Challenge Nile River Arena (VII)
Lin Bai studied the fragments Nubis had given her, the map resurfacing in her mind. She could never understand the blackened area; it was like a decayed scar, deliberately covered up, yet incredibly glaring.
She wouldn't go, she couldn't risk it, at least not now.
She had to take it slow and steady, kill monsters well, accumulate points, get first place, and push her reputation higher. Although, she shrugged, a hint of pride curled up at the corner of her mouth, she was already famous enough.
But the next moment, all the blood in her body almost froze.
The toe of her shoe touched the ground, and her gaze returned to the map. The border of the black area was right under her feet, and one of her feet had already stepped into it.
There was dead silence all around, nothing happened.
Lin Bai pursed her lips. A certain intuition in her heart prevented her from retreating immediately, but instead she took another step forward. The world suddenly collapsed, and her consciousness was pulled by an invisible force, dragged into another world.
A gray, dull, black, turbid river flowed quietly across the desolate land. Floating on the river were countless creatures whose shapes were barely recognizable. They struggled and tumbled in the water, their sobs rising and falling. But no one paid any attention to them.
Lin Bai watched all this quietly and felt that this place was like hell.
Ahead, a stone bridge spanned the river. On the bridge, a variety of creatures surged. They included humans, alien creatures, and even robots. But without exception, each one lacked legs and simply floated there.
Lin Bai looked down and realized she had also become translucent. She squeezed into the crowd, moving slowly forward with it. No one noticed her, no one cared about her, and she was simply squeezed across the bridge by the surging tide of creatures.
At the other end of the bridge, a young woman stood there, holding a clay pot in her arms, handing a glass of water to everyone who passed by.
Lin Bai felt a little thirsty, so he moved forward and was about to reach out to take it when he heard the woman take a sharp breath. She looked up at Lin Bai, and her expression suddenly changed.
"You can't drink this." The woman said hurriedly, "Let's go."
Lin Bai frowned, but didn't pull his hand away. There was something indescribable in the woman's eyes, like a warning.
She didn't insist and continued walking with the crowd.
But at this moment, the buzzing whispers around suddenly disappeared, and fell into deathly silence.
Lin Bai noticed something strange and turned to look at the figures who were still walking. Their eyes were empty and lifeless.
Is this really like walking on the Yellow Springs Road and drinking Meng Po soup?
Could it be that she was already dead when she just stepped into the black area?
Lin Bai's heart trembled, and he wanted to retreat, but he found that the crowd behind him was so crowded that there was no space left.
The only thing we can do now is to bite the bullet and move on.
The road ahead was extremely long, and Lin Baipiao felt so tired that he could not walk anymore, but the crowd still did not stop.
Finally, the wall of people in front finally slowed down.
Lin Bai looked around curiously, and saw a huge archway. Several people in black and white clothes were busy, and there were also Ox-Headed and Horse-Faced Monsters running around trying to catch people who were running around.
The figures in black and white moved swiftly, seemingly following some set routine. They spoke in low voices, but as if covered by an invisible barrier, Lin Bai could hear no sound.
Occasionally, a few panicked shadows tried to escape, but their movements froze the moment they were away from the road, and then they were picked up by the Ox-Head and Horse-Faced Monsters and thrown into the depths of the archway without any explanation.
Lin Bai tried hard to suppress the instinctive chill. She had to find out where this place was.
Suddenly she saw a rabbit in the distant wilderness.
As if noticing her gaze, the rabbit slowly raised its head.
Lin Bai's heartbeat suddenly stopped.
That's her grandmother.
She was the only one standing there alone in the vast wilderness.
Why is grandma here? This must be an illusion, Lin Bai thought helplessly.
Didn’t grandma go back to get something? How could she be here?
Lin Bai took a deep breath to calm his emotions.
She slowly squeezed towards the roadside and luckily reached it.
But the moment she stepped on it, everything disappeared.
The scene in front of him was when he stepped into the black area. When Lin Bai checked the map again, the black area was gone.
The organizer also sent a system prompt, [Level 4, Call of the Nile, all contestants are requested to proceed to the banks of the Nile and participate in the level clearing]
Lin Bai adjusted her condition, the wound on her right shoulder had healed, and she set off for the river.
Lin Bai followed the map's instructions, walking step by step towards the banks of the Nile. The road was silent, with only the wind blowing across the dry earth, stirring up a fine cloud of dust.
Although her steps were steady, the cold trembling of her fingertips exposed her, and she still couldn't get away from the strange scene.
She could feel that her soul had not left her body and was still firmly attached to her flesh, but her grandmother's appearance always made her panic.
She really saw her grandmother, she was very clear-headed and sure.
The wind gradually grew stronger, and the banks of the Nile were already in sight. The river water had an unnatural dark color, and it shone with a strange sheen in the sunlight.
This was not the Nile River she had seen before, and Lin Bai was alert.
She stood by the river, her eyes wandering along the water surface, searching inch by inch for possible abnormalities.
A body was floating in the distance.
It floated quietly on the water, face down, wearing a faded white priest robe, its wide cuffs fluttering in the water, as if it was still completing some sacred ritual before death.
Lin Bai frowned.
The water surface reflected the sky, the floating corpse, and herself.
She saw that her face was pale.
The next second, the water surface suddenly exploded, and a hand shot out and grabbed her ankle.
"God... I am God's people..."
It turned out to be that floating corpse, why was it moving!
Lin Bai lowered his head and looked at the hand. It was pale, swollen, with stiff knuckles and a half-loose red ritual string wrapped around the wrist.
Those dead eyes had opened, revealing a faint golden light.
"People of God?" she repeated in a low voice.
The hand gripped her ankle tightly, as if trying to drag her into the river. She felt an abnormal power and a spreading coldness.
Lin Bai didn't panic, she raised her foot and kicked decisively.
The tip of his toe kicked the wrist, and it was like kicking a rotten piece of wood. The wrist broke with a sound. The floating corpse twitched and uttered a few words in a whimpering voice: "Black Sun... Altar... Return..."
Then its body began to disintegrate, turning into foam and melting into the river.
Lin Bai stood there, staring at the foam, then slowly took two steps back and looked down at his ankle. A circle of lines appeared where it had been gripped.
"Black Sun, Altar, Return?" she whispered softly.
Ancient Egyptian sacrifices?
Ancient Egyptian civilization is a gift of the Nile River. Food is irrigated by the water of the Nile River, and its floods bring fertile black soil. They worship nature itself, and the Nile River is their mother.
Therefore, the noble priests of ancient Egypt always held ceremonies on the riverbank to pay tribute to the gods, sometimes with livestock and sometimes with humans.
But something seemed to have gone wrong with this sacrifice.
Lin Bai didn't have time to think deeply as the system had already sounded a prompt.
[Level 4, Call of the Nile, has officially begun.]
She noticed that some people who were farming suddenly appeared not far away. They were having a great time, and many of them were wearing white cloth and sweating.
After a moment, she slowly walked over there and stepped on the first piece of fertile black soil.
The happy crowd obviously did not notice Lin Bai. Everyone was praising the fertile land brought by Mother Nile.
When Lin Bai approached, the group of farmers in front transformed into people kneeling under the altar. On the tall altar, the priests kept dancing. The next moment, the designated nobles sacrificed their lives just to thank the gods and pray for fertile soil in the coming year.
However, the sun in the sky was suddenly blocked, a total solar eclipse, Lin Bai thought.
But the crowd became agitated, and the seated Pharaoh had to stand up to comfort the people. The people believed that he was the incarnation of God on earth, and finally calmed down. The priest was thrown into the river because of his mistake and was wrapped in a straw mat, just to atone for his sins to the mother river.
The scene before his eyes changed. The Nile River continued to roar. Lin Bai heard the fleeing people say that there was a second flood this year because they had angered the god of the Nile River.
Lin Bai began to feel confused. Without fighting the hidden beasts or looking for items, just playing these pictures, how could he pass the fourth level?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com