159 Awakened
Selma Payne’s POV:
I was so shocked that I was speechless. I felt that Dorothy’s analysis made sense for some reason, but I could not accept it mentally.
“If all of this is just an illusion, and someone wants us to freeze to death, then what’s the point of creating so many dangers in this illusion?”
Dorothy closed her eyes, just like every time she prophesied.
“To stall us.” She opened her eyes, but she still could not see anything. “Remember what I said before? I can’t see anyone’s fate. It’s as if no one here exists.
“Now I understand. It’s not that people don’t exist, but that fate doesn’t exist. This illusion made up of everyone is fake, to begin with. How can real fate appear in a fake world? So it’s not that the Book of Destiny rejected me, but it doesn’t exist here.
“This is powerful proof that we are in an illusion.
“But illusions are too easy to see through. For example, I could easily pop the fragile bubble once I caught any trace.
“That’s why the people who want us to die deliberately released smoke bombs to confuse us. The so-called problem of time and space is a trap to delay us, confuse us, make us scared, tire us out of our illusions, and waste time. The longer we sink into our illusions, the longer our bodies, in reality, will stay in ice and snow.
“Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if we’re scared to death by our illusions because our bodies have long been frozen into solid popsicles.”
I looked at my team members, who were running around in fear. The panic on their faces was not fake, but their purple lips and pale faces were not fake, either. Everyone was cold, and this unusual cold was perhaps a reaction from the real world in the illusionary world.
I was suddenly enlightened.
“So, as long as we think this place is fake, we don’t have to worry about being hurt by the spatial distortion because these injuries are inflicted on ourselves by our illusions!”
“That’s right!” Dorothy nodded vigorously. Her figure was no longer flickering. After seeing through the truth, false illusions had no effect on her.
She was gradually leaving the illusionary world.
“Everyone, listen to me!” I used my loudest voice to shout, causing everyone to look at me subconsciously. “There’s no need to hide. There’s no need to be afraid. Everything here is fake! The current situation is something that someone deliberately guided us to hallucinate about. The damage we’re suffering is self-inflicted!
“As long as you see through the truth, illusions can’t hurt you, just like this!”
I deliberately didn’t avoid a spatial tear, but it passed through my body like harmless air. It didn’t have any effect on me.
Some of the team members sucked in a breath of cold air. One of them was frozen on the spot, so he didn’t have the time to dodge the spatial tear coming at him.
It was too late to dodge!
He could only close his eyes tightly, straighten his body nervously, and mutter something…
It tore through his body, but just like what happened to me, it didn’t cause anything. There wasn’t even a wound.
“It’s true!” The team member said in surprise. “Calm down! This is all fake, don’t scare yourself, and we’ll be safe!”
Gradually, more and more team members gave up on fleeing and convinced themselves of the fact to fight against the illusion of fear.
The illusionary world made up of people began to collapse gradually.
“If no one supports the illusion, it will naturally dissipate,” Aldrich said. “The future is terrifying.”
“Dorothy is the smartest girl I’ve ever met.” I nodded with pride.
As everyone held their breath and waited, the illusion suddenly disappeared like an avalanche.
A blinding light shone through the cracks like a heavy hammer had struck our bodies. Under the pressure of the light, we fainted.
What woke me up was the cold, the bone-piercing, terrifying cold that carried the aura of death.
I suddenly opened my eyes and took in deep breaths. The cold air poured into my alveoli, and the needle-like pain woke me up quickly.
An uncontrollable shiver and a feeling of stiffness as stiff as a stone followed.
I was sure that if I had woken up five minutes later, I would have been frozen into an ice sculpture.
“Hey! Wake up! Everyone, wake up!”
I was the first to wake up. I had to drag my uncomfortable body to wake up my team members, who had fallen on the snow one by one.
The situation was not optimistic. Several members had already entered a state of shock. The medical team members, Master Hayley, and Master Kevin had to push their weak bodies to take care of them. The others hurriedly carried the shocked members into the hut.
The stove had gone out at some point. In the gap between the fire, I subconsciously looked at the electronic clock.
Then, I felt goosebumps all over.
It was July 3rd, 7:09 am.
We arrived at the first base on July 2nd.
This meant that not even a day had passed!