Infinite Terror: Infinite Reversal

Chapter 141 Zheng Zha's Reasoning

“Two more have gone mad,” Long Taobing sighed. “The priest’s healing through the Holy Light is essentially about using his own stronger positive thoughts to evoke positive emotions in the recipient… but their positive emotions have long been exhausted.”

Zheng Zha was taken aback by what he heard, then sighed, "Is that so..."

“Unlike treating physical wounds, spiritual healing doesn’t require the infusion of holy light… but the effectiveness depends on the state of their hearts…” Long Taobing was a little downcast, clearly frustrated that he couldn’t save anyone. “My professional rank is still too low. If my exchange rate were higher, direct healing wouldn’t be impossible.”

Zheng Zha wanted to say something, but remained silent. He looked up at one wall of the room; he could clearly hear the sounds coming from the other side. Three newcomers were tied up next door, and they had all gone mad, making all sorts of shouts.

“It’s not your fault…” Zheng Zha patted Long Taobing on the shoulder.

Then, Zheng Zha's eyes went blank, his expression changed, and he reached out and pushed his nose.

"So, rather than saying that the Holy Light is the source of healing, it's more accurate to say that it's the medium of healing?" Zheng Zha said calmly.

Long Taobing paused for a moment, then nodded.

Zheng Zha pondered for a moment, then asked, "So, all the veterans can be protected?"

Long Taobing was stunned. He had heard what the others had said, but he hadn't expected Zheng Zha to say such a thing. Long Taobing suddenly blushed, as if he had been insulted: "I will protect the remaining newcomers as well!"

Zheng Zha silently watched Long Taobing turn and leave, his eyes clearing for a moment before he was completely bewildered. Then he picked up a lemon from the table and started eating it, peel and all, his eyes blank again.

"Why did they start to go insane even though they weren't reading novels..." Zheng Zha muttered to himself.

Fifteen days have passed since Zheng Zha discovered that Trent and the other two were dead.

Over the past fifteen days, Zheng Zha has basically figured out the situation and, based on the information left in the notebook, deduced that at least one teammate had entered Hobbs Town. This is the reason for the many gaps in the real world and everyone's memories, just like how Linda, after staying in Hobbs Town, disappeared from the real world along with her existence…

Even if a teammate who enters the trap can come out, it's possible that their existence temporarily disappears during that time. Introducing this hypothesis can explain the various illogical situations we're currently facing.

During a small meeting, Zheng Zha explained it to the others in the following way:
“Judging from the situation in the movie, we might as well divide *The Hole of Terror* into two levels. One is the real world, and the other is the story world.” Zheng Zha read aloud what he had written in his notebook, but in reality, anyone could tell that he was reading in a monotone voice, and even he himself was confused. “Later in the movie, when Trent is about to return to the real world, Sutter Kane claims that Trent is a character he created… but this is illogical. Rather than a fact, I am more inclined to think that this is a means to break down his mental defenses… Moreover, Sutter Kane, as an agent, calling himself God, also shows that this guy is just an arrogant little character.”

"If Trent isn't from the real world, many of the previous methods would have been redundant... If Sutter Kane could simply write a character and bring the manuscript to the real world, why would he go through all the trouble of having his agent and Linda guide Trent step by step into Hobbes? Sutter Kane is no longer a writer who caters to readers; he caters to the will of the Great Old Ones. With the Great Old Ones in such a hurry, would he dare to leisurely take the long way around?"

Zheng Zha took a sip of water as he read this, and then continued reading under the varied gazes of the new and old team members: "What we can be sure of is that both the real world and the story world exist. And the representative of the story world is the town of Hobbes... Let's understand it this way: when Trent is in the real world, he is a person of the real world; when he is in the story world, he is a person of the story world."

"Trent is the only one who travels between two worlds, so he retains his existence in the real world while also existing as a character in the story world. You should have noticed that on the final movie poster for *The Black Hole*, Trent sees himself as the lead actor, starring in a story where Trent is the protagonist of *The Black Hole*..."

“Why is it so convoluted?” Zheng Zha muttered, then continued, “This is what Sutter Kane meant by the blurring of fantasy and reality. We can see that as the movie progresses, the boundary between fantasy and reality becomes increasingly blurred, and the entire real world becomes more and more broken down.”

Zheng Zha turned a page, then took a deep breath and said, "Judging from the current situation, the situation in the real world is actually not too bad; there hasn't been a qualitative change. This means that our teammates who entered Hobbs Town at least didn't fail outright, or get corrupted into puppets and smuggle out the manuscript... What we need to do is ensure that we don't run into any problems, and then pay attention to whether there are any stronger erosion phenomena in the real world, such as mutations into monsters. This is also the key point recorded in the notebook..."

Zhao Yingkong put down her notebook and said calmly, "Although your conjecture can explain many doubts, and I basically agree with it... how can you be sure that the people who entered Hobbes Town didn't run into trouble? The flow of time in the two worlds may not be the same. Perhaps they have already failed, while our time has not yet reached the same point."

“I can’t be sure.” Zheng Zha thought for a moment and said frankly, “Although I have a headache right now and can’t continue analyzing like that… I’ve thought about this problem before. Whether we succeed or not, we can only take care of ourselves and focus on the real world… Our plan to enter Hobbes Town has failed.”

At this point, Zheng Zha also felt somewhat frustrated. Although he had thought about it for a long time, he still felt powerless.

The newcomers were mostly skeptical or completely clueless about the situation, while the veterans, although they trusted Zheng Zha, were not all convinced by his speculations.

Only Zhang Jie fully supported Zheng Zha's speculation, arguing that he also encountered memory alteration in "A Nightmare on Elm Street"... Teammates who were together just a second ago might disappear from everyone's memory or even the record list after being dragged away by Freddy.

Zheng Zha decided to trust his teammates who had been forgotten by them... Judging from the message left behind, it was clearly a message entrusted to him by his comrades!
Although he had forgotten their character and their shared past, Zheng Zha was determined not to let them down and believed that they could succeed, just as he believed in Chu Xuan and another wise man!
Sometime later, when Zheng Zha faces the arrangements of a kind and wise person, he will remember that afternoon when he suggested "trusting Chu Xuan just like I do"...

The first chapter is presented here.

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(End of this chapter)