Chapter 53 Oletis Opening

The stone slabs on the ground were inlaid with special metal strips, forming a pattern of black stars. A dwarf excitedly jumped onto the stars, disappeared in an instant, and reappeared in the same place a moment later.

He first ran and high-fived his companions, and finally came to Chen Shuang and said happily: "Master Priest, the teleportation array has won a great victory!"

"Thanks to you all," Chen Shuang said, looking at the group of small forging masters and nodding slightly. "I praise the skills and character of the dwarf family. You are truly the top forgers."

"It's our honor, Your Excellency," the little dwarfs lined up and bowed in unison, their eyes sparkling. "If you find similar items in the future, please let us know."

Chen Shuang: "I will."

Does the Temple of Light count as a similar item?

She retracted the fleeting thought of demolishing the opponent's office building and turned her attention back to the teleportation array.

She stepped onto the star pattern and felt a slight pulling sensation. The scene before her was like a jigsaw puzzle being rapidly disassembled and reassembled, the image fragmented into countless squares, shifting back and forth. When she opened her eyes again, she had arrived at the dark temple hanging high in the sky.

The majestic and solemn temple is hidden in the sky far above the clouds. The surrounding area is filled with quiet black, but it does not seem dark. The bright stars twinkle in it, lighting up the entire temple.

Chen Shuang looked around.

The sound of water came from the fountain, flowers and moonlight were harmoniously intertwined, and lush green shrubs decorated this elegant garden.

This is Moonlight Garden.

The scope of the Dark Temple has expanded a lot. Walking along the gray stone path, Chen Shuang saw another star teleportation array. After stepping on it for a while, she returned to the surface.

A large wooden cafe appeared before my eyes.

Peering in through the bright windows, a blazing fire rises in the center of the first floor, illuminating the vibrantly colored murals surrounding it. Coffee ingredients and machines are neatly arranged behind the bar; it seems all that's left is for the staff to be hired before this welcoming cafe is officially operational.

In addition to the coffee bar in the front, there are many empty bedrooms in the back. Chen Shuang opened one at random, was silent for a while after seeing the interior, and then closed the door silently.

Tortured, slept, smeared, dotted, tied.

“No wonder it’s called the Love Cafe.”

The warm and lively atmosphere, comfortable and interesting decoration, and various facilities inside seem to be able to improve the fertility rate of the Lost Land.

Fortunately, this place is quite far away in the temple, so we shouldn’t hear any strange noises after the cafe is officially opened.

Finally, there was the school building complex that she cared about the most.

The ancient school built with stone slabs stands quietly in the fields. Not far away is the residential area, which can be called a school district house.

Chen Shuang pushed the stone door, but the mechanism inside that had stood the test of time seemed to be stuck. It did not open as she had imagined, but instead stubbornly struggled with the person who came.

She mobilized a little magic power, and the door under her hand suddenly made a creaking sound as if it could not bear the weight. The door leaf shook and the whole building was on the verge of collapse.

Chen Shuang withdrew her hand: "Let's ask the dwarves to fix it."

It felt like the whole school would collapse if I exerted any force.

She moved away and just turned back half a circle when she suddenly heard a "ding dong" sound in her ears and a prompt came from the system.

Warning! Warning!

[The Dark Temple is being invaded. Please expel the invaders immediately...]

The flashing red warning report only appeared for a few seconds before it was suppressed by another warning that had never been seen before.

[Your [Shadowless Corridor] is running. Do you want to watch the real-time picture [Yes/No]]

This attack was extremely silent. If it weren't for the system prompt, Chen Shuang would not have been able to sense that there were outsiders attacking outside the temple.

It seems that access control is still very useful.

She nodded: "Yes."

[The real-time picture is unfolding, your shadow has arrived]

When she opened her eyes again, Chen Shuang was in a constantly changing corridor, where dark colors and dazzling red mixed together, creating waves of dazzling overlapping light and shadow.

But these things were not aimed at the priests who came to investigate, but at a group of intruders with unknown purposes.

The global perspective that emerged before her eyes allowed Chen Shuang to easily find the intruder in the maze. She walked forward, passed through the phantom wall, and came to another wide corridor.

The intruder with long golden hair looked at Chen Shuang who was approaching, frowned slightly, and said to his companions behind him: "The illusions here are becoming more and more realistic. You must be extra careful."

Yas clenched the long sword in his hand, holding the blade gleaming with cold light across his chest, his expression firm: "I will never let the devil here tarnish my innocence."

Chen Shuang: “?”

Wait, my brain is a little bit short.

The light and shadow in the corridor before her kept changing, and the shadow cast by Chen Shuang in the corridor was obscured by layers of phantoms. She could still observe the intruder in front of her with a god's perspective, but the other party could no longer see her.

The human-shaped phantom in front of him disappeared. Yas breathed a sigh of relief, touched the red mark on his arm, and became alert again.

In this strange space, there must not be even a trace of relief.

Just a while ago, space tentacles extending from nowhere attacked him. If it weren't for his superb swordsmanship, he might have been dragged into the bottomless darkness.

Thinking of the cold and slippery black tentacles just now, and how they dragged his clothes, trouser legs, and even shoes and socks without hesitation, Yas felt his face suddenly get hot.

How can...how can you be so rude.

He straightened his messy clothes, but the heat on his face still did not subside.

Although he had anticipated the dangers of the Lost Land and had made sufficient mental preparations, the renowned Prince still could not have imagined that he would be treated so rudely.

He took a deep breath and said solemnly, "This place is indeed as dangerous and full of demons as Patriarch Colin said."

The Devil Chen Shuang who was standing next to me said: Thank you for the recognition.

Her eyes moved slightly.

I heard familiar words.

There was light and shadow moving in the corridor. Chen Shuang looked towards the shadow and a small tentacle stretched out and waved at her, making a big heart shape with its hand.

It is the Shadowless Corridor's detecting tentacle.

Chen Shuang nodded slightly as a response.

After receiving the priest's affirmation, the shadow's tentacles instantly straightened, swaying back and forth like an excited snake, aiming at these bold intruders with great fighting spirit.

Shadow Corridor: The boss is watching.

The extended tentacles moved quietly, along the blind spot of vision, approaching the blond human in the center. Suddenly, it rushed out, accurately avoiding the sword blade swung down by the human, and crawled onto Yas's body.

"Go away, ah!"

As the human struggled and cried out in pain, its tentacles wrapped around the prey more and more tightly, slowly shrinking until the prey was overcome by the extremely oppressive dizziness and passed out. Only then did it pick up the person as if to seek credit and shook him in front of Shen Shuang.

Chen Shuang looked at the human being tied up in front of her.

The taut, slender tentacles sunk slightly into the flesh and moved along the joints of the human body, but the way they were tied seemed a bit... well, a bit unconventional and avant-garde.

No wonder the other party had that reaction when we first met.

She glanced at the tentacle that was standing obediently by the side, her eyes meaningful.

The tentacle had no idea that it had been labeled as a frivolous old driver. It excitedly handed over the tied-up prey, then raised its head and happily waited for praise.

Chen Shuang said: "You did very well."

She continued, "But you need to keep a certain distance, otherwise the other party might misunderstand you."

The tentacles seemed to be thinking about something.

The tentacles suddenly understood.

It nodded excitedly, then contracted even tighter.

The bound human suddenly let out an unconscious groan.

Chen Shuang: “…”

What a strange atmosphere.

She sighed: "...It's not that you're not strong enough."

After finally discussing the boundaries of distance with the tentacles, Chen Shuang dispersed her shadow and left the Shadowless Corridor.

The human priest's gaze returned to the fields.

After a while, phantom tentacles poked their heads out from the crack in space, picked up the unconscious human, and threw him into the grass with a "click".

The blond human rolled a few times in the green grass, buried his head in the soil and stopped moving.

But the tentacles haven't stopped moving yet.

It continued to probe into the gap, fished back and forth, and threw out the second human... the third human...

There are a lot of people, very many.

Chen Shuang looked into the distance.

A large group of humans were lying in the soil. They were fully armored, and some of them even had strong horses. However, at this moment, the humans and horses were hugging each other for some unknown reason and fell into a coma.

This is an army.

She cast her gaze upon the extremely regular weapons and armor, her eyes moving.

To this extent...

Chen Shuang lowered her eyes.

The royal army.

*

Oletis.

The kingdom's borders are surrounded by dense red thorns, hence the name "Kingdom of Thorns".

As the three major forces of the royal family, the nobility, and the church clash with each other, and ambitious people secretly win over forces in an attempt to subvert history, the Kingdom of Thorns has long been overwhelmed.

However, before the final explosion point arrived, it still maintained the necessary calm on the surface. Because the king's birthday was approaching, the city was even a little more lively than usual.

The snow-white petals that fell from the treetops fluttered in the wind, fell on the long, brilliant golden hair, and were blown away by the wind as the person walked.

Yas opened his eyes.

He looked at his hands, and his chaotic thoughts gradually became clear.

By the way, today is the day for reporting.

Yas listened to the shrill cries coming from his ears, maintained the most basic royal etiquette, and pushed open the door calmly.

The heavy palace door opened, revealing an old face sobbing from crying.

The head of the Colin family.

Ya Si walked around the shrewd old man, stood at the bottom of the stairs, and said respectfully, "Father, the arrangements for the birthday celebration have been made. Do you want to go and take a look?"

The king waved his hand, and Yas stood quietly by, also examining the noble head in front of him.

The head of the Colin family cried intermittently, and he said with great emotion: "Your Majesty, please save my child. It was the little lunatic from the Karl family who did all these crazy things. Wright has been abused by her beyond recognition."

He argued confidently, "She spent so long in the Lost Lands, and suddenly returned on the day the coffin was buried. You know, that place is full of terrifying monsters. There's no way this returning lunatic is actually some dark monster in disguise. You must investigate thoroughly."

The old king blinked his eyes, flipped through the list of treasures he had just received, counted the number, and then took in the humble noble leader.

Even though this old man from the Colin family was not a good person, he revealed an important piece of information.

Lost land, dark creatures.

In the Bright Continent, these are two taboo words that cannot be mentioned at all.

Although he did not personally witness the dark creatures attacking the kingdom, the old king knew clearly that this unspeakable taboo would attract the flies of the Church of Light.

That is the power of God's favor that this country cannot resist.

The old king mumbled, the irreversible aging that had descended upon this human body making it difficult for him to open his mouth. His lips trembled as he asked, "Where are my dentures?"

"Here, Father."

Yas stepped forward decisively, solved the physical problem for his elderly father, and then quietly retreated.

The old king, after his dentures were put in and his speech became a little clearer, recalled: "Hurley, what a confused child."

His cloudy eyes turned to his most satisfied child and he said slowly, "Yasi, go and take a look before those flies get there."

*

Yas opened his eyes.

He first felt the tightness of restraint, followed by the rich aroma lingering in his nostrils.

"Huh," he groaned, his sight gradually focused and fixed on the white bones in front of him. The bones swayed in front of him, as if observing his reaction.

Wait, bones?

The noble prince of the Kingdom of Thorns looked up and saw a round skull swaying in front of his eyes. The dark soul fire jumped back and forth, just like the ghost that sucks people's souls in dark stories.

The skeleton uttered a soft and gentle female voice: "Sir, are you okay?"

Yas: "Hmm..."

He must be dreaming, how could a skeleton talk?

He slowly turned his head, trying to look away, but as soon as he turned his head, he saw the black-haired ghost he had seen in the strange corridor.

Ya Si murmured, "I still didn't come out."

He closed his eyes decisively, warning himself not to be misled by the illusion.

Chen Shuang looked at the intruder who was talking nonsense and guessed, "Maybe he was too shocked and his mind was in trouble."

The perfumer skeleton squatting next to him nodded: "It looks like it."

She suggested, "I have a scent that can forcefully stimulate awakening. Do you want to try it, little cutie?"

*

The prince was still immersed in his own world when he suddenly smelled an odor that seemed to have been buried in a stinking ditch for decades, fermenting, and then dug out to mix it with foul-smelling flowers and the stench of decay.

His eyes suddenly widened and his whole body tensed up.

"I think it works."

The confident perfumer brought the bottle closer: "Smell it carefully again."

Chen Shuang covered her nose and hesitated to speak: The effect doesn't seem to be right.

Prince: "I...I..."

The heaving of his chest grew louder and louder until it reached its limit. The poor prince rolled his eyes and fell to the ground.

Chen Shuang covered her nose and quietly moved away.

It's exciting, but maybe a bit too exciting.