"What is it?"
Jiang Wen asked curiously.
"The moment I entered this basement, I felt that something was off. Don't you think this basement is a little too spacious compared to the rest of the burrow?"
Bai Xiaowen switched off the searchlight and said softly, "Because this basement wasn't dug by Plague Rats. Teacher Xiao, you said you had been to this rat burrow before. Did this basement exist back then?"
"My memory is a little blur. I came here several years ago. It probably wasn't here then," Xiao Jinsheng said, trying to recall.
"You can tell from the marks on the walls that this basement was dug less than a year ago. If there is any 'abnormal area' in the Plague Rat Burrow, this recently excavated basement is undoubtedly one of them! In order to find the item that caused the Plague Rats to mutate, that powerful Awakened who sealed the entrance will sooner or later find this place!" Bai Xiaowen said gravely.
"So hiding here is practically walking into the line of fire!" Xiao Jinsheng took a deep breath. "Bai Xiaowen, your analysis is very good. Let's tread lightly and leave this place."
The atmosphere grew even tenser.
Suddenly, Bai Xiaowen waved sharply, signaling everyone to stop.
"There's someone nearby. Their footsteps are very light."
Xiao Jinsheng looked at Bai Xiaowen in surprise. What he did not know was that Bai Xiaowen's Spirit had reached 7.9, surpassing even some low-level Awakened, naturally granting him an unusual perceptive ability.
Jiang Wen's little face went pale with fright as she whispered tearfully, "Is it that person?"
"Shh... Let's not make any sound for now. Hopefully, that person is just passing by and won't come this way." Bai Xiaowen patted Jiang Wen on the shoulder.
The five of them quietly crouched down. Even Zhou Yi, who had been the most unconvinced, did not question Bai Xiaowen at such a critical moment. Along the way, Bai Xiaowen had earned a voice in the team through his own analysis.
Bai Xiaowen leaned against the wall and carefully felt around on the ground.
Before switching off the light, Bai Xiaowen had caught a fleeting glimpse of something dark on the ground, like a bundle of clothes. His memory was absurdly sharp; even from that accidental glance, he could recall most of it if he thought carefully.
Under the current circumstances, the more information they had, the better their chances of escape. Bai Xiaowen was certain that the dark, clothing-like bundle was related to whoever had excavated this basement.
"I found it... Something feels off?"
Bai Xiaowen touched the clothing, but its texture was very unusual, like coarse linen.
This was highly abnormal, and Bai Xiaowen quickly identified the suspicious point.
Linen clothes were uncomfortable to wear and had been obsolete for centuries. Not a single shop in Jinghai Base City sold material like this.
Bai Xiaowen continued feeling around, and his expression turned strange.
Following a sleeve, he found a cold, shriveled hand.
A dead person's hand.
This was not a bundle of clothes, but a corpse wearing linen garments!
Bai Xiaowen nearly broke out in a cold sweat. He steadied himself and continued searching while silently guessing at the person's origins.
Judging from the strange linen clothing, this person was likely not an Earth human.
He must have been... a human from the Spirit Realm!
The Spirit Realm was vast and boundless, encompassing many "planes."
Most planes had humans. Of course, they were Spirit Realm humans, very different from Earth humans. In Bai Xiaowen's understanding, they were NPCs in game instances.
After guessing this human's identity, Bai Xiaowen could not help sinking into deeper thought.
"After entering Earth, why would this Spirit Realm human risk crossing the Wilderness Zone blockade to reach the Buffer Zone, hiding in this dark, foul rat hole?"
As he pondered, Bai Xiaowen suddenly perked up. In the corpse's other hand, he found a rolled piece of parchment.
"Parchment, linen... The plane world this human came from probably had a setting similar to medieval Europe!"
Suddenly, a series of footsteps rang out, accompanied by the crisp, rhythmic clinking of armor plates.
All five held their breath.
Bai Xiaowen sighed inwardly. He could tell that the footsteps were drawing closer, clearly heading in their direction. From the sound of armor plates, an image directly formed in his mind: a tall, imposing knight clad in heavy armor.
The other party approached without the slightest concern, clearly not taking the five people in the basement seriously.
"He found us! Run!" Zhou Yi cried in despair and bolted out.
The others also rushed out of the basement. If they were trapped inside by the other party, they would truly become turtles in a jar.
Clutching the parchment, Bai Xiaowen fled as well.
The clacking footsteps also grew hurried, clearly indicating that their enemy had accelerated in pursuit.
"NOLITE!"
Accompanied by a commanding female shout, a streak of light shot forth. With a clang, a slender sword struck the rock wall in front of the five, burying itself to the hilt! That single attack alone made Bai Xiaowen's pupils contract.
It was countless times stronger than his homeroom teacher Xiao Jinsheng's supposedly max-level Basic Throwing! If it hit a person, it could probably skewer several people in a row like candied hawthorns.
The next second, a tall female knight in dark blue armor and a light purple cape rounded the corner behind them, her body wreathed in light. The distance between her and the five ahead rapidly shrank.
The female knight made no attempt to conceal herself. Her armor, the sword at her waist, and the cape behind her all radiated multicolored glows. With so much spiritual-energy equipment, she looked leagues above Xiao Jinsheng's shabby old iron sword.
"She's not Chinese?"
"Was that English she just spoke?"
"I can't understand it!"
The students all looked utterly bewildered.
"Don't worry about that! Split up and run!" Xiao Jinsheng roared himself hoarse.
Although the female knight had shouted for them to stop and issued a threat, the five still ran for their lives like rabbits with arrows in their asses, fleeing desperately down different forks.
The female knight shouted a string of Intimidating Shout words. Compared to English, they were somewhat obscure, carrying a vaguely familiar yet unfamiliar feel.
"This female knight... isn't an Earth human! She's speaking Old Latin, a Common Tongue from medieval Europe!"
Bai Xiaowen sprinted forward, but his heart was deeply shaken. Combined with the linen clothes and parchment on the earlier corpse, he could almost conclude that the female knight and the dead man both came from the Spirit Realm, and from the same "plane world"!
In Bai Xiaowen's understanding, plane worlds were like game "instances," while the Spirit Realm was a vast game world made up of countless "instances."
What was most incredible was that every plane world explored by Awakened had countless subtle connections to civilizations from certain eras of Earth.
The overarching setting of nearly every plane world could find a similar "template" in some period of Earth's history!
Some plane worlds were Ancient Egypt pharaoh dynasties, where witchcraft and mummies danced together;
Some plane worlds were the medieval European continent, where swords and magic intertwined;
Some plane worlds were modern city streets filled with fighting and violence.
The plane worlds above were relatively normal.
So what did "abnormal" plane worlds look like? For example:
The Cretaceous World of prehistoric Earth, where dinosaurs ruled the land, skies, and seas;
The Holy War World of ancient Greek mythology, where Divine Scion Hero Tiers shattered the sky with their fists and crushed the earth beneath their feet;
The Immortal Hero World of ancient Chinese cultivation, where sword immortals rode flying swords across the Nine Provinces, slaying demons and vanquishing evil...
So far, not a single discovered plane world had been completely unfamiliar or incomprehensible to Earth humans. More or less, traces of them could be found in the long river of Earth's history.
The languages used in these plane worlds included Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, Classical Chinese, Latin, Ancient Hebrew... Most of them were ancient languages that had once spread widely across Earth.
Many so-called experts and professors had attempted to explain this. However, their explanations lacked evidence and were nothing more than pure conjecture. The only people truly capable of finding the "answer" were Awakened who braved dangers to explore plane worlds one after another!
Clearly, this armored female knight came from the Spirit Realm, from a plane world of swords and magic! Its plane setting resembled medieval Europe on Earth.
With a thunderous boom, the handsome guy made his dazzling entrance!
At last, a corner of the Spirit Realm's veil had been lifted. It wasn't a single world, but a "multidimensional" world! Does it have a bit of that infinite-flow feel?
Every time Awakened entered a plane world, they would adventure amid a different world setting. Just thinking about it was a little exciting~
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