In the moments before the mental explosion, the intense Mental Power Field battle had already pulled everyone into a dream. If it weren't for Qingmu, Situ, and Duwa supporting them with their powerful Mental Power, the explosion would have torn this space apart in an instant, and none of the consciousnesses within it would have survived.
Qingmu felt alright. Although the mental shockwaves from the dream had messed up his mind, his mind was already as chaotic as a pot of spicy hot pot. At this moment, it was just like someone had stirred the soup pot with a spoon. Instead of making it more chaotic, it stirred up some of the sediment at the bottom of the pot, allowing him to see many ingredients that he couldn't see normally.
Situ stood there like a stone statue, his face expressionless. If Qingmu hadn't known he was strong enough, he would have almost thought something had happened to him.
Duwa was muttering something under his breath, something like scripture.
Apart from Qingmu, Situ, and Duwa, everyone else had fainted. Su Huilan was the last to wake up because she was positioned relatively close to the front, almost level with Qingmu and the others. However, she was not protected by the Sacred Staff, so she suffered the most damage.
Fortunately, her Mental Power was not weak, and with Qingmu right next to her, it was like having a big tree blocking most of the wind for her, which prevented her consciousness from being fundamentally damaged.
However, Su Huilan was not the most seriously injured.
Anderson and Boris woke up quickly, but they were completely dumbfounded, staring blankly at everything. If you said anything to them, they would just chuckle stupidly, and after a while, they would even drool.
On the contrary, Mrs. Larry and Alice, not wanting to witness the bloodshed, stayed far away and received the most protection, so they were unharmed.
Alice ran over and hugged Anderson, asking with concern, " Anderson, what's wrong? Anderson!"
Anderson seemed to recognize her, yet also seemed not to; he just kept staring at her and grinning foolishly.
Alice buried her face in Anderson's chest, letting his saliva soak her clothes, and sobbed, " Anderson, please don't do this! Please, please don't, Anderson! Waaah... You said you'd watch the sunset with me on the coral islands of the Maldives at dusk, watch the sunrise with me on the beaches of Hawaii at dawn, fish with me in the ice caves of Alaska and among the snow cliffs of Hokkaido... Waaah... You also said you'd catch a blue whale, and we'd ride it around the world together... Waaah..."
Perhaps moved by Alice's call, Anderson suddenly looked up and called out, " Alice!"
Alice was overjoyed, " Anderson! You're alright, Anderson!"
Anderson chuckled again, "Fishing... hehe... fishing... hehehe..." Then he shoved Alice aside, ran to the equally simple-minded Boris, hugged him, and said, " Alice, let's go fishing... hehe..."
Boris shook his head. "Fishing? No, I'm not fishing, I'm fishing for submarines... Hahaha..." He then pushed Anderson aside and ran towards the altar.
Ivan pulled hard, but because he was still dizzy and hadn't fully recovered, he couldn't hold on.
" Boris! Where are you going?" Ivan shouted, about to give chase.
"Let him go!" Situ said, "It's too late to recover."
Upon hearing Situ's words, Ivan paused, as if struck by something. But he quickly continued chasing, "I won't abandon my brothers, not even a fool!"
Looking back on the incident, Qingmu always felt something was off. Everyone else had returned to normal, but Anderson and Boris had suffered irreversible damage to their consciousness, and they were the actual executioners who slaughtered the Itza People.
It seemed as if some unseen force was directing this whole drama.
Duwa said it was cause and effect, Su Huilan said it was coincidence. Qingmu preferred to believe it was a coincidence rather than that it implied some kind of manipulated cause and effect. And compared to these, he preferred to believe the universal laws that Situ spoke of.
Situ said that coincidence is cause and effect. No matter how coincidental it is, it must conform to the laws of the universe. Everything in the universe has its own inherent laws. Science is about discovering and utilizing the laws of the universe, but it can never transcend or create laws.
Therefore, the ultimate goal of science cannot transcend the universe itself, no matter how many coincidences there may be.
This viewpoint is somewhat pessimistic, but it's very realistic.
The Itza People appeared to be completely dead.
Three priests lay in pools of blood, their faces riddled with grenade shrapnel. One of Kubota's eyes was gone, but his other eye glared defiantly at the sky. Batus and Bigwendi lay there in similar poses, their faces contorted in a grimace, as if they wanted to devour the Sun.
Aside from them, the other Itza People were already half-dead. After such a violent mental explosion, their consciousness had long since dissipated. Unless a miracle occurred, they could not possibly have survived.
But the world is never short of miracles.
As Boris ran toward the altar, shouting, "I'm going to fish for submarines! Hahaha..."
The dead blocked his way, so he stepped over them.
However, a hand reached out from the pile of corpses and grabbed Boris's foot tightly.
Boris stumbled and fell.
A blood-soaked corpse suddenly rose, rolled over and pinned Boris down, a broken wooden arrow in its hand, and plunged it into Boris's neck.
" Boris! Watch out!" Ivan shouted.
Although Boris was stunned, he was still agile. Before the arrow pierced his neck, he forcefully shifted his upper body to the side, causing the wooden arrow to miss and pierce the ribs of a corpse.
In the blink of an eye, Boris flipped over and threw the savage off him, then jumped up and shouted, pointing at the savage, "Fish! Big fish!"
The savage scrambled to his feet, like a trapped wild beast, hunched over, baring his teeth and claws at Boris and Ivan who had caught up. Two mounds of flesh hung on his chest, jiggling as they approached. Only then did the group realize that the savage was a woman.
Qingmu felt the face looked familiar, exchanged a glance with Su Huilan, and simultaneously said, " Tafiti!"
Yes, it was the same savage woman they first encountered. Qingmu had appeared in her dreams. She had been captured by another tribe, and a strong man with three feathers in his hair rescued her and later became her husband. However, her husband captured Alice and was later shot and killed by Anderson, who came to rescue Alice.
Qingmu didn't know how Tafiti survived the mental explosion; she seemed completely unharmed. He racked his brains and came up with only one possibility: when the entire Mental Power Formation solidified into a single, solid block, it needed an opening or passage to receive external Mental Power, and Tafiti probably played that role. Her mind was independent within the array, and she was also protected by a mysterious external Mental Power.
Boris danced around excitedly, shouting, "Fishing, catching big fish, catching submarines, hahahaha..."
Ivan and the others gathered around.
Tafiti in the crowd resembled a wounded lioness. The entire pride had died, leaving her alone in her final, death throes.
Seeing the hatred and despair in her eyes, Qingmu was reminded of the hunting practices of primitive humans.