The flow of the river creates an optical illusion, making a person appear to be climbing upstream while the brain perceives them as moving downstream. Of course, there is another possibility: the river is indeed flowing downstream, but the visual perception is mistaken.
Qingmu asked the Boss Coal to fly over and take a look. At this crucial moment, the Crow stopped cawing, nimbly flew away, circled once above the ravine it had come from, and returned saying, "I'm a little confused! I'll go check it out."
It still dared not fly too high, and flew forward along the treetops of the valley.
Suddenly, an arrow whizzed past its body and flew into the sky, tracing a strange arc in mid-air before turning back and falling back down.
The Boss Coal was startled. He let out a cry, hurriedly flapped his wings, and landed on the Qingmu, saying, "I was terrified! There are wild men ahead!"
Just then, a series of whistling cries echoed from the woods ahead, startling flocks of birds into flight, which swarmed wildly in the sky. Several larger birds were struck by incoming arrows and fell back into the woods.
Qingmu said, "Let's go! Our goal is to rescue people; let's avoid unnecessary conflict!"
With Hanran leading the way, they quickly entered the jungle and hid in a relatively secluded area of rocks. Before hiding, Qingmu quickly cleaned up the traces they had left on the forest floor.
A group of savages carrying bows and arrows and dead birds passed by not far from them. They walked to the riverbank, and one of the savages pointed at the ground and began to wail.
Qingmu knew they had found footprints on the riverbank.
The leader of the savages stopped the group, carefully examined the riverbank for a while, and said something. The savages then began to argue loudly, seemingly debating the origin and destination of the footprints.
Qingmu whispered, "We can't let them go back to report. Judging from their expressions, they might split up. We'll split up and take them down one by one."
The Crow said, "Wouldn't it be enough to stop the group that went back to report? Why kill them all?"
Qingmu said, "Although we've been very careful along the way, we'll still leave traces wherever we go. It would be troublesome if they found the cave where Alice and Anderson are hiding."
The savage group indeed split up; two savages turned back, while the remaining seven or eight followed the footprints along the riverbank toward the great lake.
Qingmu whispered, "Do you all understand the hypnosis method I explained this morning? It requires two people working together: one to isolate the island's Mental Power Field, and the other to hypnotize! Remember, the isolated internal space is visually two-dimensional. All material things on the island will disappear, leaving only the savages' consciousness. Therefore, we must prevent attacks from outside the space. The force field's counterforce is very strong, so we must keep the isolation space within a controllable range. One person handles the inside, and the other the outside. We must resolve the battle quickly. Kill the consciousness if possible; otherwise, kill the physical body directly. Do it as fast as you can! Got it?"
He mainly asked the Boss Coal and Hanran, because they hadn't returned when he and Su Huilan experimented with hypnotizing the wild man in the middle of the night.
Both the Crow and the cat nodded earnestly.
Seeing that they all understood, Qingmu said, "Alright, now let's divide the tasks— Hanran and I will be one team, taking out the group by the river; Huilan and the Boss Coal will be the other team, responsible for dealing with the two who go back to report!"
Su Huilan didn't understand why Qingmu had paired her with the Boss Coal, as this was different from the originally planned tactical combination. However, at such a crucial moment, it was best not to ask too many questions or be suspicious, so she said nothing. But when she heard Qingmu call her " Huilan " instead of Professor Su, her heart skipped a beat.
She nodded solemnly and said, "There are many of you there, be careful!"
The Crow disliked this grouping and seemed extremely unwilling. "Are you abandoning me, caw!"
Qingmu ignored him and instead said to Su Huilan, "After you deal with those two, don't worry about me and Hanran, but don't rush in either. Just wait up ahead. Remember, everyone, we absolutely must not get separated. If we do, our strength won't be enough to fight against the force field on the island!"
After Qingmu finished speaking, he led Hanran out from behind the pile of rocks, through the dense forest, intending to circle around to the bend in the river to intercept the group of savages walking along the riverbank.
The two savages who had gone back to report the news were on their way back, while Su Huilan and the Crow waited where they were.
The Crow leaned close to Su Huilan's ear and whispered, "Don't think that blockhead put me in your group just to give you a chance to curry favor with me. He doesn't have that kind of emotional intelligence!"
"Oh? Why would I try to please you?" Su Huilan found it a little amusing. This bird seemed to care a lot about her relationship with Qingmu. Could it really be for that delicious braised pork knuckle?
"Even an ugly daughter-in-law has to please her in-laws!" The Crow thought of those soap opera plots. "He has no parents, so only I can help him choose! Someone as lazy and stupid as him is easily fooled by women!"
If she weren't afraid of being overheard by the savage, Su Huilan would have almost burst out laughing, "So, you're his parent then?"
"Caw caw caw... This caw... I'm just using this as an analogy, you can't be the one to tattle first!" the Crow warned.
"Hmm, I won't tell on you. I'll just treat you like my parent!" Su Huilan answered casually, her eyes fixed on the two savage figures getting closer and closer, while looking for an opportunity to make a move.
" Guagua, you're quite clever! You really are a professor, quite the classy fellow!" the Crow said with obvious delight upon hearing her acknowledge him as a parent.
Su Huilan laughed and said, "Then, dear parent, can you tell me why that blockhead put me in the same group as you?"
"Of course it's because I'm strong! Not only can I help you complete the mission here, but if something happens to him, as long as he's in the dream, I can go and help him. So I'm truly versatile!" the Crow said proudly. "When I'm separated from him, I can maximize my abilities. Ultimately, it's because I'm too strong!"
Although the bird sounded like it was bragging, Su Huilan thought the Crow made a lot of sense. That was probably how Qingmu had arranged it, and that piece of wood probably didn't have any other ideas, right?
For some reason, she suddenly felt a little lost.
The savages were getting closer, within attack range. Su Huilan said, "How should we divide the work...?"
She thought the Crow were going to caw for a while longer, but before she could finish speaking, the Crow had already taken flight and cawed, "Men are in charge of external affairs, women are in charge of internal affairs!"
Before the birdsong had even faded, Su Huilan sensed a whirlwind rising from the ground. With the flapping of Crow wings, the howling wind tore apart and shattered the island's Mental Power Field...
Su Huilan excels at subtle control of consciousness and has a deep understanding of the characteristics of Mental Power. She discovered that the Crow's power was extremely wild and immense, surpassing even that of Qingmu, only its control was somewhat rougher. Moreover, their spirits seemed to originate from the same source, which explained why the Crow said they could resonate with each other in their dreams, unaffected by spatial barriers.
She couldn't help but become more curious about the human and the bird; what exactly was their relationship?
The divine crow spread its wings, its cry shaking the heavens; a fierce wind raged, and towering waves surged, quickly creating a vacuum-like eye of the storm amidst the chaotic rocks and forests...