Am I really hallucinating?

Chapter 352 The Aftermath of the Earthquake
The wind and cloud are discolored.

The entire Jiangwen Street was inexplicably shrouded in an atmosphere of silence.

The people from the processing bureau, staring at the towering black tree, were still reeling from the trauma of the earthquake and the fear of the black encroachment.

The changes in the situation have exceeded their ability to accept.

Doris, who had been staring blankly at the figure on the black tree, suddenly seemed to sense something and looked up at the sky. Her Seed of Light was trembling.

Luo Ye's expression changed slightly: "This feeling is...!"

The next moment, the thick dark clouds in the sky suddenly parted, revealing the clear blue sky behind them, as well as the white giant axe hanging high above the streets of Jiangwen.

Aside from being completely white without any impurities, this is a wood-chopping axe.

The axe sliced ​​through the clouds, stripping away all the variegated colors. The earthquake triggered by "Lossway," which still had aftershocks, was instantly suppressed.

Without a sound, all the commotion was quelled by that one axe blow.

Its goal is simple and clear: the tree planted by "Lin Yilin".

Lin Yilin made no move, but a shadow immediately rose on the ground, and several thick, scaled earthworms rushed up to the white giant axe in an attempt to stop it.

The axe fell not very fast, but it was completely unstoppable! The earthworm bit and crashed into the axe, like an ant trying to shake a tree, and the black shockwave was soaked in white before it even rose.

It was like a verdict; the moment the axe was swung by the "logger" behind it, the outcome was already predetermined.

Just before it was about to land on the black tree, "Lin Yilin" raised a hand and grabbed the axe blade.

The moment she grasped the axe blade, Lin Yilin's expression turned slightly serious.

Her strength seemed to be separated from the axe by an insurmountable barrier, on different levels. She had to expend more effort to delay the axe's descent, but she couldn't actually catch it and stop it.

This feeling... is logic.

The logic of a white world.

Naturally, as a part of the world, it's perfectly normal for the white world to have its own logic. This is completely different from the pure white factors and those lamplighters.

The closer the lamplighter and the pure white factor are to reality, the more powerless they become. This logic applies everywhere and will not be affected by any deviation in power.

Especially within the capital region, it was as unshakeable as some invisible yet definite will.

It differs decisively from other world logics.

A logging axe named "Reality" is about to cut down the tree of "Imagination".

This is something that even Lin Yilin couldn't stop for a while.

but.

A white light also shone in Lin Yilin's hand. She smiled slightly, her long hair moved without wind, and as she raised her hand high, the white light in her hand collided with the giant axe.

Ding--

The giant axe, which had been moving unimpeded, did not chop down trees, but rather white, hard objects of the same material as itself.

Zheng Fan's origins may indeed come from the dark world, but his outer layer is all-encompassing, accepting all comers, even white power.

If the reality of the capital is used to suppress the black, then the white will be used to block it.

This white spot could only cause the giant axe to momentarily deflect and pause, but Zheng Fan's objective had already been achieved.

“I see it.” His gaze pierced through time and space, landing on a white, monumental building in the central core area, where the lumberjacks were located.

Instead of continuing to confront Zheng Fan head-on, the axe slightly adjusted its angle and finally accelerated slightly before landing on the black tree. The black was quickly covered by white, and the black tree, which had grown lush and leafy in a short time, was now pulverized into countless black particles of dust at an incredible speed.

At the same time, Zheng Fan reached out and a broken tree branch fell into his hand. With a flick of his wrist, it disappeared the instant it left his hand.

Just as the falling axe was unshakeable, no one in this capital city could grab or stop the branch from piercing through.

Many beings seemed to sense something and looked toward the dark trail that was difficult to see clearly.

The lantern bearers who had just arrived in Dadu caught a glimpse of it and felt an immense terror that vanished in an instant. They could not capture it in detail, nor dared to dwell on it.

The tree branches carved a straight path through the vast white landscape, unimpeded and unhindered, traversing the rift of time and space to enter the central core area of ​​the capital.

Then--

Boom!

In the instant before it dissipated, it pierced through the white skyscraper.

Compared to the impact of an earthquake that only manages to transmit a slight tremor to the core area after a long time of rubbing against it, the tremor brought about by this small twig is far more enormous.

A lumberjack cut down a tender sapling, but someone picked it up and tossed a new, tender branch around it while playing with it, which pricked the sapling.

The axe disappeared before it could go any further or confirm whether the tree had been completely eradicated after it had been felled.

Jiangwen Street is now completely visible. The once bustling central area has been razed to the ground, and what remains are large areas of collapsed ruins.

After "Lossway" descended, the entire street was not spared.

An endless clear sky, the aftershocks completely subsided, the flesh-and-blood monsters all vanished, and the unsettling black trees were also felled.

Jiangwen Street suffered enormous destruction, but at least it's still there.

After a long wait, the survivors were finally able to carefully crawl out from the ruins and look at this desolate land.

People looked at each other blankly, repeatedly confirming their suspicions.

Some people couldn't help but cry tears of joy.

They survived.

……

September 1st. The August earthquake was the largest and most devastating disaster in Dadu since the Water World incident.

The outcome was, for the time being, positive: the culprit, Agui, disappeared without a trace. The world of the earthquake was shattered, becoming unobservable and overlapping with the capital for the foreseeable future. The illusionary realm and hallucinations that triggered the shock were confirmed to have vanished, and the credit ultimately went to the apologetic think tank that had redeemed themselves.

But it was all just empty fame. In fact, because of their initial misjudgment, they ended up having to spend a lot of resources to compensate for most of the losses. This was the most painful thing for them. Many of the scholars involved in the decision-making were placed on a watch list, temporarily losing their right to conduct research activities. They were placed under observation, which was equivalent to punitive house arrest.

They gained nothing and even lost a lot. As the group responsible for this incident, they were not entirely unrelated to the development of the situation. It can only be said that their merits and demerits were 70/30. In the end, they were even forced to have their superiors intervene and had no choice but to admit defeat.

The arrest of the remaining members of the Ash Life Clan was carried out on a large scale afterward.

The bureau conducted a thorough investigation and review of the incident, attempting to reconstruct the full picture of its development, but found too many gaps that could not be filled.

Although Luo Ye, the super free agent, was present, she refused to take responsibility for anything. Otherwise, it wouldn't be unreasonable to promote her as a figurehead and mold her into a hero of the capital. However, the red-haired man only gave the investigators a disdainful look that seemed to invite a beating, before getting into a limited-edition supercar that appeared out of nowhere and speeding away.

Zhang Xue, the chief of the Jiangwen Street Office, only answered up to the final earthquake hallucination. She said that after she defeated the hallucination of the Longevity Society during the battle, she was exhausted and fainted. In the end, she was pulled out of the exposed sewer pipe by her adjutant's subordinates. She knew nothing after that.

It is also worth mentioning that she was unable to resign smoothly.

On one hand, she had redeemed herself; regardless of the prior setup, she had undeniably shattered the flesh-and-blood behemoth with her own hands, a fact witnessed by many present. On the other hand, not many people had died in this wave in Jiangwen Street, whether civilians or those from the disaster relief bureau. Other streets were currently in the post-disaster reconstruction phase, and no one was in charge of Jiangwen Street's affairs. So, after completing the investigation and questioning, she was pulled from her hospital bed, shouting incomprehensible things like, "Damn it all! I want to resign!" and tearfully threw herself into her work.

The currently confirmed information is that after the earthquake illusion returned to Jiangwen Street in Dadu, there was indeed an even more terrifying individual, who, according to current information, was also an illusion, and a battle broke out between it and the earthquake illusion.

The ending is the defeat of the earthquake hallucination, while information about the other hallucination is scarce, and its final whereabouts are completely unknown.

The other side even confronted the logging operations from the central core area, and the impact was in some ways more severe than the earthquake.

The highest directive has been issued: the truth behind this hallucination must be found out.

What's most chilling is that some insiders have linked this hallucination to the one where an individual knocked down the lighthouse, and even connected it to the Lighthouse Keeper who died mysteriously in the Wandering World not long ago.

Although these are three completely different incidents, the frequency of these incidents and the fact that the "culprit" is unknown makes people think deeply and feel fear.

That towering black tree was indeed eventually cut down, but it seems that another tree is taking root in Dadu, its branches entwining and growing throughout the city...

This is currently just speculation; there is no evidence to prove it. Even assuming such a "hallucination" exists, they haven't found much trace or evidence of it so far. It's unlikely the Bureau of Investigation will make any progress in the short term.

The capital city was in dire need of reconstruction. In addition to conducting investigations, the Bureau of Reconstruction also had to assist in the reconstruction of many areas of the capital city, and most importantly, maintain public order.

Given the current state of disorder following the disaster, the security situation is clearly not optimistic.

Most importantly, paranormal cases have surged.

Just as the Society had predicted, the earthquake created a breach, and in the process of endless overlap, many monsters and demons slipped through, many of whom remained in Dadu.

The academic group just received a penalty and is now immediately focused on monitoring the underworld. They've already detected a large number of things approaching Dadu.

The current chaos is only the beginning.

……

In the Xixi Keke neighborhood, the damage to the Zero One Office was not severe, and Lin Yilin and Zheng Fan took matters into their own hands and completed the repairs.

Toast, Landy Shoes, and Blanket Spirit are currently serving as disaster relief supplies at the Banmu Office temporary shelter camp not far from them.

The toast can be infinitely regenerated by adding ingredients, and the Lulu Shoes can be mass-produced to create clones to help people who have no shoes. The only thing the blanket spirit can't do much is ensure the sleep quality of Lu Chongming, who's working overtime next to her.

"Mr. Illusion, how did you find me in the illusion world?" With nothing to do for the moment, Lin Yilin sat on the windowsill outside the firm, in the same spot where she had first met Edelman's adoptive father in the illusion world.

"Hmm?" Zheng Fan was squatting next to her, idly looking at the blue sky and white clouds. He responded after hearing the voice.

"I should have been affected by panic and lost contact with Mr. Illusion," Lin Yilin said, holding her chubby earthworm bookmark and looking at the words she had left for herself.

“Just take a little more time,” Zheng Fan said casually.

"Ok?"

"Anyway, in the chaotic spacetime, time can become very, very long. Finding you again in an infinite finite time is not difficult. If it doesn't work the first time, just try a few more times. Although I found that you really couldn't see me when you were a child, I found a suitable point in time that can interfere with you."

"Could it be..." Lin Yilin blinked.

“Yes, back in your university days,” Zheng Fan said succinctly. “What you said before reminded me. But traveling through that chaotic spacetime sometimes left me completely bewildered and confused. I even tried to find Luo Ye and Hong Yijia from the past… I made many attempts, but things from chaotic spacetime don’t seem to hold much weight. If I don’t deliberately try to recall them, many things that seem like time travel are like a dream, and I can’t remember them clearly.”

“Then I don’t think it was a dream,” Lin Yilin said. “I remember everything from the past now, and my memory of that day ten years ago is fixed in this way. However, for me when I was a child, it was really irresponsible of Mr. Illusion to take me for a while and then suddenly disappear. I’ve been so resentful about it for the past ten years, and Mr. Illusion might be part of the reason.”

"In that case, you should try to forget it as a dream," Zheng Fan said casually with a smile.

“That won’t do.” Lin Yilin smiled and refused without hesitation, but she didn’t give a reason. She just smiled and looked at Zheng Fan.

Then she lowered her head slightly and said, "I will never forget you, no matter what."

"Then don't forget again." Zheng Fan didn't hold back at all. "You only need to try rescuing people from time and space once. Time travel is really not fun at all. I hope there won't be a next time."

"If possible, I would like to experience more of these, but in a more normal way."

"Don't try to subtly make demands of me. Besides, you're just enjoying this timeless encounter, which isn't like you, Binary Girl."

"Maybe so. After all, it felt really good to have Mr. Illusion take my hand. It was that feeling that allowed us to recreate the 'second stage possession' later, so we should hold hands more often in the future."

"Without any basis, I refuse."

As she was speaking, an email suddenly popped up on Lin Yilin's phone.

She picked it up, glanced at it, exhaled, and stood up: "Time to get to work."

Zheng Fan also stood up, yawned, and said, "Okay, let's go."

With the bureau facing a shortage of staff, it's time to delegate large-scale tasks to law firms again, which presents an opportunity for each firm to improve its services.

However, for Lin Yilin, it simply meant returning to her daily routine after a long absence.

Even though it's only been a few days.

But as Zheng Fan said, after transcending time and space, the time they spent together really seemed to become very, very long...

(End of this chapter)