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Chapter 4378 Underwater
Chapter 4378 Underwater
The cabin has no clock, but it has a mini hourglass that runs for half an hour at a time.
So when Kemai decided to activate the illusion node to play "Moonlit Night" in half an hour, the hourglass was placed on the table.
They waited patiently for the opportunity to perform.
Taking this opportunity, Angel went to Rabbit Town again to meet with Juka, who had just woken up.
The main purpose was to talk to Juka about his dream journey and see if there were any new variables compared to Darkman's experience.
Unfortunately, Juka's experience was nothing special, with only minor differences from Duckman's journey; both ultimately met their demise in the pure white room.
Angor comforted Juka and then returned to the Misty Forest instance, restarting the miniature garden perspective.
At this point, only a small amount of silvery-white sand remained in the hourglass on the table. According to the time calculation, about 28 minutes had passed.
"It's almost time." Kemai glanced at Uriel, who was unconscious on the sofa, and at the hourglass that was about to reach its end. He seemed very busy, but he didn't know what he was busy with.
"Your head is like a roly-poly toy, looking here and there, making me dizzy," Blanche said, rubbing her forehead.
Ke Mai said somewhat embarrassedly, "I'm just worried..."
Blanche rubbed her temples with one hand, as if she had a headache, but the next second she opened her tightly closed eyes, pushed up her non-existent glasses, and said in the tone of "Level": "Hmph, worrying unnecessarily is the limitation of mortals."
"Don't worry, my reasoning is correct. Mortals just need to execute my strategy..."
After Blanche finished speaking, she suddenly stopped. "It seems that Raefel has never looked down on mortals. This is a catchphrase that the villain Charles likes to use... Oh no, I've ruined my character."
"Let me think, what would Raefel say at this moment?"
As Blanche was pondering how to rebuild her persona, Kemai suddenly covered his mouth and looked behind Blanche with a look of utter disbelief.
"No...it's impossible..."
Blanche heard Kemaina's trembling voice and looked up in confusion: "What do you mean it's impossible? You mean it's impossible for my character to be messed up?"
Blanche shrugged: "Nothing is impossible. I play so many roles in my dreams every day, it's normal to occasionally switch roles."
Ke Mai shook his head: "I wasn't talking about you."
Immediately afterwards, Carmi pointed behind Blanche: "See for yourself."
Blanche looked on suspiciously and turned to look behind her. When she saw what was behind her, her eyes widened.
because……
Uriel actually woke up.
"What happened? How did you wake up?" Blanche rushed to the sofa in shock, looking at Uriel in disbelief, even waving her hand in front of Uriel's eyes: "Are you really Uriel? Have you been possessed?"
Uriel's gaze was unfocused, as if he were still lost in memories.
It wasn't until Blanche's loud, boisterous voice reached his ears that he slowly came to his senses: "...I'm back?"
Blanche and Kemai were still in shock and did not answer, but Angel's voice rang out at the opportune moment:
Welcome back.
Uriel was in a daze for a moment before nodding: "I'm back."
After a pause, Uriel looked at Blanche and Clementine, who seemed frozen in place, with some confusion: "What's wrong with them?"
"They were just discussing it. Twenty minutes have passed, and you should already be looking for the church in the City of Dreams. In ten minutes, they will play 'Moonlit Haze' to help you pass the level."
"But now it seems that they were wrong."
Uriel gave the two of them a strange look and muttered under his breath, "How could a normal person take twenty minutes to get into the church?"
"How long did it take you?" Angell asked curiously.
Uriel's expression instantly turned somewhat embarrassed: "Five minutes... I was delayed a little. If I hadn't been overthinking things, it probably would have only taken two minutes to get to the church."
When Uriel shared his completion time for the scene, not only were Blanche and Kemai shocked, but Angor also remained silent for a long time.
When Angel spoke again, his voice was still slightly hoarse: "It seems that none of us are normal people..."
Uriel: "Huh?"
Angel didn't explain, but changed the subject: "Judging from your expression, you must have gained a lot from this experience?"
When asked about his dream journey, Uriel was once again lost in thought, as if he could see the figure frozen underwater. After a moment, he nodded: "I guess so. I've obtained a new fragment of the truth."
As soon as the words were spoken, Kemai and Blanche snapped back to reality and simultaneously opened the text box.
Two minutes ago, a new message popped up in the text box—
"You have obtained the truth about the 'evil spirit': 2/3"
Current exploration progress: 58%
Sure enough, the second piece of the truth has been obtained.
However, this time the exploration of the truth fragments was not as generous as the first time, only 20%.
However, none of that matters. What matters is how Uriel obtained the fragments of the truth, and what the second truth is.
Faced with everyone's curiosity, Uriel remained silent for a moment before slowly speaking: "It took me ten minutes to get to the pure white room, and then another ten minutes here to find the figure singing..."
……
at that time.
After selecting the figure holding the boots, Uriel took a step forward, and a gentle suction instantly pulled him to the figure's side.
His fingertips trembled slightly as he reached out to touch the figure.
The next moment, the world spun around.
The familiar "scene switching" reappears.
Previously, he had experienced three transitions: from darkness to light, from emptiness to narrowness, and from vastness to miniature. But this time, the transition was from illusion to reality.
When Uriel regained his footing, he found himself seemingly possessing a physical form; everything around him was no longer illusory but indistinguishable from reality.
He found himself in a scene that was both strange and familiar—
forest.
This was a vast, continuous forest, and Uriel appeared deep within it. All around were towering trees, their branches and leaves so dense they blocked out the sun, obscuring any sign of open space or human habitation.
Only that familiar singing voice still gently lingers in my ears.
His intuition remained unchanged, prompting him to search for the source of the song.
Uriel composed himself and walked forward in the direction of the song.
But after walking a distance in a straight line, he was surprised to find that the trees, the light and shadow, and even the position of the dead branches under his feet were exactly the same as when he started.
He returned to where he started?
But he was clearly walking in a straight line?
Uriel thought for a moment, tried twice more, and quickly realized that something was wrong.
This forest has a set of hidden rules.
It will deceive you with its large, thick trees.
Simply put... eyes are completely useless here.
When you walk with your eyes open, you will subconsciously avoid tree branches. You may think you are only slightly avoiding them, but in fact you have already gone astray.
You'll be endlessly spinning your wheels on the path of "avoidance," as if you've entered a maze of ghosts.
What should we do in this situation?
All sights deceive you; the only thing you can trust is your ears.
When you close your eyes and rely solely on listening to find your way, you will find the true path.
Even when following the "listening" route, there are insurmountable giant trees standing in front of you, and it seems there is no way to go at all, the singing voice will still come from behind the tree trunk.
At this point, if you use your eyes to look, you will take the wrong path in order to avoid it. But if you follow the sound, ignore all obstacles, close your eyes and stride forward, you will find that your body passes directly through the tree trunk and you have entered a new world.
In other words, this dense forest is actually somewhat similar to the dark space at the beginning. Don't trust your eyes, just trust your ears. Close your eyes and listen, and you can be guided by sound.
In addition, Forest Dream has a new mechanism.
There is a certain emotion hidden in this song.
At first, the melody was still gentle, but as we walked, a certain section of the melody suddenly produced a subtle, jarring noise. It sounded no different from usual, but it made people feel inexplicably tense and a chill creep in.
Uriel, having immersed himself in music for many years, was extremely sensitive to subtle changes in timbre and emotion, and instantly caught this anomaly.
He tentatively approached the source of the piercing sound, and the sense of danger grew stronger; but once he turned around and went in the opposite direction, the palpitation slowly dissipated.
In this difficult moment, he finally trusted his intuition.
He didn't listen to the direction of the singing, but went in the opposite direction.
Not long after he turned in the opposite direction, several dark figures holding bows appeared in the direction from which the song was coming from, and they fired wildly at the surrounding area.
If Uriel were truly stubborn and insisted on following the song without turning back, he would have become a hedgehog by now.
This is another mechanism of Forest Dream: you must listen to the emotional changes in the songs to avoid enemies lurking in the shadows.
Upon learning of this mechanism, Uriel guessed that the archer enemies were a reflection of the Forty Thieves.
This also corresponds to Rigota's final fate.
Everything he experienced before his death has a counterpart.
Based on this pattern, Uriel had a premonition that he was not far from his final destination.
Although it sounds long, it only lasts a few minutes. Uriel not only solved the mystery of "visual illusion" but also concluded that "when emotional noise occurs, one should move away from the singing in the opposite direction."
These two rules can ruin many ordinary people.
Unfortunately, Uriel was no ordinary man; he was a musician, a master of rhythm, and his primary organ was never his eyes. He trusted his ears more.
Therefore, Uriel broke through these two evil rules almost instantly.
The rest is much simpler; just follow two points:
First, don't trust your vision; close your eyes and follow the song the whole time.
Second, if the emotion in the singing is off, move away in the opposite direction until the emotion in the singing returns to normal, then continue following the sound.
soon.
Uriel then found the end of the forest scene, which was also the origin of the song: a surging, long river.
Upon seeing the long river, Uriel immediately thought of the "River of Troubles".
It was under duress from the Forty Thieves that Priest Sean took Rigota and jumped into the river.
Therefore, Uriel was not surprised that this long, rolling river was the origin of the song; in fact, he had already guessed it halfway there...
"Next, he should jump."
Looking at the turbid, surging torrent, Uriel did not hesitate for a moment. He took a deep breath, stretched out his arms, and leaped into the water.
The moment my body plunged into the river, the expected impact and rapids did not come.
The surroundings suddenly fell silent, as if the scene had been silently switched.
Uriel was stunned for a moment before realizing that he was underwater, yet he could still breathe smoothly and his vision was not affected.
The singing continued, its direction clear, coming from deeper waters.
Without hesitation, he continued to descend towards the source of the sound.
I don't know how long he swam, maybe a few hours, or maybe just a few minutes? Uriel's usually accurate timekeeping seemed to have lost its effectiveness in the water.
When a faint light finally appeared in the dark depths of the water, Uriel knew he had reached the end of this illusion.
because.
He saw the figure he had been longing for... Rigota.
She floated in the shimmering light underwater, her body seemingly enveloped in a faint halo, shielding her from the surrounding darkness and cold.
After many years, Rigota still looks the same as she did back then.
A white dress flutters in the wind, and red hair stands out boldly.
Uriel's heart pounded wildly, his body trembling slightly with excitement. He almost staggered as he rushed toward the faint light, his fingertips desperately trying to touch that familiar figure.
But when he rushed to the vicinity of the light and reached out to touch the faint light, he was blocked by an invisible barrier.
The light appeared soft, but it was actually as hard as ice, like a transparent "ice dome" that steadily protected Rigota within it.
He could see Rigota curled up inside, humming a song with her eyes closed.
But they couldn't reach Rigota through that "ice shield".
Uriel's eyes reddened with anxiety. He pounded the ice cover with both hands, his palms striking the cold barrier with a dull thud that was particularly clear in the still water.
Inside the ice enclosure, Rigota, who was curled up with her knees drawn up to her chest, seemed to hear the commotion outside. Her long eyelashes trembled slightly, and she slowly opened her eyes.
When she saw Uriel, she gave him her familiar gentle smile.
Then, as always, she reached out to shake Uriel's hand.
Kriegota's hand was also blocked inside the "ice shield," and they could only touch each other through the "ice shield."
Uriel opened his mouth, as if to speak.
But he found that he couldn't say a word.
Ligota seemed to be opening her mouth as well, but apart from singing, she couldn't make any sound.
Even more desperately, Uriel felt a sense of rejection, but this rejection was different from the coldness and malice of the past. It was more like a "rebirth," carrying a joyful warmth and an uplifting power, as if it wanted to pull him away from the dark depths of the water and take him away from all darkness and sorrow.
But Uriel didn't want that; he just wanted to stay here, to stay by Rigota's side.
He would be willing to sink to the bottom of the dark water with her.
He struggled desperately, trying to break free from the suction and move closer to the ice cover, but the force was like a great power with rules written on it, leaving no room for argument and making it impossible to resist.
Just as he was being slowly pulled away by this invisible force, away from the ice shield and away from Rigota, a notification suddenly popped up in the text bar, which had been silent all along.
"You have discovered the living soul hidden within the body of the 'evil spirit.' (Expandable)"
"You have obtained the truth about the 'evil spirit': 2/3"