Chapter 224
Chapter 224
Everyone fell silent when they learned that, even with the answers to the investigation, they could not leave until the Tree Deity had been dealt with.
They had seen unfair tricks before, but never anything this outrageous.
Cheng Miao felt as though she were floating out of her body. Her head buzzed. Leaning entirely against Qiudong, she slowly drank the water he held to her lips.
Near noon, Miao Jie and Wang Yang returned. Wang Yang’s eyes were still bloodshot, but neither showed any sign of pain.
In silence, everyone watched them smile, flowers blooming on their hands, as they walked into their rooms and lay down. They never got up again.
Zhu Cong clenched his fists until his knuckles cracked.
Fang Jing had joined the team later. Once he broke free of his fixation on her resemblance to his late wife, she no longer had much hold over him.
Ma Yang and Kong Fan were different. They had cleared many instances together. They might never make it out of this one.
Zhu Cong smiled bitterly. He might not make it out either.
He was running on his last reserves. In fact, he had already begun suffering nosebleeds and dizzy spells.
By midafternoon, Ma Yang and Kong Fan had fallen into a deep sleep. Cheng Miao, too, felt an irresistible wave of drowsiness and fell asleep in Qiudong’s arms.
Perhaps sensing that everyone’s time was nearly up, the so-called Tree Deity had sped things along.
The remaining players watched the three fall asleep. An hour later, however, they got up one after another and walked outside.
Qin Musong stayed to look after Qi Jiajia and Freckles, who had improved a little but was still hanging on by a thread. Tan Ge was already bedridden. Had he fallen asleep, he probably would have been in trouble this time too.
Tan Wu was as frail as ever, but now she looked much healthier than her brother.
Everyone else followed the three sleeping people as they shuffled like walking corpses to the cave.
“No. We can’t get in.”
Cheng Miao had long since returned Zhu Cong’s spiked knuckles. No matter how he attacked, the invisible wall did not budge.
As Cheng Miao and the others were about to disappear into the cave entrance, Qiudong narrowed his eyes and drove a clean, powerful side kick into the wall.
Crack.
Everyone there heard something shatter. They watched Qiudong step inside.
Zhu Cong hurried after him, but the invisible wall had already restored itself.
With his back to everyone, Qiudong frowned slightly and wiped the blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.
His faintly blue eyes stayed fixed on the figure ahead as he followed them deeper inside.
Zhu Cong and the others waited outside for a long time. Ma Yang and Kong Fan emerged one after the other.
The moment Zhu Cong saw their smiles, he lost control.
“Xiao Fan! Xiao Yang! Wake up!”
No matter how he shook them, that same uncanny smile remained on both their faces.
Brother Zhu… Brother Zhu, save me!
Somewhere none of the players could see, deep within Kong Fan’s and Ma Yang’s bodies, countless vines enveloped their souls. They wept and cried weakly for help from outside.
But no one outside could sense their struggles. To Lin Zhu and the others, the two simply kept smiling like dolls, intent on heading back to the courtyard.
Zhu Cong wiped the tears from his face. “Let’s go. I’ll see you through this last journey.”
Brother Zhu… Save us! We don’t want to die!
Don’t…
Give up on us…
Zhu Cong heard nothing. Nor could he see the helplessness and despair behind those two pairs of lightless eyes.
No one knew they were still conscious.
Everyone thought they were leaving without any pain. In truth, they had been struggling all along. It had simply done no good.
Lin Zhu watched Zhu Cong follow the two into the distance. He and Yang Ke sighed, saying nothing.
Only Zu Gehan found somewhere comfortable to lean, privately thinking that Qiudong’s actions just now had probably caused some serious backlash.
When Cheng Miao regained consciousness, she discovered that her control over her body was gradually weakening.
She looked at the man smiling at her. While she still had a little ability to move, she drew the Kun-Bone Dagger without hesitation and plunged it into her own shoulder.
The intense pain and the dagger’s inherent chill restored much of her ability to move. Ignoring the surprise on the man’s face, she calmly took out her lighter and struck a flame.
“Have you pretended for so long that you really think you’re a deity? Dust to dust, earth to earth. Resentment has to dissipate eventually.”
As she spoke, the man’s exquisite face began to crack and peel away. He became a huge, twisted mass of resentment, limbs tangled together until it was impossible to tell which belonged to whom.
It radiated overwhelming hatred and a foul stench.
When the lighter set their bodies alight, flames erupted as though they would burn the entire horizon red. Cheng Miao heard countless screams and furious curses.
They must have come from the helpless elderly back then. But in the end, they had become something that harmed others.
Only when everything had burned away did the sensation of something tugging at her soul and consciousness finally disappear.
She let out a long breath, then belatedly realized that all her physical discomfort had vanished too.
Turning, she saw Qiudong standing quietly a short distance away.
“How did you get in?” Puzzled, Cheng Miao walked toward him. Her nose twitched as she suddenly caught a faint scent of blood.
“You’re hurt?!” She frowned, a little frightened.
A hint of a smile touched Qiudong’s lips. He took her hand. “It’s nothing serious. Come on. Let’s head back.”
Cheng Miao was no fool. A moment’s thought told her he must have suffered backlash from forcing his way through the invisible wall.
An indescribable feeling spread through her heart. She followed him quietly.
Back at the courtyard, everyone else’s symptoms had disappeared. Freckles came bouncing over to greet Cheng Miao. Only Zhu Cong still sat blankly in his room.
They had been a step too late. Kong Fan and Ma Yang were already dead.
If he had not used so many recovery items on Fang Jing in the previous instances…
Perhaps his teammates could have held on.
Cheng Miao pressed her lips together. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
Zhu Cong looked up. Pain flickered in his eyes. He nodded, keeping his emotions from showing. “Thank you for everything you’ve done.”
Cheng Miao turned her attention to Tan Ge and Tan Wu. The brother had recovered, but his sister was still as frail as ever.
She had only glanced at them, yet the sister spoke up.
“Are you wondering why my brother was sicker than I was, even though he was in the second group?” Tan Wu’s smile had the charm of a delicate, ailing beauty. Now that they were about to leave, she looked considerably more animated too.
Cheng Miao nodded. “I’m just curious. You don’t have to tell me.”
Tan Wu shook her head. “We owe you a lot this time. Besides, it’s no secret. I’ve always been physically weak, and I can communicate with spirits, so it’s easy for me to die in an instance. My brother’s ability is like a tank’s. He can take most of my damage for me.”
Cheng Miao understood. Their abilities really did complement each other.
“Come on.” She looked around at the few players left. “Let’s submit our answers and leave this instance.”