Bai Chen slowed down the car, allowing Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao on the other side to continue observing Building 4.
It had completely collapsed, yet it didn't affect the surroundings at all, not even raising much dust.
It was as if invisible hands were restraining everything, creating a phenomenon that defied the laws of physics.
"Because we took the small jade Buddha, Building 4 collapsed?" Jiang Baimian observed for a while and voiced her thoughts.
"Theoretically, yes. It couldn't be the problem with those two phones, right?" Shang Jianyao didn't press his face against the car window this time, but stroked his chin with his left hand.
"And this is one of the sacred sites of Buddhism," Bai Chen added.
Obviously, the small jade Buddha had a closer and more direct relationship with Buddhism than other things.
As the vehicle turned, Long Yuehong also saw the current state of Building 4 and said hesitantly:
"But this kind of collapse is too weird, right?
"After losing the supporting force, shouldn't it disintegrate with a bang, like a landslide?"
Jiang Baimian pondered for a moment and said:
"Maybe this is the original state of Building 4. The small jade Buddha allowed it to defy convention and persist for more than sixty years.
"Now it's just returning, not collapsing, so the commotion is small…
"That's one explanation. Another explanation is that the one who maintained the special state of Room 302 through the small jade Buddha is still watching Building 4. In order not to damage the remains and make the scene messy, he chose to exert force from a distance, making the collapse orderly and quiet, like building a huge tomb."
Clap clap clap, Shang Jianyao applauded.
Long Yuehong thought about it seriously for a while and felt that the latter situation was more acceptable.
After all, the concepts involved in "past state," "current state," and "return" were too high-end. Even the powers of the "Awakeners" were very special, but they didn't seem able to accomplish it.
In a flash of thought, Long Yuehong saw Shang Jianyao reach into his pocket and take out the small jade Buddha.
"Wait! Wait a minute!" His eyes widened, almost stuttering.
It was better to take out the weird items from weird places after leaving the Ironworks ruins!
Otherwise, who knew what kind of accident it would cause!
"It doesn't contain any aura or power," Shang Jianyao completely ignored Long Yuehong's fear and shook the lake-green small jade Buddha that served as a pendant.
"When you got it, the aura or power dissipated? This led to the collapse of Building 4?" Jiang Baimian speculated, thinking.
"Earlier." Shang Jianyao recalled the various details just now, "When I touched it, it was already an ordinary jade ornament."
Long Yuehong looked around and breathed a sigh of relief after not finding anything unusual, joining the discussion.
He looked at Shang Jianyao and said:
"The corresponding power should have started to dissipate when you stimulated the 'Six Senses Bead' aura and dispelled the weirdness of the master bedroom."
Hearing this, Bai Chen asked a question in confusion:
"Was the master bedroom of Room 302 covered by an illusion?"
"No, it doesn't seem like it," Long Yuehong answered Bai Chen.
He quickly explained:
"I clearly saw Shang Jianyao touch the small jade Buddha, but he didn't feel anything. If it was an illusionary effect, it shouldn't be able to erase the existence of matter, right?"
Jiang Baimian shook her head when she heard this:
"A particularly powerful illusion should be able to affect touch."
"Isn't that too terrifying?" Long Yuehong thought about it for a moment and felt that such a thing was extremely scary. "Think about it, if what we see, hear, taste, smell, and touch are all affected by illusions, we won't be able to tell what is reality and what is illusion!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Shang Jianyao opened his arms and leaned back slightly:
"Everything is an illusion, why bother taking it seriously?"
Jiang Baimian followed with a smile:
"The major sects in the 'Shattered Mirror' domain probably have similar understandings, making it difficult to confirm what is real.
"Ah, let's not discuss this issue anymore. We have too little knowledge and information. Thinking about it now will only give us headaches. It's better to live seriously and live in the present."
Ending the discussion that had begun to lean towards philosophy, she asked Shang Jianyao:
"Do you think it's an illusion?"
Shang Jianyao's expression became solemn, and he raised his left palm, looking dignified and solemn, and said:
"Could it be the legendary Ālaya-vijñāna?"
"Reason?" Jiang Baimian asked further.
Long Yuehong and Bai Chen quietly perked up their ears.
"None." Shang Jianyao was unconvincing but strong, "Intuition."
Before Jiang Baimian and the others could speak, he added:
"In my opinion, the situation inside Room 302 is like two overlapping worlds, with certain connections to each other, but in the eyes of those who haven't opened the Ālaya-vijñāna, they don't affect each other."
"Have you watched too many old-world entertainment materials?" Long Yuehong couldn't help but complain.
"The stone from other hills can be used to polish jade." Shang Jianyao didn't deny it, and even smiled.
While they were talking, the jeep had returned to the highway leading to the outside of the Ironworks ruins.
Jiang Baimian didn't interrupt, and after a while, she said slowly:
"The state you described just now reminded me of something."
"What?" Bai Chen, who was driving, asked curiously.
Unlike the previous missions, the expression on her face and the emotions in her words were obviously more.
Jiang Baimian replied in a deep voice:
"The New World."
Inside the jeep, there was a sudden silence.
"Team Leader, do you mean that the New World is actually overlapping with the Greylands, with certain connections, but most people just can't see it?" Long Yuehong knew what Jiang Baimian wanted to say, but he still subconsciously sought confirmation.
Jiang Baimian nodded slightly:
"Perhaps only those who have explored the 'Mind Corridor' to a certain extent can sense it. Thus, a door to the New World appeared in the corresponding room."
"Then what about the door to the New World in reality? Does it exist?" Bai Chen raised a new question.
"Don't know." Jiang Baimian shook her head, "At least Teacher Du Heng, and many others, believe it exists."
In the Greylands, almost everyone believes that there is a door to the New World deep in a certain ruin, which can free them from "Heartless Disease," famine, mutation, and the threat of monsters.
Every ruin hunter has similar expectations when entering the ruins, and not just to collect resources.
"Maybe it's a node?" Shang Jianyao expressed his own opinion.
No one agreed with him, and no one refuted him, because it couldn't be proven true or false for the time being.
Seeing that the exit of the Ironworks ruins was near, Jiang Baimian decided to end the topic:
"Hey, put away the small jade Buddha, and we'll study it carefully later.
"Um… wrap it in four layers of tin foil, plastic, paper, and rubber bags."
After Shang Jianyao finished dealing with the small jade Buddha, Jiang Baimian considered it and said:
"Let's go to Redstone Town now. On the way, send a telegram to Old Ge and ask him to buy tools to repair the internal data of the broken phones and meet us there.
"Before entering the Iron Mountain ruins, I hope to find some useful information or clues from those two phones to reduce the risk of subsequent actions."
"Okay." Long Yuehong and Bai Chen had no objection.
Shang Jianyao flipped out the small speaker, pondering what song to listen to next.
…………
Three days after the "Old Tune Team" left the Ironworks ruins, a group of strangely behaving people arrived here.
There were six or seven of them, all wearing gray, patched clothes, with their hair shaved very short, only a thin layer, almost none from a distance.
Every seven steps, these people would kneel on the ground, facing the several blast furnaces in the Ironworks ruins, doing a prostrate kowtow, with an unusually pious expression.
In this way, they entered the Ironworks ruins, and then walked and kowtowed around the periphery of the factory area.
After a while, these people came to the Second Family Area and arrived not far from Building 4.
The leader was not young, with few wrinkles on his face but obvious ones, and the thin hair on the top of his head was white.
He was a Red River person, his expression like an ancient well, without the slightest ripple.
——The Red River people are a branch of the Greylanders who migrated to the Red River basin. Their skin is more brown and their hair is naturally curly.
Looking at the collapsed Building 4, these people stopped moving forward and just stared blankly, without moving for a long time.
After an unknown amount of time, the old man leading the group sighed a long sigh:
"The omen has appeared, the great catastrophe is coming..."
He spoke in the Greylands language with a regional accent.
…………
In the evening, the continuous heavy rain still hadn't stopped, and it was dark as if it were midnight.
"I remember there is a small city ruin nearby, we can camp there," Bai Chen suggested, looking at the swaying windshield wipers.
"Okay." Jiang Baimian expressed absolute trust.
Then, she lowered her head and continued to study the two maps in her hand.
They were the maps of Redstone Town and the Iron Mountain ruins. Jiang Baimian wanted to memorize them repeatedly to reduce the possibility of getting lost during her actions.
The jeep drove for a while, and finally, some shadows crouching in the rainy night appeared in front.
Bai Chen was about to distinguish the road and look for the more solid buildings to shelter from the rain when Shang Jianyao in the back row suddenly said:
"There are people over there.
"Close to twenty."