"This is a series of interconnected spaces!" Su Huilan exclaimed in sudden realization. "There are two islands here, each with a lake, and each lake contains another island. To get from one island to the other, you have to swim across the lake."
Qingmu said, "Then why didn't Petru see this scene when he came?"
Su Huilan said, "Perhaps he wasn't telling the truth at all."
Qingmu laughed, "You still don't believe him."
"Why should I believe him?" Su Huilan said dismissively. "I bet he's hiding much more from us than he's actually saying."
Qingmu asked, "How do you know?"
Su Huilan said, "Do you really believe they threw the Mummy into the sea? Do you believe the box the Mummy was holding only contained those few nautical charts, and nothing else? Do you believe those people chased him all the way from the Gulf of Aden to the South Pacific just to retrieve those few parchments? Do you believe that with his demonstrated abilities, he could have survived being hunted by powerful figures until today? The two assassins on Tubuai Island are at least as capable as me."
"So, according to you, he's even hiding his Mental Power?" Qingmu thought it was unlikely. Unless Petru's Mental Power was incredibly strong, he couldn't possibly be completely unaware. Besides, Su Huilan had clearly hypnotized Petru. The subconscious doesn't lie. Although it can hide some things, since you've already entered his dream, you can just ask him and find out everything.
"I've never met anyone who could fake their Mental Power in front of us. If there were, it would probably be someone like Master Nanke, which Petru obviously couldn't do," Su Huilan said. "But I still feel he's untrustworthy."
Qingmu shook his head, thinking to himself, "You're the one who brought this person here, yet you just don't trust them."
"If you truly don't trust Petru, turning your back on him would be a foolish decision."
Qingmu couldn't understand why Su Huilan, who always seemed so shrewd, was so conflicted about this issue. What was she worried about? And what use was leaving a cat to monitor a master whose true strength they couldn't even fathom?
Su Huilan said, "Not believing what he says doesn't mean I don't trust him at all. Just like you wouldn't tell me all your secrets, I won't tell you all mine, but that doesn't stop us from being here together through thick and thin."
Qingmu acknowledged this. Sometimes, relationships between people are truly complex, and whether or not one trusts others depends on the occasion and environment. To him, apart from Bi Shenghua and the Crow, the entire world was worthy of suspicion. He often felt that the world was so illusory as to not exist at all, merely a delusion of a madman, and that madman was himself.
"At least I don't think he had any reason to lie to us about what he saw and heard on the island," he said.
Su Huilan said, "As you said, this woman's dream must be a scene she has seen before. We can understand this lake as a wormhole, connecting two completely isolated islands. In other words, these people may have lived in this enclosed space for generations, never leaving the lake and the islands within it. This also explains the principle behind the existence of tribes on the islands. A single isolated island does not provide sufficient conditions for a tribe to thrive and survive, but if there are two islands, or even three or five islands forming an archipelago, the conditions for survival are complete."
"You make a good point." Qingmu looked at the dreamlike scene before him. "But I think even if there really is a wormhole, it's impossible to see the Drosst effect from the lakeside. And according to Petru, fog always rises whenever Ghost Island appears. I guess the fog is a sign that the wormhole is activating, or maybe the fog is released after the wormhole opens. So, to get from one island to another, you have to go through dense fog, not through a clear lake."
Su Huilan asked doubtfully, "But haven't the people on the island ever tried to leave the island through the sea? When the wormhole opens, Ghost Island appears. We were able to get here, so logically they should have had a chance to leave as well."
This question also troubled Qingmu. He said, "Let's wait and see. We'll go to the lake later; maybe we'll find the answer there."
Their conversation was actually a subconscious exchange, so there was no issue of time, and it did not affect their observation of the savage woman's dream.
The men on the island in the middle of the lake rushed to the shore. In their world, they were on a normal island, and all they saw was a girl being dragged into the water.
The man wearing tricolored feathers shouted loudly, " Tafiti, #^$&%￥&%..."
Tafiti is probably the girl's name. The string of gibberish that follows is completely incomprehensible. Although there is no language barrier in the subconscious state, if the dreamer dreams of language itself, rather than expressing a precise meaning through the subconscious, then the observer can only observe the language. If an attempt is made to translate it through mental communication, it will interfere with the dreamer's dream.
The girl named Tafiti heard the men calling, but they were too far apart for the men to see her. She rushed into the lake, trying to swim back to the island.
However, when she jumped into the lake, it instantly transformed into a vast ocean, with nothing but the distant horizon and the terrifyingly low-hanging clouds.
"The wormhole has disappeared," Qingmu said.
Su Huilan shook her head and said, "That's not right. If the wormhole disappeared, and she jumped into the lake, it should have been a lake, not a sea."
"Perhaps this is a memory of her trying to sail out of the island." Although Qingmu said this, he also felt it was a bit far-fetched.
Tafiti swam in the sea for a long time, until she was exhausted and could only turn back. Logically, she was now surrounded by the sea on all sides, and would not be able to find her way back. But this was a dream, and as soon as she had the thought of turning back, the sea turned into a lake, and she was immediately on the lakeshore.
Tafiti struggled to climb to the lake shore and lay on the beach, panting.
A whooshing sound echoed from the forests by the lake, and a group of wild men wearing grass skirts appeared, shouting excitedly as they surrounded Tafiti.
At first, Qingmu thought these were the same group of people from before, and wondered where the guy with the tricolored feathers in his hair had gone. But when he saw Tafiti's expression, he realized that they must be from another tribe.
Tafiti looked terrified, but she no longer had the strength to escape.
The group of men surrounded her, raised their weapons and shouted into the air as if celebrating a successful hunt, then pounced on her like wild beasts.
Tafiti's grass skirt was torn to shreds, and she gazed at the lake, tears streaming down her face.
Half the men were thrusting vigorously onto the women, one after another, while the other half had already piled up firewood on the beach and built a campfire, ready to enjoy a feast.
What a heartbreaking scene!
Although this woman had just been incredibly fierce, attempting to kill Qingmu with a spear, in her dream, she was so weak and helpless!
Qingmu wasn't a saint, so he naturally didn't need to sympathize with a savage who had just eaten human flesh. But he suddenly remembered Yu Meiren from Masuba. If he hadn't found Wu Suotun's villa, Beauty's life would have been just as tragic. Beauty was unfortunate, but also fortunate. Countless girls had the same experience as her, but none of them had a big father who was a policeman or a powerful Awakened Yeye to save them.
Civilization and barbarism sometimes have no dividing line. The tragedies that happened on this island could also happen in civilized societies. All the plays are performed on the stage designed by God, only some plays have an extra curtain to cover up their shame.