Thanks for the invitation, I just entered the chat group after traveling through Under One Person.

Chapter 242 Itching for a Hand
Su Yun glanced at the group members who had signed up. Besides himself, there were group leader Cheng Yiyi, Fang Yuan, Yang Jian, Er Qiao, Haibara Ai, Zhuge Kongming, Jiang Mingzi, and his father.

The main reason Wuming couldn't leave was because he didn't know when that godforsaken king and his four henchmen might suddenly descend upon Earth, so he couldn't leave for the time being.

Furthermore, Rick and Morty are adventuring somewhere in the universe, so they certainly won't just leave halfway through their adventure. Meanwhile, the long-absent Saber has become a diligent worker at the amusement park, not on "vacation" for the time being, working in a world-contending war.

On the mysterious island, in front of the ancient city gate, Tu Bo and the others looked at Song Shuhang, who was grinning foolishly, and felt worried. After all, in such a dangerous environment, Song Shuhang was their key player. But now, their key player seemed to be acting a little mentally unstable.

Tu Bo quickly asked with concern, "Shuhang, are you alright? Did you get hurt while slaying the monster?"

This is the art of language. As a friend, Tu Bo even subtly suggested that he might have hurt his brain.

"Cough cough... It's nothing." Song Shuhang, who had been somewhat worried, felt completely relaxed after seeing the message in the chat group. It's just a mysterious island, right? The seniors and fellow cultivators in the chat group are having a gathering here; it'll be a piece of cake. Right now, Song Shuhang felt incredibly safe.

A layer of light curtain inexplicably appeared on the metal door that was originally decorated with carvings.

Within the light screen, a string of peculiar characters slowly appeared. These characters were neither Chinese, English, nor German, Russian, or any other mainstream world script, yet everyone present could strangely understand their meaning.

Do you miss your hometown? Do you want to experience the warmth of home? Do you want to return to the home you long for day and night? Wanderers far from home, make your choice—yes (YES)...no (NO).

"Choose, choose!" These three words seemed to possess a magical power, echoing continuously in everyone's minds.

Tubo suggested, "How about we try pressing 'Yes'? If the door opens, we can enter the ancient city."

"Wait, Tsuchiba. What if this really is the way to leave the island? Where will we go after we leave? And how will we leave? What if a hole suddenly appears under our feet and we fall right in?" Gao asked, hugging his girlfriend Mei with a worried expression.

All eyes turned to Song Shuhang once again.

Song Shuhang shrugged: "I don't know either."

He is neither an omniscient prophet nor a magic mirror that can answer all questions.

He was about to ask Senior Su Yun in the chat group, but before he could, a black man squeezed forward, laughing and saying, "Whether it's opening the door or going home, I'm willing to try! Let me do it—YES, I want to go home, I want to go back!"

As he spoke, the Black man pressed his palm firmly onto the "Yes" option.

In an instant, the black man felt a warm sensation all over his body, as if he had returned to his mother's warm embrace when he was a child.

“Ah…is this the warmth of home?” he exclaimed in a tone of longing.

However, the other passengers around him looked at him with horror.

The Black man looked down at his body. A flame-like light ignited around him; the warmth he had just felt came from this light. And this light looked incredibly familiar—wasn't it the light that burned on the bodies of the passengers who kept disappearing on the plane? After the light faded, those people turned into particles of light and vanished, their fates unknown to this day.

Is this what they call "the warmth of home"? Warm my foot! It'll warm your whole family!

Finally, the black man turned to look at Song Shuhang. His dark face, illuminated by the flames, seemed strangely solemn. "Brother, am I about to die?" Song Shuhang thought for a moment. He remembered that the worst outcome on this mysterious island was losing his memory and returning to the real world. He replied, "No, you should just leave this island and return to the real world."

Then, some people who didn't want to live in fear chose "yes," and the same flames appeared on their bodies as they disappeared before the rest of the people.

Song Shuhang didn't stop them. Although the group members would arrive soon, they were there for a gathering, not to act as babysitters. Now that he knew this was indeed the plan to leave the mysterious island, there was no need to deliberately prevent them from leaving.

Many people wanted to leave, but they weren't sure if disappearing in the flames meant truly going home; in short, they were afraid of dying, so they didn't select the option. Song Shuhang said that selecting it would allow them to return, but that wasn't very convincing and only offered a sense of comfort.

It wasn't until they tried pressing the "NO" option that the massive metal door slowly began to lift upwards. However, the door didn't fully open; it only opened about two meters before stopping.

The height of about two meters is enough for people to pass through, but it's a little scary to walk through the city gate. With such a huge metal gate hanging overhead, you always feel like it might fall down at any moment.

Everyone peered curiously into the city gate.

Inside the city gate, a very wide official road leads straight into the inner city. On both sides of the road are rows of ancient trees, each ten meters tall, and a clear river flows quietly beside them…

Beside the ancient city gate stood an elderly man dressed in ancient attire, who seemed to have been waiting for them for some time. Behind the old man followed fifteen burly and powerful men.

"Welcome, heroes who have come from afar!" The old man in ancient costume greeted them warmly, starting with Joseph at the front, and shook hands with each passenger in turn, his attitude very enthusiastic.

His excessive enthusiasm left the remaining passengers somewhat at a loss.

When it was the old man in ancient costume's turn to hold Song Shuhang's hand, Song Shuhang frowned slightly. He had already opened his eyes and could catch some details that ordinary people would miss.

He noticed that the old man's posture, smile, and even tone of voice were exactly the same when he shook hands with each passenger. In particular, when saying "Welcome, welcome," even the rhythm of his tone was almost completely unchanged.

This feeling reminded Song Shuhang of the sound that kept playing from the speakers on the city wall, with a distinctly mechanical quality. At this moment, the fifteen burly men behind the old man also clapped loudly.

The strange feeling in Song Shuhang's heart grew stronger. When these fifteen burly men in ancient costumes clapped, their movements of raising their hands and putting their palms together were exactly the same, like fifteen precisely operating robots.

This strange feeling made Song Shuhang uneasy. It wasn't a sense of danger, but rather the uncanny valley effect—something that looked very human yet felt incongruous, making him uncomfortable to look at. It was like a robot trying its best to imitate a human.

"As expected, interesting things always seem to appear around you, Shuhang. These mechanical puppets are quite valuable for research."

"Senior Bai!" Upon hearing that familiar voice, Song Shuhang immediately relaxed. Seeing Senior Bai at this moment gave him a great sense of security.

Because they were in the same world, Venerable Bai, who used the interdimensional talisman, arrived earlier and appeared next to Song Shuhang, his eyes shining as he stared at the old man and burly man who were warmly welcoming everyone.

The mechanisms of the cultivation world had long been thoroughly studied by Venerable Bai, which is why he was interested in the technology of the new era. The Mysterious Island was a fragment of the ancient Heavenly Court, and the style of its mechanisms and artifacts was also from that era—a type Venerable Bai had never seen before. Naturally, he was very interested and felt an itch to take something apart.

(End of this chapter)