The Truck Driving Away from the City

Yu Xing felt as if she had fallen asleep.

The compression and suffocation within the teleportation tunnel were nothing new; having grown accustomed to the pain, the interdimensional teleportation tunnel didn't cause him much suffering. It was only after seeing the white light representing the exit that he felt any pain.

There was a slight gap in his memory; he couldn't remember what happened immediately after he came out, only that he seemed to have touched some kind of barrier, and then his thoughts were confused for a while due to the energy of the barrier.

It was a rare experience; Yu Xing hadn't felt his mental strength was slightly lacking so clearly in a long time.

It felt as if he were an information stream intruding into a device, and the barrier was the device's firewall. When the two collided, the firewall didn't kill him, but instead caused information chaos on both sides. After a long period of separation, the two data points finally became independent and intact again.

But his data still managed to fool the firewall and get into the device.

After a series of strange fragments of impressions churned in her mind, Yu Xing finally came to her senses. She felt something hard pressing against her forehead, and her body was leaning against something, with a slight tremor and swaying beneath her.

There were unfamiliar voices nearby, seemingly belonging to two young people. One of them was excitedly muttering something like, "Finally, we can get into the base, Amy! It was definitely the right decision to come to City 51! Amy! Amy! Talk to me!"

The other voice, a girl's, responded with a hint of disdain, "Don't get so excited, you little rascal. Lots of people are sleeping. Keep your voice down, and I think we should rest too, okay?"

Besides the conversation, there were also sounds of snoring coming from nearby, mixed with the noise of engines, making the air feel very stuffy.

Just listening to it, Yu Xing could picture in his mind a truck or transport vehicle filled with people.

Something seems... a little off.

Yu Xing's eyelashes trembled; she couldn't find any real-world context to match this scene with this conversation.

What was Base 51? He'd never heard of it.

Something went wrong?

Was he really that "unlucky" this time, blown away to another world by the energy of that unknown barrier?

With a slight sense of frustration and an impatience stemming from a dislike of trouble, Yu Xing slowly opened her eyes, and a variety of colors immediately filled her retina.

It was exactly as he had imagined.

This was indeed a train carriage, but it wasn't enclosed; the door was half-open, letting in light from the outside.

The sky was bright, but overcast. The dim light shone into the carriage, revealing every detail of the people sleeping soundly—some lying down, some reclining, some sitting—in every way.

There were men, women, young and old, and everyone could be described as disheveled. Their clothes weren't exactly tattered, but they were obviously old. Even more dejected than their appearance were their expressions, as if they had just gone through an exhausting escape.

In contrast, Yu Xing's own clothes were the most tattered; to put it bluntly, they were barely covering his body.

Without a doubt, this was caused by the spatial channel.

Fortunately, he was covered with a piece of clothing, a white striped uniform, long-sleeved, with a long hem, somewhat like Doctor's coat. It was unclear whose it was, but at least it concealed him and maintained some semblance of decorum.

In this situation, it's unlikely that he would have stayed in the car immediately after exiting the teleportation array; otherwise, he would have been treated as an oddity, instead of being seen as he is now, mingling with a group of listless people.

This led Yu Xing to immediately conclude that he had been moved to the car from somewhere else.

Yu Xing blinked, then found it somewhat interesting. She observed them a second time and realized that their emotions were even more complex, with a sense of relief that their tension and fear had finally subsided.

The only person still awake in the carriage was the boy who had just spoken. He had curly hair and was trying to close his eyes to rest, while the girl he had been talking to had already tilted her head to the side and was dreaming with her mouth open.

Their attitude was unguarded.

This suggests that the destination this vehicle is heading to isn't a bad place for these people; it's very likely the "Base 51" mentioned by the curly-haired guy earlier.

Tsk...

Yu Xing raised her hand to rub her temples, and glanced at the half-open car door.

The truck traveled along a bumpy dirt road that looked somewhat like the suburbs. On both sides of the road were waist-high weeds, their colors varying in shades, but they were not pleasing to the eye; instead, they exuded an indescribable eeriness.

Looking into the distance, you can see the outline of the city, with its tall buildings intact. The tallest building is a signal tower, with complex coils wrapped around its top, giving it a very high-tech feel.

However, like smearing mud on a chocolate cake, what feels abrupt and incongruous is that such a beautiful and magnificent city has not a single light; it is quiet, silent, and completely static, as if it were dead.

The truck was heading away from the city, leaving shallow ruts on the dirt road.

Yu Xing was now completely certain that this was not the real world, but the sense of unease and danger emanating from everything she saw...

He had a new idea.

It's not necessarily that the teleportation array was misaligned, nor is it that he was pushed into another world when he exited the teleportation array. What if Calodi was initially positioned in this world?

Calodi once said that this world was full of inexplicable interference, unlike what he thought was normal operation. At first, he thought of the existence of a system, but now, another answer is in front of him.

He might have entered the simulation world.

Because he was targeting Zhao Yijiu and Carlos, the world most closely related to these two would normally be the real world. But what if these two happen to be in the same deduction at this moment...?

He followed the teleportation array to perform his deductions, which seemed quite reasonable.

Isn't that a coincidence?

Yu Xing let out a barely perceptible sigh.

This explanation is more likely than the previous two, so he's more inclined to believe that they've entered the simulation. If that's the case, then everything's fine. As long as Zhao Yijiu and the others can be found, what does it matter if it's a simulation world?

Moreover, he was abandoned on Dead Silent Island by the system because the system couldn't find him. Now that he has reappeared, if the system has some influence over this world, it might be able to reconnect with him, treat his previous disappearance as a "bug," and reabsorb him.

He still has things to finish in the simulation system, so the sooner he can be pulled back, the better.

Thinking this, Yu Xing reached for his waist. He had originally been holding the Sheqing Dreamscape tightly in his hand, but when he woke up, his hands were empty. After being moved, it was almost impossible for the dagger to still be on him. However... he could feel the aura of the Sheqing Dreamscape from the moment he woke up, right under the uniform he was covered with.

He quickly reached for the hilt of the dagger. The cold, sacrificial aura crept up the hilt towards his fingers, then subsided upon contact with him, immediately surrendering.

He was too preoccupied with the dagger while he was "asleep," so it must still be there. It must have been Yi Qing's doing, for example, controlling the Sheqing Dreamscape to avoid the sight of the people carrying him, following them all the way to the car, and then sneaking into his clothes when no one was looking.

Feeling the touch, the dagger moved slightly, and Yi Qing's thoughts emanated from it, seemingly confirming his guess and putting him at ease.

Thus, Yu Xing came to a second conclusion: in this world, neither he nor Yi Qing were restricted.

Yes, even if this really was a simulation instance, he didn't feel any restrictions. You have to understand that his current strength is incomparable to what it used to be. Without restrictions, he was extremely free.

It's possible that this instance itself is particularly difficult, and his freedom is limited, but it's still better than when he had the system before, where he couldn't do this or that. As the Sheqing Ghost, Yiqing never appeared in a instance with his complete power form.

Now that Yu Xing has awakened from his coma, he can extend the power of the curse at any time to see what the area within a few miles looks like. However, since the situation is currently unclear, he doesn't want to alert the enemy.

There were several living people right in front of me, a ready-made intelligence pool. Even if the intelligence pool members were all asleep, there was still one awake.

Yu Xing blinked, reached out and pulled the clothes covering her body back on, covering the worn parts, then leaned towards the boy. "Hey, you little rascal, still awake?"

If a normal stranger tried to strike up a conversation, this curly-haired boy might not even respond.

But upon hearing the words "little rascal," the curly-haired boy immediately bristled, his eyes widening in anger. "Who are you calling a rascal!"