Deng Chun was still sprawled on his back, having only just been knocked off his feet. Now the man wearing the "genuine Exoskeleton" crouched beside him, blocking most of the daylight and nearly swallowing him in shadow...
Wait. Blocking the daylight?
That was it. The sunlight that had clung to him like a parasite—the sunlight that had merged with the Dark Gold Mask and become almost divine—seemed to have taken fright. It vanished abruptly, and so did the patches of light scattered through the sandstorm.
The sudden gloom let Deng Chun breathe easier. At last, he caught the crucial detail amid the cascade of upheavals.
"A mountain?" Slope City Airport was right by the sea.
"What, did playing games scramble your brain?"
"I... I might be having some trouble recognizing my surroundings..."
Deng Chun didn't believe his own excuse, but the man opposite him studied him closely and answered with surprising seriousness. "Oh. This is the Second Underground Cave up in the mountains... inside the Fog Maze. Well, not strictly speaking. It's an Outer Experience Zone unique to this side. Ring any bells?"
Deng Chun understood only part of that, but it was enough. More importantly, he recognized the man in front of him.
That was what he based his judgment on.
Long Qi. That man's lackey, the Demon Eye Girl's sidekick, and their personal cameraman.
Wasn't this guy supposed to be guarding the chessboard in Lake City?
He had said "Second Underground Cave." Right now, the only place that description could so naturally refer to was the one on Three Peaks in the Main Peak Area, northwest of Lake City.
So he was now... in the mountains where the Hundred Peaks Monarch was?
Not on the Helipad at Slope City Airport?
Was this a joke?
Fine. Could someone tell