Chapter 81 - Escaping from Burial Grounds (XII)
Editor: Kitty
Thirsty……
Luo Jian’s mouth was extremely dry, and he felt hungry and thirsty. He thought that he needed to drink a little water because he needed liquid to moisten his throat and stop the burning pain from tormenting his nerves. But first, Luo Jian had to open his eyes, wake up, and get some water to drink.
However, Luo Jian found that he could not open his eyes.
He felt like something strange had sapped away all the strength from his entire body, leaving him with no strength at all. He did not even have the strength to open his eyes. However, what was strange was that at the moment, all of his senses except his vision were strangely sharp, and any little sound or noise from around him could draw his attention.
He felt as if he was being carried on someone’s back because his body swayed and swung along with the person’s walking. He heard several footsteps, and the sound they produced echoed loudly. They may have been moving in a long corridor, but their destination was unknown.
No one spoke; only their footsteps reverberated in Luo Jian’s ears.
Luo Jian only felt that his hunger and thirst had somewhat increased, and his consciousness was a little muddled. He could not remember what had happened before his coma, where he was, or who he was with. For a moment he could not even remember who he was.
But Luo Jian did not want to think about that. He just wanted to drink water. He was eager, impatient, and even felt that he was slightly losing his mind.
Water……
Water……
Water……!
Luo Jian almost used all his strength to force himself to open his eyes. However, even when he opened his eyes his predicament did not improve much. He felt that his vision had become very strange. It looked like all objects in his line of sight were covered in a layer of red, but if he looked carefully, he saw that it was an illusion.
Luo Jian’s body still uncannily lacked strength. When he reluctantly opened his eyes, Luo Jian felt that he had used up almost all the strength, and his body seemed to be numb, stiff, and insensible. He could not even move any of his fingers.
The man who was carrying Luo Jian on his back as he walked did not discover Luo Jian’s abnormality at all or even realize that Luo Jian had awakened. Luo Jian lay on this man’s back and swayed along as he walked. His senses were very sharp—the sounds around him were clear and audible. The sounds of footsteps, breathing, and heartbeats……
All the sounds seemed to converge, and it seemed as if the sounds were magnified countless times by a trumpet. The sound kept repeating a song in Luo Jian’s ear, which made him suddenly irascible. He was in agony, and something terrible was continuously tormenting him. He did not even know what it was.
He felt very hungry, very thirsty, and very agonized.
He needed something to vent to, something that would let him vent all his negativity and unkind thoughts and allow him to throw all the superfluous thoughts away. Maybe only through this could Luo Jian feel more comfortable because he could not stand it any longer.
When he reached his bursting point, he could no longer bear the torment any longer, and Luo Jian suddenly found that his body had some strength again. He was no longer immobile. He could even turn his neck and lift his hands. He focused his eyes on the man who was carrying him on his back while walking.
He was a tall, strong man with black hair.
When the man carried Luo Jian on his back as he walked, he lowered his head a little and showed his defenseless neck. The blood vessels under the soft skin were almost visible. Luo Jian’s eyes were stained with a layer of bright red again. Hunger and thirst were crying out in his throat, all sense of reason could be abandoned, and there was only one thought in his mind―
[Bite him!]
[Only fresh blood can relieve your hunger and thirst!]
[Bite him!]
[You do not need to remain sane at all!]
[Bite him!]
[You will not be you any longer!]
Luo Jian revealed his teeth, which were as white as bone, and placed a hand on the man’s shoulder. The man seemed to notice something, but he did not even turn his head as he said, “Luo Jian? Are you awake?”
This simple sentence suddenly beckoned Luo Jian’s reason back to his mind. He was stunned for a while, hesitated for a long time, and seemed to think about where he was, but he did not reply and could not say anything.
“Is Luo Jian awake?” Walking in front of Specter, Ah Lan, whose hand was held by Duan Li, heard the Specter’s voice, turned around, and glanced at Luo Jian on Specter’s back. After just a glance, he could not help but frown: “Ah Jian…… Your eyes?”
When Specter heard this, he was stunned and immediately squatted to place Luo Jian down. Luo Jian was so weak that he just sat on the ground. He shook his head and raised his eyelids to look at all the people around him.
When the surrounding people saw Luo Jian’s eyes, they were all shocked. Specter immediately scrunched his eyebrows tightly, sighed, and said to Luo Jian, “How long have you been in this situation? Since you woke up?”
Muddleheaded, Luo Jian nodded. His eyes were completely red, just like those of a stalker’s. Now, Luo Jian finally had firsthand experience in witnessing the world through the eyes of a stalker. Everything seemed to be covered with a layer of light red, and the red on the players seemed to be more obvious. These gorgeous colors seemed to be luring Luo Jian to do something, which made him feel incredibly restless.
“My child, it seems that I have no choice but to abandon you.” Specter gazed at Luo Jian for a long time and suddenly said this.
“What do you mean?” Ah Lan was the first to express his dissatisfaction: “What do you mean by that?”
Specter did not turn back and stared at Luo Jian instead, saying, “From now on, this an unique race between Luo Jian and the stalker. We can’t interfere! Luo Jian, do as I say: you should keep your sanity, do your best to sense the stalker’s existence, find him, and kill him!”
Luo Jian could not speak but only looked at Specter as he trembled. He nodded after a few moments.
“Alright, carry out your actions based on my instructions!” Specter seemed to be a little nervous, and one could even see that he was pressed for time: “You only have half an hour, but I don’t have time to tell you more instructions. The first thing you should do is to close your eyes, calm down, and sense carefully. You should be able to detect something different than the usual.”
Under Specter’s guidance, Luo Jian closed his eyes and tried to sense the stalker. The people around him could not help but hold their breaths, and all their gazes fell on him.
Luo Jian did sense something strange. He found that he was like a radar, constantly spreading waves around, and he sensed a unique target not far away from him. When Luo Jian found that target, something within him started to drive him towards it. He knew that he had to find him.
“You should be able to sense it.” Specter looked at Luo Jian’s expression and understood: “He must be not far from you, right? Within half an hour, the secret chamber will set a boundary limit for both of you. If he is outside of the boundary, there is no way for him to replace your identity.
“During this period, you can easily find his position, but he cannot feel you. In this case, he will definitely run away if there are any disturbances, so I will give you some props that will give you the power to catch up with him and kill him. Remember to not be soft-hearted. In the secret chambers, losers are never worthy of sympathy!”
Losers are never worthy of sympathy. This statement seemed to stir up some feelings in Duan Li, who was standing beside them. He lowered his head and frowned but held Ah Lan’s hands tighter.
Ah Lan did not notice Duan Li’s restlessness. He asked Specter, “Can’t we join him?”
Specter shook his head: “No, within half an hour, Luo Jian will be forced to take on an invincible buff to face the stalker. The stalker’s attacks and debuffs on him will be completely ineffective. But at the same time, the secret chamber will also give the stalker a buff, which will enhance their speed and strength. This is to ensure fairness. The secret chamber allows only these two people to have a one-on-one battle to ensure fairness.”
Specter did not want to waste time any longer. He patted Luo Jian on the shoulder, pulled him up, and shoved something into his hand. He said, “The wing of the goblin can increase your speed and response time to reach the limits of human speed for a minute. You can use it again after the cool-down time of five minutes. It can only be used three times total, so use it with prudence.”
In addition to the props given to Luo Jian by Specter, Ah Lan also cast a series of speed gain spells on Luo Jian. After all the preparations, Luo Jian took the flashlight Specter stuffed into his hands and, with his whole body relaxed, he headed off.
Specter was right. Only Luo Jian and the stalker were allowed to participate in the duel. Whether Luo Jian was ready to kill the enemy was the decisive factor in the battle, but now, Luo Jian still did not know how to face the stalker. He could only take a deep breath, brace himself, and head for the position where he sensed the stalker.
The huge tomb, complex and intricate terrain, and maze-like complexity were unable to hinder Luo Jian. He found that he could not only clearly sense the location of the stalker, but also the surrounding terrain. As he walked alone in this narrow passageway, it was dark and unpredictable, but he did not panic at all. He even felt a little excited.
The stalker did not move in his perception. The man stayed in place all this time. When Luo Jian approached slowly, he even had a kind of…… ’this person is specifically waiting for him here’ feeling.
Luo Jian walked through several long passageways and stopped at a large tomb vault.
There were six different doors in the tomb vault, and the stalker was standing in front of these doors with his back to Luo Jian. He did not run away as Specter had said to Luo Jian. He was very calm as he waited for Luo Jian to come. When Luo Jian stood behind him, he even turned around to face him.
The clothes that Xing Yan wore looked extremely familiar to Luo Jian; they were indeed his clothes. On Xing Yan’s body, the suit looked extremely form-fitting and seemed to be able to adjust automatically according to his body shape.
The change of identity seemed to cause some extraordinary changes to Xing Yan. For example, his eyes were no longer bright red, akin to the colour of blood, but appeared in a shade of ordinary black…… No, he felt that there were hints of grey in it. Of course, the changes were not only limited to that, but he was also able to make a sound like a real human being. With a slight smile, he said to Luo Jian, “Hello.”
This was Luo Jian’s first time hearing Xing Yan’s voice.
It was deep and hoarse with a soft tone. It could even be considered…… erotic.
Luo Jian felt that his heart was trembling. After a pause, he was not sure what he should do now. Should he follow his brother’s instructions to not heed anything and charge to kill him? To kill this stalker?
But there was no other choice, was there? Luo Jian did not want to die. He knew he could not be a stalker. He could not.