Chapter 177
Chapter 177
Working alongside Li Yang, Gu Yue pressed the facial features into place inside the stone coffin.
It took them a full two minutes of fumbling before they finally pushed the last eyeball in.
With a series of clicks, a crack slowly opened in the floor.
Watching how slowly the passage was opening, Li Yang’s eyes filled with despair.
Not again!
Behind him, the Human Skin inside the stone coffin slowly floated upward.
The three-dimensional facial features attached to it were impossible to miss.
Life had a funny way of working. Gu Yue was closer, yet the Human Skin had singled out Li Yang.
A Human Skin with a full set of facial features was chasing him through a dimly lit tomb chamber.
No matter how much torment Li Yang had endured, even he couldn’t handle a sight like that.
Gu Yue touched the white bracelet on her wrist, then looked at Li Yang as he fled for his life.
The moment she removed the bracelet, the pursuing Human Skin paused and floated straight toward her.
Gu Yue hurriedly slipped the bracelet back onto her wrist.
Nope. Absolutely not!
The two floating eyeballs gave her a long, penetrating stare before turning away and continuing after Li Yang.
When Li Yang first saw the Human Skin change targets, he’d allowed himself a brief moment of joy.
But the damned thing still ended up coming after him!
He had no time to think. Forcing his heavy legs to move, he continued swimming.
Gu Yue rubbed the bracelet thoughtfully.
Should I tell him what I just discovered?
The proper way to clear this stage is probably to use the bracelet to kite the Human Skin, right?
But the thought of that thing floating toward her made Gu Yue shudder.
Forget it. Li Yang can still swim, so I’ll leave it to him!
After a full five minutes, Li Yang visibly began to slow down.
He wasn’t a professional swimmer. The fact that he’d lasted five minutes while sprinting at full speed was already proof that he was in excellent shape.
Sitting in the Monitoring Room, Zhang Bei fell silent as he watched the scene before him.
Should I call this kid lucky, or just plain lucky?
The Human Skin actually had two modes.
The first was to pursue whoever had the bracelet.
The second was to pursue whoever didn’t.
Zhang Bei had programmed it to randomly select one of the two modes every thirty seconds.
At this point, all he could say was that Li Yang’s luck with random draws was unparalleled!
As the Human Skin slowly closed in on Li Yang, Gu Yue glanced at the opening beneath them and hesitated.
It looked wide enough to squeeze through now.
Should she remind him?
He seemed to be having so much fun. Maybe she shouldn’t bother.
After thinking it over, Gu Yue swam into the passage by herself.
The opening was this big. Surely he could see it, right?
Maybe he’d come down on his own once he’d had enough fun.
By now, however, Li Yang’s consciousness was beginning to blur.
Why is this thing only chasing me?!
I’m seriously out of strength!
I’ll give you my boss! Will you stop chasing me then?!
His desperate pleas did nothing to slow the Human Skin. Before he knew it, a pair of hands had nearly reached him.
Feeling an icy touch behind him, Li Yang summoned another burst of strength and swam frantically toward Gu Yue.
Huh?
Where is she?
He turned his head again. Aside from the relentlessly pursuing Human Skin, the entrance to the passage was glaringly obvious.
She went in ahead of me?
When did that happen?
She couldn’t even give me a heads-up?
That’s too much!
With the Human Skin drawing closer and closer, Li Yang dove straight into the passage.
The passage looked like an unfinished construction project.
Its walls were rough and uneven, and the water was somewhat murky.
Fortunately, it wasn’t very long. After swimming for another two minutes, Li Yang emerged from the other end.
An enormous, empty tomb chamber greeted his eyes. Aside from a pitch-black coffin, there was nothing inside.
Gu Yue was staring at the mural on the wall, lost in thought.
Li Yang’s gaze was drawn to it as well.
There was only one mural this time, but it finally brought the unfinished story from before to an end.
The boy in the painting had marched off to war with the army. Before he knew it, he had become a middle-aged man, and his armor had been replaced by a general’s battle robe.
Then one day, the three-headed, six-armed Asura appeared on the battlefield.
Flames blazed across the land, blotting out the sky.
The army was all but wiped out.
Now a general, the man had no choice but return to the palace and request reinforcements.
A fan-wielding figure accompanied him back to the battlefield, and after a grueling fight, they finally emerged victorious.
But they soon discovered that the Asura simply could not be killed.
No matter what they tried, it would completely recover by the following day.
Left with no other option, the man drank a potion and took his own life, using his departed soul to suppress the Asura.
When Gu Yue noticed Li Yang had arrived, she pointed at the coffin in the center of the chamber.
Li Yang stared wide-eyed at it.
What the hell? You won’t even let me catch my breath?
What’s the hurry?
What exactly did you find?
Isn’t this just an inspirational ghost story?
Gu Yue was even more anxious than Li Yang. She had arrived earlier and discovered far more than he had.
Sure, the Asura had been suppressed, but no one had said it couldn’t break free again!
How had he failed to notice that every scene featuring the Asura had been painted in dark, gloomy colors?
It clearly meant that the moment the searchlight went out, the two of them would have to face that thing!
They exchanged a look. In the end, Li Yang was the first to give in.
Together with Gu Yue, he opened the coffin lid.
The instant the lid came off, before either of them could see what was inside, a massive torrent of water burst out.
After grabbing hold of nearby objects and steadying themselves, they were suddenly struck by a bone-chilling aura.
Inside the coffin lay an Asura reduced to a tiny fraction of its original size, with a Peachwood Sword embedded in its body.
It hadn’t seemed like much in the mural.
But now that it was right in front of them, its three hideous faces and the countless insects gnawing at its pitch-black body made for a horrifying sight.
Li Yang took a single glance before he had to look away.
If he stared any longer, he was definitely going to have nightmares!
Gu Yue, however, quickly found the mechanism that would let them escape.
The ceiling!
There was a slot overhead that looked like it would fit the Peachwood Sword perfectly!
She patted Li Yang on the shoulder and pointed upward.
Her message was clear: What do we do?
Li Yang’s face twisted into an expression nearly as hideous as the Asura’s. Suppressing his trembling, he moved toward the coffin.
This was the Main Burial Chamber. As long as they activated the mechanism, they would have cleared this godforsaken place!
Li Yang yanked out the Peachwood Sword. Before he could swim away, two figures emerged from the passage ahead.
The icy Female Corpse and that eerie Human Skin!
Gripping the Peachwood Sword, Li Yang shot upward as fast as he could.
The Asura’s eyelids twitched!
The thing was waking up!
Gu Yue wasn’t faring any better.
The Human Skin was indeed chasing Li Yang, but the Female Corpse had locked onto her!
What the hell?!
Couldn’t you go after him instead?
Still, Li Yang’s speed under pressure was nothing to scoff at.
The Asura had only just risen from the coffin when Li Yang rammed the Peachwood Sword into the slot overhead.
Sitting in the Monitoring Room, Zhang Bei nodded in satisfaction.
Not bad!
Those two hadn’t disappointed him!
Just as expected, they had inserted the Peachwood Sword!
Did they really think every mechanism they found was meant to be activated?
A knowing smile spread across Zhang Bei’s face as he watched the surveillance feed.