Chapter Twenty-Nine: Who Is in the Illusion

Qin Feng’s expression changed instantly. “Are you saying he was almost strangled to death by you just now and entered a near-death state?” After Qin Feng spoke, the others were still confused, and even I felt bewildered.

Peanut paced back and forth. “Let’s go over it again from the beginning. First, we’ve been walking in these webs for over an hour. According to your analysis, if this room didn’t have pillars, it couldn’t possibly be this large. That means everything we’ve seen for the past hour is questionable. Now, Yuan Jie, before you stopped, did you hear this sound during that hour?”

“No,” I shook my head.

“So, we can be sure that, whatever went wrong, the seven of us were in the same condition during that stretch until something happened to Yuan Jie. Then, he heard something we couldn’t hear. In other words, his current state is different from ours, while we’re still stuck in that past hour. The question is... who is right?”

The last question Peanut raised was crucial for us. If I was wrong, everything would proceed as planned under Qin Feng’s direction. If I was right, or rather if I was the only normal one, then every judgment made by the other six would be under a false premise.

Once he finished speaking, everyone fell silent.

The situation felt bizarre. I even started to suspect the six people in front of me might not be real at all. After a long silence, I couldn’t help but say, “Actually... there’s something else that doesn’t seem right.”

“What is it?” Peanut and Qin Feng asked in unison.

Once again, I scanned their eyes, then lowered my voice, “There’s something odd about your eyes.”

Everyone was stunned at first, then exchanged bewildered glances.

“What do you mean?” one asked.

“I don’t see anything,” another replied.

Everyone looked at me in confusion.

“Damn it, it looks like the six of us really have been hit,” Qin Feng suddenly said.

From his words, it was clear he now believed that, having awakened from a near-death state, I was the one seeing things as they really were. On reflection, in a life-and-death situation like this inside an ancient tomb, completely denying everything you see and hear and making such a judgment is incredibly difficult. Qin Feng’s quick reaction was something beyond ordinary people.

After Qin Feng spoke, the rest became anxious.

“Shit, have we been possessed or something?”

“Maybe we’ve been poisoned,” someone suggested.

Qin Feng said, “Everyone, don’t panic. Since one of us is normal now, it’s best to let him handle the situation.”

“Me? What am I supposed to do?” My confidence faltered; I couldn’t believe I could do anything effective at a time like this.

Peanut said to me, “Look at us carefully. Besides the eyes, is anything else off?”

“No,” I replied.

“Don’t be so quick to decide.” With that, Peanut set down his backpack and took off his shirt. “Check carefully. If you can’t find anything, I’ll take off my pants.”

You’ve got to be kidding, I thought. Do I really need to squat down and check your excretory system next? That would be too much. But there was no other way. According to Peanut and Qin Feng, only what I could see and hear was real.

So I began praying in my heart, “Buddha, Lord Jesus, please let me find something on him, even a pimple.”

Under the beams of four or five flashlights, every detail of Peanut’s skin was clearly visible. I wanted to take a closer look, but as soon as he turned around, I immediately noticed something wrong. On the back of his neck was a small dark red spot—not a pimple, because it was moving, twitching, making the skin on his neck quiver.

“What did you see?” Peanut asked.

“Don’t move,” I hurried closer. On inspection, I saw the red dot was actually made up of countless tiny tendrils, all splayed out. Behind the red dot, there was an extremely fine white spider silk, one end attached to the red spot, the other trailing into the darkness behind us.

Once I described what I saw, everyone’s expression changed. When they came over, they didn’t see anything I described. They instinctively checked each other’s necks but found nothing. Yet when I looked again, I saw the same thing on all of them as I had on Peanut.

“Hallucinations can’t be this detailed. There’s no way I’m mistaken. Everyone, stop looking around. Stay where you are. No matter what you see or hear, don’t react.” With that, Qin Feng turned to Peanut. “What now?”

Peanut put his shirt back on and said to me, “Check that spider silk again.”

Logically, with all this dressing and undressing, the thread should have broken. I went over to look. “It’s snapped.”

But as soon as I spoke, a hissing sound came from the darkness behind us, and another thread attached itself to the red spot.

“What’s wrong?” Peanut asked.

I described what I saw and heard.

Qin Feng said, “If it’s spinning webs, it must be a spider. I think that red thing is some kind of neurotoxin that can affect the brain, and the thread might be what’s controlling our actions.”

“Do such spiders exist?” I couldn’t help asking.

“Not on the surface. But under the earth, who knows?” Qin Feng replied.

Peanut suddenly lit a cigarette. “Yuan Jie, use the dagger I gave you and get that thing off my neck.”

“That’s too reckless,” Qin Feng said. “Better try it on me first.”

Peanut smiled. “You’re loyal.”

Qin Feng said, “You and I both know, if the thread breaks again, whatever’s hiding in the dark will probably attack. I need to wake up first to protect you and the others. You… sorry, I just can’t trust you.”

There was no room for argument in Qin Feng’s words. Still, I felt uneasy. The red dot didn’t look hard to remove, but if it could control someone’s nerves, acting rashly could be dangerous.

Peanut didn’t argue. He simply patted my shoulder, signaling me to go over.

“Qin Feng…”

I wanted to say something, but Qin Feng suddenly gave a rare smile. “It’s all right. Do it. If it doesn’t work, just cut the whole chunk of flesh off my neck.”

What a man, I thought. Qin Feng turned around, and I first tried to lift the red spot with the dagger. That’s when I discovered the damn thing was embedded in his flesh.

“Qin Feng, it’s grown into your skin.”

“Just cut that piece out. Do it quickly, there are still five more to go. Whatever’s controlling us isn’t friendly. Now that you’ve spotted it, it’ll definitely react,” Qin Feng urged.

Suddenly, a terrifying thought struck me. If it could control the nerves, could it force one of them to attack the others? I realized I didn’t have time to hesitate. Taking up the dagger, I made a shallow cut on the back of Qin Feng’s neck, then tried to dig around with the tip.

But I soon found that the red thing was like a stake, burrowed deep into his neck. If this damned thing was too long, even gouging out a chunk of flesh might not get it out.

“It’s too deep,” I called out.

The others immediately frowned.

“Damn it all,” Qin Feng cursed under his breath, then said, “Give me the dagger.”

“Huh?” I was still in a daze, not knowing what he was planning, but Qin Feng had already snatched the dagger from me. Then, to my utter shock, he pressed the blade to the cut I’d made and, with a quick motion, sliced down. Blood poured out of his neck as he cut a chunk of skin himself.

I couldn’t bear to look at the exposed flesh on the back of his neck.

Panting, Qin Feng said, “Take it out now.”

My hands began to tremble as I stared at the wound. The red spot was almost lost in the blood. It took me a long time to find it again.

“Yuan Jie, only you can do this. If you don’t want Qin Feng to bleed out, do it fast,” Peanut urged.

Gritting my teeth, I said, “Qin Feng, here I go.”

He managed a shaky laugh and said nothing more.

I stepped forward again. I’d hoped to pull it out in one go, but realized I had to dig it out with my fingernails first. As soon as my fingers touched it, I felt a slimy, sticky sensation—blood and flesh mixing together—making my scalp tingle.

After much digging, I finally got the red thing to budge. It began to writhe like a dying earthworm. At the same time, Qin Feng started trembling.

Clearly, it wasn’t that simple. If this thing could control nerves, it might well be connected to them. Who knew what would happen once I pulled it out?

“Do it,” Qin Feng’s voice quivered. Anyone else would probably have been screaming.

Hang in there, I thought, then shut my eyes and yanked hard.

Qin Feng grunted, a muffled, agonized sound forced through gritted teeth. Opening my eyes, I saw he was barely able to stand.

The others rushed to support him, someone tried to tend his wound, but Qin Feng stopped them. “Don’t move. None of you are clear yet. Don’t do anything.”