Chapter 594, Contaminated Zone 6 (18)
The light overhead was cold and hollow.
Countless steps, spiraling upwards.
Hissing sounds came from above from time to time, accompanied by the cries of a baby inside the wall.
Xie Tu, holding a Tang sword, walked at the very front.
His expression was indifferent, and as he moved, an unidentified liquid slid off the blade.
At first, he had the leisure to wipe and shake off the slime, but later he became too lazy to bother.
The six people following behind were already at their physical limit, but they dared not stop and kept close behind him.
I don't know how long I walked.
We arrived at another protruding platform.
This time, contrary to the norm, the platform was extremely quiet, without any movement whatsoever.
Xie Tu didn't send Huo Feng up to investigate, but instead stepped onto the platform first, saying, "Let's rest for a while."
You Fei breathed a sigh of relief, went up to find a place away from the mushroom wall, put down his comrade he was carrying, and rested.
The group began to check the supplies in their backpacks.
"Team Leader Xie, we're out of ammunition, all we have left are compressed biscuits, and we only have two bottles of water," You Fei said.
Xie Tu sat down facing the mushroom wall. "Take them out and distribute them. Replenishing our energy is the most important thing."
He also had five chocolates, two boxes of strawberry milk, and a box of strawberry cookies in his backpack.
Xie Tu unzipped his jacket, took out four chocolates, and distributed them to everyone.
He ate some compressed biscuits, drank some water, and then closed his eyes to rest.
The green fungal wall in front of me occasionally emitted a sharp, baby-like sound, making my temples throb.
Are you tired?
The fire phoenix jumped onto his lap. "Have you spotted the gatekeeper?"
Xie Tu: "No."
How can you be so useless...?
Fire Phoenix jumped anxiously all over him: "Qingluan and I have been separated for two days. She must miss me. We need to find a way to get out of here quickly!"
Xie Tu seemed to be asleep, letting Huo Feng frolic on him.
This space contains only stairs and monsters.
It seems to have no way to solve, yet it is full of patterns.
Every three thousand steps leads to a platform, and above each platform dwells countless monsters.
The winner moves on.
The loser stays here forever.
The gatekeeper harbored ill will towards him, yet left the platform for people to rest; it was less of a target and more of a test.
If we win, we might be able to get out.
So now he needs to rest.
After changing his companion's dressing, Cai Zhou turned around and saw that Captain Xie was asleep sitting down. He ate the half-chocolate in his hand, mustered his strength, stood up, and stayed on the outermost perimeter to keep watch.
...
Five hours later.
Xie Tu opened his eyes, picked up his knife, and stood up.
They had already crossed several platforms, and the sentries tacitly gathered the last of their supplies, carrying the wounded below and waiting.
Xie Tu led the fire phoenix upwards.
He walked slowly, his boots crunching softly over the sticky mycelium on the steps.
The phoenix folded its wings on his shoulder, its dark golden pupils scanning the area above warily.
It's too quiet.
Every platform before it was either filled with the roars of monsters or echoed with the buzzing of mental pollution.
But this time, there was nothing but their own breathing.
He climbed the last step alone.
The area in front of them was empty; there were no monsters, no hatching nests, and even the fungal walls had disappeared.
Instead, there was a door.
A rusty iron gate, with a dark red light seeping from its cracks, like the breath of some kind of creature.
The phoenix's feathers fluttered slightly.
Ah! It's a door!
The steps beneath my feet suddenly began to tremble.
The solid stone steps are melting at a visible rate, and the staircase breaks off here.
Ahead lay a bottomless abyss, at least thirty meters from the door.
Even for a sentry, the physical ability to overcome this obstacle is almost impossible.
Thirty meters is enough to send anyone attempting to cross it plummeting into the abyss before they can even scream.
The fire phoenix suddenly flapped its wings and took flight, circling between him and the door once, as if it wanted to abandon its body and leave on its own.
I'll go find Qingluan first. You'll have to figure out how to get there yourself.
Xie Tu glanced at it coldly, "You want to go back to the spiritual realm?"
It wasn't conscious communication, but rather speaking it aloud.
Hearing this, the sentry below asked, "Captain Xie, what's wrong?"
"Come here, everyone."
"yes!"
As the six sentries climbed the stone steps, the first thing they saw was the blood-red door on the opposite side.
Before they could even feel happy, the person at the front quickly discovered that the middle stone steps were broken, and their expression froze instantly.
"Take all the climbing ropes out of your bag," Xie Tu said.
The sentries snapped out of their daze and hurriedly searched their backpacks.
The climbing rope is more than long enough.
Xie Tu took the rope, tied three knots at the end, attached a hook, and threw it forcefully to the other side.
He hooked the rope onto the iron gate frame and immediately tightened it.
Xie Tu followed suit, throwing out three climbing ropes to form a makeshift rope ladder.
"I'll go first, you guys wait here."
Xie Tu had a premonition that the gatekeeper wouldn't let him out so easily.
To avoid any accidents, he decided to try it first.
"Okay, Captain Xie, be careful." Cai Zhou and You Fei tied one end of the rope around their waists and braced their heels against the stone steps.
Xie Tu fastened the safety buckle, took two steps back to get a running start, and then swam across the rope to the other side.
The phoenix flapped its wings and followed, looking rather sullen.
The wind whistled in my ears, and beneath my feet lay a bottomless abyss, where churning black mist seemed to rise as if it were alive.
Xie Tu's hands, gripping the rope tightly, were burning hot, his gaze fixed on the iron gate.
The distance is getting closer and closer...
At that moment, the gap in the iron gate widened, and red light emanated from it. Suddenly, a pair of slender, pale hands reached out from the gap.
Those hands were almost transparently white, with a sickly bluish tinge at the fingertips, while the nails were pitch black, as if they were soaked in venom.
You Fei was the first to see that hand.
His pupils constricted sharply, and he hurriedly shouted, "Captain Xie, be careful!"
The hand that reached out from the crack in the door was extremely elegant. With a gentle flick of the fingertip on the hook, the three knots snapped as if cut by an invisible knife.
"Thank you, Captain!!" Cai Zhou's roar almost broke his voice.
He instinctively lunged forward, but the climbing rope around his waist suddenly tightened, causing him to stumble backward.
The six people watched helplessly as the hook came loose, and Xie Tu's figure was instantly swallowed by the abyss.
Xie Tu felt a sudden lightness in his hand, and his body instantly lost its balance, plummeting towards the abyss.
The wind rushed into his throat, but he didn't panic at all. His eyes were fixed on the hand, and he let out a short whistle in the weightlessness of falling.
Flames burst forth.
The fire phoenix suddenly burst open its wings, and golden-red flames blazed around it, instantly expanding its originally small body.
It swooped down like a burning arrow, its sharp claws precisely gripping Xie Tu's shoulder armor, and using the momentum of its descent, it hurled him violently towards the iron gate.
Xie Tu suddenly twisted his body in mid-air and grabbed the pale wrist that couldn't be pulled back in time.
"Got you?"
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