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墨書 Inktalez
"The last strike was incredibly powerful, yet the elevator remains unscathed... I wonder how Death Apostle and Yao Long are doing inside..." With that thought, I helped Li Zhisheng as we limped toward the elevator.
"Are you okay?" I glanced back at Li Zhisheng, who looked somewhat limp.
"I'm not doing too well," he replied weakly. "That last hit drained all my strength. Right now, I feel like a puddle of mud..." As he spoke, his hand slipped from my shoulder, nearly causing him to fall.
I quickly caught him and placed his hand back on my shoulder. Just then, a sharp sound of glass shattering echoed beneath us.
I lifted my foot and curiously looked down, spotting an exquisite picture frame. "What is this..." I muttered to myself as I picked it up.
The glass of the frame had already shattered under my foot, revealing a beautifully carved wooden frame painted with a layer of silver.
"How did this get here?" Li Zhisheng asked, eyeing the frame in my hands.
"Based on my previous experience in the Cursed Realm, this might be the key to escaping," I said as I shook off the shards of glass, revealing a photo of three people.
Li Zhisheng examined the picture. "Clearly, this is a family photo."
From the arrangement of the three figures in the photo, I could also tell it depicted a family. A man stood on the left, a woman on the right, both holding hands with a child in the center.
"I see it too, but... something feels off..." I scratched my head.
"What seems strange?"
"I think this woman looks familiar; I've seen her somewhere before... Never mind that for now; we need to check on Death Apostle and Yao Long." With that, I took the photo out of the frame and tucked it into my pocket as we continued toward the elevator.
As we approached the elevator, I saw Death Apostle and Yao Long leaning against the inside, seemingly unharmed.
At that moment, Death Apostle had already regained consciousness. Seeing me supporting Li Zhisheng at the elevator door, he spoke up, "What was that explosion just now? If I hadn't woken up early and formed a defense with Soul Threads, we would have been dead by now."
I glanced at Li Zhisheng and said, "Well, it's all his doing."
Upon hearing this, Li Zhisheng tossed the Azure Spirit in his hand to Yao Long, saying, "Thanks to your weapon..."
Yao Long didn't catch the bow; instead, he let it fall onto himself. "Can we leave now?" he asked.
I tilted my head to look at the elevator. "The button is out, so we can leave this floor now. But whether we can truly escape from here is still uncertain..." My expression darkened as I spoke.
Death Apostle sighed upon hearing this. "Look at us; among the four of us, you're the only one uninjured. Although my initial injuries weren't severe, resisting that last attack drained a lot of my soul. If we can't get out of here, I'm afraid..."
Fearing he might say something disheartening, I quickly interrupted him. "What are you afraid of? You still have me! If it comes down to it, I'll fight them!"
Death Apostle shot me a glare. "Yes, you don't need to be afraid. I'm worried you'll lose control and end up killing us all."
Hearing this left me at a loss for words. I wanted to assure him that I wouldn't harm them, but recalling how I nearly killed Hu Fang during my previous rampage made me fall silent.
Seeing my silence, Li Zhisheng hurriedly added, "Right now, we're all nearly incapable of fighting. Only Shen Xu can still put up a fight. If the next floor isn't an exit but another nightmare, without Shen Xu's help, we'll just be waiting to die."
With Li Zhisheng saying this, Death Apostle had nothing more to add. Initially, he had a strong fear of Soul Burial and was now worried about my Void Spirit and Hatred powers. "If it weren't for the clues you have in your hands, do you think I'd willingly come out with you?!"
Thinking of this, although I felt a twinge of annoyance towards the Death Apostle, I had no choice but to endure it since we were in the same boat.
"Li Zhisheng is right. In fact, from the moment we were pulled into the Cursed Realm, we had no choice left; it was either survival or death." With that, I helped Li Zhisheng step into the elevator, and the doors closed behind us.
After securing Li Zhisheng, I turned to the Death Apostle and said, "Instead of being pessimistic, let's think about what to do next. Li Zhisheng has exhausted his strength and can no longer fight. Yao Long, what about you?"
Seeing that I was asking him, Yao Long replied, "I rested for a bit earlier, so I'm feeling a little better now. Fighting would be a stretch, but I can manage some long-range support."
I nodded slightly and then asked the Death Apostle, "What about you? Can you still fight?"
Upon hearing this, the Death Apostle tried to extend some Soul Threads from his body, but their number was less than one percent of what it had been before. "Using Soul Threads seems unlikely now, but..."
Noticing his change in tone, I quickly pressed on, "What do you mean? Do you have other ways to fight besides Soul Threads?"
He hesitated, as if reluctant to use his true abilities. "At this point, there's no need for secrecy. Hiding it any longer won't benefit anyone. Every bit of fighting power gives us more hope!" I urged him anxiously.
After a moment's pause, the Death Apostle seemed to make up his mind. "It's not that I want to hide it; it's just that I don't have a way to eliminate the mark..." He rolled up his sleeve to reveal the mark on his hand. "Previously, I could only use talismans to stop its growth, but I can't eliminate it. If I use my abilities, it means my mark will grow and become unmanageable—there will only be more and more..."
The Death Apostle appeared worried. "It turns out he isn't trying to hide his strength; he has a mark just like me. But while I have the Sheepskin Book to eliminate part of my mark, he doesn't..."
Realizing I had misunderstood him somewhat, I said, "In that case, let's do this: no matter what happens on the next floor, you two stay back while I go out to confront them. Yao Long..." He looked up at me as I called his name. "If anything dangerous happens to me, support me from behind. But remember not to exceed your limits—do you understand?"
After hearing this, Yao Long smiled and gave me a thumbs-up gesture before picking up his longbow again.
"I'll go with you!" The Death Apostle stood up firmly, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth.
"Your mark cannot be removed. Don't act recklessly unless absolutely necessary, or you won't know who will lose control..."
"Mm." The Death Apostle replied softly.
At that moment, the elevator began to shake violently. This tremor was much stronger than the previous two, causing both me and the Death Apostle to stumble. "Hold on!" I grabbed the Death Apostle, who almost stepped on Yao Long.
Just as I steadied the Death Apostle, I suddenly noticed that the reflections in the surrounding metal walls were distorting in a wave-like manner. Watching these twisted images gave me a sense of spatial disorientation, as if my own body was twisting along with the reflections. My stomach churned violently, and I nearly vomited.
"Are you okay?!" I shouted at the Death Apostle.
The Death Apostle was silent now, covering his mouth with one hand to prevent himself from throwing up. Yao Long and Li Zhisheng, sitting on the floor, simply closed their eyes.
"Hang in there; it shouldn't last too long..."
Sure enough, after a short while, the shaking stopped. With a ding, the elevator doors slowly opened. I gripped Jiang Ling tightly in my hand, cautiously watching the pitch-black space outside, fearing that a terrifying face might suddenly leap out from the darkness.
After staring for a moment, the Death Apostle seemed to recover slightly. He leaned against my shoulder, breathing heavily. "This is not riding an elevator; it's worse than a roller coaster..."
"Shh," I turned to him and made a gesture for silence, listening intently to every sound outside the door.
In the silent space, facing such profound darkness, I found myself hoping something would suddenly emerge to break this deathly silence.
Standing for a long time, darkness remained just that—darkness, with not a glimmer of light, save for the white glow emitted by the elevator onto the ground outside.
I turned my head and whispered, "Death Apostle, do you have any other way to probe the situation outside?"
"Why is it always me..." he muttered, extending two or three thin Soul Threads to feel around outside the door.
After a while, seeing his confused expression, I asked, "Did you find anything?"
"Nothing. There's nothing outside except this concrete floor..." He retracted the Soul Threads.
Hearing this, I thought to myself, "Waiting like this isn't a solution. Whether dead or alive, I might as well take a chance!" With that in mind, I stepped one foot out.
Just as my toes touched the ground, several torches suddenly ignited ahead. The flames from the torches, fixed to the wall, illuminated the surroundings completely.
I was startled by the sudden brightness and quickly pulled my foot back, assuming an attack stance in preparation for any enemies that might appear.
After a moment, the Death Apostle spoke from behind me. "This place seems to be an entrance..." He pointed toward a square opening ahead that was illuminated by the torches, about two people high and three wide.
Seeing no immediate danger, I relaxed my stance and said, "You stay behind me; I'll go out first and take a look..."
With that, I stepped outside. I glanced around; everything around and above was sealed off with what looked like concrete material, leaving only the area that the Death Apostle had just indicated as an exit.
"It seems safe; come out..." Upon hearing this, the Death Apostle looked around before stepping out of the elevator.
"The surroundings are sealed off. It seems we only have that one path to take. Should we go in?" Death Apostle asked.
"Let's check it out. We can't just stay trapped here..." I turned and shouted towards the elevator where Yao Long and Li Zhisheng were, "We're going in to take a look. If we can get out, we'll come back for you."
Li Zhisheng replied, "Be careful!"
I acknowledged with a nod and stepped into the square passageway alongside Death Apostle. As soon as we entered, I noticed two rows of torches neatly arranged along the walls on either side of the corridor.
Ahead of us, about thirty or forty meters away, there was a ninety-degree turn to the left leading in another direction.
We walked forward, but just a few steps in, a loud rumbling sound echoed from behind us, resembling the noise of a massive stone moving.
Hearing this, I quickly turned around and saw that the entrance we had come through was completely sealed off by a suddenly appearing stone slab...
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