novelEscaping from Burial Grounds (VIII)
| ← Ch.076 | Ch.078 → |
Editor: Kitty
The smell of blood......
Luo Jian suddenly opened his eyes, feeling worried and uneasy. He cut a sorry figure as he scrambled up from the ground. With one of his legs bent down towards the ground, he held his short knife in his hands as he observed the surrounding environment cautiously.
He thought that he was still in the narrow and closed passageway and had failed in killing the enemy. He had even dreamed that he was dead. However, whether it was true or not, anything that might happen would bring about large repercussions for him.
However, Luo Jian soon found that he was no longer in the narrow passage. Now he was in a small but relatively spacious tomb vault. In fact, even if one described it as spacious, it could not really be considered as such. There was only a coffin inside, and the remaining space surrounding the coffin was only wide enough for two people to walk side by side. When Luo Jian woke up, he was lying beside the coffin.
Luo Jian knelt on the spot and remained immobile. He looked around to make sure that he was not in danger and could not help but breathe out a sigh of relief. After being tensed up initially, he soon felt the slight pain that was constantly there on his neck and touched it subconsciously. Instead of a wound, he found bandages wrapped around his neck.
Bandages?
Luo Jian could not react for a long time. He suddenly remembered that when he and the enemy—Clown—were in that narrow passageway, Luo Jian had almost executed his idea of perishing together with the enemy and used all the strength that he could to kill the enemy! When Luo Jian wanted to directly cut Clown's carotid artery, the enemy also made the same move as him!
At the time, Luo Jian had thought that when the enemy fell from that height, he would lose a huge amount of blood. Even if the enemy was blessed by the Heavens and would not die, Luo Jian would definitely be able to cripple him! This way, at least, the moves he made would serve to contain the enemy and somewhat reduce the threat to his team.
At that time, Luo Jian did not want to die easily, and he even had the idea of perishing together. One could imagine what kind of situation he had been forced into, which compelled him to forsake his life.
But when he suddenly woke up, Luo Jian found that he was not dead. He appeared in a small tomb vault, where there was only one coffin next to him. There were even bandages wrapped around his neck. Obviously...... someone had saved him.
Who saved me?
Luo Jian could not help but search through his clothes. He was still wearing the shabby old clothes that had been tailored. The items that should be on his body were still there. The stalker had taken all his props that he had, even his clothes (and in fact, his weapons had also been swapped). Admittedly, Luo Jian had always wondered why the other party did so.
And now, Luo Jian possessed two items. They were both obtained from the coffin in the main tomb vault—a scroll that had been inserted at his waist and a half-piece of a jade pendant hanging around his neck.
It could be said that Luo Jian was in an extremely horrible situation. The situation was so terrible it could not be any worse. He was now alone. Other than his weapon, he had no other props to protect himself. And when he was panicking, he had lost his way. There was nothing in this huge tomb to lead the way—wait?
Luo Jian suddenly thought of something and pulled out the scroll from his waist.
The note left by the secret chamber had such a sentence: 'The ink portrait painting of the tomb owner. '
"Ink portrait painting, " Luo Jian muttered to himself, unrolling the scroll to take a glance. He could not help but frown. This scroll did not look very special. It was a portrait of a man wearing ancient garb and a hat, sitting on a chair, and without much of an expression.
Luo Jian stared at the picture for a long time. This painting was merely a portrait, and there were no inscriptions or the like. Luo Jian looked up and down, left and right, but he could not figure out anything from this painting. Moreover, the painting was very old, so the paper was yellow and some parts of the ink lines were blurred.
Luo Jian pondered this for a long time and sighed, but after that, he paused as if he had thought of something and began to study the painting's spindle head, which could also be referred to as the scroll painting's axle head. The ancients seemed to like hiding things in it, and shortly after, as expected, he found something inside.
"It's a rag, " Luo Jian said as he shook the piece of cloth in his hands. Some inexplicable lines were drawn on the cloth, oh...... If one looked at it carefully, one would find that they were not painted but stitched on it. There were not only lines but also some small words that he was not able to read.
Luo Jian soon found that the words and patterns on the rag were incomplete, which meant that it was probably one piece of a broken-up map.
As for where the other pieces of the map were, he was afraid that the answer would be on the enemies' bodies.
Luo Jian stuffed the rag into his bosom and touched the half-piece of jade pendant around his neck. After doing so, he stood up and began to look for the way out of this small tomb vault. He could not stay here forever. He was still in danger.
But just as Luo Jian stood up straight, he suddenly heard a voice coming from behind. It sounded out so suddenly that it caused Luo Jian to shiver. It was just then that he realized someone was standing behind him and talking.
"You're awake." That's what the man said.
Luo Jian did not even know when he appeared behind him.
Therefore, he immediately turned around and looked behind himself! It was then that he found that a man had appeared out of thin air beside the coffin. He sat on the lid of the coffin with his back to Luo Jian, wearing a black hoodie with the hood on his head, and sat cross-legged with his head down. When Luo Jian saw this man, he was surprised. Because this tomb vault was relatively small, he could see all the objects in here with just a glance. There was no place for a human to hide. Where did this fool appear from?
Luo Jian was puzzled, but soon, he quickly thought of something and understood. He was afraid that this was probably the result of using a carry-on secret chamber. This fool was previously in his carry-on secret chamber! Therefore, when he popped out suddenly, people would feel that he had appeared out of thin air.
After Luo Jian understood that, he cheered himself up inwardly as he tried to maintain his unnatural calm and asked, "Who are you?"
Although Luo Jian asked who the other party was, in fact, at that moment, he had made a lot of speculations about the identity of the unexpected guest! The stalkers were said to be unable to speak, so they could be ruled out. The only people left...... were the enemy and the new teammate who they had never met before.
When Luo Jian was feigning death in the coffin, although he could not see the faces of those enemies, he still remembered that bunch of people's voices and tones.
However, the voice of this man was different from that of any enemy Luo Jian had heard before. It was neither the vampire team captain's nor Brawny's. Naturally, it was not the voice of Clown, who held scalpels, or Luo Jian would have been killed with a single stab. Of course, it was not that of the long-haired woman.
Therefore, there were only two options left that Luo Jian thought of. First, he could be the last enemy team member that Luo Jian had never seen. Second, he could be the new member of Luo Jian's team.
In fact, from the current environment and situation, the second option was the most likely. Otherwise, Luo Jian would be dead instead of being able to stand upright here. Obviously, he had been saved by this new teammate.
Sure enough, the new teammate tilted his head a little to show a bit of his face and said to Luo Jian: "My code name is Oracle. As for my name...... oh, I've long forgotten my name. You can call me Specter. This is my nickname."
The voice of the other party was relatively deep, but Luo Jian found that it was familiar. He seemed to have heard it somewhere, but for a while he could not remember where. He felt that it was necessary to look at the face of the other party.
"Can you turn around?" Therefore, Luo Jian said this.
For a while, the new teammate seemed to be hesitant. He could not help but sigh. He jumped down from the coffin, turned around, and faced Luo Jian.
Luo Jian felt that his heart had stopped for a moment. At that moment, he felt a sort of terrifying feeling, as if he could not breathe. He was stunned and said, "It's you?"
The secret chamber's specter.
Luo Jian once saw the man who had been in front of his uncle's shop. According to him, he had signed a life-long contract with the secret chamber and become the specter of the secret chamber. Luo Jian was afraid that this man was his paternal cousin, who had been missing for nearly 20 years.
"It seems that we have met again. We are predestined to meet." His paternal cousin's temperament was well-mannered, soft-spoken, and gentle. He had two cute dimples when he laughed, but when he did not laugh, his upright features under the hood made him appear very handsome and aggressive. After such a long time, Luo Jian's impression of his paternal cousin had become less clear than when he had been a child. Now, facing the relative that he had once lost and now recovered, it felt strange yet familiar to him.
"Are you the oracle?" Luo Jian did not know how they should call one another. If Luo Jian heeded what he had said and called him by his nickname, Specter, Luo Jian would feel very uncomfortable. But to Luo Jian, if he wanted to call him brother, he felt that he was unable to open his mouth to do so, especially since his paternal cousin seemed to have lost all memories of reality, that is to say, he completely did not remember that Luo Jian was his brother.
"I am the oracle, " his paternal cousin replied.
"But you didn't tell me that previously. You are a specter and specters have no right to return to reality. To be an oracle is to accept the final trial, and if you succeed in it, you can return to reality. In that case, how could the secret chamber make you an oracle?"
It seemed that Luo Jian's statement made Specter smile, although the reason behind his smile was unknown. He replied, "The person who told you that info obviously didn't say everything. The oracles can return to reality as long as they successfully complete the final trial, but for players like me who have no right to return to reality, if we can also successfully complete the trial, the secret chamber will change the reward since we cannot be sent back to reality—it will realize a wish of mine as long as it is not returning to reality."
"I see." Luo Jian understood: "Because of that wish, you are here."
After a moment's silence, Luo Jian asked boldly, "May I ask you a question?"
"Say it."
"What did you wish for?"
The voice of Specter was very soft, as if it carried his hopes, and his expression was very gentle: "It's very simple. It's just to lift the life-long contract. From a specter to an ordinary player again, in this way, my reality can return to me, I can see my relatives, and I will no longer be alone."
Luo Jian did not know how to answer. After so many years, his cousin had suffered all kinds of life and death struggles and finally had the courage to challenge the so-called final trial. What he wanted was such a simple wish. He did not want to be immortal, powerful, and invincible; the power to crush an army; or to become the peak of the human world. His wish did not have many desires, but he merely wanted that precious...... familial affection that he had initially.
Luo Jian wanted to cry but found that he could not. He asked Specter in a hoarse voice, "May I call you brother?"
T/N: LUO FENG MY BABY ;A; I think most of you have already guessed his identity!! ^~^
Kitty: Tbh I think Luo Feng might already be my favorite character...
Annoucement:
Regarding update schedule: Good news-seeing as I'm about done translating, both of us would be bringing you more EIC chapters. From next week, there would be 5 EIC chapter/week. The updates would be either on Weds, Thurs, Fri, Sat & Sun or Thurs (x2), Fri, Sat & Sun. ~del~ (So I can have 2 days break orz) ~/del~Kofi Chapter goals: Similarly, since I'm about to finish translating, Kofi chapter goals would be available until the last chapter I'm done with translating (and that's probably 100+ chapters ahead of the current chapter). Once chapter goals are reached, an extra chapter on top of the weekly chapters would be published.
Thank you guys and girls so much for the comments and support on EIC!
| ← Ch. 076 | Ch. 078 → |