Free Web NovelChapter 169: Chapter 169: The Refuge’s Distress Call
Gu Hailin and the remnants of his coalition, along with the entire world, began to fragment and disperse like pieces.
Bai Wu looked at the increasingly bright sky within his consciousness and closed his eyes.
When he opened his eyes again, he glanced at Yin Shuang, who was also looking at him.
"It seems you’ve also resolved the lingering obsession in this telephone booth," she said.
"Yes, the Golden Customer Service is not just a title," he replied.
The telephone booth was vanishing.
Bai Wu immediately checked his backpack.
Yes, the mask, the boat ticket, and the knife were all there and intact.
Because it had been mentioned before that in the scene of the telephone booth, using various props wouldn’t cause any real consumption; once back in the world outside the telephone booth, everything would be restored.
Therefore, Bai Wu also felt that the ending implied by Prayle’s Eye was somewhat mystical, even though it seemed like he had changed something.
But if his own props hadn’t disappeared, how could he possibly have truly changed history?
With this thought, Bai Wu felt that the remarks were somewhat playing at mystique.
He had more concerns and always needed to find the logic behind certain things happening before drawing a conclusion. But the world outside the High Tower... it was a world that did not follow logic.
The telephone booth around him once again fell into silence.
Bai Wu looked at the time; there was enough of it for him and Yin Shuang to walk a long distance.
In the time following, the two of them walked and talked, moving quickly while speaking slowly.
Unconsciously, Bai Wu had walked from the position of the first telephone booth to the end of his previous line of sight.
However, even with Enhanced Vision, he still couldn’t see the end of the road. It was only that Bai Wu noticed the road was no longer absolutely straight; the road filled with telephone booths had a certain curvature.
Subconsciously, an image of a huge circle formed in Bai Wu’s mind, suggesting the road would eventually connect end to end, forming a closed loop.
Finally, a vague telephone ring sounded in the distance again.
Yin Shuang said,
"Why do I feel that this road has no end? We’ve walked for so long and still can’t see the end of it. Compared to the casino, hospital, and manor we explored before, this area seems a lot bigger," she remarked.
"That’s not true. Actually, from the perspective of layout and construction, the Path of the Telephone Booths makes you subconsciously ignore the scenery on both sides. Strictly speaking, this area is a line, and indeed the line is very long, but if spread out into a surface, this region wouldn’t be considered very big."
Yin Shuang looked around and realized it was indeed true.
The buildings on both sides looked like a city long abandoned, while the telephone booths and roads had a completely different style from the deserted city.
"Do you think these telephone booths were transformed by those with obsessions?" she asked.
"Hard to say, they might have been made by some extremely strong creatures. Although they just let us go back to the past scenes to resolve obsessions, to know such ancient things is not simple. This at least involves some distortion of temporal and spatial rules," he replied.
Bai Wu was also thinking about who built the telephone booths.
He couldn’t possibly discuss the answer with Yin Shuang; it could only be found by answering the telephones and reaching the end of the road. He actually had some ideas, but they still needed verification.
Deep down, Bai Wu was not inclined to believe these telephone booths were the manifestation of obsessions from people like Lin Rui, Wen Hao, or Gu Hailin.
A telephone symbolizes a connection, and a telephone booth is merely an entrance.
All of this should be a metaphor.
The area is Food City, the span of years is vast, meaning whoever built the telephone booths must have a long lifespan, and is a witness.
Perhaps this witness’s collection of obsessions is not limited to Food City, but due to some restrictions, within the confines of Food City, the calls received could only be the obsessions of certain individuals from Food City.
Bai Wu reflected on the events that had taken place in the previous three scenarios, certain that other than Wen Hao’s family being rejected while boarding the ship, with many onlookers present, the other two events had no external witnesses.
Only the characters in the stories knew about Lin Rui being eaten by the lizard, and about the allied forces’ heroic sacrifice.
Thus, Bai Wu speculated that the creator of the phone booth possessed some powerful ability to know the past and the future.
They would have to live for a very long time, possess immense power, and almost know everything.
After some preliminary deduction, Bai Wu had a candidate in mind, though unsure whether he could meet her in this area.
"I couldn’t sense Evil Fallen’s aura, and when you were on the phone, I couldn’t even sense yours," Yin Shuang said.
"That’s an interesting discovery," Bai Wu nodded with a smile.
"Speaking of which, I feel like a lot of time has passed. During that first phone call, I felt as if time was dragging on, but it doesn’t seem like we’ve been here for very long?"
Although she had only answered one phone call, Yin Shuang indeed had the sensation that a great deal of time had elapsed.
Bai Wu nodded and said with a smile:
"Looking at the time, actually less than an hour has passed. This feels just like training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. If I had known, I should have called the captain over, he would have found working overtime here very worthwhile."
"What’s the Hyperbolic Time Chamber?"
"It’s a place with a special space-time rule where one year inside equals one day outside. It’s quite suitable for those who are heavy workaholics or manga artists who love to play Mahjong."
Yin Shuang couldn’t fully understand, but Bai Wu seemed to be in a rather good mood.
"The call you just took, is there any story worth mentioning?"
"There is one, but it’s not time to tell it yet."
"A historical secret?" fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
Bai Wu didn’t answer further; his line of thinking was similar to the captain’s - before they had the power to establish a new system, it was not advisable to let certain things be known too soon.
Seeing that Bai Wu didn’t respond, Yin Shuang tactfully changed the subject:
"If all those events in the phone booth really happened, is there anyone whose call you would look forward to?"
"That’s a good question."
He hadn’t been a beggar at High Tower for long, but Bai Wu already felt that he had experienced many events.
If he could choose to receive a call from someone, to alleviate their obsession, who would he want that to be?
The phone was a distant sound, and there was plenty of time to reach the next booth as he pondered the question, his expression serious:
"If I don’t consider whether my abilities are sufficient to handle it, I’d want to receive quite a few calls. Although this place can’t change those past histories, it can at least comfort me, knowing that in another world, they have different outcomes."
Yin Shuang didn’t speak, listening intently.
In this moment, although Bai Wu’s tone remained usual, there was a kind of gentleness that perhaps even he wasn’t fully aware of.
"I’d like to receive a call from a Professor Tao, tell him that the savior does exist, let him know that his only friend, Xie, just went into High Tower, trying to investigate the Origin of doomsday from a different angle."
Who Professor Tao is, who Xie is, the story between them - Yin Shuang was unclear about it all, but she could sense an uncommon regret in Bai Wu’s tone.
"Ideally, I’d receive a call from a woman before some scumbag hurt her, letting her live on in a human body, guiding her to choose the Bootlicker by her side who may not be extremely talented or learned but who possesses a sincere heart. Although by doing so, I might lose a friend in a certain world’s reality, maybe that friend wouldn’t be as emotionally damaged as I am."
Still unable to comprehend, Yin Shuang was curious - how much had Bai Wu experienced since leaving the tower? He had... just left the tower for the first time two months ago.
"Well, these matters have no priority, but I also wish to receive a call from a fool surnamed Lou. I would tell him to take his dog with him, stay away from the zoo, and even scavenge in the apocalypse. The human heart can be wicked; a dog would be his best friend. By the way, his taste in girlfriends is the worst I’ve seen, comparable to how that woman above chooses men."
"Besides, if I could allow a little girl to see her grandmother and have her comb her hair, that would be great. But if I really could go back to the past, there would certainly be more to do. Yet, this would mean that, in that parallel universe, I would no longer have my close encounters in the mines."
Recalling the tragedies of many good people he had met, Bai Wu mused to himself:
"There are many regrets in life, and we can’t even deal with our own, let alone those of others, which we can only listen to as stories."
Regarding Bai Wu’s social interactions in the High Tower, Yin Shuang was quite aware. Because the captain took special interest in Bai Wu, it could be said that nearly all the people of unclear origin around Bai Wu had become one of their own.
Liu Chengzi had become an investigator for the Investigation Corps, and even Ye Weiming had been arranged to join the interrogation team.
Then there were Bai Xiaoyu and Qin Lin, whom Bai Wu previously favored; the captain, feeling they were getting too close to Bai Wu, made them all join the Investigation Corps.
Therefore, she was certain that the people Bai Wu mentioned just now were probably not from inside the High Tower.
Thinking of this, she realized the vast gap between herself and Bai Wu in analytical skills.
At best, she could offer some suggestions, but Bai Wu seemed different; his script appeared more detailed than everyone else’s, so detailed that every time he left the tower, he seemed to be able to investigate the causes and consequences of the events in the region thoroughly.
She still didn’t know how Bai Wu and the captain managed to leave the Manor’s main gate, or why the other families were still trapped in the Manor to this day.
Perhaps for others, investigation is just investigation, but for Bai Wu, was it reliving a complete story from seven hundred years ago?
Bai Wu, looking at Yin Shuang lost in thought, said:
"If you have any trouble, you can also talk to me. We’ve exchanged some secrets after all."
Yin Shuang slowly shook her head:
"You are someone I can trust."
Trustworthy, but having chosen not to speak out, Bai Wu understood Yin Shuang’s intention. He nodded in acknowledgement and said no more.
The two had been walking and talking, and before long had arrived at the phone booth where the ringing was coming from.
"I always feel, the more calls I pick up, the longer the interval until the next call seems to get. I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing."
Yin Shuang didn’t express any opinion. She looked around, re-entered her perception mode, and Bai Wu didn’t think too much of it. Within a wide area around them, only this phone booth was ringing.
He picked up the receiver.
This time, the voice was somewhat chaotic, as if some kind of signal band was being interfered with.
Bai Wu furrowed his brows, becoming the first to speak:
"Hello?"
Crackling noises came through the receiver. The sound of the electrical current was causing some interference with Bai Wu’s hearing.
"Hello, is anyone there?"
"You... hello..."
Bai Wu faintly heard a woman’s voice. It was fleeting, making Bai Wu feel that the person on the other end seemed to be crying.
Bai Wu was also very patient. After two initial failures, he decided it was best not to speak hastily. These "obsessions" were quite fragile; they could hang up at the slightest disagreement.
"Hmm, no matter what the other party is called, I’m sure my assumption won’t be wrong."
Bai Wu had already started looking for his own negative emotions, but the problem was that the woman on the phone had only said hello.
He was puzzled as to why this call was facing such severe interference.
[As your personal secretary’s eye, I must give you a warning. I sense a very discomforting presence; you better make a decision now. Either hang up the phone, or as soon as you enter the scene, you should immediately wear that broken watch. Although it has stolen my MVP twice, life is crucial!]
Prayle’s Eye only provided hints about the future continuously when in a bond state.
Normally, the eyes seemed to be able to predict the future but couldn’t tell the host.
The sudden appearance of this note made Bai Wu guess that the area he was about to enter was extremely dangerous.
He was determined to go and have a look, but he also decided to follow the note’s advice, to put on the wristwatch as soon as he entered the area.
"Welcome..."
"To..."
"Save!"
"My..."
"Shelter..."
"Child."
"Place."
A man’s and a woman’s voice came through, the woman’s sounding extremely distressful, while the man’s was rather gentle.
Bai Wu’s eyes widened. Despite the fragmented nature of the speech, he discerned something off about it. Ideas combined rapidly in his mind—
"Hello, welcome to the shelter."
"Save my child."
Before this call, the ones Bai Wu had received were predominantly pleas for help; they were in some part of Food City, waiting for rescue.
But this call... had another voice in it.
Several thoughts flashed through his mind.
"Two lingering attachments? No..."
"The woman holds some attachment, but this man... it’s as if upon hearing my voice, he’s extending an invitation to me."
The world around him started to disappear like a jigsaw puzzle, and Bai Wu decided to step back into the phone booth to have a look.
Simultaneously, Yin Shuang noticed something was off.
"Bai Wu, hang up the phone, this call seems different from the previous ones."
Seeing Bai Wu did not respond, Yin Shuang thought to forcefully pull him out, but once the door of the phone booth shut, it seemed to become a sealed scene. Despite her Sixth-Order Innate Force, she couldn’t open it at all.
Bai Wu did not hear Yin Shuang’s voice, but he was equally aware of the area’s gravity.
What truly unsettled Yin Shuang was the black mist that emerged from the handset after Bai Wu answered the call.
It was like a scene out of many horror movies, as if the phone harbored some foul entity.
Yet, what Bai Wu saw was the complete opposite of what Yin Shuang observed.
When the world reconstructed, the scene before Bai Wu had nothing to do with terror.
Bright sunlight bathed the garden, and kites flew in the sky. Laughter and the joyful voices of children filled the air.
Church bells tolled in the distance. Children dressed in what looked like hospital gowns sat under trees reading books, while others in the same attire ran and played on the grass.
All the buildings in the distance bore Western ecclesiastical architecture, and for a moment, Bai Wu thought he had been transported to the suburbs of the capital of a country known for its swift surrender.
It was reminiscent of a Western country’s farm from a past life, with vast lawns and sparingly distributed structures. Yet, in the distance, there loomed high walls, the world beyond them obscured from Bai Wu’s view. He extended his senses but detected no sign of danger.
At first glance, the place felt to Bai Wu like a haven isolated from the world.
The farm seemed large enough to house hundreds of people, with places for study, a church for pilgrimage, dining areas, and resting spots—all built and accounted for.
There were water sources, orchards, vegetable gardens, and pasture all present.
"This is strange; both the aberration in the voice from the phone and the warning from my eyes suggest extreme danger here."
The more tranquil the place appeared, the more vigilant Bai Wu grew, and he held the Spirit Possession wristwatch from his backpack tightly in his hand.
