Doubt

Translator: Cinder Translations

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It had been a day and a night since arriving in this world, and not only had everyone not had anything to eat, but they hadn't even had a single sip of water. If this continued, they would die of thirst before any of those strange creatures came after them.

Thus, everyone decided to scatter and search for water and food.

At the same time, due to the curse mentioned by the people of Blackstone Town—only the flame on the lighthouse remaining lit could break the curse—someone had to stay behind to guard the flame.

After the incident with the biker girl, even during the day, everyone still felt an eerie chill. In the end, apart from the old woman, two more people were chosen to stay behind, so that they could look out for each other.

Su Xiaoxiao, claiming her brother had difficulty moving, wished to stay behind, but Jiang Cheng and Chen Ran jointly vetoed her request. Their reason was that Su An had strong perception, and walking around might help uncover new clues.

In the end, it was Chen Ran and Liang Long who stayed behind.

When Liang Long heard the decision, she became visibly upset, seemingly wanting to argue for herself.

However, Jiang Cheng and the Fatty turned and walked away, leaving Su Xiaoxiao to cast one last look at Chen Ran and the old woman in the corner before she left.

Liang Long seemed like she wanted to follow them, but when she sensed a strange gaze from behind, she seemed to lose her ability to move. After a moment of dazed hesitation, she obediently sat back down.

Chen Ran still wore that warm, gentle expression, but it was not directed at Liang Long—it was directed at the old woman, who was muttering strangely.

A strong sense of danger crawled up Liang Long's spine.

Jiang Cheng and the Fatty wandered along the beach, the waves hitting their feet, soaking their pant legs. Their feet squelched in their damp shoes, making an eerie "creaking" sound.

Jiang Cheng kept his gaze on the ground beneath him, glancing at the ocean from time to time, his face showing signs of deep thought.

"Doctor," the Fatty asked curiously, "What are you looking at?"

"The ocean is so clean," Jiang Cheng replied.

"It is pretty clean," the Fatty agreed, using his foot to sweep away the fine layer of sand on the ground, revealing that the sand below was just as fine. Despite the current danger, the area seemed like a holiday destination.

"I'm not talking about that," Jiang Cheng exhaled, looking at the wet path left by the waves. "Right now, it's low tide. The mudflats have been exposed, and people living by the coast would usually take this time to collect the sea creatures that get stranded—fish, shrimp, sea snails, that sort of thing."

He pointed ahead to a large, open area. "But look, not a single fish or shrimp, not even a dead shell. It's as if the sea here is empty."

The Fatty blinked, then seemed to realize something, nodding slowly. "Doctor, now that you mention it, I thought it was strange when I first arrived. The beach was so clean, I didn't realize this could be why."

Under normal conditions, the ocean wouldn't look like this. The Fatty seemed to think of something and his expression changed. "Doctor, could this be a sign that something bad is about to happen?"

He licked his lips, glancing around nervously. "I remember hearing about something like this—coastal fishermen noticing strange phenomena near the shore, and then not long after, a big disaster happened, with many people dying."

Jiang Cheng shook his head. "Not the same. What you're describing sounds like a precursor to a tsunami. Tsunamis are usually caused by underwater earthquakes, landslides, or volcanic eruptions."

"They usually manifest as deep-sea creatures, like ribbonfish, stranding themselves on the shore, or whales crashing, suiciding in shallow waters, which is completely the opposite of what we're seeing now."

Now, the situation was that the shore was unnaturally clean, devoid of anything.

The Fatty swallowed nervously, looking at Jiang Cheng, and whispered, "Doctor, what do you think is going on?"

The abnormality was obvious, but to someone like Jiang Cheng, that simply meant there were clues to be found.

In his nightmares, he didn't fear strange creatures or phenomena. What he feared was when everything appeared perfectly normal.

Jiang Cheng stroked his chin, appearing deep in thought.

The Fatty couldn't sit still anymore. After waiting for a while without Jiang Cheng speaking, he finally asked in a pleading tone, "Doctor, if you have any ideas, just share them. To be honest, I'm kind of scared."

Jiang Cheng, who didn't miss any moment to scare him, responded quite straightforwardly. "Two possibilities," he said. "First, this place is being affected by some kind of bizarre force, which has led to the current situation."

The Fatty looked at Jiang Cheng for a long time before asking, "And the second?"

"Ha—" Jiang Cheng exhaled, looking up into the Fatty's eyes, causing the latter to freeze. "Fatty," Jiang Cheng said slowly, "I suspect that this place might not even be our world."

The Fatty froze for a few seconds, then began trembling all over. The doctor's words completely overturned their previous understanding of the nightmare.

Previously, they thought the nightmare was real, a real historical event intercepted by some unknown force from the river of time. In other words, it had a beginning, middle, and end.

No matter what the people chosen to enter the nightmare did, whether they lived or died, it wouldn't affect the outcome of the real event.

They could only influence the process.

But if the nightmare wasn't from the real world, but a vague dream, then it didn't need to follow the beginning-to-end structure of a real event.

More importantly... it didn't need to adhere to logic.

So...!!

It might as well be unsolvable!

This meant that no matter what they did, no matter what clues they uncovered, or whether they solved the truth, the end would be death. The way they died could be illogical, bizarre, or even absurd.

A tsunami, an earthquake, a sudden building collapse, or even the appearance of monsters tearing them apart—anything could happen.

After all, dreams don't need logic. They are suspended, existing in an illusionary, inexplicable state.

"Doctor..." The Fatty trembled as he thought about this, his eyes bulging. "You mean we..."

Jiang Cheng glanced at him, already guessing what he was thinking. "That's just the most extreme example. It's unlikely to be that bad. At least, all the tasks we've done before have had a clue that needed to be followed."

"Perhaps..." Jiang Cheng thought for a moment, but didn't continue.

"Doctor," the Fatty said, "Please, let me die with some understanding. So that next time I can know what to say to the person I'll reincarnate as."

Jiang Cheng hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Perhaps... I mean, perhaps this place is just another version of our world. Another form of expression."

"Expression?" The Fatty stared blankly at him, clearly not understanding.

"You could think of it as this place existing in our world, but it's not our world—it's..." Jiang Cheng paused and looked up. "It's a reflection of our world."

(End of the Chapter)

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Translated 4 Series, 1.65K+ Chapters and 2.01M+ Words.