On the ground lay several human corpses that had died from the very beginning. Several were invited guests who had ridden from Hub Town to lend Morrie a hand.
They all, without exception, had turned into withered bodies.
“In the Zone of Lost Frequency, when humans attack and kill each other, they don’t gain the other’s lifespan—unless it’s a beast.”
Yang Zicang raised his hand and pointed at those withered bodies on the ground.
“Yet they all have the appearance of age from losing all their lifespan. That’s what they believed, isn’t it? People who have just entered the Zone of Lost Frequency from Hub Town don’t know certain facts here, so when they ‘die’ here, they subconsciously feel they will become old and their time sequence will enter the other’s body.”
Everyone took a deep breath.
If what came before were mere speculative guesses born of panic, somewhat unrealistic, then with Yang Zicang’s explanation and the descriptions of a few people who indeed seemed to have ‘misakenly seen things’, the crowd now believed they were likely in a psychic field.
Young Master Wang said, “What should we do? If it’s truly a psychic field, does that mean those who die here will actually die in reality?”
This was precisely what everyone was worried about. The abilities in this world are incredibly bizarre; if this were just a defective stamp illusion within the city—like the reward for those who earn enough daily lifespan—then it would be quite safe.
But not every psychic field is safe.
“Zicang, we need to find a way to wake up quickly. You’ve experienced the Complete Stamp World before—is there any method?”
Yang Zicang furrowed his brow:
“Every psychic field has a sustaining point. Without that point, the entire field lacks the energy to function. And typically, that sustaining point is a human being. So…”
He looked at the more than thirty people before him.
“So, this sustaining point is hidden among us. It could be anyone—someone using the identity of another. They are the murderer, they are the bandages, they are… the existence that upholds this psychic field!”
The group of over thirty, who had just cleared themselves from suspicion, suddenly found themselves under suspicion once again!
The model on Yang Zicang’s chest spread out, but it was still unable to reach others.
He opened his eyes.
“There’s no effect like the silent place; it’s only natural that those in a psychic field can’t contact the outside world.”
The crowd was stunned for a moment, then realized they had been duped. That liar had even done some research to come up with a reason to deceive them all.
Yang Zicang raised his silver spear, pointing it forward.
“Whether in the incomplete postmark world or the postmark world, there is one commonality: as fully awake individuals who enter it—the so-called anchor points—they recover quickly after sustaining injuries.”
“What are you planning to do!”
“No, don’t kill people recklessly,” someone said nervously. “Maybe if you die here, you really die.”
“You can’t experiment with a Psychic Body recklessly; mental trauma is the hardest to heal. After all, this isn’t the postmark world.”
Even so, some understood Yang Zicang’s predicament.
“If it’s just a minor wound, it probably won’t matter. Master Zicang, why don’t you stab me with your spear?” someone said.
“Aren’t you afraid of going crazy after getting out?”
“Compared to greater danger, wounds of this level are still within acceptable risk. Don’t you agree, brothers?”
“I second that suggestion.” Captain Qin sighed, then rolled up his sleeve first. “Who’ll cut me with a knife?”
“Count me in. Any brother want to cut me?”
“I will. I’ll cut you first, and later you can cut me.”
The crowd grew excited; so near the goal, everyone figured it was better to get it over with. Every minute spent here was a minute more of danger outside.
The sound of swords and daggers stabbing each other suddenly erupted in a chaos.
That girl closed her eyes and stretched out her arm, letting someone slash it with a dra, causing blood to gush out.
“I might as well do it too.”
Yang Zicang raised his gun and quickly swiped it across his own wrist, blood oozing out.
Young Master Wang stared at the wound on his hand and suddenly said:
“You say, if the so-called ‘anchor point’ person can manipulate the psionic field, could they accelerate the recovery of one of us?”
Everyone busy at work was stunned in unison.
{Aha, your suggestion makes sense. Framing someone else, why didn’t I think of that.}
Bandage’s voice rang out.
The over thirty people looked at each other in mutual confusion.
Boboli, who had rolled up his sleeve, glanced at Yang Zicang standing still, then at Morrie stroking his chin, before turning to his own snow-white arm.
“M-maybe just cut me.”
Everyone looked at the boy with yellow curly hair. Morrie pulled out a short, portable Chrono Weapon and gently sliced his skin. On the unprotected epidermis, blood soon seeped out.
They all observed each other’s wounds like this, with no sign of rapid healing.
“What do we do? We can’t find that person.”
Feeling the gazes fixed on him, Yang Zicang furrowed his brows.
“What’s the purpose?”
“What’s the purpose?” Everyone listened to Yang Zicang’s mutter. “Obviously your stealth model, isn’t that so.”
After glancing around the hall at the numerous bandages laid about, Yang Zicang sat down cross-legged again.
“Mr. Bandage, I’ll call you that for now. Since we already know this is merely a psionic field, you might as well halt your tricks for a while. Now, I have two questions.”
{Ask away. If they’re interesting, I’ll answer as I see fit.}
Yang Zicang said, “Is your goal the stealth model Ability Sphere?”
{“Hand over the orbs, and I’ll let you go. No, wait… that line won’t work anymore.”}
A humming sound rose.
Surrendering the orbs within the telekinetic field was as pointless as treating someone to a meal in a dream—since the beginning, Bandage had only been stalling for time in here.
Yang Zicang remained silent. After two or three minutes, Bandage’s voice rang out again.
{What’s your second question?}
“I already raised my second question, and you’ve roughly answered it: stalling for time is by no means your primary objective.”
{Quit playing games.}
Yang Zicang replied, “I waited nearly three minutes just now, yet it was you who couldn’t hold back and spoke first, Mr. Bandage. So, even if your goal is to stall for time, it’s not solely about stalling.”
{Based on that? What makes you so rashly jump to this conclusion?}
“Because earlier, you kept pushing us into panic and anxiety. Now that I think back, the sooner we gave up an orb, wouldn’t that have just played right into your fake goal? What would you have done if you’d gotten away with it then? Keep toying with us, or leave outright?”
The stunned group of thirty-plus in the hall, upon careful reflection, seemed to agree.
Someone questioned, “Then, if it’s not about delaying, what’s the purpose?”
“Exactly. What’s the aim? Could it be…”
Yang Zicang lowered his eyes slightly; a thought crossed his mind, though its probability was minimal.
Morrie spoke up nearby, “Zi Cang, don’t fall for it. He might really just be buying time. If we lose the Invisibility Orb, the consequences will be catastrophic.”
Yang Zicang lifted his head.
“Everyone, to confirm a conjecture of mine, I need to conduct an experiment. The result of this experiment is related to my method for breaking this psychic field, so the purpose of the experiment is to ensure that method is safe and effective.”
“What experiment?” The crowd looked at him.
Yang Zicang chuckled coldly.
“To confirm whether the anchoring point of this psychic field is actually a person! Or, more specifically, a person from Earth.”
“Do you mean there’s a monster mixed in with us?” The crowd suddenly grew startled. “Is it a Demonic Nightmare?”
Rose Creek was a hub for Red Models.
And the Demonic Nightmares that accompanied Red Models were not only bizarre in their abilities but also had a tendency to go out of control at any moment.
“Now, on my left—three meters away on your right, behind that line of floor tiles—is Point A. Three meters away on my right, at that line of floor tiles, is Point B. Directly in front of me, where you are currently standing, is Point C.”
The crowd looked at Yang Zicang somewhat bewilderedly.
“I will ask a question and provide two answer options, A and B. Go to the point corresponding to the answer you think is correct. If you believe neither option is right, stay where you are.”
“What? What kind of experiment is this?”
The crowd cried out, and a few of the foreigners among them said in panic:
“Don’t ask us strange questions. We have different cultures; we won’t know whether some answers are right or wrong.”
“Yeah, Mr. Zicang. Have you been pushed to the edge?” Xiao Yushan glanced at the red-haired youth next to him, who seemed tense, and then said, “Even if we confirm it’s a Demonic Nightmare, doing this is just a waste of time and utterly pointless. Besides, it’s too hard for the foreigners.”
“No, Captain Xiao, this is indeed a feasible approach. If someone can’t answer, wouldn’t that mean they’re likely the one transformed by the Demonic Nightmare? As for your concern about the foreigners, we can conduct the questioning in batches.”
“That’s right, that’s right! Just by trying a few more times, we can find that abnormal person!”
The crowd finally understood Yang Zicang’s plan to some extent.
Ask questions and make them run between points A and B. Those who think the answers are misleading stay put, and the one who can’t answer in the end is the demon.
“I’ll start with a domestic question. All foreigners can stay where they are.”
“Who is the First Emperor of China? A, Fuxi; B, Yingzheng.”
The crowd rushed over and stood outside the cracks in the floor tiles at point B. Everyone looked at each other, and no one showed any hesitation.
“Looks like even a Demonic Nightmare has picked up quite a bit of information about us Earthlings,” someone remarked.
Yang Zicang nodded. “Makes sense. On the very first day I encountered an Attached Demonic Nightmare, it was reading ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms,’ so it’s only normal for them to know Earth’s historical and cultural background.”
The difficulty suddenly struck the crowd.
Even the method of asking about Earth’s history failed to root out the Demonic Nightmare hiding among them?
“Since we mentioned the Three Kingdoms, let me ask something related next.”
Tension rose in the crowd.
“I haven’t read the ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms,’” several people said, raising their hands.
Seeing the raised hands, someone in the crowd breathed a sigh of relief.
“This question is simple. Which of the following is NOT a character from the Three Kingdoms? A, Sun Wukong; B, Zhang Fei.”
The crowd erupted into movement with a commotion. There was simply no way to get such a simple question wrong.
Seeing that all the nationals had run to Point A, Yang Zicang thought for a moment and then continued,
“In *The Romance of the Three Kingdoms*, Lü Bu’s weapon is… A, a missile, B, the Fangtian Huaji [Halberd].”
The crowd headed toward Point B without hesitation. One slightly hesitant person saw everyone around moving and strode to follow as well.
Everyone quickly took their positions and looked toward Yang Zicang, waiting for the next question.
“Mr. Zicang, is this kind of test really effective?”
“It’s fine. I’ve got my eyes on you all. Some of you hesitate when faced with a question, perhaps just following the crowd. So, everyone needs to react quickly. Time is tight. Listen up…”
He declared clearly, “Who devised the strategy of ‘Borrowing Arrows with Straw Boats’? A, Yue Fei, B, Newton. Quick, rush your answer!”
The crowd surged into motion with a buzz of voices.
“It’s not Newton.”
Muttering to himself, Xiao Yushan hurried off the brick line, heading back toward Point A on the opposite side with the fast-moving crowd. But the people soon collided with him.
Xiao Yushan, having taken two steps forward, came to a sudden stop.
He turned around to see that no one was following him. They had all returned to where they had been before the question—Point C, directly facing Yang Zicang!
“Ah, it’s not Yue Fei either!”
Pretending to have been jostled, Xiao Yushan immediately altered course, heading toward the front of a few people. Fortunately, Points A and B were not far apart, and he soon regained his footing on the right side of the disarrayed crowd.
Few noticed his abnormality, as the crowd was quite chaotic. But Yang Zicang still spoke up.
“Captain Yushan, why are you standing so far to the left?”
Everyone’s eyes fell on Xiao Yushan.
Xiao Yushan, who was about to squeeze into the back of the crowd, turned around and said with an awkward smile: “I didn’t go anywhere; they just jostled me out of step. You don’t seriously think I’m a Demonic Nightmare, do you?”
Xiao Yushan looked at the group of foreigners behind the crowd who were waiting for the next question, and his gaze landed on Morrie.
“Morrie, your current teammate sure is sensitive.”
In the crowd, Morrie forced a weak smile.
Under threat of danger, no one could genuinely laugh.
“Next question, Captain Yang.”
“Okay,” Yang Zicang said. “The highest mountain in the world is: A, Mount Everest; B, the Alps.”
The crowd surged toward Point A. Xiao Yushan strode swiftly and sharply, without any hesitation. No sooner had they steadied themselves than Yang Zicang’s voice continued.
“Listen to the question: Which province is a pearl from? A, Sichuan; B, Qinghai. Hurry!”
Xiao Yushan immediately headed toward Point B, only to find the crowd had all moved to Point C instead. A few of them ran into him.
“You… you all…”
His face betrayed a hint of panic as he took two steps forward. Xiao Yushan turned to look at Yang Zicang.
Yang Zicang said with a cold sneer:
“Mr. Xiao, you’ve gone the wrong way again, haven’t you?”
Xiao Yushan’s face twitched.
“No, no, I just wanted to enter from this direction. There are fewer people here, aren’t there?”
Everyone’s gaze toward this man now carried suspicion.
“Could it be you!” some people pointed at him and shouted.
Xiao Yushan looked back at their gazes, tugged at his collar, and let out a cold snort from his throat.
“To be safe, let’s have one more question,” Yang Zicang said, staring at Xiao Yushan who stood at the edge of the crowd.
“This question is very simple, Mr. Xiao. If there’s any doubt that you might answer it incorrectly, I’ll have to apologize.”
Xiao Yushan said coldly, “Go ahead and ask.”
“May I ask everyone,” Yang Zicang lifted his gaze to the crowd, “What is the name of the shed master in Lijiang? A, Yuan Kun, B, Yuanlong. Please answer quickly!”
The crowd stirred; Xiao Yushan, standing on the left side of the crowd, stepped without hesitation over the crack in the brick to the B spot.
Just as he was feeling smug, confident he hadn’t answered incorrectly this time, he suddenly heard several voices behind him.
“Hey, Mr. Zicang, we don’t even know any shed master from Lijiang!”
“Yeah, who is Yuanlong?”
“Wha, what!”
Having taken that step out, Xiao Yushan froze mid-stride, stunned on the spot.
He turned his head blankly and found everyone’s eyes all fixed on him.
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