When he opened his eyes, he found himself in a dim laboratory. The indicator lights on the instruments flickered on and off, while a deep bluish glow from the sky blanketed the entire facility. A cluster of phantom researchers stood before him.
Zane walked among them and casually picked up a researcher's record.
[Observation Log No. 11371A: First Trial Use of the Automatic Observation Device]
[Successfully recorded all data indicators within Silent Zone environment HL-057. After simulation calculations and comparison with the theoretical data model, the fitting rate remained between 0.8 and 0.85, showing relatively high accuracy.]
[It's all thanks to Pascal and Xiangli Yao. This is a great victory! One day, through observation experiments within the Silent Zones, we'll definitely uncover the truth behind this disaster and rebuild a scientific system that belongs to this era.]
Cheers echoed one after another through the empty laboratory.
Zane remembered this experiment. Humanity had attempted to observe Sea Erosion in order to summarize the frequency characteristics of the Silent Zones, allowing them to predict where Silent Zones would appear ahead of time.
It was incredible... And insane.
Zane had never been stingy with his admiration for these researchers.
At that moment, a strange ripple emerged from the void and instantly spread across the entire laboratory. The next second, the scenery reset, and Zane realized he was once again standing at the laboratory entrance.
The lab remained dim. The dark blue night sky still watched these people in silence.
"The experiment failed again. The equipment just isn't precise enough. Can't we purchase more advanced equipment?!"
"Everything we had before has been overturned. There's no pattern to Sea Erosion at all. Everything we're doing is pointless!"
"We can't produce any results, and it's all your fault!"
"Xiangli Yao... Pascal, where's Xiangli Yao?! Where did he go?!"
———
Listening to the researchers, once rigorous, optimistic, easygoing, or reserved, now loudly arguing over the experiment results, Zane expressionlessly walked over to the experiment table and picked up another research log.
"There's no mistake. There's absolutely no mistake. The Automatic Observation Device must have malfunctioned. Or maybe we made an error during the experimental process."
"Let's try again. We'll try again..."
The moment Zane picked up the record, the strange ripple appeared once more in exactly the same way.
The scenery reset again.
This time, the entire laboratory was drenched in crimson light. The instruments inside flashed red warning lights nonstop.
Even the sky was covered in blood-red clouds. A drizzling rain of blood seemed to fall from above, pattering loudly against the laboratory doors.
After countless failures and restarts with no progress whatsoever, at the far end of Zane's vision, a blood-red figure crouched on the floor clutching his head, constantly scribbling across sheets of paper spread all over the ground.
Zane recognized him immediately.
It was Pascal.
But the current Pascal no longer carried any trace of the spirited confidence he once had during research.
His hair, unwashed for who knew how long, hung messily over his face. The lab coat he had once cherished most had been casually rolled into a ball and tossed near the entrance.
Zane crouched down. Through the tangled hair, he saw sharply protruding cheekbones, deeply sunken eye sockets, bloodshot pupils, and...
The madness surging violently in his eyes.
"As expected... there are still too few samples. If only..." Pascal muttered, the fanaticism in his eyes gradually overwhelming his reason. "If only Sea Erosion could happen a few more times..."
Zane frowned.
At this point, the experiment had already completely departed from anything "reasonable." It was like an out-of-control truck barreling madly into pedestrians on the roadside.
And the researchers' sanity had gone out of control as well.
One enraged researcher jumped onto the control platform. Beneath his feet were the research records that had accompanied them through countless days and nights, along with the input terminals they had carefully wiped clean time and time again.
"Xiangli Yao, where's Xiangli Yao?! Pascal, you're useless!"
In a daze, Zane seemed to once again recall Pascal saying to Xiangli Yao, "I suggest you stop hanging around with them all the time."
"The path of the wise is a lonely one. Those who can't keep up with us should cut ties sooner rather than later. It's better for both sides."
How could someone as proud as Pascal tolerate a situation like this?
So from that day onward, Pascal disappeared.
And the next time people saw him was inside the Sea Erosion disaster he himself had triggered...
Zane flipped open the record before him. Every line was filled with pain and despair.
"More and more people are leaving. Research into the Silent Zones... can no longer continue."
"The truth we've pursued all this time, one second it's a constant of 3.74, the next second it becomes 7.65. Constants that are no longer constant. How laughable."
"If my own lack of ability caused me to derive incorrect theories, that would at least be some comfort."
"But if, from the very beginning, all our efforts were destined to be overturned by everything brought about through the Lament... then what meaning did any of this research ever have?"
Just like before, this research record became the key that triggered another shift in scenery.
The scene before him twisted rapidly, collapsing into a single point before spreading outward again like a curtain, instantly engulfing Zane.
When he slowly opened his eyes again, several familiar figures appeared before him.
"Shifan?"
Zane walked toward the first blood-red figure and listened carefully.
Broken fragments of sound gradually formed into words he could understand.
"So tired... let me disappear... no, the whole world should disappear with me."
'Shifan's wish had actually become twisted?'
Zane blinked in disbelief.
"I remember Shifan only wanted to reconcile with his friend and continue the experiment together, right?"
"Or did they get divorced after getting married?"
'My ex-husband became my ex-girlfriend?'
Filled with confusion, Zane walked over to the second blood-red phantom. From the hunched back alone, he could tell it was Granny Heying.
"My son... I miss you so much... you must miss me too, right? Don't be afraid. Mother will come find you very soon..."
Looking back at these wishes, within this Sonora, they had all become so... Obsessive.
Zane frowned deeply and walked heavily toward the third blood-red phantom.
Before him, a child seemed to be cheering excitedly.
"Let the world fall into crisis! Then this ranger will save the world!"
In this place, wishes were fulfilled in the crudest and most direct way possible. Everyone was swept up by obsession, taking a single step straight into the abyss.
As for the fourth phantom...
The blood-red figure crouched on the ground clutching his head, constantly scribbling something across the surface spread beneath him with the pen in his hand...
"No. That's not right."
Zane shook his head.
He could feel traces of clarity emerging from his right hand, continuously washing through his thoughts.
"Shifan still has passion for the experiment. He still longs for friendship!"
"Granny Heying has always been a strong woman. She would never develop thoughts of ending her own life!"
"Xiaoman... I don't know her, so no comment. But is there really anything wrong with dreaming of becoming a hero?"
The Nexus Armament suddenly appeared around his wrist, while fierce sounds of battle erupted somewhere nearby.
"If Pascal were truly as arrogant and selfish as you're portraying him to be, then how could he possibly have become Xiangli Yao's closest friend?!"
"I trust Xiangli Yao's judgment."
The moment his words fell, his body transformed into a streak of light and slammed violently toward the depths of Sonora.