CH 187

"Dondon, the wolf took a bite out of my shoulder," said Wind Spirit, who was starting to cry.

"Don't be afraid, Princess. My head has been burning for several minutes already. I reckon I'm already a roasted cat now," said Dondon comfortingly.

"Don't stop. Don't look back. Follow me out of this fog," shouted Master Crystal loudly. He was probably suffering greatly from the two burning skeletons he was seeing.

"Be ready. I can already see a white misty silhouette moving back and forth in the fog. That is probably the water production droid. Make your move the moment you get a clear look at it," Li Yizhi continued giving out orders.

I opened my eyes wide and started scanning the area with my laser probe. I did not detect the white silhouette I saw earlier. It was clear that Li Yizhi's scanning equipment was much more advanced than ours.

"Persevere! We're only a few meters away!" Master Crystal's excited voice rang out.

"Great! Charge!" Dondon shouted in excitement as well.

"No! Watch out!" Wind Spirit's alarmed voice rang out a few seconds later.

We stood where we were and listened to the conversation like it was a radio talk show. The words of the three little cats caused our hearts to thump rapidly, feeling like we were on a roller coaster ride.

"How close. I was nearly dragged down by that ferocious wolf. This abyss is unimaginably deep," remarked Wind Spirit with a shivering voice.

"I wasn't having a good time either. The fire-breathing dragon you had transformed into tried to push me down the slope. However, I had stubbornly allowed my entire body to burn rather than to jump down," said Dondon smugly.

"Looks like the three little fellows had broken through the illusion. Success is near," said Zhang Bao'er.

We waited in anticipation for several minutes. However, the thick fog before us remained. We were still standing there helplessly.

"Master Crystal, any updates on your side?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"At the moment, three monsters are standing shoulder to shoulder by the slope and harming each other. However, there is no path ahead for us. A meter ahead of us is an abyss of immeasurable depth," said Master Crystal helplessly.

"What's going on? It seems like the path only ends in a dead end on the peak. In that case, the water droid might not be on the mountain. It might instead be in the sea," said Baron Sisse doubtfully.

"Something isn't right. Those three might have fallen into the illusion as well," said Li Yizhi.

"What? Not even Storms can escape the illusion?" I exclaimed.

"Yes. I believe our answer lies here. Cloudcast isn't actually a big planet, and its core will be rather small as well. There is a limit to the size of each of these rooms. They aren’t really as big and as dangerous as what the illusions are showing. Otherwise, they will end up killing their own maintenance workers," said Li Yizhi.

"Senior, in your opinion, how should we solve our current predicament?" asked Baron Sisse.

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"The deep abyss is an illusion, and it is the final illusion standing in their way. They might be able to disperse the illusion by jumping down," said Li Yizhi.

"Ah? That's too dangerous. I had clearly felt the giant waterfall on the peak. If the waterfall is real, it is possible that the abyss is also real. Won't jumping just kill all three of them?" said Old Du.

"Perhaps the waterfall is the second layer of the illusions stacked here. Our only solution is to jump down the abyss. Also, they need to jump without the assistance of their jumping gear and drop at a natural speed. Only by maintaining a strong conviction in their minds will they be able to break this illusion," said Li Yizhi.

"You're exaggerating too much. These are merely some machine-produced illusions, not actual mind control. Is there a need to jump without the assistance of their gear?" asked Zhang Bao'er, who was worried that the three would fall to their deaths after jumping.

"If we're going to try, we need to take everything into consideration," Li Yizhi insisted.

"Canyue, I think Li Yizhi is right. We are suffering terribly from the torment of these monsters. I'm going to try jumping," said Master Crystal.

"Please wait, Master. Let us give it more thought," said Baron Sisse.

Abruptly, Master Crystal shouted, "Dondon, what are you doing?" 

"Master, that wolf just jumped into the abyss," Wind Spirit's shout also rang out.

"Master, what's happening over there?" I asked anxiously.

"Dondon jumped into the abyss," said Master Crystal worriedly.

"Dondon, Dondon, can you hear me?" Old Du started calling out for Dondon.

Chaos was slowly descending because none of us knew what to do after Dondon's sudden jump. Old Du received no reply from Dondon. The communication channel remained open, but Dondon had not said anything.

At that moment, an inconceivable scene appeared. The dense fog started dissipating. In dozens of seconds, the fog was completely gone. With one glance, I saw the white silhouette that was fading away at a slower rate than the fog around it.

"Move!" Old Du suddenly shouted. He had obviously seen the same white silhouette. Immediately after, he sent his steel net flying toward the silhouette.

Zhang Bao'er and I both shot our nets out from the left and right sides of the silhouette. The three nets dropped down, attempting to prevent the white silhouette from escaping. The white silhouette seemed to feel threatened by the nets, as it turned and quickly retreated. It was trying to use its speed to avoid the nets. It accelerated, moving at a speed that was even faster than the nets. There was a chance it could really escape.

"Shit! If we allow it to escape, we probably won't get another chance to catch it," I shouted anxiously.

Anxashe reacted instantly. He pulled his bow, aimed at the right net, and unleashed a powerful arrow. The arrow moved as fast as lightning, and some sort of metallic claw appeared at the tip of the arrow. The claw hooked onto the net and brought the net farther forward. With Anxashe's impressive strength, the net accelerated toward the white silhouette. With a pop, the net covered the escaping silhouette.

"Success!" Zhang Bao'er exclaimed in excitement at the sight of the captured silhouette.

The white silhouette covered by the net instantly dropped onto the ground. A crazy struggle ensued. But the net was a type of net that would become tighter the more one struggled. Shortly after, the net was tightly wrapped around the silhouette, causing the silhouette to lay motionless on the ground.

At the sight of that, Li Yizhi charged toward the fallen silhouette. Meanwhile, the backs of Master Crystal and Wind Spirit became visible again at the end of the path ahead of us. Compared with the water production droid, I was more concerned with the safety of Master Crystal's group. Thus, I ignored Li Yizhi and rushed toward Master Crystal.

Surprisingly, Zhang Bao'er, Old Du, Baron Sisse, and Anxashe also rushed toward the group. It was obvious everyone was worried about the safety of our comrades, which made me gratified. Before long, I reached Master Crystal and Wind Spirit. I did not know whether I should laugh or cry when I noticed that the two little fellows were still facing us with their backs and did not even dare to move. The two seemed to be deep in their illusions; their legs were trembling non-stop. A meter in front of them, Dondon was lying motionless on the ground with his back to the sky.

I stepped forth and lifted Dondon. When I checked his condition, the little fellow seemed fine. He had merely fainted. Old Du and the others also started working on waking up Master Crystal and Wind Spirit.

"Holy shit. I was fighting an evil dragon just now. Suddenly, the sky split in two and revealed the fatty's face. The evil dragon was scared off by the mere sight of it," said Wind Spirit fearfully.

"You saw an evil dragon while I saw a super king kong that nearly swallowed me whole," said Master Crystal as he wiped the beads of sweat that had accumulated on his forehead.

"Master, it has been difficult for you. The illusions here are too powerful. They nearly killed the three of you," said Baron Sisse, expressing the deep respect he had for the three.

"What are you saying? It wasn't difficult at all. In fact, the entire thing felt easy." Master Crystal hurriedly covered up his embarrassment.

'Sigh. These little fellows have egos the size of the sky,' I sighed inwardly.

"How is Dondon?" asked Wind Spirit when she noticed the motionless Dondon. It was rare to see her showing concern for anyone.

"Let me take a look," said Baron Sisse as he walked over and looked over Dondon.

A minute later, the baron looked up and said, "He's fine. He had probably fainted after believing that he had fallen off a cliff. Everything was an illusion. He had merely fallen on flat ground, not over the cliff. Even so, it requires great courage to do what this little fellow did, jumping down the cliff like that!"

Our respect for Dondon rose to a whole new level after hearing those words.

"Canyue, what's that thing under your feet?" Zhang Bao'er suddenly asked.

I looked down and saw that where Dondon was lying earlier, a pentagram could be seen on the ground. I was standing right in the middle of it.

After studying the diagram beneath me, Baron Sisse said, "Heavens! This must be the switch to the water production equipment. To avoid invasion, it had been disguised as a mountain. But when Dondon jumped down, he dropped right on the switch and destroyed the illusion. What an incredible little fellow."

Hearing that, Old Du walked up to me as well. He placed the unconscious Dondon into his backpack. From our entrance into Lightning's cockpit to the removal of the water illusions, Dondon had contributed and sacrificed greatly for the team. It was time to let him have a good rest. While everyone was immersed in being grateful to Dondon, a black object wrapped in a net dropped in front of us with a thud.

"The water droid has been captured. I've edited its defensive command. We can now easily access its codes. It's up to you now," said Li Yizhi coldly at the baron with a commanding tone.

The baron quickly picked up the small droid. After its defensive command was edited, it had returned to its natural metallic black color. It was no longer invisible, but to be safe, the baron kept the net around it.

The baron used the same nanobot connection port to access the droid's core database and study the codes programmed into the droid. Meanwhile, the rest of us started resting. After the intense event earlier, we felt extremely exhausted. We were also trying to not disturb the baron with his work.

"Is there any food?" Dondon's voice came from Old Du's backpack. The noble little fellow was finally awake.

Zhang Bao'er promptly delivered a can of space food. Dondon started joyfully gorging himself. I looked around, realizing that all of us were still here even after numerous dangerous encounters. I wondered if our luck would hold.

"Done. The program is altered," said the baron after 10 minutes.

"Can we produce a large amount of vapor now?" asked Li Yizhi.

"To create enough lightning to destroy the spaceship, we need to create a super thunderstorm. Two giant cumulonimbus clouds need to be created to create the required lightning. And to create the two clouds, the available water of the entire planet will be required. Furthermore, we need the water in vapor form," said the baron.

"My god. Do we need to vaporize the water of the entire planet? How big would the two clouds be?" exclaimed Zhang Bao'er in shock.

"Cloudcast isn't exactly water-rich, so it's not really as impressive as you think. However, there is no denying that the two clouds will be massive," said Baron Sisse.

"I need to say something. This room can only produce water vapor in the sky. We still need to go to the lightning production room and work alongside this room in order to achieve our goal," reminded Old Du.

"We've already locked onto the lightning room's program. How long do you need to vaporize all the water on this planet?" asked Li Yizhi with a flat tone.

"From the speed at which this program can run, I'll be needing two hours," said Baron Sisse.

Once again, Li Yizhi spoke commandingly, "Then we need to get working immediately. Don't worry about the lightning room. Just focus on making the clouds. The lightning room won't be an issue."

The baron had no outstanding issues, and he started the process of producing clouds. An abrupt gale appeared in the sky, and the clouds in the sky started rolling. Clump after clump of vapor rose from the sea, which was evaporating rapidly. Shortly after, countless tornado-like pillars of vapor appeared on the surface of the sea. A vast amount of water was being turned into vapor.

Meanwhile, two clumps of dense dark clouds had appeared in the originally bright sky. The clouds large enough to cover the whole planet were taking form rapidly. Inside the dark clouds, lightning flashed and thunder rolled, giving off a rather oppressive feeling. The water production droid that had fallen under our control was working rapidly.