Sitting by the shimmering, azure lake, Ye Tiancheng continued to recount the events that had transpired since waking up to Fatty and the little fox.
"After I woke up here, I found the three of us lying beside this large lake. I wanted to call Hou Mingzhu to let her know I was safe, and also to confirm where exactly we had ended up. Was this a real place, or just an illusion?"
"Unfortunately, I didn't get much information. My phone indicated that I was out of service. The phone had no signal. Relying on this alone, I couldn't determine if this was real, as there are many places in the world without signal. Just being out of service and having no signal doesn't prove anything."
Ye Tiancheng showed his phone to Fatty and the little fox and tried calling again in front of them. As expected, the phone's prompt remained unchanged. The signal bars were empty, and the call clearly informed him that they were out of service.
Fatty and the little fox then took out their own phones and tried the same thing. The results were identical, with no differences, and they couldn't contact anyone.
"It's real then. What should we do? How do we leave this strange place? If we're delayed too long, Sister-in-law is still waiting at home for Brother Ye. We can't let them know we're safe, nor can we tell them our current situation. This is truly terrible."
Despite his young age, the little fox was much more mature and understood that the current situation was indeed dire. He looked at Ye Tiancheng with concern.
Fatty nodded as well, frowning and saying to Ye Tiancheng, "That's right, Brother Ye. If we can't contact them, Sister-in-law will surely be extremely worried. What should we do now?"
Ye Tiancheng also felt a headache coming on. He thought for a moment, then took out his phone and composed a text message, attempting to send it. Although, as expected, the message ultimately failed to send, Ye Tiancheng put his phone away.
"I've compiled our current situation into a text message. Although it can't be sent, I plan to try sending it again periodically. If even one message gets through, it would be good for Hou Mingzhu to know, so she won't worry even more if we can't leave here for a long time."
Fatty and the little fox nodded repeatedly. They also took out their phones, edited their own messages, and attempted to send them. They decided to send them periodically like Ye Tiancheng, increasing the chances. As long as their close ones outside could get some information about their situation and know they were safe, it would be a good thing.
After all three of them had tried sending their text messages, they put their phones away. Seeing that Fatty and the little fox had also put their phones away, Ye Tiancheng continued to tell them about the situation.
"By the way, after I woke up here, I also discovered that all my cultivation was unusable. Fatty, you should try too and see if your cultivation is still usable. Little fox, you try and see if your talismans and such can still be used."
Fatty and the little fox looked extremely surprised when Ye Tiancheng said this, and for a moment, both appeared somewhat panicked.
Fatty was the first to try his cultivation, and as expected, it was completely unusable. His bracelet also showed no reaction. After trying for a long time, it was all in vain. "Brother Ye, it's no good. I can't use my cultivation either. What should we do? What if we encounter the people we fought before, or if there's any danger..."
The little fox also confirmed. The skills he knew were indeed completely unusable and of no use at all. He didn't know why, but this place was truly extremely bizarre.
"I don't know what dangers this place holds, but if we encounter the groups of people we fought before, we don't need to worry too much. Since we can't use our abilities here, they likely won't be able to use theirs either. On this point, we are equal, and there should be no need for concern."
Ye Tiancheng reassured them. Fatty and the little fox both thought about it and felt that it was indeed the case, so they calmed down considerably. If they couldn't use their own strength, but others could, they might have had reason to worry.
However, now that everyone was on equal footing, in the exact same state, they truly had no reason to be particularly worried. None of the three of them were people who shied away from trouble.
"Because you two were not awake before, I didn't leave. However, I didn't hear any roars of dangerous beasts in the surrounding forest. At least for now, we don't need to worry about the presence of wild animals threatening our safety."
Ye Tiancheng gazed into the dense forest, the actual situation of which was completely unclear. Apart from the unease he felt from being in an unfamiliar place and being unable to report his safety to Hou Mingzhu, he was generally quite calm and not overly flustered.
He had experienced a great many things over such a long period, his experience was extremely rich. However, the current situation, with Fatty and the little fox unharmed, was not enough to cause him to lose his composure or break down mentally.
"This Blue Lake is very large, and the water quality is excellent. You can see clearly to the bottom of the lake. At least for now, there should be nothing in the lake that can threaten us, and at least we don't have to worry about water. There are many fish and shrimp in the lake, and the surrounding area is forest. At least even if we can't leave here for a while, we won't starve to death because of it."
The three people present had all experienced great storms and lived through hard times. This place, at least on the surface, was still peaceful, and by no means a desperate situation. Therefore, regarding this point, Fatty and the little fox strongly agreed with Ye Tiancheng's statement.
"However, the most important thing we need to do now is to investigate the situation and find a way to leave this bizarre place. Other things will be handled as they arise, depending on the circumstances. But let's not wander too far, to avoid getting lost, and also so that if any one of us encounters danger, we can look out for each other."
Fatty and the little fox both agreed to Ye Tiancheng's final decision. They decided to split up and explore the surroundings, trying to find clues and a way to leave.
However, the three of them did not completely separate. Because the little fox was indeed too young, and their abilities were all completely unusable, Ye Tiancheng and Fatty naturally could not let him leave alone, disregarding the little fox's safety.
Ye Tiancheng decided to split into two groups with Fatty and the little fox. He would explore alone, while Fatty would take the little fox in the opposite direction.
After the assignments were made, the three of them parted ways by the lake. Ye Tiancheng entered the forest, while Fatty and the little fox primarily explored along the lake.
They agreed to meet back at the place where they had first woken up after one hour, regardless of whether they had any findings. If any unexpected situation arose and they couldn't return, they would leave secret marks along the way, so that the other party could follow the secret marks to find their companions, preventing the three of them from getting separated.
After the little fox left with Fatty, he was still young, and to some extent, still had a child's nature. The scenery here was indeed beautiful. Looking at the scenery before him, he couldn't help but sigh from the bottom of his heart, his eyes filled with curiosity.
He looked at the azure lake surface and couldn't help but move a little closer to the shore. However, after only a few steps, Fatty grabbed his arm. "Hey! Little fox, what are you doing? Don't wander around here carelessly. There might be dangers here. We're just here to investigate. Don't run around randomly. It would be bad if something unexpected happened."
Fatty was older than the little fox and a bit more composed. Although he was not as calm as Ye Tiancheng and could sometimes be easily provoked, he was still reliable most of the time, especially since he wanted to protect the little fox.
Seeing Fatty stop him, the little fox didn't act willfully. He didn't know what unknown dangers might be here. Fatty was indeed right; he couldn't be too reckless, lest he drag Fatty down.
"I'm sorry, Brother Fatty. I shouldn't have wandered around on my own. I just wanted to get closer to the lake to take a look, so I walked over without thinking too much. It was indeed too impulsive of me."
Fatty didn't blame him too much when he heard the little fox say this, but just shook his head and said, "As long as there's no special anomaly, let's wait for Brother Ye to return before we decide whether to approach this lake. Brother Ye also said that unless it's necessary, we shouldn't rashly approach the water. We should listen to Brother Ye."
"Brother Fatty is right. Brother Ye's instructions always have his reasons. I shouldn't have acted impulsively; I was just too curious. Then let's continue along the lake and see if we have any other findings."
The little fox obediently agreed not to wander around, and Fatty finally breathed a sigh of relief. The little fox cast a hesitant glance at the lake one last time before completely stopping his steps towards the shore and obediently staying by Fatty's side.
Fatty, however, felt a little like sighing. The little fox was indeed still young, and he understood the little fox. But there were too many unknown dangers hidden here. If the little fox was easily attracted by new and beautiful things, it would be even more unsafe. He had to keep a closer eye on the little fox to prevent anything unfortunate from happening to him.
They walked slowly along the lake. Apart from finding the scenery beautiful, they didn't have many findings at first. It wasn't until they walked further away that they faintly heard some sounds.
They had agreed when they separated, so Fatty and the little fox had always stayed by the lake and had not entered the forest. However, now, they faintly heard the sounds of beasts roaring from deep within the forest, and it seemed like there were people fighting, and judging by the sounds, there should be several people.
Fatty and the little fox looked at each other for a moment. Remembering that they had promised Ye Tiancheng not to act rashly, they did not actively enter the forest. Instead, they observed from the periphery.
Fatty held back the little fox and whispered, "Little fox, we don't know what the situation is now. Judging by the sounds from inside, there are quite a few people. I don't have any cultivation now, so if those people are too numerous and too strong, we'll be at a disadvantage. Let's not rush in. Let's just watch from the periphery and not get too close, unless Brother Ye is among that group. We should prioritize concealing our own tracks. We'll make other plans after meeting up with Brother Ye."