039
Qi Man's eyes were somewhat vacant, clearly she hadn't yet come back to her senses from the dream.
After a long pause, she finally asked, "Where are the others?"
Jiang Huali said, "I don't know, I'm the first one to come to you."
Qi Man lowered her head before answering Jiang Huali's question.
"I had a beautiful dream."
"At first, I didn't realize I was dreaming. I only woke up when the dream suddenly started to break down."
Qi Man's eyes darkened as she recalled the scene in her dream.
She gave a wry smile and asked, "How did you wake up?"
“I’m not quite the same as you,” Jiang Huali explained to Qi Man about the differences in her situation. “Perhaps that’s why I was able to wake up.”
It seems this instance can trap people in a dream from which they cannot wake up. Jiang Huali's gaze fell on the mark on her wrist. Without this, she might not have been able to wake Qi Man up quickly.
They went to Yin Mengshu's door together. As time went by, more and more black energy swirled around the door. Whenever Jiang Huali came into contact with that black energy, the mark on her wrist would be triggered, absorbing all of it.
Qi Man, standing beside her, naturally noticed it.
She suddenly asked, "Where's your boyfriend?"
Jiang Huali pushed open the door. "He...he's gone. I didn't see him when I woke up."
“I don’t want to ask too much,” Qi Man followed closely behind Jiang Huali. “In the ‘Hope Primary School’ instance, when you went to the principal’s office to get the core, was he by your side?”
"Cough cough cough..." Jiang Huali choked on her own saliva, but didn't stop walking. "What did you say?"
She clearly remembered that the Ink Shrine had disappeared at that time.
"At the time, I only vaguely sensed that there was something behind you. Was your disappearance after that instance also because of him?"
After a moment's thought, Qi Man guessed something.
But what she really cared about was—
“I don’t care who he is, but I need to make sure he won’t affect our plans.”
Jiang Huali replied earnestly, "He wouldn't. He helped me get the core item before, and this one is too."
She raised the mark on her wrist and gestured to Qi Man.
Even if Mo Ci really sided with the game, she would have the system immediately reclaim his soul fragments.
But Jiang Huali didn't think Moci would do anything.
Qi Man received an answer and nodded.
When they arrived at Yin Mengshu's bedside, she was surrounded by wisps of black mist, like a spider web enveloping her.
...
They woke up their teammates one by one according to the distance of the rooms. The last room was Qi Feng's room, where he had stayed the longest in the dream. When Jiang Huali and the others arrived, the black aura had even spread to the walls of the room.
After absorbing the black energy from Qi Feng's body, he did not wake up immediately.
Jiang Huali observed his condition from the side, feeling a burning pain from the mark on her wrist.
She was feeling unwell, perhaps because she had absorbed too much dark energy.
When Qi Feng groggily opened his eyes, he saw several people standing by his bedside watching him.
"..."
It startled him.
The person closest to him was Jiang Huali. He rubbed his temples and suddenly saw black mist slowly condensing into a human shape behind Jiang Huali. In a flash, Qi Feng drew his bow and shot an arrow at Jiang Huali's back.
The rocket pierced straight through the black mist, extinguished, and turned into powder.
Jiang Huali also noticed that the black energy was rushing towards her, but suddenly many black energies with golden light appeared around her and fought with the humanoid figure.
The two black clouds were as fierce as fire and water, and the humanoid figure let out a shriek.
"We are of the same origin, yet you are helping these ants to bring about your own destruction!"
A piercing sound echoed throughout the room. The next second, the room's furnishings seemed to melt away as if under intense heat, and the surrounding scenery shifted—
It's hot, very hot.
The high temperature was almost melting people.
They appeared on a huge pool of lava.
A huge stone slab floats above the lava pool, and on the slab stands a statue. The statue is terrifying, neither human nor ghost, and looks like it is pieced together from countless severed limbs.
The humanoid form transformed back into black mist, which then surged into the statue.
The statue seemed to come alive and slowly began to move.
Jiang Huali and the others stood on the edge of the stone slab, with churning lava behind them.
As the statue moved, its severed limbs continued to fall off, shrouded in black mist, and attacked them.
Qi Man narrowed her eyes and took the lead in attacking.
Others also struggled with the severed limbs.
As Jiang Huali knocked the attacking limbs back into the lava pool, she kept gasping for breath.
The mark on her wrist was burning hot, as if it would burn her wrist off. The mark, which was originally black, gradually turned gold.
It's too hot.
This statue is clearly from a game.
Or rather, it's the core of the game.
The core fragment they've been searching for all comes from it.
It is invincible, creating this game irrigated with blood and revelry, reaping countless lives, drawing upon an endless stream of malice, and nourishing that malice in return.
The only way to destroy it is to use the key composed of its core to open the "door" that seals the power of the abyss, and then sacrifice blood to destroy it all.
The key is with Xin Mingqing.
Xin Mingqing tried to get closer to the main body of the statue during the struggle, but was unable to go any further when he reached a certain limit.
Flames appeared out of nowhere and burned him, leaving countless wounds on his body, from which blood gushed out.
Jiang Huali was enveloped in a thin layer of black mist, which made her feel much better.
At least the burning sensation has subsided considerably.
Noticing Xin Mingqing's actions, Jiang Huali's mind stirred slightly, and the surrounding black energy automatically surged towards Xin Mingqing, enveloping him.
Xin Mingqing felt a sense of lightness. He looked at Jiang Huali, then, clutching the key in his hand, ran towards the statue.
Seeing Xin Mingqing continue forward, Jiang Huali looked away and continued to deal with the endless stream of severed limbs.
Her heart was pounding. She mentally asked the system, "The Ink Shrine won't disappear, will it?"
The system is activating the soul recovery device as a precaution.
[I haven't detected his presence. You, the host, need to find him before I can complete the soul recovery.]
Jiang Huali shouted to the surroundings, "Ink Shrine! Ink Shrine..."
The surrounding area was filled with the sounds of fighting, creating an extremely noisy environment, which drowned out Jiang Huali's voice.
After a long time, the Ink Shrine still did not appear.
What Jiang Huali didn't notice was that the surrounding black mist swayed slightly when she shouted, enveloping her even more tightly.
Under the protection of the black mist, Xin Mingqing successfully approached the statue. He took out a dagger, deftly slashed his palm, smeared the blood on the key, and then put the key into the "door".
Instantly, the statue let out a mournful cry, and the black mist surrounding Xin Mingqing gradually dissipated, transforming into long threads that connected everyone present.
Almost instinctively, Jiang Huali slashed her palm open, and blood flowed out amidst the stinging pain, meandering along the silk threads into the statue.
The others noticed her movement and quickly slashed their palms as well.
"boom--"
The stone slabs beneath our feet were shaking and cracking, and the broken pieces of stone fell into the lava pool and were instantly swallowed up.
Jiang Huali felt intense pain throughout her body, blood began to seep from every pore, and her soul felt as if it were being torn apart.
The others were clearly not much better off.
"Click—"
After an unknown amount of time, a cracking sound came from the air.
The sound was barely audible in the noisy environment.
Several cracks spread across the central statue, and a hint of terror finally crept into its voice:
"No, no, no—"
How could it possibly be defeated by a few ants!
How could that be!
The key and the sacrifice of these few people alone were not enough to completely destroy it; it was someone else...
No, that's not human at all!
They are clearly of the same origin, mutually reinforcing and mutually restraining each other, but now another force is willing to self-destruct in order to be buried here with it!
Jiang Huali was almost robbed of consciousness by the pain. In her daze, she seemed to feel someone gently embracing her.
"I'm here."
That person said.
I told you, I will find you no matter where you are.
A familiar presence wafted over, and Jiang Huali struggled to open her eyes, seeing Mo Ci, whose face was pale and whose body was almost transparent.
Mo Ci met her gaze, and smiled softly as the corners of his lips curved upwards.
"Don't worry, you will return safely to your world."
He seemed to remember something else and added, "Your friends will too."
The game is starting to collapse.
The golden mark on Jiang Huali's wrist was flashing, but it slowly dimmed as the game collapsed.
Jiang Huali used her last remaining shred of consciousness to call the system: "[Activate... Soul Fragment Recycling Program.]"
[Beep—Soul Fragment Recycling Program Initiated.]
The system's voice came from deep within my mind.
Jiang Huali's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, eased slightly, but the next second, she was plunged into boundless darkness.
Mo Ci looked at his lover, who seemed to be sleeping in his arms, and lowered his head to kiss her one last time.
He held her quietly, feeling his strength drain away amidst the clamor and the earth-shaking tremors.
The statue's resentful voice still echoes.
Mo Ci thought that he originally did not intend to let her go.
How wonderful it would be to hold her hand and stay in this darkness forever.
How could a ghost understand love?
He is something even less human than ghosts and monsters; he is the source of evil, inherently heartless and emotionless.
But at one moment, when he looked at her peaceful sleeping face, a seed was quietly planted in his heart.
Perhaps, from the moment he first smelled the fragrance of that soul, left the abyss, and stepped into that instance, the ending was already destined.
...
The game is collapsing.
Everyone realized it.
Unaware of what had happened, people in the rest center put down their coffee, and some suddenly woke up in their rooms; the quest platform in the center of the quest hall began to collapse and dissipate; the terrifying monsters in the dungeon were swallowed by white light in the next second.
Everything around began to shake and blur, and the whole world fell into a silent, pure white.
...
An electronic voice was still ringing in the void.
[Beep beep beep beep beep—An unknown error has occurred and is being detected.]
[Beep - Unknown error cannot be corrected.]
[Soul Fragment Retrieval Failed]
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