novelEscaping from Burial Grounds (XXVII)
| ← Ch.096 | Ch.098 → |
Editor: Kitty
But at the very next moment, a miracle happened.
In an instant, the stalker and the god exchanged hundreds of moves! However, because the stalker's identity was very special, he could only be destroyed by players. The NPCs and props of the chambers couldn't hurt him. This became the secret chamber's mistake and a loophole it missed. As long as someone could control the stalker, he would easily be able to run amuck through all the chambers.
Therefore, the god could not defeat the stalker, but the stalker could defeat him.
The god was immediately heavily wounded. He realized the danger he was in, knew he needed to hide, so he instantly retreated to that huge tree.
However, the stalker did not go after him. During the battle, he inadvertently took a look at Luo Jian and the others and suddenly found something was not right.
A flash of bright red.
A child—a child with an umbrella—stood in the middle of Luo Jian and others, just beside Feng YuLan. He also stood beside Luo Jian, so he was sandwiched between them now. Ah Lan kept his head slightly lowered and seemed to be able to notice the child, but the others around him ignored the little boy. All of them paid attention to the battle between Xing Yan and the god.
In fact, the child was also looking at Xing Yan and had even given him a smile.
Xing Yan paused. An indescribable emotion surged up in his depressed heart. He left the retreating god and returned to Luo Jian and company. This time, he did not continue to pay attention to Luo Jian but lowered his head to look at the little boy seriously.
The boy did not seem to be surprised that Xing Yan could see him, or perhaps he intentionally allowed Xing Yan to do so. He remained silent for a while before saying to Xing Yan, "Hello, Xing Yan. I really miss you."
There was a smile on his face, a gentle smile, but his face was very pale. Xing Yan suddenly felt uncomfortable. His heart was trembling, but he could not speak. He could only look at the child.
"Yan..." Next to him, Luo Jian tugged his sleeve."What are you looking at?"
After Xing Yan's sleever was tugged by Luo Jian, suddenly, his spirit returned. He raised his head and touched Luo Jian's head. Then he turned his head and looked in the direction where the boy was, but this time, the little boy had disappeared as if he had never been there.
Xing Yan looked at Feng Yulan again. Feng Yulan recovered his expressionless face, but his eyes also lingered on Xing Yan this time.
Luo Jian looked at the two of them strangely as if he was also aware of something. He glanced at Ah Lan and found that Ah Lan, who was usually cheerful and always chattering, had remained silent all this time. It was strange for him to remain silent.
Inwardly, Luo Jian felt a bad premonition. He first decided to ask Feng YuLan, "Ah Lan, why are you not talking?"
But Feng YuLan did not reply. He still kept his lingering gaze on Xing Yan, as if he wanted to stare a hole through the stalker's body, and he was slow to react even after a very long moment. Then, he glanced at Luo Jian, smiling: "I'm fine."
Feng YuLan was not in a right state, and Luo Jian was able to tell instantly because they had grown up together. When Feng YuLan had some issues he was troubled with, he would always tell Luo Jian directly. He would never reluctantly smile and say he was fine. With such a character, Luo Jian was never worried that the other would hide all his troubles in his heart and drown himself with them.
Luo Jian's first thought was that Duan Li had done something to him, so he turned his head to Duan Li and frowned, "What happened between you and Ah Lan just now?"
Duan Li had no intention of concealing anything. He revealed what he saw, what he thought, and what he deduced. He said he saw a figure around Ah Lan previously and realized that his carry-on secret chamber was triggered, but Feng YuLan himself said that he was not aware of it.
"You mean, you think there is a person in the enemy team who can control others? Also, he might have left Ah Lan with several hints or something similar to that?" When Specter listened to them, he seemed to feel that this was a tricky matter to resolve. Therefore, he had a deep frown on his face.
"I'm not being controlled, " Feng YuLan interrupted abruptly, but several people around him merely eyed him and ignored what he said. Duan Li rubbed Ah Lan's soft hair and brought him into his arms.
"From now on, I won't let you be alone, and I will never let you move a step away from me, " Duan Li said to him.
"I'm not being controlled; I'm not!" Feng YuLan whispered as he continued to emphasize that.
But everyone ignored his protests.
After Specter and the other people discussed their next step, they decided to let the stalker remain here and continue to monitor the god's movements while the rest of them would go to meet the enemy's team together. However, this decision was later overturned because Specter thought that it would be better for the stalker to have another person to watch over him. After all, he was a stalker. He could not communicate with other people except for Luo Jian.
So, Luo Jian was left behind with Xing Yan.
"I think Ah Lan should also stay." Specter still felt a little dissatisfied and turned around to see Feng YuLan, who was behind Duan Li.
Duan Li was not reluctant at all and stood up straight to block Specter from looking at Feng YuLan: "I have promised to stay by his side all the time."
"Alright, as long as you can protect him well." After thinking for quite some time, Specter gave in, so the whole team was divided into two. Luo Jian still followed the stalker, while Specter's group of three people was responsible for killing the enemies who were in the way.
Looking in the direction they were heading... it appeared as if their team's goals had diverged. At least Luo Jian still had Xing Yan standing beside him as he gazed at the backs of his several comrades leaving. Inwardly, he still felt uneasy.
But now, Luo Jian didn't know that his best friend Feng YuLan was also in a state of extreme panic although on the surface, he did not show such emotion.
The little boy holding the red umbrella was still following him!
Duan Li held Ah Lan's hand as Ah Lan followed behind him earnestly. The child stood there by Ah Lan's side. He was holding an umbrella and followed Ah Lan with small steps. Before this, Feng YuLan found that the stalker named Xing Yan seemed to be able to see the child, but the stalker could not speak or give their team a better hint. Also, the stalker seemed to see the little boy only for that moment, and after that, he could no longer see him.
He could not see that the child was still standing among them.
It seemed that the speed with which Duan Li brought Ah Lan away was too fast, and the little child could not catch up with them at all. The boy bounced up and down as he chased them, and he reached his hand out to grab Ah Lan's finger. The child's hand was very soft and small, and Ah Lan can feel his temperature clearly, which proved that the child was not a ghost or a soul right now. He had a corporeal body and physical temperature.
"Here we are." When Ah Lan was in a daze, he heard the boy whispering beside him. Then, he came face to face with several people. It was the group of enemies. The vampire team captain still held the scarred woman in his arms, and following behind them was the tall and strong-looking Brawny.
The two teams were now at a standoff.
"Ah Lan, you should know that Duan Li and I... and the big brother with the gun, nicknamed Specter, both of them have the title of Oracle. With their combined strength, they should have an upper hand against the enemies, and we will definitely win the face-off."
The boy began to talk as he grabbed Ah Lan's clothes and hugged his arm. Feng YuLan heard him, but what surprised him was that there was a subtle pause in the boy's words.
Somehow, Ah Lan suddenly calmed down.
Since the boy had appeared, he had fallen into a spiral of panic and was caught in a flux of terrible emotions. He could only feel that he was in a deep quagmire of distress. The more he tried to climb out, the deeper he fell and the more helpless he would be. However, after panicking for some time, Ah Lan calmed down and began to think.
If one deliberated about it, one would find the child very strange.
Ah Lan inwardly thought that the child's identity, origin, and every word he said now seemed so strange in retrospect. In other words, he had never seen him anywhere before, but the child knew his name. The child knew everyone in their team. In fact, he not only knew them but also understood them to a certain extent.
For example, Duan Li had given his carry-on secret chamber to Feng YuLan. Other than the two of them who were involved, nobody else in their team, including Luo Jian and Specter, were aware of it. However, when Ah Lan saw the little boy for the first time, the other party knew about it. He knew that there was a carry-on secret chamber with Ah Lan, and he knew that it was Duan Li who had given it to him.
It was strange that the little boy was clearly the enemy but only took away some medical supplies from the carry-on secret chamber, returning the other supplies to Ah Lan intact. He did not cause any substantive damage to Feng YuLan, except for controlling his consciousness using some sort of inexplicable power.
Of course, this was not the weirdest part. What was really weird was that this child seemed to move and act in a manner that was hard to put into words.
Because the little boy had said this just now: "Both of them have the title of Oracle. With their combined strength, they should have an upper hand against the enemies, and we will definitely win the face-off." It was a strange thing for him to say, wasn't it? Feng YuLan had thought so. As for the strangest part? Well, shouldn't this little boy be his team's enemy? Why did he naturally assume that "we will definitely win" and unconsciously put himself in the same camp as Ah Lan and others as if he belonged to their team?
Just who was this fellow?
As Feng YuLan considered this, he felt his fear spike. He tried to recall as to whether he had seen the little boy before. But after going through all his memories, he felt even more certain about one fact: Feng YuLan had never seen the boy before! He did not have any impression of him, but why did the other party know him?
Following this line of thought, the boy also said some strange things before as well, such as "I'm very happy to be able to see you again" and "although I would like to let you win, unfortunately I cannot become a loser, " and he even told the stalker something even stranger: "I really miss you."
Wasn't that creepy? What person would say that to someone they met for the first time? Adding onto the fact that this fellow was the enemy, why would he say those things to them? Feng YuLan thought that even if his brain was destroyed from thinking, he still wouldn't be able to understand what the hell was going on! Where on earth did this little rascal come from?!
But one thing he was certain of now was that the child did not seem to hold much malice towards them.
Because at this very moment, when the two teams were having a standoff, Duan Li was standing far away from Ah Lan, but the little boy, as always, followed him closely. He still hugged his arm and analyzed the current situation for Ah Lan.
"The pale-looking guy dressed like a vampire has an ability similar to that of a vampire. He is the captain of the current team I'm in. To be honest, I don't think he is very useful. Although he is very good at fighting. However, in the secret chamber, a lot of times you can't solve the problem just by fighting."
The little boy was hugging Ah Lan's arm, and Ah Lan stood expressionlessly far away from the battlefield. Duan Li was standing in front and looked back from time to time to see if he was honestly standing there. The enemy team members standing opposite them did not seem to notice the existence of the little boy, and only the vampire team captain stood there fighting alone while Brawny stayed beside them, crouching next to the injured woman.
"As for that stalwart Brawny, " The little boy continued to talk to Ah Lan, "He is very quiet but is actually a good person. However, he is relatively honest and has few opinions. I don't know how he survived in the secret chambers before he formed a team with the others."
Facing the little boy as he spoke incessantly, Ah Lan still did not reply. In fact, he couldn't open his mouth because in everybody else's eyes, there was no one around him at the moment. He couldn't face the empty space and talk to himself, and he couldn't shout for the rascal to shut up for him.
"You must be irritated with me and want to shut me up." To Feng YuLan's surprise, the little boy easily guessed Ah Lan's intention now, but he was not angry. He even wore with a smile: "Don't think this way. I just want to talk to you."
Feng YuLan side-eyed the boy, only to find that he was smiling dazzlingly.
Instead of looking at Ah Lan, the boy looked at the woman who was lying on the ground and continued, "There is also a woman who is the strategist in this team, and her ability is relatively rare. Her weapon is a pen and a small notebook that she can write in. The words she writes with that pen can become 'real, ' which means that the things she writes with the pen will come true. This ability seems to defy the laws of nature, but there are also great limitations to it. This ability causes her to no longer hold any combat abilities, and her physical fitness is even weaker than that of ordinary people."
The boy's words attracted Feng YuLan's attention. He focused on the woman.
"She's the key to our victory in this team battle." As the boy said this, he softly sighed and suddenly released Feng YuLan's arm. He stood up straight, and he took something out from somewhere unknown. Ah Lan looked carefully at what he had taken out and found that it was a black ear stud.
"Your ears were pierced, I remember." The boy looked at Ah Lan."When you were in middle school, you liked those actors with great temperaments. You thought they were very handsome when they wore ear studs, so you decided to try it, too, on your left ear."
Feng YuLan's eyes widened at that moment, and he could not believe it. He seemed to think back to something. As he gazed at the boy's face, he was a little shocked, and a part of him inside trembled. At that moment, Ah Lan seemed to be able to break free from his shackles. He murmured, "Could it be... You are... !"
But before Ah Lan finished speaking, the boy suddenly drifted up. He floated to Ah Lan's left side and lifted his hair to put the ear stud on for him.
"Don't make guesses. Also, don't say what you know. Forget me." The smile on the boy's face disappeared, and he no longer looked at Ah Lan. He kept spinning his red umbrella with his head lowered: "You must lose this team battle, for fate has decreed that you must face this loss."
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