The fatty waved his hands repeatedly upon hearing Ye Tiancheng's praise.
"I don't deserve any credit here. I'm just a bodyguard and a laborer, incapable of thinking. All the credit goes to Captain Nie and Assistant Liang."
Nie Chongyang chuckled and said, "If it weren't for Fatty, ordinary people like us wouldn't have the ability to break into this place. And it's because you're here that we can search for clues with peace of mind, without any worries."
Fatty scratched his head sheepishly.
Ye Tiancheng listened to their conversation without interrupting. After they finished speaking, he finally said, "The pattern you're talking about, Xiao Huli and I actually discovered it too, just not as early as you did."
Then, he roughly recounted his and Xiao Huli's previous experiences to Nie Chongyang and Fatty.
"When Xiao Huli and I realized something was wrong, it was after we went downstairs. We found that the stairs were endless, and we realized it was a ghost wall."
Upon hearing Ye Tiancheng mention this, Fatty interjected, "That's pretty much what Captain Nie and the others guessed."
Ye Tiancheng and his companion weren't as prepared at the time. To be precise, their preparations were focused in the wrong direction, so they failed to guard against what they should have, leading to a later realization of the problem.
He nodded to Fatty, "After we discovered the ghost wall, we immediately used talismans and such. When we found we still couldn't get out, we gave up on going downstairs to avoid wasting energy and decided to just pick a floor and check it out."
This was quite close to what Fatty had guessed. Fatty understood Ye Tiancheng and his companion well, so he could guess with about eighty to ninety percent accuracy.
Ye Tiancheng asked Fatty and the others, "Speaking of which, how did you all enter this space? This shouldn't be a mere illusion or hallucination; it can even be considered an independent space. However, neither Xiao Huli nor I have been able to determine the entry point or the scope of this space."
"Let me first describe the situation Xiao Huli and I encountered."
"At that time, we had packed our things and were ready to act. But while we were in the room, we encountered those strange occurrences again, the same situations that Xiao Huli and I had encountered the previous two nights, with events from both nights happening simultaneously."
Ye Tiancheng narrated, simultaneously trying to analyze the situation.
"Initially, Xiao Huli and I didn't take it to heart, focusing more on the immediate matters. Since those things posed no threat to us, we were indeed careless at the time."
"Moreover, I could clearly see the illusion outside the window. Once you see through something clearly, you don't have to worry about being deceived by it, so we weren't too concerned. When we left the room, we intended to confront them directly. However, when we opened the door, we found nothing outside."
"And Xiao Huli told me that it was too clean outside, with no residual yin energy, which was very strange. We were prepared at the time and decided to take it one step at a time, but we never expected that the issue would ultimately stem from entering an illusory space."
"Therefore, Xiao Huli and I couldn't determine exactly when we entered the illusory space."
After listening to Ye Tiancheng's account, Fatty frowned, deep in thought. Nie Chongyang and Liang Ping were also contemplating, analyzing the situation using their own more specialized methods and ways of thinking.
When facing these bizarre events, Nie Chongyang and Liang Ping, being ordinary people without cultivation and not skilled in metaphysics, were at a disadvantage. However, due to their professional backgrounds, they were not bound by fixed thinking patterns in some aspects, which gave them a significant advantage.
Nie Chongyang and Liang Ping discussed amongst themselves and then roughly explained their situation to Ye Tiancheng.
It was Liang Ping who stepped forward to narrate the situation.
He told Ye Tiancheng, "Our situation is also difficult to deduce at the moment. We're not sure about the specific node where the spatial change occurred, but we can be certain that the space began to change the moment we stepped out of our room."
"Although we didn't encounter the bizarre events you experienced, we were searching for various traces and clues at the time, so our attention was quite focused, and our nerves were taut. Therefore, before we even left the corridor, we sensed something was amiss, allowing us to detect the abnormality earlier."
"After the illusion was seen through, the entire corridor appeared mirrored to us."
Ye Tiancheng also said, "We realized the mirrored nature more clearly after leaving the stairs, which Xiao Huli and I also discovered."
Liang Ping continued, "Then, based on our judgment and combining it with what Mr. Ye just said, I do have some ideas."
Ye Tiancheng said, "Tell me."
Liang Ping organized his thoughts, taking notes in his notebook to record various clues, and then slowly revealed his deductions.
"I still believe it's not just a single location where the change occurred. The problem likely lies in space and time. We are already quite clear about the spatial displacement within this space, so in reality, it should also possess certain compatible characteristics."
"Then, according to what Mr. Ye said, there's also an issue with the scope of this illusory space. However, regarding this scope, if there are any other characteristics we are unaware of, Mr. Ye might need to explain them so we can continue our deductions."
Ye Tiancheng had no objections and explained it to them in a general way, also as a form of popular science. If Nie Chongyang and the others encountered similar situations in future missions, they would be able to discern more, even without asking them.
He nodded slightly to Liang Ping and said, "Certainly, I'll explain it in general terms."
"Entities like illusory spaces are both illusory and real. They might originate from illusions, but the space itself is also real. However, such spaces often attach themselves to a real location. The scope of this location is not necessarily proportional to the area of the illusory space."
"Even a small, confined area can form an illusory space with an expanse of thousands of miles, as long as the entity creating the space has enough power to support such a large area."
Liang Ping mused, "So, it must be attached to a certain place and absolutely cannot exist out of thin air?"
Ye Tiancheng nodded.
"Yes, the place it attaches to can be large or small. Perhaps it's just a small teacup, or it might occupy the entire guesthouse, or even, if you will, the entire mountain range, all are possible."
After understanding this characteristic, Liang Ping once again reviewed the collected data and clues in his hand and pondered.
Assuming the illusory space truly possessed such a characteristic, making it an illusory space just as Ye Tiancheng described, then based on all the clues obtained so far, it could be judged that at least the real-world scope occupied by this illusory space should not be insignificant.
After all, if it only encompassed a small area, how could it guarantee accurately and randomly selecting them when choosing its prey?
The possibility that the guesthouse owner, Mei Mei, deliberately orchestrated this and placed Ye Tiancheng and Xiao Huli within the space could not be entirely ruled out. This would imply that it occupied at least the size of a room.
However, Ye Tiancheng and Xiao Huli were staying in a single room. Those chosen as prey might not necessarily want to stay in that particular room. Some people, even when traveling alone, prefer larger rooms like double rooms. Would the guesthouse owner, Mei Mei, and her husband abandon their chosen targets for such reasons?
Liang Ping didn't think so.
Therefore, he was more inclined to believe that this illusion should at least cover most of the guesthouse.
It might not cover all five floors, but it was hard to say whether the upper four floors, where guests stayed, were all included.
Liang Ping roughly shared his thoughts with Ye Tiancheng.
Ye Tiancheng thought for a moment and then exchanged his and Xiao Huli's previous thoughts with Liang Ping. "Xiao Huli and I believe it should at least cover the guesthouse. I also think it's unlikely to be confined to just one room."
While they were discussing heatedly, Nie Chongyang occasionally joined in to exchange ideas. Xiao Huli was diligently studying things like Qimen Dunjia and couldn't spare much attention, only catching snippets of what Ye Tiancheng and the others were saying.
Fatty was relatively idle. He wasn't good at thinking, and after a while, he couldn't understand many things. In the end, he had to give up and sat down, waiting for Ye Tiancheng and the others to come up with a result.
With nothing to do, his attention began to wander, not concentrating.
Suddenly, he saw the teapot and tea on the stone table. His mind went blank for a moment, and he suddenly felt a dryness in his mouth. His hand unconsciously reached for the teapot's handle and found that the teapot had some weight, indicating it likely contained tea.
Fatty didn't know what was happening to him. He wasn't thinking much at all at the time.
He didn't even consider that in such a strange place, anything, including food and water, should not be touched or consumed lightly. Yet, he wanted to pick up the teapot and pour some tea.
He picked up an empty teacup, poured himself a cup of tea, and brought it to his lips.
Xiao Huli, tired from his research, suddenly looked up and saw Fatty holding a cup of tea, about to drink it. He was slightly stunned, then immediately realized what Fatty was about to drink.
He was greatly alarmed and jumped up, reaching out to slap the teacup from Fatty's hand.
Fatty, caught off guard, was hit squarely by Xiao Huli. The teacup immediately flew out of his hand, tea splashing everywhere. The teacup landed on the stone table, hit it with a crisp sound, and a slight cracking noise.
Then, it bounced lightly and began to fall off the table.
With a "crash," the teacup shattered completely this time.
The commotion caused by Fatty and Xiao Huli, and the sound of the breaking teacup, startled Ye Tiancheng, Nie Chongyang, and Liang Ping, who were engrossed in their discussion.
Instantly, Ye Tiancheng, Nie Chongyang, and Liang Ping all looked towards Xiao Huli and Fatty. After being startled by Xiao Huli knocking the teacup from his hand, Fatty felt a surge of inexplicable anger from nowhere.
He glared at Xiao Huli and shouted, "What are you doing!"
Xiao Huli was almost stunned by Fatty's shout and was also a bit bewildered. However, his mind was still clear enough to explain himself, and he honestly replied, "Brother Fatty, this tea cannot be drunk! There's something wrong with this tea!"
Ye Tiancheng quickly walked over, "What's going on? Don't argue, what happened?"