However, the collapse of the dream did not last long.
Soon, Lin Gui fell into another nightmare.
A sea of fire.
One hundred and twenty-six charred corpses.
The laughter of nobles.
The merry clinking of glasses.
Those sounds, those sights, surged over him once more.
But Lin Gui ignored them.
Because none of it mattered anymore.
He had already found his target.
Within his spatial perception, at the final intersection where this passageway met the direction Eve had guided him toward, he had completely covered the area with Spatial Marks.
And on the rock wall of the original passageway, Spatial Marks outlined a specific area.
A massive gap had appeared in that spot.
On the ground of the gap lay several roughly human-shaped outlines.
The feedback from the outlines was crystal clear.
Unconscious.
Limp.
Motionless.
Five outlines lay scattered across the ground.
Like five abandoned husks.
Yet among these five figures, there was another person.
Standing.
Lin Gui knew who that was.
Demon King Gusion.
He remained lucid.
This was something Lin Gui had not expected.
This was in the depths of the Voiceless Abyss, where even a High-tier Epic could instantly lose their mind.
In a place where everyone else had fallen, Gusion was actually still standing.
It seemed he truly possessed a means to retain his sanity down there.
Lin Gui did not dwell on it any further.
He proceeded according to his original plan.
Relying on his Spatial Coordinates, he cast Levitation toward the direction indicated by his spatial sense.
One unconscious outline vanished from the coverage of the Spatial Marks.
Lin Gui knew he had snagged one.
As long as he maintained the mana output of Levitation, he could float away from this place with the rescued person.
The second.
The third.
The fourth.
The fifth.
Counting all the people highlighted by the outlines, there were five in total.
Including Cass and Roger, the count was exact.
A trace of doubt flickered in Lin Gui's mind.
They had entered in two separate groups.
If all of them had lost their minds, how had they gathered together?
Perhaps Demon King Gusion had gathered them.
Lin Gui looked toward the single standing outline.
Then, he made a surprising discovery.
The other party was gone.
Had he already noticed his intention and climbed onto his staff?
If his senses weren't completely stripped away, he would have recognized him by now.
Recognized that he had come to pull them out?
Lin Gui was not entirely sure.
Because right now, he was still trapped inside the nightmare.
His ears were still filled with the hellish nightmares he refused to recall.
He was simply so immersed in his spatial perception that he unconsciously ignored them.
Now that he was certain he had retrieved the targets...
...Lin Gui decided...
...to head back.
He reflexively looked up.
Above his head...
...a white passageway drawn by countless Spatial Marks extended through the void.
In the center of the passageway, a safe white route guided his way.
Unlike the stumbles and crashes on his way down...
...this time, following the white route, he could safely avoid the walls and pass through the Voiceless Abyss.
Lin Gui unleashed his full speed.
Controlling the invisible staff, he continuously climbed upward.
His speed was exceptionally fast.
More than ten times faster than when he came down.
Lin Gui estimated that in under an hour, he would reach the area where the mist thinned out.
And then his senses would return.
However...
...just as he was immersed in his spatial perception, steadily ascending...
...suddenly...
...a voice boomed in his ears.
“Are you... trying to leave?”
The voice was very soft.
So soft it seemed to come from far away.
Yet so clear it sounded like a whisper right next to his ear.
Lin Gui froze instantly.
He snapped back from his spatial perception.
Then, he realized...
...the other nightmare had vanished.
The fire.
The corpses.
The laughter of the nobles.
All of it was gone.
In its place was a domain of pure white.
And...
...a girl.
She stood right there.
Neither too close nor too far from him.
She wore a pure white dress with a cascading hem that seemed to melt into the white space.
Her hair was white as well, so long it reached down to her waist.
Her features were so exquisite they seemed unreal.
It was not the beauty of a human.
It was a higher-tier existence manifesting in human form.
Conceptual beauty.
Flawless to perfection.
So perfect one dared not look at her directly.
Her eyes were pale gold, like molten gold or the pupils of an ancient divine statue.
Right now, those eyes were looking at him.
Devoid of emotion.
Devoid of warmth.
Simply watching.
Like looking at an object.
Like looking at a speck of dust.
Lin Gui frowned.
The nightmares of the Voiceless Abyss were woven from one's own memories.
If he had never experienced or seen something, it should be impossible for it to appear out of thin air.
Yet the girl before him...
Lin Gui was certain he had never met her.
And with a face like that, a beauty like that, if he had seen her, he could never forget it.
...
Could mental derangement caused by the mist actually fabricate an illusion out of nothing?
Lin Gui knitted his brows.
Within his spatial perception, he continued to ascend steadily.
The white passageway mapped by Spatial Marks zipped backward at high speed.
He originally intended to ignore her presence.
Just as he ignored the psychological trauma brought by those nightmares.
However...
...seeing Lin Gui ignore her, the girl tilted her head.
That drop-dead gorgeous face still bore no expression whatsoever.
Then...
...she moved.
In a single instant...
...she appeared right before Lin Gui.
Lin Gui didn't even see her take a step.
She just materialized out of thin air in front of his eyes.
Close enough to see the curve of her eyelashes.
Close enough to feel an indescribable... aura coming from her.
It wasn't cold.
It wasn't warm.
It was void.
Like facing an abyss containing absolutely nothing.
Then, she reached out a jade-like finger.
And poked Lin Gui's cheek.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Lin Gui didn't move.
He remained immersed in spatial perception, continuing his ascent.
The girl tilted her head, watching him.
Then, her finger moved to his hair.
Pinching a lock.
Releasing it.
Pinching another lock.
Releasing it again.
Her movements were very light.
Her face still held no expression.
Like a curious cat playing with a ball of yarn.
Lin Gui paid no attention.
And kept climbing.
The girl's actions began to escalate.
Her fingers slid along his hair down to his mage robe.
She pulled up the collar of his robe.
Flipped it over to look.
Flipped it back.
Then, she started messing with the tie on his robe.
Untying it.
Tying it back.
Untying it again.
Tying it back again.
Lin Gui still paid her no mind.
The girl paused for a second.
Then, her fingers slipped into the opening of his robe.
She lightly poked the side of his waist.
Lin Gui's brows knitted slightly.
But he did not open his eyes.
The girl seemed to have discovered something interesting.
She began lightly tickling his waist.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Lin Gui's body tensed slightly.
Yet he still did not open his eyes.
The girl's actions grew increasingly out of line.
Her hand began wandering upward.
Sliding past his waist.
Sliding past his ribs.
Sliding past his chest.
And then...
...just as her fingers were about to touch Lin Gui's belt...
...Lin Gui snapped his eyes open.
Lin Gui opened his eyes.
And then—
...he moved.
One hand grabbed her wrist.
The other hand seized her dress hem.
Rip!
A large piece of white fabric was torn off.
Lin Gui then used the torn fabric to bind her hands and feet tightly.
Tying a dead knot.
Then—
...he kicked her away.
He sat properly again and closed his eyes.
Continuing to control his staff, he ascended steadily.
In his spatial perception, the white passageway continued zipping past at high speed.
However...
...in the next second...
...the bound girl broke free automatically.
The strips of cloth slid off her body like uninhibited smoke.
The hem of her dress automatically restored itself.
Completely whole, as good as new.
Without a single trace left behind.
She appeared before Lin Gui once again.
This time, she refrained from hands-on mischief.
She simply stood there, looking at him.
In those pale golden eyes, the previous indifference was gone.
Replaced by...
...a complex mix of emotions.
Guilt.
Surprise.
And an inexplicable trace of... curiosity.
She stared like that for a long time.
Then, she reached out her hand.
And conjured two items out of thin air.
A sheet of stationery.
A pen.
The format of the stationery was quite special.
The header was printed with exquisite patterns, and the bottom right corner bore a small postmark impression.
If Lin Gui saw it, he would certainly be greatly surprised.
Because that was...
...the standard stationery specially customized for customers by the 7-Copper Post Office.
The girl lowered her head, looking at the stationery in her hands.
Her brows knitted slightly.
Then, she began to write.
The tip of the pen glided across the paper.
She wrote a few words.
Stopped.
Looked at those words.
Writing and pausing repeatedly, she eventually tore the stationery to pieces.
The fragments drifted down, vanishing into the white void.
She remained silent for a long time.
Then, she picked up the pen once more.
Conjuring another envelope.
The pen tip rapidly glided across the paper.
Line after line of handwriting emerged.
Finishing the last sentence, she put down the pen.
She reached her hand toward her chest.
And pulled out a key-like object.
She slipped the key into the envelope.
And sealed it.
Then, she raised her head and looked at Lin Gui.
He still had his eyes closed, immersed in spatial perception.
Still believing her appearance was merely an illusion caused by the mist's mental erosion.
She floated up to him.
Reached out her hand.
And gently and precisely slipped the envelope into Lin Gui's unseen Storage space.
Then...
...she took a step back.
Looking at him.
In those pale golden eyes, gratitude remained.
Entwined with complexity.
Yet in the end, only a faint sense of helplessness lingered.
She turned around.
And walked into the depths of the white space.
One step.
Two steps.
Three steps.
Her figure began to fade.
As if merging into the white void.
Ultimately vanishing completely.
Completely oblivious that a letter had been slipped into his Storage space...
...Lin Gui focused his concentration, floating toward the exit along the Spatial Coordinates.
Accelerating continuously, he soon reached the boundary where his senses had been completely stripped away.
Almost there.
Almost there.
He could feel the surrounding mist thinning out.
The confused and scrambled senses were easing bit by bit.
First was his hearing.
Amid the endless dead silence, a faint sound suddenly reached him.
Very weak.
Like the wind.
Like pebbles occasionally falling down rock walls.
Next was his sense of touch.
He felt pain.
His entire body ached.
That pain radiated from every inch of skin, from every single bone.
He looked down at himself.
And froze.
Right now, he looked like a bloody figure.
His mage robe was soaked in blood, clinging to his body.
His scalp was torn open, blood trickling down his forehead and blurring his vision.
Several deep cuts on his arms exposed bone.
On his shoulder, torn flesh peeled back to reveal the faint white of bone beneath.
Even his view was tinged with crimson.
Evidently, blood from his split scalp had dripped into his eyes.
Right then, Shadow Blade Lynn's voice rang out.
“That position-marking spell of yours... what is it?”
Her voice carried an unmistakable trace of astonishment.
Soul light drifted out from the glass bead, condensing into form beside him.
Those pale blue eyes stared at Lin Gui as if looking at a monster.
“Did you really... pull people out from the depths of the Voiceless Abyss?”
“Without losing your way or falling into the abyss once from start to finish?”
“How on earth... did you pull that off?”
She looked at the figures controlled by Levitation.
Looking at those unconscious outlines.
She fell completely speechlessly stunned.
Lin Gui did not answer.
As Clarity resumed its effect and accurate perception returned, he felt the pain in his body even more sharply.
But he had no time to inspect his condition.
He looked at the people held by Levitation.
It was Morpheus and the others.
On that young face, there was not a trace of color right now—frighteningly pale.
Lips chapped, eye sockets deeply sunken.
Wounds covered his body everywhere, some already festering and giving off a subtle reek of rot.
The most severe was his leg.
Below his right knee, the flesh was a mangled mess, bone completely exposed.
The others were in a similar state.
Some had arms twisted at bizarre angles.
Some had caved-in chests, their breathing so faint it was barely perceptible.
Some had their entire face caked in blood, rendering their features unidentifiable.
Lin Gui made a quick assessment.
Their injuries were extremely severe.
They had to leave as quickly as possible.
They needed immediate medical treatment.
He swallowed the blood rising in his throat.
Then he turned his head and spoke behind him:
“Lord Demon King, hold on tight.”
Yet behind him was nothing at all.
The Demon King he imagined would have climbed aboard was nowhere to be seen.
He froze in place.
Shadow Blade Lynn's voice came through:
“That Demon King is quite remarkable.”
“To maintain clarity at such a depth in the abyss...”
She paused.
“Down below, he cast a spell to tether these people behind your staff.”
“He didn't climb on himself.”
Lin Gui looked at Morpheus and the others.
Indeed, between them and the staff were fine web-like threads connecting them.
Those fine threads glowed with a faint red light, looking like some sort of magic.
“Why didn't he follow us out?” Lin Gui asked.
Shadow Blade Lynn gave a small laugh.
In that laugh, it was hard to tell if it was mockery or something else.
“Only he knows that.”
She paused.
“Though I must give you a heads-up.”
“Your physical condition is atrociously bad.”
“You have no idea how many times you blindly slammed headfirst into the walls.”
“If you don't want to bleed to death, you'd better get out of here right now.”
Lin Gui went silent for a second.
Then, suppressing his doubts...
...he controlled his staff and kept climbing upward.
The exit grew closer and closer.
Closer and closer.
Finally...
...his field of view opened wide instantly.
Moonlight spilled down.
Fresh air flooded into his lungs.
Lin Gui saw the night sky outside the abyss.
He saw those familiar rock walls.
Before he could even see where Eve and the others waiting to receive him were...
...his head spun violently.
Everything went black.
His body collapsed limply off the staff.
Eve, who had been guarding the entrance the whole time, rushed over instantly.
“Lin Gui!”
Her voice was laced with anxiety.
Hugh and Hannah hurriedly followed suit.
Eve supported the falling Lin Gui, looking at his blood-covered body and pale face.
In those purple eyes, sheer panic reigned.
“Lin Gui! Lin Gui!”
she called out.
But Lin Gui could no longer hear any other sounds.
From excessive blood loss...
...he passed out.
Rate on N.U.
