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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter 219: Shen Ming's Anomaly
On the first floor of the Paradise Spirit Tower, aside from the initial grandeur upon entering, the further we followed Shen Ming inside, the dimmer the lights became, mirroring Shen Ming's pallid complexion, with a grim gray Death Qi permeating the air.
Xue Er held my hand, and I looked at her. She shook her head at me, her eyes filled with disapproval. I understood what she meant; in fact, as we walked further in, I too felt that something was increasingly amiss.
The atmosphere was eerily quiet, with no one speaking, only the sound of footsteps echoing on the wooden floor. Yes, the ground here was covered with wooden planks, a light gray color that clearly showed signs of age.
Massive columns were neatly arranged; the Paradise Spirit Tower appeared grand from the outside, but now that we were inside, we could truly feel its enormity. After walking for several minutes, we had lost our sense of direction and location; even the stairs leading to the upper floors were nowhere to be found.
What was particularly strange was that once we entered this building, everything began to materialize; whether it was what we touched or what we smelled, it all felt vividly tangible. It was indeed a magical place!
"Going around in circles, why haven't we arrived yet?" Yu Yu asked Shen Ming impatiently.
Shen Ming turned his hunched body around and looked at us curiously. "What's the rush? We're almost there."
"Shen Ming, are you the only one here?" Pei Zi asked flatly.
Shen Ming fell silent and continued to shuffle forward. His lonely figure resembled an old man whose vitality had long faded. After a while, he spoke in an unusually hoarse voice: "No, there are others..."
"Who else?" Wang Yi immediately inquired.
Shen Ming did not respond; his back hunched even more as if he was reluctant to discuss these matters. However, there was someone among us who would persistently dig deeper into things—Xianxian, who occasionally had her moments of curiosity. With a smirk playing on her lips, she asked, "Let This Lord guess—Is it O Fei Yu? Shizai Xiaoqing? Guan Wenxuan? Or Wang Zhengzhi?..."
When she mentioned Wang Zhengzhi, I noticed Shen Ming's back suddenly tremble. I knew that something must have happened between Shen Ming and that man named Wang Zhengzhi.
"Could it be that Wang Zhengzhi is also here?" Xianxian asked with a teasing smile.
Shen Ming halted his steps and slowly turned around like a statue. A flash of light darted through his grayish-white eyeballs; I seemed to catch a glimpse of a hint of murderous intent within them.
He looked at us warily and hoarsely asked, "Who are you?"
"We?" Xianxian smiled, "We have quite a connection with you."
Hearing Xianxian say this, Shen Ming appeared confused, squinting at us and asking, "What is your relationship with Luo Yu?"
"You really ask a lot of questions," Xianxian pouted, seemingly dissatisfied with the situation but still replied, "Let's put it this way, this person beside you," as she spoke, Xianxian turned her gaze towards me and continued, "His name is Feng Zi."
"Feng Zi?" Shen Ming squinted at me thoughtfully for a few seconds, muttering to himself, "Surname Feng? Could it be... no, that’s impossible..."
Seeing Shen Ming deep in thought and looking utterly perplexed, I kindly clarified for him, "I am Feng Zhengyu's son!"
"Feng Zhengyu? Son?" Shen Ming continued to mumble to himself with his head down. After a moment, he finally lifted his ghastly gray face and stared at me, saying, "Feng Zhengyu actually has a son? That can't be right; no, you aren't!"
As he spoke, Shen Ming's emotions began to escalate; he laughed heartily until tears nearly streamed from his eyes. But just as I was about to ask what was so funny, his expression suddenly changed as if he had seen something horrifying. He looked utterly terrified, leaving us completely baffled by the sudden shift—what on earth was going on?
I couldn't help but interrupt his fragmented mutterings and frowned as I asked, "What do you mean? What do you mean I'm not his son?"
Shen Ming looked up at me with an expression of sheer terror, as if I were some kind of monstrous entity. After staring at me for a few moments, he hugged his head and crouched down, mumbling something like, "No, no, you aren't his son; you..."
"What are you talking about..." I took a few steps closer and stopped in front of him. His reaction had certainly piqued my curiosity. Just as I halted, he collapsed onto the ground, shielding his face with his hands and shouted in fear, "Don't come any closer!"
"Hahaha..."
At that moment, an extremely discordant laugh erupted. I looked over in disbelief to see Xianxian clutching her stomach and laughing at me. From the look in her eyes, I knew what she was thinking. Sure enough, she laughed while saying, "What did you do to him? Look how scared he is; anyone who doesn't know would think you're planning something beastly!"
Seeing her laugh so obnoxiously made me blurt out without thinking, "If I were to do anything, it would be with you!"
As soon as I said that, Xianxian crossed her arms and took a few steps back while looking at me warily and said, "You dare! I sell my body but not my talent."
"Is that so?" I lazily glanced at him, assessing as I spoke, "Anyway, you have no talent, but at least you look decent."
Xianxian had just opened her mouth to speak when my arm was suddenly bumped hard by someone. Then, a gray shadow flashed past, followed by Pei Zi shouting one word loudly, "Chase!"
Before my mind could react, my body had already moved instinctively. The person who had just bumped into me was Shen Ming. What was he up to all of a sudden? There was no time to think too much; I couldn't figure out many things right now, so I could only chase after him to ask.
However, Shen Ming was surprisingly fast; in the blink of an eye, he had disappeared from sight. Looking around at the circular pillars, the slightly swaying Dead Air Lanterns, and the maze of passages, I let out a deep sigh and stopped.
"Damn it, this guy runs faster than a rabbit!" Xianxian complained.
Pei Zi looked at the branching paths and shook his head slightly, saying, "He knows this place better than we do."
"By the way, is this really something we imagined?" Yu Yu said while nudging a small decorative vase nearby. The vase tipped over and rolled a few times on the ground before stopping. "Whether it's sight, sound, or touch, it feels no different from reality."
"And that guy named Shen Ming looks like a real person," Xianxian said thoughtfully while stroking her chin. I stared at the three different paths, feeling anxious inside. Damn it, I couldn't tell if this was an illusion or a real physical world anymore. My dad and Luo Ruyun had both told me not to believe what I saw or heard; what did that really mean?
Thinking of this, I opened the blueprint my dad gave me. Although it was 16K paper, there wasn't much written on it. Xianxian took another sheet and joined Pei Zi and the others in looking at it while I continued to focus on what was in my hands. The handwriting was undoubtedly my dad's, and the tone certainly didn't resemble anyone else's.
My dad said he was the only survivor back then—a living person—though he didn't know why he wasn't "contaminated." In any case, this place we were currently in, Paradise Spirit Tower, was very strange; it could kill without a trace and had no real food or water. Why do I say that?
Because food and water did exist; it’s just that who would dare to consume them? My dad hadn't eaten a single grain of rice or drop of water. After using up all the food and water he brought with him, he went hungry for six or seven days straight. Even though there were piles of delicious-looking food around him, he still didn't touch any of it. It was a miracle he didn't starve to death inside.
The note didn’t mention all this explicitly, but how did I know? Luo Ruyun told me that my dad had firmly refused to eat the food inside and also prohibited others from eating it because they had no idea what those foods were made of or what side effects they might have.
So someone might ask: in such circumstances back then, did no one eat?
No, there were always one or two disobedient individuals in each team. So yes, there were people who sneaked food; however, within two or three hours after eating, they suddenly died!
The two who died unexpectedly were Shen Fei and Yu Yabai!
The people who were already hungry were now even more anxious. With two of the team members who had eaten food dead, those who survived felt even more desperate.
"What happened next?" Wang Yi asked curiously.
Xianxian pondered, "Could it be that the key issue is whether or not to eat food?" She looked at me and continued, "Your dad didn't eat anything, so could that be the key to him turning into Shara?!"
"No." I shook my head. Seeing the others looking at me, I explained, "Luo Ruyun told me that because my dad firmly refused to let her eat, she didn't touch any of the food."
"Fortunately, we have enough food." Xianxian said, calling everyone together. "Come on, just in case we get separated, let's all share some food."
Everyone nodded. Although we couldn't predict the future, and while we didn't plan to split up, who could guarantee that we wouldn't accidentally get separated? So Xianxian's suggestion was quite good.
There were me, Xianxian, Cold Snow, Pei Zi, Wang Yi, and it seemed there was still one person who wasn't part of our group.
"Sharing food? How do we divide it?" Yu Yu asked curiously.
Xianxian facepalmed, realizing there was still one problematic person among us. However, there wasn't much time to worry about that now. Cold Snow had already told me in secret that Yu Yu was trustworthy, so despite his surprised and disbelieving expression, I hugged my backpack to my chest and began pulling out food from inside—one item after another, one bottle of water after another. Seeing Yu Yu's astonished look made the few of us in the know unable to hold back our laughter.
I suddenly realized that seeing others look so surprised was actually quite enjoyable!
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