prynovel Chapter 4300: The Road Ahead
Chapter 4300: The Road Ahead
Chapter 4300: Turning Back
The withered one's face turned pale instantly, and his voice trembled slightly: "Does the master mean... that my trespassing this time will cause the world's will to revoke my qualification to enter the Deep Dream?"
Angell was silent for a moment, then gently shook his head.
"No, you misunderstood me."
"Although I just personified the world's will, in reality the world's will has no subjective consciousness of its own; all its 'behaviors' are based on some kind of mysterious rule or tendency."
"Therefore, it will not punish you for 'making a mistake' like intelligent life, nor will it voluntarily revoke your entry qualification."
"The reason I say I can't give you an answer now is because before this, I could roughly deduce the conditions for you to enter the deep dream."
“But now, your and Liriel’s trespassing has disrupted the original known conditions.”
"I don't know how long it will take you to leave here, or how you should leave; even after you leave, it's unknown whether the original entry conditions can be restored."
"so……"
Angel sighed softly and looked at the withered one: "These unknowns prevent me from making a clear judgment."
When the decaying one learned that "the qualification will not be revoked," his heart, which had been hanging in suspense, was slightly relieved.
However, the "confusing conditions and unknown future" mentioned by Ingres still made the withered one feel a sense of helplessness.
"Thank you for your explanation, sir..." The withered man's voice was a little hoarse, with a hint of relief, but he couldn't hide his uncertainty about the future: "As long as I still have the qualifications, there will always be a turning point."
These words seemed to be spoken to Ingres, but even more so to himself.
After all, it has no other choice but to believe in a "turnaround".
After sighing, the withered one remembered Angel's words and couldn't help but ask, "So, sir, you don't know how I can leave this place?"
Angel nodded: "Yes."
"The reason I was able to discover your 'smuggling' in time is because the Labyrinth of Interrogation is under the jurisdiction of Normefens. I have some connection with it, and it was it that informed me of your situation, which is why I came to find you immediately."
The Decaying One frowned: "Even if we find the exit of the Interrogation Maze, we can't leave directly?"
Angell shook his head: "I'm not sure."
"The Labyrinth of Questions was created by the Great Will and is under the jurisdiction of Normefens. Its essence is to provide challenges and trials for certain groups of people in the deep dream. You can also think of it as the 'Chapter of the Heart'."
"Upon successful completion of the trial, the Great Will will bestow some rewards upon the challenger."
"But you and Liriel have neither legitimate status in the Deep Dream World nor are you proper challengers. I have no way of knowing what you will encounter after you clear the game or whether you will be able to leave smoothly."
The withered one hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Nomefens... it's the ruler here, doesn't it know that either?"
Angell: "You'll have to ask Normeffes yourself about that."
"As a friend, Normefens can at most make things easier for me, allowing me to send in an illusionary body to talk to you, but it won't easily reveal the mission given to it by the Great Will."
"However, I tend to think that even Normefens might not know the answer."
The withered man's face darkened, clearly disappointed with the outcome.
Seeing this, Angell gently comforted her, "Although I can't be sure what will happen when you clear the dungeon, I personally suggest that you try your best to clear the Questioning Maze."
"Because once you clear the Interrogation Maze, according to the rules, the World Will will reward you. Even if your identity is illegitimate and you don't receive the reward, it will still 'look at' you... At that time, the World Will might solve the problem of your departure."
Angell shrugged, his tone candid: "Of course, this is just my guess, without any basis. But having a clear goal is always a good thing than waiting aimlessly."
After answering the question, Angel's eyes flickered, and he said softly, "Nomefens is already urging me, and Liriel is about to finish the third question. We don't have any time left."
"I'll answer one last question for you, then I'll leave..."
The withered one nodded, quickly considering what to ask the last question.
It had originally intended to inquire about the relationship between Angor and Nomefens, and why Nomefens was there. But after thinking about it, it realized these questions weren't urgent and wouldn't help its current situation, so it gave up on the idea for now.
After a moment's hesitation, the withered one pointed to his eyes and said, "I want to know, what exactly do the data from the treasure chests and the Wall of Inquiry in my field of vision mean? What will happen after we collect them?"
Angell paused for a moment, then asked suspiciously, "What treasure chest data? The Wall of Inquiry data?"
Seeing that Angor was unaware, the Decayer quickly explained that after he and Liriel opened the treasure chest outside, a strange data field of vision appeared.
After hearing this, Angell was in a daze for a while before looking at the withered one with a faint gaze.
"Looks like I guessed wrong again."
“I previously thought that the Great Will had not noticed you and that you needed to clear the maze to gain its attention... but I didn’t expect that it had noticed you all along.”
Angell sighed and whispered, "Thinking about it, it makes sense. How could it be completely unaware of you being stowaways? It's even possible that you were it all along..."
Angor paused, not continuing, but turning to look at the withered one.
"I don't know what the results will be after the data collection in your field of vision is completed. But I can tell you clearly that this data perspective is given to you by the will of the world."
“You could even consider this a mission given to you by the will of the world.”
"Trust me, do your best to complete the task. Completing the task may not bring particularly good rewards, but it will definitely not bring any bad things."
As Angell finished speaking, his tone became somewhat hurried, clearly indicating that time was running out.
"That's all I have to say. We should have another chance to meet again."
"We must collect them, perhaps..."
Before Angell could finish speaking, he vanished.
The illusions of the surrounding cities also vanished.
The withered creature felt a sudden clarity before its eyes, and it was back in front of the cramped Wall of Questions, with a dazed Liriel beside it and Normefens standing not far away, eyes downcast and silent.
It glanced at Liriel instinctively, and seeing that she was still in a daze after the illusion ended, it looked away and slowly sorted through Angel's words before leaving.
Angel paused twice in the final moments.
For the first time, Angell said, "It's even possible that you are it..."
The second half of the sentence ends abruptly, but it's not hard to guess from the preceding words.
Perhaps he and Liriel did not accidentally arrive at the Labyrinth of Interrogation from the Endless Dream Bridge, but were deliberately pulled in by the will of the world?
The second pause was when he was leaving, saying, "I must collect it, perhaps..."
He hadn't finished speaking, but perhaps collecting the treasure chests and the Wall of Questions was their way out?
The decaying creature didn't know, but at least for this last question, Angor brought it good news.
The world's will had noticed it and Liriel long ago, and even took the initiative to issue them a mission!
Both Angell and Liriel have mentioned that having a goal is always better than being aimless, and now the vision data confirms this speculation.
The withered man exhaled a deep breath, feeling a sense of relief.
However, there is still a problem at hand.
—It needs to act.
Yes, it's acting.
After all, it hadn't undergone the test of the Wall of Questions this time, and in order not to arouse Liriel's suspicion, it had to act as if it had gone through the test.
The decaying creature is not good at performing, but it doesn't really need to perform.
It had been calm and silent all along, and now it should be enough to just maintain that state and add a few barely perceptible signs of fatigue.
After all, Liriel had just escaped from the illusion and was still in a daze, so she might not have paid much attention to its expression; moreover, the test of the Wall of Questions was mentally exhausting, so it was normal to be tired.
This is true.
Liriel was still dazed by the last "Easter egg" and did not notice the abnormality of the Decayer.
After she came to her senses, she only used her eyes to confirm that the Decayer had also passed through the Wall of Questions, and then turned her gaze to Normefens.
"Your Excellency Normeffens, the radio in that Easter egg is..."
Normefens raised his eyes to look at Liriel: "I am willing to follow the rules established by the first clone and answer one question for you."
"Your questions are about the Easter egg?"
Liriel quickly shook her head.
Although she was curious about the radio in the Easter egg, she had more pressing questions to answer; moreover, they only had one question that they absolutely couldn't afford to waste time on.
"This is not a decision I can make alone; I need to discuss it with my partner."
Normeffens nodded noncommittally.
"You have one minute."
"I've played along with you guys long enough, and I don't want to see your true colors anymore."
Ignoring its sarcasm, Liriel walked to the withered one's side and whispered the questions she wanted to ask.
The final decision was the same as when they came before: first ask about the "collection" issue.
Although the Decaying One had learned from Angor that collecting would be beneficial to them, it still did not know what it would gain after collecting everything.
Therefore, it still supports Lillie's further inquiries.
Liriel took a deep breath, approached Nomefens, and inquired about the "collection" issue.
Nomefens paused for a moment before saying, "What will collecting these bring you? I cannot give a definite answer, because this was not ordered by me."
"However, I can assure you that completing this collection mission will only bring you benefits, not harm."
At this point, Normeffens stopped.
Finally, as if completing some kind of ritual, it looked at Liriel and the Decaying One, and murmured: "Searching and searching, all that remains is a dream."
The moment he finished speaking, a stone door split open in the center of the wall of questions, behind which lay a long, dark road leading to the unknown.
"This road is open, go ahead."
Normeffens lowered his brows and said nothing more.
Liriel looked somewhat helpless: "???"
Is this over?
The first question was met with an inexplicable "I don't know" response; the second question was also met with no answer.
Even though it mentions that collecting elements is a good thing, it's not her problem!
Liriel tried to communicate with Normfins.
They even resorted to reverse psychology.
But the clone of Normefens in front of her had a completely different personality from the first clone. No matter how she tried to provoke her, Normefens was determined not to say a word.
It completely disappeared into the wall, as if it were just a stone relief.
In the end, Liriel could only swallow this bitter pill and walked sullenly to the Withered One to discuss the journey ahead.
They currently have only three options.
The first option is to go back to the previous fork in the road, where there is another fork in the road that we haven't explored yet.
The second option is to continue directly along the current exit.
The third option is to go to the fork in the road on the right.
Of these three options, the right path must be ruled out, as there is a mechanical alchemical creation there that is almost impossible for them to defeat with their current strength.
Therefore, you can only choose between the first and second options.
As for which one to choose? After discussing for a moment, Liriel and the Decayer decided to turn back first and explore all the forks in the road ahead.
Before this, they might have chosen to move forward directly without looking back.
However, upon learning that "collecting elements" would be of great benefit to them, Liriel and the Decayer decided to rewind their journey and explore all the accessible areas, trying to collect as many treasure chests as possible.
Of course, if some treasure chests contain guardian monsters, such as that mechanical alchemical creation, they will definitely have to give them up at their discretion.
After making their decision, Liriel and the Decayer began to walk back.
As they walked, they chatted about the time they had answered the questions separately.
The withered one spoke first.
"I found myself in a strange city, and Normefens asked me to find the answers to three questions in this city." The Decayer: "The questions are not difficult. The first question is to find the name of the city, the second is to find the extraordinary system of this city, and the third is to find an Easter egg."
Liriel nodded: "I'm the same as you!"
"Strange, if it's the same problem, why do we need to do it?"
The Decayer: "...Who knows? Maybe they don't want us to cooperate, or maybe it's just that the rules of the Wall of Questions are different."
Lillie pondered for a moment, then nodded. She didn't think much of it; perhaps the rules of the Wall of Inquiry really were different.
"However, this city is quite interesting. It's a modern city that prioritizes fashion, and even the supernatural system is related to fashion."
Lillie was somewhat emotional. She had originally planned to go to the library to look for clues, but when she got to the platform, she found that there was no library on the map at all.
Or rather, the map only shows a small portion of the map.
This small part happens to be a corner of the city, which is the limit of her freedom of movement.
There is no library in this corner of the city.
Fortunately, she learned the name of the city from the map on the platform: Modern City.
As for the extraordinary system, she finally found a clue in a place called "Ruins Club".
This "Ruins Club" has a strange name, but it's actually a clothing workshop that makes clothes with a post-apocalyptic feel. The clothes are mainly made of worn leather and workwear styles, with patches, rivets, gears, and other elements. The color palette leans towards sandy yellow and charcoal black, exuding a sense of post-apocalyptic devastation and a rugged, avant-garde aesthetic.
Here, she obtained a clue about "Fashion Monsters and Fashion Magicians" from a well-hidden notebook.
She had no clue about the final Easter egg, but the neon lights on the city's tallest building were flashing, so she hesitated for a moment and headed towards them.
The reason why I chose this place.
The main reason is that the neon lights are too concentrated and bright, and since it is the highest point in the city, overlooking the city from there might reveal some clues.
Unexpectedly, she discovered an "Easter egg" as soon as she reached the summit.