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墨書 Inktalez
Between what can be seen and what cannot, there is only a pair of sunglasses.
After removing the sunglasses, Xu Nuan found herself on a desolate mountain, with flowing dunes below. The crescent-shaped dunes stretched out into the distance, and she could see some dried-up remnants of lakes, where a few White Thorns and Sand Bamboos trembled in the cold desert wind.
These sights did not astonish Xu Nuan; what truly stirred her emotions was a blue lake below. The lake's shape mirrored that of a crescent, reflecting Azure White Clouds. A gentle breeze swept across the surface, creating shimmering ripples. The intense sunlight of the desert softened as it reached the lake, and those glimmers resembled the starlight in a lover's eyes, filled with intoxicating affection.
However, beyond the lake lay Quicksand, surging with relentless yellow sand, as if it sought to swallow everything in its path. Like a well-behaved dog, the Quicksand curled up beside the lake, afraid to disturb its tranquility.
This scene felt strangely familiar to Xu Nuan. She pressed her hand holding the sunglasses against her chest, trying to calm her racing heart. She was certain that the lake below was yet another mechanism; what would happen upon triggering it remained unknown. At the same time, she knew that this mechanism was not the Central Mechanism of this stage; even if she entered it, she could not stop all mechanisms of this Survival Game from activating. Unless she obtained information from Gu Ze or Chi Xiaoming.
Thinking of these two brought Xu Nuan some relief. Previously, due to the sudden turn of events and her preconceived notions, she had assumed that others had entered mechanisms related to Zombies just like herself, while only she could resolve those Zombies based on stories she had heard in the past. She feared that others might fall into danger because of this. However, it now seemed that not everyone was experiencing the same scene as her. Between what can be seen and what cannot lies the System's capriciousness.
Xu Nuan attempted to take a deep breath to steady her emotions before seeking out the subtle boundaries between realms to see if she could enter a new mechanism. But then a gust of wind whipped up countless grains of sand, pelting her face and even blowing some into her mouth.
“Ugh.”
Xu Nuan had to close her eyes and spit out the sand while unconsciously stepping forward. Suddenly, she misstepped and tumbled downwards. In her haste, Xu Nuan could only grip the chip in her left palm tightly while using her other hand to shield her face. The yellow sand was soft and posed no lethal threat; rolling through it required only protecting her exposed skin.
As she rolled, Xu Nuan found herself near the crescent-shaped lake. After a long period without rest and having consumed only a small amount of water, her mind felt muddled. When she finally sat up groggily, she noticed that her left palm had left many marks on the chip, with some blood mingling with it.
“Get up! Attack!”
In her still-dazed state, Xu Nuan heard a mechanical voice—though robotic in tone, it carried an authoritative command. Somehow compelled by this voice, Xu Nuan stood up, staring blankly ahead as she walked forward with stiff steps.
Another wave of sandstorm hit her; unguarded and unaware at that moment, Xu Nuan did not resist the onslaught of sand and fell forward painfully, causing the chip in her left hand to fly out as well.
Xu Nuan suddenly woke up, propping herself up with her hands and looking ahead in terror.
"What was I just doing?"
It was a feeling of being unable to control her own body. Although it lasted only a moment, Xu Nuan still caught it. In the past, when her mind was clouded, she would instinctively ignore her surroundings and the voices of those nearby. This time, however, in her dazed state, she seemed to hear voices beyond the mechanical sounds—someone was calling out to her from afar, too distant for her to make out the words or identify who it was.
As her vision began to blur, Xu Nuan shook her head vigorously. When a sharp pain shot through her head, she instinctively reached up to hold it, only to realize that her hands were empty.
Both the chip and the sunglasses were crucial.
Xu Nuan quickly dropped to the ground to search for the chips that had been thrown out. She hadn’t counted how many zombies she had dealt with or how many chips she had extracted. She rummaged through the sand, finding a few but unsure if she had gathered the correct amount.
"Is this chip intact?"
After finding another chip, Xu Nuan asked in confusion. Earlier, in that mechanism, she had indeed left behind a few undestroyed chips due to time constraints. Regardless, according to the story's hints, this chip could not be kept.
After using her short knife to destroy this chip as well, she continued searching for more. Eventually, after thoroughly exploring the sandy area around her, she believed she had collected all the chips and stood up slowly to survey her surroundings.
"I can't find the sunglasses."
Xu Nuan felt a twinge of regret; at that moment, the sunglasses were an important tool for her. However, there were other items that could serve as substitutes. After thinking for a moment, she placed the chips into a bag and stowed them in her backpack. Then she pulled out a mirror, pried off its frame with her short knife, and discarded it. Scraping off the coating on the back of the mirror quickly transformed it back into plain glass.
Holding the round piece of glass before her eyes and looking through it, Xu Nuan saw the night sky.
"Indeed, it is useful."
Xu Nuan slightly curled her lips, then quickly pressed them together again, her expression becoming somewhat serious as she looked toward the lake lying in the center of the desert. After swallowing hard, she walked over.
The closer she got to the lake, the more she felt that subtle sensation.
Yes, it was as if some invisible force was compressing her body, inducing a feeling of dizziness. It was this sensation that had caused her to open her eyes and find herself in another place, alone, unable to convey her voice to anyone else no matter how much she called out.
Once that feeling of compression faded away, Xu Nuan discovered that the scene before her had indeed changed. During this time, she had deliberately forced herself not to blink, just to experience the nuances and uncover the secrets of this mechanism that resembled magic within the Game Base.
Unfortunately, she was not talented in this field; she had never even ventured into it. A mere human's sensitivity to the outside world was insufficient to uncover its true mysteries. Xu Nuan did not feel discouraged by this; just because she hadn’t discovered anything didn’t mean Gu Ze hadn’t. To her, Gu Ze was a well-rounded talent and a hidden heir to a conglomerate, surely capable of finding a solution. Therefore, all she needed to do was find companions and locate Gu Ze. Even if her efforts bore no fruit, Gu Ze would definitely find her. Their connection was mutual.
She arrived in a place bathed in bright sunlight, where the scorching heat drained the moisture and salt from Xu Nuan's body. Tiny salt crystals had already begun to form at her temples, a testament to the high temperature and her excessive sweating.
Ahead lay a town-like area with houses arranged in an orderly fashion. The architecture was different from what she had seen in the zombie-infested area before; however, these buildings also exuded an exotic charm—at least Xu Nuan had never seen anything like them in magazines or on television over the past twenty years.
Xu Nuan stood still, only able to hear the sound of the wind; there was no noise coming from the town ahead.
She looked up again to confirm that it was indeed daytime—the sunlight was extremely intense. If this were the mechanism she had previously encountered, it would be when zombies were out and about; there would be no silence.
"Indeed, every mechanism is different."
Xu Nuan felt somewhat fortunate to have experienced two mechanisms; otherwise, the mistakes she might have made could have been fatal at critical moments.
Xu Nuan poured salt into the water bottle and shook it lightly, drinking as she made her way toward the town.
Perhaps it was due to the layer of swirling yellow sand that the town appeared somewhat hazy to her, creating a sense of isolation from the world. It might also be because of the sand that the seemingly short distance felt so far away. By the time Xu Nuan stood at the entrance of a wide street, her water bottle was nearly empty, and she was left disheveled by the gusts of sand.
She had long stopped caring about her appearance; in the face of her desire to survive, everything else seemed trivial.
As she walked through the streets of the town, Xu Nuan truly felt the quietness of this place—no, perhaps it would be more accurate to describe it as silence.
The houses and shops were unfamiliar and somewhat dilapidated, with many doors and windows showing signs of repair with wooden planks. Some rooftops were in disrepair, and the signs in front of certain shops swayed in the wind. The yellow sand had indeed swept through this town, but a town situated in the desert would inevitably be covered by sand due to fierce winds.
"It feels like a scene from a horror movie."
Xu Nuan suddenly concluded that this town gave her a strong sense of déjà vu from a particular scene in a film. However, as she searched her memory, she couldn't recall any similar scenes from the stories she had heard. Had Qin Yaojie overlooked this detail, or did Qin Yaojie know things that were not comprehensive? After all, she was already aware of the conflict between Qin Yaojie and Another Founder in the game. Now that Qin Yaojie had been defeated first, it proved that Another Founder had held back.
She suddenly became curious: was Gu Ze's entry into the game along with the Third Batch of Players part of that founder's plan? Based on current developments, it seemed unlikely.
The desolate wind swept through the street's worn-out items, deepening Xu Nuan's perception that this town belonged in a horror film.
With dilapidated houses and empty streets, Xu Nuan trembled as she reached for one of the doors to push it open. She thought this was a scene from a horror movie but truly hoped not to find anything inside that would make her scream.
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