Favorite of the Beast-world: I Got Rich Through Farming-Chapter 334 - 217: It’s All Fake: Is Everything Her Illusion?
"Do you get the feeling that this road goes on forever? How long have we been walking?"
Mi Yin looked up at the round moon that was becoming clearer against the deep blue canopy of the sky. He half-closed his magnificent eyes, then quickly looked away and comforted her, "Let’s just walk a little further. We’ll probably be there soon."
Two giant moons, one blue and one red, hung in the sky, casting an unnatural glow. The once-dim forest was now lit up as if by neon signs, suffused with a grim and bizarre chill.
The sides of the forest path were now lined with clusters of ghostly blue flowers, all vying for attention. A rich, bewitching floral fragrance filled the air, like invisible hands reaching out to steal one’s very soul.
"Look over there..." An Jin suddenly stopped and pointed vaguely ahead.
Mi Yin squeezed her hand and followed her gaze.
Somehow, without realizing it, they had arrived at the edge of a lake.
Threads of cold, silent moonlight spilled onto the ghostly blue lake. Its surface, clear as a sapphire, rippled with the gentle breeze, shimmering with light. The entire scene, including the surrounding forest, was veiled in an eerie, dreamlike beauty.
Beautiful, ghostly blue butterflies circled them. As their huge, palm-sized blue wings fluttered, a fine powder from their scales dusted the two of them.
One small, mischievous butterfly even landed on her hand, its two slender antennae gently tapping her finger.
The next moment, it fluttered away.
Everything was bathed in a dreamlike, fairytale glow.
"Don’t look. Everything here is an Illusion Realm trying to confuse you. It’s all fake." Mi Yin covered her eyes and said softly, "If you don’t believe in them, they won’t appear."
When the cool hand moved away from her eyes, An Jin saw what was truly in front of her and stumbled back two steps in horror.
"Whew..." ’That was close.’ She patted her chest, staring at the shimmering image of a black-haired girl by the lake’s edge.
’I almost jumped into the lake just now.’
’The feeling was so surreal it was terrifying. I completely lost control of my body, as if bewitched by some unseen force.’
"Let’s keep moving," Mi Yin said, taking her hand. His tone was full of interest. "It seems this place isn’t as simple as we imagined. We might find something even more interesting up ahead."
For the rest of the journey, An Jin silently reminded herself that everything here was fake. The enchanting flowers, the butterflies, and the lake all vanished, as if they had never existed.
They finally reached the end of the road.
’No, to be precise, I don’t even know if this *is* the end of the road.’
But the path ahead simply ended.
Blocking their path was a massive black vortex that seemed to tear through space itself. As they drew closer, the swirling, distorted rift exerted an increasingly terrifying pull.
"How about we go in and take a look?" The interest on Mi Yin’s face grew more intense.
An Jin shot him a strange look. "Do you even know what’s in there? You want to go in so recklessly?" ’He’s always so cautious and calculating. Why does he seem so cavalier about this?’
"With me here, what is there to be afraid of?" He let out a low chuckle and reached out to ruffle her hair, gesturing for her to relax. "I’ll handle everything. I won’t let anything happen to you. Besides, there’s no other path. If we don’t try, how will we know if this is the exit?"
His explanation was perfectly reasonable, flawless even, but An Jin could clearly see a fanatical gleam hidden deep within his eyes.
’How could the real Mi Yin be so eager to push me into an unknown, dangerous area?’
’The phantoms learn from your reactions each time you see through them. They use that to become more realistic, getting infinitely closer to the real person in your memory. That’s why the next one is always harder to expose than the last, catching you completely off guard...’
He himself had told her that.
What’s more, he’d just "saved" her from the lake and told her how to overcome the illusions.
An Jin closed her eyes, silently repeating to herself that it was all fake, then opened them again.
The man with black hair and red eyes was still standing before her, a faint smile on his lips. Seeing her odd behavior, a look of concern crossed his face. "What’s wrong? Don’t you feel well?" He started to move toward her, intending to feel her forehead.
"N-no." An Jin shook her head. For every step he took forward, she took two steps back.
But she was no match for his height and long legs. In just a few strides, he had her pinned against a tree, with nowhere left to run.
The man leaned in, his icy breath ghosting past her ear. He seemed to smirk before effortlessly seizing her wrists and pinning them above her head.
"You’ve figured it out, haven’t you?" he chuckled.
An Jin’s face was ashen. She stared at him coldly, her lips pressed into a tight line, saying nothing.
"My poor Jin’er, I did give you hints," Number Three said with a smile. "I really am quite fond of you, which is why I warned you from the start. Nothing in the Illusion Realm can be trusted. They’re all impostors woven from your memories..."
"But you still believed me. It seems I’ve won your heart after all, haven’t I?" His unnervingly smooth, cold fingers gently traced her furrowed brow, then her crimson lips, and then her slender neck. "So, please, don’t look at me with such hatred. You’ll break my heart... GAH!"
A spray of blood misted his face. He looked down at the blade plunged into his heart, his chest heaving violently with rage.
The man’s handsome face contorted in a mask of fury, the muscles in his cheeks twitching. He glared at her with crimson eyes. "You—you! You truly don’t know what’s good for you!"
"I genuinely like you! I wanted you to end your life painlessly, to sacrifice your soul. But no, you just had to choose the hard way! In that case, don’t blame me for what happens next!"
He shot out a hand, his fingers turning into sharp claws as he lunged for her throat.
But unexpectedly, the grievously wounded female before him dodged his attack with an impossibly agile maneuver. Huge, pure-white wings unfurled from her back, and in an instant, she soared into the sky. The spot where she had been standing was now a massive, rubble-strewn crater.
Number Three rose from the rubble-filled crater. He stared fixedly at her, a Yin Zhe-like gloom on his face, as if he couldn’t comprehend what he was seeing. "...A female with a beast form. Heh heh. Interesting. How very interesting."
He licked the corner of his mouth and gave her a malicious smile. "Now I like you even more, my Jin’er."
Goosebumps broke out all over An Jin’s skin. "Get lost, you impostor! Don’t call me Jin’er..."
"Who says I’m an impostor?" the man said, displeased. "Jin’er, your so-called mate hasn’t come to save you. Hasn’t it occurred to you to wonder... if he ever followed you in here at all?"
"..." The goosebumps returned, and the fine hairs on An Jin’s arms stood on end.
’Damn it all.’ Deceived again and again. She was now starting to doubt everything. Was the Mi Yin who first entered the forest with her real or fake?
’Or was it all just my own hallucination?’
’Maybe Mi Yin doesn’t even exist. Maybe I imagined it all.’
’Perhaps... I’m fake, too. If so, who imagined this Illusion Realm? And who is this "I"?’
There it was again—that rich, strange floral scent, wafting into her nose. An Jin felt her mind growing foggier, her thoughts turning to chaos. The tension in her expression began to slacken.
