[Explorer Assessment: Abandoned Factory Ruins]
The pale blue transmission light dissipated. As Chen Kong and the two others landed, they frowned, choking on a pungent smell of rust.
Under their feet was an oil-stained concrete floor, surrounded by collapsed steel-smelting furnaces and rusted, twisted mechanical conveyor belts.
Not far away, several broken pipes were 'drip-dropping' an unknown black liquid. The distant chimney stood like a ruined giant pillar, looking particularly oppressive beneath the grey sky.
Just as Chen Kong and An Qin were observing the environment, the lens on the cameraman's head emitted a faint red light, and he spoke: "Detector activated. Coverage radius is 50 meters. No Star Beast or pursuer signals currently detected."
"There's an abandoned control room 30 meters to the northwest with metal shielding; it's suitable for hiding."
"15 meters to the northeast is an equipment warehouse, piled high with discarded parts; it also offers good concealment."
In an instant, the cameraman had analyzed the surrounding environment quite thoroughly.
Hearing this, Chen Kong asked curiously, "Did you do this often before?"
In response, the cameraman looked somewhat confused: "Analyzing the surroundings and finding the perfect shooting angle and position—isn't that the most basic competence of a cameraman?"
Chen Kong: "..."
The basic competence of a cameraman... it sounded reasonable, but something felt subtly wrong?
Just as the three were about to head towards the control room, the cameraman suddenly stopped. His lens sharply turned towards a nearby abandoned residential building, and he spoke in a puzzled tone: "Wait a moment, there are multiple abnormal signals there."
Hearing his words, Chen Kong and An Qin immediately halted.
"What do you say? Should we check it out?"
The cameraman replied, "I'm fine with anything."
Chen Kong decided instantly: "Then let's go take a look."
"Alright."
With the decision made, they followed the cameraman into the abandoned residential building.
The hallway was filled with shattered bricks, and electrical wires hung from the ceiling like a messy spider web.
Before they could go deeper, several whooshing sounds suddenly came from overhead.
The next second, several arrows polished from scrap metal fiercely shot towards the cameraman.
"Watch out!"
Chen Kong instinctively wanted to pull him, but the cameraman stood still, allowing the arrows to strike his body with a 'ding-ding' sound.
Amidst the crisp metallic collision, the arrows didn't even scratch the cameraman's clothes. Instead, they bounced off and fell to the ground, broken into two pieces.
Seeing the cameraman under attack, An Qin raised her hand, subconsciously wanting to retaliate in the direction of the attack.
In the nick of time, Chen Kong suddenly pressed her arm down and said, "Don't rush, he's fine."
The cameraman nodded and said, "It's truly nothing. Minor issues."
Hearing their words, An Qin frowned and looked up.
A few seconds later, several children in rags peeked out from behind the ruins.
Their skin had an abnormal grayish-green tinge, some children had scales growing on their arms, and others had turbid milky white eyes—clearly mutated forms resulting from radiation exposure.
Seeing these children, the cameraman merely glanced at them indifferently. Chen Kong was surprised but quickly calmed down, yet An Qin suddenly froze.
Her pupils slightly dilated, her lips trembled lightly, and her gaze was fixed on the children, as if she had seen an extremely familiar scene. Her eyes were filled with trance and disbelief, and even the Star Energy within her body began to churn.
Noticing her abnormality, Chen Kong kindly asked, "What's wrong?"
An Qin suddenly snapped back, quickly lowering her head and whispering, "I'm fine."
She's fine?
Chen Kong looked at her constantly trembling body, filled with doubt.
This reaction... clearly indicated that she was not fine.
[Rest Hall in front of the Holographic Screen]
"Tendo, it seems you found out a long time ago."
Caroline suddenly spoke, her emerald eyes fixed on the abandoned factory on the screen.
In response, Tendo said easily, "Isn't that obvious?"
"Indeed."
The dimensional audience looked confused, unsure what the two were talking about.
Fortunately, Tendo quickly revealed the whole truth.
He looked at Caroline and smiled, "Caroline, sometimes your reaction is too deliberate. If I couldn't tell that this was such an obvious dream illusion, then my eyes would be worthless."
As he spoke, Tendo looked up at the raccoon administrator on the screen, who was leisurely walking toward the abandoned factory, and smiled, "From the moment we stepped onto the Rose Staircase, we had already entered someone's domain."
"The spatial loop of the Rose Staircase, the ruins of the childhood city, and now this factory full of 'oddities'—everything is merely a product pieced together from fragments of our subconscious memories."
"And that suggestive sound of the bell, and the sense of 'splicing' after each transmission, and the raccoon's so-called 'Dynamax'..."
Tendo paused, his gaze sweeping across An Qin on the screen, saying meaningfully, "...I don't think anyone truly believes that someone can move an SSS-level fallen zone into the Countermeasures Bureau, right?"
Hearing Tendo's words, Caroline did not reply.
As Tendo's partner, she was well aware of her position.
What she needed to do was to 'cooperate' with Tendo at the right time, not to compete with him for dominance.
Caroline knew her place well.
From the moment she saw the city where Tendo had lived as a child, she had actually realized the essence of this assessment scenario.
The reason she deliberately spoke of things she already knew was to tell Tendo in this manner:
He... was the one in control of everything.
But Tendo clearly saw through her intention and immediately teased, "Caroline, you really don't need to be so deliberate. After all, I've never treated you as a 'tool.'"
Even though Tendo said this, Caroline still had no intention of changing.
Just as Tendo never changed his own mind...
Hearing the conversation between the two, the dimensional audience on Site 13 finally reacted.
'Holy crap! So all this was a dream illusion? No wonder so many familiar scenes appeared.'
'Does that mean the stairs Tendo and the others couldn't get out of before were also because this is a dream world, with rules that don't conform to reality?'
'If that's the case, perhaps that little raccoon didn't tell the truth either. Did its Calamity ability really choose Dynamax, or was it a Domain?'
'Who knows? Maybe the guy didn't lie, and the one who created this dream venue is someone else entirely.'
'An Qin's reaction just now! Could this factory be her memory? That's why Tendo said 'human nature' is the variable!'
'Caroline also found out! She's just deliberately cooperating with Tendo! The chemistry between these two is too sweet!'
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