Island

Translator: Cinder Translations

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"Hmm."

It seemed that Jiang Cheng did not wish to explain this matter further; he merely nodded.

For the Fatty, just being able to return alive was already a great thing. He looked at the doctor and asked, with a hint of emotion, the final question: "Doctor," he asked, "You heard that whale song too, right?"

"Hmm."

"Then..." He moved his body a little closer to the doctor, cautiously, almost comically: "What do you think produced that whale song?"

Fatty paused, his expression odd, and he lowered his voice involuntarily, "Doctor, I don't know why, but I always feel like the creature that ate us didn't make that whale song."

"It doesn't seem big enough to produce that kind of sound," Fatty continued, his tone full of doubt.

He licked his dry lips, "I've heard the whale song several times. Each time, it was truly shocking. You might not believe it, but it felt like it was transmitted directly to my soul. I felt every single cell in my body trembling, and I even heard the heartbeat of the one making the whale song."

He seemed to fall into a memory, not noticing the obvious change in the doctor's expression. "That heartbeat was very slow, very slow, but extremely powerful. I could even imagine the force it used to compress deep water as it expanded."

"I think..." Fatty raised his head, his expression growing strange as he swallowed. His eyes turned fearful as he looked at the doctor, "Perhaps the people in Blackstone Town weren't lying about this."

"Go on."

After a long time, Fatty finally heard the doctor's voice. For some reason, the doctor's tone made him uneasy.

But Fatty didn't think too much about it and just followed his inner thoughts, continuing to speak: "Doctor, do you remember their description of... it?"

His thoughts surged as he seemed to fall into a strange spiral of doubt and self-doubt. On one hand, he wanted to forget everything quickly and be freed from the task he had detached from. On the other hand, the creature that made the whale song kept resurfacing in his mind, haunting him. It was as if everything that happened in that world hadn't ended.

He felt strange... and deeply fearful, the two emotions intertwined.

He wasn't sure what he hoped to get from the doctor, but if he didn't speak, he feared the bizarre feeling in his heart would crush him.

He found himself repeating the words he had heard earlier, that strange, almost drunken murmur from ancient wandering poets.

"No one can look upon its true form. Its massive body is covered in hard scales the size of small mountains, and its sharp teeth resemble the steepest mountain peaks. Standing at both ends of it, you can see both the sunrise and the sunset."

"It is a transcendent existence, beyond human comprehension. Even if humans are within its presence, they remain unaware. In its presence, all mortals can do is crawl on the ground."

Because the light was off, Jiang Cheng's face was hidden in darkness, only a few sharp contours visible, and his dark eyes seemed even deeper than the night itself.

Fatty's words had clearly affected him, not because they explained anything, but because they reminded him of some things he had selectively forgotten.

"Do you remember what Su Xiaoxiao said?" he asked softly.

Fatty froze for a moment. The doctor's words sounded strange to him, not as if the doctor was trying to explain anything, but merely exchanging casual words.

But the doctor was obviously not that kind of person.

"What did you say, doctor?" Fatty subconsciously asked again.

"Do you remember what Su Xiaoxiao said?" Jiang Cheng asked again, "About her brother."

"Su An?"

Jiang Cheng ignored him and continued: "Su Xiaoxiao said that her brother, Su An, was numbering every tree and every rock in the forest, each in his own way."

"Yes, doctor," Fatty replied, "I remember she said that. She also said that in her brother's perception, they—the trees, and all the plants and rocks in the forest—were constantly changing. They... were alive."

Jiang Cheng shook his head, exhaling as he said, "What Su An was really trying to express wasn't that they were alive, but that they were constantly moving."

"Because their positions kept changing, in his perception, everything in the forest was different from the previous second."

Fatty's eyes slowly widened. He didn't fully understand the doctor's words, but he could certainly sense a chilling aura from them.

He was close to a breakthrough... he could almost taste the truth.

"Have you ever thought," Jiang Cheng continued, "Since this island is a projection of reality, then in our real world, there should be a corresponding island?"

His words were not hard to understand. Since there is a shadow, there must be something in reality that casts it.

This wasn't some logical fallacy like the chicken-and-egg problem; it was a tangible phenomenon.

"But if it exists, why hasn't it been recognized by us in the real world?" Jiang Cheng continued, "Don't mention the old woman's group. Let me tell you something, if such a strange thing were to happen, with the power of the organization behind the old woman, they could bear any amount of loss and still keep going."

"This is an exploration of the unknown. What it represents is beyond our imagination."

Fatty, having grown used to the doctor's casual demeanor, found himself a little unaccustomed to the doctor being so serious. What unsettled him even more was the doctor's gaze, which seemed to be watching him from within the darkness.

It seemed the doctor had a lot to say, but for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to speak openly.

Was it because he feared Fatty wouldn't understand?

Fatty didn't quite think so. He had a sense, perhaps even a guess.

The doctor didn't want him to be drawn into a certain vortex because the doctor himself couldn't escape it.

That was a realm beyond their reach.

"So..." Fatty's lips trembled as he spoke, "They can't find that island, right?"

Jiang Cheng's tone became even stranger, almost eerie, "The old woman, that time, was probably their last contact with this place."

Fatty's eyes widened. "How can they not be able to find it? It's impossible."

In Fatty's memory, that island was so vast that it could easily fit an entire city.

The organization behind the old woman, as one of the most powerful entities in human society, possessed an unimaginable amount of energy and technological power.

Almost nothing on this planet could escape its gaze.

"Fatty," Jiang Cheng said as he closed the door, staring intently at him, "I think that island is no longer in the sea."

(End of the Chapter)

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