Angel recalled the effects of the Oxygen Breath Factor, growing ever more certain of his guess.
The Oxygen Breath Factor was a special kind of oxygen molecule, widespread throughout Dark Corner. Once ingested, it allowed people to breathe underwater. However, excessive intake caused hallucinations.
Sigmund and the masked woman had been able to remain in the deep sea for so long without enough oxygen tanks. The only possibility was that the Oxygen Breath Factor had supplied them with oxygen.
What their masks contained was water infused with Oxygen Breath Factor.
Only that could explain why they were able to breathe underwater for so long.
"It is indeed possible that it was the Oxygen Breath Factor." Laplace had encountered Oxygen Breath Factor in the Hidden Waters, so he naturally understood its effects. "But if it really was the Oxygen Breath Factor, they have already been underwater for over two hours. Why have they not begun hallucinating?"
Angel said, "There are two possibilities."
The Oxygen Breath Factor only caused hallucinations when consumed in excess. The mask was an independent, sealed space, and it likely held only a small amount of Oxygen Breath Factor—perhaps it happened to remain right on the threshold: enough to breathe underwater, but not enough to overdose.
Of course, there was another possibility...
"They may already be seeing hallucinations, but they overcame them."
The scene projected by the Fire God Light Wheel into the Empty Mirror Sea was an objectively existing image.
The hallucinations caused by an overdose of Oxygen Breath Factor existed in a person's eyes, rather than in the objectively existing environment.
Thus, it was highly possible that the hallucinations had always been present; the Fire God Light Wheel simply had not projected them.
Angel could not determine which possibility it was.
In his view, the odds