Chapter 18. The Ghostly Cave ①: A Cursed Omen...

[Congratulations to Dragon Fang Squad for annihilating the undying ghost horde beneath the grave]

[Experience gained: 45,415,772, allocated...]

...

With the notification sound, the ghosts were temporarily eliminated, but the name "Undying" made the team leaders realize that this place was not a safe place to stay.

The monsters this time weren't high-level, just numerous. Most of what they dropped were silver and gold coins, along with a small amount of bronze-level equipment.

After each team distributes the resources dropped by the monsters.

Gu, Chen, Lu, and Pei all took their leave and led their teams in different directions. Some of them had entered this secret realm with specific goals in mind.

Only the Longya team was left standing there, several of them staring at Lin Xiaoxiao, whose face was slightly pale, with shining eyes, waiting for her to take out the lottery box and shake it, and then go that way.

[Ominous: Do not venture westward, for illusions will blind you; dangers pile up like ants, and calamity lurks in the secluded hills.]

The moment the ominous sign came out, Lin Xiaoxiao's throat was extremely dry, and she subconsciously swallowed.

If the first day is an ominous sign, what will happen in the days to come?

No one noticed that today's ominous divination did not mention anything about harvest or treasure.

Wang Hao, hands on his hips, his excited voice carried on the foul-smelling wind through the dark expanse: "Wuhu, take off!"

Jiang Tao twisted his neck, stretched, and said excitedly, "Go, go, go, the harvest is in the West."

Chen Feng helplessly interrupted the two excited young men: "Don't rush, rest for a while, and get ready before you set off."

This is a B-level dungeon/secret realm. If you're not prepared and just rush around recklessly, you'll suffer a great loss.

Xiao Weizhi took off his glasses from the bridge of his nose, took out a silk eyeglass cloth from his spatial ring, and slowly wiped them. His brows furrowed slightly, and his gaze kept falling on Lin Xiaoxiao, who was pale-faced beside him.

A feeling of annoyance, which I hadn't felt in a long time, welled up inside me. If I had known she would be this scared, I should have let her stay at home.

After Lin Xiaoxiao made all the mental preparations, the team was ready to set off.

Xiao Weizhi asked Lin Xiaoxiao to take out a wooden box measuring 80cm*40cm*65cm from her space. When the box was opened, it contained nine light-based protective items.

The protective gear was about the size of a fist, shaped like an irregular polygonal sphere. It was entirely silver-gray, with a thumb-sized golden crystal embedded in the center. The crystal was surrounded by golden runes, making it look like a strange eyeball from a distance.

Xiao Weizhi instructed in a deep voice: "Hang the props on your person and get ready to go."

Everyone quickly hung the prop on their bodies, some choosing to hang it around their necks and others around their waists.

Lin Xiaoxiao hung this prop on her waist, stringing it together with the dozen or so decorative protective props.

Congratulations on obtaining: Light-type protective item - Gentle Gaze (Silver grade)

【Gentle Gaze: Contains a large amount of light energy, a nemesis of ghosts and monsters. When encountering a fatal crisis, it can form a light sphere immunity shield for two minutes; item refresh time is 30 seconds, number of uses: [0/3]】

This time, the mode of transportation has changed; it's now a flying motorcycle.

The flying motorcycle is black and gold in color, with a heavy body and a smooth shape. The upper part is the same as a regular motorcycle, but the lower part has removed the wheels and turned into a small boat shape.

Furthermore, when the flying car is parked, it is 30 centimeters off the ground, floating in mid-air.

The roar of five flying cars rang out, and they then ascended in an orderly fashion to a height of 15 meters, heading west at a speed of 90 km/h.

Riding on the flying motorcycle, the wind blowing in his face ruffled Xiao Weizhi's half-length hair, revealing his brow bone with windproof glasses, superior facial features, and slightly pursed thin lips.

Lin Xiaoxiao sat behind Xiao Weizhi, her arms tightly wrapped around his waist, her face buried in his back, not daring to peek out to see the scene below the flying car.

When the flying car is in mid-air, due to energy issues, the bottom jet will form a layer of light.

In the darkness, this layer of light was no less than a special lure. Countless ghosts and monsters on the ground howled and reached upwards, dense and eerie, the scene even more terrifying than a horror movie.

Heading west for about 80 kilometers, the five flying cars passed through a thin mist and successfully arrived at the entrance to a rift valley.

Under the headlights, the entrance to the rift valley can be seen to be about 6 meters wide and 70 meters high. The valley walls and the soil below are black, and the road appears winding and twisting in the distance.

Several kilometers away, in a sheltered rift valley, faint, dim lights could be seen.

Instinctively, everyone stopped their flying cars at the same time. T took out his night vision binoculars and could see half of a red fruit exposed, with a faint purple glow covering the fruit.

Everyone's breathing quickened uncontrollably; it was—the Bloodstained Fruit.

[Blood-Infused Fruit: One of the ingredients for high-grade healing potions. No matter how severe the wound, just one bite can restore it.]

A single Bloodstained Fruit is worth 200,000 gold coins. A typical Bloodstained Vine produces at least several dozen fruits, making it a relatively valuable resource.

The group exchanged glances, wondering whether to go for it or not.

There will definitely be a guardian beast around the Blood Essence Fruit, and the level of the guardian beast will not be low. This is one of the key pieces of knowledge that all pioneers had to learn in school.

A moment later, several pairs of eyes turned to look at Xiao Weizhi.

Xiao Wei held the front of the car with one hand and used night vision binoculars in the other to carefully observe the situation in the rift valley, thinking to himself about where to leave if he encountered any trouble.

After all, the highest the flying car can fly is about 38 meters in the air, which means it can only fly to half the height of this rift valley.

Lin Xiaoxiao looked at the rift, which was so deep it seemed like a monster's gaping maw inviting food in, and felt inexplicably panicked.

She tugged at Xiao Weizhi's robe and whispered in a low voice, "Could you please not go in? I'm feeling really anxious."

Xiao Weizhi, who had already decided to go in and give it a try, paused upon hearing this.

{Pioneer's Code No. 0298: Even if it's a dangerous trap, you must venture in, record the journey, and draw a map. This will clearly show later pilgrims whether it's a resource-rich area or a perilous one.}

Each new location recorded earns you points. [These points can be used in special treasure vaults in different cities to exchange for items, skill books, materials, etc.]

This place was not on the list, and according to the requirements, they had to go in and check what was going on, regardless of whether there was any harvest or not.

A few seconds later, he reached out and pulled Lin Xiaoxiao's hands to her waist, and commanded in a deep voice: "Full speed ahead, go in and see what's going on. If something's wrong, turn around and come out immediately."

He twisted the throttle, and the flying car roared to life, speeding forward, followed by four other flying cars.

As the flying car entered, Lin Xiaoxiao's heart began to clench and throb.

When the flying car reached a meter in front of the Blood-Red Fruit, her heart pounded wildly like a drum being pounded, as if it were about to jump out of her throat.

Suddenly, Lin Xiaoxiao heard a child's voice ringing in her ear. This was the voice she heard after activating the "Hearing the Voice of All Things" skill:

'Let's go, let's get out of here~'

'leave--'

At the same time, Jiang Tao's lower body was on the flying vehicle, while his upper body leaned out at an angle. He held a dagger in one hand and reached for the Blood Yin Fruit with the other, preparing to pick it.

Lin Xiaoxiao's voice was hoarse as she shouted to stop him: "No, don't touch it."

When Jiang Tao heard Lin Xiaoxiao's call, he retracted his body a little, frowned and turned to look at her: "What's wrong?"

Xiao Weizhi frowned deeply. Hearing Lin Xiaoxiao's words, he turned around and stared at her expression. Without asking why, he commanded in a deep voice after a few seconds: "Turn around and retreat!"

Everyone present immediately obeyed the instructions and turned the car around to leave.

Unexpectedly, a sudden change occurred.

The Blood Vine, which had been clinging motionlessly to the valley wall, stretched out its branches towards the Dragon Fang team, triggering the passive ability of the silver-level light protection item [Gaze Gently], and several round balls of light materialized.

Xiao Weizhi reacted quickly, gripping the car with one hand while rapidly making hand gestures with the other.

Several light arrows appeared out of thin air beside the flying chariot and shot towards the Blood Vine, not only severing the vines but also creating a small-scale light explosion.

The next second, a hoarse scream rang out.

The Blood Vine revealed its true form as a series of ghostly hands, clasped together to disguise itself as vines; while the Blood Fruit's true form was: a fist-sized, rotten eyeball held in the hands of some ghostly hands.

Upon seeing this, Cheng Cheng sat behind Chen Feng, holding the sacred text, his mouth opening and closing rapidly.

A dozen seconds later, a holy light purification spell emanated from her, covering an area of ​​8 kilometers in radius around her. The white, blazing light illuminated the entire rift valley, and the areas touched by the light began to distort and deform as if by some kind of bug, with a mist appearing out of nowhere.

As the mist dissipates, the canyon sheds its illusion and reveals its true face.

The countless ghosts piled up into small mountains, stacked layer upon layer like countless Lego bricks, with only their rotten, bone-revealing upper bodies showing, howling as they reached out their claws at the flying car in mid-air.

Soon, those ghost mountains slid down like dominoes with a piece pulled out.

It forms an avalanche, like when a snow mountain collapses, rolling and sliding down in waves. As the monsters roll down, they keep reaching out, trying to pull down the flying cars in the air and bury them to become part of them.

Several flying cars twisted their throttles to the floor, traveling at 120 km/h, darting up and down in mid-air, performing 360-degree spins and 180-degree sideways maneuvers... dodging these ghostly flying objects that glided past.

Lin Xiaoxiao gritted her teeth and clung tightly to Xiao Weizhi's waist. Even though her ankles were already secured by the car lock, she was still worried that she would be thrown off.

It's easy to get in, but hard to get out.

Misled by the mist, the Dragon Fang Squad had actually already ventured deep into Monster Valley.

Jiang Tao twisted the accelerator to the floor, lifted the front of the car with both hands to dodge a wave of ghostly creatures, and cursed angrily: "These things are never going to end."

Chen Yijin, sitting behind Liu Huihui, dropped an alchemical bomb: "Xiao Tao, get out of the way!"

As the explosions rang out, the flying cars either scattered or regrouped.

More than ten minutes later, just as the car was about to leave this ghost place, Lin Xiaoxiao inexplicably raised her head from Xiao Weizhi's back and looked back.

A woman with long hair, dressed in a tattered red dress that revealed large expanses of fair skin, stood barefoot atop a mountain of monsters, her smile utterly sinister. With her mouth, torn open to the back of her head, she silently spoke in Lin Xiaoxiao's direction: "We'll meet again, dear *****."

After a few hours, the Dragon Fang team found a suitable campsite, set up their tents, and washed up in their respective tents.

Lin Xiaoxiao sat outside the tent, staring blankly at the prop lamp used for lighting.

"What's wrong?" Xiao Weizhi lifted the tent flap and saw Lin Xiaoxiao sitting at the door, staring blankly at the prop light.

Lin Xiaoxiao didn't turn around and said in a deep voice what she saw: "When I left that place just now, I seemed to see a woman in red clothes, greeting me."

Xiao Weizhi pulled over a folding stool and sat down directly next to her. A few drops of water dripped from his damp hair onto his shoulder, and fogged up his glasses, obscuring his eyes: "It's normal. Some high-level BOSSes have thoughts, and their thinking ability is not much worse than ours."

Lin Xiaoxiao was speechless for a moment, she knew all this knowledge.

But what she wanted to say was that it felt like the woman was greeting her specifically.

Xiao Weizhi reached out and patted Lin Xiaoxiao's head, signaling her not to continue thinking about it: "Go wash up."

As she went into the tent to wash up, Xiao Weizhi stared at the right hand that had patted her head for a while, then clenched it into a fist and placed it on her thigh.

I have a feeling that something's different now.

A note from the author:

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