The Creatures That We Are
Chapter 1264: Black and White Corridor

Chapter 1264: Black and White Corridor

As soon as Cerulean Dog said that, the narrow alley vanished, and the room showed its true side. The group started and found themselves plunging into a new world without warning.

“Gale!”

Nainai propped everyone up with her Talent.

They recovered their composure. Below them was a wide grey river, lined on each side by a giant wall. One fluctuated and glowed with dreamlike white light, while the other writhed and boiled with eerie black energy. The two walls faced each other with the grey river dividing them, forming a corridor stretching across the universe.

Cerulean Dog stood on the surface of the river like it was land. He turned to Gao Yang. “This must be familiar to you.”

Gao Yang didn’t respond.

Vermilion Bird remembered Gao Yang’s description of his dream. “This is the place you dreamed of?”

Gao Yang nodded. “It’s similar, but different.”

“How so?” Liao Liao asked.

“Different on a tactile and conceptual level,” Gao Yang said. “It’s hard to describe.”

“Let’s not dwell on that.” Dr. Jia eagerly turned to Cerulean Dog. “What’s the question?”

Cerulean Dog looked around with a hand in his pocket, breaking into a handsome smile. “The room is the question.”

“The Black and White Corridor?” Adept Horse asked for clarification. “That is the question?”

“The room is the question,” Cerulean Dog repeated.

“You mean that the question is hidden in the room, and we must find it?” Liao Liao came up with another interpretation.

But Cerulean Dog’s response was the same: “The room is the question.”

Feeling lost, the awakeners fell silent.

“Can it be...” Hong Xiaoxiao hesitated, “You mean that literally, that everything here is part of the question?”

Cerulean Dog smiled. “Yes.”

“What kind of question is that? Who would design a problem this way?” Zhang Wei huffed in exasperation.

“Cryptic shit. The worst.” Wang Zikai was at the end of his patience. If not for Gao Yang, he would’ve attacked Cerulean Dog already.

“Let me get this straight.” Vermilion Bird frowned. “Everything here is the question. We have to find the question and then answer it.”

Cerulean Dog nodded.

“How do we answer it?” Adept Horse asked.

“It’s simple. Just say it out loud.” Cerulean Dog began to fade away. “I’ll be waiting for you at the entrance of the next room, everyone. I look forward to seeing you again.”

“Hey, wait...” Liao Liao had a lot to ask, but Cerulean Dog was already gone.

“Shit! We’re playing into his hand here.” Zhang Wei glanced at White Dew, furious. “That’s the kind of ex-boyfriend you have?”

“Ex-life boyfriend,” White Dew corrected with a scoff.

“This is their territory. Let’s do as they do.” Gregor had already reconciled with the situation.

“Lower us to the ground, Nainai.” Dr. Jia couldn’t wait to inspect the place.

Nainai brought everyone to the surface of the river with Gale. Like Cerulean Dog, they walked on water like land.

Dr. Jia approached the black wall and looked up and to the sides. “It’s estimated to be several hundred meters tall and a kilometer long...”

He took a few steps forward, reaching out to the wall.

“Wait!” Adept Horse called out. “It’s best to exercise caution, Dr. Jia.”

“You’re right.” Dr. Jia pulled back, turning to Gao Yang. “Touch it for me.”

Gao Yang had wanted to do just that. He conjured a double. It teleported to the black wall and reached out, but the palm stopped about fifty centimeters from the wall.

“Touch it!” Dr. Jia said impatiently. “You’re just a double. Don’t be a coward!”

“I can’t touch it,” the double explained while moving along the wall. Its hand remained half a meter apart.

Dr. Jia frowned. “Strange. The black wall isn’t moving away.”

“It’s like the Mist,” Liao Liao said. “No matter how you approach it, you can’t reach it.”

“Hm...” Dr. Jia stroked his chin bemusedly, then he gave out an order, “Nainai, fly toward the top of the wall and see if you can go over it.”

Nainai harrumphed in annoyance that Dr. Jia of all people dared to order her around, but she still took flight.

“Heavenly Dog, you go left.”

“Oh.” Heavenly Dog obliged without complaint.

“Another one, go right.”

“I’ll go.” Adept Horse moved quickly with Jump.

Something impossible happened. As Nainai, Heavenly Dog, and Adept Horse each went up, left, and right of the black wall, the wall grew taller and longer. Nainai could never reach its top, and Heavenly Dog and Adept Horse could never reach the sides. While the black wall didn’t look infinitely tall and long, it was infinite to the explorers.

Ten minutes later, the three returned to the group. The exploration ended in failure.

During that time, the others had tried their Talents on the black wall, but nothing worked. It couldn’t be damaged, and no energy resonance arose.

Dr. Jia couldn’t let it go. “Liao Liao, use Intangibility. See if you can go to the other side from under the river.”

“Huh?” Liao Liao gaped in shock.

“That won’t be necessary,” Gao Yang said.

I love you, Captain!

“Why?” Dr. Jia pressed.

I hate you, Dr. Jia!

Liao Liao screamed in her head.

“Look behind you,” Gao Yang said.

They turned around and realized in shock that the white wall on the other side of the river had become taller and longer, too.

“The white wall changed in tandem with the black wall?” Chen Ying concluded.

“Seems that way.” Gregor took a drag of his cigarette. “While the walls seem like opposites, they are one. They match each other in height and length...”

“The black and white walls in my dream are infinitely long and tall,” Gao Yang said. “In the dream, I could readily understand their infinity, but here, it’s represented in a different way.”

Dr. Jia analyzed that revelation. “True. To humans, infinity is a theoretical concept that cannot be perceived directly. So this is an assimilation of infinity to us—a wall that is always a little longer and taller, no matter how we try to find its edge.”

“That’s what you mean by the difference, Gao Yang?” Vermilion Bird asked.

Gao Yang nodded. “There’s something else. The river in my dream was running, and at the center of it was a giant tree.”

“Giant tree?” Dr. Jia turned to him. “How big was it?”

“Infinitely big in concept. As big as a city visually.”

“Hm...” Dr. Jia rubbed his chin in bemusement, but he suddenly noticed something unusual. “Wait, why are you all taller?”

Zhang Wei burst out laughing. “Look down, Dr. Jia.”