122: Chapter 122 It turns out the talent is still there

Doubt One: The disappearance of power and the system.

This is the most fatal and most critical point.

If the Seafaring World is real, why did my power disappear so completely?

Not long ago, I had just broken through the Excellent Grade Peak; that feeling of power, as if holding the sun and moon and plucking the stars, is still etched in my bones.

Now, even pushing a woman takes effort!

Even the connection to the system panel and storage space has been cut off!

Is it suppressed by the special rules of this Abandoned City Dungeon?

Or am I in some deep mental illusion, and my subconscious is being blocked?

Doubt Two: The motives of the two Su Meis.

One inside the room calls herself Su Jie, desperately trying to prove that outside is a zombie apocalypse, attempting to keep me here with a gentle land of tenderness and physical intimacy.

One outside the room calls herself Su Mei, desperately reminding me that this is a dungeon and telling me to open the door to escape.

Between these two, one must be fake.

Or, both are fake!

Doubt Three: This door.

The moment I touched the doorknob just now, my body's instinct sent an extremely strong sense of crisis.

That feeling won't lie; it's an intuition honed on the edge of life and death countless times!

This shows that the act of opening the door itself comes with a huge, possibly even certain-death risk!

Doubt Four: The address.

The voice outside the door just called out 'Captain Brother'.

This address is the exclusive way the group of girls on the "Many Children, Many Blessings" calls me.

While Su Jie inside the room has called me 'husband' from start to finish, acting completely ignorant of everything in the Seafaring World, even considering it my delusion.

The information is too chaotic!

It's simply a mess!

Li Taiping opened his eyes, the whites bloodshot.

He began reverse deduction.

If the one outside is the real Su Mei, and she is also one of the Survivor, why doesn't she just break the door down? With her strength at the Excellent Initial Stage, kicking open this dilapidated security door would be child's play.

Could it be... she was also stripped of her power after entering the dungeon, just like me?

No, that's not right, isn't this a solo dungeon?

Is even this fake?

What on earth is real!!!

Then if the Su Jie inside is fake, a monster from the dungeon, why doesn't she just kill me?

With my current status as an ordinary person, it would be as easy as turning over a hand for her to kill me.

Why would she go to such lengths to fabricate a modern zombie apocalypse background? Why use her body to tempt me? Why use tears to keep me here?

What exactly is her purpose?!

Is it to drain my essence? Or is it that the killing rules of this dungeon can only be triggered after I voluntarily give up resistance and completely sink into the illusion?!

Li Taiping felt like his head was about to explode.

He clenched his fists tightly, his nails sinking deep into his palms, leaving bloody marks.

His current situation was just like the date tree written by Mr. Lu Xun.

He stands on the edge of a cliff.

To the left is a bottomless abyss, and to the right is also a bottomless abyss.

Whether he chooses to believe Su Jie inside or "Su Mei" outside.

One wrong step, and he'll surely end up without a whole corpse!

How on earth can he break this deadlock?

...

"Brother Taiping! Captain Brother! The one inside isn't me! Don't give it to her! You must not give it to her!"

The shrill voice outside the door continued, echoing incessantly.

Li Taiping's hand, which was gripping the doorknob, finally released slowly.

His expression was incredibly complex.

He believed no one.

The one outside, the one inside—he believed neither.

But he chose to trust his intuition.

The world outside the door made him feel a bone-chilling cold and fatal danger.

And this room, though eerie, gave him a faint sense of warmth and safety.

It was a very strange feeling, impossible to explain, like a bodily instinct.

Perhaps this was a mysterious and profound tacit understanding and trust between him and "Su Mei" born from long-term negative-distance contact.

No reason, just pure feeling.

In this enclosed little room, the two of them were like partners depending on each other in the apocalypse.

Li Taiping shook his head, tossing this absurd thought out of his mind.

No.

Didn't I just enter the dungeon?

Have I... really had many negative-distance contacts with this woman named Su Jie, as she claimed?

Why would my body tell me that she is trustworthy?

Before Li Taiping could figure it out, Su Jie had already lunged forward crying, hugging him tightly with all her strength, as if she were holding her entire world.

Feeling the soft, warm body in his arms and the violent trembling, Li Taiping, as if possessed, subconsciously reached out one hand to hold her waist while the other rested gently on the back of her head.

He clumsily, stroke by stroke, stroked the beauty's hair in his arms.

The clothes on his chest were soon soaked by her tears.

Just then, the voice outside suddenly changed.

The urgency and pleading vanished, replaced by a frustrated, inhuman shriek!

The voice no longer imitated Su Mei but turned into an extremely piercing sound wave, like countless steel needles frantically stabbing into the room, trying to destroy one's spirit and sanity.

At the same time, a strange piece of information appeared in Li Taiping's mind without warning, as if he had known it since birth.

【Sound Ghoul: A formless ghostly creature that can perfectly imitate anyone's voice. If you are deceived by its voice and open the door of the Shelter, it will instantly devour your soul.】

【If you see through its disguise, it will launch a mental shock sound wave, causing intense mental pollution to the target, ranging from mental confusion to turning into an idiot.】

Death either way?

Li Taiping's heart tightened.

But this piercing mental shock didn't seem to cause him any substantial harm.

He just felt the sound was particularly unpleasant and made his head ache, but his consciousness was crystal clear, with no sign of confusion.

He subconsciously looked at Su Jie in his arms.

Su Jie also just held him tightly, burying her face in his chest, her body trembling with fear, but other than that, she showed no signs of mental derangement.

A flash of light instantly crossed Li Taiping's mind.

He understood!

...