Chapter 499 - 498: Time Wilderness, Strange Time Trap
The instant Chu Sheng and Gu Yuexi passed through the spatial rift, the scene before them changed dramatically.
Gray.
All that met their eyes was a world of pure, unadulterated gray.
The entire world seemed to be covered by a heavy gray filter, creating an indescribable sense of oppression and deathly silence.
The sky held no sun, moon, or stars—only an eternal, unchanging gray glow that silently permeated the air from all directions, constituting the sole source of light.
Below them lay a boundless gray expanse.
Scattered across the ground were the halves of collapsed, giant stone pillars, weapons long-since rusted and broken, and ancient riverbeds dried to nothing but cracked earth.
Everything exuded a sense of ruin, as if it had been utterly abandoned by time.
Yet, scattered across this seemingly lifeless wilderness, grew nameless, bizarrely shaped flowers, entirely jet-black, adding a splash of ominous color to the monotonous gray.
Chu Sheng flapped his wings, hovering in midair as he carefully sensed his surroundings.
The air composition was no different from the outside world.
The concentration of Spiritual Qi in the air was also quite normal, perhaps even a little richer than in the outside world.
But something was strange.
He tried to absorb some and found that the flow and absorption of the Spiritual Qi had become exceptionally sluggish, as if a smooth-flowing stream had suddenly thickened into syrup.
Even the simple act of breathing took more effort than in the outside world.
He buzzed twice in Gu Yuexi’s direction.
’This damned place seems a bit strange.’
Gu Yuexi, however, remained calm. She scanned her surroundings vigilantly as she explained in a low voice,
"This is the first level of Secret Realm Zero: the Time Wilderness."
"This is an extremely rare type of Secret Realm, one that contains the Power of Time Law. It has three levels in total, and we’re on the first."
"The Time Wilderness,"
She had been here in her past life as the Empress, but by then, the Secret Realm had already been under official Great Xia development for several years. It was nowhere near as primitive and uncharted as it was now.
’Time Law?’
Hearing those two words, Chu Sheng’s mind instantly buzzed with excitement.
’Damn, talk about getting exactly what you wish for.’
’My Time Realm is stuck at the Great Success Realm, and I’ve been struggling to find a way to advance. This place is a treasure trove tailor-made for me!’
’If I can just find an opportunity to absorb a little... heheh.’
He thought gleefully to himself, then buzzed another question:
*BZZZ* (’Three levels? So how do we get to the next one?’)
"We have to find the... space-time anchor hidden on this level."
Gu Yuexi replied.
The two of them chose a direction as they spoke and started to press forward across the gray wilderness.
They had gone no more than a hundred meters.
Suddenly, a massive phantom over three meters tall and wielding a giant Battle Saber materialized without warning in front of Chu Sheng. It raised its blade and swung it viciously down at his head!
Startled, Chu Sheng instinctively prepared to use Instant Teleportation to dodge.
But as the Battle Saber fell, it passed straight through his body as if he were air, making no sound and inflicting no damage.
Then, the phantom dissipated, as if it had never been there at all.
’What the hell was that?’
Chu Sheng was stunned. ’The power that phantom radiated was no joke!’
"Don’t be alarmed."
Gu Yuexi’s voice rang out just in time.
"Those are just phantoms of battles that took place here thousands of years ago, or even longer. They don’t exist on the same plane of space-time as us, so they can’t harm us."
She paused, her tone growing more serious.
"However, you must be careful. On the extremely rare occasion that the space-time here momentarily folds, these phantoms will briefly materialize and become incredibly dangerous."
After hearing this, Chu Sheng couldn’t help but marvel internally.
’Wow, that’s incredible.’
’A Demigod Level Secret Realm, all right. Every part of it is just bizarre.’
...
The human and mosquito duo continued onward. They encountered several more battle phantoms along the way, but no incidents occurred.
Soon, they spotted a figure up ahead.
The person wore a standard-issue Jing University Combat Suit, appearing to be one of the nine students from the first group that entered the Secret Realm.
’That’s strange,’ Chu Sheng thought.
’This group came in a full six days before us. Logically, they should have gone much deeper by now. Why is one of them still hanging around the outer region?’
He flew closer and saw that it was a female student.
Right now, this young woman was walking in place, her legs striding forward and her face etched with anxiety, as if she were in a hurry.
Bizarrely, however, her body remained rooted to the spot, not moving forward an inch.
And she seemed completely oblivious to it.
Chu Sheng noticed that the student was enveloped in what looked like a translucent Energy field, one that distorted the air like ripples on water.
But what startled him even more was her appearance.
Her face was already covered in fine wrinkles and her skin had gone slack. She looked less like a college student in her early twenties and more like a middle-aged woman in her fifties or sixties!
Just then, Gu Yuexi walked over. Seeing the student’s condition, she immediately frowned.
"She’s... stepped into a time-flow trap."
Her voice was tinged with gravity.
"They’re one of the most dangerous things in the Time Wilderness. Once you step into one, you’re trapped in a timeline where time flows at a completely different rate than the outside world. You also develop a kind of spatio-temporal cognitive impairment, making you completely unaware of how much time has actually passed for your own body."
Chu Sheng was even more shocked.
’Holy crap, that’s horrifying!’
*BZZZ BZZZ BZZZ, BZZZ BZZZ, BZZ! BZZZ?* (’So even though it seems like she’s only been in here for six days to us, from her perspective, it’s probably been thirty or forty years?’)
Gu Yuexi nodded, her expression complex, as if recalling memories from her past life.
"That’s right. We need to be careful, too. These traps are formed by a convergence of anomalous Power of Space-Time, making them almost impossible to spot with the naked eye. Once you fall in, there’s no getting out."
She glanced at the fellow student, still walking in place and visibly aging, and sighed softly.
There was nothing she could do for the young woman.
Perhaps her ultimate fate was to slowly age to death, completely unaware.
You could only say her luck was just that bad.
Just as Gu Yuexi was about to lead Chu Sheng around the area, he suddenly buzzed twice.
’Wait... maybe I have a way?’
With that, he flapped his wings and flew straight toward the distorted energy field.
’Are you kidding me? If it’s a tangible form of energy, then it’s practically a free meal! It’d be a crime not to take a bite!’
’Let’s just take a little taste!’