Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 419 The Line Between Reality and Illusion
"It's not an illusion." A pleasant voice sounded behind him. Sun Hang was startled and immediately turned around to look back.

The slender girl was wearing a pure white knee-length gown. Her long, soft hair, which was even whiter than the gown, was draped neatly over her shoulders. Her long legs were stretched straight as she stood prettily on the green lawn.

The blazing ruins disappeared, the charred corpses that were everywhere disappeared, and even the smell of smoke in the air disappeared.

Everything around returned to its original state - the state before the eternal night fell.

A brand new villa stood less than ten meters away from Sun Hang. The ochre-red tiles and the flawless white putty on the walls looked as if the building had just been completed yesterday. The trash can at the gate of the courtyard was filled with takeout bags printed with "National Trend Beauty Girl". A stray cat was clinging to the edge of the trash can, trying to reach the leftover chicken bones in the takeout bag.

On the other side of the street was a high-rise residential building that Sun Hang was very familiar with and saw every day when he went out. Two young women were pushing their babies walking along the sidewalk under the shade of trees. A white-collar worker waiting for the bus at the bus stop not far away had an anxious look on his face, and from time to time he would raise his wrist to glance at the watch. In contrast, an old man sitting on a bench reading a newspaper looked calm and unhurried.

Two sparrows flew over Sun Hang's head. Sun Hang raised his head and the glaring sunlight made him squint subconsciously.

This was the original appearance of Tianfu City. Unfortunately, after Sun Hang woke up, this kind of life only lasted for a few days.

"What are you doing?" Sun Hang retracted his gaze and focused on the white-haired girl in front of him, "Anna."

"Mom, don't you like this kind of world?" Anna put her hands behind her back, leaned down, and asked with her head tilted.

"If you can really restore Tianfu City, I don't mind." Sun Hang said, "But these are just illusions."

“Is the line between fantasy and reality so clear?”

Anna suddenly stood on tiptoe, her slender waist trembled slightly, and as her ankle joints exerted force, her smooth insteps immediately tensed up. Against the backdrop of her fair skin, her small feet looked like a crescent moon. The next second, her body leaped lightly into the air.

Everything around them stopped, and the only ones moving in the world were Sun Hang and Anna.

The latter seemed to be lifted up by the solidified sunlight, and then quietly fell on the lawn like a white petal. The hem of her knee-length robe flew up like a dance skirt as she turned, looking like a blooming flower. At the moment of blooming, even the light cast by the sun was eclipsed.

The girl's slender neck curved gracefully, and her arms stretched forward were like a perfect work of art... making Sun Hang want to take an axe and chop off the arms.

Just like the goddess of beauty Venus with her broken arms...things that are too perfect will always give rise to the brutal impulse to destroy them.

"Does it look good?" Anna leaped lightly to Sun Hang's side, and the intoxicating girl's body fragrance penetrated into Sun Hang's nostrils without warning.

"It seems that you have been quite free recently and even have the mind to learn ballet." Sun Hang said.

"I have always been able to dance ballet." Anna smiled. "You taught me how to do it, Mom. How could I forget it?"

Teach her step by step?

Sun Hang imagined himself dancing ballet for a moment.

He couldn't imagine it.

This is too abstract.

"Let's get back to the topic. What did you mean when you said 'it's not an illusion'?" Sun Hang did not continue chatting with Anna about ballet, but immediately got back to the main topic.

"Mom, the thing you were looking for did appear for a moment." Anna stood less than 20 centimeters away from Sun Hang, with a well-behaved look on her face. "That was a bait signal, and its target was you, my dear mother."

"Who is it? The person who took the videotape away... a spooky creature?"

"I don't know either." Anna shook her head with regret, "But I can vaguely sense its emotions...it doesn't seem to be hostile."

"No hostility?"

“How should I put it…” It must be said that good-looking people look good no matter what expression they make. Even Anna’s frown is full of fatal temptation. “I feel… it seems to be in a mischievous mood…”

"mischief?"

"Not all self-aware monsters are malicious towards humans. Mom, you should understand, right?" Anna continued, "For example, I am very curious about humans. I would rather interact with humans and learn interesting things about their society... rather than destroying humans."

"Your way of interacting with humans is to kill a lot of them and then devour their emotions and memories?" Sun Hang glanced at her, "Then I really want to thank you on behalf of mankind."

"This is the most efficient way to integrate into human society, isn't it?" Anna said, with a half-smile. "What's more, when I think back to what humans did to us, I feel that what I did was not excessive at all."

"Back then? What did humans do to 'us' back then?"

"I can't tell you." Anna put a finger as thin as a jade onion in front of her lips. "You know the reason."

Sun Hang suddenly felt angry.

He wanted to grab that finger and break it in two.

"Damn it, I must be a complete pervert in my subconscious." Sun Hang muttered in his heart, "And I am also a pervert with extreme violence and destructive tendencies."

"No," Anna said softly. She seemed to be able to see through Sun Hang's inner thoughts. "Mom is not a pervert... Those are just the negative emotions of the inferior race of humans. They affected Mom... Those emotions and memories that you absorbed are the dregs... But for some weird creatures, these things are the sweetest nourishment."

Sun Hang didn't say anything. His eyes passed Anna and looked into the distance.

I don't know when the time that had been stagnant started to flow again. The two young women pushing the strollers took the children out of the strollers. The human toddler wrapped in diapers was taking his first steps with the help of his mother. A slightly older little girl next to them was looking at them with interest.

A delivery guy in a blue uniform was speeding on an electric scooter on the non-motorized vehicle lane. A cyclist who passed him stopped, turned around and cursed.

A tricycle selling fried food stopped at the edge of the sidewalk. The owner looked around cautiously and, after making sure there were no urban management patrols nearby, he quickly set up his stall and spread out those plastic chairs that were so old that they were patinaed, instantly occupying nearly two-thirds of the sidewalk.

A helicopter with the logo of the Bureau of Anomalous Investigation printed on it flew quickly in the sky, looking hurried, as if it was carrying out some urgent mission.

Just as Sun Hang looked up at the sun in the sky again, something rolled over and stopped after touching Sun Hang's toes.

"Uncle...Uncle..." A timid voice startled Sun Hang. Sun Hang looked in the direction of the voice and saw a boy who looked only seven or eight years old standing outside the fence, pointing at Sun Hang's feet, "Can...can you give the ball back to me?"

Sun Hang looked down and saw a slightly dirty football quietly resting at his feet. He looked the boy up and down, glanced at Anna who was standing beside him smiling but not saying anything, bent down to pick up the football, and walked towards the boy.

Sun Hang handed the football to the little boy across the fence, and then said, "Don't play football on the roadside next time. It's dangerous... Also, don't call me uncle. I'm not that old."

"Okay, okay! Thank you uncle...thank you brother!" After the little boy took the football, he hurriedly thanked him and ran away.

"How is it? Is this world real?" Anna asked.

"But it's an illusion."

"This is not an illusion, these are all real events. Every scene you see is based on real human memories." Anna said, "I just pieced them together."

"Why did you bring me here?" Sun Hang asked doubtfully, "What is your intention?"

"To remind mom that you have a fatal weakness," Anna said.

"Fatal?" Sun Hang frowned. "Weakness?"

"Mom, you named your ability 'Wish Come True', right?"

"Do you know the origin of this ability?" Sun Hang's heart moved.

"I don't know. Since you call it 'Wish Come True', then let's call it 'Wish Come True'." Anna continued, "This ability is very powerful, but it also has fatal limitations."

"Does it require 'casting resources' similar to mental power?" Sun Hang asked.

"No, it's not this limitation." Anna shook her head. "Its biggest limitation is right here."

Anna stretched her beautiful body and stretched her arms out to both sides as far as possible.

"Illusion...land?"

"Mom, do you still remember...Maoyun Town?"

"You mean... the illusion will affect my abilities?"

"When you can't confirm whether the world you are in is real or illusory, your abilities will inevitably be affected." Anna said, "What you wish for, as the name suggests, will be affected by your subjective cognition and thoughts. Once you fall into the illusion, no matter how you turn the world upside down in the illusion, your abilities will not have any impact on the real world... because in your cognition, that illusory world is real."

"So my ability is ineffective in Maoyun Town?"

"That's not the only reason." Anna suddenly showed a mysterious smile, "Mom, have you ever thought about the possibility that the devastated world outside is fake, and the beautiful world in front of you is the real one."

"Where's the evidence?"

"How can the ability to make your dreams come true exist in the real world? It is because you think the real world is illusory that you can make your dreams come true." Anna said with a smile, "And Maoyun Town is the real world. Your ability to make your dreams come true is limited to your mind and cannot be materialized."

Sun Hang: "I always feel like you are lying to me."

"I was just playing a little joke on Mom." Anna took two steps back. "I just wanted to tell Mom to be careful in the future and not to easily believe everything you see, hear, and touch... The boundary between reality and virtuality has always been very blurred."

"Should I thank you, then?"

"If mom wants to thank me, why not stay with me in this world forever?" Anna said, "It's so wonderful here. There are no monsters, no wars, no death and no hunger... It will become whatever you want it to be... You can be the master of everything, and you can also become the... God of this world."

"It's boring." Sun Hang shook his head. "It's just like entering cheat codes in a sandbox game. It might be interesting at first, but you'll get bored of it after a while."

"It seems that Mom doesn't want to." Anna pursed her lips, looking disappointed.

"If I refuse, will you force me to stay here?" Sun Hang asked.

He had just tried his ability to make his wishes come true - just as Anna said, in this virtual world, his ability seemed to be sealed, and no matter how he called out, there was no response.

"No." Anna's expression returned to normal, "If you want to go back, mom, I will send you back now."

In a trance, Sun Hang found himself standing in front of the burning ruins again. The charred wood made crackling sounds, and the smell of smoke and fire filled his face.

Sun Hang blinked his eyes and saw that the charred corpses everywhere stood up and wandered aimlessly among the ruins.

He blinked again, and saw that everything around him had turned into structures made of flesh and blood. The towering buildings in the distance turned into strange towers of flesh and blood. The exposed steel supporting structures turned into white skeletons. Twisted limbs were melted into the walls. Strange yet familiar faces were crowded on the outer wall, as if they were crying or laughing.

The sky was no longer pitch black, but it had not returned to daytime. Instead, it was in a chaotic dark red hue, as if it was reflected red by the flesh and blood creatures on the earth.

Sun Hang blinked for the third time, and everything around him returned to normal.

A soldier who had met him at the roadblock ran over from a distance: "Sir! Are you okay?"

"I... I'm fine." Sun Hang turned around and looked at him with some confusion, "What's wrong?"

"The drone captured you standing here for a long time, motionless. We thought something unusual had happened..." The soldier breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad you're okay... So, is there anything wrong with this place?"

"This place... is fine."

Sun Hang blinked, and the fully armed soldier immediately turned into a horrible flesh and blood monster.

However, when Sun Hang blinked for the second time, the soldier returned to his original appearance.

"Have you ever thought about whether the world you live in is real or imaginary?" Sun Hang suddenly asked the soldier.

The soldier was stunned for a moment, obviously not expecting Sun Hang to ask such a question. He scratched his head, then said with a wry smile: "Sir... I have never thought about this kind of question. I am a soldier, and soldiers only need to follow orders."

(End of this chapter)