“Get up, Naduo!” I opened my eyes to see Lu Yun. “What happened?” I sat up quickly. Looking around, I was astonished to see all the members of the X agency, including Ruan Xiuwen, lying in disarray around the well, all deeply asleep. Shuisheng and his companion were helping Suying up.
“Did the device activate suddenly?” I asked Lu Yun.
“Yes. And this time, it was an extremely powerful burst. Only you and your seabed friends were unaffected,” Lu Yun laughed, “Thank goodness for the good luck this time, or I might not have managed.”
I exhaled a long breath, “Thank heavens!”
“It was fate. My skills still need improvement.”
“Will he remember us or what happened?” I pointed at the still-sleeping Ruan Xiuwen and asked Lu Yun.
“No. I made him only remember being mesmerized by something in the well. People with strong wills are hard to deceive with illusions, but once their defenses are broken, they easily believe in the illusions.”
“So, people would slowly walk towards it after being mesmerized; if that seabed person hadn’t run over to cover the well, these people would have blocked the well by now.”
Reassured, I said, “Then let’s get down to business!”
By now, Suying had woken up and joined the two seabed people at the well. We moved the unconscious people away and opened the well cover. Then, another seabed person went down to look for the device. To me, he seemed more like a liquid flowing down rather than climbing. Soon, he emerged from the well, resuming his human form, holding something that surprised us all – just a thin, unremarkable black rod, less than the thickness of a wrist, with different patterns etched on both ends, one wrapped with a fat earthworm.
“This is that advanced mysterious device!” the seabed person announced excitedly, peeling off the worm, “And this is the perpetrator.”
Looking at the seemingly ordinary device, I couldn’t help but recall a fashionable saying, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
