the struggle: "I remember now... I know what this is! Let me through!... It came to find me, we made a promise!"
"Bishop Gu, calm down, please calm down!"
Subduing an ordinary person with superpowers is easy for a superhuman, but doing so without harming a person who is going berserk is quite difficult for Tian Yinuo. Amidst her frantic efforts, a heavenly voice came from behind her:
"Stopping her now will only harm her; let her go."
As Tian Yinuo loosened her grip, Gu Yinglan, with an agility beyond her years, quickly escaped from the tricky angle, ran a few steps to the scroll, and without touching the protective strip, collapsed to the ground as if all her strength had been drained, staring blankly at the scroll in front of her.
"Boss Cat! Sister Jingjing!"
The time they had spent together was enough for Tian Yinuo to become familiar with everyone in the church. She turned around with a sigh of relief, and Shen Xijing, carrying Cat Whiskers on her back, jogged closer. It was Cat Whiskers who had just spoken.
The child's still-childish face was filled with seriousness, devoid of her usual playful joking. She leaned down and whispered a few words in Shen Xijing's ear. Shen Xijing quickly stepped forward, recited a prayer, and then stretched out her hands to partially cover Gu Yinglan's ears:
"A time traveler eroding the rifts, a six-winged white dove devouring the riddles of time, a listener who hears from both ends..."
"...Merciful and powerful God, your followers beseech you to unleash your power to banish the twisted and to protect these poor souls teetering on the edge of delusion..."
As soon as Shen Xijing finished speaking, a small cluster of purple flames suddenly jumped out of her palm, drawing a thin line of fire that circled around Gu Yinglan's head, looking at first glance like a small purple headdress.
Cat Whiskers secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and only then did he have time to explain to Tian Yinuo: "Bishop Gu was probably in a 'lost' state just now. Stopping her would only harm her and make her 'lost' state worse."
Meeting the pair of bewildered eyes, Cat Whiskers paused for a moment, then explained in more detail: "You are also an ability user, so you should know that there are only two ways to improve your special ability—one is to accumulate proficiency and fully utilize the ability of your special ability; the other is to constantly approach the elements contained in your special ability and use special meditation methods or rituals to improve your special ability and advance upwards."
"In the latter method, due to the erosion of supernatural abilities, the superhuman can easily become lost in the elements, recklessly chasing after high-level energy, and ultimately explode and die."
Tian Yinuo finally understood what it meant to be lost, but the doubt in her eyes was even more obvious: "But isn't Bishop Gu an ordinary person?"
With the protection of the purple fire, the dazed look in Gu Yinglan's eyes lessened considerably, but her rationality seemed to have not yet returned. She stared at the scroll for a moment, then reached out and picked it up.
"wait--"
Tian Yinuo subconsciously reached out, and her eyes widened when she saw Gu Yinglan's action. The scroll that she had been unable to open before was easily torn open by Gu Yinglan.
Cat Whiskers narrowed his eyes, watching Gu Yinglan engrossed in reading the scroll. His voice unusually grave: "Cases of ordinary people going astray are rare, but they do exist. Either she encountered a sealing artifact that perfectly matched her spirit, causing her reason to succumb to the temptations deep within her soul..."
"Or, she once possessed a quality that she lost, leaving a void deep within her spirit. When she encounters something that resonates with her, she is easily driven into a state of 'being lost' due to 'hunger'."
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Author's Note: I think I've rediscovered the feeling of updating daily! I'll try my best to maintain a consistent update schedule. [Procrastinator]
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