thefictionvixens Chapter 42 Fishing
Chapter 42 Fishing
"Layers... what are those?" Li Jiu asked, puzzled.
Lin Weiwei held up the cute cartoon camera on her chest and casually took a picture of Bailongtan.
She turned the screen toward the three people.
"You see, normally this is the world we see, what we call the 'real world,' or the 'surface world.' But now... when you have enough inspiration, or rather, when inspiration explodes under external stimulation..."
As she spoke, she changed the camera angle and took another photo.
"...your senses will then transcend the real world and see another world based on a 'template' of the real world. This world, we call it..."
"...'The Other World'."
"The inner and outer worlds are two different layers that overlap but are isolated from each other."
"And your inspiration is the 'filter' for observing phenomena in the other world."
Tang Mubai craned his neck to look at Lin Weiwei's camera and muttered, "I didn't see any snakes..."
"Please! I was just using an analogy!" Lin Weiwei said, both amused and exasperated. "If my camera were that amazing, I would have been a legendary mystery investigator by now, okay? Why would I be here struggling to find material?"
But Li Jiu seemed lost in thought, and then couldn't help but ask, "So if... I mean, if I understand what inspiration and layers are like now, after your example, can I actually access the things I see in the layers?"
Lin Weiwei smiled and shook her head: "What are you thinking? The fact that you can see the phenomena of the other world is already an overload of inspiration, okay? If you wanted to come into contact with those things... your brain might explode—wait! Wait a minute, wait a minute..."
Her voice stopped abruptly, her smile froze instantly, and she looked up sharply, staring intently at Li Jiu, her eyes filled with unprecedented horror and disbelief.
"You just asked about... 'encountering'?!"
"I'm asking you...did you—encounter—a snake? No, perhaps my question is too broad. Let me put it this way: when you saw the other world, did you have even the slightest physical contact with the so-called 'snakes' there?"
Lin Weiwei stared intently at Li Jiu, holding her breath as if she were scratching a lottery ticket.
Lin Weiwei's expression made Li Jiu feel even more heavy-hearted, and he couldn't help but ask first, "Is there a big difference between encountering her and not encountering her?"
"The difference is huge!" Li Jiu's question had given Lin Weiwei the answer she wanted. Li Jiu noticed that her eyebrows visibly arched, and her delicate body trembled with excitement. She looked at Zhang Fanjie and exclaimed excitedly, "Fanjie, we've struck gold!!"
Zhang Fanjie, who had been silent all along, also revealed a fanatical look in his eyes, a gaze that seemed to pierce through Li Jiu.
"Huh?" Li Jiu was a little stunned by this sudden surge of enthusiasm.
Lin Weiwei picked up her notebook and tapped one of the pages with a pen.
"You see, normally the world we live in is like this one page of paper. Even if the paper is thin, you can only see what's underneath it at most. But now..."
She exerted her strength gently.
The pen tip pierced through this page and moved on to the next.
"...You touched the paper below."
"In this way, the other world will be another kind of reality for you!"
"A kind of 'reality' with the ability to interact with physical entities!!"
Li Jiu felt a slight dryness in his throat and subconsciously swallowed. "You mean those 'snakes'...were all real?!"
Lin Weiwei said, "To explain it using Professor He's theory, the form in which the 'phenomena' of the inner world appear largely depends on the observer's own cognitive framework."
"In order to maintain rationality in extremely abnormal situations, your brain will instinctively 'translate' the incomprehensible horror into a concrete form that is closest to and most acceptable to your understanding..."
"...In other words, a 'snake' isn't necessarily a 'snake'; it's merely a behavioral protection mechanism your instincts employ to keep your perception within a rational framework."
"You mean, the things in the Otherworld are more terrifying than snakes? More... indescribable?!" Li Jiu said.
"Unspeakable?" Tang Mubai, as if a switch had been flipped, exclaimed, "I know! There's Cthulhu in the Otherworld!! No snakes at all, just octopus tentacles! Big eyeballs! Hehehe..."
His face looked terrible, but he was gesturing wildly.
Looking at Tang Mubai's conflicted state, Zhang Fanjie pursed her lips, rubbed her forehead, and asked in a low voice, "...Has he always been like this?"
No one paid attention to Tang Mubai's reaction.
Because in his mind, Cthulhu was just something superficial like octopus tentacles, not much different from many other writers who use the Cthulhu label to write about octopuses.
"The Otherworld?" Li Jiu thought for a moment, then pondered, "Have you interviewed any people who saw the fog?"
Lin Weiwei said, "I interviewed several people and came to a conclusion that fog is often accompanied by the appearance of snakes or chanting. Sometimes it is only one of them, and sometimes it is both."
Li Jiu then asked, "Do the times when the fog occurs match the weather forecast?"
"I've interviewed some survivors," Lin Weiwei shook her head. "However, the weather in the mountains is unpredictable, and even the weather forecast can't predict what will happen in a short time."
"So that means... you actually have no way of verifying whether those fogs are really a 'natural phenomenon'?" Li Jiu asked.
Lin Weiwei keenly sensed the deeper meaning in his words: "Is there a problem?"
Li Jiu shook his head slightly: "I just want to get more supporting evidence."
"Furthermore, do you think it's possible that there's more than one type of mist in Mount Fulong?"
"Some of it might indeed be naturally formed mountain fog, while others... might simply be 'fog' formed in the perception of a phenomenon from the other world after being observed by a highly spiritual being?"
Lin Weiwei said thoughtfully, "That's quite an interesting guess... But no matter what, we should be careful once we sense fog forming. Safety first."
"As for the rest... the specifics will definitely depend on what's written in the rules."
"The rules, while not written with perfect precision, are generally correct."
"How can the rules not be accurate?" Li Jiu asked in surprise.
"It's accurate in a broad sense..." Lin Weiwei said. "If it were completely accurate, it wouldn't be updated every now and then."
"Some of the rules within the Fulong Mountain Scenic Area were compiled by Professor He's team, and some were compiled by the authorities... But ultimately, it's hard to say whether these 'officials' are truly the authorities or just some special organization affiliated with them..."
She lowered her voice and said solemnly, "Moreover, the secrets of Mount Fulong itself are too tempting. In fact, every force is trying to infiltrate Mount Fulong..."
"Those rules you see that are written so explicitly about the bizarre are, in essence, just..."
She paused for a moment, then slowly and deliberately uttered two words:
"……fishing."