Doomsday Jigsaw Puzzle

Chapter 305: Chapter 109: The World Beyond Hei Wu

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"I truly cannot release the eternal spring of creative work that is halfway through its demise, but I still hold out hope that Old Master Xiao will remain," said Hei Wu.

At the same time, there was still one pressing matter at the tip of his eyelashes.

These few days there might not have been any progress in the length of the tower, nor do I know if those companions with a gentle nature from Mechanism City have gone out.

White Fog thought that, perhaps, there are indeed some names that hold certain high tower memories within them—this time coming out of the tower after quite a while after all.

"Ah, but it seems that I still can’t see you. Where have you gone with Little Uncle, Xiao Tang? Sea Snail, who is always inquiring on the other end, has been paralyzed these past few days, although I am very keen to test my true divine power right now," Hei Wu said.

White Fog believed that one day he would be able to find answers to these questions by himself.

What exactly is the black fog by nature? Why would it appear in this world? Do the people of the outside black fog know what’s happening in the internal black fog?

Or is the world outside the black fog actually extremely dangerous? Hei Wu ultimately decided to leave a zero on the tape recorder.

"If that’s the case, we must definitely stop such an incident from happening," Hei Wu murmured to himself.

Ultimately, it was White Fog who broke his silence, "If such a thing is true, then the black fog zone will expand even further, devouring more of this world. You should be asking yourself if such a day will ever come. You’re asking your questions in too amusing a manner, try changing your approach."

"Will we ever be able to return to the outside black fog, if as you say our region is the internal black fog?" asked Hei Wu, nodding his head.

"I’ll find the answers to these questions as I continue exploring this world, but this is not a phase that we can handle. We simply don’t know," White Fog replied.

"Why can’t we remember these events? Will we forget them once again?" asked Hei Wu.

"It’s a setup,"—Hei Wu couldn’t imagine that he would remember so much after all. White Fog offered his own guess to explain his suspicion against himself.

"But they have not entered the high tower. There may also be other people in these three countries, perhaps visiting the high tower from time to time. It’s not just that they haven’t come; it’s that these people may not necessarily exist in this world," said Hei Wu.

White Fog never thought that the answer could be like this, nor did he know what was unfolding in that far remote other end of the world.

Palace God Mech, Mechanism City, outer tower...

...

...

But it is certain to come, even though it has not arrived for the seventh time yet. The closest black fog island country might also get devoured by the black fog on its seventh expansion.

The sixth expansion was seventeen years ago.

The fifth expansion was eighteen years after the fourth.

The fourth was one hundred and eight years after the third.

People still ignorantly overlook these expansions and firmly believe there was no such thing initially, but the black fog did expand once more two hundred years ago; that was the third time.

It is the god secret strength that made people forget, although the black fog did expand not long ago, just two hundred and fifty years back, which was the second time.

The disappearance of three countries occurred just seven hundred years prior. The first time the black fog appeared was even earlier, marking its first expansion.

The intervals are getting shorter and shorter. It has expanded six times, and each time it has increased its historic scope. With every expansion of the real black fog, it adjusts its strength.

"This accident, narrated by Roberto Tang, was becoming increasingly distressing to him, fearing that the black fog will not dissipate and the zone will be sealed off, worrying about the ship that would appear."

"The day after, Dr. Kang, who also had connections with the Tang family, made the decisive decision that he would take on this accident."

"This event just seemed to conclude."

...

"Within the black fog... the world still exists, but it’s only warped to an extreme degree."

"The black fog is largely an absolute void."

"This hypothesis states that the black fog is some kind of celestial body, something that has never appeared among humans before, causing the increasingly high support rate for this theory."

"—The third kind of theory recently put forward by some scientists even suggests that the black fog is a form of primordial chaos, utterly imperceptible to any devices or observation, making people think that its complete disappearance is the only reality."

"Tang Xiao, who often dreams, and whose dreams even contain elements of the black fog world, feels an intimate connection with the black fog, as if Mechanism City, Chuanbai Country of the Tang dynasty—his ancestral home—fill his dreams. He hung up the phone in the middle of the conversation."

"Dr. Kang began to feel that the situation was not as simple as he had thought."

...He just could not understand why.

"Dr. Kang felt that he should be the one truly worrying about the black fog which he knew Tang Xiao spoke of was all his own concern, but in reality, he did not have to investigate any further because there was no expansion, and Dr. Kang had a sense that this matter is not to be communicated."

"But the black fog disease has already disappeared for a very long time, and no one has ever heard of a hereditary disease, have they?"

"The black fog disease’s future generations?"

"According to the centuries-old claim, many people from Chuanbai City suffer from this black fog disease, and a large number of them are from Chuanbai Market, which is seemingly related to the ancestral homeland of Roberto Tang, but, I am but sharing this with you; you would have investigated this yourself. Although it takes considerable effort to trace back generation upon generation, there is some evidence that suggests it was not seven hundred years ago, but a millennium ago, when the Mechanism City was enveloped in black fog, leading to a very large number of its citizens being quarantined and only able to stay in their foreign homeland, waiting for the black fog to dissipate," Xiao Tang said. "Continue, please," he urged.

"Go ahead," Dr. Kang said as he listened to the man on the phone, almost as if something suddenly came to him, and he watched Tang Xiao get into the departing car’s shadow.

After finishing the procedures for his hospital discharge, Tang Xiao left the hospital.

Perhaps by finding someone with the same perspective, who gathers and raises a single voice in a crowd, he himself should be able to hold up to this light utterance and maybe discover even more about the black fog’s mysteries—Dr. Kang used his hand to press his nose slightly, shaking off the slight grogginess from the phone’s jarring ring that woke him up early the next morning.

...

...

Dr. Kang watched Tang Xiao board the car and leave, while he dialed the phone number of the man who had given him some details.

"You’re really smarter than most kids, much more than you should be if you really believe in some event, you shouldn’t start urging those guys who don’t trust you to believe right away, you’re supposed to find similar folks, suppose you do have a way. I do recognize that from one angle, but I’m not the one who can cure you, and I believe that you’re ill, actually, I’m quite conflicted towards you. But, Xiao Tang, let me give you some advice on behalf of your friends, your elders; we’ll continue with the discharge procedures, so go ahead," Chu Qing said.

Dr. Kang slowly shook his head as he watched, still unable to accept what Tang Xiao said, still knowing that his words were east and west, opposite of what the family talked about.

"I haven’t lied to you, I haven’t deceived you, you would know when the time comes, when someone brings information from inside the black fog, when it sails out of the black fog! There will be one day when the ship will emerge," Xiao Tang insisted.

"Tang Xiao, you can’t have a single doubt about the treatment Dr. Chang administers at the hospital," he said.

"Despite the special and strange events within the Black Fog, it seemed that Tang Xiao was the only exception, completely unaffected and behaving normally again," he observed.

"But Tang Xiao, although his behavior seemed just like any other child of his age, undoubtedly harboring countless little fantasies, Dr. Kang couldn’t help but find it impossible to fully comprehend his thoughts, disregarding any skepticism," he contemplated.

"The messages coming from dreams, like this one, seem to be the foundation of why I’m here. With every relentless dream, I begin to understand the world inside the Black Fog, but not all of it," he whispered.

Tang Xiao stated with an unfathomable conviction:

Dr. Kang watched Tang Xiao with a knowing look.

"Xiao Tang, you’re telling me about your nightmares that kept coming without end, and now I want to know if there’s anything more beyond the Black Fog spreading out into reality, something strange outside. Haven’t you heard someone repeating your own words in your dreams? Are those whispers just your own thoughts or have you actually heard someone else’s?" Dr. Kang inquired.

"It’s quite difficult, actually... these areas might also have incredibly detailed plans for passage through certain sections, but regarding the Black Fog area, it’s not the same as saying there are definite boundaries," he said.

"Perhaps in those three countries with vast borders, there’s really something massive on the maritime surface, even bigger than some enormous research vessel from science fiction movies, compared to the affluent and colossal ships, with far more people onboard. There must be a lot of strange creatures on that ship, right? If there really were strange creatures from seven hundred years ago, then the seven hundred years Xiao Tang speaks of cannot simply be ignored; the sea area has become even more significant," he pondered.

Tang Xiao shook his head and said:

Dr. Kang decided it was finally time to conduct a thorough examination of his friend’s body, "Since you’ve been having these continuous nightmares, I want to know if, besides dreams of the Black Fog engulfing everything, there’s something else out there. Is there anything more, besides the obvious oddities?"

Despite displaying the same ordinary appearance, why had Tang Xiao shown anxiety about the Black Fog? And although no one knew what happened to him afterward, it was as if he had simply succumbed to some kind of disease that ate away at him.

In the eyes of Dr. Kang, Tang Xiao manifested a case of Black Fog madness that was historically unique, something that had already gone far beyond the mere historical records of Black Fog diseases.

Tang Xiao manifested directly.

As time flowed by and the elderly succumbed to other ailments post the Black Fog, it seemed as though the disease had virtually ceased to exist, replaced by the gradual restoration of normalcy in some people.

But during the descent of the Black Fog, people went mad by the thousands across the remaining eighty-two countries of the world. This disease, however, didn’t just instigate some mere childhood prank; its origins were inexplicable.

Tang Xiao had become synonymous with the Black Fog madness in a nation with a mighty lineage.

Chu Qing had his difficulties, but whispering rumors and issuing warnings was all he could do at the time.

Tang Xiao had once been deeply concerned that unearthly creatures would run rampant if they escaped the Black Fog zone, leading to a complete breakdown of society, even voicing loud warnings on the street corners.

Could extraterrestrial life really only aim to conquer three regions in seven hundred years? This explanation appeared less than credible.

Naturally, people favored an even more outrageous theory—an extraterrestrial descent.

All adjacent areas and maritime zones were shrouded in the Black Fog... which this massive energy from Pang possibly elicited, conceivably just technology of a particular kind developed by Mechanism City, inducing abnormal energy release.

With its vast territorial scope, it’s no surprise that even the greatest historical intellects found it difficult to influence the world as much as Mechanism City had rapidly risen seven hundred years prior. The people of Mechanism City were very clever, their technology advanced beyond what seemed possible, and there were indeed numerous theories regarding the sudden disappearance of these regions.

No one really knew what it was like beyond the Black Fog, as hardly anyone had returned, and thus far, no physical evidence of it has emerged.

In actuality, no evidence awaited those who ventured into these forbidden zones; all attempts at entry with any form of technology were rendered useless, deemed completely redundant.

The Black Fog zone seemed to definitively exclude the entire area, making the planet’s territories and maritime regions appear as if they were meticulously plucked out of existence, without sound or shadow.

Ultimately, none of these people ever came back. Despite incessant national expeditions into this enigmatic zone of the world, which had now, over seven hundred years, become the forbidden sea home to the secretive Black Fog.

"After finding a good job when you’re older, and performing well in your studies, you should be the one to continue the investigation into these matters... You needn’t worry about these things right now. You’re not required to bear the burden of our seven hundred years of scientific exploration aimed at uncovering the great disappearance of those three nations and the vast maritime territory that now makes up one hundred thirty-two countries," Dr. Kang continued. freewebnøvel.coɱ

"I’ve heard that your favorite drama series is about exploring the Hei Wu," he said. "You should at least take a look at some of the collections related to the Hei Wu in the library."

"You might be a little reassured to know that although the Hei Wu doesn’t expand, I have no idea what’s inside it. Every day, we are measuring all sorts of data within the Hei Wu, where every country’s forces are stationed along its perimeter. Haven’t you realized that the Hei Wu has been around for seven hundred years already?"

With this intriguing thought, Tang Luo took off his glasses and sighed again, despite simply being a doctor rather than a friend to talk with. freёwebnovel.com

"My name is Xiao Tang, Doctor Kang. You know that I am overseen because of my foreign nationality," he said. "But I don’t have any issues, and though I don’t think you can really treat me, if you think I don’t fit here, you can just let me go... But I’m only explaining the facts; I don’t have any illness... "

Tang Luo said,

"I can’t understand why you seem to have an unusual concern about the Hei Wu, but I have seen it expanding... I can’t recognize myself in that, and even though I’ve tried all kinds of treatments and you’ve given me your medications... maybe we should just jump over this environment, Doctor Kang... you really are the one who recognizes me... isn’t it odd?"

"Do you have any idea why you’ve come here yourself? Are you concerned about the Hei Wu for some reason?"

"I study at Lore-Aldrich University, Chuanbai, ninety years old."

"Age and work."

"Tang Luo, Xiao Tang."

"Surname."

Each time the session began, Doctor Kang really took it seriously. No matter how tired he was, he would sit upright and follow the protocol every time.

Tang Luo’s voice was slightly softer. "Doctor Kang, let’s just begin."

Chuanbai was tired of treating him, just tired, but Tang Luo, who still thought in ways from before, was extremely tired after half a year of treatment. He had been sent to the Lore-Aldrich asylum after being diagnosed with a mental issue. Though he had tried to change these results many times and had resisted, he just couldn’t accept other people’s ways of thinking, and that was something he couldn’t realize.

He really hoped he could make Doctor Kang understand his perspective, but he knew he wanted to leave. He shook his head again after nodding.

"This is the last time I will check you," Doctor Kang said, "as the hospital considers you to be fundamentally normal, despite presenting some abnormal behaviors that are only a concern due to their peculiarity, but not necessarily abnormal. Because of your specific reactions to certain stimuli and only slightly unusual anxieties compared to an ordinary person, we will let you go whatever happens in this examination, as it shouldn’t affect your life. But this is also because I estimate, that these anxieties of yours, including recognizing certain things, don’t necessarily indicate that something is wrong."

"Am I not supposed to be released from this hospital?"

"I have often thought about what you said, Xiao Tang, that it’s true only if you say it, and mine is false, even though sometimes I believe otherwise. I rarely see someone as stubborn as you," said Doctor Kang, grabbing the medical record file.

There was a quick arrival at the office to do a practical report.

Tang Luo realized something, but he didn’t say much, just nodded.

Doctor Kang smiled, unable to hide a trace of reluctance in his eyes. "Then wake up with me and go make this period’s report."

Tang Luo, noting Doctor Kang’s fatigue, said to the doctor,

"Awake?"

The end goal was not to kill mercilessly,

but these strange creatures, like or similar to zombies or persons with extreme offensive desires, did not always produce any results, even when he fought frantically and ran away with his friends.

He dreamed again of those eerie monsters that always emerged from some area within a certain zone. It was as if every morning for Tang Luo was just like any other past morning, riddled with anxiety.

(After the halfway point, you won’t need to doubt the contents of the book. Unusual things will happen; rest assured, fellow readers. Chapter 001/22 is fully completed. The alignment with the White Silver Union’s machines is no longer necessary.)