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墨書 Inktalez
"What is happening to me? I can't even walk straight without embarrassing myself." The first voice to speak up was that of Duan Shuai.
Duan Shuai had prepared himself mentally before coming here. After leaving the military camp and returning to society, he thought he had seen it all, but this was something entirely new—unheard of and unseen.
Upon learning about the situation, they immediately moved forward again.
Duan Shuai's companion was Xiong Tai, who was fuming with anger. He directed all his frustration at his companions. However, they had just reached a fork in the road, having inexplicably lost someone while being chased by a dozen Feather assassins. They had run until reaching this point, where the attacks finally ceased.
It turned out that Xiong Tai, out of sheer boredom, had carelessly triggered all the traps in the area. Although he was no longer afraid of those old traps, they could still inflict deadly injuries. Duan Shuai had followed him all the way; while he hadn't sustained any life-threatening injuries, he did get hit by an arrow on his backside—thankfully, the arrowhead wasn't poisoned.
This was truly a terrifying experience. They arrived at the fork in the road just as the active traps were out of range; the attacks could no longer reach them. Both of them took deep breaths, feeling lightheaded and exhausted from the difficult journey.
When they looked back down, they realized the slope was nearly vertical, testing their leg strength to its limits. Climbing up had drained a lot of their energy.
"Is this really okay? You’re acting like a monkey brought in for entertainment. I've heard plenty from Freyr about his school days, but you’re actually his classmate—are you here to sabotage him? Was it necessary to trigger every trap? Do you want me dead, everyone dead, or just yourself? If you don’t do anything, you won’t die," Duan Shuai scolded.
To his surprise, instead of getting angry from the reprimand, Xiong Tai burst into laughter on the ground. Seeing this made Duan Shuai frown even more as he continued, "Did you break something? Are you poisoned? Who would be so cruel? Isn’t poison supposed to kill someone outright? Laughing someone to death—what kind of poison is that?"
"No, no, no! Help me up! I'm not poisoned; I just find it funny! It's been a long time since I've played something this thrilling," Xiong Tai replied with a grin.
"You really look like something's wrong with you," Duan Shuai remarked.
"Uh, uh, uh! Don't mind those details," Xiong Tai said as he pushed Duan Shuai's shoulder and quickly added with a gentle smile.
"Which path should we take next?" Duan Shuai asked, trying to gauge the situation.
Before them lay two diverging paths, each leading to different destinations. A strong wind howled from both sides, echoing deep within, resembling the breath of an Evil Spirit. It was unclear what problems might arise from this ominous atmosphere.
The two individuals on one side exchanged glances, clearly perplexed by the complexity of the situation.
"How do we decide? Both paths feel strange. Isn't it odd to hear the sound of wind in a place where there is none?" Duan Shuai remarked.
Xiong Tai shook his head and replied, "It's not as bad as you think. Besides, you arrived early enough; some common sense shouldn't be trusted. Just follow me, and the seniors will guide you." With that, he gave Duan Shuai's shoulder a firm pat, which felt rather peculiar.
In terms of seniority, Xiong Tai seemed to hold a slightly higher rank. He was also the Vice Captain of their team, second only to the Commander. Although he had been demoted due to a certain incident, most team members still respected him greatly. His presence exuded an immense pressure, and while he could be quite humorous at times, his deeper thoughts remained inscrutable to others.
Given his seniority, Duan Shuai decided not to dwell on those matters. They needed to choose a path and see where it led them. Who knew what awaited them ahead? It could be a deadly trap or a dead end, but it might also lead to an exit—though the chances of that were slim. The mechanisms set up here were unlikely to lead to an exit; any tunnel they entered would probably take them deeper into the ruins.
"Are we really going deeper?" Duan Shuai asked as he followed closely behind Xiong Tai.
"Of course we are! What else would we do? Wait outside? How long would that take? If something unexpected happens here, we might get buried inside. No way! Our lives are our own; even if we die searching for a way out, it's better than sitting around doing nothing," Xiong Tai said, still struggling to comprehend the situation but eventually speaking up.
"Um, I think I heard something. What do you think?" Duan Shuai said.
"I thought no one else could hear it! You heard it too? So it's not just my imagination?" Xiong Tai instinctively paused for a moment and glanced at Duan Shuai.
"With such a loud noise, you'd have to be deaf not to hear it. Let's go check out what it is," Duan Shuai urged Xiong Tai forward.
"Uh, uh, uh, don't push me, I can walk by myself," Xiong Tai urged.
The two continued deeper until they reached the source of the sound. It was a blocked stone, but the noise was so loud that it felt like they needed to plug their ears; otherwise, the vibrations would make their heads ache.
"What’s going on? The sound is right here, but why can't we find another way?" Duan Shuai immediately looked over and found that there were indeed no other paths.
"Did we miss the source?" Duan Shuai shouted.
"That can't be. I feel like we've been following the direction of the sound all along. Could it be next door?" Xiong Tai continued to speculate. He then carefully observed the ground nearby and noticed several cracked stone slabs that looked a bit strange. He quickly took out his hammer and struck down hard, putting in a bit more force than necessary.
"Bang!"
"I found it, it's here!" As he spoke, Xiong Tai let out a cry as the stone slab beneath him couldn't withstand the weight above and began to fall due to the impact of his strike. Xiong Tai also fell down with it.
The stone slab seemed to be supporting something, and soon it shattered rapidly. The cracks spread out, causing this section of the tunnel to suddenly break apart. Many rifts began to widen, and countless stones fell down. Duan Shuai stood below, panicking as he looked around; once again, he found himself alone.
"What’s happening? Xiong Tai! Xiong Tai! Where are you?" Duan Shuai shouted in distress.
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