The sound of the running wind whistled in his ears, Mo Yi gritted his teeth and ran up the stairs.
As he ran, he was thinking hard in his mind.
Before the face of the fake Shen Lei was revealed, he was not actually planning to do anything to them, but instead brought them to the "safe zone", deliberately letting them discover the correlation between the passage of time inside and outside the illusion, and tricking them into thinking that "staying in the illusion Enough time" can successfully escape.
Even after his true face was exposed, he didn't act immediately, but instead gave himself a chance to escape.
Why
Just when Mo Yi couldn't figure it out, suddenly, there was an instant silence in his ears.
Mo Yi came back to his senses suddenly, only to find that the arms attacking them all around had completely disappeared, and the photos floating on both sides became the same picture:
The man in that photo.
I saw him staring at him with black eyes, with a strange smile on his face, and then, thousands of photos spoke together, and the cold voice resounded throughout the empty illusion:
"You can't escape."
Mo Yi choked for breath, forced himself not to look to the sides, and continued to run upwards.
"What's the point?" Thousands of voices converged into a bewitching sound stream, hitting his eardrums: "Since you're in, you'll never be able to get out, so why struggle?"
Mo Yi forced himself not to be affected by the sound, moved his legs mechanically, and climbed up the stairs.
If his deduction is correct...if the spaces inside and outside the phantom are also interrelated...
Then, this staircase is by no means endless, but the same as Beyond Fantasy: up to four floors.
It's just that the distortion and elongation of the space make the whole journey farther away, making the stairs seem to have no end.
Mo Yi didn't know what was at the end of the stairs, but now, walking to the end of the stairs was his only choice.
The voice continued: "...why resist? Isn't it good to stay where you are? I promise you will die without any pain, just like falling asleep..."
Stay where you are
Mo Yi's whole body was shocked, and his mind suddenly became clear.
The purpose of this photo was clear from the beginning, but he was too blind to ignore it!
It requires Mo Yi and Jiang Yuanbai to spend enough time in the illusion!
In this case, they need to escape from this illusion all the more!
Mo Yi is now even more convinced that if he and Jiang Yuanbai really stay here until the countdown ends, what will greet them will only be an even more terrifying sight.
He gritted his teeth, changed the angle of the photo frame in his arms, put it under his left armpit, and continued to run up the stairs in silence, ignoring the man's words.
Suddenly, Jiang Yuanbai who was following him uttered an exclamation: "Look quickly! In the photo frame!"
Mo Yi lowered his head suspiciously, following Jiang Yuanbai's gaze.
I saw that the picture in the photo frame in my hand changed unexpectedly...
The silver photo frame was pitch black, like an indelible ink, and the thick darkness filled the entire space, like a natural cage. And in the darkness, two shadowy figures could be seen.
Mo Yi approached, narrowed his eyes, and looked carefully.
I saw one of the figures move, then raised his head, revealing a familiar face.
Shen Lei? !
He looked obviously exhausted, the clothes on his body were tattered and stained with dark blood, as if he had experienced a big battle, and there was a deep wound on the side of his face, dripping with blood, which was shocking.
Shen Lei stared at him in a daze, as if he hadn't figured out the difference between reality and dream.
Jiang Yuanbai moved his face closer, reached out and patted the photo frame, and shouted loudly: "Shen Lei! Shen Lei! Can you hear me!"
Mo Yi silently moved his face away, and rubbed his aching ears expressionlessly.
Shen Lei froze for a moment, his eyes cleared up, his complexion froze, and the sharp look reappeared in his pupils, he put his hands on the ground, struggling to stand up, but it seemed as if he was imprisoned by something , stumbled back a few steps, and supported himself with his hands so as not to let himself fall to the ground again.
Mo Yi stared at him without saying a word, his eyes stayed on the palm of his hand propping the floor for a few seconds, and after confirming that his habitual hand was indeed the left hand, he moved away without a trace.
He lowered his eyelids, slightly dispelling the guard in his eyes. After all, in the current situation, being more vigilant is never a bad thing.
Shen Lei shouted anxiously: "You must not stay here! Don't trust that person!"
"Do you know how to get out?" Jiang Yuanbai leaned forward and asked.
Shen Lei's brows and eyes are bitter: "... If I knew, would I still be here?"
Mo Yi's eyebrows and eyes were condensed, and he quickened his pace without saying a word, and then asked: "You came in earlier than us, please tell me the information you know, so that we have a chance to rescue you."
— We have a chance to survive.
The rest of the sentence was tacitly understood by the three of them.
Shen Lei nodded solemnly, and then succinctly explained what he had learned.
After listening to what Shen Lei said, the atmosphere became extremely solemn for a while, and Mo Yi also fell into deep thought.
According to Shen Lei, it appeared in the form of Yu Li at the beginning, which secretly led Shen Lei and others to discover the correlation between the passage of time inside and outside the illusion, and made them decide to "wait until the countdown ends".
Until Shen Lei found out that something was wrong with it, he was locked in this space by it showing its true colors.
As his vitality slowly passed away, Shen Lei gradually merged with this space, and slowly learned some information that did not belong to him.
In fact, the entire illusion is under the control of the man in the silver photo frame.
Although Shen Lei is not yet clear about its purpose, what he knows is that it needs two steps to complete.
The first, is to devour human limbs to manifest physicality, and the second, is to trap two humans in order to get their souls.
Because, when the countdown is over, the entire copy of the game will be closed, and the souls of the undead who remain in the illusion will belong to it forever.
It was already about to succeed: it trapped Yu Li and Shen Lei. However, Yu Li was weak, and the bitten off arm caused her to lose too much blood, and she died before the countdown ended.
That's why it targeted Mo Yi and Jiang Yuanbai.
Mo Yi frowned, suddenly remembered something, raised his eyes and asked: "So, it can become like you, because...?"
"Blood and flesh." Shen Lei replied, turning his cheek sideways, exposing the bloody slit to Mo Yi's eyes.
Startled, Mo Yi subconsciously reached out and touched his forehead lightly.
There was a burning pain from the wound on his forehead.
He remembered that "Shen Lei" had treated his wounds when he first entered this illusion!
He turned his head quickly, and was about to call Jiang Yuanbai, but his voice got stuck in his throat—there was no one beside him.
At some point, the photos on both sides had changed back to their original form, and the bewitching words had disappeared. As far as the eye could see, he seemed to be the only one left, standing alone in the middle of the stairs.
Shen Lei also seemed to realize that something was wrong, so he sped up his speech and said, "It can only attack you before it manifests itself, and after it possesses the entity, although it can't cause real damage to you, it can manipulate the entire illusion. You must be careful."
— turns out that's why it's just using words to confuse them to keep them, not force.
Not because it doesn't want to, but because it can't.
"It's too late, he has already taken Jiang Yuanbai away."
Mo Yi looked solemn, thought for a while, then lowered his head to look at Shen Lei again, and asked: "After I took off the photo frame, are you still under its control?"
Shen Lei hesitated for a moment, then nodded:
"It should be, because even now I can feel it draining my life force."
Mo Yi's heart sank instantly.
Then—Shen Lei and Jiang Yuanbai, it finally got two real people.
·
Mo Yi's fingers tightened slowly, and the fingertips holding the photo frame turned abnormally pale due to the force.
He lowered his head again, wanting to ask something more, but found that the photo frame in his hand had become pitch black at some point.
Now, even Shen Lei is gone.
There seemed to be no movement in the huge space, dead silence spread, and the whole illusion was as quiet as a tomb. Mo Yi couldn't hear anything except his slightly rapid heartbeat.
Mo Yi stopped slowly, and looked around in a daze for a while, his mind was in a mess, only some broken and scattered thoughts remained.
He raised his leg subconsciously, wanting to continue walking up, but his foot missed and fell to the ground.
The sudden sense of weightlessness made Mo Yi dizzy, and the edges and corners of the photo frame he held in his arms hit his stomach heavily, and the sharp pain and nausea like visceral displacement came up instantly, making him tremble all over.
He propped up his upper body with his arms, his palm pressed against the cold ground, and his blurred shadow was reflected on the smooth stairs.
Mo Yi stared blankly at his own reflection on the stairs, lost his mind for a while.
An idea slowly emerged in his mind.
There was a little light in the depths of his eyes, and he hurriedly climbed up the stairs, running up three steps in two steps.
As he approached, the white mist covering the end of the stairs dissipated before his eyes.
At the end of the stairs, a wall stands in front of the eye.
Just like outside the illusion, there is no fourth floor, only a seemingly indestructible wall.
Mo Yi exhaled slowly, then raised his legs and stood on the last step.
He turned around slowly, his back pressed against the wall, and through the thin fabric on his back, the cold touch penetrated into his texture.
—Since the stairs inside and outside the illusion are interconnected in terms of number of floors, structure, and even space, then, he wondered, would the curse on the stairs be the same
He took one leg and walked down one step.
His voice was steady and calm, without any hesitation or doubt:
"one."
Mo Yi counted while walking.
The photo frame beside him vibrated, and the man's face appeared in the frame, it looked shocked and dazed: "What are you doing? Stop!"
Mo Yi didn't answer, but calmly counted: "Six."
At this moment, Jiang Yuanbai's face appeared at the end of the stairs, and he stretched out his hand to Mo Yi: "What are you doing? Stop now! I know the way out!"
Mo Yi continued down: "Nine."
This time, it was Shen Lei who appeared. He stretched out his bloody hand and shouted: "I escaped! Quick! Come with me!"
Mo Yi smiled without stopping: "Twelve."
He raised his leg and walked down the last step: "Thirteen."
The stairs under his feet suddenly vibrated, and the step disappeared suddenly. A huge force grabbed Mo Yi's leg and pulled him in.