Chapter 264: The Answer

Jia Junpeng's mouth finally shut once they entered the forum.

However, they were only in the forum for a few minutes before they came back out, an odd expression on Zhang Wenda's face.

This time, the old fishing guru hadn't been much help. Instead, he just gave them an address.

"Find a car and drive to this location. Someone there will answer your questions." Those were his exact words.

"A car? We have to find a car? Where the hell am I supposed to get a car in the Internet World?" Zhang Wenda glanced around before his eyes finally landed on the Black Cats Song Jianguo had brought with him.

An idea struck Zhang Wenda when he saw the Black Cats' blue eyes all blink at him in unison.

A few minutes later, a black vintage car, complete with a pair of cat ears, sped through the vast expanse of the Internet World.

Due to the small number of cats used to make it, the car was pitifully small. The three of them were crammed inside, practically bursting at the seams.

Along the way, Jia Junpeng reported on the intel he had gathered recently. Unfortunately, he hadn't found anything useful.

This was to be expected. If an ordinary person like him could easily dig up information on Qianxi, then Qianxi would have been eliminated long ago.

But Zhang Wenda hadn't been counting on him anyway, so he wasn't too disappointed.

After all, the Internet World was his home turf. He was better suited as a tour guide than an investigator.

For instance, when Zhang Wenda followed the address to a narrow road packed with illegally parked vehicles, Jia Junpeng immediately pointed to an empty spot like he owned the place. "Boss, over there. If I'd known we were coming here, we wouldn't have needed to go to the forums at all. I know this place like the back of my hand."

Utterly baffled, Zhang Wenda drove over and hit the brakes. "What are we supposed to do now?" he asked, completely perplexed.

"Just wait. We're definitely in the right place," Jia Junpeng said, his eyes filled with anticipation as he stared out the window.

Before long, an androgynous-looking man chewing gum walked over and rapped on the window with a bent finger.

When Zhang Wenda rolled down the window, the bearded man spoke, his face a mask of impatience. "Move the car. You can't park here."

Jia Junpeng reached into his coat, pulled out a pack of cigarettes, and offered it to him. But the man, with an effeminate flick of his wrist, sent it flying. "None of that. Move it, or I'll smash your window."

Jia Junpeng then pulled a twenty out of his coat. The man's expression changed instantly as he snatched the bill away. "Five minutes. Not a second more!"

Seeing this, Zhang Wenda seemed to understand. He extended his scythe, used it to pluck a thick wad of hundred-yuan bills from an enamel jar, and held it out. "I have a question. Answer it correctly, and this is all yours."

The fawning smile on the bearded man's face vanished as quickly as it had appeared. He cleared his throat. "Ask."

"Where can I find my blue?"

Hearing this, the man's grin vanished. He tilted his head up at a forty-five-degree angle, his gaze becoming as profound as a philosopher's.

He then leaned his elbow against the car window and began to speak in a low voice. "Friend, let me put it this way. What you seek is not some external gift, do you understand? You need to search for the true nature your soul wishes to forget."

"That 'blue' has always been whispering beneath the dome of your consciousness. You are intimately familiar with every hidden path that leads to it."

"You have simply grown accustomed to building new corridors in the labyrinth of your avoidance, shrouding the truth in a thin fog of 'I'm not ready.' The courage within you demands that you tear aside this veil of self-deception and gaze directly upon the primal light."

After delivering this stream of philosophical nonsense, he snatched the money from Zhang Wenda's hand and walked away, chewing his gum.

"Move it! If you're not gone in a minute, I'm smashing your window!"

Song Jianguo, who was completely lost, couldn't help but complain, "What was all that? He talked a whole lot without saying anything. Easiest money I've ever seen anyone make. Hey, I could do that!"

But Zhang Wenda remained silent, turning the man's words over in his mind. As he mulled them over, his expression grew grave. He was beginning to understand.

"You guys wait here. I have to go take care of something," Zhang Wenda said as he opened the car door and stepped out. He gripped the key at the center of his brow and opened a gate on the ground—a gateway to his inner self.

He didn't seek out the Black Cats. Instead, he went directly to the other half of the island, finding the Hippocampus once again within the maze.

"Consciousness. You've returned?" The Hippocampus set down its pen, looking down at Zhang Wenda.

"I've already found red, but now there's too much of it. I need to find blue. Do you know where it is?"

"You have asked me this before, and I have given you my answer. I do not know." The Hippocampus's gaze drifted from Zhang Wenda's face, returning to the sparks of subconsciousness in the mirror.

But Zhang Wenda didn't let it go. "But someone just told me that you do know. Why won't you tell me?"

The Hippocampus swayed its bizarre body as it floated down, bringing its enormous head face-to-face with Zhang Wenda. "Do you truly not know yourself? Is this something you really need to ask others?"

"What do I know? What am I supposed to know?"

"The trial for blue is red, and the trial for the truest red is blue. Do you truly not know where to find red? The deepest red within your heart, the origin of all your redness—is it that you can't find it, or that you refuse to face it?"

"You subconsciously refuse to face it yourself. How am I supposed to tell you?"

As it spoke, the Hippocampus extended a single hand. A mirror on the wall detached and floated down in front of Zhang Wenda. Reflected in it was nothing but a conjoined, hole-riddled monster holding a scythe.

SMASH!

With a loud crash, the mirror shattered. Every fragment reflected the furious glare in Zhang Wenda's eyes.

Zhang Wenda gritted his teeth, the sound of them grinding filling the air. His breathing grew ragged as white steam poured from the holes covering his body.

Seeing this, the Hippocampus floated back up into the air and resumed its work of writing down memories. "It seems you are not prepared to face the true trial of red."

'Why them? Why does it have to be them!?' His suppressed emotions finally broke through. One by one, cruel and violent thoughts surfaced uncontrollably in his mind.

"In truth, you have always known where to find blue. You simply refuse to face it subconsciously."

The Hippocampus spoke as it raised its golden fountain pen, skillfully transcribing the recent events into a memory to be stored away.

"Only when you are no longer controlled by red can you truly possess blue."