When the light of Sanctuary illuminated the dark lake, everyone stopped breathing.
Carrion, corpses, and the dark green "river water". The disgusting picture in front of them came out of nowhere. He didn't know if it was an illusion, but their sense of smell had apparently returned to normal, as the sudden stench of rotting flesh hit them. Everyone's facial expressions after witnessing the reality around them was anything but good.
Magallan couldn't bear it at first. She realized this and immediately covered her mouth and nose with her hands. Her eyes turned tearful. She didn't know whether she was more horrified by the gruesome situation before or after, as she seemed to be about to puke but tried to suppress it.
Lin Ye thought it was the latter because right now he was the closest to the "river water". He was hit by the full brunt of the stench on contact. If it were not for his two years of being a vet in Chernoborg, not adding in his past life, he probably would have vomited right now.
Although everyone else's face showed they were not enjoying this, they were obviously doing much better than Magallan. Their reactions as well were much more tolerant than both Lin Ye's and Magallan's.
Matoimaru took a few steps back, her tone full of disbelief "This...What's going on?"
"How did I miss this?" Frostleaf narrowed her eyes and tried to make a guess. However she felt that it was not quite right. She shook her head "No, that should be impossible."
"Indeed, it is not possible. I don't know how to explain it. I've never encountered such a thing" Matoimaru turned her head and looked at Magallan, "What's happening? Wait... Didn't your drones already take pictures before we came here? Didn't you find anything unusual?"
"That's exactly what I was about to say before we got interrupted. Look."
Magallan's current expression was very hard to read compared to her short lived shocked one. She presented her microcomputer that controlled her drones for everyone to look at. It revealed the same "normal" underground river. There were no carrion and bones in the river water. There were still many flies and insects in the pictures but nothing unusual.
"When did you take this? A few minutes ago?" Matoimaru asked.
"... Just now" Magallan whispered.
"What?" Matoimaru didn't know how to react, while Frostleaf frowned ever so slightly.
Magallan's finger tapped the screen twice to adjust the time shown when the photos were taken. Then everyone glimpsed that the photo was taken just a few seconds ago. Everyone was speechless.
"I don't know why this happened," Magallan said softly, "I've never encountered such a bizarre situation before. I checked the previous photos and videos, and also rewatched them. When the drones found the underground river, it was nothing like this".
"But how is that possible?" Matoimaru asked.
"I just took another photo but it still looks the same as the previous ones. But looking at the place in person... it's completely different" Magallan's expression was complicated, "If it weren't for the fact that I'm seeing all this with my own eyes, I would have suspected that my computer was hacked."
Frostleaf slowly put down her headphones and she murmured "What is going on here?"
Lin Ye looked at Blue Poison, the person who had the most authority in the group.
She softly sighed, "We were hypnotized."
"Hypnotized?" Lin Ye asked.
"Well, although I don't know when it started, we were indeed hypnotized", Blue Poison looked at the amulet in Lin Ye's hand and slowly said "It's a very powerful hypnotic technique. Otherwise Doctor Lin Ye's amulet would not have responded. After the amulet took effect, the spell stopped working on us".
"This technique can hypnotize people, that I can believe. But can it also obscure itself from machines?" Matoimaru obviously didn't believe in Blue Poison's explanation.
"Although I don't know much about machines, I don't think that this spell needs to conceal itself from machines, it just needs to trick our senses," Blue Poison looked at Magallan and inquired, "Miss Magellan, what do you think of your drones?"
Magallan didn't seem to understand Blue Poison's question "What do you mean?"
"Well, Miss Magallan, in your opinion what do you think of your own drones? Are they your third pair or even your fourth pair of eyes?" Blue Poison asked, "Do you believe in them?"
"Of course I do," Magallan nodded and said expectantly "Of course I believe in them. They were developed by me. After so many years by my side, I have long since regarded them as my third pair of eyes".
"That's it," Blue Poison also nodded. "Since this spell can trick our naked eyes, it's not impossible to trick our mechanical eyes".
"No." It was Lin Ye who spoke, "That shouldn't be the case,"
He had recovered 70% to 80% of his composure, and quelled the deception that the Mephisto he saw in the water before was real, it was just a mere illusion.
So he thought for a while about what was said regarding the spell. After thinking for a while, he rejected Blue Poison's speculation and said "The mechanical eye and the naked eye have completely different structures. No matter how powerful this spell is, there is no way it can trick a machine".
Blue Poison looked at Lin Ye with confusion "What's the matter?."
"I think the photos and videos taken by the drone are all real, but Magellan can't see the real image" Lin Ye looked at Magallan "Because you also need to see them with own eyes rather than just through your drones. Therefore as long as this spell hypnotizes our naked eyes, it blocks us from seeing what we're looking for."
Lin Ye's speculations seemed much more convincing than Blue Poisons.
"Ah, it doesn't matter who's right," Matoimaru's head was starting to hurt, "In short, we were all deceived, right?"
"Yes," Lin Ye said, "Such a thing happened without us noticing it."
Matoimaru looked around, "What the hell is this place?"
"It's the place where Miss Skadi had trouble to deal with," Blue Poison replied softly, "Now we finally understand what Miss Skadi faced that night. This spell is more than just hypnotic. Doctor Lin Ye, your emotions just now were obviously abnormal."
Lin Ye nodded in confirmation.
"Speaking of which, Doctor Lin Ye", Blue Poison asked Lin Ye "You said you saw Mephisto underwater".
"Yeah. But that was just an illusion".
"I know it was an illusion. In other words, Miss Skadi also experienced hallucinations similar to yours" Blue Poison stated, "Do you remember? Miss Skadi, before losing contact. She said your name."
Lin Ye's whole body goes cold.
"You mean, Skadi saw my face under the water?".
"There's a chance that happened," Blue Poison nodded while asking further "Who's Mephisto?"
"An enemy."
Matoimaru nodded "I understand, you see your enemy's face under this water surface. So that means Miss Skadi sees you as an enemy."
"... I think your reasoning is a little unconventional... No. It does sound reasonable, but I can't be Skadi's enemy."
"Who knows", Matoimaru said while folding her arms "Maybe Skadi has wanted to kill you for a long time".
"Miss Matoimaru, this is not a good time to be joking," Magallan said weakly.
"... I was obviously analyzing the problem very seriously," Matoimaru exclaimed, sounding a little wounded.
Blue Poison said "It's true that Doctor Lin Ye could not be Miss Skadi's enemy, and there is also no evidence that what she saw was an enemy, or maybe it could be someone who was important to her?".
Looking at Lin Ye, she was a little curious "What do you mean, did Doctor Lin Ye care about the man named Mephisto recently?".
Lin Ye wanted to refute but felt that Blue Poison was telling the truth, so he didn't say anything.
She looked at Lin Ye. Obviously she wanted to ask something important.
"... Mephisto is a terrifying person." Lin Ye sighed and honestly said "I let him run away. I really have been thinking about him all this time. Of course, I was afraid of him. I was, still am, scared of him seeking revenge on me. But if you think that he's a person I care a lot about, that's where you're wrong."
"In this way, the person that Miss Skadi cares about recently is obviously you," Matoimaru says.
Lin Ye was stunned.
After a long time without speaking, Magallan said, "Do you remember when Doctor Lin Ye wanted to run into the river when he was hypnotized?"
"Yeah, he was crazy," Matoimaru glanced at Lin Ye.
"You can hold back Doctor Lin Ye, but no one should have been able to hold back Miss Skadi at that time?" Frostleaf said.
Lin Ye turned to look at Frostleaf, full of shock "You mean Skadi ran directly into the underground river?!".
Blue Poison immediately shook her head "I don't think so. Miss Skadi is the most powerful Abyssal Hunter, how could she fall for such a spell so easily?"
Matoimaru replied "But you just said that Skadi called Doctor Lin Ye before losing contact, and Doctor Lin Ye just called the name of Mephisto".
"I obviously didn't call him," Lin Ye sighed irritably.
"I still don't think Miss Skadi would have gotten tricked by this."
The three of them were about to argue, but they were interrupted by Frostleaf again.
"... I think we should stop talking about this. It's better to turn your head and look behind you" Frostleaf's voice was very soft, as if she was afraid of disturbing something "Is the person standing in the river Skadi?".
Everyone was shocked. They saw a black female figure standing quietly in the middle of the river just fifty meters away.
{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}
Draft by Jaq
Proofread by SM
Edit by Jaq