Chapter 133: The Phantasm of Time and Space

"How about we try tying ourselves together with a rope?" Seeing that the others were unwilling to move forward, and not wanting to stop there himself, Lin Shaojie pondered for a long time before making the suggestion.

"Use a rope? That's a good idea! But do you have one?" The remaining three looked skeptically at Lin Shaojie, who stood there empty-handed, not even carrying a pack, wondering what use his suggestion could possibly be.

Without wasting words, Lin Shaojie pulled a coil of thin hemp rope from his spatial storage and handed it to them. "Each of us wraps it around our hands a few times, then we form a line. With the rope as a tether, surely no one will get lost, right?"

If this didn't work, they would have no choice but to go their separate ways. After all, from what they had seen so far, besides causing people to vanish into thin air, the place didn't seem to hold any other dangers, Lin Shaojie thought to himself.

However, what he didn't expect was that just as he convinced himself there were no other threats, the four of them were suddenly attacked.

A swarm of black-gray, mist-like creatures with clawing limbs floated in mid-air, appearing out of nowhere and surrounding them completely.

The way these things appeared was eerie, and their methods of attack were even more sinister.

One of the four accidentally let one of the creatures touch his arm, and that limb instantly withered, turning into something resembling a dehydrated mummy, with nothing but a layer of skin clinging to the bone.

Seeing this, everyone was struck with terror. Those who had been holding back their strength no longer dared to reserve anything, frantically channeling their abilities to strike at the unknown entities.

When Mei finally located Lin Shaojie, this was the scene she witnessed. The brilliance of various abilities illuminated the area around the four men, clashing with the entities. Although they managed to keep the ghastly things at bay, they were unable to drive them back or destroy them.

Just as they were at their wit's end, a white bolt of light streaked across the area. Everywhere it passed, the mist-like creatures instantly vanished into dust, disappearing without a trace.

"Sister Mei!" Lin Shaojie’s face lit up with joyful surprise when he saw the bolt of light. He turned toward the direction from which the arrow had come and shouted.

Mei fired several more arrows, eliminating all the creatures surrounding them, before walking over.

"Are you all right, Brother Jie?"

"I'm fine! Sister Mei, are you all by yourself?" Seeing that she was alone, Lin Shaojie couldn't help but ask.

Mei glanced at the three people beside Lin Shaojie and replied, "Yes. After entering, I ended up alone. The others are all scattered. I am currently looking for them, and you are the first ones I've found."

Because there were outsiders present, she didn't go into detail, but Lin Shaojie understood what she meant—after all, if he hadn't been trapped, he would have been doing the same thing.

"Untie the rope. You all are coming with me," Mei said, glancing at the rope on their wrists.

Lin Shaojie didn't hesitate, immediately untying the rope and moving to Mei's side. The other three, however, were hesitant.

"If we untie the rope, what if we get separated? Two people have already vanished without a sound; it was only because of this rope that we haven't had any more problems," one of them said to Mei, sounding uncertain.

"Untie the rope and wrap this around yourselves instead. If you get separated from the others, just follow the light thread; it will lead you to us," Mei said. With a gentle flick of her fingers, she wound a strand of light around the four men, including Lin Shaojie.

"Sister Mei, this ship is truly bizarre. Why did we get separated the moment we entered the cabin? And the ship doesn't look that big, so why can't we ever seem to reach the end of it?" Lin Shaojie asked once Mei had chosen a new direction and they were back on the move.

"Strictly speaking, we are no longer on the ship, but inside a spatial rift. This place connects countless spatial faults. The reason people disappear is that they have slipped into other spatial dimensions."

"A spatial rift? That’s too exaggerated! How could something like that be on this ship? And what were those things that attacked us?" Lin Shaojie asked, his mouth agape in shock.

The three ability users following behind them heard Mei’s explanation and found it hard to believe, but they did not utter a single word.

They knew very well that the girl was only taking them along as a convenience; she could easily have left them to their fate earlier. Now that she was helping them, the best thing to do was to be obedient and avoid doing anything that might annoy her. Whether they could leave this place alive depended entirely on this girl named Mei.

"The things that attacked you are creatures that live in other dimensions. Every time-space has species that are extremely adept at finding rifts. Though they come in many forms, we collectively call them 'Time-Space Phantasms.' These phantasms are born from the void. To grow, besides devouring each other, they must enter other worlds through spatial rifts to feed on the creatures there. The ones you just encountered were only in their larval stage, which is why they were relatively easy to deal with. If you let them grow up, that would be a huge problem!" Mei explained.

Once such a phantasm reaches the King-level, it becomes a terrifying existence capable of returning an entire dimension to the void.

When she first crossed over to this world, she had encountered such a phantasm in the time-space tunnel. The strongest one she faced back then had reached the General-level, only one step away from the King-level. If her dark-element magic hadn't been a natural counter to the creature, she might not have been able to win, even as a Grand Archmage.

Her current strength was still far from her peak state, and she only hoped they wouldn't encounter a phantasm of that level here, or they would all be finished.

Seeing the grave look on Mei's face, Lin Shaojie swallowed the questions he had been about to ask and followed her in silence.

After traveling for about half an hour, Mei finally found the second person.

Mo Chen had also been alone after entering the spatial rift. Once he realized he was separated from the others, he had also thought to use the team badge to locate them.

However, his luck was far worse than Lin Shaojie’s; he hadn't gone far before being attacked by phantasms. Although his lightning-based abilities made dealing with them not particularly difficult, he couldn't keep up with the endless emergence of these creatures. No sooner had he repelled one wave than another would appear before he could even catch his breath.

Mo Chen fought while using crystals to replenish his energy, but his replenishment couldn't keep pace with the rate of consumption.

Just as his energy was about to run dry, a white bolt of light streaked past him, and Mo Chen let out a sigh of relief.

Mei was extremely fast, and she soon cleared away the phantasms surrounding Mo Chen.

"Let's move quickly, or those things will just keep appearing!" Mo Chen said, too exhausted to exchange pleasantries.

"Right!" Mei wound a light thread around Mo Chen as well, then quickly chose a direction to lead them away from the area.

Only when she was certain no phantasms were following them did Mei stop to let Mo Chen rest.

"Brother Mo, are you okay? How did you get so exhausted?" Lin Shaojie asked, confused, as he watched Mo Chen, who looked on the verge of total collapse.

Even if he had been fighting, he shouldn't have been this tired after only an hour. With his Level 7 ability, lasting for several hours should have been no problem at all.

"Try fighting for four hours straight and see if you’re tired!" Mo Chen pulled some water from his spatial storage, took a few desperate gulps, and retorted irritably.

"Four hours? Didn't we only come in an hour ago?" Lin Shaojie said in surprise.

"In a spatial rift, the flow of time is extremely chaotic. You may feel like only an hour has passed, but for those in other layers, that isn't necessarily the case. Chen, can you still walk? I'm worried about Xiao You and Sister Yuan! I'm afraid they won't be able to hold out!" Mei said, her face full of concern.

"I'm fine, let's go!" Upon hearing this, Mo Chen knew this was no time to rest. He gritted his teeth and stood up.

Seeing his strained appearance, Mei rummaged through her spatial storage and handed him a potion.

"Here, drink this. It won't replenish your lost energy, but it will restore your physical stamina. It should at least make you feel a bit better."

Mo Chen took the potion, looked at its murky color, held his breath, and quickly drank it.

Afterward, he realized the taste wasn't as bad as he had imagined. Furthermore, not long after drinking it, he felt his body regain much of its strength, and the exhaustion began to fade.

The six of them continued their journey. However, after they set off again, they encountered significantly more phantasms than before. Although Mei destroyed them all before they could get close, the situation remained deeply unsettling.

An Ziyou had not entered the spatial rift alone. Besides the three complete strangers among the ability users, the other person with him was Wansai Wenyue, whose hair had been frizzed into a mushroom cloud by Mo Chen’s lightning.

Upon entering, Wansai Wenyue naturally noticed An Ziyou. Whether it was because she didn't have a preference for his type or for some other reason, she didn't put on any airs, instead nodding calmly at An Ziyou in greeting.

"What kind of hellhole is this? Why is everyone else gone?" one of the three bulky ability users asked.

"I don't know, but this certainly doesn't look like we're on a ship anymore!" his companion replied.

"Hey, you long-haired kid over there, do you know?" the big man asked, turning to An Ziyou.

An Ziyou glanced at him and replied coldly, "No."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" The three ability users gathered together to discuss a plan.

An Ziyou ignored them and channeled his mental energy into his badge, beginning to search for the others.

After a long while, he locked onto a direction and prepared to leave on his own. Ultimately, he hesitated for a moment and asked, "I'm heading forward. Do you want to come along?"

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to find my companions."

"You're going to find your friends, so why should we follow you? We came here to find people too; we don't have time to wander around aimlessly with you!" the big man grumbled in dissatisfaction.

"Suit yourselves!" An Ziyou said without further ado, walking straight toward the direction he had chosen.

"Wait, I'll go with you!"

No sooner had he taken two steps than Wansai Wenyue hurried to catch up.

An Ziyou looked at her but did not refuse her company. The two of them soon vanished from the sight of the other three.