Zeng Jingrong called Li Weixin to leave together, as the items Tian Jing needed required preparation from two directions.
Li Weixin soon arrived with two large mirrors.
Tian Jing asked him to go to the maze with her and use vines to suspend the mirrors above the tombs.
The two planted seeds, controlled the vines to face the mirrors upwards, and fixed them at a slight angle according to the principle of refraction.
The direction of refraction was naturally not towards the center of the maze; reflecting it back would be a waste of effort.
The refraction was directed towards the trees on the periphery of the maze.
Because trees were alive, they could absorb negative emotions.
By afternoon, Zeng Jingrong had procured a drilling machine and hydrofluoric acid. He directly began drilling into the black tomb.
As soon as a shallow hole was drilled, it was repelled by the formation on the tomb.
He didn't care about that; to forcibly dismantle it, one had to ignore the formation's repelling force.
Tian Jing, holding a plastic bucket, signaled him to drill another hole, and she would pour hydrofluoric acid into this small hole.
After the two cooperated for a while, Zeng Jingrong found that the holes he was drilling were getting deeper.
Tian Jing also noticed this and pointed to the white tomb, telling him to drill there.
If the two sides were not balanced, who knew what would happen.
Shortly after drilling into the white tomb, Tian Jing suddenly felt a shock in her heart and hurriedly shouted for them to leave.
She herself also ran out of the maze.
Li Weixin, who had been cautioned by his mother long ago, threw out a vine to wrap around the trees outside the maze with one hand, and pulled Zeng Jingrong forcefully into the air and out of the maze with the other.
"Boom! Boom!"
Two sounds like explosions echoed behind them.
The three people who landed outside the maze turned around, still shaken, and saw the black and white tombs collapse, kicking up dust and raising black mist.
In the black mist, the mirrors suspended by vines shattered.
Amidst the sound of breaking glass, Tian Jing seemed to hear a low, angry roar.
Her heart fluttered as she stared at that patch of sky. The sky, shrouded in smog, was like a shattered mirror cover, allowing the dazzling sunlight to penetrate, making one's heart feel brightened.
Zeng Jingrong patted his chest: "Tiantian, I heard an enraged roar, and after that, it felt like a weight had been lifted from my heart."
"Hoo~" Li Weixin let out a long sigh: "Me too, I also heard the roar."
"Me too." Tian Jing's gaze was fixed on the center of the maze.
As the dust settled, there were only scattered gray stones, and even the Yin-Yang fish could no longer be seen.
She beckoned to Li Weixin: "Let's you and I go and clean up the stones, and Captain Zeng can wash them clean with water."
She wanted to see if the Yin-Yang fish were still there after the black and white tombs were gone, and what the fish eyes were.
The three of them operated their abilities and quickly cleaned up the area in the center of the maze.
The true appearance of the Yin-Yang fish was revealed.
At the black and white fish eyes of the black and white Yin-Yang fish, there were still Yin-Yang fish patterns. At the fish eyes of this Yin-Yang fish pattern, there were still Yin-Yang fish, and at the fish eyes, there were still Yin-Yang fish...
An infinite cycle drew them in, causing them to lose their minds and fall into a trance...
With a "snap," Tian Jing was startled awake. She looked towards the sound and saw Li Weixin being thrown out of the Yin-Yang fish pattern.
Before she could figure out what was real and what was illusion, she was also flung out of the Yin-Yang fish by a strong force.
Subsequently, Zeng Jingrong was also thrown beside her.
The three looked at each other, their footing having changed.
Now, was it reality or fantasy?
Li Weixin looked up at the sky: "It should be the real world."
Zeng Jingrong got up and went down the stairs to the underground storage room. The storage room door was open, and the mechanisms inside had all been blown up.
Tian Jing and Li Weixin also followed him down.
Li Weixin carefully examined the blown-up mechanisms: "They are all the same as the ones I blew up."
Tian Jing was still uneasy. After returning to the ground, she took out her phone: "Let's each make a call to test it."
Tian Jing naturally dialed Li Zhengguo: "Zhengguo, what year is it now?"
Li Zhengguo, who answered the phone, retorted: "Who are you?"
Tian Jing narrowed her eyes: "I'm your wife."
"Nonsense, I don't have a wife!"
Tian Jing was stunned. Was it reality or illusion?
The voice on the phone was still saying: "I have a wife, her name is Tiantian."
Tian Jing said reproachfully: "Then why did you say you don't have a wife?"
The voice on the other end replied: "Because my wife doesn't call me Zhengguo. Tell me, who exactly are you?"
"Why do you have my wife's phone? And why did you ask me that question?"
Tian Jing smiled: "Because we destroyed the black and white tombs."
"What?" Li Zhengguo's voice was filled with emotion: "Are you alright? Are you still in the same world as me?"
"Heh heh." Tian Jing chuckled softly: "Aren't I just calling you to confirm the time?"
Li Zhengguo was not as relaxed as Tian Jing: "Today is April 21, 2002."
Tian Jing nodded: "That's right, I'll definitely be home tonight."
After hanging up the phone, Tian Jing looked at the other two.
Both of them nodded at her.
The three of them breathed a sigh of relief simultaneously.
Tian Jing pointed to the underground area and said to Zeng Jingrong: "The underground storage room is probably useless now, see how you want to design it."
"As for the maze, we'll have to wait and see. For now, don't open it to the team members."
Zeng Jingrong agreed. According to Tian Jing's instructions, destroying the tombs seemed to have restored the maze to how it was before the Chen family occupied it, but who knew if a formation master who had been infiltrated by rules had made any other arrangements.
"In a few days, the three of us will come and experience it again. I feel that what we experienced just now was more real than anything before, and it was just one world. It was like my own past life."
One world? Like a past life?
Tian Jing looked at Li Weixin.
Li Weixin also nodded: "Indeed, this time it was just one world, very real and ordinary, like a place where another me had truly lived. Mom, what about you?"
Tian Jing smiled: "The same feeling as you two."
Exiting the maze, Tian Jing glanced at the trees around the perimeter of the maze. She reached out and touched a tree trunk, then called Zeng Jingrong and Li Weixin to go to the monitoring room first. She needed to clear out the emotions the trees had received to prevent any further accidents.
Li Weixin also stayed to help.
Tian Jing asked Li Weixin to condense the complex thoughts he sensed from the trees onto a branch, cut off the branch, and take it out to be burned.
When Zeng Jingrong saw this mother and son carrying bundles of branches, after his surprise, he suppressed a smile: "You're not going to dispose of them underground, are you?"
Tian Jing shot him a sideways glance: "That's a maze, who knows when those rules will resurface?"
Zeng Jingrong's expression also changed: "Speaking of which, the maze is really a troublesome thing. I hope future generations don't have any fools who would go crazy and blow up the maze."
Tian Jing shrugged: "No one can control what happens after they're gone. Let's go! Let's find a place to burn these branches, I should go home now."
...
After receiving the call, Li Zhengguo could no longer concentrate on his work.
He simply took sick leave and went home.
In his eyes, he had waited for what felt like half a century for his wife to return home.
He stared intently at his wife, scrutinizing her.
Tian Jing pushed him away and walked towards the washroom: "Why are you looking at me like that?"
Li Zhengguo followed her: "I'm scared."
Tian Jing scrubbed her hands vigorously: "Scared of what? Even after experiencing so many lives, hasn't it only been two days?"
Li Zhengguo shook his head: "That's different. This time, you destroyed the black and white tombs. What was the reason?"
Tian Jing glanced in the direction of the kitchen and told her husband about the changes in the black and white tombs, the cyclical fish eyes beneath the tombs, and the changes in the place where they woke up.
"You tell me, how can I not worry? I call you, and you play guessing games with me."
Li Zhengguo smiled apologetically: "Wasn't I also scared by the maze?"
Li Zhengguo's words reminded Tian Jing of how Zeng Jingrong and Ranran had only experienced one life within the cyclical fish eyes:
"... Ranran asked me, and I could only say that it was the same as them. I couldn't possibly tell them that I had experienced two worlds."
"One was the first life, and the other was the apocalypse, not the unfamiliar world they described as if they had personally experienced it."
"I think the original Yin-Yang fish eyes were meant to let people experience so-called past lives."
"They had no memory and thought it was an unfamiliar world. I had memories, and both worlds were the same as in my memory."
"The Chen family covered the fish eyes with tomb formations and set up a blood-activated formation method, selfishly making the maze exclusive to the Chen family."
"The rules amplified their selfishness, turning the Chen family into its accomplice, helping it collect more negative emotions and grow its power."
"Thinking about it makes my hair stand on end. Zeng Jingrong worries if there will be crazy people in the future who will blow up the maze."
Li Zhengguo also worried that if there were instructions not to destroy the maze, it might be destroyed very quickly.
Some people's rebellious psychology is that the more you forbid them from doing something, the more they want to do it.
If they can't do it, they will go mad and try every means to achieve it.
Tian Jing dried her hands and pushed him out of the washroom: "It doesn't seem to be the end of the workday yet, why are you home?"
Li Zhengguo walked in the direction he was pushed: "After you made that kind of call, how could I possibly sit still?"
"You skipped work?"
"I took sick leave."
"Where's the sick note, Mayor Li?"
"Ask Dean Yuan."