Chapter 257 - Illusion (2/2)

At this moment, Shang Jianyao raised an idea. “If the four of us enter the mountain hand in hand, we won’t have to worry about being affected by hallucinations and treating our companions as monsters?”

Jiang Baimian understood what he meant: The ones holding hands were their companions.

This should be effective, but it feels strange imagining that scene… Jiang Baimian imagined Shang Jianyao’s description of the situation and felt like it was a game that children played.

Zhou Yue tersely acknowledged his words. “In theory, yes. However, won’t the two in the middle lose their combat strength?”

Both hands were held.

“I can fire with my foot.” Shang Jianyao gave a solution.

Zhou Yue was momentarily at a loss for a response. After some thought, she said, “This isn’t completely safe.”

Upon seeing that Long Yuehong and the others were confused, she further explained, “This doesn’t guarantee that the person you’re holding won’t suddenly ‘disappear.’”

The meaning of ‘disappearing’ in her words was to disappear from one’s senses, not to disappear from reality. When one couldn’t see a person, hear their voice, or obtain a sense of touch from their hand, it was equivalent to them ‘disappearing.’

Shang Jianyao had already expected this. He looked at Long Yuehong and confidently said, “I’ll pinch him the moment he disappears.”

“…” There was only one thought echoing in Long Yuehong’s mind. Why pinch me?

He then came to a realization and found a flaw. “Even if the person being pinched screams in pain, you shouldn’t be able to hear them. You won’t feel anything when you pinch them either. No…”

As he spoke, Long Yuehong suddenly understood Shang Jianyao’s true meaning.

Even though his companion might appear to have disappeared, Shang Jianyao’s hand couldn’t sink too deep when pinching down because something real was in the way.

“That’s a solution.” Abbess Zhou Yue agreed. She then added, “This depends on which domain the Superior Heartless is good at. He might be able to make you make mistakes in your judgment of distance.”

“I see…” Jiang Baimian realized that she had too little understanding of hallucinations.

After conversing for a while, she politely bade farewell on behalf of the Old Task Force.

After Zhou Yue—who was wearing a white robe with a hemp rope tied around her waist—watched them leave, she turned around, faced the shrine with the dragon symbol, and muttered to herself, “What a strange matter…”

Whoosh!

A gust of wind blew across the impluvium and entered the hall.

The rows of black chairs and a few praying believers beside Zhou Yue instantly vanished.

This place became empty. Apart from the shrines, wooden beams, pillars, and abbess, there were only a few dark-blue mats.

…

The moment Shang Jianyao sat down in the jeep outside, he said, “Those people are fake.”

Upon seeing Long Yuehong look over in surprise, he added, “There was no human consciousness.”

“There’s no corresponding electric signal either.” Jiang Baimian nodded and smiled. “Abbess Zhou’s hallucination abilities are still relatively crude.”

She then said, “From this, we can infer that her hallucinations were created with her own cognition, not by triggering our memories and making us hallucinate.”

If the source of the hallucination was themselves, Jiang Baimian would definitely ‘sense’ an electric signal. Shang Jianyao would also ‘discover’ human consciousness.

Long Yuehong quickly recalled what had happened and couldn’t believe that the believers with closed eyes were hallucinations.

But since his team leader and Shang Jianyao were so certain, he didn’t doubt them. He couldn’t help but sigh. “As expected of the Clam Dragon Church…”

Most of the people and objects in the convent were fake and illusory.

Upon seeing Bai Chen start the jeep, Long Yuehong casually asked, “Where are we going next? Do we enter the mountains?”

Long Yuehong believed that he now had a certain level of understanding regarding illusions.

Jiang Baimian immediately laughed. “What for? Play a monster-killing game with the Ruin Hunter team from before?”

Upon seeing that Long Yuehong was a little dazed, Shang Jianyao helped ‘explain.’ “You can pew pew pew at them, and they can also pew pew pew at you.”

“That’s true…” Long Yuehong came to a realization.

When the two teams met in the mountains and were affected by the hallucinations, they would definitely treat the people opposite them as monsters.

In such a situation, it was impossible not to respond. What if it were a real monster?

Jiang Baimian then exhaled. “Let’s talk about it when they return. Even if we want to enter the mountains, we have to ensure that we’re the only team entering.”