"Beep—"
The sound wasn't loud, but it entered her ears with unparalleled clarity.
It was like having an electronic timer inside her body; no matter where she went, even if she covered her ears, she could still hear that "beep—," as if it were coming from her heart or brain, impossible to avoid.
Wu You was awakened by this sound.
She lifted her head from the quicksand, her hair covered in sand, and looked at Gu Qingqing lying not far away.
Gu Qingqing was also awake, but less alert than Wu You, and didn't want to move at all.
Wu You sat up, first laboriously pulling out her phone to check the time—1:11:29.
"Qingqing, get up quickly, an hour has passed!" Wu You stood up, struggling to move through the sand, slowly approaching her friend. "We're out! The sand is slowly decreasing!"
Gu Qingqing struggled to sit up, only then realizing that the quicksand that had almost completely buried her was now much less.
Gu Qingqing wiped the sand off her face, feeling fortunate to have survived. Her gaze then fell on the large leather bag between them: "Is that thing still in there?"
Wu You had already picked up the leather bag and carefully reached inside. She pulled out a gleaming golden hourglass filled with gold sand: "Yes, it's still there."
Gu Qingqing also leaned forward, gazing at the triangular hourglass, its end filled with gold sand resembling an Egyptian pyramid.
Wu You's eyes dimmed. "What use is this to us? It's not like it's a fragment of wood..."
"At least it's something the leather pouch needs," Gu Qingqing said, putting the golden hourglass back into the pouch. "We've had this pouch with us since we came into this world, and nothing else can be put in it except this hourglass, so it must be useful to us. Maybe, just maybe, it can act as a key or something."
A gust of wind rose, and sand and stones flew everywhere. The wind grew stronger and stronger, and the two girls huddled together to shield themselves from the gale, the leather pouch tightly tucked into their arms.
After a few minutes, the wind gradually subsided.
With the wind, the sand also went away.
The wind carried away the last grain of sand.
The two girls were now standing on solid ground, surrounded by boundless emptiness.
Wu You slung the leather pouch securely over her shoulder, and she and Gu Qingqing gazed blankly at the vast expanse of sky and earth, as if it were the universe itself.
If a confined space can instill a sense of claustrophobic fear, then this vast world evokes a feeling of helplessness, like facing an endless ocean. It's
unclear whether it's sunrise or sunset; a splash of red appears on the horizon, not the red of a sunset glow, but a blood-red, as if someone has slaughtered a dragon on the horizon, its blood splattering across half the sky.
The other half of the sky is also a different color, half gray, the other half silvery-white.
Gu Qingqing, holding Wu You's hand, is completely unsure of what to do next.
They don't know how the other groups are divided, but it's obvious that their group is the weakest.
Wu You had previously encouraged Gu Qingqing, saying, "You handle the mental work, I'll handle the physical work; we're practically invincible duo!"
Now, however, they are at a loss.
Wu You frowns, staring at the gray patch of sky for a while, then takes a few steps forward, as if something there is drawing her in.
Gu Qingqing immediately grabbed Wu You, somewhat frightened by her companion's unusual behavior: "Wu You, what did you see?"
Wu You stopped, his eyes fixed on the gray sky: "Like a mirage, I saw... I saw some ancient people working! Working hard, sweating profusely!"
Gu Qingqing hurriedly wiped her glasses with her sleeve, put them back on, and looked in that direction, but it was still a hazy gray, and she couldn't see anything: "Maybe my eyesight is bad, or maybe you're more perceptive than me, I can't see anything! Tell me in detail, what kind of ancient people were they, and what were they doing?"
"I can't really explain it. Regarding the attire of ancient people, I only know of two types: the Qing Dynasty and other dynasties..." Wu You said, somewhat embarrassed. All he could do now was try his best to describe what he saw: "Anyway, these people aren't from the Qing Dynasty. They have their hair in a topknot, are shirtless, have cloth wrapped
around their waists, and wear rather baggy cloth trousers...it's the kind of clothing people wear for manual labor. I can't even tell what kind of work they're doing..." In Wu You's eyes, these scenes were like a movie viewed through a light gray veil, a documentary about ancient times.
"Is there any sound?" Gu Qingqing asked.
"What?"
"Are there any sounds in these people, these scenes?"
Wu You listened intently, and indeed, there was a sound—a piercing bray of a donkey.
Wu You quickly found the braying donkey in the scene. The donkey was looking around with its dumpling-like eyes, braying again when it got bored.
"These people are unloading things from the donkey cart," Wu You continued her narration. "Those things are gray, rectangular, and huge chunks. How big are they? About the size of a double elementary school desk, and as thick as… an oven."
Gu Qingqing ignored Wu You's inappropriate analogy, mentally converting the thickness of an oven into three encyclopedias…
"Is unloading all they're doing? Is there anything else?" Gu Qingqing felt like she was blind, and Wu You was her eyes.
"They unloaded these large, rectangular gray chunks from the donkey cart and then moved them onto a large rack. There was a pot sitting underneath with a fire burning. I don't know what they're doing." Wu You rubbed her eyes, carefully observing the people in the scene.
"Don't rush, keep observing," Gu Qingqing, though unable to see, stared intently at the gray sky, as if she could see it too based on Wu You's description. Once one is lost in reverie, one becomes deeply absorbed in it. "Can you see these people's expressions? What can you see on their faces? Is it the joy of labor, the anger of being exploited, or something else?"
Hearing this, Wu You's gaze was fixed on the person facing her, and the person next to her with their profile turned towards her: "It's hard to say. They seem quite happy, but this happiness seems like a secret, furtive kind of smugness… and…" They were still somewhat panicked, looking left and right as if they were doing something shameful… A burly man was still scolding the braying donkey, as if afraid the braying would attract attention.
This was something Gu Qingqing hadn't expected: "Keep observing, pay attention to their hand movements, see what they're doing."
After about ten minutes, Wu You was astonished to see a burly man insert a stick-like object into a gray rectangular block. Two men then worked together to pull the stick out, and from the broken part of the block, gray water slowly flowed out, like a tap had been turned on.
The men hurriedly grabbed containers to collect the gray water, as if this was what they needed.
This was the entire process.
After listening to Wu You's description, Gu Qingqing remained silent for a long time. "I know absolutely nothing about this field. If Brother Mu or President Shao were here, they might be able to solve the mystery."
Wu You rubbed his eyes hard and took a few more steps forward. "I can't see anymore, the scene has disappeared."
"It's completely gone? What are you seeing now?" Gu Qingqing asked somewhat unwillingly. "Is it the same as what I saw? Some gray, cloud-like things?"
"No, it's like an old photograph. I can vaguely see those large gray squares, neatly stacked there. I don't know what they're for." Wu You turned around and looked at Gu Qingqing. "Should I try looking in other directions?"
Gu Qingqing: "You mean, similar scenes might appear in the other two sides of the sky?"
"Let's try." Wu You turned around, this time facing the silvery-white sky. "That direction is really bright, almost blinding."
Gu Qingqing couldn't see anything blinding at all, only a faintly bright cloud floating there.
"Qingqing, I think I understand why I can see now. It might not have much to do with eyesight." Wu You squinted, continuing to stare at the silvery-white expanse. "According to what we say in my hometown, I was a bit psychic when I was little. My great-grandmother said my eyes were exceptionally clear, allowing me to see things others couldn't. Because of that, I was always sick as a child, and I always had to have my great-grandmother perform a 'frightening' and 'exorcising' ritual to get better.
"Later, my great-grandmother said she would find a way to cover my eyes, so I wouldn't be bothered by those things anymore…"
"Then why now…" Gu Qingqing asked.
"Ever since our bone structure was revealed, I've felt that the thing my great-grandmother used to cover my eyes seems to have disappeared… I think I can see those things from my childhood again, but I've also become bolder since entering the realm of illusion, unlike before when I would be easily frightened. Before, I thought it was just my imagination, but today these scenes are exceptionally clear, and I can see them again." Wu You's expression was unreadable.
Gu Qingqing stepped forward and took her hand, saying nothing.
Wu You rubbed her eyes again: "No, it's too bright in that direction. I can't see anything clearly now, only a vague tree-like thing..."
Gu Qingqing was a little distracted, looking at Wu You's bright eyes: "Now I understand, everyone nominated by the painting had their reasons."
Wu You nodded, having thought of that herself, and looked at the blood-red sky.
Perhaps at first glance she couldn't see it clearly, but when Wu You looked a second time, she covered her eyes and let out a sharp scream.
Gu Qingqing quickly blocked Wu You's view with her body, patting her back to try to comfort her: "What's wrong? Did you see something scary?"
After a while, Wu You nodded, but subconsciously turned her face away, avoiding the blood-red sky with apprehension.
Gu Qingqing wasn't in a hurry to ask, just gently patting Wu You's back, and then heard her say: "They're all ghosts."
"Ghosts?" "
Yes, that blood-red sky was full of ghosts, and they were all killed."
"Ghosts? Killed?" Gu Qingqing was a little scared, but after thinking about it carefully, she felt that the logic didn't make sense.
"Those ghosts were disemboweled, or had their limbs severed or their heads cut off… that red color was stained with the blood of ghosts!" Wu You felt his hair stand on end and kept turning his face away from that blood-red sky.
Gu Qingqing couldn't see any of what Wu You was saying; she could only see that unnaturally red sky.