NOVEL NEXT Chapter 302: Shocking Change!
Tang Yun's words surprised both Lin Xian and KIKI. They naturally understood what she meant, which indirectly explained why Tang Yun and her group appeared here. Essentially, they were part of the Deep Crimson World project, and surely paid a substantial price for it.
"How much do you know about this Deep Crimson World?" Lin Xian asked at that moment.
"I... don't know much. I was brought here by my husband. This organization is very mysterious. The highest level person here I've seen is a white man named Julius Litt, who looks over forty. He told us about the characteristics of the mycelial network and let us experience the illusion spores, but nothing else..."
Tang Yun isn't someone with strong opinions of her own. She followed everything her husband, Wen Dong, and KIKI's uncle said. What's confusing is why Tang Yun's husband sent her and their child here and then ran away himself?
"Wen Qi, it's good that you're alive..." Tang Yun looked up at KIKI with a defeated expression. "Even though your aunt took away yours and your father's assets, the quota your father secured for you in the Underground City can't be replaced. No matter if she became a Dawn City council member, you have the status of Linglong Group's heir and a senior member of the Dawn Plan. You can go to Dawn City, which should be the safest place besides the Phoenix Society headquarters, and you can survive there..."
Upon hearing this, KIKI turned to Lin Xian: "That's true. I've heard that Dawn City is already overcrowded, and entry fees are increasing. This identity of mine could be useful."
Lin Xian replied, "But your aunt and those Wen Family members probably won't welcome you."
"What does their welcome matter to me? Do I need their approval?" KIKI took off, arms crossed, with a proud expression.
Lin Xian smiled, thinking that was true. This girl could crush a truck with her bare hands, and such a rare telekinesis ability is more valuable than wealth or status in the apocalypse.
"Alright."
Lin Xian looked at Tang Yun: "Put on your clothes and get in my car. I'll take you out of here."
Unexpectedly, Tang Yun showed no emotional change upon hearing this. After a long silence, she finally said
"I don't want to leave."
KIKI frowned upon hearing this: "Hey, if you don't want to leave, what do you want to do? You've seen it all; so many people died. Do you want to die?"
"No!"
Tang Yun's face was sorrowful, shaking her head repeatedly with reddened eyes: "No, they didn't die. My son didn't die. He's in that world; we're together every day. That's not fake!"
Lin Xian glanced at her, unsure if she couldn't accept her son's death or if she'd been completely lost to the hallucinogenic realm of the mycelial network. So he could only say
"Once we leave, this place will lose power completely. There won't be any robots to maintain it, and the survival pod will stop working. Your bodies will completely die and start to rot. Are you sure?"
Tang Yun's eyes flashed with fear upon hearing Lin Xian's words, which was quickly replaced by obsession. Her chest heaved as she said, "No, it won't. Once I enter that world, I'll live there."
After saying this, she suddenly knelt down to KIKI, pleading, "Wen Qi, I understand your goodwill, but I feel I no longer live in this world. Let me go back."
KIKI looked at this scene with rare anger on her face, shouting: "I told you, it's all fake! Fake! You escaped with great difficulty. If you follow us, you'll survive. Isn't living good enough!!!?"
KIKI's words cast a shadow on Tang Yun's expression. She fell silent, lowered her head, and her tousled hair obscured her well-maintained face a bit, saying sadly
"My son is over there. If I'm gone, he'll be sad. He's still looking for his dad over there, always searching. I want to be with him. Among so many strangers, he must be lonely and sad..."
"Wen Qi, considering I'm your aunt, help me this once..."
Tang Yun begged on her knees, seemingly lifeless, with no joy, sorrow, anger, or grief. This world seemed like a nightmare to her, and as long as she returned to the survival pod, she'd wake up in that happy, free world.
KIKI was a bit agitated. Despite Tang Yun being a relative she hadn't known for long, she didn't want to see Tang Yun choose death like this.
Just as she was about to say more, Lin Xian suddenly held her back.
He noticed Tang Yun's eyes had started showing signs of a black hue, a symptom of being on the verge of transformation due to the encroaching darkness.
"Forget it. She's lost the courage to live. In this state, even if she stays, she'll quickly be overtaken by darkness and transform into a zombie. It's better to fulfill her wish."
Her psychological defenses completely collapsed, her body weak, and her spiritual power extremely unstable. In this extreme night, she'd soon become a zombie unless forcibly taken back to Infinity and sheltered with the Heterogeneous Rubik's Cube. But Lin Xian also didn't want to do that. Tang Yun's worldview had completely crumbled; even if Lin Xian and KIKI kindly took her in, it wouldn't help. She would just live in constant lamentation, bringing negative emotions to the team.
In this case, it's better to let her enter that illusion, and die in the joy of reuniting with her son.