Steam Era: The Lord of 'Puluo' Chapter 1259 603: Life Within the Wormhole

Two years ago, Li Banfeng left the Medicine King Valley for the first time, taking the border at Hemp Bamboo Mountain.

As he was studying the Border Line, he saw a man in white riding a Crane, crashing directly into the Border Line.

That Crane and the man, who claimed to have been in seclusion for twenty years, had means unimaginable to ordinary people, but when they flew to the Border Line, they all turned to ashes.

At that time, Li Banfeng thought their brains were malfunctioning; who would have thought he'd see them again today.

The man in white looked in Li Banfeng's direction for a while, saw nothing, then looked down to search for food.

Li Banfeng couldn't clearly see what he was looking for; he only saw him occasionally picking up something to stuff into his mouth.

The attention of the Crane was focused on Li Banfeng. It couldn't see Li Banfeng, let alone touch him, but it could clearly sense Li Banfeng's position.

Not wanting to get entangled with them, Li Banfeng, on his first journey through the wormhole, dared not linger and hurried along the path before him.

The Crane was left behind, and Li Banfeng walked for less than a minute before spotting a gaunt man.

Li Banfeng had never seen someone so thin. He had seen many starved people at Hai Chi Ridge, and even those people had more flesh than this man.

The man was lying on the ground, frantically searching for food, and this time Li Banfeng saw clearly what they were eating.

On the pitch-black ground grew some fuzzy substances that looked like black moss.

In the midst of these fuzzy substances, some worm-like creatures as thick as chopsticks wriggled about. The man grabbed these fuzzy substances along with the worms and swallowed them whole.

His gobbling demeanor reminded Li Banfeng of a friend, whose way of eating was very similar to his actions at this time.

The Crane came up from behind again and asked the gaunt man, "Little brother, don't be in a rush to eat. Have you sensed someone coming nearby?"

The man shook his head without speaking.

The Crane then asked into the distance, "Miss, have you sensed someone coming?"

A silhouette standing in the distance also gazed in Li Banfeng's direction.

She seemed to sense Li Banfeng but never spoke up.

Li Banfeng continued walking forward until the dusty road reached its end, and Li Banfeng's figure vanished into the light.

The lady standing afar finally spoke, "That person seems to have left."

The Crane sighed and turned to look at the frenziedly food-hunting gaunt man, "Little brother, try not to eat worms. You can't chew them up, and they become little worms in your stomach, making you hungrier the more you eat."

The gaunt man put down the moss and worms in his hands, fumbled out a makeshift telephone and dialed out again.

...

Li Banfeng returned to Hemp Bamboo Mountain, appearing ten meters away from the Border Line.

He successfully crossed the Boundary, and the phonograph jumped for joy, "Husband, we did it, we really did it this time!"

Li Banfeng nodded, took out the Boundary switch given to him by Old Huo, temporarily closed a small section of the Boundary, and returned to his beloved wife's side.

"Husband, Little Servant is so happy!" The phonograph pulled Li Banfeng's head into the trumpet, turning it several times.

Li Banfeng was also very happy, but his mood was a bit different from last night's.

"Husband, what's wrong?" his wife noticed something wasn't right with Li Banfeng.

Li Banfeng held up the phonograph, "Beloved wife, let's talk when we get home."

Upon entering the Portable Residence, Li Banfeng recounted his experience: "Wife, I saw someone in the wormhole, someone I've met before."

His wife pondered for a moment, shook her head slightly, "This kind of situation is hard to say..."

She took out a map, drew a river on it, with a bridge over the river, and two doors on the bridge, and carefully explained the principle to Li Banfeng, "Husband, this river is the Boundary,

this bridge is the Dark Bridge we built, with two bridges, real and illusory, represented by two doors,

Without a bridge, crashing directly onto the Boundary would result in annihilation into ashes due to matter-antimatter collision,

If the first real bridge exists, we can burrow into the wormhole, crossing the Boundary through it,

If the second illusory bridge is there, we can find direction within the wormhole, thereby locating the exit,

But this illusory bridge is constructed on the basis of Lie Root Stone, and husband walking on both real and illusory bridges may see the Illusionary Realm created by Lie Root Stone."

Li Banfeng said, "Wife, are you saying the people I saw in the wormhole were all illusions?"

The phonograph was also uncertain, "It's not necessarily an Illusionary Realm, it could be real. Some people might have only found the real bridge, not the illusory one, and rashly broke into the wormhole, thus trapped inside and unable to come out. But can anyone really survive in such a place as a wormhole?"

Is it an Illusionary Realm, or are there really people trapped in there?

This matter seems not so difficult to verify.

Li Banfeng exited the Portable Residence, took out the makeshift phone, and called Luo Zhengnan.

...

Luo Zhengnan was on the rooftop listening to the radio, a burst of static making him somewhat irritable.

He had been plagued by static recently, day or night, whenever he plugged in the antenna, static often swirled around him.

After changing the antenna, adjusting the frequency, taking some Elixir, and moderately improving his cultivation level... Luo Zhengnan tried many methods, but none worked; he really couldn't figure out what was causing it.

After waiting a few dozen seconds, the static disappeared, and Luo Zhengnan continued listening to the broadcast: