Chapter 1540
Chapter 1540 - 1536: Two Worlds
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7 min read
"I want to go back, I mean, I’ve already started to miss Mercury...."
The initial contact with this world was actually quite unpleasant.
Normally, when one first arrives in a foreign or exotic realm, seeing different landscapes, tasting different foods, there is often a period of excitement or even a honeymoon phase.
But in the first 38 hours (one day in this world), Lu Ping’an wanted to leave.
The color of the sky is unknown, but it seems to be red; after all, the overly bright sky seriously interferes with the perception of colors... especially for Lu Ping’an, who needs to use other people’s eyes to perceive colors.
And the life forms of this world have given Lu Ping’an a surprise... they don’t even have a language, to be precise, they communicate with "light" rather than "sound waves (vibration)".
They can truly communicate and even kill with their eyes, but as far as Lu Ping’an understands, the efficiency of their communication is not high; it becomes severely distorted with a little distance, and in practical use, it can only be regarded as another form of expression for "sound waves".
"Is this card... okay?"
Lu Ping’an found a small shop with a sign featuring a chicken leg, and handed over a card with a weird spectrum of colors. To the eyes of the tall locals, it might have seemed like a deaf-mute person using a piece of paper to buy food.
The other party nodded calmly; in fact, Lu Ping’an had encountered dozens of locals along the way, and they do not have a second expression.
That excessively standardized face also made Lu Ping’an suspect that they were wearing artificial masks and really didn’t have a second expression.
Even in Lu’s perception, these bodies are illusory, and the true essence within was a Flame.
This place, resembling a human frontier town, is just the product of these "imitators."
What made Lu Ping’an even more uncomfortable was the silence of the local environment.... He really didn’t expect that when all communication was done through sight, although there seemed to be many "people" around, the absolute silence when no one speaks would be so unsettling for humans.
This passively created "deafness" environment naturally oppresses one... Lu Ping’an’s body had long surpassed that of mortals; the local temperature is normally uninhabitable for regular people, yet he acts as if everything is fine.
But the psychological discomfort is not so easily dealt with; he has been feeling inexplicably upset and uncomfortable.
The weirdest thing was that along the way, Lu Ping’an hadn’t even seen any Earth people, even though there should be hundreds of residents in theory.
"This is night... they usually appear during the day," this local shop assistant provided the answer to Lu Ping’an.
Driven to desperation, he directly used the high-tier life series’ "Mind’s Precognition" for direct communication.
𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖
Although the clerk was a bit surprised, he quickly got used to the words in his mind, and the mind link, under Lu Ping’an’s control, could easily transcend language.
But, forcibly establishing the link also meant there was a significant gap between their spiritual powers; Lu Ping’an could easily shatter the other’s Spiritual Power, even causing brain death directly.
"I, I know, don’t they have a nightlife?"
Lu Ping’an frowned; on Mercury 42, those "Earthlings" weren’t the kind of folks to sleep docilely at night.
Fairy tales are not reality; in the world of Explorers and Professionals, due to the reality of high income and high risks, many people live by the motto of "drink wine while we have wine," and when men have money and no one to restrain them... their nightlife can be quite lively, and their antics can be quite outrageous.
Fortunately, it seems that there is reproductive isolation between the Long Hand Clan and Earth people, preventing the creation of many Hybrids.
Unfortunately, many branches of the Fishman seem to have no reproductive barriers with Earth people, or one side’s genetic material has strong traits capable of overcoming racial differences.
In any case, although they are not numerous, the emergence of Half Fishman is a Taboo topic that many from the Eastern Country don’t even want to discuss.
In fact, at Lu Ping’an’s "Beastification Sculpture" workshop, there are always some bizarre life forms that completely transform into Beastmen, and because of this, he has become the Guardian God in the eyes of certain ethnic groups.
"Are you looking for a place to have fun? There’s one indeed, but over at their base, we also have some of our special individuals there. Are you interested? Without undergoing trait modification, our body temperature would be several times yours... Uh, I seem to have made a foolish assumption; if you can wander around freely during the day, this shouldn’t be a problem for you. Actually, I want to earn some extra cash too."
Speaking of which, this waiter who looks like a "tough guy" even blew Lu Ping’an a kiss... That obviously imitated action, like a puppet squeezing out a pose, just made Lu Ping’an feel it was ridiculous.
He didn’t feel offended, in fact, the spirit of the other was virtually defenseless in front of him. It’s just that the other probably doesn’t distinguish between male and female.
"This damn world..."
He casually drank the beverage that was as hot as molten lava and dropped two Crystal Coins as payment for the drink, then Lu Ping’an turned and left.
Walking on the streets of the small town, the ground was hot enough to fry an egg into an over-easy one and then turn it into black ash, the air had a thin layer of oxygen that was either natural or artificially enhanced—everything about the environment screamed unfriendly.
Lu Ping’an estimated that if an ordinary human were to live in this world, they would probably need a full set of protective equipment from suits to breathing masks, and it would be best to carry an air conditioner around.
At a certain degree of heat, even if one could endure it, mortals wouldn’t want to do anything other than lie down.
"Phoenix City... aside from Flaming Creatures, it’s basically uninhabitable."
Lu Ping’an began to understand why, although this town was apparently made for humans, most of the time you couldn’t see a single person, as if it was haunted.
"They must be hiding in air-conditioned rooms..."
But soon, he realized he had misunderstood.
He found an inn, paid for the room, and learned that indeed there were some human Travelers staying in this inn, so Lu Ping’an went to his room to rest.
Although he hadn’t done anything, he felt unusually tired. Luckily, there was indeed "air conditioning" here, forcibly lowering the temperature to over forty degrees... Although it was still dreadfully hot, for Lu Ping’an, it actually felt cool.
He hadn’t managed to fall asleep, when he suddenly heard a "buzz" sound.
Noise? This world has sounds? Lu Ping’an hurriedly opened his eyes, only to find that he seemed to no longer be in the original inn.
To be precise, it didn’t even feel like the same world.
There was no sun in the sky, and everything around was cool and chilly.
The land and mountains were black, and red lights scattered like tiny beacons lit up this world.
Suddenly, a flame walked over... literally walking, as the humanoid Flame approached him and initiated conversation.
This time, in perfect Eastern Country language.
"New here? Have you seen the manual?"
That familiar tone, as if he was one of the same kind.
Lu Ping’an looked down, only to see that his body was not flesh and bone... but instead covered by "Flame," had he also become a Fireman?
Seeing Lu Ping’an’s bewildered face, the senior expressed a somewhat helpless look.
"There’s someone who hasn’t read the latest version of the manual... The situation has deteriorated again this month. Now, even during the day, we could be directly dragged into the Elemental Energy Plane."
— End of Chapter 1540 —