CH 321

321: We’re All Spirits

“He just left? He didn’t clear anything up. Are we supposed to find the killer or that other thing he just said?” Ink muttered his complaint.

“Both. If I’m right, then the people outside aren’t hallucinations or illusions. The only way to truly save everyone is to figure out what is keeping all of us imprisoned here.” Ming Xi raised his glass to drink.

“What do you mean, not an illusion? Why did you change your mind?” Jier was puzzled. It went from illusion to not illusion?

Feng Wu interrupted. “They’re not illusions; they’re souls.”

“Souls?! Wait, Xiao Wu, you mean the people outside are souls? They’re the souls of people who are no longer living?!” Then weren’t everyone out there dead? This entire time, they’d been around dead people?! Ink did not feel good.

“Xiao Wu, you can tell they’re souls?” Ming Xi was surprised Feng Wu had figured it out. He’d only confirmed it for himself just a moment ago.

Earlier, he’d only said what he said in order to lure the mysterious man out. The results were good as he had gained some useful information.

Feng Wu hesitated before nodding. She could see what they were even though she was in a different body. Some of her innate abilities were still available, for example her vision. She could distinguish between the physical and spiritual, so she knew the people outside weren’t illusions, but were real entities.

They weren’t ordinary spirits though, but were spirits with deep running, powerful grievances.

Feng Wu didn’t understand why, despite being Zhēn, she was still able to see them.

Was it because she wasn’t possessing Zhēn but had directly become Zhēn, so her eyes could still see other people’s life force?

The flowers and trees outside were all fake, so she couldn’t hear them, but the spirits were real so she could see the difference between them and the surroundings.

“Then you knew about them this whole time?!” Jier was surprised.

Feng Wu shook her head. “No.”

Jier’s eyes widened in surprise. “But can’t you see ghosts?” Feng Wu should have been able to tell from the beginning, so how could she not know?

Even Ink and Leo were surprised.

“There is no malice or evil aura from them. They aren’t like other spirits. I only confirmed it today.” Feng Wu blinked her large eyes at them innocently.

The others were helpless in the face of such cuteness. It was criminal to be so cute!

Feng Wu wasn’t lying. As she said, the people outside weren’t like ordinary ghosts. Their bodies were very solid, unlike any spirit she had known. Because of this Feng Wu had been uncertain.

Her suspicions were only confirmed after their discussion and the chat with the mysterious person.

“I have one more thing to say. We are the same as them.”

“Same? What do you mean?” Ming Xi and the others were puzzled. They didn’t understand what she was trying to say.

Feng Wu bit her lip. “We are also spirits.”

Her words dropped like a brick hammer. What did she mean? They were also spirits? Weren’t they only in the illusion world through their subconsciousness?

“No way! How can we be ghosts too? We have real bodies!”

People from the continent knew there were two ways to enter an illusion: through physical form or through mental form. You had to have a comprehensive understanding of your body in order to enter an illusion physically. It was more dangerous as well. If you died in an illusion in your physical form, you died for real.

Using your subconscious to enter mentally was safer. To use this method, you would separate a strand from your spiritual consciousness, the strength of which would depend on how much you pulled out, and attach it to your spirit in order to experience the illusion.

Should there be any danger, that strand of subconsciousness could be eliminated without any major problems. At worse, some mental damage could occur, but there wouldn’t be any fatal injuries.

For safety reasons, most people would choose to use a sliver of subconsciousness to test out the situation before committing to entering the illusion. You had to be careful.

Most illusions weren’t dangerous, as they were meant to trap people, not kill them. Well that was, unless someone purposefully made an illusion for the sole purpose of killing others.

Those were the two main ways people from the continent knew to enter an illusion. Ming Xi and the others took it for granted that they must have entered the illusion using a strand of their subconsciousness tethered to their soul, but of course there were other ways to enter.

Only a fool would enter an illusion with their entire mind. No one would take the initiative to do so. If a subconsciousness was eliminated, the body left behind would be an empty husk without consciousness. It was the same as dying.

So for them, it was bad enough that they were forced into the illusion with their complete mind, but what Feng Wu said was even worse. It turned out they weren’t just using their mind, but were in the illusion physically with their spiritual form – their souls.

Were they already dead? Was that why they were in spirit form? Their complexions paled at this.

No! They couldn’t be dead! Ink sincerely hoped they weren’t dead!

Forcing a soul into an illusion had never been done before. It was an amazing feat no doubt.[notes] But if the soul was somehow eliminated, everything would end. There would be no chance at reincarnation.

It wouldn’t be as devastating if it had only been their full subconscious. They would die yes, but they would have had a chance to reincarnate.

Thinking of the seriousness of losing their souls made everyone sad.