Volume 15 Gray Fog Forest Chapter 743: Forbidden Zone
"Where's Danning? Where are the others?!" Ke Lan felt a tingling sensation on his back and he jumped up from the ground in an instant. He looked around and asked loudly.
"Damn it! I remember he was walking around just now!" Thirty-three rubbed his neck in disbelief, "How come he suddenly disappeared?"
"Zeluo! Zeluo, did you sense when Danning disappeared?" Ke Lan placed his hope on the humanoid self-propelled plug-in in the team.
"No..." Ze Luo shook his head gently, "If you hadn't said that the man named Danning was missing, I wouldn't have even remembered that there was such a person in the team."
Ivan nodded solemnly: "I feel the same way... Just when you were talking to Mo Jue, I seemed to have completely forgotten about Danning."
This is not normal!
The reason why they "forgot" Danning's existence was not because Danning had a low presence among the crowd, but because there was some strange power in the Gray Mist Forest that prompted them to ignore the missing person.
Even Ke Lan herself completely forgot about Danning's existence when she was talking to Mo Jue.
If he still remembered Daning at that time, he would definitely ask Daning the same question again - maybe Daning, the "old man" in the team, noticed something that Mo Jue didn't notice.
However, when Ke Lan realized that Danning had mysteriously disappeared, that extremely unreal "sense of forgetfulness" quickly faded and blurred, as if he had just had a dream. When he woke up, the memories of the real world began to become clear, but some details in the dream could not be recalled at all.
The hairs on Ke Lan's arms stood up. He tried his best to control his breathing. At the same time, he grabbed Mo Jue, who stood up suddenly with a panicked look on his face. "Don't move. If you disappear too, it will be a big trouble."
"Asano Akira, did you hear the sound of Danning moving around?"
"I seemed to hear it at first... but then I didn't seem to remember there was such a person in the team. From then on, I didn't hear his footsteps." Asano Akira said, "As for when the change happened, I have no recollection."
Ivan strode to the front of the safety rope. The secondary rope belonging to Denim was still fixed on the main rope. There was no sign of damage to either the rope itself or the buckle... According to this logic, there was only one possibility: Denim took off the safety rope while everyone was not paying attention and walked into the thick fog.
Could it be that something was affecting Denning's mind?
This kind of thing is common in ruins...but the problem is that putting on and taking off the safety rope is not convenient. The whole process takes at least one minute. Even if they are very skilled at it, it will take at least thirty seconds. It is impossible that no one noticed Denim's dangerous behavior...If the safety rope shook abnormally, at least Asano Akira and Sawaro would definitely notice it.
But everyone present had "forgotten" the existence of denim in the past ten minutes or so!
“That’s it! That’s it!” Mo Jue held onto the secondary safety rope around his waist tightly with both hands, and shouted with rapid breathing, “Those who disappeared in the Gray Mist Forest! They all disappeared like this! There are no exceptions!”
"This is too mysterious..." Sanshisan and Ivan each took a step back, their backs bumping into each other. Ivan subconsciously grabbed Sanshisan's wrist with his hand that was not a mechanical prosthesis - although this action seemed a bit gay, at least it brought a real sense of security.
"You're right. Safety ropes are useless in this forest." Ke Lan held Mo Jue with one hand and put the other hand on Ze Luo's shoulder. She said to everyone, "Everyone, keep physical contact with each other and count the number of people on each side every thirty seconds... Oh, and Valentina, set the mecha to automatically follow, and then come over and hold Ze Luo's hand."
"knew."
Valentina responded, and the hatch of the Blasphemer mecha opened. A girl in a tight driving suit jumped out of the cockpit that looked like a monster's stomach and walked over quickly.
Fortunately, Mo Jue was in a state of high tension and did not notice the internal structure of the Blasphemer mecha, otherwise Ke Lan would have to spend a lot of brain cells to find an excuse to get away with it...
Valentina walked to Ke Lan's side, but she did not hold Ze Luo's hand as Ke Lan said. Instead, she grabbed the wrist of Ke Lan's hand that was on Ze Luo's shoulder, and leaned sideways into Ke Lan's chest.
Her other mechanical prosthesis passed through Ke Lan's ribs and was directly buckled onto the main rope of the safety rope.
From other angles, the two looked like they were hugging each other.
Ke Lan could feel that Valentina's breathing was a little rapid and her heart was beating very fast.
Chi Hanfeng once told Ke Lan about this matter. When in a dangerous situation, if Valentina stays in the cockpit, her behavior will be normal, and she can even perform more delicate and extreme operations under pressure. But if she is asked to leave the cockpit at this time, her sense of security will be greatly reduced, and she will become extremely uneasy... The most obvious symptom is that she will habitually find a wall or some other shelter and lean her body against it.
Obviously, Valentina regarded herself as the "wall" at this time.
Generally speaking, many people like her who have almost died in the cockpit of a mecha will suffer from mental sequelae similar to claustrophobia... Some ace pilots even lost the ability to fly the mecha after escaping death. When they sit in the cockpit, unspeakable fear will surge up, their breathing will become rapid, their heartbeat will speed up, and they will feel suffocated like drowning. After the cockpit is completely closed, this symptom will become more obvious.
But what happened to Valentina was the exact opposite of claustrophobia.
"She once told me that only when you hold the joystick of the mecha in your hand can you feel the existence of power." These are Chi Hanfeng's original words.
But Ke Lan couldn't let her stay in the cockpit all the time... This forest was too weird, and he had to keep every member of the team within his sight to feel at ease... If he let Valentina continue to drive the Blasphemer mecha, he was afraid that the mecha would suddenly stop while driving, and then when he opened the cockpit, he would find that it was empty.
Given the strangeness of Danning's sudden disappearance, this kind of thing is very likely to happen.
"It seems like it's time to let Valentina play the Titanfall series..." Ke Lan muttered to herself, "The pilot in this game can even exert stronger combat power without the Titan...Mecha can be a helper to people, but it must never be a shackle on people."
Just when Ke Lan was thinking this, Ze Luo suddenly said something nonsensical: "Do you like Ke Lan?"
Ke Lan could feel Valentina's body in her arms stiffen noticeably, but she did not answer Ze Luo's question.
Is this considered as tacit consent? Ke Lan's heart skipped a beat... Although he could indeed feel that Valentina had some strange feelings for him, especially after he had counseled her after the mecha competition, this feeling had already existed... But Ke Lan always felt that it should be gratitude or something else, not love!
If Major Chi Hanfeng knew about this, wouldn't he use a wrench to blow his head off?
To Chi Hanfeng, Valentina was like his daughter... The cabbage he raised was eaten by a pig, and that pig already had an owner. Ke Lan could even imagine Chi Hanfeng's face, which was so gloomy that water could drip out of it.
But what made him feel most wronged was that he, the "pig", had no intention of pushing up the "cabbage" at all, it was the cabbage that came to him on its own!
No, now is not the time to think about such things... Anyway, we haven't said it to each other yet, so everything can be discussed. It will be in time to deal with this matter after the operation is over and we return to the Ark... As for Ze Luo, just treat this guy as a child who speaks without restraint.
"No, this is not right!" Mo Jue suddenly struggled, "Ke Lan, let me go!"
"No." Ke Lan refused. "What if you get carried away and run directly into the fog? I won't be able to pull you back."
"Dannin's disappearance is abnormal! Although this is already the restricted area behind the red line, it is only a few dozen meters away from the red line. For us, this area is not 100% safe, but we have never lost any manpower here." Mo Jue said quickly.
"Danning is considered a veteran in your team, right?" Ivan asked.
"Yes." Mo Jue nodded affirmatively. "His qualifications are second only to my father and those elders who know the 'secret'. He has explored the Gray Mist Forest more times than I have. When my father disappeared, he also participated in the exploration operation at a depth of 500 meters."
"You mean, with his ability, he wouldn't capsize in such a ditch, right?" Ivan asked again.
"If it was any of you who was missing, I wouldn't be surprised... But Denning, with his experience and ability, he could even walk out of the restricted area from this position alone. How could he disappear here?"
"Maybe he has already walked outside the red line?" Thirty-three said.
"You mean, he was worried that we would kill him, so he found an opportunity to slip away?" Ivan looked at Thirty-Three. "This possibility does exist..."
"No! Daning would never leave me alone and run away!" Mo Jue exclaimed in shock, "In the battle with those heretic believers just now, he almost got shot several times in order to protect them. He is not that kind of person!"
"You two... like each other?" Ke Lan glanced at her. Although Mo Jue and Daning seemed to be about ten years apart in age, it was very common these days for an old man and a young wife to be thirty or fifty years apart in age, so a difference of ten years was not that big.
Mo Jue didn't say anything, but his cheeks turned red.
Well, if you don’t say anything, that means you agree.
"No wonder he took the initiative to ask to stay and go into the Gray Mist Forest with us. He wanted to be with you. And you, as the leader of the lumberjack team, became so panicked after Denning disappeared... It all makes sense." Ke Lan analyzed.
"He...he saved me once before...Once, at a depth of about 100 meters, I got separated from the main group...At that time, I thought I was dead...Because according to the rules of our team, if someone disappears in the fog, it is assumed that the member has been 'lost', and no one will be sent to search for the missing person, because that will only lead to greater losses. The only thing we can do is to compensate his family as much as possible." Mo Jue continued, "But just when I was desperate and wanted to commit suicide, I saw a figure passing through the thick fog and appeared in my sight...At first I thought it was my father, but when he walked in front of me, I realized it was Danning..."
"So you fell in love with her at that time... Tsk, the hero saving the beauty, although the plot is a bit old, this kind of plot can easily capture the hearts of girls." Ke Lan commented, "By the way, did Danning leave the main group to come to you alone?"
"Yes." Mo Jue nodded slowly. "The large group stayed there for three hours. This was the time they promised to give to Danning. During these three hours, Danning found me and brought me back."
"So, Danning is really familiar with the Gray Fog Forest. He can walk through the gray fog alone at a depth of about 100 meters, and he can also find missing people... Someone with such ability really shouldn't disappear in a place like this." As he was talking, Ke Lan suddenly changed the subject, stared at Mo Jue and asked, "You said you got separated from the main group once. Can you describe in detail what happened when you fell behind?"
"I... I don't know how to describe it." Mo Jue showed a trace of embarrassment on his face, "Just... I was following the others in the last second, and the next second, my consciousness seemed to be dazed for a moment, and I was the only one standing there. There was thick fog all around, and I couldn't see or hear anything."
"Did you wear a safety rope at that time?" Ke Lan asked again.
"I did... but when I was alone, the secondary rope around my waist disappeared. Later I found out that the secondary rope was left on the main rope and there was no sign of damage... just like now." Mo Jue said.
"The way this safety rope is fixed is impossible to get loose... If someone or something unfastens the buckle of your safety rope, you will definitely find out immediately... This kind of thing is impossible from a practical point of view." Ke Lan pondered, "However, if your memory... or the memory of others is tampered with... then any unreasonable event can be explained reasonably. Especially the moment of trance you just mentioned, which is very suspicious. Coupled with our just 'ignoring' tannins... In this forest, it seems that something is affecting our brains."
In addition to these, Ke Lan also thought of the discrepancy between his and other people's memories when they were in the glacial ruins...but he did not say this directly.
