Chapter 34

The most shocked by Jiang Liu’s appearance was, surprisingly, the giant peony.

Zhang Xiaochen and the others had yet to recover from the massive change before them when they suddenly felt the ground shake, followed by a nearly ear-piercing roar.

“How is this possible? How did you get out?”

The flower stalk, as thick as a person’s embrace, twisted frantically. Its enormous flower head bent down to face Jiang Liu almost instantly. Although it had no face, its trembling petals betrayed its disbelief.

Facing the giant flower that had suddenly drawn close, Jiang Liu turned her face away without expression, but Xiao Si’s face inexplicably appeared in her mind.

The feeling of being buried alive was not pleasant. Dirt pressed in from all sides, completely enveloping her senses. The thin oxygen was not enough to sustain her, and the feeling of suffocation washed over her. She barely had the strength to lift a hand.

In such an extreme predicament, a person’s mind becomes exceptionally clear. Countless images flashed before Jiang Liu’s eyes like a movie reel. Because her eyes were in the darkness of the underground, her other senses were magnified.

She could clearly feel something cold slowly enveloping her. Her mind gradually went blank from the sensation, and she vaguely fell into an indescribably beautiful dream.

At the critical moment, a sharp pain from the wound on her leg mercilessly shattered the beautiful dream, jolting her back to consciousness.

It was a superficial wound that had almost healed and shouldn’t have caused such a reaction.

Thinking of how Xiao Si had insisted on treating her wound, Jiang Liu was momentarily lost in thought, but she quickly regained her composure and sneered at the peony. “Where is Li An’an?”

She didn’t want to waste words. She just wanted to clear the level as soon as possible and find Yang Caisi to ask her what was going on.

Were the images that flashed through her mind in that deep underground illusion real or not?

The peony giggled with a child-like, shrill voice. The immature tone was out of place in the night, giving people goosebumps.

“Let’s see you escape first!” it sneered. A fierce wind suddenly rose, and in the blink of an eye, the peony vanished.

In its place was a world-shattering change.

The mist surrounding them gradually dissipated. As if time were rewinding, the wasteland before them continuously regressed, like an old projector rapidly rewinding through countless scenes.

The chasm in front of them was quickly filled in, and towering trees shot up from the ground, transforming into a sky-covering canopy in the blink of an eye. Cheng Da blinked in confusion, feeling his wrist being squeezed painfully. “Sister Jiang?”

The scenery was still changing rapidly. It was as if countless craftsmen were preparing to start work, each holding a giant chainsaw. Wood chips piled up on the ground, and then the original appearance of this place flashed before their eyes.

Cheng Da took two helpless steps back, looking up in disbelief. “Where is this?”

Weren’t they looking for Li An’an? And Jiang Liu… wasn’t she buried alive? How did she suddenly appear?

Too many questions arose in Cheng Da’s mind. He had completely forgotten what had happened and was just looking at the slideshow-like scene in a daze.

“Be careful,” Jiang Liu said, seeing his bewildered expression. Knowing the peony was gone, she let go of his hand and gave him a word of caution.

Cheng Da nodded blankly. His gaze darted around and suddenly caught something, and he couldn’t help but cry out, “Brother!”

Cheng Ji, who had been on the opposite side, had regained his senses at some point and was rubbing his eyes, staring at the chaotic scenery around him.

Hearing his call, Cheng Ji looked up in pleasant surprise. “Xiao Da!”

The response brought tears to Cheng Da’s eyes.

The change only lasted for a moment.

Zhao Ziming ran over with the others. In the time it took to cover those few steps, the scene had already frozen.

Jiang Liu took a closer look and immediately felt a headache coming on.

What garden was this? It was clearly a primeval forest!

As far as the eye could see, there were towering trees, their lush leaves completely blocking out the sun. The long night had instantly turned into day, and a cool breeze rustled the leaves, carrying the fresh scent of soil.

“Is this also an illusion?” Zhao Ziming slapped his forehead, quickly pulling out his phone to check the time, and froze on the spot.

2:17 AM.

He looked up at the sun above him in disbelief and stiffly pinched his own thigh.

A howl erupted beside him, making him jump. He turned to see Zhang Xiaochen’s livid face. “You pinched my leg!”

Zhao Ziming gave an embarrassed smile. “Sorry, I really didn’t mean to.”

Zhang Xiaochen glared at him but didn’t say much more.

After all, who could remain calm after seeing such a topsy-turvy scene? That would be abnormal.

Wait a minute…

He subconsciously looked up at Jiang Liu and saw her stroking her chin. She casually picked up a rock from the ground, weighed it in her hand, and tentatively tossed it forward.

Thud…

It was a very faint sound of something falling. The ground in front of them was clearly flat, but the rock seemed to have fallen into a deep abyss, disappearing in an instant.

Cheng Da’s face turned pale, and his steps, which had been about to go find Cheng Ji, froze in place.

“It should be meant to confuse us.” Jiang Liu’s expression was relatively calm. She drew a line on the ground with the tip of her foot to mark the location of the gap, then turned to the others.

“Do you remember the way we came?”

Everyone looked at each other and shook their heads.

Those plants had been running wild, and they had been dizzy from being tossed around in the air. How could they possibly remember?

While the group was at a loss, Cheng Ji, on the other side of the gap, suddenly spoke up. “Is this the way back from here?”

Jiang Liu’s brow twitched, and she looked at Cheng Ji with a scrutinizing gaze. “You know?”

Cheng Ji grew nervous under her gaze and silently lowered his eyes, avoiding her stare. His voice became much smaller.

“Yesterday… or was it the day before? Someone woke me up and told me a lot of directions and distances. I remember them very clearly.”

He had just woken up from a chaotic, beautiful dream and hadn’t quite figured out the situation yet. He spoke in a jumbled manner, and it took them some time to understand his meaning.

He couldn’t remember much of what had happened in the past few days. The only thing he could clearly recall was that someone had woken him from a beautiful dream, mechanically repeating many directions and telling him that this was the way home.

Zhang Xiaochen listened with a bewildered expression and eyed him suspiciously. “Are you sure you didn’t just dream it?”

This was about their lives. Wasn’t it too reckless to just believe him?

Cheng Ji lowered his head, suddenly unsure himself.

But Jiang Liu looked at him thoughtfully and suddenly asked, “Do you remember who it was?”

“I only remember it was a woman’s voice, with no emotion, like an AI,” Cheng Ji said, scratching his head. He tried his best to recall, but he could only remember the general idea.

Even so, a name surfaced in Jiang Liu’s mind.

She silently clenched her fists, trying to suppress the doubts in her heart, and looked at Cheng Ji. “You lead the way.”

Zhao Ziming tugged at her sleeve, frantically signaling with his eyes. Out of consideration for Cheng Da, he didn’t speak his mind, but his unmoving feet betrayed his resistance.

But no matter how he signaled, Jiang Liu’s mind was made up.

Cheng Ji hadn’t expected this heavy responsibility to fall on him. He thought for a moment before accurately reciting a sentence.

“Thirty steps to the right, turn left for thirteen steps, then ten steps back…”

Everyone couldn’t help but look to her right. Less than five steps away, a large tree blocked the path. But Jiang Liu closed her eyes, ignoring it, and actually walked right through it.

It’s real! Zhao Ziming was ecstatic. He looked at Cheng Ji with affirmation in his eyes, then frantically untied the rope from his waist and shouted to the other side, “Catch! We’ll pull you over!”

***

Half an hour later.

Zhao Ziming held a machete, gesturing with it for a long time, and looked at Jiang Liu with a conflicted expression. “I just feel like it’s too bloody.”

Under Cheng Ji’s guidance, they had successfully walked out of the illusion and returned to the familiar garden.

Unlike before, there was only one huge flowerbed here, where countless flowers bloomed in defiance of the seasons.

The unconscious Li An’an was thrown on the ground. The machete hovered over her body for a while, but Zhao Ziming couldn’t bring himself to strike.

Zhang Xiaochen tutted and moved closer to snatch the knife. “Are you going to do it or not? Should I?”

He was sick of this damn place. As long as he could get out, he’d be willing to give up an arm.

While the two were still arguing, a whoosh was heard in the night. The tip of Jiang Liu’s knife was already against Li An’an’s wrist. The blade flashed, and before they could even see her move, a thick, dark green slime burst from the wound.

The ‘Li An’an’ on the ground trembled twice and then began to writhe violently. As she moved, a rustling sound came from the silent flowerbed. Jiang Liu immediately raised her flashlight.

“Find it, quickly!”

The others didn’t dare to delay. They moved closer and searched carefully, finally finding a trembling morning glory. It looked as if it had been wounded by some invisible sharp weapon, and its petals were gradually beginning to wither.

Zhao Ziming was quick. The moment he saw it, he reached out and touched the petals. Almost at the same instant, a familiar electronic voice sounded.

[Congratulations, player, for completing the mission. The score will now be tallied.]

[Main Quest completed. Li An’an successfully found. Ten points added.]

[Number of survivors: six. Thirty points added.]

[Grade: A-Rank.]

As the system’s voice sounded, the flowerbed in front of them began to collapse. The entire world trembled on the verge of ruin. With the garden as the center, the nearby stone paths were overturned from below, and countless green shoots broke through the earth.

Recalling the slideshow she had just watched, Jiang Liu finally understood what had happened here.

Xiao Si had said that this place was originally intended for commercial development, but it had clearly been a forest, a paradise for plants.

For the sake of those cold, hard buildings, they were ruthlessly cut down and left homeless. That was why they rose up in resistance, using human desires to lure them into the task of restoring the garden.

In all of this… who was right and who was wrong?

The collapse continued. Countless blooming lives filled the entire world. At the end of the garden, a faint figure was already waiting.

As they approached, the face appeared before them. Jiang Liu stopped abruptly, her expression uncertain and surprised.

He wore a black and white shirt and trousers, and his neatly trimmed short hair was impeccably styled, revealing a delicate and scholarly face below—but it wasn’t Yang Caisi.

The young man stood before Jiang Liu, his presence as refreshing as a spring breeze. “Congratulations on clearing the level. I am Number 017, the Guide for this public area.”

Jiang Liu frowned inexplicably, a wave of disgust rising in her heart for no clear reason. It was just that this person’s smile didn’t reach his eyes, making one feel very uncomfortable.

Zhao Ziming had said that the Guide was usually the Instance Dungeon Supervisor for that instance, so—

She suppressed the faint smile on her lips, her tone suddenly becoming distant. “Where is Yang Caisi?”