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墨書 Inktalez
As I held onto this "person," Li Zhisheng noticed my silence and asked, "What's wrong? Why aren't you speaking? Is it..."
Just as he was about to ask if I had discovered something, a flash of cold light suddenly flickered behind me. With a whoosh, a sharp and blood-red arrow whizzed past me, striking the "person" I was holding. Immediately, I heard a strange cry from beside me as the "person" broke free from my grasp and vanished into the darkness.
Li Zhisheng was startled by the sudden scream. He panicked and shouted at me, "Shen Xu? What's wrong?!". In the darkness, unable to see me, he could only reach out and fumble around.
"I'm fine. It seems like a Vengeful Spirit was following you just now, and we didn't notice..." I replied, glancing back into the pitch-black void behind us where I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. So I called out, "Yao Long? Are you there?!"
As soon as I finished speaking, Yao Long's voice came from behind us: "It's me. Are you both okay?" He approached us.
"Yao Long, how did you get here?" By this time, Li Zhisheng had already touched my clothing and stood beside me asking.
However, Yao Long did not answer directly. Instead, he lowered his voice and said cautiously, "That thing was too close to you guys earlier. I didn't dare to strike hard, which allowed it to escape. Now it's right beside us—be careful!"
At that moment, Yao Long's hand glowed with a red light, and an arrow was released from his grip. The crimson glow sliced through the darkness like a beam of red light shooting forward.
In the blink of an eye, the arrow struck its target, bursting forth in a dazzling display reminiscent of blooming roses. A howl echoed as the target seemed to completely disintegrate into ashes.
Only then did Yao Long appear somewhat relieved. He explained to us, "Mr. Death was worried about you two and insisted that I come help you no matter what. It seems I really came at the right time."
Hearing this made me sigh inwardly; the Death Apostle indeed had a stronger sense of crisis than we did.
After Yao Long finished speaking, he continued to ask, "How has your progress been? Have you found any relevant clues?"
I shook my head and replied, "No. The gate to the Cemetery is locked, and we're trying to figure out how to get inside."
"Alright then, keep searching. I'll stay behind you for protection." With that, Yao Long's voice faded as he moved away from us.
Confused, I called out to him, "Yao Long, aren't you coming with us?"
He chuckled lightly and said, "I'm used to being alone. In the past when I carried out missions, I always worked solo. Having more people around would only cloud my judgment. It's better for me to protect you from behind."
He listened as the footsteps grew fainter, eventually disappearing completely into the darkness.
As I stared into the seemingly endless blackness before me, I thought, "I want to search, but in this pitch-blackness, even if the entrance is right in front of me, I can't see it. How am I supposed to find it..."
Just then, Li Zhisheng said, "Now that we know Yao Long is behind us, we don't need to worry. Let's just feel our way along the wall; we might stumble upon the entrance."
"This huge Cemetery—do you have any idea how long this wall is? We could wear our hands down to nubs and still not find the entrance..." I replied.
"Given the situation we're in, do you have a better plan? We're not bats and we don't have sonar. Without light, we're like blind people; we have no choice but to rely on touch," he countered.
After hearing Li Zhisheng, I suddenly remembered that I had something on me that could provide light. "Oh right, I still have a lighter..." I began rummaging through my pockets.
"I bought a lighter when I bought cigarettes yesterday. How could I forget about that?" I muttered as I pulled out an old-fashioned flint lighter from my jacket pocket.
With a spark, the lighter flared up with a burst of orange flame. Although the flame was small, it shone brightly in the pitch-black darkness around us.
Holding the lighter, I illuminated the wall beside me and said to Li Zhisheng, "Alright, let's go."
Li Zhisheng glanced at the lighter in my hand and rolled his eyes at me. "Why didn't you take this out sooner? You're a smoker; how could you forget something like this?"
I shrugged helplessly. "I don't smoke often; forgetting is pretty normal..."
With that, I walked alongside Li Zhisheng as we made our way along the Cemetery's wall.
Before long, I noticed that the ground beneath my feet was gradually sloping upward from the previously flat path. Although the incline was slight, it was still noticeable. However, aside from that, nothing had changed within the range of light from the lighter; we were still surrounded by a tall concrete wall and an expanse of darkness.
I lost track of time as we walked; impatience began to creep in. In such an extremely quiet environment filled with boundless darkness, it was easy to feel powerless and fearful of what might leap out from the unknown shadows.
At that moment, I realized that the lighter had become almost too hot to hold after burning for so long. Despite my efforts to avoid touching its metal parts, I accidentally brushed against one. Instantly, a sharp pain shot through my fingers and spread throughout my body. Reflexively, I let go of the lighter with a gasp of pain. It fell to the ground with a soft thud, plunging us back into darkness.
Li Zhisheng asked from beside me, "What happened? Did you burn yourself?" I nodded in response while blowing on my burned hand.
For a moment, as the pain subsided slightly, I recalled where I had dropped the lighter and bent down to search for it. I found the lighter again, and by then it was no longer too hot to handle. I held it in my hand and struck it again, and once more, the surroundings were illuminated.
However, just as the flame ignited, a sudden gust of wind blew in from nowhere, extinguishing the flame instantly. Yet, I didn’t feel any wind passing by me.
Seeing this, I didn’t think much of it and tried to ignite the lighter again. But the moment the flame flickered to life, it was snuffed out once more…
After several attempts with the same result each time, I began to panic. "Is there something around us? But isn’t Yao Long right behind us? Why hasn’t he noticed…"
As these thoughts raced through my mind, cold sweat began to seep from my palms. At that moment, Li Zhisheng, noticing my struggle, said to me, “Is the lighter broken? Let me give it a try.”
I followed his voice and fumbled to pass the lighter into Li Zhisheng's hands. He took the lighter and struck it a few times; a flame appeared immediately. But at that very moment, I clearly saw that the flame was violently blown out from above as if by a strong gust of wind.
Seeing this scene felt like lightning striking my brain. I hurriedly shouted at Li Zhisheng, “Get back! There’s something above us!”
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