When Yu Sheng "heard" the two words spoken by the Hunter, he was momentarily stunned. But the emotion that surfaced in his heart wasn't doubt, wariness, or eagerness to try. Instead, he remembered something—
In a previous dream, he had seen the "Hunter" appear silently before him. Out of curiosity, he had touched that empty Hunter's outfit, only to see his arm pass straight through its sleeve. If he hadn't suddenly felt alarmed afterward, he would have already put on the Hunter's clothes then.
...So that strange dream was the Hunter's first "attempt"?! Were they trying to make me put on this "Hunter's outfit" back then?
Yu Sheng frowned. Out of caution, he didn't take any further action. Instead, he spoke in a low voice: "Why?"
"We know what you're looking for." That hollow, indistinct voice rang out in his mind again. "The path to the 'deep layer' is sealed by illusions. Only by becoming part of 'it' can you bypass this forest. We successfully found a way to do so, but we can't resist its will, so we've been acting according to the 'script' of the stage until now. But you... seem to be able to. Put on this outfit and become the Hunter of the Black Forest—then you'll see the forest's true path.
"If you truly have the courage and resolve to resist it, then go face it."
Yu Sheng keenly noticed that when the Hunter referred to themself, they used a very special word: we.
"You're the Deep Dive Team from back then—you fused into a single entity?!"
"Yes, just as you thought. 'It' can't distinguish between our individual and collective forms, so after the 'fracture,' we fused together as we fell." As the Hunter spoke of this, they showed little emotional fluctuation, only a faint trace