"What's wrong?"
Jiang Wen asked curiously.
"When I first entered this basement, I felt that something was a little off. Don't you think that this basement is a little too spacious compared to the other places in the cave?"
Bai Xiaowen turned off the searchlight and said softly, "Because this basement wasn't dug out by the Plague Rats. Mr. Xiao, you said that you've been to this Plague Rat Cave before. Do you know of this basement?"
"My memory is a little fuzzy regarding that… The last time I came here was several years ago, but I don't think that there was a basement back then," Xiao Jinsheng said as he recalled the previous time he was here.
"From the marks on the walls, I can tell that this basement has been excavated for less than a year. If there are indeed 'abnormal areas' in the Plague Rat Cave, this newly excavated basement is undoubtedly one of them! The Awakened will be trying to find the treasure that caused the Plague Rats here to mutate. Sooner or later, that person who sealed the cave entrance will find this place!" Bai Xiaowen said in a low voice.
"In other words, hiding here is equivalent to signing our own death warrant!" Xiao Jinsheng took a deep breath. "Bai Xiaowen, that's a great analysis. Let's quicken our pace and leave this place."
The atmosphere became even more tense.
Suddenly, Bai Xiaowen gestured for everyone to stop.
'There's someone nearby. His footsteps are light," he remarked.
Xiao Jinsheng looked at Bai Xiaowen in surprise. What he did not know was that Bai Xiaowen's Spirit was as high as 7.9, so he had already surpassed some low-level Awakened. That was the reason why he had a strange perception ability.
Jiang Wen was so frightened that her face turned ashen white. She whimpered softly, "Is it that person?"
"Shh… Let's not make any noise for the time being. Hopefully, that person is just passing by and won't head this way." Bai Xiaowen patted Jiang Wen's shoulder.
The five of them squatted down. Even Zhou Yi, who was the most defiant out of them all, did not question Bai Xiaowen at this juncture. Along the way, Bai Xiaowen's analysis had earned him discourse power in the team.
Bai Xiaowen leaned against the wall and carefully searched the ground.
Before switching off the searchlights earlier, Bai Xiaowen caught a glimpse of something black on the ground. It looked like a bundle of clothes. He had an exceptional memory, so even though it was just a casual glance, he could recall most of it.
Under the current circumstances, the more information they had, the more confident they would be in escaping with their lives intact. Bai Xiaowen was certain that the black object that looked very much like a piece of clothing was related to the person who was responsible for digging out the basement.
"I can touch it, but it feels like something is wrong," thought Bai Xiaowen.
Bai Xiaowen touched the clothing, but they had a strange feel. They felt like rough linen.
This was abnormal, and Bai Xiaowen quickly found a questionable point.
Linen clothes were uncomfortable to wear. It was a product that had been eliminated hundreds of years ago. No shop would sell such material in the Jinghai Base City.
Bai Xiaowen continued to feel the material, and a strange expression appeared on his face.
He touched the hem of the sleeve and felt upward. He touched a cold and dry palm.
It was a dead man's palm.
This was not a bundle of clothes, but a dead person wearing linen clothes!
Bai Xiaowen was very frightened, he broke out in a cold sweat. He calmed himself down and continued to feel about it while trying to figure out who this person was.
Judging from the strange linen clothes, this person was probably not a human from Earth.
He should be… a human from the Spiritual Realm!
The Spiritual Realm was vast and boundless, and it included many layers of other dimensional planes within it.
Humans existed in multiple planes of existence. Of course, humans from the Spiritual Realm were very different from humans on Earth. Based on Bai Xiaowen's understanding, they were kind of like non-playing characters (NPCs) in role-playing games.
After figuring out the identity of this human, Bai Xiaowen fell into deep thought.
"After this human from the Spiritual Realm entered Earth, why did he take the risk to pass the wilderness blockade and enter the buffer zone, just to hide in this dark and smelly rat hole?"
As he was pondering over it, Bai Xiaowen suddenly perked up. He found a roll of sheepskin in the victim's other hand.
"Sheepskin scroll, linen clothing… The dimensional world that this human hailed from should have a background similar to medieval Europe!"
Suddenly, footsteps sounded. It was accompanied by the sound of an armor rhythmically clinking as that person stepped on the leaves.
The five of them held their breaths.
Bai Xiaowen sighed inwardly. He could tell that the footsteps were getting closer and closer. It was obvious that the person was heading in their direction. From the clinking sound of armor, Bai Xiaowen immediately pictured a tall and mighty knight wearing heavy armor in his mind.
The other party walked toward them without any hesitation. It was obvious that he did not take the five people in the basement seriously.
"He's discovered us! Run!" Zhou Yi shouted in despair and rushed out.
The others also rushed out of the basement. If they were cornered in the basement, they would be trapped and be sitting ducks.
Bai Xiaowen held onto the sheepskin scroll and ran as fast as he could.
The sound of footsteps also became hurried. It was obvious that the enemy had also increased their speed and was chasing after them.
"NOLITE!"
A majestic female voice bellowed, and a beam of light shot out. With a loud bang, a thin sword struck the rock wall in front of the five of them and pierced into its sheath! Bai Xiaowen had his eyes wide open in shock at this move.
This move was countless times stronger than Xiao Jinsheng's Basic Throw, which was already at its maximum level. If that move was aimed at them, that sword would probably pierce through them all like a stick of candied hawthorn.
In the next second, a tall female Knight wearing dark blue armor and a light purple cape on her back appeared, and she was chasing after them. The distance between her and the five people in front of her was rapidly shrinking.
The female knight had no intention of hiding her tracks. The armor on her body, the sword at her waist, and the cloak on her back were all emitting colorful halos of different colors. With so many types of spiritual equipment, just in terms of appearance, those weapons seemed much more powerful than Xiao Jinsheng's shabby old iron sword.
"She's not the same race as us!"
"Did she just speak English?"
"I don't understand what she said!"
The students were dumbfounded.
"At this point, who cares? Split up and flee!" Xiao Jinsheng roared at the top of his lungs.
Even though the female knight shouted "Stop" and threatened them, the five of them still ran with all their might. They were like five rabbits with arrows in their butts, running for their lives and entering different forks in the path.
The female knight shouted out a series of berating words. Compared to the English language, it was a little cryptic and incomprehensible.
"This female knight… is not a human from Earth! She speaks ancient Latin, a common language in medieval Europe!"
As Bai Xiaowen ran, he felt shocked. Combined with the linen cloth and sheepskin scroll on the deceased, Bai Xiaowen was almost certain that the female knight and the deceased both came from the Spiritual Realm. Furthermore, they came from the same plane of existence!
Based on Bai Xiaowen's understanding, planes of existence were like a "duplicate" of a game. The Spiritual Realm was a huge game world formed by countless "duplicates" of it.
The most unbelievable thing was that the dimensional worlds that the Awakened had already explored were inextricably linked to civilizations from certain eras on Earth.
The background of almost every dimensional world could be found in a similar "blueprint" in Earth's history!
Some dimensional worlds were related to the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Dynasty where witchcraft and mummies danced together.
Other dimensional worlds were like medieval Europe where swords and magic intertwined.
While there were some dimensional worlds that had modern city streets filled with combat and violence.
All of these dimensional worlds were relatively normal.
What did an "abnormal" plane of existence look like?
It would be the prehistoric era of the ancient Earth, whereby different species of dinosaurs dominated the land, sky, and sea.
Another example would be in the ancient Greek mythological era, where heroes who descended from Greek gods and goddesses roamed the land with their incredible powers.
Lastly, in the ancient cultivation era, there were swordsmen who stood atop flying swords and roamed the continents. There were also immortal heroes who slayed demons and devils. These were also abnormal places of existence.
So far, none of the dimensional worlds that had been discovered were completely unfamiliar and incomprehensible to the humans on Earth. They could more or less find some shadows in the long history of Earth.
The languages used by these worlds were ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, Chinese, Latin, ancient Hebrew… Most of the languages were ancient languages that had been widely spread on Earth.
Many experts tried to explain this, but their explanations lacked validation and were purely conjectures. The only ones who had the ability to find the "answer" were the Awakened who were fearless and explored the various plane worlds!
It was obvious that this armored female knight came from the Spiritual Realm, a realm of swords and magic! The background of the realm was similar to Earth's medieval Europe.