Volume 4 Chapter 27 Mirage
The next morning, Xiao Yi and I left this oasis that left us (especially me) with beautiful memories and continued on our journey westward.
The journey between the Eastern and Western continents is the most arduous and longest in this section of the desert. The terrain is also different. There are typical deserts, Gobi wastelands, karst terrain with large tracts of weathered stone forests, salt crust deposits, and jagged yardang landforms... But it can be summarized in seven words: desolate, dry, with large temperature differences. It is connected from front to back and is nearly 10,000 kilometers away. Even if we walked at a pace of more than 1,000 kilometers a day like a unicorn, we had not yet walked out of its range after five or six days.
Around 10:00 a.m. that day, Xiao Yi and I were trudging along on this seemingly never-ending journey. To be honest, we were both a little tired. We were both a little listless and didn't chat much. We just kept our heads down and hurried on our way. I was a little doubtful whether such a long and arduous journey was appropriate for Xiao Yi and I to have our honeymoon.
Fortunately, this situation changed quickly. When I looked up by chance one day, I was surprised to find several mountains faintly appearing in the distant sky!
I quickly woke up Xiao Yi who was drowsy in my arms, and we both became energetic immediately. Ha, we can finally get out of this damn desert!
So I rode my horse as fast as I could, and ran for two hours straight, but I didn't get any closer to the mountain peaks. The shadows of the mountains were still blurry and unclear. It was exactly like “the mountains are in the void”!
Xiao Yi was puzzled: "We have run at least 200 kilometers, why haven't we reached the bottom of the mountain yet? This is so strange!"
I laughed and said, "As the saying goes, 'looking at the mountains will kill the horse'. Those mountains seem to be very high, and the visibility in the desert is good, so we can see them from a very far distance. In fact, they are still very far away. I think it will be good if we can get there before dark today."
Unexpectedly, I was wrong. After I said this, we walked forward for less than half an hour and the shadows of the mountains gradually became clear. I saw continuous mountain peaks, lush and verdant, with wisps of ribbon-like white clouds surrounding the mountainside. A line of silver light was hidden among the peaks. I thought it was the waterfall in the mountain. Just looking at it from a distance made me feel as if the breeze was blowing on my face, and the summer heat was gone.
We both cheered at the same time and hurried over.
Soon we arrived at the foot of the mountain. Looking closely at the mountain, we saw red cliffs and strange rocks, steep cliffs and peaks, green pines and cypresses, rare grasses and flowers. It was like a fairyland! There was also a small path in the mountain, paved with bluestone, leading directly to the foot of the mountain. The upper part turned and disappeared into the belly of the mountain, and no one knew where it led to.
I smiled and said, "It's rare that there is a road connecting these wild mountains. I think we can go over the mountain by following this path. We have been riding horses for the past few days, and we feel a little depressed. Why don't we dismount and walk slowly, and take a look at the scenery in the mountains, which is in line with the original intention of traveling. What do you think?"
The two men dismounted, climbed the steps, and gradually walked into the depths of the mountains. Along the way, they saw gurgling water, longevity deer, fairy foxes, and white cranes dancing among the pines. It was quiet, elegant, and refreshing.
After walking for a while, the view in front of us suddenly opened up. We saw a group of mountains surrounding the area with a valley in the middle. At the end of the path led to the valley, where a magnificent and majestic palace rose from the ground!
We looked at each other and were both amazed. How could such a magnificent palace appear in such a place?
Xiao Yi frowned and said, "What's going on? Could it be that we have come to a populated area in the Western Continent? But even if there are players gathered here, I'm afraid no one can build such a magnificent building comparable to the imperial palace, right?"
I shook my head and said, "Based on the distance we've traveled, we shouldn't have reached the Fantasy Continent yet. Besides, we haven't encountered a single person along the way. If there are players living in a palace of this size, there would be at least 18,000 people. Could it be that none of them ever leave their homes? I guess this is probably the ruins of some ancient kingdom set up by the system, just like the underground palace of an emperor's mausoleum."
"Ruins?...Should we go in? Or should we just go around?"
"It's not bad to go in and take a look. I think this palace is beautiful in shape and has some artistic value. It's worth a visit. When traveling, it would be a pity not to visit such a unique place. And who knows, maybe we'll find some treasures. The first Sky Crystal Pillar was the one we got in the underground palace!"
"But I always feel weird. There are usually monsters in ruins. What if there is danger?"
I smiled and said, "With our strength, unless we encounter a monster that is stronger than a B-level Boss, how can there be any danger? Besides, in my experience, the deeper the monsters in the ruins, the more dangerous they are. The ones on the periphery are generally low-level garbage. We can go in and take a look. If there are really powerful ones, we can retreat immediately."
Xiao Yi hummed and didn't object. The two of us walked towards the palace gate together. However, I noticed that she still had a reluctant look on her face. I was secretly surprised. With Xiao Yi's personality, she wouldn't be so timid. Well, since she didn't want to visit, we just wandered around the main hall and didn't need to go deeper.
As soon as you enter the palace, you will see a hall of several hundred square meters. The walls on all four sides are inlaid with gold and jade, which is extremely luxurious. There are countless exquisite murals and stone carvings. I don’t know which dynasty or which master they were from, but there is no trace of time at all, and they are as bright as new. The whole hall is empty, with neither monsters nor people. There are no doors or windows on the four sides, but the walls are inlaid with pearls. There is also a group of more than ten huge and gorgeous crystal chandeliers suspended above the head, illuminating the hall. There is also a spiral staircase in front, leading to higher floors.
I felt more and more weird. It was silent here, but a strange feeling came over me. It suddenly occurred to me that we had never been attacked by monsters since we entered the mountain. This didn't make sense. We clearly saw some level 60 and 70 monsters, but they didn't actively attack!
I panicked and said, "Oh no, Xiaoyi, let's retreat quickly!" and reached out to pull her.
I never dreamed that Xiao Yi would suddenly throw a thunder bomb at my face!
The two of us were standing close together, and I never expected Xiao Yi to attack me. At such a close distance, and with my mind in a state of panic, how could I dodge? The thunder bomb hit me right in the face. Although I was protected by the tiger-faced helmet, it still made me dizzy, my ears buzzed, and my eyes were blurred, and tears flowed like a fountain.
My mind was in a mess. I took three steps back and asked in shock, "Xiao Yi, you..."
Before I could finish my words, I vaguely saw Xiao Yi send out another series of fireballs, which came towards me mercilessly, trying to kill me!
In horror and anger, I rolled on the ground to avoid the fireball missile. I looked up and wanted to ask questions, but two more lightning bolts struck me in the face!
At this moment, I hadn't yet stood firm, and there was no way I could dodge the two lightning bolts. I had no choice but to activate the skill of my wedding ring, "Absolute Protection"!
The physical and magical defenses doubled instantly. Two lightning bolts hit me, but I only suffered skin damage. However, my heart ached. The vow ring witnessed thirty years of unwavering love. Xiao Yike and I were still on our honeymoon, and she actually wanted to kill me?
Something is wrong, there must be something wrong here!
Absolute protection is effective for 10 seconds. During this period, even if Xiao Yi attacks me with all his strength, it is difficult to cause serious damage. I took the opportunity to collect my thoughts and think carefully. Everything that happened from the time I discovered the mountain to the time I entered the palace flashed through my mind one by one.
Cold sweat poured down. I was trapped in a huge illusion without knowing when!
Those peaks were clearly not right. At first, we ran for two hours without getting any closer, but then we came to the front of the mountain so quickly. The mountain paths and palaces in the mountains were actually very unreasonable. Although there are indeed countless exploration treasures hidden in the game, the surrounding environment is very realistic. In other words, busy places with frequent people will inevitably leave traces of human activities, and desolate and uninhabited areas will be covered with vines and weeds. The path we walked on was clean, without even moss. The palace was empty and deserted, and there were no monsters, but there was no dust or cobwebs, and all the decorations were the same as new. It's just that Xiao Yi and I stayed in the desert for too long, and we were dazzled by the sudden beauty and didn't pay attention to these details.
Xiao Yi seemed hesitant and even a little frightened before entering the palace. That was probably because she sensed danger based on her female intuition!
So, the whole mountain is an illusion. This palace is so abrupt, it is probably the most dangerous place among the dangerous places. It is not surprising that I was attacked, but Xiao Yi... Yes, since the others are illusions, why can't Xiao Yi be fake? She has not said a word since entering the palace. Most likely she was switched at that time. Damn, we were separated without knowing it. Now she must be facing danger alone. Maybe she is being hacked to death by another "me" with Tiger Soul!
The current situation is definitely not caused by players, nor does it seem like a system task. Could it be... a mirage?
This is the closest explanation I can think of!
In fact, when I first spotted the mountain, but then ran for two hours without getting any closer, I did have some doubts. It is common sense that mirages can appear in the desert. Xiao Yi lives in the East China Sea and has witnessed this wonder on the sea with his own eyes. But neither of us said anything at the time because we both knew that we should be encouraged and not discouraged. Anyway, the mountain was in the west and we did not deviate from our original route, so we just treated it as real. Having a goal in mind can greatly alleviate the boredom of desert travel.
Later, when we came to the foot of the mountain, we no longer thought it was an illusion, because the physics knowledge learned in elementary school told us that a mirage is just a reflection of light, and the entity that reflects the scene is millions of miles away, and the direction is not necessarily in front, so you can never really run into the mirage even if you run to death, but we have actually come to the foot of a group of mountains!
It’s a pity that we forget that this is a fantasy, a game, and a game that introduces countless mythological and fantasy elements!
According to ancient legends, there is a monster called mirage in the desert (sea), which is a kind of dragon. It is unknown how many thousands of miles big it is. It is good at changing its shape and can be big or small, appear or disappear. It likes to swallow up clouds and mist, and transform them into fairy mountains, towers, cities and pavilions. It is called mirage, and it can confuse people's minds. If you mistakenly enter it, you will be swallowed by it and cannot get out!
Xiao Yi and I didn’t know that what we encountered was the fantasy monster “Mirage”, which is classified as an A-level super boss!
The official description of the mirage monster was not published in the illustrated manual, and no one had encountered it in the internal test. In short, I never knew there was such a monster, but I read a lot of books since I was a child, all kinds of fantasy novels, legends, and I know the records about mirages very well! Therefore, I immediately thought of the mirage monster. Although I didn't know it was an A-level Boss, it was capable of creating such a large-scale illusion, so this monster must be extraordinary!
In order to confirm my thoughts, I shouted to Xiao Yi in a deep voice: "Xiao Yi, speak up! Figure it out before you act!"
I can't guarantee that the Xiao Yi in front of me is fake. It's possible that she saw me as a monster, so she attacked me? It's really confusing... It's not a lie. Regardless of whether Xiao Yi is real or fake, as long as I think of my closest lover attacking me, I will be in a state of panic. This is after I have guessed some of the truth. If I die without knowing the truth, wouldn't Xiao Yi and I become enemies?
The "she" opposite me still didn't speak, but her hands kept moving, lightning, windstorms, hail, fireballs, and all kinds of magic kept shooting at me, but I still couldn't be sure that she was fake. The key was that I had no idea what the current situation was in Xiao Yi's eyes, or whether she could hear me. The mirage's illusion was really a headache, making it difficult to tell the real from the fake.
The 10 seconds of absolute protection passed by in a flash. At this time, I finally thought of a way to distinguish. After getting married, many spouse functions can be realized through the wedding ring, such as long-distance communication between husband and wife. Unlike team communication, friend communication and gang communication, husband and wife communication does not need to go through the magic signal transmitter in the city or headquarters (so ordinary long-distance communication is not possible if you leave the city or headquarters more than 50 kilometers). As long as a couple is on the same continent, they can communicate with each other; there is also directional fixed-point teleportation between spouses. As long as the two parties are no more than 30 kilometers apart, either party can teleport to the other party with a random teleportation scroll and a wedding ring. It can be used three times a day.
I dodged Xiao Yi's magic while turning on the ring's communication, but the system prompted: Communication function cannot be used here. I tried again, and the system prompted: Teleportation function cannot be used here.
What the hell is this place?
I didn't dare fight back. What if the other person was really Xiao Yi? I wouldn't be able to bear to cut her. Since it was just a misunderstanding, I would rather die by myself.
But just taking the beating without fighting back is not a solution. If the opponent is fake (this possibility is more than 80%), wouldn’t I have died in vain?
An idea suddenly occurred to me. The fact that the marriage function could not be used did not mean that the function of the ring itself had also failed. Otherwise, how could the absolute protection just now have been successful?
So I waved my left hand twice towards Xiao Yi, and then activated the Love Guardian. Sure enough, the ring flashed with light, and the skill took effect!
My plan is that if Xiao Yi suddenly finds that she is blessed with love protection, if she is the person in front of me, she will definitely know that the situation is different. Even if she sees me as a monster, I have given her a hint with body language, and she should stop and figure it out. And if Xiao Yi is somewhere else now, no matter what situation she is facing, she will find that something is wrong and think about it calmly.
"Xiao Yi" didn't stop at all and continued to attack me violently, so I knew that this must be a fake, and I had another evidence: although I tried my best to dodge, it was impossible to avoid all attacks. I was hit several times after the absolute protection disappeared, but the power was not as expected. Although Xiao Yi and I have never PKed, her magic attack power increased significantly after she put on the Moon Shadow Robe. If she really wanted to fight with me, I would be afraid of her. Especially after I activated the love protection, I was hit twice again, but the total blood loss was only more than 1,000 points. You know, with the defense halved, I was hit twice by Xiao Yi and there was a possibility that I would be killed instantly!
It seems that although the mirage can create lifelike illusions, in real combat it still has to follow the basic rules of the game and there will be no " fake " offensive and defensive capabilities.
However, this fake one’s attack power is not even as strong as Xiao Yi’s. It should not be the real mirage monster, but probably just one of its subordinate monsters!
Since I'm sure that the other person is not the real Xiao Yi, why should I be polite? Swinging Tiger Soul, he chopped it over with one knife!
One hit!
"Xiao Yi's" figure changed immediately. After a twist, a strange and ugly monster appeared in front of me. It looked a bit like a huge upright tadpole, almost as tall as a human, with an extremely large head and no legs. It supported its body with a thin tail sticking on the ground . A pair of small eyes as big as peas emitted green demonic light. Its mouth was flat and it had no organs such as nose and ears. Its body was very soft like an amoeba, twisting and turning, and it seemed to have no bones. Its body was covered with ulcer-like wounds, and streams of acid spurted out from the wounds. This was its main way of attack, but before seeing through its disguise, these acids seemed to me to be magic emitted by Xiao Yi.
I used my gaze to look at it, and only saw that the name of this monster was "Mirage", and no other information could be found, so its level should be very high. However, apart from its camouflage skills, its strength is not even as good as that of a D-level Boss, which means that it is just an ordinary monster in this "palace".
Although it is not as strong as the D-level Boss, it is also terribly powerful. I fought with it for more than ten rounds with my sword before I killed it. I guess there are not many players in Fantasy World who are capable of fighting it one-on-one.
The small monsters are like this, but what about the boss? And what about the mysterious "Mirage" itself?
