Chapter 1600: Someone Else's House
Tapping the thigh with the right index finger.
Tapping the thigh with the right index finger.
Tapping the thigh with the right index finger.
Tapping the thigh with the right index finger.
Wu Yiliu's right index finger, as if pulled up by a string, abruptly rose into the air and gently tapped his thigh. But he knew clearly that he himself had commanded the finger—it was an action executed entirely in accordance with his will.
Glance at the forest on the left.
Glance at the forest on the left.
The pitch-black silhouette of the forest on the left was finely trimmed by the night into various heights of treetops, with a hazy white crescent moon floating in the night sky.
What happened today? If he recalled correctly, he had just dozed off from fatigue and woke to find the cabin extremely quiet—Abby was asleep, Pence and Cuining hadn't returned.
If he remembered correctly, it seemed to be two o'clock in the afternoon.
Startled, Wu Yiliu shivered all over. When he looked again, the night had dissipated: heavy dark clouds gathered over the mountains and forests, suppressing the daylight until it weakened, everything soaked in a dim, cold hue, though dark, it was still daytime.
Why did he see the night sky? Was he hallucinating?
He broke out in goosebumps all over, and couldn't help tightening the blanket wrapped around him; in the pale, incomplete reflection on the glass, a white hand reached up to his shoulder, gripping the edge of the blanket, then froze.
That's not right, he had thrown off the blanket when he got up.
Don't let go, wrap tighter, wrap tighter, don't let go... It's going to rain, it's very cold, wrap tighter.
"It was only then that I heard that voice for the first time, and finally understood why, without knowing, I had put on those women's shoes. I don't know how long it has been ringing in my ears, in my mind, but I know it must have been quite some time," Wu Yiliu said.
Wu Yiliu remained as he was, sitting on the rock, and across from him, Abby did the same, her small, round face pale, looking like a motionless wax figure.
"It seems like others heard the voice too, not just me. Pence asked us while washing his face if anyone was speaking... Clearly, he heard something. After he heard a certain human voice, his next action was to grab the plastic bag with the clothes and hats. Thinking back, it was as if he was persuaded," he continued.
"You used 'persuade,' not 'command,'" Abby said, the frozen silence of the wax figure suddenly animated, startling Wu Yiliu. "That makes me think you're quite spiritual."
With those words, Abby went silent again, like a robot that's been turned off. Rainwater slid into the corner of her eyes, but she didn't seem to mind.
Wu Yiliu felt uncomfortable for her and couldn't help wiping his own eyes, saying, "My experience is still not enough. Honestly, I'm not afraid of you laughing, it was only after we ran into the forest together that I suddenly realized there was a strand of golden hair on the blanket. Before that, my mind was completely chaotic, without a clear purpose for the pocket dimension, unknown reasons for clothing winding around people, and... and people gradually transforming."
Abby opened her mouth, teeth barely visible, saying, "Halfway through the story, I became suspicious. Why would you choose this time, this place, to tell me such a story?"
"I know Pence and Cuining can't chase us," Wu Yiliu said. "Except for sitting in the rain being uncomfortable, telling the story now was not a bad opportunity. I had plenty of time to tell you, and you had plenty of time to listen."
He wanted to glance at the direction of the cabin, but the thought of that pale, wax-like face existing for a moment in his peripheral vision held him back.
"Oh?" Abby tilted her head. "How do you know they won't come after us? And since you've already noticed something wrong with Abby, why did you still tell me stories?"
"Let me answer your first question. Unlike Abby, Pence and Cuining haven't fully transformed yet," he said, staring intently at the person across from him as he tried to speak calmly. "If transformation is the real goal, before this true goal is achieved, they won't be let out of the cabin... because that cabin is filled with others' wills. It is others' wills that are gradually eroding the four of us who have entered the pocket dimension, changing what's beneath the outer skin."
If Pence and Cuining were to follow, it would mean leaving the "voice" in the cabin. Then, if they ever fully regained their self-consciousness and control—or even if they regained most of it—all previous efforts would be wasted.
"Although I unexpectedly ran out, I'm not out of control; after all, I still have an Abby around me." His mind had cleared up a lot under the continuous downpour, and as Wu Yiliu recalled the past, he gradually regained control of himself. "They haven't appeared so far, and I think that's good evidence."
"Uh, so it seems like you've already guessed the situation of this pocket dimension?"
Wu Yiliu nodded.
He found it hard to shake off this feeling: everything now seemed like the Creator knew his past experiences and had played a tasteless joke on him.
Abby waved her hand, seemingly with a condescending tolerance, and said, "Tell me about it."
He leaned forward, resting his elbow on his knee. "Is that cabin in the mountains really a pocket dimension?"
"Why... would you have such doubts?" Abby asked, slowly leaning over.
She seemed unwilling to miss any of his words—Wu Yiliu suddenly felt a delusion that he was participating in a market survey.
"If it were any other posthuman in the world, they probably wouldn't doubt it like I do," he said with a bitter smile. "But... I don't know. It's just a feeling, without any solid basis."
Abby then slowly sat back in the rain. After pondering for a moment, she finally said, "Hmm, your experience is unique; others probably won't think this way."
From her words, he thought he heard a hint of self-affirmation, as if she was reassuring herself that she didn't have to worry about others besides Wu Yiliu.
"But—"
"You're wrong," Abby interjected calmly, "but you're also right."
Wu Yiliu must have looked utterly bewildered, for she glanced at him and smiled, saying, "This camping cabin is indeed not a pocket dimension."
"Then what do you mean—" Before he could finish, he suddenly understood and almost jumped up. "The pocket dimension is the other half?"
Since coming to the camping cabin, their attention had been entirely focused on the cabin's eerie oddities, and they had taken for granted the very reason they had come here in the first place: they had been told that a new pocket dimension had opened within the base of an organization, trapping four people; that the base room was only half, and the other half was a camping cabin in the deep mountains.
They all remembered the other half of the pocket dimension. But since they couldn't contact the four trapped people and that half of the pocket dimension had no connection with their current situation, they naturally relegated it to the background, overlooking it.
"Yes, the real pocket dimension is actually just that room, and the number of participants has long been filled." Abby raised a hand, showing four fingers, and smiled. "This camping cabin is the 'competition field' provided by the pocket dimension for us four players."
In the real pocket dimension, there were four players. They deceived four more people into the camping house. Wu Yiliu turned this number over in his mind a few times, feeling the rain seeping into his bones, shivering with cold.
"So, it has some features of a pocket dimension, such as the stimulating experiment that Pence did at the beginning, which won't damage the house. Because it's just an activity space, not the pocket dimension itself, you are our targets to attack and conquer, so for you, there are naturally no clear rules or conditions for passing through; you can only endure day by day inside the house," Abby said. "I guess it's these details that made you think it was a fake pocket dimension, right?"
She shook her head and sighed. "Who knows? The world of doomsday is full of wonders. The new pocket dimension ran for the first time but came across you, who has experienced a fake pocket dimension. What bad luck."
"The four of you..." Wu Yiliu's hands were tightly clenched, keeping himself from trembling in the cold rain. He steadied his voice, saying, "What's your goal?"
Abby smiled. "You must have guessed it, right? You're a smart guy. Do you really think that Abby can become Abby again after the pocket dimension ends?"
Wu Yiliu could only stare blankly at her.
"When you were driving to the camping house, we were also on our way there," Abby said softly. "Of course, our physical bodies are still sitting in the room where the pocket dimension appeared, located in the organization's base. I myself am lying in a lounge chair, not having been off the ground for several days now. You could say that our souls or our spiritual projections came rushing over... In our soul state, we traveled through a completely different land, following the light of the camping house to find you."
Abby smiles slightly. "That's why the TV advised you to turn off the lights, to avoid attracting unwelcome creatures — it meant us."
Wu Yiliu said nothing.
"Our two sides made contact early on, as one lucky player happened to run into Cuining, who was out in the woods checking the range of the pocket dimension — she and Abby were separated for a while."
No wonder... No wonder that among the two women who came back from outside after hastily turning off the lights and checking the range of the pocket dimension, one of their faces began to deform.
Abby looks quite satisfied, saying, "But what's the use of being early? The first one to completely seize the target was me."
So, it seems that his feeling was indeed correct — that camping cabin was filled with the will of others; and the will of others had been trying to take over the bodies of Wu Yiliu and the others.