HPDBC Chapter 39 Communication
Chapter 39 Communication
"What's going on here!?" Zhang Siqi recognized Chen Yang as the one who had spoken to the winged centaur with a pile of gems earlier. Seeing that the other party meant no harm, she asked.
"What's going on? I can answer your questions, but you should at least be a little more specific! I don't have mind-reading abilities!" Chen Yang said, feeling that this guy who passed the test to obtain the identity of Qingyu Island was a bit dim-witted!
But that makes sense. After all, they're not like those NPCs who are blessed with destiny and have divine beasts come to them to deliver their inheritance. Being a little slow is fine!
"Why am I here? What happened just now? How can I go back? Why can you communicate with that winged monster?" Zhang Siqi asked, he had too many questions.
"You got here because you were lucky! You were competing with others, and you were fortunate enough to get the status to stay on this island. As for how to get back? You can think of it as you were just sleepwalking through this world. When you wake up, you'll naturally return to reality. That wasn't some winged monster. It's called Yingzhao, a mythical beast, you know! A mythical beast recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas!" Chen Yang explained patiently, enjoying this information gap.
"So this is a dream? Then why does the pain feel so real? Isn't it said that there is no pain in dreams?" Zhang Siqi asked.
"You really think this is a dream? This is a whole world!" Chen Yang said.
"We've only been here a little longer than you, but we don't know this place very well. The current dream makes it hard to explain our current state," Jiang He said as she stepped forward.
"Sister Jiang, please stop! At least let me finish pretending!" Chen Yang said, jumping up and down in dissatisfaction.
Zhang Siqi could tell that the four people were very close, probably friends, otherwise they wouldn't be acting like this.
"Chen Yang, Chen as in 'ear east,' Yang as in 'sunshine.'" Chen Yang pointed to himself with his thumb and then introduced himself in turn, "This beautiful lady is Jiang He, Jiang as in 'Jiang Ziya,' He as in 'grain seedling'; that's Su Fan; that uncle over there is Wang Jianguo. The rest of us are... well, we arrived a while earlier than you, so we can be considered veterans of Qingyu Island, though we're still quite new."
"Zhang Siqi!" Zhang Siqi said after the other party had introduced him.
Chen Yang nodded, resuming his senior-like demeanor, even though he himself had only arrived a few days earlier. "Seeing how confused you look, I'm in a good mood today, so I'll explain it to you a bit more. This place is called the Mountain and Sea Realm. We don't know exactly how it came to be, but it just exists. You were brought in here, and whatever the reason, you've passed the interview—those two tests we just went through—and gained the right to stay."
"You did a great job. We've all seen your performance. By the way, is climbing the stairs that difficult? You all looked like you were struggling so much. Young people can't be weak!" Wang Jianguo said.
"You... also passed the trials in this way? So you just passed them a little earlier than me, right?" Zhang Siqi asked.
"Pretty much, but things were a little different back then. It wasn't this large-scale, and there weren't so many rounds." Chen Yang glossed over it, clearly not wanting to go into details, and instead said, "Anyway, you now have the right to stay on this Jade Island."
Jiang He looked at Zhang Siqi and explained, "The current situation can be understood as us being in a state of consciousness projection. Our physical bodies are dormant in our original world, while our consciousness is drawn and fixed here by some force that we don't yet fully understand. Therefore, the damage we suffer and the pain we perceive here, although not directly affecting our physical bodies in reality, are real to our consciousness."
She paused, seemingly choosing her words carefully: "Or you could say your consciousness is taking a risk, but the underlying rules here are set by some higher-level being and are closely connected to the essence of your consciousness. If you get hurt here, your consciousness will record the trauma; if you grow here, your consciousness will also be tempered accordingly."
Zhang Siqi seemed to understand, but not quite. Seeing that Jiang He had already explained things so clearly, Chen Yang didn't want to add anything more. He scratched his head and added, "Well, basically, dying here won't really kill you, but it'll really hurt! As for the specifics, we don't fully understand either. Just think of it as a super realistic game instance that you can't easily quit! We were players who entered the instance before you! We'll naturally go back when we wake up in real life!"
"Since you two seem so familiar with each other, this must be more than the first time we've met. So does that mean I'll have to keep having dreams like this, or that my consciousness will have to keep venturing into this place?" Zhang Siqi asked after thinking for a moment. The experience here was far from pleasant for him.
"Yes, we've been here more than ten or twenty times, about once every ten days. We come here after we fall asleep, and every time we leave, we feel very tired for three days in a row. If you have emotional crystals, eating them can relieve your fatigue," Wang Jianguo said.
"What is emotional crystallization?" Zhang Siqi had more and more questions as they talked.
Wang Jianguo took out a crystal and handed it to Zhang Siqi, explaining, "Here, this is it. You can think of it as the universal currency of this world. Eating it directly can enhance your mental strength."
Zhang Siqi recognized the "emotional crystal" they were talking about as the gemstone he had previously mistaken for.
"Don't think coming here is some kind of bad luck. As long as you have enough emotional crystals, you can get anything you want. There are eighty-one floating islands here. We're currently on the last island, the lowest level. But if you have enough emotional crystals, you can even trade for the eightieth island, Bright Island, if you have enough of those magical pills, divine weapons, and ultimate skills you've always dreamed of," Chen Yang said, looking at Zhang Siqi who seemed to want to leave without realizing how lucky he was.
Perhaps it was the promise Chen Yang made that truly whetted Zhang Siqi's appetite, or perhaps it was because everyone has fantasies of becoming a god, but Zhang Siqi asked, "Then how did you obtain this emotional crystallization?"
"You've hit the nail on the head!" Chen Yang said proudly, taking out the Emotion-Gathering Gourd. "With this treasure, you can collect emotions in places where people's emotions fluctuate greatly, such as movie theaters, haunted houses, and amusement parks. It was given to us by a senior who has been here longer than us."
"Look at my golden eyes, that's the characteristic of possessing this treasure. Actually, we all have golden eyes, but they're all wearing colored contact lenses!" Chen Yang said. His pupils turning golden was clearly the price for using the Love Absorption Gourd, but in his mouth, it seemed like an honor.