Chapter 187 - Valiant Battle (V)
Editor: Kitty
After Abyss left an ear stud prop on Feng YuLan to locate him, his heart that was floating about was finally able to calm down, and he returned to his temporary team…… He had to go there. Although it was a temporary team, he still had to hand over certain things.
Abyss had saved Luo Jian’s life from Clown’s grasp, so he took Luo Jian’s jade pendant, which belonged to the ‘Ghost.’ However, Abyss took care to leave another fake jade pendant on Luo Jian’s body, hoping to confuse him with the false jade. However, when Abyss put the fake jade around Luo Jian’s neck, he remembered one thing.
……The future self I met previously also seemed to use the same false jade trick on him.
Time paradox.
In fact, such a paradox had started a long time ago. Abyss had already been trapped in this spiral of panic and could not extricate himself. He thought…… In fact, Abyss himself had been in an endless time loop, and in the case where he had never been free from such a time loop, he had been caught in the endless loop……
If so, what should he do?
Could he stop? Would the loop break, would……
Abyss could not help but reach out and touch his neck. If he had been Luo Jian, there would have been a ouroboros on his neck, which was a symbol of circulation and reincarnation. It was given to him by the stalker, and it also represented the meaning of the secret chamber.
But after he got through the punishment chamber as well as the train chamber, the sign was gone. Xing Yan used the power of his s.p.a.ce to help Luo Jian open a door in s.p.a.ce through this infinite cycle. The moment Luo Jian stepped into the door, he was gone. Now there was only Abyss left.
If the so-called loop had unknowingly been broken, how would he deal with it?
It was then that Abyss, who had sunk into his thoughts, was unable to extricate himself.
At this time, the two teams in Burial Grounds were ready to compete. There were two oracles, Specter and Duan Li, on Luo Jian’s side, so the power level of their team was very high. In addition, the two men had a tacit understanding to attack and block accordingly from left to right, so they were able to beat the enemy to a sorry state.
In the enemy team opposite them, only the vampire team captain took part in the battle. Although there was a tall and strong Brawny beside him, Brawny was taking care of the seriously-injured female strategist in their team and was obviously unable to leave.
Although the vampire team captain was forced into a sorry state at that moment, he still looked very relaxed and complacent, and he seemed to be waiting for something.
“Captain! It’s time.” Brawny, who was behind the vampire team captain, picked up the female strategist and called out to the vampire team captain. The vampire team captain immediately withdrew from the battlefield and returned to his team members’ side.
Duan Li and Specter looked at each other and did not seem to intend to pursue him. Since the vampire team captain could deal with fighting two oracles alone, he was considered quite skilled. They were afraid that the enemy still had hidden tricks, so they did not dare to rashly move at that time.
After conversing with the vampire team captain for a while, the three turned their heads at almost the same time and looked at Duan Li and Specter. The look in their enemys’ eyes was mixed and complicated; wondrously, their eyes felt insidious and cunning. The two of them froze. Later, they found that there were more uninvited guests on the battlefield.
Yes, it was the stalkers who had come to hunt the oracles.
Since the beginning of this instance of Burial Grounds, Specter had never met any other stalker except Xing Yan. However, Duan Li and Ah Lan met another when they were trapped and circling around in the tomb vault. Duan Li arrogantly swiped the first kill and killed the stalker.
In terms of the number of stalkers in the secret chamber team battle, there were four stalkers who were sent to cause trouble in this team battle. At this time, in addition to Xing Yan and the one Duan Li killed, there were only two stalkers left. Now, these stalkers either came for them together or separately, and they coincidentally appeared at this time, skillfully blocking the two oracles.
“What a coincidence for them to come now!” Duan Li murmured discontentedly, but he kept his high spirits to deal with these stalkers. He faced the two stalkers who suddenly appeared. The two stalkers seemed to be twins. Their faces appeared very similar, and the weapons in their hands were all boxing-related.
When the enemy team saw the stalkers appear to block the oracles, the three calmly turned around. The vampire team captain held his female strategist and swaggered to head under the huge tree in the G.o.d’s tomb vault, followed by Brawny.
G.o.d’s tomb vault was as big as several thousand square meters. The roots of that big tree blanketed the ground. Each root was as thick as a water bucket, and they swayed and wriggled on the ground. Occasionally, when someone stepped on them, the roots would tremble as if someone trampled on it.
It was very inconvenient to walk on such a road. It was clear that the huge tree was almost in front of these people, but there was still a long way to go. The vampire team captain held the female strategist and smoothly spread his bat wings to fly low, leaving Brawny to follow behind them.
Here, student Abyss returned to Feng YuLan’s side. He felt that time was almost up. During this time, Luo Jian and the stalker might have killed the NPC and found the jade pendant from the NPC. Abyss’ goal now was to get the jade pendant belonging to G.o.d. However, it would be easier for him to take it from Ah Lan’s hands instead of flagrantly s.n.a.t.c.hing it away from Luo Jian’s hands.
As he thought of this, Abyss began to urge Feng YuLan: “Let’s go to find Luo Jian.”
“Look for… Luo Jian?” Ah Lan said in a trance and had a strange expression as his eyes swept over Abyss’s body, “You want to find Luo Jian?”
“Yes, can’t I?” Abyss said.
Ah Lan looked up at the two companions who were fighting with the stalkers and said, “Of course you can…”
Ah Lan wanted to tell Duan Li and Specter that he went back to meet Luo Jian alone, but Specter didn’t agree with Ah Lan’s unauthorized actions. Therefore, Ah Lan thought for a moment and took out his grimoire to create a mirror reflection to let the reflection remain where he was originally to deceive Specter and Duan Li, who were still fighting, creating the illusion that Feng YuLan was still here.
Specter and Duan Li were both fighting with the two stalkers, but occasionally they would float over to see if Ah Lan was still there to protect him. No one had found that Ah Lan was no longer there. Following that, Ah Lan could naturally run away with Abyss.
“What on Earth do you want to do?” Along the way, when Ah Lan was following Abyss, he did not give up. He seemed to want to dig out some information out of Abyss’ mouth. He could not help looking for a topic. “How could you appear here?”
Abyss did not speak. He still walked by Feng YuLan’s side, and his little paw was still held by Ah Lan. This feeling was really incredible. Ah Lan felt that he was holding a child of unknown origin by his hand…… And he chose to help the child who might be his enemy even though the child was brazenly trying to take advantage of him.
But it was impossible for Ah Lan to not help him.
Ah Lan lowered his head to look at the little boy beside him. The boy was pale and expressionless. He looked very fragile. He dragged his umbrella on the ground, and when he walked, he was even trembling.
This child made a strange guess inwardly pop into Ah Lan’s mind. This guess was very bold and mystifying, but because of Ah Lan’s keen intuition, it was the most consistent with the truth.
Feng YuLan almost wanted to ask the child to verify his guess, but before he could do so, they had quickly found Ah Lan and the stalker, as well as the NPC who had become a corpse, lying on the ground.
Abyss first paid attention to the NPC. In fact, he knew that the NPC would not die. As long as the tree did not die, the NPC would be able to resurrect indefinitely, and death would always be temporary.
After, Abyss’ attention was soon attracted to Luo Jian and the stalker because they were kissing.
It was very interesting to see him and his lover kissing while he just stood by and looked at them. This scene made him feel very strange.
But surprisingly familiar.
How naive and stupid I was at that time, Abyss thought, and he could not help but smile at himself. Then he turned his head and looked at Feng Yu Lan. Ah Lan had no problem with his best friend kissing the stalker.
Anyway, as long as Luo Jian was willing, there would be no problem. After all, Luo Jian was a person with his own definite views.
And similarly, Ah Lan himself was caught in an entanglement with Duan Li.
Thinking of Duan Li, Ah Lan could not help but frown. He did not even understand why he had accepted this villain so easily and simply. It was clear that he had done a lot of things to make Feng YuLan hate him. But Ah Lan did not choose to hate him.
Maybe because Duan Li’s body was emanating a familiar scent.
The scent reminded Ah Lan of his childhood. In those distant but vague memories, Ah Lan always felt that he had forgotten an important person who had gently embraced him at the most helpless point in his life.
Even without any evidence, Feng YuLan always believed that Duan Li was that person.
At this time, Abyss suddenly spoke and drew him back from his thoughts into reality. He simply explained the characteristics of Ah Lan’s weapon. He said he knew that Ah Lan’s weapon had its own will and that for a short period, his weapon could be transformed into human form. The human version of his weapon looked exactly the same as Ah Lan.
“Does it feel like looking at a mirror’s reflection?” Abyss asked him.
This was a hint obvious enough. Abyss was giving a solemn hint of his ident.i.ty to Ah Lan, probably because Feng YuLan had almost guessed it. Abyss simply did not want to hide his ident.i.ty any longer. He simply used this kind of signal-like means to prompt Ah Lan.
Ah Lan could not help but stare at the little boy beside him.
The boy’s height was only up to his waist. He was short and weak. His face was pale, and his feet were not touching the ground. He looked like a ghost wandering around the underworld.
Lonely and restless ghost……
Feng YuLan almost wanted to laugh, but he could not laugh at all. He felt that his heart was full of contradictions. He wanted to go to Abyss immediately and question him aloud, but he did not dare to act rashly because he was worried that the other party was caught up in a bad situation……
Inwardly, Feng YuLan was almost roaring. I know who he is…… Of course I know who he is!
But I am also afraid to know who he is and afraid of knowing his ident.i.ty. How can I help him? Should I help him or not!?
Is helping Abyss tantamount to betraying Luo Jian now? But if I don’t help him, am I also betraying Luo Jian?
Ah Lan lowered his head a little, and even though his mind was turbulent, he calmly answered Abyss’s question:
“If you humanize weapons…… Shadow and my esteemed self are different ent.i.ties. Our personalities are not the same. But if I take a glimpse at him in that way, he truly feels like a mirror reflection.”
Abyss was silent for a while and suddenly raised his head, pointing to the stalker and Luo Jian, who were entangled together. “I see. What do you think of them?”
Feng YuLan moved his sight to Luo Jian and the stalker.
The stalker seemed to notice something and let go of the man in his arms but still kept his arms around his waist. The stalker began to look around vigilantly. Luo Jian was dazed by his kiss, but now he was nestled in the stalker’s arms, having a trance-like expression.
The past and the future were a dividing line.
And where they were heading towards, n.o.body knew.
It was not so important whether he helped or did not help, betrayed or did not betray. If he had to make such a choice, Ah Lan felt that he would choose to help the him from the future because even if the present Luo Jian did not understand, he would certainly understand in the future.
After all, Abyss was standing here alone.
Ah Lan only looked at Abyss and knew that he had been standing here alone all the time. He saw in Abyss’ eyes that he had been lonely for too long. He was afraid that Abyss would disappear from his sight. If he disappeared, then in the distant future, where should I go to find him?
Ah Lan almost trembled. He turned back again and fixed his eyes on the child beside him. The child felt Feng YuLan’s gaze and turned to look back at him. After a long time of looking at each other, Ah Lan said, “Luo Jian is my best friend. I’m willing to support him, no matter what he wants to do or where he wants to go.”
T/N: I think many of you might be confused about Abyss’s modus operandi, but it’d all be clarified in future chapters ^^! In any case, this is the final arc before the extras, so everything will be clarified ^^~
If you guys are still confused after the end of the main text, I’ll be available at CG discord to answer questions or I’ll just create a page to answer any queries ~