【Hidden Quest: The One Who Gazes into the Abyss.】
【Because you have wasted too much time in the abyss, you failed to stop the Plague God's resurrection ritual. In ten minutes, the Plague God will descend upon the world in His complete form.】
【Please leave the abyss within ten minutes and stop the Plague God's resurrection!】
Lu Xun was stunned.
Only now did he realize that his mission from the very beginning wasn't to enjoy the combat in the dungeon, but to find a way to leave the abyss.
This place wasn't meant for him to level up; on the contrary, it was just a cage meant to trap him!
"Damn, I was tricked!"
Lu Xun slapped his thigh, feeling a bit annoyed.
The roguelike gameplay had been so satisfying toward the end that he had completely forgotten his actual business. He hoped these ten minutes would be enough for him to turn the tide.
While he didn't know what the consequences of the Plague God's resurrection would be, his intuition told him it was best not to let it happen.
Since this was his first time clearing the game, he still hoped to achieve a Happy Ending.
But how was he supposed to leave this place?
Just as Lu Xun was pondering, the incandescent light above his head suddenly flickered eerily. He looked up, a bit confused.
"Is the bulb broken?"
It was then that he noticed the light inside his entire rented apartment had somehow grown dim, accompanied by a faint but unsettling mist that was gradually spreading.
Lu Xun swallowed hard in nervousness.
He suddenly remembered the conversation he had this morning with the priest named Lin Yuan.
"You are surrounded by black energy; it's clear that some evil entity has its eyes on your body."
"From what I see, a malevolent spirit must be haunting you."
"Ghosts and monsters exist objectively; objective laws do not change according to human will."
The words of that beggar-priest still rang in his ears, and along with the increasingly strange atmosphere around him, cold sweat broke out on Lu Xun's back.
"Damn, that priest couldn't have been telling the truth, could he? Are there really ghosts in this world?" His voice was very faint, as if he were afraid that a supernatural presence in the room might hear his self-muttering.
His hands were resting on the mouse and keyboard, but he no longer had any heart to focus on the game.
Inside the abyss, Gexi was still chattering away beside him.
"I've already observed it; the aura here is changing every second, and the space here is shifting along with it. We are essentially placed inside a constantly changing maze. Trying to leave is as difficult as reaching the heavens."
Gexi glanced at the unresponsive Grinya, her brow furrowing slightly as she said, "Are you even listening to me?"
I am listening, but I'm not the one in control of this body right now... Grinya thought anxiously.
What's going on? Why has Lord Xun Shen suddenly stopped responding?
From a moment ago, Lord Xun Shen seemed to have suddenly lost his connection, leaving her feeling quite uncertain.
Did something happen on Lord Xun Shen's side?
While Grinya was lost in thought, she suddenly realized she had regained control of her body. However, she didn't feel excited because of it; instead, her pupils dilated as a wave of intense unease rose in her heart.
She knew that something must have happened to Lord Xun Shen that prevented him from being here.
So, she was the only one left on this side...
"You're in a very strange state. How about we take a break first?"
Grinya shook her head. "I'm fine. We need to find a way out quickly."
Gexi looked at her seriously and suddenly froze.
"What is it?" Grinya looked at her in confusion.
"Nothing, I just..." Gexi said hesitantly, "I just feel like you're a bit different from before. Your presence isn't as strong as it was just now."
Grinya was startled inwardly, silently complaining about how sharp this girl's intuition was.
"It's just your imagination," Grinya brushed it off with a vague excuse, then turned toward the spatial rift. "Let's hurry to the next area."
Before she could finish her sentence, Grinya's foot, which she had just stepped out with, froze in mid-air. Her entire body became incredibly stiff, her pupils shrinking to the size of needle points, trembling so violently it seemed they might burst out at any moment.
She stood frozen in place like a cat with its fur standing on end, every cell in her body shivering with fear.
Any words used to describe her terror at this moment would be hollow; this fear had even surpassed her primal instincts.
"What's wrong with you?" Gexi asked her, sounding puzzled.
When Gexi asked that question, Grinya already knew—only she could see the terrifying thing in front of her.
Wait...
That thing wasn't in front of her, it was inside her eyes!
She couldn't find the words to describe what it was; it seemed like a pair of eyes, yet also something else.
It was unfathomable, something that could not be looked upon directly, yet it appeared right in Grinya's eyes!
That was...
A God!
"I've caught you!"
Syllables issued by a god exploded in her eardrums. That mysterious, piercing sound was like a bomb detonating inside her skull. The pain was unbearable, and her heart-wrenching scream terrified Gexi beside her.
...
Reality.
"Damn it, what's going on? Why is the computer frozen too!"
Lu Xun stared at the monitor that had suddenly gone black, nearly jumping out of his skin in fright.
The atmosphere in the apartment was already very eerie, and the computer's sudden black screen pushed his already uneasy heart to the limit of terror.
He grabbed the monitor and tapped it, refusing to give up.
"Damn it, buddy, don't scare me. My monitor is very expensive."
Under his gentle tapping, the monitor actually seemed to improve. After a faint sound of static, the screen reacted and began to flicker at a low frequency.
"It's fixed?" Lu Xun sat back in his chair, feeling both surprised and relieved.
"Sigh, I told you, I was just scaring myself. How could there possibly be—"
BANG!
A pale, bloodless arm suddenly burst through the monitor's screen. Shards of glass flew everywhere, and a ghostly, slightly smug chuckle echoed through the silent apartment.
"I finally... found you!"
"Holy crap, a ghost!!!"
Lu Xun's expression changed drastically. He instinctively threw a punch, landing it squarely on the face of the purple-eyed youth.
Before the cruel smirk on the purple-eyed youth's face could fully form, that hard fist deformed his face, and his body, which had only crawled halfway out, was hammered back by the massive force.
"Holy shit!"
Rate on N.U.
