When Lei Nora ntioned that an "indescribable mass" had burst from a cocoon of light and caused her "Drifting House" to temporarily lose control, Zhou Ming’s expression had a subtle flash of thought—he considered for a mont that the object could be the package of "miscellaneous items" he had thrown out.
He had originally intended to use that thing as a "dium" to establish communication with the visitors outside.
But now it seed that the communication was a bit rough.
Fortunately, Lei Nora didn’t seem to have encountered much trouble from this accident—and she hadn’t noticed the subtle silence of the "Thousand-Faced Starlight" in front of her for a mont.
Zhou Ming quickly took the opportunity to change the subject, "After briefly losing control, what then? You ntioned you ’overshot’... what does that an?"
Lei Nora didn’t seem to suspect anything, and upon hearing this she slightly furrowed her brow in thought. After a mont, she recalled and said, "After the Drifting House briefly lost control, I fell into the deepest part of this mist, and only stopped near an invisible... ’boundary’. I don’t know how to describe that boundary to you... it actually has no physical form, visually there is nothing to see, but the mist stops abruptly there, and beyond that limit is vast expanses of... void."
She slowly halted, seemingly feeling that her description was still not accurate enough, troubled and frowning. Zhou Ming imdiately noticed this and his expression gradually grew solemn, "Void?"
"Yes, void. Not darkness, nor a typical sense of ’emptiness’... I don’t know if this is accurate to say—even ’emptiness’ at least still exists as a ’place’, but there... it transcends what I can rationalize," Lei Nora struggled to think, even recalling and describing what she had seen seed to be a very difficult thing. "Do you know the world through the eyes of soone born blind? Those who have never seen the slightest light, even losing the visual structure altogether, many think their world is a darkness, but in reality, their ’eyes’ perceive an ultimate ’void’..."
She paused, unable to resist spreading her hands as she continued, "They don’t see ’darkness,’ because strictly speaking, ’darkness’ is also a part of vision. They’ve never seen any color or shape, so much so that even the phrase ’a darkness’ is abstract and incomprehensible to them. Therefore, from a visual standpoint, what’s before their ’eyes’ isn’t black but ’void,’ where color has never existed, contours have never existed, and the entire world visually does not exist.
"Beyond that boundary, what I felt was this.
"I felt I should ’see’ sothing before my eyes, but it surpassed my understanding and perception, leaving no ’image’ in my mind. I felt there had been a sound by my ear, but whether it was the feeling at that ti or the mory afterward, my mind was blank—I stood at that invisible end, clearly aware that there was a ’boundary’, and boundaries should have an ’opposite side’, but it... had none."
Lei Nora waved her hand, as if even now, recalling that eerie and terrifying feeling still made her sowhat uncomfortable.
"No ’opposite side’..." Zhou Ming, upon hearing the other’s abstract and hard-to-understand description, slowly furrowed his brow, pondering and imagining such a scene, gradually making an association, "like a sheet of paper with no ’back side’?"
Lei Nora widened her eyes in surprise, and then she saw the "starlight entity" before her suddenly raise its limbs, amidst the myriad of eyes and starlight focusing, a... structure was gradually taking shape.
Zhou Ming tore off a strip of white paper, twisted it, and connected the ends.
"Knowledge" surged into Lei Nora’s brain, and at that mont, she understood the structure of the Mobius strip.
The vast "void" opened its doors to her.
"That’s the feeling!" she suddenly woke up from her daze, her eyes wide as she stared intently at the structure floating in the chaos, under the focus of a myriad of eyes, "This is it! A border without an ’opposite side,’ a sheet of paper with no ’back side’! An extre, the true aning of an ’end’!"
The structure silently dissipated.
Zhou Ming released the connecting point of the Mobius strip, and as the strip fell onto the table, he murmured thoughtfully to himself, "Is this the external barrier?..."
He, of course, knew that the barrier the "gods" crafted for the Shelter should not be so simple, the Mobius strip here was rely an easily comprehensible "model"—they were not equivalent, but from the "boundary scene" described by Lei Nora, there must be a connection between them.
Lei Nora cast a puzzled yet curious glance.
"You’ve reached the true end of the world—perhaps even beyond the places where the ancient kings had halted," Zhou Ming looked at this "Frost Queen," his tone sowhat uneasy, "you’ve witnessed... the scene beyond the boundary, but it exceeded your understanding..."
He slowly stopped.
The Mobius strip has no ’end,’ for a ’creature’ that resides on the surface of the strip, no matter how far they move within the loop, they will never be able to reach the ’border’ of the Mobius strip, much less perceive that there is an ’invisible end’ there, and thus feel confused and terrified by the ’void’ before their eyes—and Lei Nora, this reckless traveler, had in the past sensed the existence of that ’end.’
She had experienced "Ascending Dinsions"—even though she felt she only saw the ’void’ due to her inability to ’recognize’ the scene there, at that mont, she truly, albeit briefly, transitioned from one trapped on the surface of the loop to one... standing outside the loop.
He did his best to explain all this to Lei Nora, to elucidate the eerie phenona she had witnessed, and the nature of the "Ascending Dinsions" she had gone through during this past period.
"Knowledge" was reshaping Lei Nora’s mind, reshaping her cognition and essence.
But she joyfully embraced all this.
This is what she had been searching for in her journey, this is what she now wanted to attain.
She wanted to witness more landscapes, to understand everything she saw.
"I should leave now," she suddenly rose and said.
Zhou Ming looked at the Frost Queen with so surprise, as if he couldn’t quite react.
"I want to take another look there," Lei Nora turned her head, her eyes brimming with starlight, which seed to have permanently reflected in them, stared intently at Zhou Ming— "I’ve understood more, I have a feeling... this ti, I might be able to see sothing in that ’nothingness,’ sothing... sothing I was once unable to recognize, but that definitely exists."
Zhou Ming paused for a mont, then slowly rose from the sofa.
"You think there’s ’sothing’ in that nothingness?"
"Yes," Lei Nora nodded without hesitation, with a conviction and resolve that others could not understand, "I have seen them, heard them, but it was like a breeze blowing across stones, leaving no trace in my mind—like fingers unable to distinguish colors, eyes unable to judge warmth, my reason was not enough to comprehend what lies beyond that ’end,’ but now... I believe things have changed, I can see them, even if just a little."
Zhou Ming stared intently into the eyes of the "Frost Queen."
"You are making a very risky decision," he suddenly said, "you were almost devoured by that ’end’ last ti, and now you are going back."
"Yes, it’s risky," Lei Nora suddenly laughed, joyfully and radiantly, "Travel is always accompanied by risks."
"...like another ’deep dive project’?"
"...Yes, like another ’deep dive project’," Lei Nora slowly ceased smiling and nodded gently, "My solo deep dive project."
She turned her head to look elsewhere, took a deep breath, and after a mont of silence, said thoughtfully, "You see, I really am not suited to be a ’queen.’"
Zhou Ming said nothing, only walked slowly to the window that connected to the "drifting house."
After a while, he said, "I can’t leave this place—so don’t forget to tell what you see."
Lei Nora nodded briskly: "Okay, I will be your eyes."
She returned to that "crack," ready to go back to her own "drifting house"—a new journey awaited her, and she was ready.
Zhou Ming watched the enthusiastic Frost Queen.
For a mont, he felt that letting this lady climb back out the window seed sowhat unseemly as the beginning of another great journey—it seed a bit undignified.
But soon he thought... perhaps there was nothing wrong with it.
The queen, once trapped in a cage, now could embark on her journey in any way she liked.
His guest had left.
With a slight tremor, the window closed again, and the scene outside quickly beca enveloped in dense fog—Zhou Ming had no ti to confirm how the "drifting house" moved; it had already disappeared from his view.
He stood sowhat distractedly by the window, staring outside for a long ti, then withdrew his gaze, sweeping over the living room.
The events that had just unfolded seed like a dream—a mind permanently trapped in a small house, dreaming of soone visiting.
But as he approached the sofa, he saw a strip of paper still lying quietly on the coffee table, twisted into a Mobius strip, its edge slightly curled.
Next to it on the white paper was sketched an antiquely designed lantern.
Indeed, soone had visited here.
Zhou Ming sighed lightly, feeling a bit relieved, then chuckled and shook his head as he walked towards the apartnt’s main door.
Opening the door, the constantly pulsating black fog was there as always...
Duncan opened his eyes in front of the Displaced’s gate.
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