Chapter 1170: Matryoshka Space
The collapsing debris rained down to the ground like a downpour, accompanied by rumbling sounds as large amounts of building fragments and wind waves swept outward in all directions. But just as the dust and smoke filled the entire ruined space, Xu Huo instinctively shielded his eyes, and the scene before him changed again—he was once more back in a "pristine state" of the ruined space.
The collapsing aerial structures and the few players accompanied by the Special Defense Department personnel had all vanished... It was another identical yet brand-new ruined space.
Xu Huo brushed the dust off his clothes, stood there for a moment, then turned back toward the direction he had come from. When he passed through the previous spatial boundary, that faint sensation of penetrating through was gone.
He tried opening a door within the spiritual realm, but behind the door was still this same space.
Failing to switch spaces made Xu Huo frown. This place was probably not a simple overlapping space. The objects within each space were identical. Even if there really were that many spaces, it was impossible for there to be so many identical ruins.
But this didn't seem like an illusion either. Everything he had seen and experienced should be real... Could this space be capable of time reversal?
No, that wasn't right either. If it were time reversal, then the mirror totem he had seen earlier would be inexplicable.
Once again stepping onto that stone path and entering the spatial structure, a voice suddenly came from below—Song Xiaohua's voice. "Mr. Xu!"
Xu Huo turned around. This time, Song Xiaohua and Wei Mang's group had appeared.
Unsure whether the ruined space had changed or if they had entered through the entrance, he leaped down, quickly approached them, and directly asked the two Special Defense Department players accompanying them, "Are the exit and entrance the same place?"
The two Special Defense Department members clearly recognized him. The female player among them looked somewhat excited and, restraining herself, said, "There are five entrances and exits in total, but you can't use the same one to go in and out. If you want to leave, you can go to the nearest A3 entrance."
"Could you point out the A3 entrance?" Xu Huo asked again.
"No problem." The female player immediately took out a map and explained in detail, "But the directions in this space aren't accurate, so you can't judge them the way we normally do."
She then pulled out a prop pointer and said, "It's very easy to get lost here. You need to use props to guide the way... Mr. Xu, are you planning to leave?"
"You're done that quickly?" Song Xiaohua said in surprise.
Xu Huo glanced at him. "I only came in about three minutes before you, but this space is a bit abnormal, so I want to check the exit first."
"Then we'll take you there," another Special Defense Department player immediately said.
"Yeah, yeah," the female player nodded repeatedly.
Before Xu Huo could respond, Sun Minqi, who was traveling with them, said unhappily, "Aren't you supposed to be guiding us?"
"The A3 entrance isn't far. Going there first won't take much time," the female player, who had been all smiles a moment ago, now said coldly. "Besides, we're only responsible for bringing you in, not for being your babysitters. Fortune favors the bold. If you're so afraid of taking risks, why did you even board the island?"
Sun Minqi's face immediately darkened. Wang Dafa, standing nearby, quickly tried to mediate. "It's good to confirm the exit first, just in case we run into danger and can't find a way out later. We're not in a hurry anyway. How about everyone compromise?"
Xu Huo had no intention of traveling with them, so he asked the female player to borrow the map.
Without a second thought, she handed it over and even shoved the prop pointer into his hand. Then she added, "Mr. Xu, are you coming back later? Should we wait for you here?"
"No need. Even if I come back, it might not be the same place," Xu Huo said.
The female player didn't quite understand his meaning, but she still said, "If anything comes up, just let us know. My name is Guo Nan, and he's Yi Huijun."
Xu Huo nodded to show he remembered, then called Song Xiaohua to go with him.
Sun Minqi and the others showed little interest in his actions and didn't even glance his way. The two Special Defense Department members, however, kept their eyes fixed on him.
After they walked away, Song Xiaohua teased, "You're really something, huh. I didn't expect you to have fans in the Special Defense Department."
"Look at their eyes—it's no different from chasing a celebrity idol. Are you that famous in the Special Defense Department?"
He then started winking and nudging. "Since you're so close with them, you could have contacted the Special Defense Department in advance. Why bother sneaking over here?"
Xu Huo ignored him and adjusted his direction according to the spinning pointer. But before long, he realized something was wrong. In less than ten minutes of walking, he seemed to have passed through three ruined spaces—if that faint sensation of penetrating through his body could be taken as a signal.
He wasn't sure how the Special Defense Department had found the exit, but he had a bad feeling. If the spaces kept shifting, would the exit still be at the location marked by the Special Defense Department?
Sure enough, when he arrived at the A3 entrance location, there was no barrier here for crossing between two different spaces!
Song Xiaohua also realized the severity of the problem. After repeatedly groping in the air, he said with great fear, "There really is no barrier! How are we supposed to get out!"
"Is the Special Defense Department's map fake? Or were those two deliberately messing with us?"
Xu Huo was also at a loss for the moment, because he didn't know whether everyone who came in would encounter the same situation.
If everyone who entered experienced spatial shifts, then the Special Defense Department's map should be useless... As the thought turned, he remembered the cube space he was carrying.
The cube space couldn't be stored in the item slot. It was itself composed of chaotic space rays and had the characteristic of rapid assimilation. If, at the same time he entered, the cube space had adapted to and assimilated the space rays of the island space, it might have created a separate stable area. This stable space, bordering the island space, might have caused something like spatial gaps in what should have been a relatively stable island space. That would explain why he experienced a different space with every stretch of road he walked.
After a brief consideration, he said to Song Xiaohua, "Since there's no exit here, let's first go find the others."
If he was in an overlapping space, even if he put away the cube space, he might not be able to get out, and he would most likely be trapped in a space different from the one the other players who boarded the island were in.
So at the very least, he had to find a third person first.
"Should we go back or head to the next entrance?" Song Xiaohua glanced at the map. "This map might be fake anyway."
"What do you think?" Xu Huo looked at him, then added after a pause, "I've never been very lucky. How about you pick a direction?"
Song Xiaohua laughed heartily, rubbing his hands together. "Then you've come to the right person. I don't have much else going for me, but I'm lucky!"
With that, he closed his eyes and randomly pointed his finger in the air, finally settling on a direction. "This way!"
(Chapter End)