Chapter 886: Chapter 78: The Returner
“Captain, how do we get out?”
A team member asked softly.
Everyone fell silent.
In fact, they all knew… No matter how capable the captain was, he wasn’t a god, and couldn’t find an exit so quickly.
The mentioned “door” might have been just a guess.
But time seemed to be running out for them.
On this Black Snow Mountain, more and more snowflakes were falling, denser and denser. Without Gu Shen’s “Blazing Fire Connection,” their spirits were gradually weakening…
Zhong Yuan only paused his steps for a second, his expression unchanged, never showing any emotions of frustration, regret, or loss…
The Phoenix Fire was no longer as fierce as before.
So he shrank the illumination range of the “Phoenix Ring,” controlling the light within about ten meters, allowing the seven team members to stick closely together and not be scattered by the wind and snow.
“Captain, does walking … do any good?”
Yuan Yuan appeared pale, communicating silently through spirit.
Some things couldn’t be said publicly, and this was one of them.
If he spoke up, everyone in the team would be shaken.
He was the vice-captain of the second team and the one who trusted Zhong Yuan the most in the world. He agreed with the previous “Mirror World” speculation, but if the squad had really entered a virtual mirror world, what was the point of just walking on?
It would just be going in circles in a loop.
Wasting physical strength, wasting spirit… Ultimately, the Phoenix Fire would surely extinguish.
And at that time, everyone would face the ultimate “darkness.”
Upon hearing this, the blond man slightly turned back, calmly glancing at his deputy, without faltering in his gaze, offering Yuan Yuan an unshakeable response amidst the faint light of the howling black snow.
Thus, the whole team continued to forge ahead silently.
The black snow enveloped them.
To conserve energy for this endless “journey,” everyone chose to hold their breath and focus…
They completely trusted the captain.
Trusted the captain to lead them out of danger.
Yet no one understood what the purpose was of continuously moving forward…
Uncertain about how much time had passed.
Zhong Yuan suddenly stopped walking.
They once again arrived at the campfire, the place where this nightmare began.
Several team members raised their heads blankly, looking afar and then behind.
After an arduous trek, the flame within the Phoenix Ring had weakened to the point where it could hardly protect a ten-meter range of light…
And at that moment, Zhong Yuan’s words were like a lifeline.
“Where’s the ‘door’?”
Yuan Yuan looked puzzled, seeing only countless swirling snowflakes.
“Did you notice? Everything here is real. Keeping a consistent distance, a complete cycle requires two thousand three hundred and eighteen steps. It’s always , which a dream can’t achieve.”
Zhong Yuan spoke softly.
Yuan Yuan was stunned, “Do you mean… this is another real world.”
“Yes. It’s just identical to ‘reality.’ If this really is a world, it needs Extraordinary Essence to function. No matter how unique, it must abide by the iron laws of the real world.”
Zhong Yuan suddenly laughed, “I’ve been wondering how we got separated from Mr. Xiao Gu. Initially, I thought Mr. Xiao Gu met with an accident, but now it seems… we were pulled into the ‘mirror’.”
A team member asked gravely, “Captain, did you see something?”
“Do you remember how we came in?”
Several team members exchanged looks.
Of course, they remembered!
The reason they ventured into this haunted place was because they lit a campfire.
And then… encountered black snow!
“I think we triggered the ‘forbidden’ on this Black Snow Mountain and thus attracted the ‘door’s’ arrival,” Zhong Yuan said calmly, “Perhaps the forbidden is… fire.”
“Light?” Yuan Yuan was taken aback.
The next moment, he understood the captain’s meaning.
Zhong Yuan raised his hand, waving gently, the fiery phoenix swirling in the air let out a soaring chant, dragging its frail body, dissipating in the air full of black snow.
The light over the heads of the squad members extinguished, the Phoenix Feather Flame withered amidst the swirling black snow.
Zhong Yuan flicked his fingers, stirring a wisp of spirit.
He extinguished the “Phoenix Fire” in the stone cairn.
The whole world instantly plunged into darkness… Originally sheltered by the “Phoenix Fire,” it seemed dim, but now true eternal night descended, the next moment, the “black snow” once more howled down from the mountain top.
Black Snow Mountain, perennially silent annihilation.
Eternally without light.
If indeed someone set up this “Mirror World” and positioned a ‘door,’ then the best way… is to seek “light.” Where there’s light, there’s someone.
The Phoenix Fire was too bright.
Thus directly targeted!
Zhong Yuan fixed his gaze on the darkness ahead, countless nightmare black snow scenes attacked. He closed his eyes, reopened them, and in his pupils, only a gold bright dazzling Blazing Light remained!
His right hand swept across his Source Armor waist.
Zhong Yuan released the resilient hook rope developed by the North Continent Army from his waist side, the black rope akin to iron wire freezing hands, now billowing in the wind, becoming a true “lifeline”!