Chapter 73 - Escaping from Burial Grounds (IV)
Editor: Kitty
Feng YuLan bit his lips, remained standing still, and refused to move.
There was only one reason why he refused to move: Duan Li, who was in front of him, blocking his way.
Ah Lan took a step to the left, and Duan Li followed him to the left; Ah Lan took a step to the right, and Duan Li still followed him to the right. In other words, he would block the road by standing in front of Ah Lan regardless of where he walked.
Even though Feng YuLan was angry, he did not say anything. He recoiled backwards, but a wall was behind him. He could only open his eyes wide as he saw Duan Li approaching him.
“We agreed previously! You can’t keep touching me!” Poor Ah Lan used reason to rebuke his actions. However, Duan Li was a pervert and a maniac; he did not pay attention to what the other said. He placed his hand against the wall and began to feast. Ah Lan calculated that they had been in the labyrinth-like underground passageway for a long time since they were separated from Luo Jian. During this period, the abnormal and crazy Duan Li insisted on nibbling Feng YuLan’s body every few minutes.
“You bastard!” Ah Lan was so angry that he raised his foot and kicked Duan Li fiercely. However, his weak body could not put much strength into his kick. Duan Li allowed him to kick him as he liked as his actions grew more brazen. He embraced Ah Lan as he bit Ah Lan here and there, and he especially liked to bite his mouth and lips. He not only bit but also licked him, causing Ah Lan’s lips to be red and swollen.
Feng YuLan had no choice but to put on a blank face as he allowed Duan Li to bite him. Finally, he was able to see the situation clearly. Duan Li claimed to be the whatever shitty oracle and one of the top players of the secret chamber, but f*ck his mother, he was probably farting out some bullshit. This fool was a beast in an animal’s skin. Anytime and anywhere, he would go into heat. If he was happy, he would want to press down on Ah Lan. If he was not happy, he would also want to press down on Ah Lan. The promise they had made beforehand had long been thrown away to the Pacific Ocean.
“Stop kissing me. Let’s try to think of a way to get out of here first!” Feng YuLan covered his face and felt too listless to even curse. Duan Li acted as if he did not hear what Ah Lan said as he gazed at Ah Lan’s face with a smile.
“Don’t worry. We can go out when the time is up,” Duan Li said carefreely and contentedly, not feeling even the slightest hint of unease.
“You’re not worried, but I’m worried! Luo Jian, he’s alone now. We should be finding him instead!” Feng YuLan still could not put his heart at ease. After separating from Luo Jian, Ah Lan tried very hard for a very long time, but he could not open the hidden door again. He could only helplessly seek another way out. But this dark underground passageway was like a maze. After walking for a while, he was met with around seven or eight different entrances. He could not tell which one was the exit at all.
“This secret chamber is totally different from the previous one. I feel that there are not many clues. We’re going around in circles in confusion.” Feng YuLan thought it was strange that in the secret chamber that he and Luo Jian had experienced before, they had found many clues such as props, diaries, and the like, but there was nothing here. There were only mechanisms that were set up in a disorderly way and passageways that formed a maze in this tomb.
And the only one who seemed to be reliable…… Feng YuLan turned his head as he eyed Duan Li. Duan Li was staring at him without blinking. It looked like he was almost drooling. Feng YuLan felt very weak all of a sudden and once again covered his face. He ridiculed, “You definitely came out from some mental hospital!”
“How did you know?” Duan Li put on an expression of shock as if someone had guessed something about him correctly: “I was indeed diagnosed with intermittent psychosis before and sent to a sanatorium for a while.”
“F*ck, it’s actually true!” Feng YuLan became even more upset. How tragic! He had to stay with a maniac!
Duan Li did not understand Feng YuLan’s sadness at all. He thought that Ah Lan was afraid, so he rubbed Ah Lan’s small head: “Don’t be afraid; I’ll protect you.”
Therefore, Ah Lan raised his head and looked at Duan Li. While Ah Lan was struggling whether to believe in this madman’s words, Duan Li suddenly reached out and picked up Ah Lan directly, not only hugging but also carrying him on his shoulder. This action was quick and decisive, and the look in his eyes became sharp and serious at that moment.
“What’s the matter?” Feng YuLan was not surprised. The accuracy of his intuition was no less than that of Luo Jian. Naturally, he felt that something had happened.
“Something bad is coming after me,” Duan Li said as his tone carried hints of excitement, “It seems that this time, they are here relatively quickly. It’s a stalker.”
“Stalker?” Feng YuLan immediately thought of the stalker he had met on the ghost ship with Luo Jian.
“We’re going to meet four stalkers this time, aren’t we?” Feng YuLan had an ominous premonition. He also thought of what Luo Jian had explained to him before: The stalker was a terrible existence. He could not help but ask, “Are all stalkers difficult to deal with?”
Duan Li shook his head and denied Feng YuLan’s statement, “No, in my opinion, stalkers are not difficult to deal with.”
“But didn’t you say…… that stalkers were the most powerful players, and they died because they failed to escape from the secret chamber and thus were made into stalkers by the secret chamber?”
“Fool,” Duan Li said with a smile, “You said that stalkers ‘were the most powerful players,’ nothing more.”
This sentence immediately made Feng YuLan enlightened, and he said: “Could it be……”
“Human beings are terrifying creatures, especially in the chambers where life and death are present every day. Here, the progress of human evolution is unimaginable. For all players, those who die because of failure are losers! Even if one once held the title of the ‘most powerful,’ and even if he was resurrected by the secret chamber and became a stalker! This is a fact that the secret chamber cannot alter!”
Duan Li spoke and drew out his own tang sword, the sharp blade shining with silver light, “Maybe towards newbies like you, the stalkers are a terrifying existence. And there are still some rumors spread among the lower-level players that when you meet a stalker, the chance of dying is 100%, but this is just a joke for us high-level players.
“Even me. I almost became a joke.”
Duan Li always remained vigilant. He carried Feng YuLan on his shoulder and walked backward step by step as he retreated. He keenly sensed that there was something agile in front of him that was approaching rapidly, and with each step the thing took, a strange smell of blood would waft forward. Duan Li took a deep breath. He had not felt this tension and excitement when danger was approaching for a long time.
Duan Li needed to find a relatively open space to face off with the enemy, and it was really hard to fight with Ah Lan. Therefore, when he saw a dark shadow charging toward him, without thinking, Duan Li swung his sword forward. The blade formed an invisible knife edge and roared towards the enemy directly with unparalleled strength.
After that, Duan Li carried Feng YuLan directly, turned around, and ran. Every time he passed a certain distance in the maze-like passageway, there was a relatively open space, and it appeared to be a type of lounge. Duan Li took Ah Lan directly to the wide lounge and allowed him to find a place to hide.
The lounge looked like a very wide tomb vault, but there was no coffin here. Instead, there were several different new entrances. Duan Li found a random entrance which would help Ah Lan hide in the darkness. Other than that, he warned Ah Lan, “Never come out unless I call you.”
After allowing Ah Lan to hide, Duan Li went to the center of the room and stared at the entrance of the passageway they entered through moments ago.
The enemy’s speed was very fast, and he soon appeared in front of Duan Li. Ah Lan hid in the dark and quietly raised his head up to observe the battlefield. This newly-appeared enemy should be a stalker. He looked no different from ordinary players. His short hair carried hints of brown, he wore black trousers and outerwear with a pair of greyish-black leather boots, and the cuffs of his clothes were tied up with black cloth. The weapon that he used was actually a bo-staff.
The only difference between him and an ordinary player was the colour of his bright red pupils and his expressionless face, which looked as rigid as a stone carving.
The stalker did not speak. Seeing Duan Li, he rushed up with his bo-staff to launch his attacks. He did not hesitate in his actions, and he moved like the wind. But throughout the whole process, he did not make any sound. He was so quiet that it gave people goosebumps.
Was this a stalker?
Feng YuLan felt a little weird. He could not help but compare Xing Yan, the stalker he had seen before, with the stalker in front of him. He felt that something was really wrong.
There was something different between them.
The moment he saw this stalker, the first and only impression Feng YuLan had of him was…… he was just like a robot!
It was not an exaggeration. Feng YuLan really felt like he saw a robot! This man did not have the aura of a living person but was still alive, and this made Feng YuLan uncomfortable.
Therefore, he flipped open his grimoire. His grimoire also gave the following comments:
[A stalker is an existence…… that is not human. It also has no soul.]
“No soul…” Feng YuLan silently murmured.
Something feels wrong. Feng YuLan immediately could not understand. When he was with Luo Jian, the stalker he met on the ghost ship did not look like he had no soul?! Although Luo Jian lied to him and said he had a misconception about what had occurred, Feng YuLan really saw it! That fool was awfully excited when he brought his family’s Ah Jian into his embrace to kiss him!
“Wait, could it really be that what I saw was an illusion?!” Feng YuLan had an unfathomable expression as he rubbed his chin. He was not able to understand, so he turned his attention to the battlefield in front of him. Duan Li and the stalker were locked in an unrestrained confrontation.
In fact, Feng YuLan did not understand what was occurring in the battle. The speed of these two people was too fast, so Feng YuLan completely could not react to what had happened. He was a mage and better at long-range attacks and giving buffs. Therefore, Feng YuLan looked at the two men who had been fighting for a long time and suddenly touched his grimoire. In a low voice, he said, “Is there…… a spell that could give a buff to someone in a battle?”
His grimoire found a few spells. The first statement was an impressive spell:
[For those who specialize in close range battles—Asura’s blessing: within a certain time and area range, physical strength, attack power, speed, and neural response are heightened; the range and how long the heightened attributes will increase depends on the ability of the spellcaster.]
[This spell is an area of effect spell. Specify the location and range. Players can enjoy this blessing when they enter the range.]
After he took a glimpse at the spell’s effects, Feng YuLan nodded and thought it was worth a try, so he closed his grimoire, drew a circle in the book, and whispered the spell for a long time. When he finished reading the spell, he pointed to where Duan Li and the stalker were battling! Following that, Duan Li found that there was an extremely weak and blurred circle of light that appeared on the battlefield. It was about five meters in diameter. After entering the circle of light, Duan Li felt that his senses were slightly heightened.
The emergence of this circle of light brought about a favourable turn to Duan Li, who had been locked in a stalemate. The stalkers were all killing machines that wanted wholeheartedly to kill the players. To put it simply, all their actions were carried out in order to cause harm to the players. They had no feelings or fear; they simply could only keep on battling. Straightforwardly said, they lacked a brain, and even if one set up a trap for them, they would just jump into it.
Actually, it was relatively easy if one wanted to escape from this type of killing machine. One would just have to set something up to trap them. However, the stalkers were all very powerful. Even if they were trapped, they would be able to quickly escape from it.
If Duan Li did not want to be hunted down by the stalkers in the secret chamber, the best way was to ‘kill’ these stalkers. In fact, stalkers did not die. Even if they died in the secret chamber, the secret chamber would revive them again, but they would have to wait for the next secret chamber to be opened to be brought back.
Duan Li was one of the most powerful players. Although it took him some time, he killed the stalker in front of him. After he activated his second skill, he straightforwardly cut the enemy apart at the waist. Feng YuLan, who was hiding in a corner, did not have the courage to look at the bloody scene. It seemed that Duan Li was too excited after he killed the stalker, and with his body soaked in blood, he charged directly towards Feng YuLan!
Ah Lan’s face turned pale with fright. Although he wanted to run, he was knocked down by Duan Li. He shrank into a ball pitifully. The pitiful small chick was picked up by Duan Li and carried up. Duan Li did not like that Ah Lan was walking too slowly, so he decided to carry him as he walked. However, Ah Lan was upset and raised his head to look at the corpse of the stalker, which was torn apart on the ground.
“Is he really dead?”
“He’s dead.” Duan Li trusted his capabilities very much.
“No, I just think that the whole process seemed to be carried out too smoothly.” Ah Lan frowned. This whole process had really happened too simply this time. The other party had chased them here and had just been killed this way. No matter how he thought, he still felt that something was not right.
“Now that you mention it, it seems that the whole process was too smooth-sailing.” Duan Li seemed to feel that there was something strange about it, too. He turned around and looked at the corpse of the stalker who was killed just now. However, just at that moment when he turned his head to look at the corpse, Feng YuLan, who was being carried on his shoulders, suddenly felt his heart palpitate. His face suddenly became grey, and he raised his hand up straight and delivered a fierce blow to Duan Li’s neck!
Ah Lan completely did not have a physique for fighting. Naturally, his strength was not enough to hurt Duan Li. Moreover, Duan Li had tough defensive capabilities. His skin was rough, and his flesh was thick. However, Duan Li felt a slight pain on his neck immediately after being hit by Ah Lan’s karate chop. One could only imagine how much strength he used!
Therefore, at first, Duan Li did not think about why Feng YuLan would hit him but thought that Ah Lan unexpectedly used so much strength! The bones of his hand must have broken! Thus, Duan Li immediately took Feng YuLan into his arms and grabbed his hand: “Are you crazy? With just your measly strength, even if you hit me, I won’t feel pain, but your hand will be wasted!”
Feng YuLan remained silent and unexpectedly did not struggle. His bright red eyes stared at Duan Li, and he did not have any expression on his face.
Duan Li stared at him for a while. Following that, he raised his head to glance at the corpse of the stalker not far away from him. Nothing had changed.
“A soul shift……” Duan Li eyed Ah Lan and whispered to himself.