1TWITF[C Chapter 146

Chapter 146

“As expected, there’s still no way out.” Within the Spirit Medium Town, the Lin Chu from this timeline sighed.

She had been wandering around the outer edges of the town for several days, but no matter how she searched, the edge of the town was shrouded in a dense fog, leaving no gaps.

Lu Yanli, on the other hand, seemed completely unfazed. Lin Chu couldn’t figure out what he was thinking. She had a feeling that Lu Yanli didn’t want to leave at all.

Could it be that he thought it was safe here, and because there were no people but also no supernatural events, he refused to leave?

But she needed to get out.

This was not right. She shouldn’t be so afraid of him.

During this time, Lin Chu had been wandering around the town alone under the guise of looking for a way out. Her real purpose was to find out about Lu Yanli’s life trajectory over the past three years.

What had happened in these three years? Why had Lu Yanli changed so much?

Unbeknownst to her, Lu Yanli was sitting in the basement, leisurely watching Lin Chu running around on the monitor screen in front of him.

He hoped she wouldn’t see something she shouldn’t see, like Yu Huaiyao. Otherwise…

Lin Chu had arrived at the power station in the town. Previously, Lu Yanli had told her that the entire town’s electrical circuits were broken, and he could only repair a few generators himself for small-scale power generation. Lin Chu didn’t suspect anything at first, and followed his instructions not to go out at night, staying in her room to rest.

Several nights had passed, and nothing seemed to have happened outside.

If it really was a problem with the circuits, she hoped to repair the power station and then turn on all the lights at night. She wanted to know what dangers lurked in the dark.

Years had passed, and the inside and outside of the building were covered in thick dust. Lin Chu covered her mouth and nose, passed through the courtyard and long corridors, and entered the dim buildings.

In that case, finding fuel might allow them to continue generating electricity.

The sensor lights had long stopped working. Lin Chu put on her miner’s lamp, turned it on, picked up a fire axe she had found elsewhere, and slowly walked towards the main plant area.

Like the outside world, it had a gray and dusty texture. Under the light of the miner’s lamp, dust filled the air, some of it floating into her eyes. Lin Chu had to squint her eyes and retreat until the dust dissipated a little before stepping inside.

It looked like no one had visited for a long time.

The miner’s lamp swept around the spacious boiler room, and Lin Chu noticed something was wrong.

These devices… why did they feel like they had been deliberately destroyed? There were many traces of heavy objects being smashed or high temperatures burning them.

Who would want to destroy the power station? Was it the townspeople? Or Lu Yanli?

Lin Chu slowly advanced, carrying the axe.

There was no mistake, it was all man-made destruction. All the equipment was unusable. Because of the age, it was impossible to find any clues.

She searched around, even looking in the toilets, but still found nothing. She slowly retreated, planning to look elsewhere.

Just before leaving, the miner’s lamp accidentally shone on a certain spot, and Lin Chu immediately stopped.

There was a piece of paper pressed under a damaged machine. Lin Chu shouldn’t have cared, but the corner of the paper that was exposed from under the machine looked brand new and white, without even a speck of dust, completely unlike something that had been stored for many years. She hesitated, but still walked towards it.

Had Lin Chu discovered something?

He didn’t think he had revealed any flaws, because he wouldn’t leave any evidence at all. So, what Lin Chu saw, who had left it behind?

He said he had stayed in the town for three years, and he had indeed lived alone for three years. The flow of time inside and outside was different, and he only had to wait for Lin Chu to enter.

He vaguely saw Lin Chu picking up the paper through the dust, but couldn’t see what it was.

Only Lin Chu knew.

The moment she saw the words on it, Lin Chu couldn’t restrain the shock in her heart. Her whole body trembled uncontrollably. She didn’t know how much self-restraint she used to immediately feign a calm appearance.

So, everything wasn’t what she had guessed at all…

On the screen, Lin Chu looked at the paper, casually crumpled it into a ball, and threw it aside, as if she had just made a fuss about picking up a piece of waste paper.

It didn’t seem like there was anything wrong, but Lu Yanli still felt something was off.

Was it really just a piece of waste paper?

Lin Chu calmly walked out, the hand holding the fire axe was already bulging with veins. She tried to maintain a natural demeanor under surveillance, not letting Lu Yanli notice anything unusual.

Calm down.

No matter how terrifying Lu Yanli was, he was just a person. As long as he was a person, he had weaknesses. What’s more, his weaknesses had already been completely marked out on that piece of paper.

The most important thing now was to escape from this town, and then—stop the Cultural Festival.

Otherwise, if the two worlds merged, the pollutants that the research institute had painstakingly discharged into other worlds would completely return. At that time, the population would inevitably decrease again drastically.

She walked back from the power station, her expression very natural. She also explored other places along the way, just like before, until she rushed back before dark.

Before stepping into the door, Lin Chu suddenly thought of a question.

Lin Chu didn’t sit at the dining table, but came behind him.

“Are you painting again?”

It was a strange painting.

In the picture, a tall girl was sitting in the mountains, which only reached her waist. She was wearing a skirt and looking up, seemingly crying.

The reason it was “seemingly” was because, at the position of her head, a red-clothed woman’s human skin covered most of her head. The hands and feet of that human skin were stretched out long, wrapping around from front to back, and tied into a knot behind the tall girl’s head, only revealing a small part of the girl’s open mouth, seemingly screaming.

The red human skin was semi-transparent, and one could vaguely see the distorted features of the girl underneath.

Lu Yanli didn’t even lift his head: “A dream.”

“A dream? Have you had such a dream?” Lin Chu couldn’t believe it. Seeing that Lu Yanli had no intention of answering her, she turned to the next one.

In the third picture, the human skin floated away, with a happy smile on its face. In contrast, the girl sitting at the foot of the mountain had no facial features on her face, and sat there blankly.

Lu Yanli was now painting the last picture, the girl without facial features walking in the mountains. Above her, two huge eyes were watching her. They were clearly smiling, but they looked very uncomfortable.

Lin Chu flipped the paper over. Those two eyes weren’t smiling at all. The corners of both eyes were raised upward, and their eyes were full of malice.

“Lu Yanli, just what are you?”

Lu Yanli sat motionless.

“Perhaps, I’m not human?”

*

The world outside the town.

Lu Yanli, who had gone to find Zhuang Ci, had no idea what had happened. He just wanted to find Zhuang Ci as soon as possible and verify his ideas.

He had initially separated from Zhuang Ci to act independently, and now that he wanted to reunite with her, he couldn’t find her. Even hacking into the radio station to broadcast throughout the city was useless. Lu Yanli hardened his heart and simply made a wish to the statue again.

Even if it meant paying a price, he couldn’t care so much.

The price was nothing more than the lives of others.

On the other side, Zhuang Ci had strayed into a strange realm.

That’s right… a tunnel!

They were here to find the Faceless Woman!

Zhuang Ci’s chaotic brain suddenly cleared for a moment. She had thought she was already exhausted, but when she saw the tunnel, she suddenly had strength again and ran.

The pitch-black, long tunnel was silent and cold. Zhuang Ci moved forward silently. After an unknown amount of time, light appeared in front of her. She stepped out, and everything suddenly became clear.

After adjusting to the dazzling light, Zhuang Ci saw Lu Yanli. He was walking towards her. They seemed to be standing on the streets of a strange city. The sky was dim, and there was no one around.

“I found them. I think we can go back.”

Zhuang Ci thought that what he said made a lot of sense. She didn’t ask anything and obediently followed him forward.

“How do we go back? Did you find a way?”

Lu Yanli said, “Of course.”

Didn’t the statue want a price? It wanted living sacrifices, and he would help it. Anyway, whether it was people from this world or that world, they had all become monsters. Whether they lived or died, what did it have to do with him?

Trading lives for wishes was a very fair transaction.

Zhuang Ci felt that something was wrong with Lu Yanli, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. She subconsciously moved away from him. She heard him mutter something to himself, and then… a tunnel entrance suddenly appeared between the two buildings in front of them.

“How did you do that?” Zhuang Ci couldn’t believe it.

Lu Yanli didn’t explain, he only said, “Let’s go.”

“Where to?” Zhuang Ci felt that something was wrong.

Lu Yanli didn’t give any explanation and walked straight into the tunnel. Zhuang Ci hesitated for a while, bit her lip, and chased after him.

The place Lu Yanli wanted to go was Spirit Medium Town.

As long as he cooperated with the statue for a short period of time, the town would become the safest place for him.

It wanted more residents? More believers? It didn’t matter, he could do it all.

After seeing through its essence, Lu Yanli wasn’t afraid of it at all.

He just wanted to know what the future version of himself had done.