Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton
Chapter 1542 - 1103: I... I Can’t Go Back?

Chapter 1542: Chapter 1103: I... I Can’t Go Back?

The white crystal had not completely formed yet, and no mental fluctuations emanated from it. It seemed that only after the crystal was fully formed would the projection of its thoughts arrive.

Ange and the others exchanged glances. Negris asked, "What are we going to do? This is a Subordinate Origin—can we even beat it?"

Ange nodded, raising both hands, on which were perched Little Ghost and Kram. The opponent was merely something akin to a Celestial Descendant from North Corona, perhaps even falsified—how could it possibly be unbeatable?

Negris exhaled deeply, "That’s good, that’s good. So now what do we do?"

Anthony also breathed a sigh of relief. Since Ange was confident he could defeat the Subordinate Origin, Anthony’s plans became much more flexible. He quickly said, "Cover it up, cover it up. Let’s hide first and observe what’s going on. Why would it leave a physical body here? And why is it suddenly projecting in now?"

Their group had done this sort of thing countless times, so their actions were perfectly synchronized. Ange swiftly darted to a corner and reached out to tap the Little Sapling.

Everyone hurried into that corner. The Little Sapling stretched out countless branches, enveloping the corner entirely, before drying up.

From the outside, it looked like nothing more than a pile of dry branches. Of course, the purpose of deploying the Little Sapling wasn’t just to mimic a pile of firewood—it was to shield them from mental scanning and insight.

In this world, far too many observational methods could penetrate objects: whether it was through souls, willpower, the Eye of the Wizard, or the Eyes of Insight. No matter how securely something was concealed, it was ineffective, and even certain barrier arrays couldn’t ensure complete confidentiality.

In other places, an instantaneous scan would reveal everything—but a spot that couldn’t be penetrated? That would obviously be suspicious. Either the area would be scrutinized thoroughly, or the surface coverings would be stripped away entirely.

However, the shielding provided by the Little Sapling was remarkable. Mental scans could still penetrate, but what they revealed was only the harmless pile of dry branches—absolutely incapable of exposing Ange and the others hiding inside unless the outer layers were forcefully removed.

But given that the mental scan wouldn’t detect anything unusual, why would anyone bother to expend effort tearing apart a firewood pile? Would they then start overturning other corners full of goods and grains too?

Once everyone was securely hidden, there was no movement for quite some time. Even the vibrations from the chest cavity of the physical body being sealed off subsided, leaving their senses unable to detect anything. After waiting for a long while, Negris couldn’t hold back anymore and linked into Ange’s vision sharing. Anthony was already waiting for this opportunity and quickly joined as well.

Ange, who was encompassed in the concealment, shared the perspective of the Little Sapling. Through Negris’s connection, they could see faint radiance seeping from the chest cavity of the Subordinate Origin’s body. Clearly, the projection process was still ongoing.

After a long while, the radiance suddenly vanished without a trace. Yet the physical body remained unmoving.

Another long while passed. Just as Negris began to doubt whether the projection had failed, the body abruptly opened its eyes briefly, then immediately closed them again.

Perhaps it hadn’t seen anything. The body quickly lifted its head, opened its eyes again, and rotated its head in a circle, failing to locate anything noteworthy. It finally sat up gradually, sending out a tendril of willpower that swiftly scanned the room, including passing over the ’firewood pile.’ Finally, it cautiously rose to its feet.

"Why does it feel like it’s sneaking around? Is this really a Subordinate Origin? A Celestial Descendant?" Negris asked in the Soul Network.

Anthony responded, "Didn’t Lord say it was falsified? It’s probably not. Still, if someone can construct a physical body using a Subordinate Origin, their strength shouldn’t be underestimated."

"If they’re strong, then why are they sneaking around?" Negris asked, perplexed.

The sneaking figure scanned the cave but failed to find what it was looking for. It moved to the doorway and, through the wooden door, peered outside. Its gaze penetrated the door and scanned the area beyond, eventually pausing—it had evidently located its target.

Because of the discovery of the Subordinate Origin body, the outside area had already been sealed off. At this point, the only people outside were a few elderly farmer-tradesmen from the Megalithic Array Merchants.

They had no idea what was happening, having been summoned by Anthony for questioning. Despite Anthony’s courteous tone, the merchants couldn’t avoid having their vicinity inspected.

This left them uneasy, wondering if the cave might be hiding contraband. Could that ’statue’ be illegal? Evidently, in the minds of these farmers-turned-tradesmen, the Subordinate Origin’s body was nothing more than a statue.

Too apprehensive to enter the cave and unable to wander freely with watchful figures stationed at a nearby vantage point, the tradesmen could only linger awkwardly, either sitting or standing with furrowed brows and sighing audibly. Amid their laments, a familiar voice unexpectedly rang in their ears: "Uncle Mark, are you all right?"

Inside the cave, Negris watched in shock as the ’Subordinate Origin’ transformed into a virtual shadow, passing through the door and heading beyond the sealed area.

"It’s virtualized? How is its virtual-real transformation completely silent?" Negris exclaimed in astonishment.

Anthony ignored him and quickly asked, "Lord, can you see what it’s doing? Outside, there are only the merchants from Megalithic Array. Could it really be after them?"

Anthony’s tone carried disbelief. The merchants were ordinary humans, entirely incomparable to a Subordinate Origin in terms of level or rank. Could a Subordinate Origin really project across worlds just to seek them out?

Could one of the merchants possibly be hiding their true identity? The thought briefly crossed Anthony’s mind, but he dismissed it immediately. A figure capable of evading his perception wouldn’t exist in this particular Void.

Just as Anthony finished speaking, Ange’s vision began shifting. It seemed to merge with some kind of elongated object, extending outwardly. Through a small gap, it emerged outside.

"What’s going on? Ange, have you merged with a snake or something?" Negris asked, his tone incredulous. The perspective was eerily similar to that of a crawling creature.

Anthony, however, immediately guessed the answer: "No, it should be a tree vine."

Indeed, it was a tree vine. Wherever the Little Sapling extended its branches, Ange’s vision followed. However, the perspective, veiled as though beneath a layer of cloth, remained blurry. The sounds, however, were audible.

One of the merchants suddenly straightened and exclaimed in shock, "Witch? Why are you here? Where are you?"

The virtual shadow materialized, revealing its face. It spoke, "I heard there’s a plague here? That’s not a plague—it’s a type of parasite. I was worried you’d been infected, so I’ve brought something for you. Take this; the parasites won’t dare come near you."

As it spoke, some stone-like objects materialized.

Uncle Mark accepted the stones, his face anxious. "Quickly, Witch, leave here at once. They’ve discovered the statue. They’re inside the cave—I don’t know what they’re searching for."

The Witch’s complexion changed visibly. "People are in the cave? No one should be—there isn’t a single soul inside."

"I don’t know either. But they went into the cave and haven’t come back. They’ve pulled us aside and bombarded us with questions about the statue—they must’ve uncovered something. This could very well be a trap; you need to leave now!" Uncle Mark urged worriedly.

"Okay." The Witch nodded, her face gradually virtualizing as her entire shadow started shrinking inward—retracting, compressing, reducing toward a singular point.

Yet the final step failed. Instead of vanishing, the contracted virtual shadow froze in place, remaining at that pinpoint location.

After straining for a while, the point unexpectedly reverted to a shadow. Looking bewildered, it muttered, "I... I can’t leave?"

PS: Back pain, can’t sit for long.