Chapter 154

154 The Huge Box

Selma Payne’s POV:

It was a cup filled with vegetable soup. The sides of the cup were hot and steaming as if someone had just filled it with their breakfast.

However, this cup of vegetable soup had been in this state for at least ten hours.

The smoke rose and then dissipated. Before it completely disappeared, another cloud of steam was produced.

This process continued three to four times before I gradually discovered some abnormalities.

At the end of the steam, a new round of steam seemed to have appeared suddenly. It went past the process of turning from hot soup to steam, like a mist that arose from thin air.

Like the gifs in a game, there would always be slight gaps in the middle of the frame.

A crazy idea formed in my mind.

“Maybe we’re not blocked from the world but locked up?”

I brought this cup of hot soup for everyone to observe.

“Have you noticed? What’s strange about steam is that it doesn’t completely abide by the laws of physics. Instead, it’s like a smokescreen to act like it’s normal, just like in-game animation.

“Is there a possibility that we’ve been locked up in an enclosed space like a game without our knowledge? The scenes here are all realistic pictures, including the Time Shifters we encountered yesterday. They were all set up as tiny monsters.

“This place, which looks the same as the second base, is not the real second base. Everyone was too nervous last night and forgot about one problem. There is more than one powerful and experienced werewolf grandmaster in the advanced party. Would they agree to set up a base where there are strange creatures with magic fluctuations?

“The reason we can’t see the second base members is not that they have disappeared. It’s because we have arrived at the wrong place. Therefore, there are no members of the second base here.

“Is everything here a one-to-one copy of the real second base? Perhaps the creature that locked us up here replicated a certain period in the second base. From the cup, it was about four to five seconds. Last night, we lived in this cycle of four to five seconds. Perhaps even the concept of time is distorted here. There was no blizzard in the real world. It was just an external background added to this period.

“Since last night, all communication equipment has stopped working. We thought it was because the blizzard had interfered with the signal. But now, it seems that there is another possibility. This ‘game’ cannot send signals to the outside world.”

If it was as I’d guessed, things just got really troublesome.

The person who made this wanted to trap us inside.

To verify our speculations, we tried to open the door, but the wind and snow continued to faithfully carry out their mission as if they had been set on a particular track. They didn’t touch the territory of the base at all.

According to common sense, the base should have been swept up by the wind and snow by now.

With a few other team members tied to ropes, they explored the outside and returned after a few dozen meters.

There’s an invisible wall blocking us from the outside world,” he said with a serious look. “We can’t see the mountain or the snowfield. It’s like we’re being trapped in a huge white box.”

One of the younger members started to panic. “Don’t we have a way to get out? Will we be trapped here?”

“Don’t say such demoralizing things! Are you going to give up before the enemy even comes?” Frank rebuked him sternly.

Although few people showed it, this young team member expressed many people’s anxiety. We didn’t bring many emergency rations, and water was even more limited.

Helpless, Frank made a rule. “We can use a small portion of the resources here, only food and water. The rest cannot be used for the time being.

“Waiting for death is not a solution. Since we can’t go out of the cave, I suggest we go inside to look for clues.

“Yesterday, when I went to deal with the petrification, I reached the end of the cave in seconds. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong. It was just like any ordinary cave. I’m going to look for it again later. Maybe the end of the cave is also a smokescreen?”

The group was immediately thrown into chaos and split into four small teams.

This time, I was separated from Dorothy. I was in a group with Aldrich, Master Kevin, Linda, and others. On the other hand, Dorothy was in the same group as Frank, Master Hayley, Yuri, and a few other team members.

I was uncomfortable with Dorothy being on the same team as Yuri. The latter would provoke Dorothy.

However, this was a distribution that took into consideration our overall quality. Dorothy also advised me not to cause trouble for Frank at this critical moment, so I could only swallow my worries and dissatisfaction.

“Don’t you guys feel a little cold?”

Someone suddenly commented.

It was as if a switch had been turned on. Everyone shivered a few times as if the temperature in the cave had suddenly dropped by more than ten degrees.

“It’s getting increasingly weird.”

Without further ado, Frank gave the order to set off immediately.

Frank’s team was the first to set out.

Master Hayley and Master Kevin had marked everyone with a synesthetic imprint. Once their companions were in danger, the tiny new moon mark on everyone’s hand would become hot.