Volume 15 Gray Fog Forest Chapter 767: Lost
But after determining the direction, Valentina was in trouble.
Logically speaking, the area with lower fog concentration should be far away from the core of the forest. If she wants to escape, it is best to go in this direction. But the problem is that their team entered the Gray Fog Forest in order to go to the core area of the forest. If they want to meet up with Ke Lan and the others, going deeper is the right choice.
Going out would be going in the opposite direction... basically cutting off the possibility of meeting up with other people. What's more, in this strange forest, even if you walk in a straight line, you may not be able to get out smoothly.
When Ke Lan used "navigation" to lead everyone along a circuitous route to a depth of 35 kilometers, Valentina had already deeply understood this truth.
She bit her lips hard, and without further hesitation, she controlled the Blasphemer mecha to move in the direction with the highest fog concentration.
…
…
I don't know how many hours ago.
"Three, two, one, retreat."
After Ke Lan shouted this, he took a step back and his figure disappeared into the thick fog.
But at the same time, he felt several huge forces coming from the safety rope, pulling the main rope from several different directions.
Ke Lan's expression suddenly changed - he initially thought that some biological weapons had followed them into the gray fog, but he soon realized that these pulling forces came from other people in the team.
"It's bad!"
Ke Lan only remembered to condense a hand of space and pulled Mo Jue, who was closest to him, to his side. Just when he was about to pull someone down, the safety rope suddenly loosened, and the forces in other directions disappeared instantly.
"What is going on?" Ke Lan looked at Mo Jue who was imprisoned by the closing Hand of Space. She saw that her eyes were lifeless and her limbs were twisting desperately, as if she was trying to break free from the restraints of the Hand of Space.
Ke Lan just tried to relax the hand of space a little, and Mo Jue immediately squeezed out and walked in one direction.
Ke Lan could only pull her back forcefully once again.
"Hey, Mo Jue! Can you hear me?" Ke Lan patted her cheek first, but there was no response from the other party, so he gave her a big slap.
This time Mo Jue stopped struggling because she was knocked unconscious by Ke Lan.
With Ke Lan's enhancement level, even without Ze Luo's living armor, this slap was enough to knock Mo Jue's head off his neck. He was only knocked unconscious, which was the result of Ke Lan's mercy.
Ke Lan took a deep breath and pulled back the safety rope that had lost its pulling power.
As he expected, the auxiliary ropes connecting the other people were all cut - the two ropes of Asano Showa Sanjusan were cut very smoothly, obviously cut with the Nino alloy sword and flying blade, while the rope of Ivan was rough, probably because he used the mechanical prosthesis to forcibly tear it apart.
It seemed that they were also in the same state of confusion as Mo Jue.
As for why Ke Lan himself was awake, he was not sure the reason. Perhaps it was because Ze Luo was attached to his body, or perhaps it was because of his symbiotic constitution that allowed him to escape.
Ke Lan tried to wake Mo Jue up, but even after he injected him with four doses of drugs to force people to regain consciousness, Mo Jue still did not wake up... He looked at the fifth syringe in his hand and finally chose to give up.
This thing has serious toxic side effects. If you take too much, it can be fatal.
Almost two hours passed before Mo Jue woke up from her coma. At this time, her eyes had regained their spirit, but the whites of her eyes were covered with dense bloodshot, as if she had been up all night for several consecutive nights without sleep.
"Hiss... It hurts..." Mo Jue naturally raised her hand to rub the back of her head. That was the place where Ke Lan had spanked her just now. "I actually tripped and hit my head on the ground. It hurts so much."
She raised her head and met Ke Lan's eyes. She found that the latter's eyes were filled with solemnity. Then, she moved her gaze to the cut safety rope on the ground. Her face suddenly changed: "Where are the others? Why is the safety rope broken? Where did they go?"
Although Ke Lan used Ze Luo's power to clear the fog around him, he only maintained a minimum clearance range in order not to attract attacks from biological weapons. Before others broke free from the safety ropes, Ke Lan had thought about expanding the clearance range to the limit, but after noticing Mo Jue's dazed state, he finally gave up the decision.
At that time, the "beast tide" formed by biological weapons had not yet faded, and thousands of monsters were only one step away from them. If the surrounding fog was cleared at this time, it would instantly attract the attack of these biological weapons... Although Ke Lan was fully capable of protecting himself, the situation for others who were in a state of unconsciousness was very bad.
"Don't worry about that for now, answer my question." Ke Lan grabbed Mo Jue's wrist tightly, "Do you know what just happened to you?"
"Me? I just... I just stepped into the gray fog, and then I seemed to be tripped by something and fell to the ground... Now the back of my head still hurts like hell..."
As Mo Jue spoke, he stretched out his foot to feel the ground around him: "Strange... There are no stones or anything on the ground nearby, how could I have tripped?"
"Just now?" Ke Lan stared at her closely and couldn't help but frowned, "Are you sure it was just now?"
"Yeah, just now." Mo Jue nodded in confusion, then said urgently, "Don't worry about me. Where are the other people in the team? Where are they now? Do you know what it means to get separated from others at this depth?"
"They have been separated from me, and you are the only one I managed to catch in time." Ke Lan said in a deep voice.
"Me? I just fell down."
"When you say just now, how long ago do you mean?"
"How long? Probably... probably less than a minute? Maybe... thirty or forty seconds? Haven't we just entered the thick fog? What... what do you want to ask?"
Thirty or forty seconds? Ke Lan's expression of doubt became more and more intense... Could it be that Mo Jue had no memory of falling into a sleepwalking state or being knocked unconscious by him? Could it be that there was a power here that could modify people's memories?
Ke Lan still hasn't figured out why he has completely different memories from other people under the glacial ruins...and in this forest that is separated from the glacial ruins by half a planet, a similar story is happening again.
From the perspective of Mo Jue and the rest of the team, they had no recollection of what had just happened, just like having a "blackout" from drinking too much... except that this was even more natural than a blackout, and the people involved didn't even feel that two hours had passed, not even a brief sense of trance - in their eyes, they had retreated into the gray fog with the others one second, and were standing in an unfamiliar place the next, with only the broken safety rope around their waists to explain what had "just" happened.
As for the process in between, it is as if it was taken out by the editing software. They won’t even remember that they had been in an unconscious state like sleepwalking for a period of time.
The memories before and after are coherent, with almost no flaws or sense of incongruity. If Ke Lan were to encounter such a thing, he would most likely not think that his memory had been tampered with, but would subconsciously believe that he had accidentally triggered a hidden transmission device and was instantly teleported to another place.
No...there is still something that can serve as irrefutable evidence of the missing part of my memory!
Ke Lan released Mo Jue's wrist and asked, "Do you remember what time it was when we retreated into the gray fog?"
"Well... I didn't pay attention, but I remember when we were attacked by those monsters, I glanced at the watch on my wrist while changing the magazine. It was 2:15 pm. It took me about ten minutes to put on the equipment and block the monsters. So when we retreated into the gray fog, it should be between 2:25 and 2:30. Oh, right, can't we just check the watch now? It will be more accurate if we estimate backwards!"
As Mo Jue spoke, he began to twist the airtight valve on the wrist of his protective suit and pulled down his heavy gloves.
"You should take a closer look at your watch. What time is it now?" Ke Lan said to her with a serious expression .
Mo Jue rolled up the sleeves of her protective suit and glanced at her watch. During the whole process , her expression did not change at all.
A chill suddenly ran up Ke Lan's spine.
"Look, it's 2:32 now, so we should retreat into the gray fog around 2:30." Mo Jue's words made Ke Lan's inner uneasiness rapidly increase - he grabbed Mo Jue's arm , pulled her close to him, and lowered his head to carefully observe the watch.
This is an Omega mechanical watch, a "Ranger Series" model that is very popular among top mercenaries and relic hunters. This mechanical watch is famous for its stable and accurate timekeeping and strong resistance to harsh environments. It is driven by a pure mechanical spring and can work continuously for 5-7 days after being fully wound, and the error will not exceed 10 seconds every 24 hours. Including the outer shell, all parts of the watch are made of anti-magnetic materials, and will not be affected even in a strong magnetic field environment.
At this moment, the time displayed on Mo Jue's "Ranger" watch face was exactly what she said, "2:32 p.m."
The second hand was still ticking and the watch didn't seem to have any problems.
"Look at my watch." Ke Lan also took off his protective suit gloves and rolled up his sleeves.
The time displayed on his mechanical watch was "four forty-seven p.m.", which was more than two hours faster than Mo Jue's watch.
Ke Lan originally thought that this was the right time... but now, even he himself was not sure.
Maybe a small part of my memory has been taken away, but I am not aware of it.
Tampering with people's memories is already outrageous, but even the time on the mechanical watch carried by the person whose memory is tampered with can be modified. Apart from the power of "Him", Ke Lan couldn't think of anything else that could do such a thing.
Ze Luo can freeze time and space for a short period of time, and Ke Lan himself also has the ability to stop time, but in the time-stop state, what changes is only the perception of the flow of time by the person releasing the skill - assuming that Ke Lan is wearing a watch in the time-stop state, even if the time stop lasts for an hour, the watch on his hand will still show the time before the time stop began.
Not to mention that Mo Jue had not fallen into a state of time stagnation just now. When she fell into that sleepwalking state, the watch on her wrist should not have stopped.
"Huh? Why is your watch saying 4:47? Is it broken? Or did you forget to wind it up?" Mo Jue asked in confusion.
"No, the problem is your watch." Ke Lan shook his head slowly. "You probably don't know that more than two hours have passed since we retreated into the gray fog. You guys lost consciousness as soon as you entered the gray fog, trying to break free from the safety ropes like zombies... It happened suddenly, and Ze Luo's ability was severely weakened by the thick fog. I only had time to catch you."
"What did you say?" Mo Jue was stunned. "You mean, two hours have passed since we retreated back into the gray fog... But, I didn't feel anything at all! It was clearly just a few minutes ago..."
"That's because I knocked you out." Ke Lan said.
“But I don’t remember fainting… I just fell down…” Mo Jue’s voice became smaller and smaller, and fear spread in her pupils.
"Because your memory was deleted." Ke Lan continued, "Around 2:30, you entered the gray fog and lost consciousness. You tried to break free from the safety rope, but I caught you and knocked you out. It wasn't until 4:45 that you woke up from your coma. The entire memory of that period was deleted."
"Just like we all forgot about the existence of tannins before." Ke Lan added.
"But, but...how do I explain the time on my watch?" Mo Jue raised her hand with the watch on it in confusion, "You knocked me out, but you didn't stop my watch, did you?"
"I just discovered the watch, so I can't be sure whether some force caused your watch to stop for more than two hours, or whether the time on the watch was set back to the time before your memory was deleted after you woke up." Ke Lan paused, and then said, "For the 'culprit', since he can delete and modify people's memories without people noticing, it shouldn't be that difficult to tamper with a mechanical creation like a watch... To be honest, I can't even be sure whether my watch is accurate."
