“During the consciousness link, Brother, you will enter a state of temporary loss of self, so please ensure your body is in a safe and relaxed state. Of course, if there is trouble outside, I will remind you to return," Iselin reminded.

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Iselin," Li Cheng颐 nodded.

He sat down on the floor next to Aisha, leaning against the bed.

The morning light outside the window shone through the hazy Miling grass smoke, as if illuminating the entire smoke into a golden hue.

"Ready, Brother, relax your guard, relax your consciousness," Iselin reminded.

"3."

"2."

"1."

*Pa-dak.*

In an instant, Li Cheng颐's eyes went dark.

The darkness was like a thick fog, surrounding him, impossible to dispel, impossible to illuminate.

But for some inexplicable reason, Li Cheng颐 felt very clear-headed.

Slowly.

As time passed.

The surrounding darkness began to brighten.

He was still sitting in the second-floor bedroom of the small building.

Aisha was gone, and he was the only one there.

The sunlight outside was still bright, and the door was open. Faintly, the sound of a woman's voice floated in.

But the voice was very hazy, and it was impossible to hear what was being said, only that it felt very cheerful and happy.

"Is this Aisha's hallucinatory consciousness?" Li Cheng颐 stood up, walked to the window, and looked out.

Outside was a vast expanse of white, blurred and unclear.

He thought for a moment, reached out, grabbed the window, and pushed it open.

*Kacha.*

The window was opened, and the white light outside shone in.

Li Cheng颐 quickly adjusted to the dazzling light.

He squinted, leaned out, and looked out the window.

"!?!"

Outside was not the garden downstairs, but an endless white sea.

No other colors, only a pure white sea.

The seawater was white, no fish, no waves, everything was calm, and there was no end in sight.

Li Cheng颐 looked up at the sky.

The distant sky was also pure white.

"Brother, all of this is Aisha's hallucination. I suggest you go find Tomila in her consciousness immediately. These hallucinations change quickly and may collapse into different things at any time," Iselin's voice sounded in his heart.

"Understood." Li Cheng颐 closed the window and turned to walk towards the door of the room.

At the corner of the stairs on the second floor, just as he was about to go downstairs, he suddenly stopped.

At the stairwell, a golden-haired woman in a white dress, with her hands folded over her abdomen, was quietly blocking the way. Blocking the only way in and out of the stairs, without moving.

Her face was a blur, and nothing could be seen clearly. Other than that, he could see that there were several pockets sewn into the dress, some of the edges were washed old, and it was clear that this dress had been worn for many years.

The woman's voice still floated from somewhere downstairs.

But the woman at the stairwell remained still, her blurred face facing Li Cheng颐 who was coming downstairs. Seeming to watch him quietly.

"Tomila?" Li Cheng颐 tried to greet her.

"." The woman did not answer, but turned around and walked away silently.

Li Cheng颐 frowned slightly and followed.

The sound of the woman's voice was clearer at this time, but the words had become extremely fast and blurred, and the meaning was still incomprehensible.

The two of them, one in front and one behind, passed through the first-floor living room and came to Tomila's bedroom.

Pushing the door open.

In the room, a short-haired man in a hospital gown was lying on a bed in the corner, coughing constantly.

Aisha was also here, giggling at a television drawn on the white wall.

The television, composed of black and white lines, was actually moving constantly, playing a cartoon composed of lines.

Tomila walked to the chair directly opposite the window, sat down, and sat in the chair.

The window was open, and a black, half-man-tall eagle was squatting on the windowsill, watching the chair.

It occasionally opened its mouth, making the same girlish laughter as Aisha.

For a time, the man's coughing, Aisha's laughter, the eagle's laughter, and the television's cartoon noise, all the sounds were like mixed paints, fixed and repeated, mixed into a ball, making Li Cheng颐 stand in front of the door, but vaguely feel a strange sense of horror.

*Gulu-lu.*

Just as Li Cheng颐 was about to enter the door.

His heel seemed to be hit by something.

He looked back and found a round tomato.

The red tomato was lying on the gray wooden floor, eye-catching and bright.

"If I were you, I would never go in." A palm-sized brown squirrel was squatting by the stairs in the living room, watching him without moving.

Obviously, it was the squirrel who threw the tomato just now.

"Who are you?" Li Cheng颐 was surprised.

He knew that this was inside Aisha's consciousness, and everything should be Aisha's fantasy and hallucination.

He was able to come in only by using Iselin's special ability.

But now... there was another creature that seemed normal.

"Me?" The squirrel's black and bright eyes revealed a trace of human-like color.

"You can call me the White Sea Emperor, the King of a Thousand Waters."

"." Li Cheng颐 looked at the brown squirrel, which was only the size of his palm, and felt that the other party was joking.

"I am Aisha's hero. I am her childhood partner," the squirrel replied.

"Also the guard here."

It looked at Li Cheng颐.

"Stranger, what do you want to do here?"

"I'm here to look for clues about the Sunken Temple and the Twisted Book," Li Cheng颐 replied.

"I don't know what the Sunken Temple is, but if you are looking for the so-called Twisted Book... perhaps I know where it is," the squirrel replied.

"! Are you sure?" Li Cheng颐's expression lifted.

"Of course, I'm sure. After all, I don't need to lie to a dying person," the squirrel said seriously.

"Dying person? What do you mean?" Li Cheng颐 felt something was wrong.

"This is Aisha's hallucination, and it is also the area where her body is located at the edge of the Non-Gate," the squirrel replied. "Do you know the Non-Gate?"

"Non-Gate?"

"Yes, the gate between the knowable and the unknowable. It is something that every life has, a boundary, an elusive diaphragm. Some people call it the spirit-flesh diaphragm, and some call it the boundary of the mind. It has many, many names."

The squirrel said.

"But my favorite is the Non-Gate."

"Who exactly are you?" Li Cheng颐 didn't think Aisha could understand so many things.

"I said, I am Aisha's hero. I am the White Sea Emperor, the King of a Thousand Waters. Of course, in fact, these are all Aisha's imagination. She hopes that I am a powerful hero who can rescue her from this damned cycle of pain. But unfortunately..." The squirrel spread its hands.

"Breaking through the Non-Gate is not only achieved by sublimating oneself, but there is another way: putting one's consciousness in a state of chaos. Under certain coincidences, it can accidentally be touched, entering the edge of the Non-Gate."

"Then where is the Twisted Book you mentioned?" Li Cheng颐 said.

"It's in this house. It is the only truth here. Someone put it in through the Non-Gate and hid it here, causing the Tomila family to fall into madness."

"The husband died, Tomila went crazy, but the Twisted Book had too great an influence on her, so she had to frantically write down the things that suddenly appeared in her mind. Unfortunately... no one can understand her."

"You're saying that someone deliberately put the Twisted Book here?" Li Cheng颐's heart trembled.

"Yes. I don't know who he is, and I don't remember what he looks like. Now, if you want to find the Twisted Book, I advise you to do it as soon as possible," the squirrel said. "If you can really take that book away, it will be a good thing for Aisha, for Tomila, and for us."

"You don't know where it is?" Li Cheng颐 frowned.

"No. I only know that it is in this house. In Aisha's hallucination, it has been stored for many years. Aisha herself is also trying to find it and throw it away. But she can't do it... even now that she is about to die, she can't do it," the squirrel sighed.

Li Cheng颐 stopped talking nonsense and quickly swept through the bookshelves in the living room. The few books that were there were all geography, history, and tobacco-making books.

After flipping through them, he quickly rummaged through the living room, lifting up the sofa and opening the fireplace to drill inside.

The display cabinet was moved away, and even the gap behind it was searched.

The first floor was quickly searched, and Li Cheng颐 quickly rushed to the second floor.

Soon, in the bedside table in the second-floor bedroom, he pulled open the drawer and found a book with a gray-white cover.

On the surface of the book was a drawing of a twisted open palm, with sharp nails and only four fingers. The palm was covered with many bloody wounds.

And below, a line of small characters was clearly written: Twisted Book. It was written in Black Sea script.

"This is it!" Li Cheng颐 didn't expect to find the target so easily, and immediately reached out to grab the book.

Suddenly.

*Chi.*

At the moment of touching the cover, his hand suddenly stopped. The special light sound from the Seven Intent Saint Spirit Technique, like peppermint-flavored clear water in his heart, instantly made him clear-headed and regain his senses.

"Iselin?"

Li Cheng颐 whispered in his heart.

No one answered.

His eyes turned cold.

He didn't remember when he could understand Black Sea script, and it was impossible for Iselin to remain silent from just now until now.

So...

*Buzz!*

In an instant, everything in front of him suddenly began to distort in his eyes.

The Twisted Book quickly faded and disappeared.

The bedside table and the bedroom also began to silently show a large number of cracks, and then...

*Hua-la.*

With a crisp sound, everything shattered.

"Brother! Brother!!"

Iselin's anxious voice seemed to float from a very far place, reaching his ears.

Li Cheng颐 slowly opened his eyes.

He was standing at the window on the second floor, outside was an endless white ocean.

One of his feet had already stepped out.

Just a little bit more, and he would have completely fallen out and plunged into the White Sea.

Quickly retracting his foot, Li Cheng颐 looked at the room behind him.

The bedroom was empty, with nothing.

No squirrel, no Aisha, and no Tomila.

He was the only one here.

"Brother! It's confirmed that there is a Twisted Book here! This book seems to distort everything that tries to get close to it! It is the only truth in Aisha's hallucination here. You must be careful!" Iselin was relieved when she saw that Li Cheng颐 had finally woken up.

"I understand..." Li Cheng頤 took a deep breath. "By the way, to ask, will the Twisted Book break easily?"

"...It shouldn't, after all, it's one of the relics of the Fallen race," Iselin replied.

"Wait! You wouldn't be... !?" She instantly reacted, but didn't finish her sentence.

*Boom!*

A brilliant golden flame instantly exploded in the second-floor room.

(End of chapter)