luo jia shan ju
Chapter 158 Hub of the Watchers
"I accidentally entered the Imaginary Space a long time ago. The scene is still vivid in my mind. I barely made it out alive," Levan said, still feeling shaken.
"Were those terrifying things I saw just illusions?" Zoey asked, still frightened.
Levan replied, "If you're in that space, everything you see, hear, and experience is real, and what happens to you is real too. I suspect if you die in there, you'll become part of the Imaginary Space."
The endless blackness that had surged up from under the floor Zoey had escaped from flowed slowly, and eventually stilled, transforming into a smooth black floor tile, merging seamlessly with the surrounding floor.
Zoey looked around. The enclosed space she was in was surrounded by black, glass-like blocks. They were semi-transparent, and she couldn't clearly see what was on the other side. She couldn't help but ask, "Where is this place?"
"This is the Observer Nexus."
Levan replied without hesitation, seemingly very familiar with the place.
"What is the Observer Nexus used for?" Fatty asked, immediately following up on Levan's answer.
"It's..."
Levan pointed to a floor tile, guiding the two to look inside. Fatty and Zoey peered in, trying to make sense of it.
However, behind the tile was like a black storm, constantly spinning, compressing, and changing in a bizarre and unpredictable way.
Levan said, "This is what the Imaginary Space originally looks like, but as soon as something else enters, the spatial layout and structure inside the Imaginary Space will rapidly change. The Observers can then detect the intruder through these changes."
Then, Levan led the two to another floor tile and had them look inside.
Although this floor tile was gray, it was possible to see that the color on the other side was colorful, completely unlike the appearance behind the previous floor tile.
Levan pointed to what was behind the tile and said, "Behind this tile is the simulated world."
Levan looked at Fatty and continued, "It's where the ape-men we encountered were."
"If external factors invade the simulated world and affect the things in the simulated world, even just a leaf, it will cause a series of chain reactions in the simulated world, which will lead to the rapid collapse and demise of the simulated world… Therefore, the job of the Observers is to monitor and observe the changes in different worlds through the Nexus, to remove bugs in time, and to ensure the normal operation of the simulated worlds."
From Levan's analysis and explanation, Fatty truly felt the experience Levan had accumulated from living here for more than two hundred years, and he no longer doubted Levan's identity.
Moreover, Zoey's observation of Levan's spoken language and certain words and slang further confirmed that Levan was very likely from around the 1800s.
Levan said helplessly, "I've lived here for so long, constantly playing hide-and-seek with the Observers. I'm really fed up with it—by the way, what year is it outside now?"
This was the first time Levan had asked about the time outside. Previously, Fatty had only suspected his identity and had not revealed the current time during the verification process.
"Has it been two hundred years?..."
After Fatty explained the current time, Levan fell into a long period of silence.
At first, Levan thought Fatty was from the same era as him. This suddenly created an age difference of more than two hundred years between them.
At the same time, Levan was extremely surprised that he could live for more than two hundred years. On the contrary, Fatty and Zoey were relatively calm, after all, they knew that meteorites had the ability to make people immortal.
When Levan came back to his senses, Fatty realized that only Zoey had been found so far, and Jennifer, Dodge, and others were still missing.
Zoey told Fatty and Levan about the situation at the time. They were separated in a burnt wasteland and had not seen each other since.
However, Levan didn't know where the burnt wasteland Zoey was talking about was.
Seeing Levan looking clueless, Fatty couldn't help but ask, "Can we find them in this Nexus?"
Levan shook his head. "We already tried it just now, and the only response we got was for Miss Zoey. This means that either the others are not within the monitoring range of this Nexus, or they have died..."
Fatty and Zoey naturally didn't believe that Jennifer would suddenly die, given her rich survival experience and the elixir. They heard from Levan's words that there were other Nexuses, which meant that Jennifer and the others were within the monitoring range of other Nexuses.
"Let's go find the other Nexuses quickly!"
Fatty suggested.
"But the only Nexus I know of—is this one..."
Levan said embarrassedly.