The black lion finally dragged Feng Chen into the darkness before the zombies caught up with him. Instead of going straight, it turned to the left and stood still after hearing the footsteps of the zombies rushing in. Several zombies chased straight ahead and finally got farther and farther away from them.
Feng Chen felt severe pain in his wound, as if several steel needles were inserted into his brain and were stirring violently.
He knew that this was the result of consuming a large amount of mental energy in a short period of time, and he was entering a trance state.
"Sasaka, we have gotten rid of the zombies. We must get out now. We can't get lost in this area." Feng Chen said to Black Lion in his mind.
The black lion had been biting the fabric on his shoulder without letting go, and upon hearing what he said, it dragged him in the opposite direction.
Feng Chen was dragged two steps, and felt the mud beneath him gradually turn into a liquid, like sticky liquid. He was sinking deeper and deeper into it, and his mouth and nose were about to be covered by liquid.
He vaguely knew that this was the imbalance of perception during the fugue state, and he just mechanically repeated over and over again: "Sasaka, we must get out, these are all fake... Don't be afraid... We must get out..."
Feng Chen suddenly felt his shoulders lighten, and the dragging force disappeared. He murmured and called out to Sasaka, but got no response. His brain then slowly realized that Sasaka could no longer maintain his form and had dissipated.
Feng Chen felt that he had sunk deep into the mud and was sinking further and further until he reached the center of the earth. He was like a bug stuck in gum, trying to move his limbs in vain, but to no avail.
He was in great pain and very tired. He wanted to give up struggling and just sink quietly into the mud. As time passed, he would become a fossil melted into the core of the earth.
He began to let himself sink, but suddenly a voice rang in his mind: Brother, brother, brother...
Yan Bubu…
Feng Chen shuddered, and at that moment he was briefly sober. He knew he couldn't just stay where he was and wait for death, so he paddled his limbs with great effort, crawling in a certain direction in the "earth's core mud".
He didn't know if he was going in the right direction, he just knew he couldn't stop, even though every movement of his hands and feet was excruciatingly painful, even though he felt his body was still sinking, he kept crawling in that direction.
"Yan Bubu, Yan Bubu..."
He repeated it in his mind over and over again, then fumbled for the necklace around his neck, pulled it off and held it in his hand. He rubbed the lines on the pendant with his thumb, over and over again, as if only in this way could he have the strength to continue crawling forward.
In the darkness beside him, the shy plants that were touched instantly shrank back into the ground, then slowly emerged after a moment and tentatively moved closer to him, their stems rubbing against the ground, making a rustling sound.
Sentinels in a trance state not only experience hallucinations, but also their physical pain is amplified several times. Feng Chen felt as if thousands of insects were gnawing at the broken bones of his hands and feet, and he even heard the rustling sound of insects and ants gnawing at his flesh and bones.
"Yan Bubu, Yan Bubu..."
In the extreme darkness, Feng Chen tried his best to crawl forward. He didn't know how far he had crawled, but he knew he couldn't stop now, he had to stay alive, someone was waiting for him...