Chapter 324 - 321: Hell

Chapter 324: Chapter 321: Hell

"Hell Island..."

The robot trembled in fear again as it spoke the words.

It looked at Li Luo suspiciously, sizing her up for a long time.

"What’s your identity?"

Li Luo hesitated for a moment before answering its question.

"A Fire Thief."

Hearing this, the robot looked at the Block in the air, then back at Li Luo, and asked cautiously, "You don’t want to expel me?"

"Why would I expel you?"

"Because I don’t have an identity. Isn’t that what you people always do?" the robot retorted.

’Us?’ It was then that Li Luo realized the robot seemed to have some misunderstanding about her.

"I just got here. I don’t want to expel you. Who is trying to expel you?" Li Luo crouched down and asked earnestly.

Seeing Li Luo approach, the robot started to struggle again, causing the thin veil to tighten once more, bundling it up completely.

Seeing this, Li Luo had no choice but to have Xiaozhi loosen its hold a little.

The robot could finally move. It twisted its neck, looked at Li Luo, and then glanced toward the area that had just been covered in black sand.

"You’re really not with them?" The robot asked doubtfully, seeing that Li Luo truly seemed to be unaware of the situation here.

"Your ability doesn’t require me to answer for it to work, does it? With every question I answer, I get closer to being expelled. After enough answers, I’ll be completely expelled..."

"Cut the crap and answer the question." Li Luo cut off its paranoid rambling. "You saw what happened to that black sand, didn’t you?"

At this, the robot shuddered again and immediately replied, "I’ll talk! I’ll talk!"

Its mechanical arm pointed toward the open ground nearby.

"That sand... he’s the Night Watcher! He wants to expel me!"

Then, it looked up at the roof of the black building.

"And the Nest Builder! But he hasn’t shown up in a long time."

After that, it looked around paranoidly, its expression growing more and more terrified.

"I almost forgot, there’s also the Monitor! We can’t stay here too long. The Monitor will find us. Once she spots you, you’ll be expelled after a while..."

Li Luo also looked around, even shining her electronic screen about. There was nothing.

"There’s no one here. You can relax."

"No! You can’t see her, only she can see you! As long as you’re in her line of sight, you’ll be expelled before long! I’m not lying to you!"

The robot suddenly became agitated.

’Does something like that really exist?’

Seeing the robot’s extreme reaction, Li Luo didn’t dare to disbelieve it.

"Don’t even think about running."

She ordered Xiaozhi to release the robot, and at the same time, it transformed into a purple ribbon and wrapped itself around the robot’s neck.

"I know where your brain is located. Don’t try any tricks."

The robot nodded repeatedly. It seemed to realize that Li Luo held no hostility toward it.

"Follow me."

The robot waved at Li Luo and then took off running down the alley.

As it fled, it would occasionally tap the walls beside it, only proceeding after confirming they were safe. It also frequently turned corners and ran in circles, as if evading someone’s pursuit.

"What are you doing?" Li Luo asked, confused.

"These houses could be traps set by the Nest Builder. He likes to lie in wait for his prey..." the robot said as it tapped on the houses.

"The Monitor can’t move while she’s watching. Turning corners and running in circles can break her line of sight. That way, she can’t see you anymore."

The robot seemed to have a lot of experience with this.

"Then why were you just standing there like an idiot?" Li Luo recalled the robot’s motionless posture when she first found it.

"Because the Night Watcher only notices moving things. I’m guessing it’s because he moves too fast, so he can’t see things that are frozen in place clearly..."

As the robot explained this to Li Luo, she recorded it on her electronic screen...

Meanwhile, inside the Block, Mo Ling was also slowly figuring out the situation.

The cyclist was the Night Watcher.

However, as Mo Ling listened to the robot’s explanation of the Night Watcher’s behavior, he felt something was off.

Ever since touching that black bicycle, he seemed to be able to know what the cyclist had been thinking. However, he couldn’t recall it actively; the memories could only be triggered passively.

And now, the robot’s explanation had triggered some of those memories.

A thought instantly appeared in Mo Ling’s mind: ’It’s not because he’s too fast... It’s because for the cyclist, things that are frozen in place are what’s normal.’

During those forty years, the cyclist had grown accustomed to everything around him being stagnant. All the people, all the objects—nothing moved.

Sand floated in the air, people were like statues, there was no wind, no change between day and night. Everything had stopped.

That’s why moving things were what made the cyclist—or rather, the "Night Watcher"—so fixated.

’It was this memory that caused him to change from a cyclist into a "Night Watcher" who is so sensitive to any moving thing.’

For some reason, the answer simply appeared in Mo Ling’s mind.

It was as if the scene he saw from the black bicycle was his own experience.

Therefore, he could understand everything about the cyclist, understand his every action.

But Mo Ling still didn’t know why he had become so crazed. What on earth had happened on this "Hell Island"?

As he pondered this, Mo Ling followed Li Luo and the robot, weaving through the alleyways. It seemed the robot was trying to lead them somewhere.

But just then, Mo Ling noticed something in the darkness.

It was a small, constantly flashing Black Shadow. If he didn’t look closely, he wouldn’t have noticed it at all.

Moreover, this Black Shadow was particularly illusory. Mo Ling didn’t know how to describe the feeling.

He had clearly spotted the Black Shadow, yet there was always a force pushing him to look away, to not stare at it.

’What the hell is that?’

Mo Ling ignored the force and fixed his gaze on the Black Shadow.

This Black Shadow was constantly following Li Luo. It would flash into existence behind her, then, after she turned a corner, it would quickly disappear and flash behind her again, repeating the cycle.

’The Monitor?’

Recalling what the robot had just said, Mo Ling instantly realized that this Black Shadow was very likely the "Monitor."

’So it’s real?’

The robot’s worries had been correct. The Monitor had actually found them. And just as the robot had said, as long as they kept turning corners and breaking its line of sight, the Monitor was helpless.

However, this was only a temporary solution. Li Luo and the robot had just reached a wide, straight path with no buildings around. They were preparing to cross it to get to the other side.

But the Monitor was already waiting on the other side of the road, staring intently at the two of them.

But neither Li Luo nor the robot saw the Black Shadow.

Whether it was because it was too dark or because of that strange force, they both looked right through the Black Shadow as if it weren’t there.

And as the duration of its gaze increased, the Black Shadow grew thicker and more distinct.