From the end of the world

Chapter 59 Ma Zao's Friend 2
The mysterious man I met in the misty dream was staring at me at this moment, and even exuded a sinister atmosphere. I rejected his trade request, and perhaps he was now thinking about whether he should take violent measures against me and forcibly take the black jade from me.

It was such a new experience. Being stared at by him like this, I really felt that my life was shrouded in a mysterious crisis.

However, the black jade is not on me now. This is a dream, and the item should be with my real body. And if nothing unexpected happens, he should be like me, unable to use any supernatural power in this fog.

He probably existed in reality, and was even very powerful. But here, he was just like me, an ordinary person.

Now the reason why I feel a mysterious sense of crisis is not because he really has the ability to use mysterious powers, but because he is "essentially very huge". Even if he becomes like a mortal, it does not mean that he really becomes a mortal. He can still make people feel pressured.

"Are you going to do it here?" I asked.

After the previous few conversations, I actually have a good impression of this mysterious man in front of me.

Not only because he told me important information, but also because of his seemingly contradictory behavior. He seemed to value the black jade I had and wanted to collect as much of it as possible. In this case, the most correct thing for him to do should be to avoid letting me know the importance of the black jade, or even let me misunderstand the black jade as a dangerous object that must be disposed of as soon as possible. However, he chose the opposite path.

This is definitely not because he is stupid. Because when I was still hesitating whether to say that I didn't know what the divine seal was, he had already seen through my acting. He has the wisdom and insight to see through other people's psychological activities.

He seemed to be well versed in the ways of the world, yet not tainted by materialism; he had an upright, even otherworldly temperament.

“…It’s incredible.” The pressure disappeared from his eyes, and he returned to a calm attitude. “You are very powerful. Even though you are such a powerful person, I have no impression of you. Is this what they call there are always people who are better than you…”

He shook his head, then looked into the depths of the fog and said, "I want to continue exploring this place. Do you want to join me?"

"Let's go together." I have no objection.

Then, we moved forward together into the depths of the foggy dream.

I stopped asking who he was. Although I was indeed curious, the experience of exploring a secret place with an unknown person was also very fresh and exciting. He also understood and stopped asking about my identity. A wonderful tacit understanding was formed between us.

Maybe it was because I had bad luck before that I could walk in the fog for so long without changing. This time, I went deeper with others and encountered new changes not long after.

After only a few minutes of walking, I saw something shadowy ahead. As I got closer, I realized it was something I had seen before.

Those are eight huge rock seats.

Closer to us are seven rock seats of the same size, arranged in a row; while the remaining particularly large rock seat is placed in the distance, in opposition to the other seats.

Three people have already arrived here before us.

Perhaps it would be more appropriate to say "two people", because the other one was clearly not human. The latter was at least four meters tall, sitting motionless on that particularly huge rock chair, like a huge statue of a god.

The two people sat on the two rock seats on the left. Their heights were much normal. Like us, they were also in the form of shadows. The one on the far left was a tall and thin figure, and the one sitting next to him was a child-like figure.

I have an impression of this scene.

When I first came into contact with the black jade, my mind was drawn into this misty dream. At that time, I also saw these rock seats and three figures sitting on them. However, I was obviously not in a normal mental state at the time, and I was unable to communicate with them.

Probably because they heard our footsteps, the two normal-sized people immediately turned their eyes towards us.

"Who?" the tall and thin figure shouted.

The child-like figure asked cautiously, "Are you a new partner?"

Judging from the voice, the former is a male.

As for the latter... although it is indeed a child's voice, she is too young and has not yet reached the voice change period. It is difficult to distinguish the gender just by listening to the voice. If I have to judge, I feel that it is the voice of a little girl. And I can vaguely see that she has long hair.

He glanced at the mysterious man beside him. He had thought that he would be the first to speak, but after coming here, he was facing the giant who looked like a statue, and he was completely stunned.

I also observed the giant carefully. Even after our arrival, it remained motionless, making it hard not to suspect that it was just a lifeless sculpture. However, just like us, the "sculpture" also took on the form of a dark shadow, as if it could move at any time like us and have a normal conversation.

To be honest, I still lack a sense of reality for this foggy dream. Even though it is related to weirdness, it is still a dream after all.

The two were still staring at us. I decided to talk to them first.

"I was dragged here after I got the so-called 'divine seal fragment'. As for this person, I don't know him well. I just happened to meet him on the road. You can ask him later." I said, "Did you also come here after you came into contact with the divine seal fragment?"

“The fragment of the divine seal? As expected…” The tall and thin figure seemed to frown, “Yes, we are also the ones who have come into contact with the fragment of the divine seal. I am ‘Number One’ and she is ‘Number Two’.”

As he spoke, he pointed to the figure of a child beside him, who whispered, "Hello, big brother, I'm number two." "There's no need to exchange names here, just call each other by numerical codes." Number one spoke to me in a blunt and direct tone, "You are number three, and he is number four."

Number four is the mysterious person next to me.

"Okay, I'm number three. So..." I looked at the silent giant, "What's his number?"

"He doesn't have a code number. If you must call him, just call him Zero." Number One snorted coldly, "Are you curious about who he is?"

"Of course, could you please help me clear this up?" I asked.

Although No. 1's tone was unfriendly, he answered every question: "There's nothing to hide. In fact, No. 2 and I don't know what he is, but one thing is clear, it's this guy who dragged us into this inexplicable foggy dream."

"That's him..." I looked at the giant called "Zero" again.

And at this moment, the mysterious man - No. 4 took action.

He suddenly strode forward, walked in front of the giant, and asked with suppressed anger: "——Is it you? Is it you who made the world on the verge of destruction? Answer me!!"

Before, in my mind, No. 4 was a well-educated person, but now he was asking questions to the giant aggressively like a volcano erupting.

The giant remained motionless like a mountain.

Number One said coldly, "No need to talk to Number Zero. He is in a deep sleep now. If you have any questions, you can wait until he wakes up."

Number Four looked at Number One suddenly and said, "Have you spoken to the Lord of the Divine Seal?"

“The Lord of the Divine Seal… Humph, this guy is really the original owner of the Divine Seal. No wonder he was able to use the power of the Divine Seal fragments to drag us into this…” Number One thought for a moment, then answered Number Four’s question, “Yes, he was still awake when Number Two and I just entered this place. But after he finished speaking, he fell asleep.

"According to him, once this place is full, he will awaken again and announce the reason why he summoned us to this place."

I glanced at the remaining empty seats, there were five in total.

If two of the empty seats belong to me and No. 4, then three more people are needed.

Then I asked the question that concerned me the most: "If everyone doesn't show up, will we be stuck here forever?"

"That won't happen." Number One said, "It's just that our spirits are now bound to the fragments of the divine seal, and are occasionally attracted to this place. I guess we'll be able to wake up from this dream in a while."

That's good. Although I'm very curious about this place, I still have to go back to the real world to find Ma Zao.

As for the Lord of the Divine Seal they just mentioned... If I understand correctly, that giant is the owner of the "Divine Seal that can make any wish come true"? Why did he summon us here?
What about the "world on the verge of destruction" mentioned by No. 4? From his tone, was it caused by the giant making a wish to the divine seal? Could it be related to the doomsday mentioned by Ma Zao?
The scale of the topic is so overwhelming that I don't even know where to start. I'm not even completely sold on the idea of ​​a "wishing machine".

I asked No. 4 about my doubts, but he seemed to have forgotten me and just glared in the direction of the giant.

"It should be related to the doomsday prophecy circulating in Luoshan." Number One said disapprovingly, "I heard that there is an unknown prophet in Luoshan who believes that the doomsday will come in the near future. The sharp increase in the frequency of strange events is a sign that the doomsday is approaching."

"Luoshan...Doomsday..." I repeated these two words.

This character who appeared in the foggy dream suddenly mentioned "Luo Shan", making me feel that he was a real person like me.

But judging from his tone, he doesn't seem to be a member of Luoshan.

But when he mentioned "doomsday", it gave me a different feeling.

Originally, whether it was "doomsday" or "seal of God", in my mind they were just words unilaterally thrown out by Ma Zao.

But now that there are these people who know about the existence of the Divine Seal, and there is also the so-called "Doomsday Prophecy", I suddenly feel that Doomsday seems to have become a concept that truly has real weight.

"Why, do you also believe in the end of the world? I heard that even in Luoshan, only a very small number of people believe in it." Number One continued to speak in a nonchalant tone, as if he did not believe in the end of the world. "If that's the case, you probably have a lot in common with Number Two."

"Number two?" I looked at the child who spoke very little.

"Yes, this little girl claims that she lives in the future after the end of the world." said No. 1.

(End of this chapter)