Yan Zhi gasped for breath, her face pale and her heartbeat nearly out of rhythm. She looked back. The light around them had settled again, as though everything that had just happened were an illusion. Her body had regained its balance, but the unease in her heart had not faded at all.
"Was... was it an illusion?" Her voice trembled slightly, and her doubts only deepened.
"We shouldn't stay here any longer," Jiu Jia Yi said in a low voice. "This place isn't simple. It's testing us somehow, trying to make us lose our way."
"Then what do we do?" Yan Zhi gritted her teeth. Her fear had turned into a sharp sense of danger she could not ignore. She knew the situation was more complicated than ever. If they failed to find a way through, they might never escape this light.
"We keep going." Jiu Jia Yi's gaze was steady. "We need to find the heart of this place, the source. No matter how deeply it's hidden, we have to uncover it."
Yan Zhi took a deep breath and steadied herself. She glanced down at her hand. Her fingers were trembling slightly, as though under immense pressure. Even so, she summoned her courage, raised her head, and followed Jiu Jia Yi toward the still-radiant depths ahead, where nothing was clear.
They did not know what awaited them. Perhaps deeper mist, perhaps dangers even harder to foresee. But they understood that only by pressing on could they hope to uncover the truth behind this mystery.
Yan Zhi grew more cautious with every step, as though each one carried her into an unknown abyss. Her heartbeat still would not settle. Though she appeared calm, anxiety had already seized every nerve. The scene ahead grew increasingly indistinct, and the twisting light seemed to become a vast net closing tightly around them.
"Don't you feel like the farther we go, the less real the ground beneath us seems?" Yan Zhi asked quietly. She was not even sure the question made sense, but her unease and the pressure on her kept mounting.
Jiu Jia Yi did not answer at once. His eyes remained fixed ahead, his expression calm, as though nothing this world did could shake him. Yet beneath that composed exterior, Yan Zhi knew his thoughts must be in turmoil. He had survived life-and-death struggles and had more than enough experience to know that what they faced was no simple matter.
"The ground is solid," he finally said, his voice low and tinged with uncertainty. "But you're right. The farther we go, the more wrong it feels." He paused, then a flash of resolve crossed his eyes. "This is no mere distortion of space. There must be some purpose behind it."
"Purpose?" Yan Zhi frowned slightly. She could sense the threat in Jiu Jia Yi's words, but she still could not fully grasp what he meant by "purpose." She continued following him, trying not to let the chaos around them muddle her thoughts.
"This light seems to be actively interfering with our minds," Jiu Jia Yi said quietly, still watching their surroundings. "It doesn't seem like a natural phenomenon. It's more as though some outside force is deliberately controlling everything here."
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