Chapter 46: “Interstellar Travel is Absolutely Safe.”

Chapter 46: "Space Travel is Completely Safe."

The lights in the screening room dimmed slowly as the third advertisement was about to begin.

On the screen, a lush expanse of treetops rolled along the mountain range, forming a verdant landscape. A bright sun hung high in the azure sky, seemingly dispelling some of the gloomy atmosphere within the instance.

At the same time, a gentle female voice spoke in a soothing tone, like a breeze rustling through the branches of a mountain forest:

"Mountain honey, nestled deep within the heart of the mountains, crafted in a purely natural and pristine environment, every drop a gift of nature..."

As the camera gradually zoomed in toward the ground, a group of seasoned apiarists with weather-beaten faces appeared before the players.

They wore bee veils and thick gloves, carefully tending to the beehives, their faces breaking into smiles of satisfaction.

Buzzing bees darted busily about, producing amber-hued nectar.

Even through the screen, one could almost smell the fresh sweetness wafting through the air, a cloying sweetness lingering on the tongue.

Yet, at that moment, the idyllic scene on the screen suddenly flickered and distorted erratically, strobing violently and blacking out, making eyes water.

When the image stabilized again, the scenery had taken on a much darker tone. Through the gaps in the shadowy forest, one could vaguely see sinister cloudbanks gathering in the distant sky, pressing heavily over the treetops as if a storm was imminent.

The beekeepers had already removed their hats, gloves, and other protective gear. Their heads hung unnaturally low, faces buried in the beehives, arms dangling uselessly at their sides, swaying lifelessly in the wind—whether alive or dead, it was impossible to tell.

The gentle female voice in the background continued reciting the advertisement’s script, its tone clashing eerily with the macabre tableau on screen, creating a bone-chilling incongruity:

"Mountain honey—every drop a gift of nature, enriched with the nourishment of human flesh, yielding an even more richer, sweeter taste..."

"So sweet it’s as if your teeth pierce skin, sink into flesh, snap capillaries, and revel in the coppery rush of blood down your throat..."

The Ability users present all possessed vision far beyond ordinary humans. At this moment, they could clearly see swarms of bees seething inside the beehives, crawling up the beekeepers’ cheeks, covering their mouths, noses, eyes, and ears...

From a distance, the bees’ wings overlapped, their yellow-and-black abdomens pressed together, forming a dense, horrifying carpet—as if the beekeepers’ faces had sprouted insectoid faceted eyes.

These compound eyes undulated grotesquely, gradually covering the beekeepers’ entire bodies, forming human-shaped clusters of bees.

Almost in the blink of an eye, a breeze carrying the scent of greenery mixed with blood swept through, and Meng Siyou found himself standing in the gloomy forest from the advertisement.

Thick, sticky droplets fell from above, sliding slowly down his cheeks.

Meng Siyou raised a hand slowly, wiping at the liquid, only to realize it was fresh honey, exuding a rich, faintly sweet fragrance.

The sweetness permeated the air, quickly drawing the attention of the swarming bees.

In an instant, a buzzing sound—so intense it seemed to shake the heavens and earth—filled the air. Just from the noise alone, one could imagine the terrifyingly vast number of enraged bees approaching. They surged toward Meng Siyou without pause, their momentum so fierce it seemed they intended to devour him alive.

"So, the danger in this advertisement comes from the bees..."

Behind the dense branches ahead, the dark shadows of the approaching swarm were already faintly visible. Yet Meng Siyou, their target, remained unperturbed. Instead, he stood still, musing aloud. "This really can’t pose any threat to me at all."

As the buzzing grew louder, Meng Siyou activated his Ability, "Silent Command," without hesitation.

His lips parted, but the sound he produced was beyond human hearing. It was as if he were using an organ other than his vocal cords to emit sound waves of a special frequency.

—*This is the land of silence. All things must fall mute.*

The unique sound waves radiated outward from Meng Siyou, rapidly spreading in all directions. The power of "silence" asserted its dominion over this domain.

In an instant, all sounds that defied this rule—along with the beings that produced them—were erased. The rustling leaves above Meng Siyou’s head, the swarming bees attempting to encircle him...

They vanished like burst bubbles, disappearing without a trace into this silent land ruled by stillness.

Once the threat from the bees was gone, Meng Siyou felt an inexplicable tug, pulling his consciousness back into his original body—like free-falling, his feet landing firmly on solid ground once more.

His vision whited out for a moment before returning to normal. By then, he was already back in the screening room.

The advertisement had ended, and the lights automatically brightened. Meng Siyou instinctively turned to look at Chu Fu, whose eyes reflected an eerie azure glint in the light.

When their gazes met, Chu Fu drawled his congratulations: "Well done."

"...Five advertisements detected in total. (3/5)"

"Next, it’s my turn," Chu Fu said, lowering his head to browse through the various advertisement thumbnails. "Which one should I pick?"

Aside from the office worker dozing off in his chair, both Meng Siyou and the bespectacled man observed his movements cautiously, their eyes discreetly tracking his fingers as they swiped across the digital screen.

Finally, Chu Fu’s finger stopped on an advertisement radiating a sci-fi sensibility.

It was unclear what stage of technological advancement the civilization that created this advertisement had reached, but just the cover alone evoked the poster of a sci-fi blockbuster. In the lower left corner was a sleek, silver spaceship with elegant lines, while the rest of the image depicted the vast, deep, and mesmerizing expanse of outer space.

Amidst the countless planets of varying sizes and colors, the spaceship resembled an indestructible suit of armor forged from steel, gleaming with the cold sheen of metal.

"‘Beyond the Sky’ Interstellar Tourism Development Corporation?" Meng Siyou blurted out, unable to contain his bewilderment. "Why would you choose this?"

The bespectacled man, more cautious and reserved by nature, remained silent, but the same question gnawed at him.

As humans—even though they had witnessed other realms and become capable Ability users—they still instinctively clung to their dependence on the earth. Conversely, the depths of outer space filled them with primal fear.

Because that was not their domain. It didn’t even belong to any fleeting life.

Compared to humanity, the cosmos was vast, profound, eternal—limitless and unfathomable... much like those terrifying beings referred to as "Them."

Thus, a sudden suspicion took root in the bespectacled man’s thoughts: He had always assumed, based on Chu Fu’s human appearance, that he—or *It*—had once been human, having ascended gradually to a higher existence.

But what if that wasn’t the case?

What if Chu Fu had never been "human" at all?

Perhaps he had always been a mysterious entity from the depths of the universe...

The more the bespectacled man mulled it over, the more plausible the theory seemed.

As a result, every movement Chu Fu made now carried an inexplicable eeriness, as if he were observing a species both similar to and fundamentally different from humans—triggering deep uncanny valley discomfort.

Unaware of the intense mental gymnastics of the other players, Chu Fu casually explained, "Because this cover is the prettiest. And I’ve always been a little interested in interstellar travel."

Hearing this answer, Meng Siyou went stock-still, his mouth opening and closing wordlessly.

He had already noticed—whether from Wen Sheng’s written reports or his own observations—that Chu Fu’s logic was alien in nature from that of a normal player.

Ordinary players always based their decisions on "survival."

Only Chu Fu acted as if he were touristing in this dungeon, factoring in his personal interests and preferences.

Was this the confidence of a powerhouse, a divine chosen?

Without much hesitation, Chu Fu selected the awe-inspiring depiction of outer space. The lights dimmed once more, leaving the massive screen as the sole source of illumination in the room.

A small, armor-plated spaceship, commanding in its presence, appeared in the players’ field of vision. Every inch of its design, from stem to stern, had been meticulously calculated and crafted to navigate the antigravity, energy-laden environment of space.

"'Beyond the Sky' Group is your ultimate choice for starting your interstellar adventure."

"We provide the most reliable, comfortable transportation and facilities, along with carefully selected, safest, and most scenic travel routes, guiding you through the stars to explore the mysteries of the universe..."

On the screen, the silver spacecraft floated through the endless cosmos, weaving between unnamed, brilliantly colored planets, like a fish gliding through a bizarre dream.

Yet, as these planets flashed by in the background, Meng Siyou felt a creeping sense of unease.

He had this nagging feeling...

That something extremely dangerous was watching them through the screen.

Sure enough, within seconds, the advertisement started glitching.

First, the narration became garbled and repetitive:

"Sa—safe—safe—explore the universe’s—universe’s—universe’s mysteries..."

After a few meaningless, jumbled, nonsensical lines, the voiceover suddenly turned shrill, scraping against everyone’s eardrums like a knife.

Even the office worker, who had been napping, irritably opened her eyes—she simply tore off her own ears and squished them into fleshy lumps.

The voiceover screamed, bordering on hysteria:

"Warning, warning! Your destination is no longer safe!... Space travel is dangerous!"

"Turn back now, turn back now—They’re watching—ahhhh!"

Then, after a pause, the narration eerily calmed down, speaking in a robotic, parrot-like monotone, laced with artificial, hollow cheer:

"Please proceed. Interstellar travel is absolutely safe..."

"We all look forward to your arrival."