Wang Wang was momentarily trapped in the center of the road.
It hadn’t anticipated that this journey through time and space would be so fraught with peril, and judging by the current circumstances, it seemed to have no escape.
Unable to flee, unable to retreat... even more unable to advance.
What in the world is happening? For the first time, Wang Wang felt a wave of despair.
Perhaps due to the emotional suppression of this Strange World, the despair did not last long, and Wang Wang returned to rationality. As it thought rationally, Wang Wang suddenly remembered something.
It abruptly twisted its soft body, pulling its eyes directly to its belly in a "twisting" pose.
This way, Wang Wang could see the person inside its belly.
And the person inside its belly was blinking while making eye contact with it.
Blinking?! Wang Wang snapped back to awareness, immediately sending a wave of information to Angel. — Thankfully, Angel was inside its body, and its body fluid could serve as a transmission medium to convey the message to Angel.
"Why are you awake?"
Before Angel could answer, Wang Wang sent a second wave of information, its urgent tone resonating in Angel’s mind: "Put everything else aside; are you thinking nonsense in your mind? If so, stop it immediately, don’t think of anything at all. Otherwise, we’ll both die!"
After Wang Wang said this, it darted towards the shadow-covered passageway in the distance. If it didn’t run now, the anomalies behind would catch up.
As soon as it entered the area covered by the shadow, Wang Wang felt unprecedented pressure.
Even though the shadow hadn’t fully descended, the death threat of a sword hanging over its head had already taken root in its consciousness.
Wang Wang didn’t know if the shadow’s appearance was related to Angel, but it could only hope for Angel, clearing its thoughts while messaging Angel: "Think of nothing, think of nothing."
What Wang Wang didn’t know was that its magical obsessive chant could sometimes serve as an anchor for starting "new thoughts."
Of course, this was for ordinary people.
For a Wizard like Angel, who could dismiss external distractions and enter meditation anytime, Wang Wang’s insane chant naturally held no sway.
Although Angel was unclear why Wang Wang suddenly told him not to think about anything, given Wang Wang’s urgency and explicit mention of "potential death," Angel naturally didn’t dare to think recklessly anymore.
He quickly reined in his mind, dismissing all thoughts about "museum thieves," his mind turning into a void.
At this moment, the shadow outside had descended more than halfway; the passageway was currently only a third of its original height.
Wang Wang was already running close to another type of anomaly below, yet even so, it saw no end to the shadow ahead.
Perhaps the shadow truly covered the entire path ahead.
Just when Wang Wang believed it might end today, the shadow suddenly stopped descending.
Through a special perspective, Wang Wang saw Angel with eyes closed in contemplation and understood instantly that Angel had managed to halt his thoughts.
Wang Wang dared not be distracted, nor to disturb Angel. All it could do now was sprint swiftly away from the shadow, striving to reach the end of the passage as soon as possible.
Wang Wang ran for a long time, feeling as though the length of this passage had expanded countless miles.
Finally, Wang Wang arrived at familiar coordinates.
The external location it corresponded to was no longer a spatial tempest, but the inner empty space of a Void Storm. And this was where Angel needed to go.
Without hesitation, Wang Wang left this Strange World.
Upon leaving, Wang Wang glanced upwards; the shadow still existed, stretching endlessly.
This meant that its previous deduction was correct: the shadow spanned the entire passage, and luckily it had stopped Angel’s errant thinking in time, or else there would have been major issues.
Sinking... sinking...
This "sinking" corresponded to the initial "rising," where rising was a special sublimation, and sinking was more like a divine descent.
The suppressed emotional modules began to rapidly restore, returning to full normalcy.
Simultaneously, Angel felt the liquid enveloping him begin to slowly recede until he could once again perceive the Void.
Angel opened his eyes, immediately sensing an oppressive force coming from afar.
Though the oppressive feeling wasn’t intense yet, the feeling of being watched by Wang Wang’s unwavering gaze was even stronger.
"Did we arrive?" Angel hesitated and asked.
Wang Wang still stared at Angel, not replying. But Angel could ascertain from his surroundings and the nearby Void Storm that they had left the Strange World and returned to the Void.
"What just happened...?" Angel paused: "Thinking, does it really lead to severe consequences?"
Wang Wang, who had remained silent, finally spoke: "Before traversing the Void, I warned against thinking. Because there, merely thinking would stir the surrounding anomalies. And just encountering an anomaly, even the one that feels least threatening to me, would suffice to obliterate us entirely."
"That shadow was an anomaly?"
"Not just the shadow, the red mist encountered earlier, along with numerous stabbing spurs, were anomalies." As he said this, Wang Wang added, "Previously, they weren’t present."
This meant that all these anomalies were the result of Angel’s thoughts.
Angel now understood why Wang Wang was so urgent in telling him to cease his thoughts, as it truly could provoke terrifying consequences.
Thinking of the seemingly endless shadow, Angel couldn’t help but display a post-tragedy relief.
Exhaling slowly, Angel expressed his apology to Wang Wang sincerely.
Wang Wang, however, bore no intention to blame Angel because it also understood that initially it was Wang Wang’s oversight in not clarifying the consequences, so it too held responsibility; besides, the result was satisfactory, so Wang Wang let it go.
Rather than blame, it was more curious—
"How come you weren’t affected?"