Chapter 106
Chapter 106
As soon as he heard the word “explosion,” Oliver sensed a distinct danger in his mind. But, once he shook the sense of danger dissipated!
“It must not be bombarded. Could it be an illusion?” he questioned inwardly.
away
the thoughts,
Based on his powers, it seemed to be true. But he couldn’t comprehend the reason why the stone wall was impenetrable.
Oliver repeatedly tapped on the stone wall with his dagger, and the echoing sounds confirmed that the wall was undeniably solid. The phenomenon could not be explained easily by the laws of physics.
Everyone’s gazes were fixed upon Oliver, who sat upright and lost in a daze as his eyes locked on the stone wall before him. They dared not interrupt his train of thought.
Looking at the stone wall for a while, the identification message appearing in Oliver’s mind was from the stone wall. There was no message transmitted from the bright red spot.
“That’s so weird!” Oliver thought.
Oliver lightly tapped his forehead with his palm before lowering himself to the ground, lying on his back, and falling deep in his thoughts.
His sight shifted toward the passageway on the top of the stone wall, where a series of luminous pearls were embedded. As Oliver continued to stare, he abruptly noticed a dent as large as an egg on the stone wall.
It resembled a trace left behind after a luminous pearl had been excavated.
No one took notice of this detail, and not to mention, everyone was only here because they were following Oliver. No one felt that this place was any different from the other places.
Oliver peered at the dent for a while and suddenly instructed Wayne and Simon, “Wayne, climb on top of Simon and try prodding the dent using your dagger.”
“Okay.” Wayne followed Oliver’s instructions without any doubt or question.
Simon and Wayne seemed to share a silent understanding. Simon crouched down while Wayne propelled himself forward, using Simon’s shoulder as a launchpad, and leaped with a burst of energy.
While leaping through the air, Wayne wielded a dagger in his right hand. With lightning speed, he hurled the dagger toward the dent, piercing it with pinpoint accuracy.
Ding!
The impact ignited a spark. Wayne landed back on the ground, taking a firm stance beside Oliver. Everyone’s sight was fixed on the dent pierced by Wayne’s dagger.
Silence enveloped the surroundings, the stillness so palpable that one could hear the echo of a needle falling against the ground.
There were no responses emanating from the dent. On the other hand, Oliver kept looking at the stone wall, which emitted a noise.
All eyes turned to the stone wall. Everyone was astonished to find that the smooth and tough stone wall suddenly morphed into a series of small grids resembling a Rubik’s cube.
The small grids dispersed with a powerful surge, unveiling a cube of 21 square feet.
Nestled at the very heart of the cube was a glistening object that was only slightly larger than a pigeon egg. It looked like a brilliant ruby gemstone.
With the gemstone emitting a crimson glow, Oliver became uncontrollably excited as he realized that that was the bright red
spot he had seen in his mind.
“So, the bright red spot was this ruby gemstone!” he exclaimed inwardly.
However, it was still odd. The stone wall was actually a piece of mechanism with indescribable advanced technology.
Everyone stared at the radiant ruby gemstone laid in the center after the stone wall opened.
Hidden behind such an enigmatic high-tech mechanism, previously unheard of and unseen, laid this gemstone. It was evident that its value must be hundreds of thousands of times more worthy than the luminous pearl that illuminated the passageway.
Oliver looked at the ruby gemstone for a long time, but no identification message surfaced in his mind.
It felt strange, as this was the first time he couldn’t identify anything.
This phenomenon left Oliver feeling that the ruby gemstone was something of a higher level than his eyes. Or, he couldn’t identify it because it could be an object that did not belong to this realm.
Wayne…” Oliver uttered. But to his surprise, there was no response from Wayne. The fact that Wayne did not respond to Oliver was simply unimaginable!
Oliver turned his head around, only to find the others frozen in place like statues. Shocked, he ran up to Sienna to check on her and found that she was breathing steadily, yet completely unresponsive, as if transformed into a lifeless sculpture. No matter how he called or yelled, she did not respond.
Everyone else was the same.
Oliver panicked, wondering what was happening.
He was the only one in the room who remained conscious. “Could it be something wrong with the ruby gemstone? Could the reason behind the statuesque state of the others be connected to this gemstone?” he wondered.
Oliver was dumbfounded and in disbelief. Ever since entering Enchanting Hollow, the boundaries of common sense had been shattered. And the current state before him was even stranger. He couldn’t fathom why he could see the others while they were frozen into statues as if a spell had been cast upon them.
“Could this ruby gemstone be the cause?” Oliver pondered for a moment before slowly approaching the ruby gemstone.
He wondered whether the gemstone could be touched and whether the scene before him was just another illusion.
However, he could see it clearly with his eyes. His fingers moved slowly and softly toward the gemstone.
A sense of nervous anticipation gripped Oliver’s heart as he held his breath. As his finger made contact with the ruby gemstone, he expected something extraordinary to unfold.
However, as his fingertips touched the ruby gemstone, no sudden calamity or earthquake ensued, and there were no signs of collapse.
Oliver merely felt a tingling sensation on his fingers as if an electric current was running through them. His whole body trembled.
Before his naked eyes, the ruby gemstone disintegrated into a mound of ashes. It was as if it had succumbed to the ravages of time spanning millions of years.
Startled by the sudden transformation, Oliver involuntarily released the breath he had been holding. His exhale caused the ruby gemstone to crumble into fine specks of dust.
As the dust dissipated into the air, the ruby gemstone disappeared.
Boom!
A rumbling sound reverberated as the stone wall split into two halves and parted sideways, revealing a passageway similar in size to the previous ones. Luminous pearls also lined up the ceiling of the passageway, illuminating the path.
At this moment, Oliver suddenly noticed that everyone around him had seamlessly resumed their movements. They were completely unaware of the strange occurrence, calmly following him as they had before.
Oliver couldn’t help asking, “Did you see anything just now? Did you see the ruby gemstone?”
Louis and Yoseph immediately responded, “Ruby gemstone? Where?”
Oliver turned to Sienna. “Did you see the gemstone?”
Sienna shook her head. “I’m behind you all this time. Was there any gemstone?”
Wayne also shook his head and said, “Mr. Eastwood, I haven’t seen anything except the luminous pearls above my head.”
Oliver pointed above and tried to explain, “A moment ago, you leaped up and pierced the dent using your dagger. That’s why the mechanism was… Huh?”
To his astonishment, he discovered that the egg-shaped dent on the top had inexplícably vanished. The stone wall appeared to be flat and smooth, devoid of any trace of the previous dent.
Wayne was puzzled and instinctively touched his head. “Mr. Eastwood, I… Did I ever leap? Why can’t I remember at all?”
Oliver was stunned and asked Simon, “Sim, did you crouch down just now and let Wayne step on your shoulder to leap up?”
Simon shook his head. “Mr. Eastwood, I haven’t done anything but follow you.”
Oliver bit his lips. He knew that Wayne and Simon would never lie to him!