Chapter 1636: A One-to-One City
Xu Huo instinctively reached out to grab it, but unexpectedly, the stone broke apart in the middle, as if weathered for a long time, crumbling from the inside out.
However, it didn't completely shatter; it just split into two pieces, and the light also dissipated.
The radiation density of these two broken stones far exceeded that of ordinary rocks. Based on experience, they should be ore of not-low quality, but they had already been expended.
He couldn't determine what kind of stone this was for the time being, so Xu Huo had to put it away first. He then walked around the stone cave again, and only after finding no second piece or a similar big fish did he surface.
Back on the shore, he took out the two stones for a closer look. The intact stone was quite large, so it probably wasn't swallowed by the fish itself... That meant someone had deliberately placed the stone inside the fish's belly. Was it related to the instance?
Xu Huo had originally only come to look for detoxifying fungus, but he didn't expect such an unexpected gain. He wasn't sure if it was really related to the instance, but if this instance had been modified by Dr. Wu, some obvious remnants wouldn't be surprising.
So he opened the map again.
This wetland park was located on the left side of the city. Besides the natural lake in this wetland park, there was also a sizable artificial lake further to the right. From the map, the two largest lakes were symmetrically positioned on the left and right.
Xu Huo decided to try his luck there.
It took some time to cross the city, but when he arrived at the artificial lake, he found that half the water had been drained. There was still water in the deeper central area, but the rest of the lakebed was exposed, revealing large patches of mud mixed with fungi. A foul stench filled the air.
There were no corpses under this lake; the stench came from the fungi and some small animals that had died in it.
At that moment, two players were standing in the water, pulling a prop net in their hands.
Xu Huo appeared on the shore and asked, "What are you fishing for?"
The two players were not in good shape, their expressions unable to hide their fatigue. Although they were wary of him, they lacked the energy to be on guard. Standing still, one said, "We saw something glowing in the lake last night."
Without needing to go down and look, Xu Huo knew there was nothing else in the mud at the center of the lake. So he just nodded and left.
This was clearly not the place he was looking for.
After thinking about the surroundings of this lake, he headed towards a nearby aquarium.
The animals in the aquarium had long turned into white bones, soaking in the deep pools and breeding various scavengers, including fungi. The pool water was murky and filthy, making it almost impossible to see what was still inside.
Xu Huo smashed the glass on the side. As the tilted, dirty water gushed out, several large fish similar to those in the previous lake came out with it.
From a distance, he used Space Blade to cut open the fish. Unexpectedly, all three fish had the same kind of stone in their bellies, and one of them was even relatively well-preserved, not having shattered directly inside the fish.
Xu Huo moved over and bent down to pick up the stone. But the moment his hand touched the edge, he was hit by a sudden force that made him dizzy. The next second, his body felt inverted, as if he had fallen into water. However, after a brief sense of dislocation, he regained his clarity. Opening his eyes, he found himself still standing in the same spot.
Frowning slightly, he walked out of the aquarium and noticed that the scene on the street was somewhat different from when he had arrived.
First, the fungi had increased significantly. Besides the thick fog in the air, there were more floating fungi.
Second, there were far fewer traces of fighting and destruction. The one-to-one replica city was much more intact than before, with fewer cracks missing from the streets and buildings.
Finally, there were more corpses.
Coincidentally, the people lying on the street were the ones from Zone 013 who had disappeared from the instance earlier. They hadn't been dead long, and their bodies and surroundings were already covered in a layer of fluffy fungi.
"Help..." A faint cry for help came from the left. Xu Huo turned and walked over, but as he passed through the fog, he felt a breeze-like force brush against his body.
This familiar feeling made him stop. He tried to go back, and the same force passed through him from the front. After gauging the position, he reached out and touched the air.
He could indeed feel a barrier-like layer in the air, but strangely, no new radiation was generated within the "Cube Space."
"Not a space barrier? Or is it too similar to other radiations?"
Xu Huo wasn't sure, because this barrier didn't have any blocking function at all. If he weren't particularly perceptive, he might not even notice it.
But what was even more bizarre was that the person who had just been calling for help around the corner had disappeared from his spatial perception.
Considering there might be interfering forces here, he still went over to take a look. There were only fresh bloodstains on the ground, dotted and streaked, likely left behind from crawling.
People don't disappear for no reason. Could they have been released by the instance?
With this question in mind, he walked forward a bit further, but before he had gone a kilometer, the feeling of the barrier passing through his body appeared again.
He tried moving left and right, but this barrier seemed to cut across the entire city. Not just the sides, but even the high altitude was the same.
"Help me..." A voice came from behind again.
Xu Huo paused, then passed through the barrier and went back, but there was still no one at the place where the sound came from.
If he hadn't misheard, both cries for help came from the same person. Was it mental interference, or some other special power?
He left a monitor behind and returned to the front of the barrier. This time, he heard the cry for help again, but when he turned back, the source of the sound was still empty.
However, this time he noticed something strange: the bloodstains on the ground.
Someone must have been crawling on the ground for quite a while, but he had passed this spot two or three times, and the blood hadn't changed. It remained semi-dry and hadn't discolored.
He opened the monitor. The screen showed nothing, only recording the sound of Xu Huo's own footsteps.
Looking back and forth, he returned towards the aquarium. After passing through the barrier again, he listened. Someone was still calling for help. Similarly, as long as he stood outside the barrier, there was someone within his perception range.
The barriers on both sides cut off a section about a thousand meters long. Using the barrier as the dividing line, standing within this thousand-meter zone, he couldn't hear the sound or perceive the person calling for help. Beyond this limit, he could hear the cries for help on both sides and could sense someone's presence. These two states changed depending on his position, and the instruments couldn't alter them.
Given the specific circumstances of the instance, the first thing to consider was definitely mental interference. If both his hearing and perception were wrong, he couldn't guarantee that what he saw and touched was real—if the mental interference here was truly that strong.
(End of Chapter)