Eternal Night

Chapter 718 The Technological Age?

Originally, Wu Pifu intended to land on the Gou Dan ship once he confirmed it had reached the edge of a small island, either to enjoy grinding monsters or to painfully solve puzzles.

However, at Xu Shilan's request, they did not leave the Gou Dan, but stayed on the Gou Dan for another 24 hours. During this time, they stayed in the cabin. Xu Shilan lived in the same cabin with the two men. At this time, they could not care about anything else. They would resolutely avoid acting alone if they could avoid acting alone.

However, 24 hours later, the Dog Egg remained motionless in the same spot, showing no sign of drifting away with the waves and currents.

Meanwhile, Xu Shilan still forbids Wu Pifu and Amadeus from leaving the cabin, and she immediately tries to escape this world.

But a strange thing happened. When Xu Shilan confirmed that she had left this world, the departure did not take place, and the main brain made a new judgment.

"Judging in progress...judging complete."

"We are currently trapped in an inescapable situation. The shelter is not strong enough. Forcibly leaving will result in an existence-level disorder with a 72.135% chance of experiencing a loss of consciousness. Do you wish to continue the escape?"

The three looked at each other, all feeling a chill run down their spines.

This was the first time the mainframe had shown a situation where it could not escape the dream world. It had never happened before. Even when monsters were right next to it, it could still pass through and return. At most, it would bring the monsters into the shelter and cause the shelter to be destroyed.

The Eternal Mother is tough enough, isn't she? A level 0.2 Root Origin Great Power, back then Wu Pifu and the other two were still forced to pass through back to Gaia under her influence!
This situation is unprecedented; the mainframe is unable to lead them through a return journey.
Is the shelter not strong enough?

Existential confusion?
Disappointment? What does that mean?

Wu Pifu, on the other hand, seemed to be deep in thought. Unlike Xu Shilan and the other two, he had actually come into contact with the Lost Phenomenon. So, although he didn't quite understand why the words "Lost Phenomenon" would appear here, it was clear that the potential value of the shelter was suitable for this situation.

Wu Pifu took out his Level 7 Portable Super Shelter. He didn't unfold it, but handed it to Xu Shilan and said, "Take this."

Xu Shilan paused for a moment, then took the palm-sized building toy with a complicated expression. As soon as she took it, the main brain's notification tone changed.

"Judging in progress...judging complete."

"The shelter is strong enough to allow for a return trip. Proceed? (One person only)"

Xu Shilan naturally had no chance of returning through the barrier. She put the shelter in her arms and said loudly, "Let's go! We've tested all the information. Now it's time to go and see what the true nature of this ship's curse is!"

Wu Pifu led the way, and the three of them took turns disembarking from the Gou Dan. Sure enough, the shore was right below them, with the water only reaching their knees. Logically, the Gou Dan's draft shouldn't have been able to bring it so close to the shore, but the Gou Dan did manage to dock there unscathed.

Everything seemed so bizarre and strange.

The three of them stepped ashore from the beach and immediately sensed something was wrong. The shore was not just a sandy beach, but covered with fragments of objects, damaged and rotten, clearly dating back many years. Some of the metal fragments were even completely rusted and crumbled at the slightest touch.

The three searched the debris and junk on the beach. Xu Shilan's expression grew increasingly serious. After a moment, she stood up and said, "Something's not right. These things are creations of modern civilization, far beyond the capabilities of this world's technology..."

Wu Pifu and Amadei were both somewhat puzzled, so Xu Shilan patiently explained, "The technological level of this world is not high. According to the human history era that the human government has restored, it is roughly at the level of the 15th to 16th centuries. There is metal, gunpowder, cannons, and early firearms, but there is no way there is plastic, nor is there any electroplating capability... I just found some fragments with traces of plastic and electroplating. Although they are heavily corroded, they are clearly products of a later technological era!"

Wu Pifu and Amadei were both startled. If the things on this island were creations from a later era, then their appearance in this world seemed extremely strange.

"...Let's continue exploring."

Xu Shilan dropped the shards and took the lead in walking forward, but after only a few steps, Wu Pifu grabbed her by the neck and placed her in the middle of the group.

Xu Shilan wasn't annoyed. She just looked at Wu Pifu with the smile of an intelligent older sister, and then obediently walked to the middle of the group.

The three continued deeper into the beach. There was nothing special about the path ahead; the ground was covered with various plants, moss, and soil. However, once they had completely entered the inland area and crossed a small hill, they came across a large area of ​​ruins that still had the outline of a town. From the outline, they could see many modern facilities and buildings, such as bridges that were broken and damaged to the point that only the piers remained, or broken high-rise buildings. None of this should be found in the ocean dream world.

After observing for a while, Wu Pifu and the other two continued walking towards the ruins. Xu Shilan then said, "It seems that this world is very different from what we thought of as the upper and lower realms... I originally thought it was something like the Great World Rift, where there is a connection but each belongs to a different world. Now it seems that this Ocean Dream World may hold a deeper secret."

Wu Pifu remained silent. When he arrived at the town ruins, a sense of danger began to creep into his heart. As the three of them ventured deeper into the town, this sense of danger grew stronger. At the same time, he seemed to sense numerous eyes watching them, but upon closer inspection, he could not detect a single gaze.

Xu Shilan had been keeping a close eye on Wu Pifu. In this dangerous situation, Wu Pifu was her and Amadei's only guarantee of safety, so she immediately asked, "Is there a problem?"

Wu Pifu shook his head slightly and said, "I didn't find any enemies, but I sensed danger, and it seems that many eyes are watching and observing us... with malicious intent."

Xu Shilan and Amadei were both a little creeped out, especially in this place where the surroundings were shrouded in mist, in silent ruins, and with a malicious gaze that even Wu Pifu hadn't noticed... It was definitely a ghost story, right?
Xu Shilan trembled slightly as she said, "Could it be some kind of ghost?"

Wu Pifu immediately shook his head and said, "If it's one of those ghostly spirits from the Song Dynasty dream world, or some other yin-type thing, it can't even get close to me, let alone be of any use to us. What I'm worried about is a meme-type existence, or some kind of strange and bizarre thing." The three of them fell silent and just walked forward in silence. When they arrived at the ruins, Xu Shilan and Amadei were about to search through them, but Wu Pifu immediately stopped them: "Don't search here. There are no clues or useful information. Let's continue deeper. I'll rely on my martial arts intuition to sense and search."

Xu Shilan asked in surprise, "Your martial arts intuition can do this?"

Wu Pifu replied earnestly, "The cicadas sense the autumn wind before it blows. Martial arts intuition is just a name. Compared to combat, martial arts should actually be called the evolution of life. And this martial arts intuition is the spiritual evolution of the spiritual level through the extraordinary path of martial arts, which makes the originally ethereal sixth sense real."

Xu Shilan and Amadei seemed to understand, but they still trusted Wu Pifu and followed him through one ruin after another, continuing deeper into the ruins.

As the three ventured deeper into the ruins, the mist surrounding them thinned slightly. Near the center of the city ruins, the decay and rust were less pronounced, and they could even spot some remarkably well-preserved objects, including metal frames, various appliances, and car parts. They also saw corpses... human remains that had decomposed into skeletons.

In the center of this ruined city, Wu Pifu looked around for a long time, sensing the surroundings several times before leading the group toward a collapsed building. Xu Shilan and Amadei saw Wu Pifu directly lift up the collapsed and decaying layers of the building, quickly destroying the ruins like a bulldozer. Before long, the two saw him dig out a corpse from a collapsed room, along with a rotten notebook next to the corpse.

Neither Wu Pifu nor Xu Shilan reached for the notebook. Amadeus scratched his head and reached for it, but Xu Shilan immediately stopped him: "Don't touch it! This notebook is completely rotten. It was probably kept in place by the soil before, but it will fall apart if you touch it!"

Amade paused for a moment and said, "Then what can we do? We can't look through it. Doesn't having this thing mean the same thing as not having it?"

Xu Shilan looked at Wu Pifu, who spread his hands and said, "I can indeed control my strength to open this notebook, but it's completely rotten. I probably wouldn't be able to understand it even if I looked through it."

Xu Shilan frowned and said, "Since your martial arts intuition guided you to find this notebook, it must be meaningful. Quickly think of what you can do with it?"

Wu Pifu thought for a moment and said, "How about... we let the mainframe make a judgment? In the past, I always let the mainframe make judgments on things I was unsure about or information records that I couldn't understand."

Xu Shilan immediately said, "Mainframe, assess this notebook."

"Judgment in progress... Judgment complete. Obtained the Mist Survivor's Diary, which contains some information about the Mist Catastrophe."

"A deep repair can be performed by consuming 10,000 points to restore the information reading function."

Xu Shilan and Amadei sighed at the same time. She said, "Where are we going to get 10,000 points now... What a pity."

Wu Pifu, however, remained calm and said, "Master, I'll borrow 10,000 points. I'll return them to you after the mission is completed."

"Judging in progress... Judgment complete, points consumption activated, repair complete..."

"What!?"

Xu Shilan and Amadeus both showed expressions of utter shock, with Xu Shilan exclaiming loudly, "No, you can actually borrow this?!"

Wu Pifu asked with a puzzled look, "Of course we can lend it, what else?"

Amadeus immediately said, "Mastermind, lend me 10,000... no, lend me 1,000 points. I'll pay you back after I complete the mission."

Mastermind: “…”

Xu Shilan and Amadei shouted at Wu Pifu at the same time: "Look, even the mainframe isn't saying a word!"

Mastermind: “…”

Wu Pifu scratched his head, but before he could speak, the mainframe's voice rang out again.

"Judgment in progress... Judgment complete. The diary entries are as follows."

"...Rule number one: Do not enter the fog! Do not enter the fog! Do not enter the fog!!"

"...Wait a minute, let me write the preface first, right, otherwise I'll forget...I've been forgetting more and more things lately."

"In the summer of the 8233rd year of the Primordial Era, a mist surged in from the sea, and they said..."

"...The end of the world is coming!"

(End of this chapter)