Chapter 174: Chasing Shadows and Slaying Beasts (3)
"Please shrink quickly!" "What the hell is going on with you?!"
Miss Zanxinzhe gave anxious instructions, while the killer was stunned. Both sides were confused by the sudden development.
After jumping out of the picture frame, Chu Hengkong finally arrived in the three-dimensional space again. However, this place was surprisingly small. The square space was probably not much larger than a tatami mat, and the overall height was less than one meter. An adult male like him would have to bend his body in half to barely fit into the square.
The extremely small space now held two people, like a washing machine overloaded with dirty clothes. They were squeezed so tightly that they couldn't tell each other apart. The walls cracked under the weight. Qing Ye held on to the ceiling with his hands.
"Mr. Chu! If you continue like this, it will find you!" Qing Ye screamed from his throat.
Chu Hengkong exhaled deeply, expelling all the air from his body as if to deflate himself. His muscles contracted one by one, and his torso miraculously flattened, the result of diligent yoga and jujitsu training on Earth. He then crouched against the wall, his arms spread out along the top edge of the cube, leaving the other person as much space as possible. He squeezed out about a third of the tatami mat's footing, freeing up space like toothpaste.
Qingye finally had a little room to move. She squatted, supporting herself only on her toes, her upper body folded down, leaving less than an inch of space. Her two palms still used this pitiful gap to support the ceiling, not daring to relax for a moment. In this way, although the posture was extremely awkward - it was like Chu Hengkong was hugging the curled up Qingye - the two of them finally had a chance to breathe.
Their vision gradually adjusted to the darkness, and they stared at each other in this strange situation.
"...It's a very novel outfit." Chu Hengkong cleared his throat and tried his best not to look at the face that was about to cry.
Miss Qingye was dressed very fashionably. For some reason, she had shed her usual combat attire, leaving behind only a yellow scarf and a black bodysuit reminiscent of a school swimsuit. This new outfit was sexy enough to grace the front page of a current magazine, and it perfectly complemented her figure. Normally, he would have glanced twice and not said anything.
However, due to the closeness of the current distance and the warrior's keen observation, even if he tried hard to ignore it, he would inevitably notice some details. For example, the tights seemed too flexible. For example, the black curves seemed a little too detailed.
The accumulation of all these wonderful details made the other person's outfit look as if...
Just like the drawing.
"Please don't look!" Qing Ye was almost crying, "And please don't misunderstand!! This is something I made up with shadows!"
Chu Hengkong tried hard to divert his gaze, but the girl was squatting in front of him with her palms pressed against the ceiling. In this position, even if she was wearing ordinary clothes, there would be nowhere to look at her, let alone this shadow combat suit.
He simply closed his eyes and tightened his abdomen to avoid touching the other person: "What's going on?"
"If you stay in a painting for too long, your belongings will become flattened." Qingye said pitifully, "My clothes turned into a painting after just one day, and the other supplies... I don't know when it will be my turn."
Chu Hengkong immediately understood the purpose of this mechanism. Stripping someone of their clothing was a common tactic used in torture and imprisonment. For people living in modern society, clothing was the most intuitive symbol of safety and their last line of defense. The human mind wasn't as strong as depicted in art. If imprisoned naked, most people would soon be on the verge of collapse.
Then, his past experience in the underworld gave him even worse associations. "What else did it do to you?" "It just locked me up here and ignored me..." Qing Ye said with a sad face.
Chu Hengkong breathed a sigh of relief. Even if Qingye lied, she wouldn't be able to hide it from him. "Change positions."
Qing Ye shook his head desperately: "No, if you let go you will be crushed to death!"
"I'll hold on." Chu Hengkong said with his eyes closed, "Let go."
He nodded to Qingye. The girl carefully unclasped her hands, ready to push back up at any moment. The moment her fingertips left the ceiling, Chu Hengkong's heart sank. An overwhelming weight suddenly pressed down on his arms. If he hadn't been prepared, even he might have lost his balance. But even more terrifying than the physical weight was the emotional pressure.
He sensed countless hearts, huddled within the darkened cubes, straining their strength to resist the pressure. Each cube was a stone, and when piled together, they formed the eerie execution platform. Their fear and cries echoed like an echo, the prisoners' cries growing louder and louder as they spread, a feeling that made the soul tremble.
Then he understood the monsters of the valley. They were tortured by nightmares day and night, but compared to this torture, nightmares were like caresses. There was no such thing as sleep here. You had to overdraw your life to delay the torture for a few seconds.
Has Qingye managed to survive in this environment until now?
"Mr. Chu is indeed stronger." Qingye smiled softly, "Thank you... I'll be lazy for a while..."
"...Thank you for your hard work." Chu Hengkong said.
Qingye tried to stretch her arms, but her muscles were already numb. She barely hugged her knees, sitting on the ground for the first time in three days. "Not really. Once you get the hang of it, it's actually not as tiring as you think. Just be careful not to make any noise. If you beg for mercy or collapse, Waklo will catch you and execute you... Ugh... So when I ask for help, I whisper quietly... Psychologically... it's actually more..."
The words stopped unconsciously, leaving only trembling sobs. Qingye tried to wipe away the tears with the back of her hand, but it was not enough, and the tears fell on Chu Hengkong's legs.
"I'm sorry... I should have been more resolute..." Qing Ye said intermittently, "I'm so scared... I... I'm sorry..."
Chu Hengkong supported the ceiling with only his prosthetic hand, gently patting the girl's back with his human right hand, letting her lean on his shoulder. Qingye was on the verge of collapse; she needed a sense of security more than ever. At this moment, there was no need to consider distance; even human empathy was gone.
"It's all right," he said firmly. "Huaisu and Vander are here too. We'll kill it."
"Yeah." Qingye nodded vigorously, "I still have strength. I'll fight too!"
·
"That's a bit strange~ Where is it hidden~?"
Waklo surveyed the mural from head to toe, sighing at his own foolishness. He had never been a brilliant messenger, having ascended to the rank of Void Angel before even earning a Rainbow Sin degree. That was why the Nightmare King had given him the paintbrush—if he didn't use some powerful tactics, his prey would easily slip away.
The killer must be alive, because his shadow was still within the painting. Waklo hooked his finger, and the shadows dragged several other murals within the arena, joining them with "The Terrible Execution," forming a circular scroll.
This way, the person in the painting couldn't escape no matter what. Waklo took some blue paint and painted an unusually large figure.
"The enemy is probably hiding in the rocks," Waklo said briskly. "Please come in, Mr. Han Xing!"
“Aa ...
The gorilla-like monster pounded its chest vigorously and leaped onto the execution platform with the same agility it had in life. Seconds later, the two people trapped in the stone felt the air vibrate, and a sound like a landslide could be heard.
"Not good..." Qing Ye looked up, "Isn't it trying to dismantle the stage?"
"I would do the same if I were you." Chu Hengkong tried to hit the wall with his back. "Have you ever tried to break through a wall?"
“I don’t dare to try it!”
Boom! Boom! A furious sound like a pile driver rang out very close. The wailing sounds from two blocks away suddenly disappeared, replaced by the breathing of a wild animal. "Now then," Qingye's face turned pale. "Maybe we should give it a try!"
"pay close attention!"
Without a word, Qingye grabbed Chu Hengkong's neck tightly. Chu Hengkong suddenly let go, and the ceiling fell like a guillotine. He used the space he gained to stretch his arms, which rebounded like rubber bands, and launched a double elbow strike behind him.
The square prison was shattered by brute force, and Chu Hengkong and Qingye rolled into the next block. The ceiling of the previous block fell, revealing a blue face close at hand. It was the true form of the monster that had been continuously pulling out blocks from the outside, the ice behemoth "Han Xing" with a terrifying ghostly face.
"Aaaaaaah!" Han Xing roared excitedly when he found his target.
"Wooooaaaaaah!" Qingye screamed subconsciously after being discovered.
"What should we do now, Mr. Chu?!"
"Delay and hide as long as possible."
Chu Hengkong swung his prosthetic arm like a whip, shattering the ceiling and all adjacent walls. The natives within the cube danced with joy. "Please kill me!" the remaining prisoners cried. "Get out of the way!" Chu Hengkong concentrated his willpower on his body, creating a Qi armor on his back. Then, amid Qingye's screams, he sprinted backward, using his body, harder than diamond, to smash through the walls of each cell! He passed through 15 cells in a single second!
"Aaaaaaa!" Han Xing's tree-like fingers dug into the stone, their tips barely brushing Qing Ye's scarf. It wasn't fast enough. Han Xing angrily pulled his fingers out and began pulling out the stones one by one, dismantling the execution platform. Chu Hengkong, running backwards, sensed something was wrong.
“Why doesn’t it use a paintbrush?”
"Because Waklo can't see it!" Qingye quickly replied, "We are now inside the building. You can't see inside the execution platform from outside the screen... Turn right at the next block! Turn left after two more!"
Qingye provided clear instructions. While being tortured within the stone, she deduced the structure of the execution platform from the screams of the other prisoners. This infamous execution device contained an area devoid of cells. Chu Hengkong smashed through seven more blocks, his vision suddenly widening, the oppressive feeling of the surroundings instantly easing. They arrived at a luxurious space large enough to accommodate two beds side by side. There was even a samurai sword on the floor! Why was there such a meaningless place within the execution platform?
The answer lay just above their heads. On the ceiling, a chibi-style portrait of Vansalar clutched an open scroll of calligraphy between its long claws: "Escapers' Lounge"!
"Whoever built this place must be crazy!" Qing Ye shouted in despair, "Why would a prison provide rooms specifically for escapees?"
"Because the evil god is crazy." Chu Hengkong said, "Is that your knife?"
In the corner of the lounge stood a black sword, the long blade from the pair of long and short swords Qingye usually used. Qingye held it up like a treasure. "Great... This is a relic of my ancestors that I stole when I ran away from home. If I lose it, I'll commit suicide..."
"Don't you have to commit suicide if you steal the relics?"
"Being able to steal it is my own skill, so there's no need."
Qingye tried to tuck his long sword into his waist, but failed because the clothing lacked a three-dimensional structure. A rumbling sound echoed from the road they had come from. Han Xing had moved the stones aside, creating a passage large enough to accommodate his massive arm. It made a tearful face, clenching its enormous fist.
The giant fist rammed into the lounge like a battering ram, and the killer and the Zanshin jumped to avoid it at the same time.
"Do you want to fight?" Qing Ye asked.
"Okay." Chu Hengkong nodded, "It's almost time."
·
In the real world, Waklo was observing the mural with great interest. "It seems the intensity isn't quite right. Let's add some rotten dust and false light..." It drew two strokes and turned to salute.
"A new guest?"
A fully armed knight emerged from the mist, her sword shining brighter than the torchlight.
"My name is Ji Huaisu, the Knight of Discipline." Ji Huaisu held the sword in both hands, "I'm here to kill you!"
(End of this chapter)
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