“Doo… dee.”
While he was still in a daze, the call was already connected.
“Hello? Why is it you again?” The voice on the other end sounded impatient. “Make it quick, I’m about to head out.”
Roland shook his head, forcing himself to concentrate. “Ah, it’s like this… I just took a look at this book, and its content is really quite…”
“Terrifying, right?” Garcia seemed to have anticipated his reaction. “Most people who read it for the first time feel that way, but it’s just fiction. You won’t think about it after a good night’s sleep.”
“Fiction?” Roland frowned. “How so?”
“The literal meaning,” a mocking laugh came from the receiver. “The Martial Artists Association investigated the volcanic ruins claimed by the writer and found that the place was swallowed by lava two hundred years ago—it’s an active volcano. Although it hasn’t had a major eruption, it hasn’t completely subsided in ten thousand years. Unless he could foresee the future, or lived for two centuries, and wasn’t afraid of high temperatures and thick smoke.”
The other party’s answer surprised him greatly. He paused for a while before asking, “So… the contents of are all made up by him?”
“A mix of truth and lies, I’ve never been very interested in archaeology. Master also said that if he wasn’t wearing a martial artist’s uniform and died in the association’s archives, this book wouldn’t even have been included.”
“But the association doesn’t know his identity…”
“That’s why the author himself is more famous. It can be considered one of the association’s unsolved mysteries. But don’t think you can figure it out. My master said that he turned the entire archives upside down for this matter, and in the end, it still came to nothing.” Garcia replied, “Anyway, there are so many rumors about this . Have you finished talking? I’m going to hang up.”
“No, wait—” Roland hurriedly said, “After you got this book… did you look at it again?”
He originally wanted to directly ask about the note, but ultimately changed his mind.
“I flipped through it on the way back, what’s wrong?”
“No, nothing… I just wanted to ask.”
“Click.” The call on the other end was disconnected—obviously, this almost teasing question had exceeded Garcia’s limit of patience.
He could hear the sound of 0827’s door closing even through two walls.
Roland couldn’t help but sigh softly. If he didn’t get straight to the point, such a question would only be counterproductive.
Firstly, *The Reason for Existence* is only half-written, and the red note is likely to be stuck in the last few blank pages. Even if one reads through the whole thing, there’s no guarantee they'll notice it.
Secondly, she took the shuttle bus back from the association. The level of seriousness of such casual flipping through to pass the time is questionable.
No matter how the other party answers, it’s impossible to determine if she has seen the note.
No—she definitely hasn’t.
Based on Garcia’s personality, if she had seen it, she would never have been indifferent.
In that case, these two messages are either a prank or some kind of rendezvous signal.
Roland couldn’t help but wish it was a prank.
The latter possibility is too… unbelievable.
Who is this note for? Who discovered it and is meeting whom, or does it have a specific target?
Logically speaking, he is more inclined towards the latter— this is not some top-secret document. Most martial artists have borrowed it because of its reputation. It's not strange that one person didn't notice it, but it's incredible that so many people haven't noticed it. Therefore, the note is likely not to have been in the book from the beginning, but was recently placed inside.
But it is precisely this rationality that makes him feel chills down his spine.
What does this mean?
It means that in the dream world—this illusion he created—someone has noticed his difference. Like when dreaming, a character in the dream suddenly turns around and gives you a ferocious smile.
Roland patted his cheeks, suppressing the chill in his heart. What is there to be afraid of? He silently reassured himself, even if these are just guesses for now, even if it’s true, as long as he leaves this
place, the time of the entire world will be frozen. Who else can threaten him?
Moreover, the message on the note is just waiting for contact, not actively coming to his door. This might also explain something.
As for where the Rose Cafe is, and what *Divine Will Manifestation* refers to, he should leave it to the Taqila witches to investigate.
He didn’t forget that he still had things to do.
He looked up at the clock on the wall, confirmed the time, took the prepared key from the bedroom, locked the door, and went downstairs.
In order to explore the memory fragments of the tube-shaped building, Roland had made many preparations since the Taqila witches arrived, such as making a duplicate of the key to each resident’s door, and also purchased violent lock-picking tools—after all, only he can see this “non-existent” memory door. If he really encounters a locked door, he can only roll up his sleeves and do it himself.
If it wasn’t for the expedition to Graycastle, this part of the exploration should have been completed long ago.
Roland went down to the fifth floor and quickly found room 0510.
Most people were napping at this time. The autumn sunlight made people feel lazy all over. The entire corridor was quiet and peaceful, forming a sharp contrast with the bustling traffic outside the street.
He inserted the key into the lock and turned it gently.
The door opened with a click.
A strange fragrance immediately rushed into his nose, causing him to involuntarily hold his breath.
It seems that although the dream world has reserved a place for demons, it has not corrected some details: such as body odor. In order to cover up their own scent, the heavy use of perfume has become a necessity.
Roland thoroughly searched the room for two minutes, confirmed that no one was there, locked the door, and then took out the hydraulic shears from his backpack and headed straight for the utility room at the end of the corridor.
This iron door was one of the few that was locked.
The fact proves that although what connects behind the door is mysterious and nonexistent, in the face of the Holy Sword of Physics mod, the door lock did not show the slightest extraordinary. After a few seconds, the lock buckle quietly broke into two pieces.
He swallowed his saliva and pushed open the heavy door—
Then Roland’s entire gaze was attracted by the scene in front of him.
He seemed to be standing on the edge of a bottomless cliff. The top of the cliff was ring-shaped, with a length of at least ten kilometers, almost unable to see the opposite side at a glance. This unique terrain surrounded an extremely magnificent mountain lake, but what flowed in the lake was not spring water, but dazzling red mist!
The height difference between the mist surface and the top was as much as several hundred meters. Looking down, it was like a shimmering red crystal, so thick that it was almost solid. If it weren't for the occasional mist rising from the bottom and shooting straight up into the sky along with the violent wind, forming "mist pillars" standing in the sky, it would be difficult for him to associate it with the dirty and dark "Bloody Mist" in his impression.
When those mist pillars, which were much thicker than castles and had a color as bright as freshly smelted steel, appeared one after another, Roland even had the illusion that he was standing on the surface of the sun, admiring the boiling of solar flares. However, it would not emit unbearably high temperatures. As the height increased, the color of the mist would also quickly darken, eventually spreading into the sky, forming a sky-covering red mist layer.
And this was not all he saw.
All around the ring-shaped cliff were towering black stone buildings—most of them were tower-shaped, with only slight differences in details. Because the sunlight was blocked by the red mist, the whole world appeared particularly dim. Only when multiple gushing occurred at the bottom of the red mist lake, these black towers would faintly reflect a trace of light.
Like a densely forested stone forest.