Chapter 282: Prisoner (2)

The noise persisted, like an endless punishment, and Luo Qi struggled painfully within the Consciousness World. He understood that this was an effective method of torture, one that humans also frequently used for interrogation. But he knew the Alien Queen did not want to obtain anything from him; she was filled with hatred for Mages, and she simply wanted to torment Luo Qi. Ultimately, if she could manage it, slaughtering him was what she wanted most.

Luo Qi tossed and turned in agony amidst the simulated noise stimulation, groping to shut down this part of his reception function. He had to hurry; the Queen could certainly enjoy a long, leisurely time of entertainment within the Consciousness World, in the depths of time. But for Luo Qi, what was more terrifying was that after a few dozen seconds in the external world, everything would change in reality, and that was the irreversible, true loss.

He exerted all his strength, concentrating his consciousness and continuously thickening his barriers; the Slime's form began to enlarge, and he made a desperate, all-or-nothing dash against the hexagonal glass wall. The doorless prison was a materialization within the virtual world, but regardless of what it was, this trick was one Luo Qi had performed himself; in the end, all materialization was the intent of the entity behind the virtual Illusion.

Luo Qi's Slime transformed into a giant octopus-like sea monster from the ocean floor, treating the Hexagonal Prison as its target and attacking the walls frantically. A hairline crack appeared on the glass wall, and the noise in Luo Qi's ears lowered. However, at this point, Luo Qi could no longer distinguish whether he had successfully isolated himself or if the Queen had ended this round of torture.

The Slime felt a splitting headache; if this had happened in the real world, after experiencing such prolonged noise torture, a person would likely have already fainted. Luo Qi's consciousness also began to experience fragmented blurring, and his heart was shrouded in panic. He had never lost consciousness within the Consciousness World before.

No one could say for sure what such an outcome would be; perhaps it would be being lost forever, or perhaps he would never find his way home and would never be able to wake up again.

Unknowingly, the prison changed; amidst the pain, Luo Qi noticed that the light behind the frosted glass wall was gradually dimming. He endured the headache, observing his surroundings vigilantly, until the last bit of light vanished from behind the glass wall.

Luo Qi was completely submerged in darkness, and the glass wall disappeared into the gloom. Luo Qi raised his Slime tentacle to look at it; in the absolute darkness, he could not even perceive his own materialization. He wanted to repeat his previous action and continue attacking the glass wall. But this time, everything had changed; his tentacles kept extending, yet in the end, they did not touch the glass wall.

Because the space had changed; the Alien Queen had insidiously detected Luo Qi's intentions, and Luo Qi guessed that this was a mental trap processed collectively by dozens of Aliens.

If he risked probing the various points again, his consciousness might eventually be torn to shreds. He briefly considered what he had been doing lately: treating himself as a Root Node and continuously branching out Sub-consciousness. But his current state was very poor, and he dared not be certain that after playing with a bunch of Shadow Clones, he would still be able to distinguish which one was himself.

The Alien Mental Network had already adopted countermeasures against his previous method of self-protection. When he was in the Queen's memories, in order to isolate himself from the intense emotions of the Alien Mental Network, he had already been continuously shutting down and lowering his sensory abilities, which was equivalent to turning down the volume of the surrounding world. If not for that, he likely would not have been caught off guard and counter-attacked by the Aliens. During the noise attack just now, he had again shut down and lowered a large portion of himself in high doses. The Alien Mental Network discovered this and gave him a push, conveniently covering him with several extra layers of shells from the outside.

Luo Qi had now completely fallen into the Silent Land of the Consciousness World.

He could not see, could not hear, could not feel; the entire world had turned into absolute silence. He fell into true panic, like a person trapped in the deep sea, and his consciousness began to react to this silence uncontrollably.