Chapter 474 - 471: Unmoving Scorching Sun

Chapter 474: Chapter 471: Unmoving Scorching Sun

The sun hadn’t moved.

The scorching sun had been fixed in the same position for a long time now. Zhou Dynasty remembered with perfect clarity that it had been in that exact spot two hours ago.

"Are you sure?" the captain asked grimly.

"Positive. I’m absolutely certain. You can ask Xiaoli. He’s been right beside me the whole time, he knows!"

"Xiaoli! Over here!" the captain shouted toward the rear of the team.

The team member who had been standing next to Zhou Dynasty hurried over.

"It’s true, Zhou Dynasty has been watching the sun. I called out the time exactly two hours ago, and he was looking at it then, too," Xiaoli replied earnestly.

"Is that so?" The captain turned to his second-in-command. "What time is it?"

"Twelve-ten, Captain. We entered this forest at eight o’clock."

"Twelve-ten?" The captain looked up at the sun hanging in the sky. "It’s September, isn’t it?"

"That’s right, Captain."

The captain nodded. "The sun’s position is wrong. Zhou Dynasty is right."

"Everyone, on high alert!"

The deep command sent a jolt of tension through the entire investigation team.

"Zhou Dynasty, give me your Holy Sword."

"Right away, Captain." Zhou Dynasty quickly handed over the Holy Sword.

Without hesitation, the captain drew the Holy Sword and unleashed a strike toward the forest before them.

A pillar of destructive light shot out, carving a path of annihilation ahead. The earth was split in two, and the bare trees were scorched to ash.

But that wasn’t the most critical discovery. After the pillar of light faded, a strange, iridescent fissure began to seal itself shut along the chasm the beam had created, closing in like a cut through lard.

"Did you see that?" the captain asked grimly.

"I saw it! It’s light! There’s a layer of light covering the normal scenery!" Zhou Dynasty shouted as if waking from a dream.

Human vision is easily deceived. If you cover normal light with another layer of light, what the eyes see isn’t real.

If you can control light, you can control what the human eye perceives.

"We’ve been deluded this whole time... It seems something is trying to trap us here," the captain said, the realization dawning on him.

He raised the Holy Sword and swung it again.

As expected, the result was identical.

"A creature that can control light."

The captain frowned, looking at the sky. "This unmoving sun, and this strange high temperature... it must have created them."

"It’s frozen the sunlight in place, layering the illumination from different moments to steadily raise the forest’s temperature."

Zhou Dynasty listened to the captain’s words, nodding repeatedly.

Somehow, he just knew the captain was right.

"So how do we escape this cage of light?" The captain looked at the group.

"Let’s lower the temperature first." Xiaoli took out his relic—a hairdryer.

Xiaoli turned on the hairdryer, and a refreshing, cool breeze washed over the entire team.

However, white smoke began to rise from Xiaoli’s own body.

"I can’t hold on for long, Captain."

"It won’t be for long," the captain said gravely, looking at Xiaoli.

Watching Xiaoli, with white smoke rising from his body, Zhou Dynasty felt a sudden pang in his heart.

’What’s happening?’

He quickly took out a cup of water and offered it to Xiaoli, but Xiaoli just waved his hand dismissively.

The captain gathered the team to discuss a plan.

"We just need to create darkness!" Zhou Dynasty said excitedly. "In a place of complete darkness, the light can’t affect us. We can hide in the dark and leave this forest."

For some reason, the right answer had just popped into Zhou Dynasty’s mind.

The captain nodded. "Not bad."

He looked at the bare trees around them. "The trees here have no leaves... this must be why. The enemy is afraid of shadows, afraid of darkness, so it won’t leave any."

"Captain, I can create a shadow! You can all hide under the shadow I make," a team member shouted excitedly.

The captain looked at him for a few moments, then sighed.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

The team member took out a dough-like relic and took a fierce bite.

"I’ll cover you all now!" As he spoke, his body began to swell, twisting like dough, growing larger and larger until it became a giant, flat pancake.

The pattern of his clothes was still visible on the pancake. His face was stretched into a bizarre, huge visage, his mouth still moving, but no one could make out the words.

Just like that, the human pancake enveloped the entire team, blocking out all light.

"Move out," the captain’s voice trembled slightly.

And so, the entire investigation team moved forward, sheltered by the pancake that was once their teammate.

Zhou Dynasty was right near the neck of the human pancake. The eyes of his transformed teammate were staring intently at him. His heart trembled, and he wanted to say something, but the words caught in his throat.

The cool breeze held back the intense heat from outside. Above them, the teammate-turned-pancake seemed to gradually stop squirming, and the eyes that had been fixed on Zhou Dynasty slowly closed.

"Captain, he..." Zhou Dynasty said worriedly.

"Don’t talk. Keep moving," the captain’s voice was hoarse.

Zhou Dynasty didn’t ask again, simply continuing forward under the now-still pancake.

Darkness concealed everything. A faint light filtered through the patterned surface of the pancake. Outside, the world seemed to be slowly turning green as a verdant light seeped in.

Zhou Dynasty could hear his teammates’ panting and their footsteps on the muddy ground. In the gloom, every sound became exceptionally clear.

But there was another sound that constantly pierced Zhou Dynasty’s heart—Xiaoli’s wails.

He sounded like he was at his limit.

"Captain, it’s turned green outside. We should be able to get out now, right?"

"No. This could be a trap. The enemy might have faked this light, too. Keep walking. Don’t stop."

Zhou Dynasty’s heart sank. He said no more and continued to trudge forward with difficulty.

The pancake above him grew heavier and heavier. Zhou Dynasty felt his hands becoming wet.

’Is it sweat?’

Zhou Dynasty looked in the dim light. At the first glance, he froze.

It wasn’t sweat. It was melting blood...

The bloody fluid streamed down Zhou Dynasty’s arms. It was strangely thick and sticky, as if mixed with flour.

Zhou Dynasty gritted his teeth, lowered his head, and didn’t dare to look again.

However, the bloody fluid grew thinner, dripping all over his body. The warm liquid streamed down from his head to the ground.

Now, even if he didn’t look, the blood was right there in front of him.

DRIP... DRIP...

Zhou Dynasty closed his eyes, blood mixing with his tears as it streamed to the ground.

Xiaoli’s wails could no longer be heard, but the cool breeze was still blowing.

Zhou Dynasty could hear his own faint sobs.

He could no longer tell if the warmth covering his face was blood or tears.

"Captain..."

"Keep walking. Don’t stop!"