Chapter 780 — Second Expedition

Gao Yang glanced a couple of times at this red-haired Sleeper of the Radiant Ultimate Order, and soon matched him to the intelligence Daniel had submitted—this was one of the more senior Radiant Sequence Order members among the Sleepers, said to be rather short-tempered, with unique insights in the field of consciousness.

Whether he was short-tempered or not, Gao Yang couldn't tell, but the man's name certainly sounded grand enough in scope...

Having privately mocked the man's name, Gao Yang couldn't resist another glance at his height—a big fellow nearly on par with Gao Heng, this red-haired Radiant Ultimate Order member was strikingly conspicuous standing in the plaza; yet that giant's frame was inexplicably wrapped in a spellcaster's robe, which made Gao Yang instinctively think of Wright dressed in a priest's vestments—

Such a physique truly did not look like a spellcaster's, but the Sleepers standing in the plaza now should all be using avatars within the mental network. Who knew what this Mage Pivot Order member with the grand-sounding name actually looked like in reality.

Gao Yang's thoughts wandered a moment, and his gaze swept over the senior "toolmen" wearing owl masks behind the four Sequence Order members—compared with last time, the Sleepers' expedition this time was clearly far more solemn and cautious. Not only had the number of these masked clerics increased to six, but their robes were embroidered with conspicuous patterns as well—each person's pattern different.

Was this to prevent a repeat of last time's "extra person"?

But relying on patterns like these... in an environment like Phantom Town, which could influence judgment and tamper with thought, would it really work?

A flicker of doubt passed through Gao Yang's mind, and in the few short seconds he spent observing and pondering, the ten-member expedition team before him finished its pre-departure preparations and negotiations.

As last time, Yuri Balance Order was responsible for opening the "passage" to Phantom Town. He spread his hands, and pale golden runes traced an intricate circular array across the plaza floor. Daniel and the others stepped to the center of the array, and the red-haired Mage Balance Order spoke: "This time, stay sharp. No one is to trust their first impressions too much."

"Of course," said Yuri Balance Order, golden runes flickering in his hand. The gentle-mannered man smiled and swept his gaze across the ten-member team. "And not only will we stay sharp—this time the monitoring team in the rear will conduct more active and more effective tracking and surveillance. No extra person will be slipping in among us again."

The Sleepers had updated their surveillance techniques this time as well?

Gao Yang's memory of last time's "extra person" was still fresh, and he found it profoundly uncanny. Hearing Yuri Balance Order's words now, he felt somewhat reassured, and with a smile he stepped into the rune circle and took up the position of the eleventh person.

As the teleportation light and shadow began to flicker, Gao Yang's gaze shifted slightly and came to rest on Selina Gerfen.

This lantern-bearing saint of quiet demeanor simply stood there, lantern in hand, gazing calmly ahead, utterly unaware of the outside gaze upon her.

Gao Yang's thoughts surged—had Selina Gerfen truly taken part in that mysterious voyage seven hundred years ago? If she had, how much did she know of what happened then? If she even knew of that "transaction" involving Gao Yang Cecil, then did she know the truth of the "Outland Wanderer"?

If she had long known that the "Outland Wanderer" had taken possession of Gao Yang Cecil's shell, then what, in all her silence until now, was she waiting for...

The scene before him blurred, and when the chaotic light and shadow steadied once more, the empty, deserted Phantom Town had already appeared before Gao Yang's eyes.

He stood with the other ten Sleepers in the square at the center of the town, at the very spot from which they had departed this place last time.

The murky, lightless clouds shrouded the whole town as always, the uncanny mist heaved and sank in the distance, and the vast town lay utterly empty—no residents, no lights of any kind.

No bells tolled in the town, and the church was nowhere to be seen from the square; the anomaly of last time seemed to have vanished entirely, and the town wore the face it had shown on their first visit.

"There really is a most uncanny atmosphere about it," Mag Henghengjiao said, looking all around and nodding. His voice was enormous, and bursting out abruptly in that empty, silent place it was enough to make a person jump. "An empty, unpeopled dream... in psychological symbolism, does that stand for some kind of escape? Or extreme solitude?"

Everyone seemed already used to this Mag Henghengjiao's volume; You Yaohengjiao merely frowned at the words. "If this were the dream of a single mind, perhaps psychology could analyze and explain it. But this may be a collective mental projection formed by countless people within Sandbox One, and then it is not so easy to say."

"Then group psychology," Mag Henghengjiao said with an indifferent wave of his hand. "When all is said and done, dreams of this tendency come down to a few points: fear, escape, intense craving, or an extreme repulsion toward something."

"It is far too early to be analyzing this now. To date we have encountered only one mind connected with Sandbox One—that uncanny old priest who seems to harbor ill intent—and we cannot use that to conclude that Sandbox One's operation conforms to the various psychological laws of the real world," Selina said, shaking her head. "But what happened in this town should indeed mirror reality to some degree—according to the report of the sandbox management team, the legend that anyone who fails to take shelter in time on the day the bells ring will be 'deleted' should correspond to the scheduled reset operations in Sandbox One's early period..."

Gao Shao was intrigued by this new term Selina had mentioned.

"Scheduled reset?" Daniel, after exchanging a glance with Gao Yang, put on a look of puzzlement with perfect timing. "What is that?"

Considering that Daniel had only recently been promoted to Yaojijiao, it was excusable that he knew nothing of certain matters from Project Zero's early days; Yuri felt no suspicion and explained offhandedly: "In the project's early period, Sandbox One was still imperfect and required a partial reset every ten days, deleting the virtual residents generated within the sandbox and preserving only the 'world' of the sandbox itself.

"We suspect that after those virtual residents were deleted, certain memory fragments lingered and were preserved in the brains of certain brain servants down to this day; these fragments influenced the collective subconscious of Sandbox One, giving rise to the strange custom of the 'day the bells ring.'"

Daniel nodded and said, as though a sudden light had dawned: "So that is how it is."

And off to one side, Gao Yang, hearing all this, wore a thoughtful expression.