Chapter 326 - 323: The Price of Evasion

Chapter 326: Chapter 323: The Price of Evasion

Ignorance is fearlessness. The deeper one’s understanding of the Abyss, the more one fears it.

This was perfectly normal. Everyone who came into the Abyss went through the same experience.

People would become more and more careful, more and more cautious—all brought on by the fear of the Abyss.

But for Qi Qi, fear meant more than just that. It also meant her sense of presence in the Abyss was steadily diminishing.

At first, she didn’t know what this meant. Then one day, she spoke to someone, and they acted as if they hadn’t heard a thing, completely ignoring her.

’I’m not afraid of them at all, so why is my presence diminishing?’

Just then, Qi Qi had a sudden realization: ’The Abyss... doesn’t that include everything *in* the Abyss?’

To fear the Abyss was to fear everything within it.

She knew her fear of the Abyss wasn’t a fear of the Abyss itself, but a fear of the unknown.

And right now, everything around her was unknown.

The Escape Glasses were helping Qi Qi flee the Abyss, so her presence was becoming weaker and weaker to everything within it.

She seemed to have truly become a ghost drifting through the Abyss, and nothing could notice her.

And now, this situation was only getting worse.

The fear was spreading.

’If this goes on, my presence will disappear completely!’ Qi Qi came to a terrifying conclusion.

She had to find a way to save herself.

Qi Qi tried to ask the island base for help, but everyone looked right through her. Because of her long-term social anxiety, her presence among people was already weak to begin with.

Plus, she was already a nobody—no friends, no acquaintances. Now, there was no one left to even remember her.

’They’re all strangers.’

At that moment, Qi Qi realized that after all this time in the Abyss, she hadn’t left a single trace.

She had fled from every danger, so she had no comrades who faced hardships with her, nor any friends made through adventure.

In the entire Abyss, aside from the data in the database, she was like a person who didn’t exist at all.

Her absence wouldn’t cause the slightest ripple.

No one would care where she went.

Not only that, but she also discovered something even more terrifying.

The text on her Hunter’s Badge was gradually fading, turning it completely blank. As she lost her sense of presence, she was also losing the Abyss’s recognition.

Moreover, she found her access to the database was becoming increasingly restricted.

It seemed even the human data systems were rejecting a person who didn’t exist.

Faced with this situation, she had no choice but to frantically search for a way to save herself.

It was then that she found information about Paradise Island.

"Can suppress the cost of a relic."

After she saw this, she was kicked out of the database. Her account vanished, and her information was completely erased.

Fortunately, she could still use the island base’s public query system to find Paradise Island’s location and ferry information.

Just like that, she snuck onto a ship and followed the route to Paradise Island.

On the night she set foot on Paradise Island, as darkness enveloped everything, her Escape Glasses slowly loosened and fell from her face...

Then, there was only darkness. Mo Ling’s hand snapped back from the glasses as he withdrew it.

After taking a few breaths, Mo Ling recovered.

Compared to the memories from the black bicycle, the memories from these black-framed glasses were much simpler and didn’t span as long a time, making them much easier to process.

However, Qi Qi’s sense of fear and loneliness still seeped into Mo Ling’s heart.

It was an utterly terrifying emptiness.

When the entire world forgets you, it’s like falling into a bottomless pit where your cries to heaven and earth go unanswered. Everyone walks past the edge of the pit, and you can scream yourself hoarse, but no one pays you any mind.

Abandoned by everything, your sense of presence hits rock bottom.

As much as Qi Qi resisted social interaction, even she couldn’t accept such loneliness and despair. And right now, this feeling was still reverberating within Mo Ling’s heart.

He also instantly understood why the watcher had to keep following people.

’Because she’s so lonely.’

She wants others to notice her...

But everyone looks right through her, so she can only follow, and follow, and follow...

Mo Ling’s heart sank a little as he felt a wave of oppressive emotion wash over him.

Whether it was the bicycle or these glasses, both left his mood growing heavier and heavier.

’Is this really hell?’

Black fragments drifted down to the metal floor, crumbling into dust. Mo Ling thought he could smell a fleeting scent of ash in the air.

But when he tried to recall the scent, it was gone.

’It didn’t seem like ash, but it also seemed like nothing at all.’

He sat down on the bed, dejected, his whole body slumping.

’This feels awful.’

Placing a hand over his heart, Mo Ling rubbed it gently, but the gloomy feeling didn’t fade. His chest still felt tight.

The aftereffects of experiencing two sets of memories in a row surged up. Scenes from those memories flashed through Mo Ling’s mind, the different experiences jumbling together, churning his emotions into a chaotic mess.

’I’ve found these clues, I should be happy about it.’ Mo Ling could only comfort himself as he wrote down the memories he had just experienced on the electronic screen.

By writing these memories down, he could constantly remind himself: ’This happened to someone else, not to me. I’m just a spectator.’

As Mo Ling wrote, his empathy slowly faded, and his agitated mood gradually calmed.

Looking at the dense text on the electronic screen, Mo Ling sighed.

’Someone else’s experience... to me, it’s just a bunch of words...’

’Sigh... If only the world really was a novel, just like Martin said. Then I wouldn’t have to empathize so much, wouldn’t have to be so melodramatic.’

Gently placing the electronic screen on the bed, Mo Ling took a deep breath and looked outside the Block.

...

After crossing the wide, straight path, the robot led Li Luo into a small alley.

It was still being extremely cautious, constantly tapping on the walls and making turns from time to time.

At the same time, it urged Li Luo to speed up.

"When it gets darker, other guys will show up. They’re more dangerous, and there’s no good way to deal with them. We need to find a safe house as soon as possible."

As it spoke, the robot brought Li Luo to the front of a building.

It was a hemispherical building.

"Fire Thief Studio?" Li Luo asked, confused.

"What Fire Thief Studio? That’s the safe house."

The robot’s voice was tinged with excitement. "Once we find the safe house, we won’t be expelled! Hurry, get inside!"

Li Luo looked at the building doubtfully, using the dim light to see.

No matter how he looked at it, it was identical to Fire Thief Studio.

However, the buildings on this island already looked strikingly similar, and it wasn’t as if Fire Thief Studio was the only hemispherical one.

Besides, the building before him was pitch-black, making it impossible to see any details. Li Luo could only assume he was mistaken and cautiously followed the robot inside.

But after entering the building, Li Luo saw the familiar hallway.

In the distance was the same office.

The familiar desk, the overturned chair, even the water on the floor that hadn’t dried yet—all of it proved, without a doubt, that this was Fire Thief Studio.

’We’re back again?’