novelEscaping from Burial Grounds (XXVIII)
| ← Ch.097 | Ch.099 → |
Thank you Anony & Kitty Witty for the Kofis -Bonus Chapter
Editor: Kitty
"Sister Hua, are you awake?" Brawny asked in a low voice as he stood guard by the woman's side. On the other side of the battlefield, the vampire team captain stood alone in front of his team members, facing Duan Li and Specter. Without a word, the two parties started a chaotic battle. At this time, the woman, who was closely protected by her two team members, woke up.
The poor long-haired woman was in terrible condition. Her whole body was tightly wrapped like a mummy. She suffered from burns on large areas of her body, and continuous pain and the failure of several internal organs made it hard for her to breathe.
Half of her face was also wrapped. Only one of her eyes was exposed, and it slowly opened as she looked at the only team member beside her: "Ah Jie... Where's the captain?"
The brawny man named Ah Jie raised his head up to look at the vampire team captain who was not far away from them. His usual expression of seriousness and calmness revealed a sad expression: "We are now in a very disadvantageous situation."
The woman seemed to take a deep breath, but this action caused her to feel breathless instead. She said briefly, "Now... Tell me what occurred."
Brawny had to explain all the things that happened after she was seriously injured and in a comatose state, especially about the little boy. In fact, although this stalwart man named Ah Jie had been following the team earnestly, he was also suspicious of the child of unknown origins in his heart even though he would never interfere with the decisions the strategist made for the team.
"Don't worry; we won't lose." The woman started to breathe at a fast pace. Her entire body could hardly move and she was in a mess, but she was still laughing: "The child had sent some intelligence to me previously; he was the first to enter the tomb of the god, doing so before anyone else, and held a short conversation with the 'god. '"
Brawny did not seem to understand what the woman said. His face was full of doubts.
The woman knew that although Brawny was very strong, he was somewhat slow-witted and it was usually hard for him to think flexibly. She could only laugh and say bluntly, "Don't you always think that this wimpy kid of unknown origins cannot be trusted? Ah, actually I thought so too, but he seems to have the ability to control or hypnotize others...... Cough, cough...... Let's call his ability hypnotism for the time being..."
"Hypnotism... ?" The strong man stopped and glanced at the woman, slightly worried: "Sister Hua, have we all been hypnotized by him?"
"You are not... Cough... But I should have been, although I don't remember it myself." The woman started to cough badly. She sucked in a breath again and said, "Don't worry; that kid doesn't hold much malice toward us for the time being. Instead, we can make use of his ability. You know, he can not only hypnotize the players but also all kinds of creatures in the secret chamber, regardless of whether they are monsters, stalkers, or NPCs..."
"Sister Hua... You mean..." These words seem to make Brawny realize the situation clearly. He glanced at the woman who was lying on the ground.
"The child also has a skill to reduce his sense of existence...... In fact, that does not mean that he disappears. I estimate that... it may also be a kind of hypnotism which makes people ignore his existence when they see him. This ability is also effective against any type of creature."
The woman began to find it harder to breathe and started coughing again. Brawny had to rush forward to help her consume a bottle of unknown liquid. That made her calm down and take a long breath before she continued, "When I realized that I was hypnotized, I began to secretly investigate the child. You know that I belong to the spy organization in reality&#k2026; Truthfully, even after gathering all kinds of intelligence, I still know nothing about that child. I found that he completely does not have any identity. In reality, he is equivalent to nonexistent.
"But let's not talk about that right now. Since his ability is a good fit for our team, I asked him to explore the main vault of this tomb in the beginning, successfully find the god's tomb vault, hypnotize the NPC in it, and find out the location of the secret chamber's exit."
"In other words, you know where the exit of this secret chamber is?" Brawny was slightly excited.
"I don't know... He hasn't told me... Before he had the chance to tell me, I've already become like this..." The woman frowned and tried to move her arm: "My injuries are too serious; I won't be able to move at all. I can hardly even use my skills now."
At this moment, a voice suddenly rang out beside the woman and Brawny. Someone slowly said, "Don't worry; you will get better after escaping from this secret chamber."
The two people turned their heads over at the same time. It was not known when the little devil holding the red umbrella had popped out. He floated in the air and didn't even need to walk. All along, he had always been floating here and there.
"Your wisdom is beyond my imagination." The little devil smiled but honestly began to explain the intelligence he had gotten: "I have finished what you entrusted to me previously. The exit is on that big tree, but there is a trigger condition—it also requires us to have a key, which is the love token of the god and the ghost, a jade pendant divided into two."
"Jade pendant...... ? Are all the maps we collected before done in vain?" The woman seemed a little annoyed.
"The map is for us to find the right direction in this labyrinth-like chamber so that we don't die in the mechanisms. But the main point is that the NPC, who is called a 'god, ' has half of the jade pendant."
"And the other half?" Brawny interrupted and inquired.
"Since it's a love token, one of the halves is with the god while the other half is with the ghost!" The little devil holding the red umbrella revealed his ferociousness. After that, he gazed at a person standing far away from him. It seemed as if he was looking at a particular person, and shortly after that, he continued, "Haven't you been to the ghost's tomb vault before? Wasn't there an enemy posing as the ghost's corpse, feigning death in front of you? Since he could pretend to be the ghost, he will naturally obtain his identity, too. It is likely that half of the jade pendant is with him."
"Clown went after him but didn't return, so... was he killed?" The woman paused, and her face turned gloomy: "That guy is worthless!"
"Sure, Clown is worthless, but I am useful." The little devil still maintained his brilliant smile. He suddenly took out half of a jade pendant from his clothes and swung it in front of the woman and Brawny.
"Is this... ?"
"I wanted to save Clown but didn't manage to do so. Instead, I saved the enemy, and in return, I took this from him." The boy shook the jade pendant in his hand. It was green and round. Although it was only half of the jade pendant, it was invaluable: "Besides that, I used another fake jade pendant and looped it around the enemy's neck. If they use the fake jade pendant to confront the god, there will be a good play to watch."
After a moment's silence, the woman suddenly smiled and looked at the little boy."Should I say that I admire you very much?"
The boy replied with a smile, "You have to admire me."
The happenings in the secret chamber began to head in an unpredictable direction, of which Luo Jian unknowingly became the key.
He and the stalker remained at the god's side, trying to pry the information of where the exit was from the god's mouth. Truth be told, they almost achieved it because after all, Luo Jian still held the identity of the ghost, and the god won't hurt him. As long as he swaggered in front of the other party, the god would naturally soften his attitude.
"Can you tell me where the exit is?" Luo Jian asked again and again. The young god, who had previously floated in the air, swooped down and stood in front of Luo Jian. His expression was very gentle as he looked at Luo Jian.
"You are very much like him, " the god said as he looked at Luo Jian with his head tilted, and he even reached out to touch his cheek, making the stalker standing in the distance to frown.
The stalker had to stand far away because as long as he was near them, the god would never hold a proper conversation with them. He would quickly escape from the stalker and retreat towards the direction of that big tree. Later, the stalker found that the huge tree was set as a prop that 'couldn't be destroyed in any way' by the secret chamber. This made the stalker, who was infamous for destruction, helpless.
"Your man is already dead, " Luo Jian tried to persuade the god, "and you shouldn't waste your time here."
"But the devil who signed the contract with me told me that as long as I killed the 'players' in the tomb, my man will be able to revive!" The god was obviously excited.
Luo Jian shook his head helplessly: "But you don't know whether the resurrected one will still be him. Maybe they will resurrect something else, and you may very well hug an illusion as you live your life with him!"
"What do you know?!" He suddenly got agitated and looked at Luo Jian ferociously. He pinched his cheek with his hand as he inched closer to him. His entire face grew in Luo Jian's sight. The look that the god gave him was extremely frightening: "Your beloved is not dead, but if you lose him one day, what will you do!? As long as there is a little hope, even if it is false, you will definitely lunge towards it... and achieve it by any means!"
Luo Jian's heart twitched for a moment, and he suddenly thought that if the stalker died one day or disappeared... He closed his eyes and did not dare to continue thinking about it. He thought it was impossible. The stalker was so powerful there would never be such a day. It would be impossible for it to happen.
But the god seemed to see Luo Jian's wavering will and smiled: "Even if his being able to resurrect is nothing but an illusion, I would rather hold onto this dream for the rest of my life. Without him, the world is extremely terrifying, isn't it?"
"This is but your personal thoughts." Luo Jian took a deep breath, shook off the god's hand that was pressing onto his face, and replied, "I'm not as vulnerable as you. If my lover is dead and I cannot save him by using all the means I have, I'd rather die with him. I would rather not shrivel in this dark tomb or hope for a laughable illusion."
The look in Luo Jian's eyes was extremely firm. He turned back to look at the stalker standing in the distance, and the stalker gently gazed at Luo Jian.
Luo Jian turned to the god again and said, "If I love someone, I will hope he is well and alive in the world. Even if at the very end, he does not belong to me, as long as I am sure that he is alive and happy, I will be very satisfied—although I say this, I am very possessive, so I'm afraid that even in death, I will not allow him to escape from my grasp."
"Young god, do you really want to pursue a hopeless dream in this tomb forever?" It seemed that Luo Jian had regained his confidence, and he was now in high spirits. However, the god in front of him still seemed to be stubborn and shook his head laughingly. Almost as if he were feeling sorrowful, he said, "You still don't understand what I'm thinking. Since the devil could help me build such a large tomb and bestow upon me such powerful abilities, why can't he revive my lover? Why do you think that I'm chasing after a hopeless dream?"
"You just don't understand that the secret chamber will not revive anyone!" Luo Jian clenched his fist. In that very instant, he almost lost all sense of sanity. Luo Jian had not experienced much in the secret chambers unlike those senior players, but he understood this truth. The secret chamber truly would never revive anyone. As for those players who turned into monsters, there was nothing to be said about them. Even if they could regain their player identity, could they still remain sane? As for stalkers, inside their bodies, there may be completely different souls born within the darkness, just like the current Xing Yan. The real Xing Yan had died, and the one who had become a stalker was actually another person.
And as for who Luo Jian had fallen for, he was but a soul born within the darkness that had crawled out of the dark and bottomless abyss. He was a soul that did not know where he was born from.
After that, Luo Jian also obtained a lot of information from his paternal cousin, Specter. The secret chamber would never force players to a dead end, but sometimes, one was afraid that they would rather die than walk on the other path given by the chambers.
Therefore, to supposedly resurrect someone, one must pay a very heavy price, and the price may even be unbearable. Now, Luo Jian could almost visualize how the NPC ended up in the secret chamber. He was the NPC that the secret chamber deliberately placed here to stop the players from moving forward. He lived to be killed by others and to allow others to pick up items from him, like the BOSS in games. He could also possibly be treated as a tool that would be refreshed!
His obsession, which had lasted for a thousand years, was nothing more than a plaything that could be destroyed with a wave of his hand.
"If you continue waiting here, the result of it will just be you waiting to be killed over and over again. When we're gone, the next group of players will come. Then you will die, wake up, wait, and die again. Even if you wait for thousands and tens of thousands of years, you won't be able to wait until your so-called lover arrives!"
The god's expression froze. He stared at Luo Jian silently for a long time, and then he said, "I don't believe it."
Luo Jian was angry. He did not understand why this man did not understand. His fists were so tightly clenched and just when he wanted to say something, the god interrupted him and said, "Even if I believe your words, what can I do?"
Luo Jian was stunned. He heard the god continue to say, "Even if I believe your words and even if I know that what I have been chasing for so many years is just an illusion, what can I do? So what if you told me? Can you help me? Can you help me to get out of here? Can you break my contract with that devil? Can you allow him and I to meet again? Hahaha... You can't, that's right! Of course you can't, so I can only remain here for the rest of my life to fight with other players and fulfill my agreement with the devil!"
Then, the god ferociously stretched out his claws towards Luo Jian. With a pale face, Luo Jian saw the god go berserk. It was obvious that the other party did not intend to let Luo Jian live, but at the next moment, the stalker appeared beside Luo Jian. With a swing of his knife, his knife stabbed right into the god's chest.
This was the moment he had been waiting for.
Luo Jian gasped for air for quite some time before he was able to calm down. He glanced at the stalker who had thrust a knife straight into the god's heart. The stab was clean and neat, so within moments, the poor god breathed his last. He died simply, without grandiose struggling, and just with a simple stab, he had passed away.
Before dying, the words he murmured drifted into Luo Jian's ears.
"Luo... Luo... No matter how many years, I will... wait for you......"
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