Chapter 106 - Escaping from Burial Grounds (x.x.xVI)
Editor: Kitty
On the other side, Luo Jian found that the vampire team captain who had been climbing up in front of him suddenly stopped.
At this moment, the huge tree demon seemed to have slightly calmed down. Instead of continuing to shake wildly, it stretched its branches and leaves smoothly. Its vines were like snakes, entwining the branches one by one. Some of them twined around Luo Jian’s body, tightly binding him with the trunk.
When Luo Jian found that he was almost bound by the vines, he realized that he could not move because as long as he struggled, the vines would tighten, so after Luo Jian thought about it, he relaxed his body instead and no longer tried to break free. He simply allowed himself to hang on the tree branch.
The reason why the vampire team captain in front of him stopped climbing was because like Luo Jian, he did not want to be strangled alive by these d.a.m.n vines. If one did not want to be strangled, one could not move, and if one did not move, one would not be able to climb up.
They were very high up from the ground now. If they did not continue to climb, they would die if they fell… Oh, the vampire team captain could at least fly. As for Luo Jian, if there were no accidents, he would definitely fall to his death.
Just then, the situation turned for the worse!
“d.a.m.n it!” The vampire team captain, who was lying down flat in front of him, suddenly shouted a curse. With a wave of his hand, he cut all the vines that were wrapped around him with his claws. However, the number of vines was so huge that if he cut more, more would grow. Moreover, the vines noticed the resistance of the vampire team captain and thus attacked the vampire captain more fiercely.
Perhaps because they had been caught up in too fierce of a struggle, the female strategist who was being carried on the vampire team captain’s back suddenly fell off. The poor woman had been seriously injured, and the longer he delayed, the worse the condition of her wound became and the closer she was to death. Presumably, the vampire captain also thought of this and could hardly wait to find the exit as soon as possible.
But some things were just like this. The more eager one was, the more fl.u.s.tered one would be, and the trickier the situation would become.
Therefore, when the female strategist fell from the vampire team captain’s back, he looked frightened and reached out to catch the woman, but he responded a tad too slow. His hand and the female strategist’s hand failed to grasp each other, and he could only watch as the most important person to him fell straight from the sky like a bird with broken wings.
“Yan Hua—!” He called the woman’s name, his voice sounding extremely desolate.
Below them, Luo Jian heard some sounds and reflexively looked upward, only to see a black shadow falling down. He had little time to weigh the pros and cons, and he took out his knife to cut the vines around his arm. Then he reached out and grabbed the female strategist, who was in a coma.
At the moment when he rescued her, Luo Jian regretted it. It must be that his brain was full of holes, causing him to save the enemy. However, Luo Jian did not know the significance of rescuing her; this meant that even if he escaped from the secret chambers filled with severe cruelty, he still did not lose the values of loyalty and kindness he had in his heart.
When the vampire team captain saw that Yan Hua was safe, he didn’t even care to climb upward to find the so-called exit and flew to Luo Jian with the help of his wings. He could not wait to reach out and hold the woman in his arms. Seeing his pale face and how frightened he was, Luo Jian suddenly felt that he envied the woman.
“Thank you.”
In a scene rarely seen, the enemy thanked Luo Jian. The vampire team captain raised his head and looked at him with his dark eyes. His irises were actually red, but they were different from those of the stalker. It was a kind of dark red, and only when he activated his weapons and skills could the eyes become this colour.
The vampire captain was a white man, but he spoke Chinese very well. His hair was brown in colour, and his facial features were typical to white men. He was also taller than most people.
“I owe you a favor, but I will not give up the chance to escape from this secret chamber,” the vampire team captain said in a sincere tone, and after that, he took out something and placed it in Luo Jian’s hand, saying, “So I’ll give this to you as thanks. After giving you this, I won’t owe you anything more.”
As soon as the vampire captain finished speaking, he took the woman in his arms and continued to fly upwards.
Luo Jian looked at the thing that the vampire team captain had placed into his hand. It was a cross, a black cross.
Cross……?
“Cross—” Luo Jian murmured, the cross reminding him of a matter.
Yes, the reward that Luo Jian had received when he escaped from the third secret chamber, the Flowers In The River And The Moon’s Reflection In The Lake chamber. There were three rewards that Luo Jian received from that secret chamber: the basic sabre technique of a disguiser, the basic mental technique of a disguiser, and the last rewardk2014;the disguiser’s cross.
In fact, Luo Jian had been confused about what the word ‘disguiser’ meant.
Luo Jian had always worn the cross of the disguiser on his neck, placed under the innermost layer of his clothes. Before, when he swapped his ident.i.ty with Xing Yan, Xing Yan had once taken it away, but now it had been returned and remained hanging on his neck. He subconsciously reached up to touch it. He pulled it out of his clothes and compared it with the cross he got from the vampire team captain.
The cross given to him by the vampire team captain was pure black while Luo Jian’s own cross was silver-white, but they were similar in size, proportion, and style.
Luo Jian knew that the vampire team captain would not throw out just anything to thank Luo Jian, so this must have some value, but what was it for? After thinking about it, he was too embarra.s.sed to catch up with him to ask about it, so he had to put both crosses into his pocket.
Then Luo Jian continued to climb up, the vines twining around him from time to time, but Luo Jian soon found a way to deal with these vines. If he cut them with his knife, they would only send more vines to entangle around him, but if he relaxed and did not move, they would disperse automatically, allowing Luo Jian to continue climbing up.
They had already reached a very great height. When he lowered his head to look at the ground, the things on the ground were as small as rice grains. Such a height chilled their hearts.
Luo Jian’s heart thumped with fear. Although he was sure that he did not suffer from acrophobia, anyone would start to be afraid when they climbed to such a height, especially when it was dark around and one was unable to see the top. The tree that they had been climbing up shook from time to time, which increased the probability of them falling and caused them to tremble with fear.
It seemed that the speed of the collapse of the secret chamber had been accelerated. A lot of stones and dust were falling from the top. Fortunately, he was hardly affected by it because there were a large number of branches over his head shielding him. Luo Jian had not suffered any harm, but he still accelerated his climbing speed. He continued his tough ascent and moved faster by holding the branches and vines. However, the heavens were not cooperative, and an accident still occurred.
Luo Jian suddenly heard a loud noise as he was climbing!
The tomb vault of the G.o.d was very huge and could be described as having the width and length of five or six football fields. There were naturally some towering stone pillars as infrastructural support in such a large vault, and those pillars needed to bear the weight of the entire vault!
Similarly, the big tree at the center of the tomb, like these stone pillars, was originally designed as an infrastructural support, and it also supported the weight of the entire tomb. Therefore, when the center of the tomb began to move restlessly, the surrounding supporting pillars naturally began to slowly collapse! The loud noise that Luo Jian heard was actually the sound of a stone pillar crashing down!
Following the collapse of this stone pillar, half of the G.o.d’s tomb vault began to collapse! Luo Jian could see the stone gate at the entrance of the vault as he stood high up on the tree. The stone wall beside the gate had completely collapsed! Seeing that sight and hearing that sound, Luo Jian instantly realized that they were in a dire situation! They were already at the point which would decide whether they would live or die!
But—
Luo Jian raised his head to look at the huge tree. The tree was too tall; it was so tall that it seemed unlikely. Truly, the only way to describe this tree was as a thousand-year-old tree demon. Luo Jian could not see where its top was! Above him, it was all darkness except for the small stones that kept falling. He couldn’t see even the slightest hope.
“Do you really think you can get out?”
When Luo Jian was at a loss, he suddenly heard someone’s voice ring out in his ears. Turning around, he found a thin branch beside him. It was unknown when he had appeared, but beside him stood a person!
“You’re not dead?!” When Luo Jian saw this man, he was shocked. He was the ‘G.o.d’ who had been stabbed to death by Xing Yan.
“G.o.d will not die,” the G.o.d stated, “No matter how many times I die, I will be revived among the flower buds. What do you think is the reason behind why I can live here for thousands of years as a mortal?
“This tree will keep me alive.”
The G.o.d continued to speak. He was still naked with his long hair waving and swinging around, and his face was very pale. For a long time, he stared at Luo Jian and, carrying unknown intentions, suddenly said, “You look totally different from Luo, but somehow, I think you are very similar to him. Even when I was in a state of delirium and descended into lunacy, I thought you were him.”
Luo Jian was silent for a moment: “You can probably understand this as the power of the devil who signed the contract with you. This power will confuse you and make you mistake something that you wouldn’t otherwise make mistakes about.”
“So you’re not Luo, are you?” the G.o.d asked him.
Luo Jian nodded. “Yes, I am not.”
The G.o.d did not know what he was thinking. Luo Jian found that he had become a little different. The look he had now was totally different from the lunatic look he had previously. He looked very calm now, but his eyes were slightly empty, and his temperament had become melancholic.
But the G.o.d sighed and said, “You have gone the wrong way.”
Luo Jian frowned. “What do you mean?”
“This tree really is the exit. It’s buried deep in the ground. When it wakes up, it can’t wait to pull its roots out, stretch its branches and leaves, and bathe in the sun. So the idea that you can reach the exit by climbing up this tree is right. The wrong part is that the grave is buried deep in the ground. Even if you climb up, what’s above you will only be thick rocks and soil.”
Luo Jian was slow to react for a moment, as if he had just thought of it, and he silently hated that he had descended into a state of panic because he could not even envision such a thing happening.
The G.o.d continued, “The tree is hollow; it’s empty inside. If you want to get out, you can only go into the trunk and continue to climb up inside the trunk. Then before long, the tree will climb out of the tomb by itself. There will be a tree hole at the top of the trunk. When you exit from it, you will be able to see rays of sunlight.”
Luo Jian was surprised that the G.o.d would tell him the truth so calmly, so he couldn’t help but ask, “You thought about how to bury all of us here alive with you previously, so why did you decide to honestly tell me the way out?”
The G.o.d lowered his head, and his hair moved without the wind blowing, covering half of his face. His eyes were dim: “This tomb will soon collapse and be buried underground forever, and I am doomed to be unable to leave here. I will be destroyed with the tomb. As for the contract with the devil, I am afraid it cannot be fulfilled.”
“So did you give up?”
The G.o.d suddenly raised his head and looked at Luo Jian: “I don’t want to give up, but I have no way of retreat.”
Now, Luo Jian did not know what to say. He could not help but sympathize with the man in front of him. He had always called himself a ‘G.o.d,’ but he could not even save his beloved.
“It’s still too early to celebrate.” G.o.d said, “You have gone the wrong way. I’m afraid your strength can’t hurt the trunk of this tree at all, so you can’t directly open an opening on the trunk, so you could either go down and find the entrance again, or you can stay here until you die.”
Luo Jian had already climbed up to a great height. Lowering his head to look downward, he found that he was at a terrifying height. He suddenly felt dizzy. He had already climbed for such a long time; must he really head downward now?
“You can also choose a shortcut.” The G.o.d cunningly smiled: “It’d be faster for you to fall down directly.”
“Fall down… but this height…” Just when Luo Jian wanted to say something, the G.o.d standing opposite him suddenly decided to make things difficult for him. A bunch of vines rushed up, caught Luo Jian’s wrist, and pulled him down from the tree. Then, Luo Jian fell from the tree trunk. Luo Jian started to free fall and started a crazy descend downwards!
Luo Jian’s eyes were blinded, and his body experienced a horrifying sense of weightlessness. Once again, Luo Jian thought he would die.
Back at Specter’s side, Specter had been tailing the half-dead Clown, who acted in a robotic manner. He followed him into the hole and walked into an underground labyrinth-like tunnel following the tree roots. Soon, Specter followed Clown into a vertical pa.s.sageway.
They were likely inside that huge trunk. Unexpectedly, the trunk of this tree was hollow. It was not only hollow but also had some structures similar to spiral stairs. There was no need to climb; one just needed to follow the stairs up all the way.
The structure inside the trunk felt a little slippery. The pathway inside was laid out in plain sight. Moreover, because this thousand-year-old tree demon was shaking left and right, it would be easy to slide down if one didn’t grasp firmly when taking the stairs. In addition, the spiral stairs circled around. Although Specter was un.o.bstructed as he slowly followed Clown up all the way, he felt increasingly dizzy.
It would not be fine if this went on. The top of the stairs was probably the exit. He could not allow the enemy to take the lead.
As Specter thought about it, he carefully watched Clown slowly walk up the stairs above him. This fool still remained expressionless but climbed the stairs, unhinged. His body seemed to sway left and right along with the shaking of the trunk. He was walking very steadily and did not show any signs of slipping and falling.
Specter wanted to kill him, but he knew that just his strength alone was not enough. Although he was t.i.tled the oracle, Specter was destined to be a long-range expert, but his opponent was a horrifying enemy with MAX melee combat skills. Moreover, adding on to the fact that the ground Specter was standing on was lower than that of the enemy in such a narrow place, in fact, he would not be able to reap any advantages.
In addition, Specter had fought the enemy head-on earlier and completely could not beat the enemy at all.
d.a.m.n it, how could this guy be so powerful? What was more, although he was so powerful, the secret chamber did not give Clown the t.i.tle of the oracle. Also, according to Luo Jian’s description of him, this fellow should have merely been a middle-scale threat.
However, although Specter felt that the current situation was tricky to deal with, he was not afraid to the extent where he had to retreat. Instead, he began to try to seize an opportunity.
During such a moment, it was better to launch a sneak attack.
While thinking about countermeasures, Specter slowly climbed up. He had survived countless tests given by the secret chamber and had done a lot of despicable things. In order to survive, Specter would give up anything. For him, it was but child’s play to sneak up on the enemy.
“This guy’s reaction speed is very fast. If he is attacked or a.s.sa.s.sinated, during that interval, he will reveal his flaws, and I just have to ensure that with the first strike, he is killed. If I cannot do this, his reflexes are fast enough for him to counterattack and kill me.” Specter made all sorts of deductions in his heart.
“His weapon is a scalpel. It can be speculated that his skills are related to surgical fields, and he has used his skill ‘neurotomy’….. The skill is horrifying, and that may be a skill that can directly affect the nerves, cutting off my nerves. This may make me lose my sense of pain and even lead to my death.”
Specter made more speculations, and they all made him deeply feel how horrifying the enemy was.
“But I still have a chance to win, with that skill…”
Specter rea.s.sembled his weapon, the two guns, and a.s.sembled a gun similar to a sniper’s. Then he drew out his gun and began to find the best position.
Before sniping, one should be well prepared to grasp the distance, angle, wind direction, and deviation, but in this kind of considerably narrow place and from such a low height, Specter could only shoot upwards. He also had to accurately hit a moving target. It was difficult to accurately snipe the target under such conditions.
When Specter followed Clown, he had a good grasp of the distance between them. He would neither let the enemy discover him nor let the enemy fall out of his clutches.
After all, there was only one chance.
After a series of preparatory actions, Specter set up his sniper gun. He almost laid on the ground, positioned his body appropriately, and pointed the muzzle of the gun upwards. Specter was thankful that when he tracked Clown, he was always following the footprints and traces left by the other party when moving. Moreover, since it was very dark all around, Specter did not turn on the light but directly took a night-vision prop from his carry-on secret chamber to use.
But Clown had a flashlight, and the light made him conspicuous, a perfect target for a.s.sa.s.sination under the help of the sniper gun’s scope.
He was still walking slowly and rhythmically with the shaking of the trunk, but this just provided a greater advantage for Specter. As long as he was able to decipher the frequency of the tree shaking, he could guess Clown’s next action!
Don’t be nervous. Your sniping has never failed you!
Specter calculated the speed and deviation of the bullet and predicted all possible abnormalities. He squinted as he held the muzzle high, and his index finger rested on the trigger.
T/N: Countdown: 1