Chapter Sixteen: The Water and Fire Pearl

  Teng Fei's earphones transmitted the urgent voice of his teammates, and he was sweating on his forehead, looking at Cao Sen in a loss.

  Cao Sen stretched out his index finger and thumb, making "bang bang" sounds with his mouth as if firing a gun.

  Right! Teng Fei scolded himself for being stupid, and first checked if the firearms could be used. After the command was given, shots rang out from front and back, and the crisp gunfire made both Teng Fei and Cao Sen breathe a sigh of relief. No matter where they were, as long as their guns worked, they had confidence in dealing with any strong enemy.

  What should I do next? Teng Fei looked at Cao Sen again, but Cao Sen didn't give any hint. Instead, he closed his eyes and buried his head in Mei Fang's warm embrace.

  Teng Fei knew that Cao Sen was trying to exercise his command ability and adaptability in the face of the enemy. He cursed inwardly, thinking that Cao Sen was comfortable hiding in the beautiful woman's arms and sleeping soundly. After a moment's thought, he ordered: "Get out of the car and form a circular defense with the vehicles."

  In the wind and snow, team members pushed cars that couldn't move forward, forming a circle with their heads and tails connected, protecting the Buick in the center.

  Teng Fei called over Guo Jing, Ding Haishan and Sima De again, to listen together as Old Tree Bark explained the characteristics of the illusion.

  "In the realm of fantasy, anything can happen and everything can appear. What you think is false may be true, and what you think is true may be false!" said the old tree bark. "Even your parents might come at you with knives and guns; if you don't eliminate each other, you'll end up being killed sooner or later."

  "Are bullets useful?" Guo Jing asked.

  "I haven't tried," Old Tree Bark replied, "No one has ever fired a gun in the illusion, only know that knives and clubs are useful."

  "The knife can be used, and the gun is just as good," said Teng Fei. "Where is the energy source that maintains the operation of the illusion?"

  "I don't know where the source of energy is, but as long as I find the person who cast the illusion and subdue him, the illusion can be broken. He must be hiding somewhere in the illusion. But this illusion feels like it's not something that human power can achieve, rather it's formed by some kind of magical artifact."

  "How can we find the treasure?" Ding Haitao asked Old Tree Bark.

  "It's even harder to find now, and who knows, we might have already drilled into the belly of the treasure."

  "I'll take our group out for a search and see what's going on around us," Guo Jing suggested.

  "That's too risky," Huo Yun interjected, "it's better to defend and wait until the enemy can't afford to maintain the illusion, it will collapse on its own."

  That's a good idea, but who knows how long the other side can hold on?

  Teng Fei decided to wait and see for now.

  Everyone returned to the vehicle, and the machine gunner on the roof also returned inside. The doors were closed, and team members stood guard with guns at the windows facing outward from the circular formation.

  On the Buick, Cao Sen looked at Teng Fei who was fidgeting and cursed him in his heart. The old tree skin wasn't very sensitive to alien energy, right? Send a small team to follow him, go out and search around, it's likely that they'll find the spellcaster or some sort of treasure, then just shoot them and the matter would be resolved.

  Cao Sen thought to himself, and his eyes naturally fell on the old tree skin's face. The old tree skin seemed to have guessed Cao Sen's thoughts, and hastily avoided his gaze, shrinking his body as much as possible into the car seat, almost curling up into a ball.

  Huh? What is he afraid of? Why did this illusion make him so scared? Several question marks popped up in Cao Sen's mind.

  Bang! A crisp gunshot rang out, followed by several more, and then the sound of gunfire became continuous, interspersed with the explosions of artillery shells and hand grenades.

  "Report in all units! Report... damn it!" Teng Fei found that his earpiece and mic were also out of order, he said to the other two team members left in the Buick, "Hold down the fort here, I'll go take a look!"

  As Teng Fei opened and closed the car door, the sound of gunfire grew louder and then softer. Cao Sen felt an itch all over his body, and he squirmed restlessly in Mei Fang's arms. At this moment, his desire to regain his adult form had never been stronger. He wanted to hold a gun, he wanted to fight, he didn't want his brothers to risk their lives for him, and he didn't want to watch from the sidelines.

  Whoa! A dull crashing sound, an off-road vehicle was hit by something, the body slid sideways and stopped only when it crashed into Cao Sen's Buick. Huo Yun and Jin Dachui in the car were extremely nervous, sticking their heads out of the window to look outside. Lao Shupi quickly crawled under the seat, it was unknown how he squeezed himself into that narrow space.

  But the two team members remained calm, dividing left and right to protect Mei Fang and Cao Sen in the middle, with their gun muzzles facing outwards, without even a tremble of their fingers. One reason why special forces are the elite of each country is their terrifying calmness.

  Whoa! A nearly two-meter-tall, sturdy wooden puppet made entirely of logs suddenly jumped onto the roof of the off-road vehicle, its two thick legs smashing the roof in and deforming the doors. The glass shattered and splintered everywhere. It looked around briefly, spotted Little Cao Sen inside the Buick, and let out a sharp, high-pitched whistle from its mouth.

  The team member guarding Mei Fang's side, Huo Yun, opened the car window and fired a long burst of shots with one hand, hitting the wooden puppet with a string of bullets, shooting it into the air and smashing it to the ground.

  Ah! Ah! More wooden puppets jumped onto the car roof, not a few limbs had been crippled, but like the uninjured puppets, they were expressionless, their stiff wooden faces with eyes devoid of life all staring at the Buick in the center, their goal was clear, it was Little Cao Sen.

  The organization unleashed a barrage of firepower, concentrating on annihilating the enemies who had jumped onto the roof of the vehicle. Flames spewed from the gun muzzles poking out of the off-road vehicle's windows, forming a dense web of firepower that quickly defeated the enemies on the roof. However, this weakened the firepower blocking the outer perimeter of the defensive circle, and even more wooden puppets jumped onto the roof, with some even jumping onto the Buick car. The team members were at a loss, and the scene descended into chaos.

  Several off-road vehicles were pushed over or dragged away by the wooden puppets one after another, and the Buick car was exposed. The wooden puppets came endlessly, some jumping high, others attacking along the ground, with only one goal, which was Little Cao Sen in the Buick car. Gradually, the team members lost control of the situation, and Teng Fei could not organize an effective firepower network. The battle almost became a solo fight, and many wooden puppets took advantage of the chaos to get close to the Buick car.

  A large wooden palm grasped the sliding door of the Buick, just as it was about to open, and a burst of bullets from inside the car shot the palm into two pieces. Before he could turn his gun around, another wooden hand stretched out, making a cracking sound as it forcibly pulled the door off, causing the Buick to shake violently, throwing the team member out of the car.

  A wooden puppet came crashing down towards him, but the team member remained calm and composed. Half-lying on the ground, he held his M240B and fired at the puppet, sending it flying away. He then sat on the hood of a Buick with its door blown off, using his body to block the opening, holding the machine gun at his waist and firing, shells scattering everywhere, bullets whizzing by, and even the nearby puppets were blown away.

  The Buick's body shook again, and a wooden puppet fell onto the roof. Amidst a piercing screech of metal scraping, it actually tore open the roof with its bare hands and reached in to grab Little Cao Sen from Mei Fang's arms.

  Two team members were entangled by a large number of wooden puppets and couldn't get their hands out, but there was still Huo Yun in the car. He pointed his finger, and a cluster of bright blue flames suddenly jumped out on the wooden hand, spreading upwards at an extremely fast speed, and in the blink of an eye, a wooden arm turned into ashes.

  The sky suddenly darkened, and faintly heard the sound of shouting in a hoarse voice, the people inside the Buick had no time to react, dozens of wooden puppets connected in a piece fell from the air towards the Buick, and were about to crush the car!

  Inside the car, Jin Dadao suddenly stood up, his height pushing the roof of the car into a convex-concave shape. He spread his arms wide and glared with round eyes, letting out a loud shout. An elliptical transparent hemisphere enveloped the Buick, flashing on and off before exploding in a burst of powerful air that sent all the wooden puppet people flying back up into the sky.

  Jin Dada spat out a mouthful of blood, his eyes wide open, and stood stiffly in the car. Due to excessive use of his powers, his body could no longer withstand the super-strong load, and he lost all signs of life.

  A few drops of fresh blood fell on Xiao Cao Sen's face, he touched the warm blood and felt the blood droplets rapidly cooling down in the wind and snow, while his whole body was boiling with rage, burning to fight back, to avenge Jin Da Chui! Xiao Cao Sen raised his head to the sky and let out a childish yet murderous cry!

  Xinghai, you can make me smaller, so you can make me bigger, damn it, turn me around! The Xinghai in Cao Sen's body was spinning at high speed under his urging, from slow to fast, and from fast to crazy. Wave after wave of energy fluctuations were released like layer upon layer of ripples. Cao Sen vented all his anger on Xinghai, he didn't know what the consequences would be, but now the only thing he could do was to make Xinghai spin, spin, and spin again!

  Perhaps sensing the fluctuations of the Star Sea, the wooden puppets went crazy and converged on the Buick car. All the team members were also frantically shooting to stop them. Huo Yun simply got out of the car and fought side by side with his teammates to resist the wooden puppets' attack. Xiangxiang's energy balls and Ludie's energy knives were desperately released, but still several wooden puppets broke through the layers of defense and reached into the Buick car.

  Two of Cao Sen's bodyguards were thrown out of the car, one was knocked unconscious and the other didn't have time to fire his gun. He pounced on Little Cao Sen, but was punched in the mouth by a wooden puppet, causing him to spit blood, and then he too was thrown out. As he fell to the ground, he pulled out his handgun and fired repeatedly, knocking down two wooden puppets that were about to grab Little Cao Sen. When he hit the ground, he was trampled on the chest by a thick wooden foot.

  With a ripping sound, the roof of the car was completely torn open, and the wooden puppet reached out to grab Little Cao Sen. At this time, only Mei Fang could protect Little Cao Sen, while Old Tree Bark had long since hidden who-knows-where.

  Mei Fang hugged Cao Sen and dodged around the narrow carriage, the wooden puppet people missed her several times, and simply drilled into the carriage, pinning Mei Fang in a corner of the carriage.

  Mei Fang's face turned pale, and she stared coldly at the expressionless wooden puppet. She tried to use her powers to control the puppet's mind, but it was ineffective. As the puppet reached for Little Cao Sen in her arms, Mei Fang suddenly flipped over and pressed Little Cao Sen under the car seat, grasping the carriage tightly with both hands.

  The wooden puppet exerted immense strength, grabbing Mei Fang's ankle and pulling her straight, but her hands were stuck to the carriage as if they had grown roots, firmly grasping Cao Sen who was protected under her body.

  The wooden puppet was pulled again, and Mei Fang's leg made a cracking sound. Her joint had been dislocated by the great force of the pull. She clenched her teeth tightly and remained motionless.

  Guo Jing and several brothers saw the crisis in the car, desperately rushed towards this side, more than a dozen wooden puppets swarmed up and drowned them.

  The wooden puppet in the car raised its other hand, expressionless, and heavily slammed it onto Meifang's back. Meifang's originally weak body was like steel, not moving at all.

  With one blow, two blows, three blows, Mei Fang's spine was broken, and the fresh blood from her mouth dripped down. She would rather die than let go, even if she were beaten in two, her upper body could still protect her baby.

  Droplets of fresh blood flowed across Little Cao Sen's face, on which the blood of three people had already congealed: Jin Da Chui, teammate, and Mei Fang. Cao Sen seemed to have gone stupid, staring blankly at Mei Fang's pale face without a hint of blood color. When Mei Fang's body was pierced through, the wooden puppet's arm forcibly passed through her slender body and grabbed Cao Sen's body, a crystal tear containing despair and reluctance fell onto Cao Sen's eyes.

  Cao Sen has gone mad.

  He let out a loud roar, and the starry sea inside him rapidly spun into a terrifying tornado, Cao Sen poured all his anger into the starry sea, forcing it to reverse, the powerful energy formed by the rapid rotation of the starry sea suddenly burst out, the energy storm swept across the entire body, countless star-like rays burst forth simultaneously, shining brightly enough to engulf everything in white light, turning Mei Fang's broken body transparent, and under her body, Cao Sen in his infant state transformed back into the strong and powerful adult Cao Sen.

  Cao Sen's body was surrounded by countless twinkling starlights, each emitting a bright blue glow. He was like a being made of light, with the speed of light and the power to scorch and destroy everything.

  Cao Sen raised his hand to hold Mei Fang, and with the other hand grasped the wooden puppet, just a pinch, the wooden puppet turned into powder. His gaze fell on the bowl-sized wound on Mei Fang's back, he let out a mighty roar towards the sky, a white light shot out of his mouth like a sharp blade, piercing through the sky, the wind and snow that filled the air came to an abrupt stop.

  Cao Sen gently put down Mei Fang and circled around at an invisible speed, restoring all the wooden puppets to powder.

  He quickly shuttled through the fantasy realm to find the person who released the fantasy realm. If found, he would use all the torture from ancient times to the present on him.

  However, Cao Sen was nowhere to be found, and his pent-up anger had no outlet. Cao Sen was like a dazzling meteor, trailing a long tail of flames, leaving behind a web of light as he tore through the illusory realm, weaving a dense net of light that enveloped the entire realm.

  The old tree bark crawled out from under an off-road vehicle, looked up at the sky and said, "Sigh, it's no use doing this, Old Cao."

  With a sudden movement, Cao Sen appeared in front of Lao Shu Pi, his eyes blazing with fury and hatred, making Lao Shu Pi dare not meet his gaze. "Speak, how did you find him?"

  "This illusion is not controlled by humans, it's a treasure, you can't find anyone" Just as he finished speaking, the clothes on Lao Shupi's body had already been scorched by Cao Sen's anger, and he hastily retreated several steps. Cao Sen approached again.

  "Tell me, you damn well better tell me everything you know!"

  The old tree bark didn't dare to retreat again, and with a strong sense of urgency said: "I just said it earlier, in the fantasy realm everything can be real or fake."

  The white flame on Cao Sen's body suddenly jumped up, and the old tree bark hurriedly shouted: "Let the river water in the illusion flow backwards, cover the water again, and everything that happened will return to the starting point. The illusion will also be thoroughly broken."

  Cao Sen glanced around, except for himself and Lao Shu Pi, there was no one else standing around. All his brothers, Huo Da Ge, Jin Da Chui, Xiao Lu Di, Xiang Xiang, and Mei Fang were all lying quietly in a pool of blood. Cao Sen couldn't withstand such a blow, his body swayed, and two hot white lights shot out from his eyes, searching for the river in the illusion.

  As far as the eye can see, it's a vast expanse of white snow and ice. Where is the river?

  "What should I do, old tree bark?"

  "Boss Cao, I...I don't know either!"

  Damn it! Cao Sen was ruthless, without a river, I would dig out a river, without covering the water, I would pour all the water from the five lakes and four seas into it. If everything cannot be restored to its original state, I would rather destroy everything!

  He transformed into a ray of light, searching for the river that might be hidden under the ice and snow in the fantasy realm. Wherever he went, the ice and snow were directly sublimated into water vapor by the high temperature carried on his body. In the misty water vapor, Cao Sen turned faster and faster, until his running trajectory formed a scorching white light circle, and the space was also filled with white water vapor.

  The river water flows backwards, and the spilled water is recovered. Is the snow on this land not from heaven? Isn't the water in the river also from heaven? I send them back to heaven again, isn't that achieving the reversal of the river water and the recovery of the spilled water?

  Cao Sen didn't care whether what he was doing was right or wrong, as long as it worked. He desperately catalyzed the ice and snow on the ground, and soon the illusionary realm was filled with oppressive steam.

  The old tree bark slipped back under the car, avoiding the scorching steam and crazy Cao Sen. He made up his mind that if Cao Sen couldn't restore everything, he would rather die than come out. He absolutely didn't want to face Old Man Cao's anger alone, even though none of this was his fault.

  The steam in the illusion grew thicker and thicker, but it couldn't dissipate. Cao Sen continued to frantically produce more steam, causing it to churn and expand rapidly. Finally, with a deafening roar, the steam exploded in a earth-shattering blast. Cao Sen was caught in the midst of it and was sent flying, knocked unconscious by the powerful force.

  The world in the fantasy realm suddenly solidified, and the clouds in the sky condensed into countless wooden puppet people and iron cavalrymen. Inside them, a bright star seemed to be constantly strengthening, emitting beams of light that eventually engulfed everything in dazzling brilliance. The originally boundless fantasy realm rapidly contracted into a crystal-clear pearl that fell from the air.

  On the highway, a convoy was driving. In the middle of the convoy, someone on a Buick car stretched out their arm and waved at Mingzhu. Mingzhu seemed to be possessed by a spirit, like a swallow returning to its nest, and flew into that person's hand.

  Cao Sen slowly woke up and heard the familiar and intimate voice of Teng Fei: "Attention, all cars attention, slow down, close the distance, keep the convoy intact!"

  This is exactly what Teng Fei said before entering the fantasy world.

  Whoa, I did it! Everything in the illusion has returned to its starting point! Cao Sen laughed heartily with excitement.

  "Baby, what's making you so happy?"

  Mei Fang's voice made Cao Sen feel so melodious for the first time, he recalled the crystal tear Mei Fang shed before her death in the illusion, and couldn't help but proactively hug Mei Fang, kissing her cheek.

  Mei Fang was taken aback, overjoyed beyond expectation, this was the first time Little Cao Sen had initiated a kiss with her! Mei Fang's love overflowed, maternal instincts surged, and she immediately returned countless kisses to Cao Sen.

  Tsao Sen frowned at being kissed by his family member, "Mom, again? Every time it's like this. Stop, stop kissing me, is that enough?"

  Finally survived the rain kiss, Cao Sen raised his head to look for others, haha, they're all there! Everyone is there! Everything has returned to its original state.

  Then he saw Teng Fei staring at him strangely, and he stretched out a pair of small hands to give Teng Fei a warm hug.

  Teng Fei dodged and thought to himself, "Cao Sen actually took the initiative to kiss Mei Fang. I didn't misjudge him, this kid has a problem. Get away from me."

  Cao Sen was furious, "I rarely give you a hug, what are you hiding from? If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have wasted my energy bringing everything back to the starting point. Just now, I was so powerful, I could have dug a hole through the earth, and now I've become a useless doll again. Damn it, I forgot one important thing, when I transformed back into human form in the illusion just now, why didn't I find a cigarette to smoke? Who knows when I'll have this opportunity again?"

  He tried again to urge the Star Sea to move, but the Star Sea didn't respond and continued to rotate at a constant speed. Cao Sen then tried to make the Star Sea reverse its rotation, but there was still no response. Cao Sen sighed in his heart, thinking that in the illusion, he had only burst forth with the Star Sea's earth-shaking power because of the deaths of his brothers and Mei Fang, and the sacrifices of Xiang Xiang and Huo Yun to protect him. If these were the conditions for the Star Sea to restore itself to its adult form, then he would rather remain a child forever. Even if Cao Sen's heart was as hard as steel, he couldn't bear the pain of losing everyone again.

  The old tree bark sat on one side with his eyes closed, as if nothing had ever happened, and didn't mention anything about the illusion. This was in line with Cao Sen's thoughts, even if Cao Sen could speak, he wouldn't want to say it out loud, everyone used their lives to protect him, he only needed to repay them with his life, saying any words of gratitude would be superfluous.

  In the old tree skin's hand, he grasped a pearl as large as a longan, smooth and lustrous. The old tree skin felt the cold and warm currents emanating from the pearl, and with a satisfied sigh, he secretly took a glance at the pearl. Only to see that on the inner surface of the pearl, there was a rapidly rotating light spot, while in the depths of the pearl, tiny snowflakes were fluttering about, the snowflakes being melted by the light spot into water vapor, and the water vapor turning back into snowflakes, circulating endlessly.

  What a great thing! I don't know who it was, but they were busy for nothing and ended up benefiting me instead! Old Tree Bark carefully put away the bead, heh heh, I knew it, this time going out would definitely yield something, and indeed it wasn't a wasted trip! Cao Lao Da is really formidable, with just a small burst of energy, he actually turned the Illusory Realm Treasure into a Water Fire Bead, what a great thing! Heh heh, from now on I'm not afraid of water or fire!

  Huo Yun and Jin Dachui both felt that they had lost a period of time, but they couldn't tell when it started or ended, so they could only bury their doubts deep in their hearts.

  Xiang Xiang was excitedly looking out of the window at the heavy snow in a off-road vehicle, "After we arrive, I want to have a snowball fight and build a snowman, who's going to join me?"

  The teammates in the same car looked at this girl who was elegant on the surface but actually reckless, and no one paid attention to her. Only Little Ludi responded with a loud voice.

  Also: This chapter was originally going to be split into two parts for upload, but I'm afraid it might cause dissatisfaction among readers. After all, the first half of the chapter is full of deaths, making it seem like a tragedy, and I've repeatedly claimed that I don't write tragedies. So, I'll upload it all at once to avoid misunderstandings and getting hit with bricks.

  I'd like to answer Cloud Sea brother and Gong Yuan brother's questions again. The matter of running around with a gun will be explained later; the protagonist becoming a child is set up this way in the outline, which is related to the subsequent plot and has affected Gong Yuan brother's fun, sorry about that. In the future, when setting up the outline, I'll try my best to make it something everyone can enjoy.