Chapter 252 - Loop (1/2)

Shaking off my confusion and puzzlement, I hastily acknowledged and said, “Heh heh heh, it’s been a long time, Instructor Cao.”

“Oh, a long time indeed, Murong Shiyan,” Cao Xuedong replied, turning to face me with that unsettling smile of his. What’s happening!? I gasped to myself quietly, Has Time been reversed when we were trapped in the dark? Is this even possible?!

“Huang Li told me about your visit. I have been expecting you. Come on in,” he said and he pivoted around just like he did earlier, once again plunging into the dark interior of the villa. Lin Feng shot me a look that seemed to say: This is completely the same as just now?! There’s no way this is an enchantment! Two persons cannot have the same hallucination at the same time!

“Am I mistaken in thinking that we are reliving what we experienced just now all over again?” Lin Feng stammered in a shaking, doubting what he had just seen and wondering if he was going mad. I grabbed at his shoulder and shook it. “Now listen here, Lin Feng. We had passed through this door just now and we came out just now. For reasons yet unknown, we are experiencing it again. This is very real and I’m sure this is no illusion. So you’re not going mad and you’re not seeing things!”

Lin Feng stared right back at me. This time he looked more sanguine. At least he knew that he was not seeing things. But I could hardly blame him; anyone in our predicament would think they are going insane.

Lin Feng beheld the pitch blackness inside the villa and lighted himself a cigarette. “So, onward, brother?” I set alit a cigarette of my own and stood for a second, hesitating, then I agreed. “Yes. Onward!” And I dove headfirst into the dark, mysterious dimension that awaited us. Dragging Chongxi with him, Lin Feng padded close behind. But as soon as they stepped into the opening, the door clicked shut again and darkness swallowed even the last slivers of the moonlight from outside.

I felt the edges of my eyes twitching restlessly. I flicked my cigarette at the direction of the door and it disappeared as if being swallowed whole by some invisible monster. There was no sign of it hitting the door and no fiery sparks tossed up by any miniature fireworks when the cigarette hit the ground. Visibility was only down to one meter around me and Lin Feng’s facial expression going tense with consternation was the best that I could make out. “What now, Shiyan?” Lin Feng’s voice came. But I could only shake my head; I was really at a complete loss this time.

He might have not seen me shaking my head. But getting no response from me, even after waiting for several beats in the dark, he began to understand that I had yet to discover a solution. A weary sigh came from his direction. “Let’s try our luck and see where it leads us then!” He said suddenly, “We can try backpedaling at the direction we came from! I refuse to believe that this space can be as huge as a park!” With a grunt, he pulled up Chongxi and began walking back.

Despite being dragged on his haunches, Chongxi was still sleeping like a dead horse, completely oblivious to what had been happening. Lin Feng was already walking back in the direction we came from and there was nothing else I could do but follow him. I had withdrawn my spirit wolves before coming back into this space, knowing that they could be of no use except only to serve as a distraction.

We barely walked for a few meters when I noticed Lin Feng’s footfalls stopping and he called, “Come here, Shiyan! Look!” I backtracked to him and saw a little red glow on the ground, still burning blazingly in the dark. I stooped down and saw it was the cigarette stub I had just tossed away.

We looked at each other and Lin Feng’s was a convoluted look of befuddlement. But I chuckled, for the first time with a glimmer of hope. “I see. So this dimension is not without vector. Much of the confusion is caused by the darkness. I daresay I have given Cao Xuedong too much credit.”

The discovery of my cigarette stub behind us was proof enough that the dark void we entered did not confuse one’s direction. Whether this was a pocket dimension or not, this was only a space filled with complete darkness and not a completely empty one.

Lin Feng mulled on what I said, but he failed to figure out what I just said. “So, should we go on?” he asked and I nodded. “Let’s go. At least we can be sure now that this dimension is not boundless. By the discovery of this cigarette butt after backtracking, I am now sure that this place is big, but we’ll reach the end eventually. Let’s go on for now.” Lin Feng nodded as if he understood me and he heaved up Chongxi and walked on.