Chapter 137
Chapter 137
“What? Confused? Wondering why… it had to be you?” The Faceless Woman spat the bullet out of her mouth, the corners of her lips stretching wide. She looked toward Guo Lan, who was still hanging upside down from a tree in the dense fog, and went on, “Because while I was dealing with that nuisance, everyone else escaped. Only… you remained, my guests.”
He Xu and Zhou Jie were stunned.
Guo Lan had held back the Faceless Woman, and in that window, everyone else had left through the Red Door?!
How was that possible? They were all rookies!
Could Legend Lin have stepped in and helped them?
But why hadn’t Legend Lin killed this Eerie Entity? Now they were the ones in danger!
“Kekekeke! Didn’t you hide in the inn just so they would come out and die for you while you reaped the benefits?” The Faceless Woman’s eyes filled with savage malice. “Regretting it now?”
What shocked them even more was the realization that the Faceless Woman had known everything all along!
Everything they had done since entering this Instance World-she had been fully aware of it!
So… she had let it happen on purpose?!
They had schemed every step of the way, yet they had been her prey from the start.
He Xu tried to move her legs and felt the force restraining her beginning to weaken. If she could just hold out a little longer, she would have a chance to rush to the Red Door!
But…
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Zhou Jie.
She couldn’t let him break free before she did. There was only one Red Door nearby. Tonight, only one of them was destined to survive!
“What do you gain from killing us?” Zhou Jie demanded angrily.
“Gain? Stay, and you’ll find out.” The Faceless Woman slowly approached them.
He Xu and Zhou Jie struggled even harder.
“Trying to run?!” The Faceless Woman noticed their movements and lifted her hand slightly. A tremendous force slammed down on them, forcing both of them to their knees in the snow.
“How is this possible…” Zhou Jie struggled to raise his head.
He Xu was just as stunned.
No matter how powerful an Eerie Entity was, its strength would gradually weaken and dissipate. But the Faceless Woman’s power had grown stronger again!
“I’m starting to think killing you outright would be far too boring,” the Faceless Woman said with a cold laugh.
He Xu lifted her gaze and glimpsed a ring of black lines around the Faceless Woman’s wrist. It looked like a tattoo, yet also like something growing out from beneath that snow-white skin.
“How about this… The door is right there. I can let one of you leave.”
At that, hope flared in both their eyes.
“As for who I choose…” The Faceless Woman looked at them. “What do you think?”
He Xu and Zhou Jie exchanged a glance, both of their faces taut with tension.
“Xu, don’t fall for it! It’s an Eerie Entity. It won’t let either of us go!”
He Xu’s eyes shifted, her voice low. “Right… You’re right…”
“Kekekeke. If you choose to believe me, you at least have a chance to live. If you choose not to, then… you’re definitely dead.” The Faceless Woman leaned closer to them. “So, have you decided? Who lives, and who dies?”
“We’ll decide with rock-paper-scissors!” He Xu said solemnly.
Zhou Jie was startled. “Xu! You can’t trust her!”
The Faceless Woman sneered and waved her hand. The restraints on them vanished in an instant. “Fine. I’ll give you that chance.”
Zhou Jie helped He Xu to her feet. “Xu.”
He Xu’s expression was cold and grave as she looked at Zhou Jie and said icily, “We don’t have a choice now!”
Neither of them had an S-Rank Anomalous Artifact, and the Faceless Woman’s power was simply too overwhelming. At this point, it was practically a dead end.
“Brother Jie, it’s been three years since we first met in an Instance, hasn’t it…” As He Xu spoke, tears glimmered faintly in her eyes. “Thank you for staying by my side. I love you. This time, let me protect you. I’ll throw rock, and you throw paper. That way, you can leave.”
“Xu!” Zhou Jie was deeply moved. “How could I abandon you and survive on my own?”
A cold smile curved the Faceless Woman’s lips. “I’ll give you three final seconds. Three, two…”
“Brother Jie! Listen to me!”
“One!”
In the final second, both of them threw their hands out at the same time.
The bitter wind wailed, and laughter rang through the forest.
“Hahahahahaha! I won!” He Xu raised her hand. She had thrown “paper.”
Zhou Jie froze all over, staring in disbelief at the stone he had played.
“You… you… bitch!” Zhou Jie glared at her.
He Xu looked coldly at the man before her.
So what if it had been three years?
He was just a man! Without Zhou Jie, she could still have thousands upon thousands more!
But once her life was gone, she would truly have nothing left.
Besides…
“Brother Jie, you should be glad you still had some value. Otherwise… do you really think you could have made it this far with me?” He Xu’s voice held not the slightest trace of emotion. “This outcome is exactly what you deserve. Stop struggling. Spare yourself some pain!”
After saying that, He Xu glanced at the Faceless Woman, then quickly ran toward the Red Door, afraid the Faceless Woman would change her mind in the very next second.
Seeing this, Zhou Jie also charged madly toward the Red Door, but that absolute sense of suppression descended again. His entire body slammed into the snow, unable to move.
“Bitch! Bitch!” Zhou Jie cursed furiously.
Only smug triumph remained on He Xu’s face.
She knew it. She had said she would play “rock” and told him to play “paper.” With Zhou Jie’s suspicious nature, he would never believe her.
He would think she planned to play “scissors” to beat his “paper,” so he would definitely choose “rock.”
That was why, in the end, she had chosen “paper” and won this life-or-death round.
“The Red Door!” He Xu laughed as she rushed toward it, but the instant she reached out and grabbed the handle, her entire body went numb.
She slowly lowered her head. A deathly pale hand had punched through her abdomen.
The Faceless Woman sneered and withdrew her hand. Blood instantly sprayed from He Xu’s stomach.
“Ah!” He Xu clutched her abdomen and collapsed in agony, trembling as she looked back at the Faceless Woman. “You… lied… to me…”
“Didn’t he already tell you? Never trust an Eerie Entity. Jie jie jie…”
“No… I have to live… live…” He Xu struggled to crawl toward the Red Door.
The Faceless Woman returned to Zhou Jie’s side. With the hand soaked in He Xu’s blood, she grabbed Zhou Jie by the hair and yanked his head up so he could see the direction of the Red Door.
“Look. She stayed behind to keep you company. Are you happy?”
“Hahaha! Hahaha!” Zhou Jie laughed crazily as he watched He Xu inch closer and closer to the Red Door. “Xu, you can’t escape. Hahahaha!”
In the next second, the Faceless Woman tightened her grip. With a crack, Zhou Jie’s neck was snapped, his expression still frozen in that deranged smile.
“As long as I get through the Red Door, it’ll be fine… it’ll be fine… it’ll…”
The snow beneath He Xu had been dyed a deep crimson. She tried her hardest to lift her hand toward the door handle, but the moment her fingertips finally brushed it, her body convulsed uncontrollably a few times, then went still forever.
The Faceless Woman slowly stood and looked at the corpses on the ground, her eyes full of contempt. “Those who desecrate love… all deserve to die!”
With that, her gaze turned toward the village entrance.
Someone had gone to that place… Could it be that they had discovered that secret?!
…
Aurora Village, village entrance.
Wei Sen finally emerged from the fog and saw the shrine standing silently at the village entrance amid the wind and snow.
She approached slowly. A thick layer of snow covered the top of the shrine, and the eyes of the Black Buddha within seemed to reflect the Aurora, glowing with a faint, eerie light.
The condition for Perfect Clearance-obtain the Divine Gift.
In truth, the village chief had already given them the answer. The Aurora was this village’s Divine Gift.
Wei Sen reached out and placed her hand on Mahakala. An icy chill seemed to seep instantly into her bones.
When she withdrew her hand and illuminated her fingers with the flashlight, her fingertips were already stained with a layer of black powder. It was the powder left behind after the black mud the village used for Gilding the Statue of Mahakala had dried.
Wei Sen examined it carefully, then held it beneath her nose and sniffed.
It was charcoal powder mixed with soil. There did not seem to be anything else in it.
Why did this so-called Gilding the Statue require charcoal powder?
Why did a village that worshiped money above all else enshrine Mahakala instead of the God of Wealth?
The answers all lay in a single word-black!
In theory, black could absorb every color in the visible spectrum!