Challenge Nile River Arena (V)
The velociraptor let out a sharp roar, its mechanical eyes emitted a red light, and its sharp claws were raised high, aiming straight for Lin Bai's vitals, determined to tear her apart with one claw.
Lin Bai remained calm in the face of danger. She suddenly swept her right leg, causing dust to fly. She took advantage of the momentum to lower her body and swoop down, passing between the velociraptor's legs like a fish, and in an instant she had circled to the side of its tail.
The velociraptor's attack missed, and it suddenly lowered its huge head, trying to find Lin Bai's trace, but it didn't know that Lin Bai had already grasped its tail with both hands and suddenly exerted force.
She let out a soft cry, her arms tensed, her muscles bulging with veins, and she actually managed to shake the giant beast with her frail body.
The velociraptor lost its balance and staggered, its huge body suddenly rolling backwards, splashing mud.
Lin Bai took the opportunity to jump away, and the dagger slipped out of his sleeve, flashing a cold light, and pierced the vital point on the velociraptor's waist.
However, the velociraptor was no pushover. In the moment of danger, it bent its waist, protecting that vital part with layers of scales. Lin Bai's attack failed to break through the defense. Instead, a crisp sound was heard, and a corner of the dagger's blade was broken.
Lin Bai's heart trembled. Just as he was about to change his tactics, he heard a voice from above: "Girl, catch it! This is the magic weapon Bajie gave you."
Before he finished speaking, a cold light flashed in the air, and a nine-toothed rake with a coiled dragon pattern fell from the sky.
Lin Bai stretched out her hands and caught it steadily. The rake felt heavy in her hand, which calmed her mind.
Sun Wukong said loudly: "Fight quickly and make a quick decision. Don't be afraid of fighting."
Upon hearing this, Lin Bai gripped the rake tightly with both hands and suddenly jumped up. Taking advantage of the momentum of falling, he exerted force with both arms and stabbed down at the velociraptor's waist.
The rake pierced through the armor, and blood splattered.
The velociraptor roared miserably and its body trembled violently. Lin Bai took advantage of the situation to pull out his dagger and stabbed it into the chip on its neck with lightning speed. The red light in the velociraptor's eyes suddenly went out, and then it fell to the ground with a bang, losing its life.
"good!"
Seeing this, Sun Wukong laughed out loud, and with his golden cudgel flying, he killed several dragons in a row. He still looked back and praised: "Young man, you are so heroic!"
Lin Bai's blood boiled with excitement. Seeing Sun Wukong fighting against so many enemies without even a hint of fatigue, he was filled with admiration. Gripping his dagger tightly, he leaped forward without hesitation, targeting the lone velociraptor. The dagger flashed with a cold light, and each strike was incredibly precise, aiming for the chip.
In a flash, several velociraptors fell to the ground.
The originally ferocious group of velociraptors suddenly became afraid when they saw that half of their companions had died. The red light in the eyes of the remaining ones gradually faded, and they returned to their original nature, scattering like birds and beasts in all directions.
Seeing this, Sun Wukong shook his golden cudgel, smiled and said, "You evil beasts, I will spare your lives today!"
After saying that, the figure disappeared, leaving only Lin Bai standing alone.
The corpses of velociraptors were scattered all around, and the smell of blood filled the air.
Lin Bai's chest heaved violently, and she tightly grasped the blood-stained dagger, her eyes still filled with disbelief. With her human body, it was so easy for her to take the life of a velociraptor.
The air was filled with the smell of burning metal.
Suddenly, she felt a faint tremor beneath her feet, a distant fluttering sound, as if something were slowly awakening beneath the earth. She crouched down, lightly touching the ground with her fingertips. The vibration was weak but steady, with a rhythmic feel, like a heartbeat.
Lin Bai's gaze slowly swept around. The remains of the velociraptor lay motionless, its dark red blood illuminating the night. Only the metal fragments on the ground still shimmered, as if echoing something. A thought suddenly occurred to her: this very land itself was part of some gigantic mechanical creation.
"What's beneath the underground world?" She murmured softly, stood up, gripped the dagger, and walked towards the direction where the vibration was the most intense.
The ground ahead was loose, the gravel slid away, revealing a cold metal structure, resembling some giant gear. Lin Bai crouched down, reaching out to brush away the dust. The moment she touched the metal, a faint blue light suddenly spread from her fingertips, wandering along the gaps in the gears and into the abyss below.
A low rumble echoed from deep within the earth, as if some long-dormant being were slowly opening its eyes. A portal emerged before her eyes, and Lin Bai stood before it, her heart pounding like a drum.
She took a deep breath, gripped the dagger tightly, and stepped in without hesitation. After stepping through the door, Lin Bai felt his feet go empty, and his whole body was pulled by some invisible force, falling into darkness.
There was the sound of rushing wind in her ears, but her fall was not endless. Instead, it was as if she was being pulled by an invisible thread and slowly descending.
She touched the ground with a faint thud. Lin Bai looked around, and everywhere he looked was a dark and deep metal structure, as if he were inside some huge, dormant machine.
The surroundings were gloomy, but her presence seemed to trigger some kind of induction. Along the walls, tiny streaks of blue light slowly lit up, illuminating the entire space. This was a city dormant underground, and in the distance, a massive mechanical head loomed.
Lin Bai stood quietly. The existence of this place itself was a heresy, beyond her understanding.
She squatted down and touched the ground with her fingertips. There was a broken inscription in human language, which read "Fallen Angel Plan".
Lin Bai's heart seemed to be gripped tightly by something. She stood up and slowly took a step back, but at this moment, the huge mechanical head suddenly opened its eyes.
A scarlet beam of light suddenly lit up from the darkness.
Then, a deep, metallic voice sounded, as if spanning countless eras, and whispered to her:
"System Restarting - Identity Verification in Progress." A crimson light slowly spread from the eye sockets of the giant mechanical skull, like a slowly awakening deity, looking down upon the intruder. Lin Bai's body tensed, the dagger silently slipping from his sleeve into his palm. His gaze fixed on the skull, like a cheetah ready to pounce.
"Identity check in progress." The voice repeated itself, and the cold mechanical sound echoed in the space.
"mistake."
A red light suddenly flashed.
"The Fallen Angel Plan has succeeded."
"All creation is corrupted."
Lin Bai's fingertips tightened slightly. She had never considered herself a curious person, but at this moment, she couldn't stop her scalp from tingling.
"What the hell is this place?" she asked, her voice small and sharp, echoing off the metal walls.
The mechanical head tilted slightly, as if examining her. Then, it chuckled softly.
"The gods go from here to their graves, and I am the gravekeeper," it said.
Thousands of pieces of information suddenly flashed before Lin Bai's eyes, and she despairingly discovered that she couldn't grasp anything.
The light and shadows before his eyes disappeared, and when Lin Bai came to his senses, he saw two stone giants in front of him.
She looked up and saw two giants squatting in front of her, staring at her without any expression.
——
Inside the control center.
"Challenger coordinates have been confirmed. We are adjusting the Challenger coordinates to return to the correct location."
Gu Ping looked at the screen in front of him where the signal had been lost, and he couldn't help but feel a little dissatisfied. Why did Lin Bai always get into trouble, but nothing happened every time?
——
Lin Bai's palms were sweating as she saw a building slowly rising in the distance.
The system spoke at the right moment, "Congratulations to challenger Lin Bai for completing the second level and finding the ruins guarded by the stone giant."
Only then did Lin Bai confirm that the place he had just visited was indeed a chaotic place, not a checkpoint in the competition venue, and the building in front of him was the correct location.
She shook her head and threw all her previous plans behind her. The most important thing now was to complete the challenge first.
Facing the gazes of the two stone giants, Lin Bai walked straight towards the building.
This is a magnificent and huge building.
Lin Bai approached and looked up. He saw four massive statues flanking the temple entrance. They depicted seated pharaohs, draped in royal robes and crowned with double crowns. Their hands folded in their knees, their expressions majestic and stern, as if they were looking down upon any intruder. The sunlight cast long shadows, making the statues even more mysterious.
Lin Bai had seen the Abu Simbel Temple in modern times, and he is still shocked by it now.
She stepped forward and examined the statues carefully. They were all built by the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II. They were over 20 meters tall and delicately carved, with every line displaying supreme royal power.
Passing the gaze of the colossus, she arrived at the main entrance of the temple. The thick rock lintel was covered with dense hieroglyphs and reliefs, depicting the glorious achievements of Ramses II's conquests and scenes of the gods' blessings.
Lin Bai took a deep breath, gripped the dagger tightly, and stepped into the temple.
The deep corridor stretches infinitely in the dim light. The hieroglyphs and reliefs on the walls seem to whisper silently, and the air is filled with the smell of dry rocks.
The further she went in, the colder the temperature grew, and darkness rolled in like a tide. On either side of the stone walls, rows of jackal-headed, human-like statues stood silently, their hands folded, staring at the newcomers.
A low chanting echoed from the depths of the temple. The next moment, the ground trembled slightly, and a stream of pitch-black water surged forth from the front, like the River Styx appearing out of nowhere. The waters were deep, reflecting countless distorted shadows. The dead drowned within, struggling and wailing, as if trying to grasp at something, only to be swallowed by the tide.
From the depths of the river, a dark shadow slowly rose.
Hermanubis, guardian of the River Styx.
He was cloaked in a black robe, with a jackal-like head and a human body. His deep eyes shone with a faint blue light. In his palm rested a feather from the underworld, a symbol of the judgment of the dead.
"Mortal." His voice echoed in the temple, "You have entered the realm of the dead."
Lin Bai looked at him quietly, his fingertips tightening.
Nubis slowly raised his feather, and the black River Styx surged. The whispers of the dead suddenly became sharp, rushing towards Lin Bai like a tide. Her eyes flashed, and her consciousness seemed to be pulled into some invisible judgment. Past memories surfaced: a childhood lost in orphanage, a hobby that was misunderstood, the astonishment of crossing into another world. All the memories were stripped away and exposed nakedly before this god of the underworld.
"Has your soul ever been burdened with sin?"
Feathers fluttered, the Styx roared, and Lin Bai felt an invisible weight pressing down on her heart. She took a deep breath, looked directly at Nubis, and spoke in a calm and firm voice.
"I am not here to be judged for death, but to move forward."
After a moment of silence, the Styx subsided and the souls of the dead dissipated.
Nubis withdrew his palm, and a faint blue light emerged from his fingertips and fell into Lin Bai's palm.
"This object can guide you forward," He said slowly, "but remember, the favor of the underworld can also be a curse."
As soon as he finished speaking, his figure sank into the invisible River Styx and disappeared into the darkness.
Lin Bai lowered his eyes, looked at the fragments in his palm, touched them lightly with his fingertips, and an ancient map and location emerged in his mind.
She made up her mind and decided to go to the place marked in red.
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