Yi Heye gripped the knife tightly while staring intently at the guide line beneath his feet, and at the same time, he kept a close eye on the surrounding sounds—almost all of his other senses were being used to their fullest potential.
As he walked, he noticed that the cracks between the bricks on the ground were becoming less distinct. What used to appear a few steps ahead of him gradually became visible only after Yi Heye's footsteps had passed.
It's like there's always a dead end ahead.
Just as Yi Heye had this thought, three huge, upright sheep, about two or three stories high, stood in front of him, blocking his way. They clearly didn't want him to go any further.
Yi Heye stopped in his tracks, taking a half-retreat step in a defensive stance, gripping the knife in his hand tightly, and began to examine the three horned monsters in front of him.
The monster at the very front is extremely symmetrical, with a pair of huge ram horns on its head, as if it were copied from a mirror. From the movement of its hooves to the precise wool on its head, everything is perfectly symmetrical.
It carried a smaller ewe on its back. The ewe had no horns, but its head was tied with two large pink bows, forming two little buns. It was currently sleeping on the ewe with its eyes closed.
Behind them was a tall ram. Although its expression was not visible, its extreme impatience could be felt even through its thick wool.
Although Yi Heye tried hard not to think in that direction, these three were still his three brothers and sisters who had been separated from him in the fog—only they were disguised as sheep.
Thinking about this, his first reaction was excitement, at least he was reunited with them, but soon he couldn't be happy anymore.
If the three of them appear like sheep in my eyes, how do they see me? Am I also a giant monster?
The moment that thought crossed his mind, the tall ram swung its hooves at him, and Yi Heye was startled, taking several steps back.
Faced with such a physical attack, Yi Heye instinctively wanted to retaliate. But as soon as he picked up his knife, he realized that the three monsters in front of him were very likely his companions. If he attacked them, the consequences would be unimaginable.
"Yu Yili?" "Pei Xiangjin??" "LOPO??"
Yi Heye called their names, trying to make them realize something, but still, without exception, there was no response.
So he could only retreat a few steps in a panic, dodging each of their attacks, but dared not retaliate at all.
The situation is extremely passive.
Under the all-round encirclement, Yi Heye's physical strength was greatly depleted. Several times, he almost lost his temper and wanted to fight back, but the knife was already back in front of them, and Yi Heye still managed to pull himself back with his rationality.
Damn it. Yi Heye cursed inwardly, but he really couldn't do anything about the three of them.
Their offensive seemed to have been planned in advance, forcing Yi Heye to retreat step by step, getting closer and closer to the starting point.
As he watched himself gradually retreating, a strange intuition rose from the depths of Yi Heye's heart.
He looked up at the three sheep again—the tall sheep was in charge of the main attack, while the symmetrical sheep hid behind the little ewe and watched the battle. At first glance, there was no flaw, which perfectly matched their personalities, state, and division of labor.
But Yi Heye kept a close eye on the symmetrical sheep, and when the tall man wasn't paying attention, he slipped under its hooves.
In the blink of an eye, Yi Heye leaped onto the head of the symmetrical sheep, and without a word, lightly peeled the top of its head with the back of his knife—
He pushed the small, symmetrical tuft of wool on his head to one side.
"Awooo!!" As expected, a furious howl erupted from the sheep. The symmetrical sheep pushed aside the tall sheep in front of it and pounced on Yi Heye, who had messed up his hair, with a ferocious and angry expression.
Seeing the symmetrical sheep's hoof fly over without a word, Yi Heye focused his mind, no longer dodging, but directly drew his pistol.
"Bang bang bang," in the blink of an eye, three gunshots rang out, and the three goat monsters in front of them deflated like balloons.
Sure enough, Yi Heye looked at the sheepskin lying sprawled on the ground in the blink of an eye and sneered—
“The real Yu Yili would immediately fix the messed-up wool, even at the risk of being killed by the monster,” Yi Heye said.
After he finished speaking, he raised his head again and looked up at the foggy, dark sky above.
"And although you've been doing everything you can to stop us from getting in, you don't want to hurt anyone, right, SHEEP?"
"Or should I call you—Mr. Gatekeeper of Area A?"
Author's Note:
Meow: I can lay my cards on the table, so can you please not come?
Chapter 158 (Number 158)
Yi Heye had long guessed that SHEEP was the last line of defense for Area A. Judging from the sheep elements scattered everywhere, this guy probably didn't intend to hide it.
Although the outside world portrays this guy as utterly wicked, based on Yi Heye's understanding of him, he knows that while he often puts on a show of intimidation, he has never actually done anything truly heinous.
When Yi Heye used the dream to hold them back, he could sense that Yi Heye was being soft-hearted. After entering the fog area, he arranged brick gaps on the ground, which was actually to prevent them from getting lost and becoming exhausted.
The monsters used to distract Yi Heye were also behind him, minimizing the chance that he might accidentally hurt his teammates. From this, it can be inferred that the three sheep monsters were also a decoy used to confuse him, rather than a real threat to confront his teammates.
From beginning to end, his goal was simply to get them out of Area A; he had no intention of causing any casualties.
Just then, Yi Heye felt a warm sensation behind him. He turned around and found that the fog behind him had completely dissipated, and the sun was shining on the path he had come from—the journey home was smooth and open.
Before him, a thick, dark fog obscured his vision, emanating an unsettling chill that sent shivers down his spine at a single glance—the road ahead was shrouded in darkness.
The fog's form was clearly unusual in nature, as if blocked by a wall. There was no natural transition between night and day; instead, a harsh dividing line separated the view into black and white.
Yi Heye stood in the middle, half of his body in shadow and half in light.
The meaning is quite clear; it's almost like a humble plea—as long as you turn back, everything will be smooth sailing.
Yi Heye understood what he meant.
After being buried in the fog for only a short while, Yi Heye was already feeling overwhelmed. Looking at the bright sunshine and cloudless sky behind him, he even had a sense of déjà vu, as if he had been given a second chance at life.
Light is always an immense temptation, no matter when or where.
He turned around and took a few deep breaths of fresh air in the direction he was heading home.
But the next second, he resolutely turned around.
"You know, no one can stop me, not even you."
Yi Heye turned around, took a step, and resolutely walked back into the gloom.
"This isn't anyone's fault; it's determined by our positions," Yi Heye murmured. "Try to stop me, I'm waiting for you."
As soon as he finished speaking, a dark mass suddenly loomed over him from the fog in front of him.
He instinctively stopped in his tracks. When he looked up, the scene that should have been a vast expanse of white was now torn open, revealing a bizarre black gap.
Upon closer inspection, it appears to contain a black vortex, resembling a terrifying beast with its jaws wide open in the abyss.
As if seeking to draw some power, Yi Heye turned back once more to look at the bright sunlight behind him.
His emotions told him that Jian Yunxian would never do anything excessive to him, but his intuition told him that the road ahead was more difficult than he had imagined.
First, my fingertips touched the black vortex, and then it was as if I was pulled in by a giant hand, and I fell straight in.
Yi Heye was first dizzy for a long time, and almost knelt down on the ground.
The intense urge to vomit made him stand still for half a minute until the feeling subsided slightly, at which point Yi Heye slowly raised his head.
The thick fog in front of me had dissipated, but the scene before me still made me feel very uncomfortable.
The world was dimly lit, but it wasn't pitch black like at night. Yi Heye could clearly sense that it was daytime.
But there were thick black clouds in the sky, or rather, black smoke billowing from a chimney, like rolling ink, piled up heavily on the horizon, firmly blocking the only ray of sunlight in the sky.
Yi Heye looked up at the sky, then at the massive factories rising from the ground all around him, the familiar streets stretching out beneath his feet, and the struggling, barely surviving pedestrians who had somehow appeared on either side of the road. Familiar memories reverberated wildly in his mind—
This is what it looked like during the period of severe pollution in Zone D.
Yi Heye immediately thought of the bizarre, heavily polluted scene that Fang Chunyang had created in LIFE.
However, a closer look reveals a fundamental difference between the two: the visuals in LIFE are primarily fictional, using extremely exaggerated techniques to magnify the typical characteristics of that era for the viewer. The bizarre corridors, distorted spaces, and constantly changing imagery all tell him that this is a strange game world.
The scene before us is different; everything here is extremely realistic, or rather, it is a projection of the past reality.
Yi Heye is currently in an abandoned children's park near a slum. At this moment, small groups of children are lingering at the park entrance, seemingly wanting to go in but lacking the courage.
When I was a child, I was one of the many children lingering at this doorway.
He had a deep impression of this place. When he was a child, he always wanted to go there to play, but his mother always scared him, saying that the slide there would eat people and that many children who ran there by chance never came back.
Yi Heye carefully walked to the slide. The slide was corroded with horrifying holes by rust, and a layer of thorny vines that looked extremely ferocious were attached to it. The metal handrails were covered with a layer of dark moss, making it look very creepy.
All of this matched his memory. However, at this point, Yi Heye could only understand from an adult's perspective that the vines and moss on the slide were poisonous plants that had mutated during the period of severe pollution. In addition, the slide was corroded and rusted by acid rain. If children were to get slightly scratched while playing, they would either be poisoned or risk contracting tetanus, and naturally, they would never return.
Yi Heye stared blankly at the slide, then glanced at the ragged, pale-faced, and coughing children behind him. He waved his hand and said, "Go home, all of you!"
The children scattered and disappeared into the thick black fog. Only Yi Heye remained standing on the entire street.
The little amusement park was a microcosm of the whole world. Looking up, the old buildings that hadn't been demolished were now wrapped in huge coffins by rampant poisonous plants. The whole street seemed to be covered with a sticky liquid, and there was always a strong sour smell in the air.
Perhaps due to pollution, there were few people and vehicles on the road. All the shops on both sides of the road were closed. Some of the roller shutters had been eroded by acid rain, leaving huge holes and revealing the dilapidated state of the interior.
The whole city was like it was dead.
Lacking dramatic grotesques and shocking horrors, the era was truly a microcosm of darkness and lifelessness.
By the roadside, several crows were gnawing on the carcass of some unknown animal, leaving behind only a long, echoing cawing.
Yi Heye stepped to the middle of the crossroads, watching them flutter their wings in a dark mass as they flew towards the gray sky, and a nameless fear crept up on him—
This is the apocalypse that humanity has ever experienced.
The infiltrative invasion sent chills down his spine. He stood there for a long time before suddenly realizing that he was in a hurry and that this was all SHEEP's way of stopping him.
So he quickly closed his eyes and tried to recall the route he had taken.
As he hurried on his way, Yi Heye tried to block out everything around him and readjusted his pace.
The moment he looked away, a voice suddenly rang in his ears: "Do you know what you're seeing?"
The timbre of this voice was a combination of Jian Yunxian's voice and the voice of the SHEEP sheep form, sounding like a machine with its own echo—this was the first time Yi Heye had experienced such a strong mechanical feel from this person.
He paused for a moment, but didn't answer. He just kept his head down and continued walking forward.
Seeing that he did not respond, the voice continued: "This is not the past, or rather, this is not just the past—this is the world after hope has been shattered."
With a "whoosh," a dilapidated car drove past on the side of the road. Yi Heye couldn't help but look up. The next second, the car crashed straight into the tree trunks by the green belt and burst into flames.
Yi Heye's heart clenched. He was about to go over to help when he realized that the person sitting in the car had long since turned into a pile of bones. They had probably died while driving, but the car had been speeding along the road on autopilot until all of its energy was exhausted, at which point it crashed headlong into the green belt in front of it.
Jian Yunxian's voice revealed a deep sense of helplessness: "Yi Heye, you really can't go any further."
The brick seams that had guided Yi Heye's footsteps vanished completely, and the street scene before him twisted and distorted wildly. Looking up, at the end of the road, poisonous vines surged towards him like countless wildly dancing pythons.
Like a massive tsunami, giant vines burst through the high-rise buildings and factories in front of it, submerging the city's crowds and vehicles, and overturning, piercing, and destroying everything in sight.
This was an unprecedented nightmare; despair collapsed and instantly engulfed the entire world, and the overwhelming sense of oppression was enough to make one faint on the spot.
Whether it's losing consciousness, retreating, or even remaining in place, at least the scene had some deterrent effect.