I could not accept the other party's statement in the least, but I knew that if I didn't follow his instructions, even if we were currently within an illusion, we might never wake up.

So I simply remained silent, watching him.

It was then I noticed that * had his head turned away from the very beginning, never having listened to a word we said.

To be so unresponsive to something so critically important was utterly surprising to me.

Yet, more than any other reaction, I was preoccupied with the long-faced man.

Although I had no idea who he truly was, I knew people like him generally lacked patience, meaning my window of choice was likely closing fast.

As if on cue, just as I thought this, the other party spoke with growing impatience: "I'll give you three seconds.

Three..." "I have one last question! You are Atlantean, aren't you? You are the creator of Earth life! I know you are good people, and we misunderstood you, but you shouldn't lose hope in humanity! What you are doing right now is wrong!" I blurted out all those words in one breath; even I was baffled, as that wasn't actually what I truly thought.

What I considered 'wrong' was actually only directed at the matter of experimenting on the corpse of myself and *...

Whether that action was right or wrong, even I couldn't say, but for me personally, it was certainly not a good thing.

It wasn't that I wasn't afraid of death; rather, once a person dies, they should rest in peace, not be manipulated back into a semblance of life.

That was my conviction, but then again, who isn't afraid of dying? So, as I finished speaking, my voice softened, and I could only manage one final plea: "At least...

at least let our souls be free." "Don't listen to him, we aren't dead...

at least...

I'm not dead..." At this point, * spoke up. "What do you mean?" I asked * in shock.

replied, "We don't have much time.

Even though he lied, if we don't go back now, we really won't be able to.

I'll explain the specifics once we're out." With that, * came over and pulled me along.

But then, the long-faced man interjected: "Atlantis, a name so familiar...

Young man, since you're so insistent, I'll give you the key piece of information: 0017.

Remember that number." "0017, this!" Suddenly, I recalled seeing this number in the tomb chamber back in Heizhugou years ago, a number whose meaning I hadn't grasped then.

But later, I learned that this number designated a type of extraterrestrial ore.

It was called Unknown Substance No.

17, highly radioactive, but this radiation didn't kill; it only caused dangerous mutations in plants or animals.

However, clearly, this number now signified more than just that; it held a deeper, more important meaning.

What exactly did it mean? I truly couldn't fathom it.

By this time, * had already pulled me toward a door glowing with white light behind us.

When we passed through that door, we were instantly back in the darkness inside the Bronze Gate.

I realized the person beside me was not *, but Nie Chuan.

His face was filthy, he held a lit wooden stick, and he stared at me expressionlessly. "You..." I hesitated before asking, "You are *! Aren't you?" Nie Chuan froze for a moment, then said, "What nonsense are you spouting? * is you, how could I be *?" As he spoke, I noticed his gaze was somewhat evasive, as if he were lying.

So I pressed on, "Don't try to fool me, you are *! But why are you pretending to be me?" With that, I lunged to grab Nie Chuan's collar, but he shoved me away.

He retorted, "Are you insane, ? I thought your eyes looked strange just now.

Have you been possessed by something evil! This pile of dead bodies is truly cursed!" I plopped down onto the ground, wiping the cold sweat from my head, and shone the stick I held around.

Indeed, all around us were countless corpses of humans and animals, mostly decomposed beyond recognition.

Yellow and black liquids seeped out from beneath them, emitting waves of foul stench.

Countless carrion flies buzzed and swarmed around the decaying bodies.

Seeing a cloud of flies dive-bombing me, Nie Chuan, holding an insecticide spray can, let out a sharp hiss behind me, spraying directly above my head. "! Are you alright? I know the atmosphere here is suffocating, and hallucinations are expected.

I was too hasty just now.

Are you feeling better?" Nie Chuan asked.

I glanced at him.

Although I still couldn't shake off my doubts, I temporarily set aside my suspicions and asked, "Where are we? Why are we here? I remember we were inside the Bronze Gate, weren't we?" Nie Chuan replied, "This is inside the Bronze Gate.

Da Xiong and the others are waiting outside, so we need to investigate this quickly." "Investigate? Investigate what?" I asked.

Nie Chuan looked puzzled. "Did you really get amnesia? That giant egg in the center of the corpses—that’s what we discovered just now.

There are signs of life inside that egg, and it should contain a lot of information we need." Hearing this, I raised the torch in my hand higher.

Sure enough, I saw a downward concave curve not far ahead in the mound of bodies, forming a corpse pit.

And in the center of that corpse pit lay a black, egg-shaped object.

The egg-shaped object twitched occasionally, emitting a soft thud. "What in the world is that thing, surrounded by so many corpses..." I had never witnessed such a scene, and I whispered to Nie Chuan, my voice trembling.

Now I understood why Nie Chuan had been so agitated earlier.

Faced with this situation, no one could remain calm. "Aren't we here to find that Fengli Daxian and the so-called Boss? What is the deal with this corpse pit?" I asked Nie Chuan, turning back.

Nie Chuan frowned. "Why do you have so many questions? Can't you use your brain to think? Look at the burning wooden stick in your hand—what should that have been?" "A flashlight...

it should be a flashlight..." I said.

Nie Chuan exclaimed loudly, "I have a half-chewed piece of leather shoe here, but I distinctly remember our last meal was compressed biscuits.

But now it's a shoe.

This proves that for a long time, everything our five senses perceived—what we saw and heard—wasn't real.

Learning spells and all that was just illusion!" I suddenly understood and asked, "When did the hallucinations start?" Nie Chuan shook his head. "I don't know.

But you have this bottle of insecticide stolen from the hotel in your backpack, which means at least the fact that we stayed in a hotel in Kobe is real." I paused, then asked him, "When was the first monster we saw?" Nie Chuan thought for three seconds and answered, "It was when we encountered Kuroda-ji in the isolated tower outside Leiyun Temple.

Are you suggesting that from that point on, we were actually caught in an illusion?" I nodded. "Very likely, because monsters fundamentally don't exist, yet we saw the real thing.

That suggests it was probably an illusion.

However, I think the hallucinations might have started even earlier—perhaps the moment we crossed that boundary marker engraved with a demon head, we stepped into territory not meant for human traversal." Nie Chuan realized he was once again losing ground in an argument based on logic, so he fell silent, waiting to hear my thoughts.

So I continued, "This is a trap.

We were caught right from the start." Nie Chuan shook his head. "No, maybe it's not a trap.

At least, I don't believe that." I knew how he felt, because if this was a trap, then the medicine we found for Liang Qian and the old man with white hair we supposedly killed wouldn't be real.

But I suspected the situation was exactly like that: we hadn't actually done anything.

However, at that moment, Nie Chuan said, "Surely we are awake now, right?" I nodded. "Since the flashlight has turned back into a wooden stick, then all of this must be real." Nie Chuan gave a slight smile and said, "Then look at this." With that, he drew a simple, ancient dagger from my waist and said, "This was given to us by Xiao Ge.

If everything before was an illusion, this item shouldn't exist in reality." His words shook me, and for a moment, I was speechless.

Just then, we both sensed something massive wriggling in the corpse pit ahead.

The mound of bodies seemed to ripple, swelling up and then sinking down again. "What is that thing?" Nie Chuan asked me, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

I shook my head, saying I didn't know, then raised the torch in my hand and began walking slowly toward it.

Nie Chuan, meanwhile, lacked the courage to follow and simply stood behind me, watching.

I walked step by step closer to the corpse pit, the number of flies around me increasing until they formed a near-black mist.

I waved my hands to push the flies away, making slow progress.

Two more steps, and I would reach an upward slope; I needed to climb over the two-meter-high mound of corpses and then descend toward the center of the pile.

But things were not as simple as I imagined.

When I reached the human corpse nearest to me, I couldn't help but look down.

And at that very moment, the corpse suddenly lifted its head, looked at me with hollow eyes, and a withered black hand reached out toward my ankle. "Be careful! A reanimated corpse! It's a Zongzi!" Nie Chuan yelled from behind.

But it was too late.

The corpse grabbed my ankle and yanked me backward.

I stumbled, landing hard on my rear.

At that instant, countless withered hands stretched out from the corpse pile—it was a spectacle as grand as a stadium concert.

Although my psychic power was gone, I still possessed considerable strength, and this emergency situation sparked my latent potential.

So, I struggled violently backward and actually managed to pull that corpse clear out of the mound.

Simultaneously, I swung the dagger in my hand, hacking at the other hands reaching toward me.