Once the Teleportation Array activated, Mu Yi felt his body hurtling upward, his heart soaring along with it. Only the firm grip around his left wrist kept him anchored.
A riot of colors filled his vision. When he turned his head, he couldn't see Zhong Xuezhi beside him; when he looked down, he couldn't see himself. It was as though his senses had left his body.
Mu Yi slowly broke into a grin, finding this even more thrilling than riding the Thousand-Mile Vine!
But the thrill didn't last long.
About two or three minutes later, Mu Yi's senses plunged abruptly. The colors before him vanished, replaced by a gleaming floor.
Looks like we've arrived.
Mu Yi raised his head and found himself in a wide-open plaza, so deserted it was almost bleak.
There were only lonely streetlamps, neglected flower beds, and benches.
Once he finished his quick survey, Zhong Xuezhi asked beside him, "How did your first ride on the Teleportation Array feel?"
Mu Yi drew his gaze back and replied, "Prett-"
Before he could finish, a sudden buzzing filled his head. His body swayed violently twice, and his classic smooth collapse was about to make a comeback.
Fortunately, Zhong Xuezhi seemed prepared. He reached out and caught him, smiling. "Pretty good?"
Mu Yi clung to Zhong Xuezhi's arm with both hands and corrected himself with difficulty. "Pretty dizzy..."
Kind of want to puke.
Zhong Xuezhi hurriedly patted his back. "Hold it in, hold it in. You'll be fine once it settles."
Seeing this, the other members of Team 404 gathered around.
Qiu Cai said, "Haha, he's reacting exactly like I did on my first Teleportation Array ride!"
Wenren Jin mercilessly exposed him. "He's doing way better than you, okay? You threw up so much you couldn't walk. The captain had to carry you to the mission."
Qiu Cai immediately stopped laughing and fired back, "Like you had such an easy time! You couldn't even keep your shield steady for twenty minutes after landing."
Then he decided to drag everyone into it. "Beibei, too. Both halves of his brain got shaken into mush, and all the information he gave us was a complete mess."
"Du Jing was the funniest. The Devil Vine on his back started fighting itself. It couldn't even tell friend from foe."
An Beize covered his mouth and gave two tactical coughs.
Du Jing ground his teeth. "Tch... Why drag me into this out of nowhere?"
"Enough." Zhong Xuezhi delivered a verbal smack to each of them. "None of you four did any better. What's so fun about a bunch of scrubs mocking each other?"
All four looked up at the sky, pretending they hadn't heard.
During that brief silence, Mu Yi managed to suppress his nausea.
He shifted his legs and barely straightened up, complaining, "This thing can give you motion sickness?"
Still supporting him, Zhong Xuezhi explained, "When your senses come back down, they're badly out of sync with your body."
"Your brain can't immediately reconcile the information from the two, so it gets confused."
Mu Yi brushed away the hand supporting his waist and asked, "What do we do next? More traveling?"
This doesn't look like a city.
"Yes." Zhong Xuezhi rubbed his fingertips together. "A five-minute walk. We just have to go through the Mirage Wall."
Mirage Wall? Like a mirage?
Curious, Mu Yi took a step forward. "Then let's go."
Seeing his unsteady steps, Zhong Xuezhi asked, "Can you manage?"
Mu Yi answered, stressing each word, "I. Can."
An Alpha couldn't say he couldn't.
Stubbornness drove him several steps forward. He wasn't quite steady, but he didn't look about to fall, either.
Amused, Zhong Xuezhi stepped up and steered him by the shoulders. "Wrong direction. This way."
"Impressive..." the quartet sighed in unison before following one after another.
A five-minute walk wasn't far. Before long, Mu Yi arrived at the Mirage Wall with them.
It really was a towering wall, and beyond it appeared to be a dense forest.
Mu Yi looked up at it for a moment and asked, "Do we just walk straight through?"
Zhong Xuezhi said, "You can touch it first."
Mu Yi did as instructed, pressing his palm against the wall before asking suspiciously, "It's solid?"
"Watch me." Zhong Xuezhi reached out as well, but his hand passed through without any resistance.
Mu Yi was surprised. "Why?"
Zhong Xuezhi flashed a toothy grin. "Because it doesn't know you yet."
Mu Yi was even more surprised. "The wall is alive?"
"Yes." Zhong Xuezhi nodded. "You could say that. Anyone passing through it for the first time has to register."
"Once you're registered, it records your appearance, scent, and identity information. Then it knows you."
Mu Yi thought that was pretty damn novel. "How do I register?"
Zhong Xuezhi pulled him over to one side. "Here, stand right here. Let it scan your body data first."
Mu Yi turned his head and asked doubtfully, "For such an advanced wall, doesn't it have a smarter way to scan people?"
Standing right up against it like this feels like being sent to face the wall as punishment.
"No." Zhong Xuezhi turned his head back, looking perfectly serious. "Don't move."
Mu Yi stared at the wall, his thick, dark eyebrows twitching. Then he turned his head again and declared, "You're messing with me."
"Why would I do that?" Zhong Xuezhi clasped his hands behind his back, putting on an honest, harmless look.
He had barely finished speaking when a greeting came from nearby. "Hey, Captain Zhong!"
Zhong Xuezhi turned and answered with a smile, "Captain Fu, what a coincidence. Just finished hunting, too?"
"Yes." Captain Fu approached with his teammates. Once he stopped, he glanced at Mu Yi, who was standing facing the wall. Seeing the Team 404 uniform on him, he was rather surprised.
"A new teammate?" But he's an ordinary person, isn't he?
Zhong Xuezhi said, "No, a little brother I picked up outside the city."
Captain Fu said, "Oh. Then what's he... doing?"
Zhong Xuezhi smiled. "He's a curious kid. Very interested in the Mirage Wall."
"I see..." Captain Fu nodded politely, then added, "What a coincidence. I picked someone up outside the city, too. A plant-type mutant, no less. I'm planning to send him to the Training Camp."
Zhong Xuezhi looked the newcomer up and down and assessed, "Good potential."
"Right? I thought so, too." As Captain Fu spoke, he activated the Identity Bracelet on his wrist and casually scanned the person he had brought back.
Once he finished, he turned back. "Captain Zhong, we'll head in first."
With that, he led his teammates and the newcomer smoothly through the Mirage Wall.
Half a second later.
Crackling electricity enveloped Mu Yi. "Zhong. Xue. Zhi."
Zhong Xuezhi immediately sprang far away, laughing sheepishly. "Well, uh, it was just a joke..."
It wasn't really his fault for being mischievous. Mu Yi's eyes lit up at absolutely everything, making him far too tempting to tease.
Though every time he teased him, he had to face the consequences.
Like now, when Mu Yi looked fierce enough to turn him into a little mound of dirt on the spot.
Zhong Xuezhi said, "Calm down, calm down..."
Mu Yi couldn't calm down. Wrapped in electricity, he charged.
"Ow-!" Zhong Xuezhi didn't dare fight back. Fighting here would attract the City Defense Force.
In the end, Mu Yi zapped Zhong Xuezhi until he was rare. Every hair on his body stood on end, and the hair on his head hadn't escaped, either. Only after carefully tying it up again did he more or less restore it to normal.
The quartet, who had spent ages playing dead on the sidelines, finally lost control and threw their heads back, laughing in unison.
They had been waiting to see how Mu Yi would deal with their trickster captain!
Unfortunately, Mu Yi considered all four of them accomplices. A few crackles later, every member of Team 404 had been neatly zapped.
"Uhhhhhh..."
Before you continue