Chapter 3026: The Invisible Prison
Xiao Yue entered the room, walked around, and used an instrument to conduct a test. It could indeed detect traces of spatial power fluctuations, but that was of no use—they simply couldn't reach the other space.
"It looks like an 'Invisible Prison,'" she said, groping along the walls and door panels. "It appears randomly, swallows people randomly, and might open again at random later."
"Will it open?" Zheng Zhixuan was worried. "Meng Junyan may not speak pleasantly, but he's quite sharp-witted. It would be a shame if he died just like that."
"He's only missing, still far from dead." Xiao Yue glanced at her companions' expressions and emphasized, "Besides, the third clearance mission is to escape the prison. That means there's no immediate danger to life after being trapped. As for what happens next, it depends on his luck."
Their group didn't linger on the floor for long before moving on. Since the prison entrance appeared randomly, waiting in the same spot yielded very little, especially since they also had to avoid the night security guards.
On the other side, the moment Meng Junyan stepped across the doorway, he knew something was terribly wrong. All the sounds behind him had suddenly vanished. Sure enough, when he turned around, the corridor outside was completely empty!
He hurried out. The hospital was still the same hospital, the corridor still the same corridor, but his companions who had been following in a grand procession were entirely gone. The patients from both the second inpatient building and the first inpatient building had all disappeared. The entire hospital seemed to have been emptied in an instant!
No players, no patients, not even the things they had imagined—everything was gone. Looking at the hospital now, though the night lights weren't very bright, he could see that the building was quite new inside and out, matching the background description without much discrepancy.
He quickly went downstairs, heading straight for the office building.
He wasn't stupid. He hadn't made any mistakes, let alone done anything evil. Since the district merger began, he had been organizing and preparing supplies. Though he hadn't charged into battle, someone had to handle logistics. He felt he had done enough. He just valued his life and didn't want to oppose Xu Huo, nor did he have the "grand ambitions" of people like Zong Lanzhi. So he figured the best way to survive was to go directly to Xu Huo and beg for mercy. Xu Huo was such a good person—he would surely soften!
When he rushed to the top floor of the office building in one breath, he indeed heard footsteps inside, and the door was slightly ajar. Suppressing his excitement, he tidied his clothes before knocking. With some agitation, he said, "Mr. Xu, my name is Meng Junyan. May I come in and talk to you?"
His voice twisted halfway through because he had already seen the person standing by the desk. It wasn't Xu Huo at all—it was the one who had gotten lost from Zong Lanzhi's team!
The other man didn't mock his eager attitude. Instead, he welcomed him happily, boldly pinching his arm. "A living person! A living person!"
Meng Junyan had no good expression for him. He shook off the hand and said, "Why is it you? Where is Mr. Xu?"
"Haven't you realized it yet? The Invisible Prison is another space—it's empty," the man said. "Though we're still in the hospital, we're no longer in the same space as Brother Zong and the others. How could Mr. Xu be here? Even if he were in this office with us right now, you wouldn't be able to sense his presence."
Meng Junyan felt both disappointment and irritation. "Then what are you pretending to be, standing here!"
"I thought it was an illusion..." The other man didn't mind his attitude at all and introduced himself proactively, "My name is Pan Bufan. Don't be so emotional. There's only the two of us here..."
Meng Junyan quickly stopped him. "I'm not on your side."
Pan Bufan's face twitched. He looked around and said, "Does it matter? There really are only the two of us here. Before you came in, it was just me."
Just one person, just two people... Meng Junyan immediately opened his personal panel—it was gone!
It shouldn't be an illusion, because after entering, the hospital in his eyes had returned to normal. So it was a problem with this space—it had cut off the game channel!
Realizing this, Meng Junyan suddenly felt a chill. If someone were alone here, they could only wait hopelessly to die. Being two people wasn't much better. If they couldn't get out, in a few days they would start killing each other out of hunger—there was no food here!
Their eyes met, and the relief in both their gazes was replaced by wariness.
"'Invisible Prison' can still be escaped." Pan Bufan unzipped his protective suit, revealing the nutrient supplements stored in the inner pocket. "Though eating this stuff isn't great for the body, it can save your life at a critical moment. If you can't get past the present, there's no point thinking about the future."
Meng Junyan had never lacked food or drink in instances, so of course he didn't carry any nutrient supplements. He only had a pack of weird-tasting cookies he had stuffed into his pocket.
"In that case, let's not waste time. The exit could appear anytime, anywhere. Let's wander around the hospital. If we're lucky enough to run into it, we'll clear it directly!"
Both of them shared this thought, so they began sweeping the building floor by floor.
Once inside the "Invisible Prison," the illusions faded, and their perception became clearer. Though not as sharp as super evolvers, if their evolution rate was high enough, they could still feel something.
They had no other choice but to run floor by floor, and they couldn't afford to be slow. What if they missed an opportunity by dawdling? After all, it was a spatial portal—it might flash by in an instant.
However, after running back and forth through every building five or six times with no results, they finally had to stop and rest.
The two sat in the lobby of the outpatient building, staring at each other.
It was only then that Meng Junyan understood why Pan Bufan had looked so happy to see him. This was a completely isolated world. He couldn't think of anything more frustrating than waiting to die in a place like this.
Pan Bufan had arrived first and had some experience. He wanted to offer a few words of comfort, but just as he looked up, he suddenly stared straight at the end of the corridor and then dashed over.
Meng Junyan thought he had found the exit and immediately followed, only to find him standing at the corner of the corridor, peering around.
"What are you looking at?"
Pan Bufan's expression was tense. "Did you see something?"
Meng Junyan was confused. Then Pan Bufan said, "I clearly saw a figure flash by here."
"Don't scare me." Meng Junyan's face turned serious. "There are no illusions here anymore. And if it were another player who had come in, they wouldn't avoid us. Besides..."
Besides, he didn't sense a third person in this hospital. Not a player, not an illusion—what could it be?
"What is that thing!" At the same time, Zeng Guangyao, who was resting in the first inpatient building, suddenly jumped up from his bed and pointed at the ceiling, shouting!