Jiang Baimian's heart twitched, and she raised her head, looking towards other parts of the island.
Unlike just now, there were more and more figures on the jagged rocks.
Some of them were hanging on protruding stone pillars, their tongues strangled and sticking out; some had been shot numerous times, their flesh a bloody mess; some seemed to have had their heads smashed hard by a blunt object, caving them in, with red blood and white brains flowing out. There were all sorts of horrific sights, but all the faces belonged to Jiang Baimian.
"Is it the fear of death itself?" Jiang Baimian muttered to herself silently.
Frankly speaking, she was used to seeing death. Whether it was the tragic state of Blackrat Town after being attacked by bandits, or the corpses littering the ground during the Wild Grass City riots, they were no better than the current scene. However, looking at the individuals with her own face, with the same figure and appearance, who had died tragically, she still felt quite apprehensive.
Normal people would have this kind of reaction, except for outliers like Shang Jianyao.
Jiang Baimian subconsciously took a breath, only to feel her mouth and nose filled with a thick, bloody smell.
She endured the discomfort and remained still, not making any extra attempts, only slowly walking around the island, trying not to miss any corner.
During this process, she occasionally saw her head being hit by a bullet, bursting open on the spot like a watermelon smashed on the ground. At other times, she discovered her body broken and discarded in the grass, having clearly suffered terrible torture while alive.
These scenes were so real that Jiang Baimian suspected that after exiting the "Sea of Origins," she would have nightmares for many days because of them.
Finally, she couldn't help but mutter:
"Die if you must, but did it have to be so grotesque…"
At the same time, she began to think about how to get through this island of fear.
Clearly, simply trying to adapt to such a scene would not be successful. Otherwise, with Jiang Baimian's psychological resilience, she could visit here for a while every day, and in a week or two, she could face each "self" who had died while laughing and joking, admiring the bloody scene while fantasizing about conjuring some snacks to eat.
"The key to conquering this island of fear lies in reality? But who would put themselves in a life-or-death situation for no reason? In that case, ninety percent of people would really die… Besides, many people, after experiencing a life-threatening crisis, would instead be scared out of their wits, leaving behind even more severe psychological trauma…" Seeing that her mental energy was almost exhausted, Jiang Baimian left the "Sea of Origins" and opened her eyes in the jeep.
She sat up gently and turned her gaze to the back seat, intending to ask Shang Jianyao about the results of his exploration of the "522" room cruise ship shadow tonight.
Using the moonlight shining in from the car window, Jiang Baimian's eyes reflected a picture:
Shang Jianyao had woken up at some unknown time, and was pressing his face against the right-hand car window, as if he had turned into a statue.
"What's wrong?" Jiang Baimian asked with a slight frown.
Shang Jianyao turned his head and made a "shush" gesture, signaling her not to speak.
Then, he turned his head again and continued to press his face against the glass surface, looking out the window.
Jiang Baimian suspiciously climbed into the driver's seat area and, following Shang Jianyao's line of sight, began to examine the situation outside.
Long Yuehong and Bai Chen were each holding weapons, patrolling around the campfire and the jeep, while Genaeva was sitting cross-legged between the fire and the vehicle, seemingly in sleep mode.
"What's so special about this?" Jiang Baimian muttered.
As soon as she finished speaking, she saw Long Yuehong and Bai Chen look at each other, and after a brief eye contact, they slowly moved their gazes away, their smiles either increasing or decreasing.
Auntie-like smile unconsciously appeared on Jiang Baimian's face.
She turned her head and said to Shang Jianyao in a low voice:
"So, you're eating dog food."
Entertainment materials from the Old World are harmful.
Shang Jianyao pulled his face away from the car window glass, looked back at Jiang Baimian, and opened his mouth:
"Woof woof woof."
"…" Jiang Baimian really couldn't bring herself to lower her status, or rather, to put her status as low as Shang Jianyao's.
That would be equivalent to lying on the ground!
"Ahem." Jiang Baimian cleared her throat and said, "Did you get through the '522' room cruise ship shadow? What did you gain?"
"I got through it." Shang Jianyao quickly became serious, "I gained another ball of chaotic aura, and it should be able to integrate into your 'Chaotic Right Hand,' increasing its number of uses."
"You can actually get chaotic aura…" Jiang Baimian frowned, "Although I also know that everyone's mental world and psychological shadow are independent of each other, and exploring the same scene in '912' room won't affect the situation in '522' room, but that kind of aura involving the 'New World' that can be integrated into the mind isn't unique…"
"This is called fair distribution." Shang Jianyao didn't care at all and stretched out his left palm, "Give me your 'Chaotic Right Hand.'"
A chill quickly spread between the two. Shang Jianyao, while shivering and saying "This is simply an artifact for getting through the summer," transferred the newly acquired chaotic aura into the glove. The two merged perfectly, with the source clearly being the same.
"You've been saying that you've gotten through many summers." Jiang Baimian quickly stuffed the "Chaotic Right Hand" back into her tactical backpack.
"Pangu Biology" is located underground, and the difference between spring, summer, autumn, and winter is whether the nights are cool, cold, or even colder.
Without waiting for Shang Jianyao to respond, Jiang Baimian mentioned her third island of fear.
Shang Jianyao's eyes gradually lit up:
"Sounds very interesting."
Seeking novelty and the unusual, he was eager to have the other Shang Jianyaos strike different death poses.
"So, you don't have a similar island of fear." Jiang Baimian sighed helplessly.
Shang Jianyao looked regretful:
"There are also people among us who are afraid of death."
This referred to the cowardly and timid one.
"Do you have any ideas on how to overcome this kind of fear?" Jiang Baimian skillfully brought the topic back on track.
Shang Jianyao thought for a while and said:
"Everyone has a fear of death. Except for a few people who are crushed by the pain of life or who have mental illnesses, we are all afraid of death, and we all want to borrow another five hundred years from heaven…"
As Shang Jianyao's voice gradually rose, Jiang Baimian calmly stopped him:
"Don't sing!"
It took Shang Jianyao more than ten seconds to regain his original thoughts:
"Finding the value of life and understanding the meaning of death will allow us to face it more calmly."
"For example, people like Zhang Lao and Huang Weiyuan?" Jiang Baimian asked thoughtfully.
Shang Jianyao nodded heavily.
…………
Thanks to the several highways repaired by the "Savior Army" and the settlements and rest stops along the way, the "Old Task Force" arrived at the ice plains in less than three days.
It was midsummer, and this place was relatively far south, so Jiang Baimian and the others did not see frozen earth. What they saw were wild grasses of varying lengths and patches of black-green forest.
After replenishing their supplies, they entered the ice plains. The roads gradually became dilapidated, and the intervals between settlements became longer and longer.
After two or three days, even relic hunters were rarely encountered. The earth was vast and desolate, and the number of animals increased.
In this way, the "Old Task Force" headed towards Taicheng, following a map that was not too accurate or, rather, had become difficult to find reference points for.
Many days passed, and a large lake appeared before their eyes.
This was no smaller than the Rage Lake near Redstone Collection. Long Yuehong could not see the end of the water surface at a glance.
The lake water was clear, reflecting the flawless blue sky, as beautiful as a fairyland.
"It's so beautiful." Long Yuehong couldn't think of a suitable line of poetry for a long time.
Bai Chen echoed:
"The weather is also very good."
"We'll rest early today and set up camp by the lake." Jiang Baimian knew that on a long journey, she had to let the team members relax their minds appropriately and not keep that string tight all the time.
As the jeep stopped, Shang Jianyao pushed the door open and went straight to the lake.
He had his eye on an old world swing chair that stood there, and he couldn't wait to sit on it.
This was the him who valued emotions but had a very young mental age.
Bang!
The swing chair collapsed directly, and Shang Jianyao fell to the ground, covered in dust.
Long Yuehong forcibly held back and didn't laugh, lest Bai Chen think he was psychologically dark.
Bai Chen and Jiang Baimian both smiled, but they weren't too gloating.
"Why didn't you check it first?" the honest Genaeva asked with concern.
Shang Jianyao had no shame at all:
"I couldn't let Little Red get there first!"
I'm not a kid! Long Yuehong grumbled in his heart.
Shang Jianyao continued:
"He would definitely try to please Little White and invite her to sit together."
Uh… Long Yuehong suddenly felt like he had really missed something.
To cover up his embarrassment, he walked to the lake, looked at the clear blue water, and said to himself:
"I wonder what the quality of the fish meat here is…"
As soon as he finished speaking, several fish underwater opened their mouths at him, all revealing two rows of white teeth.
Snap, several black tentacles sprang out from another larger fish, slapping the water surface, seemingly trying to drag Long Yuehong down.
Long Yuehong hurriedly took a few steps back:
"This?"
Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and said:
"This place doesn't belong to the real Old World ice plains yet, but is a product of the climate change and expansion of the ice plains after the destruction of the Old World.
"The reason why the climate in this area changed drastically, I think, is inseparable from the bombardment of various high-energy weapons, and the pollution left behind must be very serious."
She was explaining why deformed fish would appear in the fairy-tale-like lake.
"No wonder there isn't a settlement in such a large lake." Bai Chen nodded.
According to her understanding, if there was such a lake with good water quality and a large number of fish, it would definitely attract a group of wilderness wanderers to migrate here in the spring and head south in the autumn.
Living by the water and hunting prey.
As she spoke, Bai Chen looked around.
Suddenly, she noticed a few black dots where the water met the sky, seemingly boats.