Dan Chen walked at the forefront once again, his pace quicker than the last. He had already widened the gap between himself and the two mothers and sons.
He needed to make some preparations. Any illusion required a medium to be cast. Air, water, even a handkerchief or a mirror – anything could serve as a medium.
So... the roulette in Dan Chen’s eyes spun quietly, and he silently uttered a sequence in his heart.
"Sequence 025: Eye of Truth."
Dan Chen's eyes gradually returned to normal, and everything looked different to him. This was a fractured world. In his immediate vicinity lay fallen corpses, their mangled limbs bearing signs of gnawing. But about ten meters away, the scene was remarkably clean, devoid of any filth.
The range of an illusion could reveal its origin point. Of those two mothers and sons, who was it?
Dan Chen arrived at the entrance of the emergency stairwell once more. The little figures on the green sign above still flickered. This time, stepping onto those stairs would reveal what the lackeys of these evil gods had done. The walls had been corroded by a scarlet liquid, and the scent of rust permeated the vast space, seeking out every crevice. Besides the corpses, some sort of flying insects swarmed throughout the area.
However, as soon as Dan Chen’s gaze shifted to a distance beyond ten meters, the scene reverted to normalcy. The dim, yellow light of the emergency stairwell, the pristine white walls, and the marble steps. A perfect, yet eerie, combination of normalcy. Much like that Brother Ao. A chimera.
But...
"Mr. Dan, is something wrong?" Situ Ying asked uneasily, "You've been acting strange since a while ago..."
"It's nothing. I was just admiring this place; it truly is the most upscale department store in our Su City," Dan Chen said casually, patting the handrail. "The handrail of this emergency stairwell is even made of wood – so high-class and tasteful, truly remarkable."
"Ah, the main building of this department store was actually a ballroom from the 1940s and 50s, later renovated into a department store."
"Renovated? But it looks so new."
"This renovation is different from the usual. All the materials were disassembled, then reassembled and perfected. It's like individual grains of sand being sculpted to form a magnificent mermaid."
Situ Ying spoke eloquently, but then lowered her head and caressed her son's head. "His father was an architect and was very knowledgeable about these old buildings."
"Oh, that's truly..." Dan Chen replied in agreement and continued forward. He listened to the little brat behind him constantly telling his mother about his future aspirations of becoming an architect. His eyes, however, were fixed on the corpses along the path, and he silently counted. One. Two. Three. When the fourth one appeared, Dan Chen felt that everything here was meticulously planned. The initial illusions, and now, the children's toys appearing around the corpses. A monkey, a pig, a little dragon. And just now, a toy snake.
At this moment, Dan Chen suddenly remembered. He finally knew what was wrong. He couldn't hear their thoughts. Wu Suowei was a god, so it was normal that he couldn't hear his thoughts. But he couldn't hear Situ Ying and Situ Yingzhi's thoughts either.
With this realization, Dan Chen felt he could wait no longer. He pulled out his Thousand Illusions Pandora, turned, and fired a shot.
"Swoosh!"
The bullet struck Situ Yingzhi's right ear.
"Ah..." Situ Yingzhi let out a scream and clutched his right ear.
Situ Ying immediately rushed over to check. "What's wrong?"
"Mom, it hurts so much. It feels like something drilled into my head. Please get it out for me." Situ Yingzhi's forehead was beaded with sweat.
Situ Ying held her son, pressing on his wound, and glared at Dan Chen with wide eyes. "Mr. Dan, what... what do you mean by this?"
"Even now, you're still going to pretend?" Dan Chen walked towards Situ Ying, who took a few steps back. "What... what do you want?"
"I told you, if you want to pretend, then keep pretending." Dan Chen grabbed Situ Ying's neck, a cold smile playing on his lips. "If you insist on continuing this charade, then I'll have no choice but to kill you."
Situ Ying felt a warmth on her neck, and the suffocating sensation intensely impacted her nerves, filling her with fear. Her entire body instantly stiffened.
"Guh... guh." Situ Ying let out a muffled sound, her eyes wide with disbelief. He had promised to protect them, so why?
"Let go, let go of my mom." Situ Yingzhi, with his small legs, charged forward and began to bite Dan Chen.
Dan Chen grabbed Situ Yingzhi's shoulder and forcefully flung him aside.
"Bang!" Situ Yingzhi was thrown to the ground, dazed and disoriented.
Dan Chen then stomped hard on Situ Yingzhi's foot. "I told you long ago, if you want to pretend, then do it properly, don't always slip up."
Situ Ying, clutching her chest, was unable to speak. She pointed at Dan Chen.
Dan Chen squatted down, looking at her with a faint smile. "Actually, you don't need to try so hard, because you don't deserve any of that."
"I..." Situ Ying couldn't speak. She clutched her chest, her face pale. She felt as if her chest cavity was about to explode, enduring unbearable pain.
"Don't... hurt... my mom..." A massive wave of energy knocked over everything, including illusions, disguises, and falsehoods. Dan Chen turned around and saw Situ Yingzhi slowly standing up, his body continuously transforming. He was rapidly growing, his height soaring. His elementary school uniform vanished completely, replaced by a black cloak that enveloped him entirely.
Situ Ying stared at the transformation, murmuring, "Son..."
"He's not your son. He's a black-robed priest of an evil god," Dan Chen said indifferently, watching the rapidly changing figure. "And you are not his mother. It's time to wake up from this dream."
Thousand Illusions Pandora - [Blade] form. Dan Chen, holding the sword, stepped onto the solid handrail and charged towards the priest's chest. From within the black robe, withered fingers emerged, blocking Dan Chen's blade.
"Clang!" Dan Chen's sword collided with the opponent's hand, emitting a crisp sound. His sword was repelled, and Dan Chen retreated several steps, gripping the dagger tightly, his gaze fixed on the person before him. The withered hands emerged from the robe. He spread his arms, facing Situ Ying. "Mom... Mom..."