Fantasy Game: Infinite City

Chapter 617 Reality and Illusion

Following the direction the team was wary of, Han Zu saw some blurry black figures hiding behind trees, rapidly approaching the team under the cover of shadow. These figures were different from the shadows he had seen in the secret room at the beginning, but they also did not seem to be members of the Bone Corrosion Sorcerer. Moreover, for some reason, Han Zu could not make out their appearance.

This situation aroused Han Zu's suspicion. He began to observe the environment around the dark figures. Suddenly, he saw something behind one of the trees that shouldn't belong there.

The box that Han Zu found.

The moment Han Zu saw the box, he immediately used his pollution field to lock onto its location. He realized something, and after locking onto the box, he indeed discovered something unusual. There was a strange energy fluctuation inside the box that he hadn't noticed before, and this energy fluctuation was very similar to the energy fluctuation he had discovered when he was still on the first floor of the library, which was used by the team.

Furthermore, there was something else that Han Zu found very suspicious: the team in front of him, theoretically the one he was tracking, had their strange energy fluctuations disappear after he saw them on this level. At first, Han Zu thought that they might have used up the energy of that page of the magic book in a battle with some monster or enemy, but after thinking about it carefully, he realized that these guys had never used any power; they had only been using weapons and tools.

"It's careless."

Thinking about this, Han Zu realized that he might be under the influence of an illusion, or something else that could alter his perception. People or monsters that use this method usually fall into one of three categories.

The first possibility is a difference in quantity. Han Zu is just one person, and normally, whatever the other party is, it shouldn't be half of them, so this possibility can be basically ruled out.

The second possibility is that the other party cannot control its own abilities, which would most likely mean it is a monster with little intelligence. However, looking at the box hiding behind the tree in the distance, Han Zu thought it shouldn't be a mindless thing. That guy is most likely a mimic, or disguised as a mimic, or someone is using their power to influence the outcome of that box. But whatever the possibility, the other party is definitely not without intelligence, at least not stupid, so the second possibility can be ruled out.

The third possibility is more logical: it's the one who caused Han Zu to fall into an illusion, or influenced Han Zu's perception, realizing that its own strength is no match for Han Zu's. However, it's not simply trying to lure Han Zu away, otherwise it wouldn't be observing from a distance.

According to Han Zu's speculation, the other party probably wanted to use something to kill him.

"Is it just plain hostility, or is that thing protecting something?"

Regardless of the other party's intentions, Han Zu must first confirm his true location. If the other party wants to eliminate him, then they must lead him to a dangerous area that can harm him, at least in the other party's perception, that location can eliminate most of the threats.

Even so, Han Zu had no intention of alerting the enemy. Since arriving in the Bastinburg area, he had noticed that the place was strangely eerie. Under the influence of the Bastinburg, he was temporarily unable to use his full abilities, which meant that the enemy might still have some means to escape from him. However, Han Zu could not continue to pretend that he knew nothing and deliberately move forward according to the enemy's guidance. After all, there might really be something in this place that could harm him, or even kill him.

Fortunately, Han Zu hadn't encountered the team in the illusion beforehand. He had been following them closely. Under these circumstances, even if Han Zu remained stationary, they wouldn't realize that they had seen through the illusion; they would only think he was being very cautious. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Han Zu began to think of a countermeasure.

It's now almost certain that he's trapped in an illusion. Han Zu previously used his mist-transformation ability to conceal himself, though he knows it's not very effective. His opponent, however, is unaware of this, so he plans to exploit it. He'll create the illusion that he's about to use mist-transformation to explore, thus confusing his opponent. While the opponent ponders their strategy, Han Zu will have time to figure out how to dispel the illusion.

If the contractor's equipment is not interfered with, the matter will be much simpler. Han Zu can use the probe pulses from the contractor's equipment to determine the true surrounding environment. The energy fluctuations emitted by these special probe pulses are very weak and dispersed. Unless there is another contractor's equipment, more than 9% of people will mistake them for normal flow of dissipated energy in the surrounding environment.

However, the contractor's equipment completely malfunctioned after Han Zu entered the area, so Han Zu now had to find another way to confirm his true location. Although it wasn't easy, Han Zu wasn't entirely without options. His skillful control over energy, derived from his energy conversion ability, allowed him to quickly come up with a solution.

Han Zu slowly and irregularly channeled his energy into the contamination field around him, controlling its gradual spread. Using his precise control over energy, Han Zu used his energy and the contamination field to replicate the detection pulses of the contractor's equipment step by step. Although there were still some differences, these subtle differences were not easily detected. Furthermore, to avoid alerting the enemy, Han Zu deliberately reduced the size of the contamination aura. After several minutes, Han Zu completed the energy construct. Through sensing this energy, Han Zu finally confirmed his true location. He seemed to be on a narrow bridge, only one meter wide. There was nothing beneath the bridge; at least within the area covered by the contamination field, Han Zu sensed nothing. The sides of the bridge were also very empty, without even railings or anything like that. Surprisingly, the bridge was very stable, showing no signs of shaking.

Without a doubt, the guy who created the illusion wanted me to fall. And judging from the position of that box, even if I didn't move to either side but continued along the direction of the bridge, I would probably still fall. There might be some gap or mechanism there.

Although he confirmed that he was indeed trapped in an illusion and in a very dangerous situation, Han Zu now discovered a troubling aspect: the illusion created by his opponent was extremely powerful, and he had no way to dispel it for the time being. While he could use the contamination field and energy diffusion to observe and ensure his movements weren't too restricted, he also needed to ensure his opponent didn't discover he had seen through the illusion. Therefore, he couldn't expand his perception range, which limited his environmental awareness. Under these circumstances, Han Zu couldn't rush over immediately; there were too many unknown factors.

It was a tricky situation that we couldn't expose ourselves, nor could we advance in unknown circumstances and environments. But soon, based on the other party's idea, Han Zu came up with a relatively safe solution: to return the way we came.

Judging from the other party's intentions, Han Zu had definitely crossed their bottom line, to the point that even though Han Zu possessed the superior strength, the other party was still willing to use illusions to eliminate him. In that case, if Han Zu returned the way he came, even if the other party temporarily fled, for their own safety, they would definitely find another opportunity to approach him and continue their plan to kill him. This would give Han Zu time to break the illusion and prepare a countermeasure. However, if the other party didn't choose to leave temporarily but instead followed him directly, then once they reached a relatively safe location, Han Zu could launch a counterattack.

Thinking of this, Han Zu slapped his forehead, pretending to remember something, and quietly left his hiding place, returning to the building along the same route. As Han Zu was about to leave the bridge, his pollution field indeed detected the energy fluctuations of the box; the other party had followed. After leaving the bridge, Han Zu stopped. He first looked around, then hid back in the shadows, turning his back to the box, pretending he had found something on the armor. Then, with a serious expression, he continued his return journey. The strange box, emitting energy resembling the pages of a magic book, continued to follow him.

Having confirmed that the box hadn't escaped, Han Zu thought of a good place to act: the secret chamber where he had initially discovered the box. Following his previous route, after a brief moment of thought, Han Zu remembered his direction and approximate distance. Using his memory and the energy coverage of the contaminated field, Han Zu quickly found his way back to the secret chamber within the illusion. As he drew closer to the chamber, Han Zu noticed that the illusion surrounding him was becoming increasingly indistinct. The closer he got to the chamber, the more unstable the illusion became; however, this instability was only at the energy level, and to Han Zu's eyes, there was no difference. Therefore, Han Zu naturally played along, pretending he hadn't noticed anything.

When Han Zu descended the stairs and returned to the secret room where he had found the box, he saw it on the table—a box made of illusion. Pretending to remember something, he reached for the box, which was now empty in the illusion. At that moment, Han Zu sensed that the strange box that had followed him suddenly accelerated its approach, closing the distance between them. It didn't seem to want Han Zu to discover that the box on the stone table was an illusion.

Han Zu also prepared to play along. Just as his hands were about to touch the box made of illusions, he suddenly stopped, withdrew his hands, and began to search his armor. After searching the breastplate and finding nothing, Han Zu turned around and began to search the waist and leg armor.

In the brief moment that Han Zu turned his back to the stone table, the box silently returned to its original position. Just as it was trying to adjust its posture to match the box in the illusion, Han Zu suddenly sprang into action, drew his knight's greatsword from his waist, and stabbed it into the box. Han Zu's sudden attack left the eerie box with no time to react. The sharp knight's greatsword pierced through the box and even through the stone table below, pinning it to the table.

"Crack!!!!!"

A piercing, strange noise came from the location of the box, and the energy in the surrounding environment fluctuated rapidly. After the box vibrated violently for a while, the illusions around it collapsed instantly. With the illusions gone, Han Zu finally saw the true situation around him. He was indeed still in that secret room, but the box he had pierced had changed its appearance.

That thing was confirmed to be a monster, but it wasn't a mimic or a puppet being controlled. Instead, it was something with a humanoid body shape, but its texture was similar to a jellyfish. Han Zu had never seen anything like it before.

The slain monster was truly dead. From the spot where the knight's greatsword had pierced its body, what flowed wasn't blood, but a gas that rapidly dissipated into the air. This gas was colorless, odorless, and non-toxic. However, when Han Zu accidentally inhaled it, his surroundings changed once again. But because he had lost his physical body to control the gas's effects, the illusions Han Zu saw were not only chaotic but also utterly illogical. Furthermore, with the flow of energy within Han Zu's body, the effects of this gas lasted for only a few seconds.

The monster's body is not transparent, but rather its unique material refracts surrounding light, making it difficult to detect in any environment. Coupled with its ability to create illusions, finding its location is even more challenging. However, this particular one may have lost its intelligence due to not seeing living people for a long time, which allowed Han Zu to deal with it relatively easily.

After searching the monster's corpse, no clues were found, but the illusions it created might be a clue in themselves. The illusions were almost perfectly plausible; if he hadn't inadvertently discovered its presence, he might have been fooled. Han Zu didn't believe that a mere monster could possess such thought; the situation might be similar to another possibility he suspected—the monster might be acting on someone's orders. But if that were the case, it meant that someone else was likely monitoring him nearby.