Chapter 104 - Escaping from Burial Grounds (x.x.xIV)
Editor: Kitty
The name of that tree is ‘Spirit.’
The meaning behind it was very simple, sharing the essence of the two words ‘soul’ and ‘psyche.’
This tree was very huge. Its trunk grew so tall that one could not see the top, and its branches and roots penetrated every corner of the tomb. It seemed that there were no leaves, only dry and dull vines and roots. Legend had it that this tree was the home of countless souls. Whenever a soul wanted to escape the protective range of the spirit tree and return to the reincarnation cycle, flowers would bloom on the vines of the spirit tree.
And within the flower petals, a new life would be born.
Before, Specter used a wide range of explosion skills to blow up almost all the monsters and flower buds. However, one or two flower buds were fortunate to be outside the range of the explosive skills. The huge flower buds remained in a dark corner when no one had time to care about them and bloomed.
The first one to bloom was a bright red flower bud. Its petals slowly unfurled and…… Eh, from within it, a person crawled out.
If anyone within Luo Jian’s group saw the scene at the moment, they would be able to clearly recognize who this person was. Yes, he was the man who called himself a ‘G.o.d,’ the ‘G.o.d’ who had been stabbed to death by the stalker and silently resurrected at a corner.
“How can a G.o.d… die?” The man had crawled out of the flower bud moments ago. His hair was still very long, and it grew to a length even greater than what Luo Jian and the others had seen. When he stood on the ground, the train of his hair dragged on the ground. His body had been soaked in a sort of sticky and protective liquid when he was within the flower bud, and it functioned like the amniotic fluid of a mother’s womb.
“More than a thousand years ago, my main body was destroyed.” The man walked forward slowly. His bare feet stepped on the b.u.mpy ground, strewn with broken limbs and leaves. His voice was low as he mumbled to himself, in a trance, “I am the incarnation of the spirit tree… Yes, I am the tree… I am the exit…”
Then, the man stopped. He remained motionless, but his expression became ferocious. He shouted, “I am G.o.d!”
Now, at the other area of the G.o.d’s tomb vault, Luo Jian had just climbed up onto the huge tree. In accordance with what the boy said, he saw a circular groove. When he placed the two jade pendants together, they fit perfectly together and attracted each other like magnets.
Not only did Luo Jian climb up the trunk, but several other people also climbed up. Because the trunk of the tree was extremely huge, its branches were also huge. It was not a problem even if dozens of people stood on it. Because both teams were lacking in members, they did not start battling. Instead, they both climbed up the trunk and stood on opposite sides.
The little boy’s female strategist was particularly irascible, and her eyes always stayed on Luo Jian. Because she was seriously injured and could not move, she was always held by Brawny, and their vampire team captain needed to be on guard all the time to prevent the enemy from ambushing them.
The little boy did not need to climb the tree because he could directly fly onto it. However, he did not fly toward his teammates because he still had a hostage in his hands, so he brought Feng YuLan as they flew upwards together. They stood on a rough tree branch away from the others.
Feng YuLan felt very tangled regarding the issue in his heart. He felt that this situation was somewhat far from rea.s.suring for his whole team, but he didn’t know how to deal with it. For example, he didn’t know what to do with the little boy who had been silently standing beside him.
“What exactly are you planning?” Ah Lan could not help but ask the boy secretly.
“I only want to obtain victory,” the boy answered softly.
“What if you win and we lose? Is that why you are here?” Feng YuLan could not bear it any longer. He had to know the cause and effect. He needed to know whether he was worthy of the trust given to him.
However, the boy only raised his head to look at Ah Lan, and there was inexplicable sadness in his eyes. He was silent for a while, and then he replied to Ah Lan, “When the secret chamber holds a team battle, the losing team will immediately enter the ‘punishment chamber.’ Many players have also dubbed it the ‘secret chamber where no one survives’ or ‘the chamber of no escape.’ Evidently, until now, no one has come out victorious from that chamber.”
The boy’s words made Feng YuLan’s eyes widen in shock. He was unable to avert his eyes as he eyed the boy.
The boy raised his head and looked at Ah Lan. His pale face revealed a smile as he continued, “But I have to prevail against it. I must prevail against it!”
The boy’s voice trembled as he spoke, but it was filled with a terrifying firmness. In that instant, Feng YuLan quaked with excitement. He opened his mouth and almost shouted his name, but in the end, he uttered nothing.
“Ah Lan, that ear stud I put on for you before, no matter what happens, don’t lose it,” the boy told him again. Such a reminder made Feng YuLan subconsciously reach up to touch the stud in his earlobe. He did not know why, but the stud felt scalding-hot. The temperature of it seemed to be very high, but when it hung on his ear, his earlobe did not feel the heat.
But Ah Lan remembered the boy’s instruction and nodded.
“I have come all the way here after pa.s.sing through thousands and thousands of secret chambers,” the boy said, the tone becoming more sorrowful. At that time, Ah Lan had almost thought he had a lump in his throat.
“I traversed through countless timepoints and worldlines to reach here.”
“I can’t fail. I absolutely can’t.”
As soon as the boy finished saying that, over at the other side, Luo Jian placed the jade pendant into the so-called ‘keyhole.’
Farther away, the newly resurrected ‘G.o.d’ tilted his head to gaze at the spirit tree and said to himself, “It began.”
The huge tomb began to rock, and everyone felt that the ground underneath their feet seemed to be shaking as if a mysterious mechanism had been activated. Their bodies swayed along with the huge movements, making everyone feel that it held the power to collapse everything. Roars echoed in the empty tomb as if in response to the activation of this mechanism. Everyone heard various sounds like bellows and hisses sounding out from deep underground in succession.
All the monsters in the tomb had awakened.
“What happened?!” The female strategist turned her head and gave the boy a vengeful stare. Other people had all collectively moved their line of sight towards the boy, but the little boy kept an innocent appearance and smiled: “I don’t know. I’m afraid some mechanism has been activated.”
“Didn’t you say this is the key to the exit?” Luo Jian also turned to look at the boy. When he had placed the jade pendant into the small groove on the huge tree, he felt that the tree began to morph inexplicably, as if something that had been sleeping inside it had been awakened, and it began to roar and go berserk. All of that made him feel uneasy.
“This is indeed the key.” The boy was very insistent and did not panic at all: “I did not lie to you.”
“Where is the exit? I absolutely did not see the exit!” Luo Jian couldn’t help but appear a little grumpy. Although he tried his best to suppress his emotions, he found that as long as he stood in front of the boy, he couldn’t restrain his emotions and would feel an unexplainable panic. That emotion was insuppressible, and this feeling almost drove Luo Jian crazy.
“Calm down, Luo Jian. The exit is in front of you, isn’t it?” The boy’s tone seemed to convey a sense of helplessness.
After listening to his words, Luo Jian seemed to think of something and turned his head to look at the huge tree trunk in front of him. The tree had completely withered, and its trunk was black like dead wood. But at some point, the tree had seemingly come back to life, and Luo Jian could even feel it trembling gently.
No! This couldn’t be considered trembling gently, right? The tree shook more and more wildly! The huge tree was shaking as if it had suddenly gone mad. Both teams, who were standing on the tree branches, almost felt that they would topple down with the violent shaking of the tree! However, that was not the only discovery they made. Everyone found something shocking!
This tree! It actually came back to life!
This ‘came back to life’ did not mean that it had great vitality, but it meant that the tree was like an animal. It used its innumerable roots and vines as feet, used its branches as hands, and started to act like a human being! It moved! In the G.o.d’s huge tomb vault, it stood up shakily. Since the roots of this tree had penetrated deep underground, the branches broke through the ground as it reached underneath it! Since the tree was an infrastructural support in this tomb, when it began to move, it also meant that the tomb would begin to collapse!
At such a chaotic moment, it was obvious that n.o.body would want to sleep forever here following the collapse of the tomb! It was unknown who took the lead, but one by one, they started to climb higher on the tree trunk. Obviously, everyone knew that the tomb was buried deep underground. If they wanted to escape from the tomb vault, they could only climb upwards toward the surface!
“d.a.m.n, is this a thousand-year-old tree demon?!” The vampire team captain grumbled lowly. Now, he could hardly care about guarding against the enemies’ attacks. At this time, the tomb vault began to experience a severe collapse, and large pieces of rock debris fell from above. If one was. .h.i.t, they would be at least badly bruised from it!
The top of the tomb vault was pitch black. The huge tree demon seemed to be struggling as it shook, as if it was trying to shake off all these annoying humans on it! It also struggled to pull out its roots, which deeply penetrated into the ground. Therefore, this led the tree to rise high up. It was akin to seedlings in soil that had grown up and wanted to break out from the cover of the soil and bathe in the warm sunshine.
This inconvenienced everyone, especially the vampire team captain. He couldn’t leave his strategist, so he simply asked Brawny to hand the woman over to him. He used a single hand to hug the woman as he stretched open his bat wings to begin flying as they headed for a higher tree branch.
“I’ve already said that this is very fair. Whoever can climb out from underground first is the winner.” The boy was no longer standing on a tree branch, but he was suspended in the air instead. He held his umbrella with one hand and Feng YuLan with the other. Despite being such a tiny fellow, he didn’t feel exhausted carrying a guy who was way taller. Moreover, he was not afraid of the rock debris falling from the ceiling because his umbrella acted as a natural barrier.
“Luo Jian, try to climb up,” the boy continued, “The first person to leave the secret chamber, whichever team he belongs to, will win, but this is only if the members who successfully leave the chamber can obtain the winner’s reward. Similarly, if the team is judged to have failed, with the exception of the people who have died, the rest of the team members will immediately enter the ‘punishment chamber.’”
Luo Jian did not speak. He first looked at the tall tree, of which one was unable to see the end. Now, their team was at a disadvantage. One of his team members hadn’t arrived, one was taken hostage, and the rest…
Luo Jian turned his head to look at Duan Li beside him.
Duan Li did not pay attention to the confrontation or the conversation between the two teams from the beginning to the end. He stared at Feng YuLan as if he could not help it, and his hands were always holding his tang sword as if he was ready to s.n.a.t.c.h back that person at any time.
“Duan Li,” Luo Jian lowly shouted to him, but Duan Li ignored him and still kept his gaze on Feng YuLan.
Feng YuLan did not utter a sound. He was always carried by the boy. He also raised his head to look at Duan Li, and the look in his eyes was very gentle.
But Duan Li was still concerned about the overall situation. Although he was used to doing as he pleased, it seemed that he made a decision at this critical moment. He turned back to look at Luo Jian, saying, “I’ll hold the enemy back. You climb up.”
Duan Li’s way of thinking was definitely not wrong, and Duan Li couldn’t put his heart to rest in regards to Ah Lan’s predicament, so Luo Jian understood his decision. But at this moment, Luo Jian was afraid. He tilted his head up to look at the tree that he was unable to see the top of. It was pitch black. The exit seemed to exist in such a place that he could never reach.
As soon as he thought that he was going to bear the fate of the whole team, he felt at a loss.
But in this moment, although Duan Li and Luo Jian had not really interacted much despite having reluctantly gathered as comrades, Duan Li seemed to be able to read Luo Jian’s mind. He slightly raised his mask to expose his face to Luo Jian.
Half of the face was intact while the other half was full of ferocious scars.
“The scars on my face were left by a terrifying enemy,” Duan Li suddenly sneered, “I traded this for my life.”
Luo Jian did not quite understand what he meant. He could only remain silent and not speak.
Duan Li continued, “In the ruthless secret chambers, if you want to live, you always have to pay a heavy price. Even if you don’t want to lose something, you have to abandon it in order to live.”
“So… Luo Jian, if you want to live, just escape by yourself because no one will help you.”
Duan Li then raised his knife, turned around, and aimed at the boy in front of him.
Luo Jian gnashed his teeth, leapt to a higher place, and continued climbing the tree. He had fallen behind a lot. The enemy’s vampire team captain had reached the greatest height. Even though he was carrying a person, he still held the advantage of flying. However, it was unknown why, but the higher the vampire team captain went, the harder he felt that it was to use his wings to fly. He could only carry the woman on his back and use his hands and feet to climb with much difficulty.
Following behind the vampire captain was the silent and stalwart Brawny.
Luo Jian set out later than them, but he was very flexible and did not need to carry extra weight. He had the fastest speed.
“Is that alright with you?” The boy took a look at the people who were struggling to climb up. The tall tree was still shaking unscrupulously. As they climbed, all of them were struggling.
The boy sighed slightly and replied to Duan Li, “I’ve seen your extraordinary speed. In fact, if you ignore everyone, you can easily get to the exit first, and your team will win.”
Duan Li froze and squinted at the boy, “But I’m not sure… Even if I was the first to escape from the secret chamber and obtained victory, you would still have time to kill all my comrades, and I can see your motives are targeted toward… Luo Jian, right?”
The boy spread his arms open: “Are my motives that obvious?”
“More than that, you’ve been targeting him from start to finish.” Duan Li sucked in deep breath and raised his blade: “But no matter who you are or what your purpose is, it doesn’t matter to me at all.”
“Oh… I see.” The boy brought Feng YuLan to land on a shaking branch. After touching Ah Lan’s hand, he turned back to look at Duan Li: “Your target is Feng YuLan.”
The boy got close to Ah Lan, and his face was stuck so close it was almost attached to him, but his eyes were still looking at Duan Li: “You care about him.”
Duan Li expressionlessly justified, “I signed a symbiotic contract with him, so I have to care about him.”
The boy smiled: “But as far as I know, because this contract was imposed by you, it should only take effect unilaterally, right? If you die, he will die with you, but if he dies, you are still able to live on well.”
“Looks like you know a lot of things,” Duan Li said, and following that, he stiffened.
The boy took Ah Lan’s hand and felt that the other party was also holding onto him. Then, the boy smiled: “Ah, because I also care about Ah Lan.”
Duan Li did not miss the little interaction between the two people although this was done quite secretively.
So he said, “In fact, I’m not worried about what you will do to Ah Lan. The symbiotic contract will allow me to feel the contractor’s emotions occasionally, but in addition to the panic transmitted from him at the beginning… After that, when you appeared in front of us, I didn’t feel anxiety and fear when Ah Lan was being held hostage.
“I can only guess two possibilities from this,” Duan Li said, “Either you have hypnotized him completely to have him accept and trust you. Or… the two of you have already had this kind of mutual trust.”
The boy stiffened in that instant and turned his head to glance at Duan Li with a flash of surprise in his eyes.
Yet Duan Li smiled: “Actually, I don’t know whether it is the former or the latter, but my intuition tells me that it is the latter… That is to say, you two already know each other. Maybe Ah Lan did not recognize you at first, but later he recognized you and chose to help you.
“I respect his choice, so I will help you as long as you don’t hurt him.”
The boy’s laughter sounded. He helplessly smiled, and it was as if he was crying yet also laughing. He said, “I don’t need your help. I just hope that if you really care about Ah Lan, you will treat him better.”
As the boy spoke, he suddenly pulled Feng YuLan and pushed him towards Duan Li. Duan Li instinctively withdrew his sword and reached for him. When he held the man in his arms, he raised his head upward and saw that the boy was gone.
Feng YuLan grabbed Duan Li’s clothes as he raised his head to look at Duan Li with wide eyes. Duan Li touched the head of the man in his embrace and asked, “Are you hurt?”
Ah Lan shook his head and grabbed his clothes harder. After a while, he whispered Duan Li’s name: “Duan Li…”
Duan Li answered, and Ah Lan asked another question. With his eyelids raised, his sparkling eyes gazed at Duan Li: “Do you like me?”
Duan Li simply replied, “I don’t know. I don’t want to let go of you, but I’m afraid of hurting you also.”
I’m not a good person. I’m very evil, very sc.u.mmy, and very hateful. I’ve done a lot of things to hurt you in the past. If I get too close, my blade will definitely leave you with cuts.
But if I go too far away from you, my heart will ache.
T/N: I’m sure many of you guys here have many questions regarding the boy, his ident.i.ty, his motives and what is going on. I’d just like to inform you guys that…everything will be revealed in later chapters ~