Creak —
As the rusty iron gate slowly opened, the final rays of evening light shone into the small hut that had been abandoned for many years.
It was once a workshop for some small business.
Over time, its contents had been cleared out, leaving only a floor covered in dust, mosquitoes, and insects struggling to survive.
There was no sign of human presence…
“This… is where we’re going to play the Four Corners Game, right?”
Mo Ling looked at the pitch-black room.
The slightly low temperature inside made her, dressed in a midriff-baring outfit, unable to suppress a shiver.
“Yes. Now, stand in the four corners according to the rules.”
Isana began to give orders, her voice and expression surprisingly calm.
The dark, cold environment didn’t seem to affect her in the slightest.
“By the way, isn’t Miss Qiu coming?”
Yao Xueyue asked Li Meng when she noticed one person was missing.
“Oh, Qiqian… She can’t control or suppress her Nether Breath yet. If she comes, she’ll likely make the Guiyi feel threatened, so we’re letting her stay outside for now. But don’t worry, she… she has the ability to use Teleportation. She can come to support us when the time comes.”
“Hmm… All right then. Let’s stand in the four corners. We’ll start from Isana and walk toward Miss Li Meng.”
Once Yao Xueyue finished giving instructions, the others nodded and stood in their respective corners.
The entire room was pitch black.
Even with their perceptions being far beyond those of ordinary people, they still felt a slight sense of discomfort, as if something was already watching them.
Isana closed her eyes and inhaled the rust-scented air.
After counting several numbers in her head, she opened her eyes and stepped toward the corner where Li Meng was standing.
Tap…
With a soft pat, Li Meng immediately set off, walking toward Yao Xueyue’s position…
At the end of the first round, it was Mo Ling’s turn to observe whether there was someone in the position that was supposed to be empty.
Unfortunately, the Guiyi did not appear.
However, this was within her expectations, so she did not linger.
After a simple cough to indicate that no one was there, she quickly passed by and walked behind Isana…
As if it were truly just a game, several rounds passed like this without any abnormalities occurring.
It was just that… the feeling of being stared at by something in the dark became increasingly obvious.
The anomaly occurred during the fifth round… it just so happened to be Mo Ling’s turn to walk toward the position that should have been empty.
After being tapped by Yao Xueyue, Mo Ling walked toward that dark corner once again.
Under normal circumstances, there shouldn’t be anyone there…
However, after Mo Ling had only taken a few steps, her pupils suddenly constricted, and her footsteps instinctively faltered.
Using the superior vision and perception of a Nether Body, she could clearly see that in the corner that should have been empty, a “person” was currently standing there — a vague, ethereal “person” that seemed to flicker in and out of existence.
Mo Ling quickly calmed down.
The other party’s aura was only around the Chimei-level.
If they really had to fight, Li Meng could kill it in an instant.
Moreover… even in terms of horror, she had seen many terrifying faces.
A fellow who suddenly appeared like this only gave her a slight start at most.
Mo Ling continued forward, reaching the back of that “person” and raising her hand to give a gentle tap.
The texture was extremely strange… as if she were tapping a piece of rotting wood.
The person turned around and walked toward Isana’s direction.
There was no cough…
The others also understood that the Guiyi had appeared…
Isana continued to stare silently at the wall, listening as the footsteps behind her gradually drew closer.
If it were Yao Xueyue, it would have been a bit difficult to suppress the urge to attack such a Guiyi.
After all, when you knew a non-human thing was gradually approaching your back, the physiological instinct of a human would still want to resist or confirm.
However, Isana was freakishly calm.
Even when the Guiyi placed its ice-cold hand on her shoulder and tapped lightly, Isana’s expression remained unchanged.
She was almost like a literal robot.
In short, after that, the entire Four Corners Game continued for no fewer than ten more rounds.
Perhaps it was because everyone present was a Nether Body, so their consciousness remained clear throughout.
At most, Mo Ling and Isana were slightly affected because their levels weren’t as high as the other two.
The game continued… and the four of them could vaguely feel that the entire space was starting to become… abnormal.
In the beginning, they could still hear the sounds of wind blowing through fallen leaves and insects chirping outside the hut.
But the further they went, the quieter those sounds became, until they disappeared entirely.
The game also seemed to proceed endlessly, to the point where Qiu Qiqian, who was staying inside Li Meng’s Inner World, couldn’t hold it in several times and wanted to come out for some fresh air.
‘Why hasn’t this Guiyi taken us to the Inner World yet… It couldn’t be the slow-burn type, could it? But calculating the time, how many rounds has it been?’
Just as Qiu Qiqian was getting a bit drowsy, thinking that she might have to wait until after she took a nap for this to end…
“Qiqian, you can come out now.”
‘Huh?’
Qiu Qiqian let out a questioning sound in her heart, but since Li Meng had said so…
Rustle…
Accompanied by a sound like wind blowing through a field of wheat, Qiu Qiqian slowly separated from Li Meng’s body.
She looked around.
The room was still the same, with no discernible changes… however… the door was open, and what was shining in from outside wasn’t the last rays of the setting sun, but the morning sun.
“If I remember correctly… it was almost dark when you entered this room, right?”
Qiu Qiqian looked at Li Meng, clearly confused.
“Are we in the Inner World?”
“Yes. But… we actually don’t know the exact moment we entered.” Li Meng walked toward the doorway and brushed the doorframe with her hand.
Looking at the dust on her fingers, she saw that it didn’t dissipate like the dust in the previous Inner World.
“It was probably… a sudden moment of trance. By the time we reacted, the Guiyi had already disappeared, and outside…”
As she spoke, Li Meng pushed the door wider so that Qiu Qiqian could see the full view outside.
Dazzling sunlight streamed in through the gate, adding a touch of vitality to the pitch-black room.
Along with it… came the fragrance of green grass.
Qiu Qiqian followed Li Meng outside.
She looked at the three others who had already walked out, then gazed at this vast, boundless “world,” her lips parting slightly.
It was an endless grassland — endless in the truest sense of the word.
Everywhere her eyes could see was nothing but lush green grass.
Occasionally, a few gentle breezes blew by, ruffling their hair.
The azure sky was also seemingly infinite.
It was a sky that had never been polluted by industry — no, it was even more than that.
White clouds drifted slowly through the sky.
Although they were a bit sparse, they were enough as the sky’s only decoration.
Such a beautiful scene should normally make one feel physically and mentally refreshed, but… there was a feeling of some kind of anomaly, an indescribable wrongness.
“It’s too fake.”
Qiu Qiqian immediately pointed out the key issue that was scratching at everyone’s hearts.
She had dreamed of such a scene, and she had actually seen it before… it was the default wallpaper of an old-fashioned computer.
An endless grassland, a blue sky, so empty that no other buildings could be seen at all.
From time to time, the sounds of children playing and giggling would reach their ears, but when they turned their heads, they couldn’t see anyone.
This sense of falsehood was too obvious.
If one had to use something to describe this kind of scene…
Dreamcore — yes, it was roughly that type.
“So… how are we going to find the people who were taken away next?”
Just as Yao Xueyue finished speaking, the other two besides Mo Ling immediately turned their gazes toward Li Meng, making her feel a bit innocent for a moment.
“Why… are you suddenly looking at me?”
“Because you’re the strongest, of course. I still remember how you used your own Nether Breath to forcibly—cough—take over that Guiyi’s Inner World last night.”
“With Lady Li Meng’s strength, if she can forcibly flood this Inner World, she can indeed find those people’s locations more efficiently.”
After Isana finished speaking, Qiu Qiqian, Yao Xueyue, and even Mo Ling couldn’t help but look at her with slightly puzzled eyes.
What was this girl saying?
On her end, Li Meng thought about it and intended to follow the previous method to directly and forcibly scatter the original Nether Breath of this Inner World, covering it with her own.
That way, she wouldn’t have to worry about running into “ghost walls” again.
However, at that moment, Li Meng suddenly noticed that several small houses had appeared at some point on a small hill not far away.
A towering tree grew in the center of the cluster of houses.
Beneath the tree… a group of children had gathered, holding hands and circling the tree.
“Was… that kind of thing there before?”
Yao Xueyue followed Li Meng’s gaze, noticed the problem, and asked the group.
But everyone shook their heads.
It was very clear that those people and objects had appeared suddenly.
Based on experience, this kind of thing was most likely an illusion temporarily created by a Guiyi to attract attention, or perhaps another Guiyi was disguising itself here, wanting a piece of the action.
But no matter what, they still had to go and take a look.
What if there was someone inside who was unfortunate enough to be possessed, causing them to perform some sort of ritual in an unconscious state?
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