Embers Ad Infinitum

Outside room "1215", on the "soul corridor".

Different from the past, the ten Shang Jianyao not only held different items, some had them or not, but they also had certain differences in their clothes, making them more distinguishable.

Shang Jianyao, who was wearing a deerstalker hat, rubbed his chin, looked around and said:

“Everyone, vote.

"We are a democratic team, and the minority obeys the majority."

"You are the tyranny of the majority!" Shang Jianyao, who was still wearing a gray camouflage uniform, said something.

He is honest, loves to refute, and can never hold back his words.

Shang Jianyao, who was wearing a deerstalker hat, took out a pipe from nowhere, took a sniff and said:

“Certain sacrifices have to be made for efficiency.”

He immediately said:

"Okay, raise your hands if you agree to explore this room."

With a sweep of the ground, the five merchants raised their right hands.

This includes the most reckless and daring one, the one who always agrees with "yeah, yeah" habitually, the one who likes to joke, the one who hates evil as much as he hates it and cannot tolerate bad things, and the one who seeks novelty and novelty, loves singing and dancing.

"Five versus five, there's no way to make a decision." Shang Jianyao, who was wearing a deerstalker hat and holding a pipe in his mouth, looked embarrassed, "It's better to just have nine as before."

He is the convener and moderator of the Shang Jian Yao Democratic Consultative Conference.

The honest Shang Jianyao immediately retorted:

"Others can abstain and nine can also draw."

"Yes, yes." Shang Jianyao agreed and installed a mechanical arm on himself.

The small speakers and portable recording equipment he had brought previously belonged to the one who loved singing and dancing.

"Two donors, stop quarreling." Shang Jianyao admonished while spinning the "Six Senses Pearl".

He put on yellow monk clothes and a red cassock. His face was as black as iron, and his eyes even glowed red, making him look like half a mechanical monk.

The cowardly Shang Jianyao, who was also wearing gray camouflage, sneered:

"Who knows what is behind the door, and it is very dangerous to explore it rashly.

"I finally got promoted to the 'Corridor of the Soul', and I have the real power to protect myself on the dusty earth. How can I take such a risk?"

"No, what you said is wrong." The honest Shang Jianyao retorted, "There may be danger hidden behind every door. Should we never explore and just stop moving forward?"

After speaking, he seemed to have made up his mind and raised his right hand:

"I thought about it seriously and agreed instead."

Shang Jianyao, who was wearing a deerstalker hat and a black coat, let out a long sigh:

“The result of Shang Jianyao’s referendum is:

"Come in and explore!"

As soon as he finished speaking, ten Shang Jianyao reunited, wearing the gray camouflage.

Taking a few steps forward, Detective Shang Jianyao grasped the door handle of "1215".

It seemed that the rooms in the "Soul Corridor" couldn't really be locked. He just exerted slight force, twisted and pushed, and the vermilion door opened back.

It was dark inside, with only a few faint lights, so people outside the door couldn't see what was going on.

Shang Jianyao, who had already made his decision, stepped in without hesitation. His eyes gradually adapted to the light here, and he saw that this was still a corridor, not a carefully decorated room with some meaning.

Shang Jianyao was not surprised by this.

Based on his current knowledge of the "soul corridor", he can basically draw a conclusion:

The "room" corresponding to each person seems small, but in fact it encompasses an entire spiritual world including the "Sea of ​​Origin".

Therefore, the transformation results of the "soul room" can only be seen and contacted by the owner or visitors with the owner's permission. A rash intruder is equivalent to directly descending into the other party's "sea of ​​origin".

There is a certain difference between this kind of arrival and the invasion after knowing the coordinates. If everyone's spiritual world is compared to a networked computer, then the former is equivalent to just starting to touch the firewall, and is about to be tested again and again, and it may be possible at any time. When in danger, it is eliminated by the corresponding force, which bypasses almost all defense mechanisms and faces the core part.

In other words, if everything goes well in the "1215" room and Shang Jianyao explores to the deepest point, it will be equivalent to completely invading the "Sea of ​​Origin" of the room owner, just like what Di Marco did before.

It can also be seen from this aspect that the ability of "Fate Communication" is really strong.

Shang Jianyao's exploration of Room "1215" will definitely not be smooth sailing. Here, he will inevitably experience various fears of the room owner and some nightmare scenes. Once he is trapped in it, he will not be able to escape, and at least he will be mentally traumatized. , leaving a psychological shadow and developing some weaknesses. Those in the middle lose their self-awareness and develop mental problems of varying degrees. In severe cases, their consciousness collapses or they are trapped "somewhere", making the explorer become a vegetative state or like a tiger in the real world. If you sleep like that, the worst case scenario is that you will definitely lose your life.

As for the "dream protector" from the "Mirage Dragon Sect" who suffers from "unintentional disease", Jiang Baimian suspected that similar experiences might only occur if he breaks into a few special rooms.

Of course, for the awakened, there is no need or need to explore to the deepest depths of many rooms. Face the opponent's consciousness directly, and after confirming that there is no door to the "new world" here, they will often choose to evacuate.

Shang Jianyao didn't know whether the corridor in front of him belonged to the owner's island of fear or one of his nightmares. He curiously took off the flashlight "hanging" from his waist and pushed the button.

A clear beam of light shot out, but was swallowed up by the surrounding darkness and failed to produce any effect.

"You can't directly change the environment of other people's spiritual world without using the power of the Awakened? Unless it has been completely invaded?" Shang Jianyao raised his hand and rubbed his chin, muttering to himself.

He is carefully recording these details.

After confirming that the flashlight he manifested was ineffective, he gave up the attempt and looked around with the help of the vague light in the corridor.

The floor tiles and the decorations on the walls on both sides are extremely exaggerated and distorted, and many details appear messy, which seems to intuitively highlight the original fear of the experiencer.

The light came from the ceiling, one fluorescent lamp after another hanging high, but it was dim as if the voltage was insufficient.

Shang Jianyao did not move forward immediately, but took two steps back.

He exited room "1215" and returned to the "soul corridor".

After confirming that there was only one way forward, Shang Jianyao no longer wasted time, passed the door, followed the corridor, and went deeper step by step.

Not long after, a silver-white metal wall appeared in front of him.

This wall blocks it, making it impossible to move forward.

In the center of it is a door that slides open to the side, with delicate electronic equipment beside the door.

At this time, the door slid open a little, revealing a thick gap.

On the other side of the gap, it was dark and deep, and no sound could be heard.

Standing not far from the door, Shang Jianyao intuitively felt strong fear.

He was affected by the environment here and the spiritual world of others, and he had indescribable panic, fear and uneasiness for no reason.

Shang Jianyao then started talking to himself:

“What terrible thing happened to the owner of the room behind such a door?

"Is this what he experienced before he became an awakened person, or before he broke through the 'Origin Sea', corresponding to a fearful island? Or did it happen after he entered the 'Psychic Corridor', leaving him with lingering feelings? nightmare?"

The danger levels of the two are obviously not on the same level. If it is the former, Shang Jianyao has a lot of hope to successfully explore it. If it is the latter, it will definitely not be simple to scare an awakened person at the "soul corridor" level.

Looking at the silent darkness behind the door, Shang Jianyao once again divided into nine other selves and voted whether to go deeper.

This time, the cautious group won with an absolute advantage of eight to two.

Shang Jianyao, who respected the voting results, put his hands together, left room "1215", and closed the vermilion door.

Then, he assumed a front-facing pose for a 100-meter race.

The next second, Shang Jianyao rushed out and ran wildly, as if he wanted to measure the end of the corridor.

After running for an unknown amount of time, he stopped panting.

At this time, most of the rooms around him no longer had golden house numbers, and the old brass locks seemed to be blocked by something.

They belong to ordinary people and awakened people who have not passed through the "Sea of ​​Origin", and cannot be opened from the corridor.

And the end is still unclear, out of sight.

After testing his ability for a long time, Shang Jianyao raised his hands to rub his temples and chose to quit.

He was so exhausted that he didn't even bother to go to the activity center to listen to everyone chatting, and fell asleep directly.

Early the next morning, Shang Jianyao went to the canteen to have breakfast and entered Room 14 on the 647th floor, which belonged to the "Old Diao Group".

Jiang Baimian was earlier than him, already typing on the keyboard and rushing to report.

Looking up and seeing Shang Jianyao coming in, she frowned slightly and said:

"I wrote last night that the 'Buddha's Body' fell asleep, and when I occasionally woke up, I thought of something."

"What?" Shang Jianyao asked enthusiastically.

Jiang Baimian considered and said:

"Based on the previously obtained intelligence and this time's evidence, we can initially determine that the awakened people who entered the 'new world' either abandoned their bodies or fell into a deep sleep, rarely waking up to deal with things.

"If you put this latter situation into a company, who would you think of?"

Shang Jianyao touched his chin, his expression gradually became serious:

"big boss."