Chapter 66: Isolated
Yue Qiang had a bad feeling about this. The corpses' disappearance was just too unnatural.
This was not a martial-based world. Most of the skills, powers, equipment and many other factors in this world could barely be explained through science if they were converted into the real world.
However, the complete disposal of a full floor of corpses where even the bloodstains were evaporated to thin air would be a very difficult phenomenon to explain.
Unless… the person who did this owned a power that surpassed a normal human's limits.
After taking everything into account, the only person who had reached such a level was the Zhao Army General, Zhao Yan. The smiling old watchman who was responsible for Progress Point trading also gave off a feeling of unfathomable depths, so he might be another person of extraordinary power as well.
However, it would seem that there was now a third person with powers that exceeded the human limits.
From what he already knew, it would seem that such people were considered to have surpassed human limits only because they had a particular attribute that had exceeded 40 points. On the whole, they weren't actually too powerful. However, Yue Qiang knew very well that their strength lay on the fact that their limits were completely unknown and indecipherable. It was possible for him to deduce from the interim cutscene that the general Zhao Yan must have over 40 points of Strength. But what was the exact number of his Strength? It could 40 or 50 points… or it could be 100 or even 200 points!
How powerful was 200 points of Strength? Yue Qiang could not imagine it at all. If 15 Progress Points could be used to exchange for a single freely distributed stat point, then 3000 Progress Points would be needed to increase a particular attribute to 200 points.
What was 3000 Progress Points? If he counted it per normal soldier, then he would have to rack up a body count of thirty thousand before he could accumulate such a number. This was akin to sending a single man to fight against a supersized army!
Of course, Progress Points might not be the only way to increase one's stats, and the comparison of thirty thousand versus one man was a little exaggerated, but it also reflected just how rare it was to run into a person with such strength.
A person like this could probably wave a hand casually and annihilate all of the corpses. If he ran into someone like this… no, if this person went up against him on purpose or worse, tried to kill him, then there was no way that he would survive at all.
Yue Qiang closed his eyes and considered this for a moment. In the end, he opened his eyes and decided to give it a shot.
High risks equalled high reward. The same goes with high difficulty.
If the person who destroyed these corpses wanted to be his enemy, then he would be already dead. Since he was still alive, it meant that this person might have destroyed the corpses for other reasons. Therefore, Yue Qiang ultimately decided to continue with the expedition.
It was at this moment Ai Qian said, "According to the information I got and the analysis I made along the road, this place is definitely the entrance of the School of Mo's Great Camp. There is also no doubt that the coffin, the riches inside the coffin and the female corpse is here. If you have searched through the small room at the end of the path carefully, then you might have discovered the path to the true great camp for real."
Ai Qian ordered four of his soldiers to guard at front hall of the cave before leading the remaining six into the passage with Yue Qiang and Yin.
As expected, the tiger's corpse had vanished as well.
The bloodstains on the floor had disappeared as if a janitor had washed them just like the front hall of the cave. Without a closer examination, it was almost impossible to identify the dark red bloodstains mingled with the soil and rock bits that proved that there was the body of a huge tiger here yesterday.
They hadn't walked for long when the armored soldier scouting at the front reported,
"Lord Ai, there is only a small room at the front with no other exits. We have searched through the small room carefully and discovered an entrance at the bottom of the wooden table at the center of the room. Please come and have a look, Lord Ai."
I thought it would be something like this.
Yue Qiang glanced once at Yin before hurrying forwards into the small room.
The wooden table that was once used to hold the S/L modules at the center of the room had already been overturned to reveal a deep, dark hole at the bottom. There were some dug soil and stones at the surroundings.
Looking from outside the hole, a ladder could be seen stretching all the way towards the bottom. The inside of the hole was pitch black, and it was impossible to see what was down at the bottom.
Yue Qiang turned around and glanced once at Yin, "Can you sense what's down there?"
Yin's eyes were closed the entire time, but she had the Eye of Truth and was able to see what's before her. Yue Qiang wasn't sure how the skill worked, which was why he asked Yin about it.
"I can't." After a momentary pause, she answered, "There seems to be a… strange energy that's preventing me from doing so."
Without a second choice, they could only send someone down directly to scout out the area.
He wondered what lay at the bottom of this hole. Would it be the true School of Mo's Great Camp, or a deathly still School of Mo's necropolis that awaited them at the end of the tunnel?
When the three armored soldiers had descended, they kept at a certain distance from each other. Neither too far nor too close, it was just the right amount of distance where they could reinforce one another or cry for help if something unexpected were to occur.
Yue Qiang listened to the three soldiers' footsteps from above the hole. There were no signs of disorder thus far.
"We have reached the end of the tunnel. There is a passage up front."
"It's very dark. We can't see anything in front of the passage. Up there, mind lending us a few torches and ropes?"
Ai Qian agreed. He looked at a soldier and motioned for him to take three torches and head down. Suddenly, he looked at another soldier and said, "Wait. You, yes, you go down with him as well. Both of you will tie a rope to your waists and stray not too far apart from each other. You'll be able to help each other and it'll be safer."
The two soldiers went down the hole as well.
The five soldiers at the bottom – three at the front and two at the back – continued to walk deeper into the passage. From time to time, the reports 'clear' and 'all good' would ring from the bottom.
After sending a total of five soldiers to scout the path ahead with great caution, Yue Qiang, Ai Qian and Yin finally reached the bottom of the hole through the vertical ladder as well. For some reason, Yue Qiang kept feeling that something was wrong.
They had two groups of people scouting at the front, and they could also see the faint light of the torches from the corner of the passage. Still, he couldn't help but feel that something was wrong.
Perhaps it was exactly because that they were at such a place that 'normal' was the greatest abnormality of them all?
Right now, Yue Qiang, Ai Qian and Yin were right beneath the entrance, and just ahead of them were the two soldiers on standby. Further ahead around the corner were the three soldiers and the reflected light of the torch.
Suddenly, the light vanished.
The reporting voices of the three soldiers also came to a spontaneous end as the sounds of three armors hitting the ground, 'thump, thump, thump' rang from around the corner. It was incredibly jarring in this quiet environment.
The three soldiers at the front had lost all signs of activity in an instant.
Ai Qian felt a little unwell under the pressure and tension of the atmosphere. He yelled loudly, "You three at the front, report!"
A long time passed, but there was no answer.
Yue Qiang could see that Ai Qian's face had turned a little ugly from the torch's light.
They had lost three people in an instant without a sound, and the worst thing was that they had no idea how they died. There were neither sounds of combat nor cries of help. The three soldiers had vanished just like that.
The two soldiers with ropes tied around them looked a little scared, as one of them said, "Lord Ai, do you think we should… go back?"
Ai Qian hesitated for a moment before saying, "Let's do it this way. You, keep the rope with you and walk to the front. While you scout ahead, the four of us will hold the rope and walk right behind you. But don't go too deep once you've passed the corner, and stop the second you see the three soldiers at the front. At the least, we must know how they are doing right now… when we go back, I'll increase your reward fivefold!"
The soldier did not want to obey the command initially, but when he heard that his reward would be quintupled, he ultimately steeled himself, clutched the rope and walked to the front.
And so the group of four followed followed behind the soldier and watched him turning around the corner and continuing forwards. From time to time, he would report his current condition.
When Yue Qiang and the others turned around the corner as well, they immediately saw an eerie sight.
The soldier ahead was saying, "All clear. Wait, I see them…"
Abruptly, his body crumpled without warning before he could finish his sentence. A loud thump resounded throughout the passage ceaselessly.
Yue Qiang felt every hair stand up on his body. They had lost someone again without knowing why at all. Just like before, there were no signs of any attacks whatsoever. It was almost as if the soldiers grew tired and fell asleep on the ground!
The torch at the front was extinguished as the soldier fell on the ground. The passage was now pitch black, and nothing could be seen.
It was at this moment rapid footsteps resounded from behind their backs!
Yue Qiang abruptly swiveled the camera around and prepared himself for battle. He would not be caught off guard the stuff of nightmares were to come after them. However, what he saw was no nightmarish monster.
The person who ran hurriedly towards them was the soldier they left inside the room above them. Just like the four soldiers in the main hall, The soldier was left there so he could reinforce them if anything unexpected occurred. However, the soldier had climbed down the vertical stairs, turned around the corner and reached them in a fluster.
"Lord Ai, something terrible happened, something terrible happened…" The soldier said while catching his breath, "The passage outside, that is the one that's connected to the front hall, it's suddenly closed off!"
The passage that connected to the front hall was the passage Yin first discovered at the very beginning.
Once that passage was closed, it meant that they could go nowhere but forwards!
Just when they thought that there would no longer be any surprises, they suddenly lost four soldiers and had their retreat path cut off as well!
The tension in Yue Qiang's heart had reached its absolute maximum, and right now he felt like a taut string that would snap given just another push. But before they could digest the shock something strange happened yet again!
The armored soldier who rushed over to report the situation, and the armored soldier who was holding the end of the rope suddenly crashed at the same time!
The trajectory of their fall was incredibly clear beneath the torch's light. One second the soldier was still reporting the situation, and the next his knees suddenly gave out as he collapsed on the floor. The other soldier at the end of the group was still gripping the rope tightly when he collapsed onto the ground.
The last two soldiers had died without any warning just like the first four soldiers before them.
Yue Qiang saw everything as clear as day, and yet he could not see any trace of an attack at all.
In just a few minutes' time, Yue Qiang, Ai Qian and Yin were the only ones left within the passage.
They were completely isolated.
Chapter 67: Intelligence (1)
A single torch was all that's left burning in the passage.
The flame flickered and swayed as if it would extinguish at any moment.
Even now, the noise of the two armored soldiers falling to the ground was still resonating in the passage. They wore heavy metal armors and full protection helmets. Their equipment was heavy, and the speed at which they fell on the ground was so quick that it was as if an invisible force had pulled them towards the ground. An incredibly loud and ear-piercing noise was generated when the heavy armor crashed against the soil and stone, resounding ceaselessly within the narrow and deathly still environment.
They did not know how the first three armored soldiers died. But Yue Qiang was staring dead eyed at the last two armored soldiers when they died, and still he couldn't figure out the reason behind their deaths at all.
The last armored soldier who came in to notify them about the situation was especially eye-catching. One second he was reporting to them, and the next his eyes suddenly became flat and lifeless before he dropped directly on the ground and passed away. It was almost as if his HP were completely drained in an instant.
Yue Qiang dared say that if health bars could still be displayed, then the armored soldier's full health bar must have turned gray dark in an instant!
If they had been attacked by some powerful, invincible enemy then it was at least a known factor. However, he could not find any signs of such an attack at all.
Right now, Yue Qiang was still relatively calm, but Ai Qian had already lost control of his composure.
Through the fire's reflection, he could see that the trader's face had turned ashen. His fingers were shaking uncontrollably in fear. Suddenly, Ai Qian ran beside a fallen armored soldier, raised his leg and kicked his body with everything he got. The soldier's body did not move even a millimeter, but Ai Qian was grabbing his foot in abject pain and hopping all over the place like a rabbit.
This should've been an extremely comedic scene, but somehow Yue Qiang could not find it in himself to laugh.
"Relax, I haven't gone crazy. I know very well what I'm doing." After hopping around for a little, Ai Qian decided that he might as well sit on the ground and did just that. He continued to rub his sore foot, "I'm just so scared that I just had to use the pain to compose myself. Otherwise, I would scare myself to death before the real threat had even arrived."
"I was thinking of living the rest of my life in hiding after this expedition, but I forgot that man often dies during their one last time." Ai Qian sighed and said, "Alright, from the looks of it all three of us are going to die here, so we may as well beat around the bush no longer and speak the truth. Honestly, the speech of this world is really uncomfortable to use…"
"You." Ai Qian pointed a finger at Yue Qiang and said, "I believe that there are a lot of things that you can't recall just like me, don't you? In other words, you are also an amnesiac, correct?"
Yue Qiang's mind went blank. Was he trying to…
"And you." Ai Qian then pointed a finger at Yin, "You should also be an amnesiac. All three of us are amnesiacs, am I right?"
Yue Qiang hesitated for a moment, unsure as to how he should answer him. The one who took control was Yin as she answered unhesitatingly, "That's right. We are both amnesiacs."
"That's right, I knew it." Ai QIan slapped his thighs before looking back towards Yue Qiang, saying, "Now that I think about it, it's hilarious how both of us are talking in riddles and acting that night at Yue Village. We were obviously did not belong this world, and yet we kept pretending and spoke in the ancient language. You traded me Progress Points and you spoke about quests or something, and for some reason I actually didn't catch on until sometime later and thought that you're… I can tell you that I felt like an idiot back then. Maybe it was because I lost my memories?… Sigh, never mind. Now, let's talk about you, my beautiful lady. It is way easier to determine if you're an amnesiac. From the moment you took off your armor and helmet on the road, I already knew that you are definitely not of this world… After all, how can there be such a beautiful woman in this world?"
He spoke quickly and his logic was a little off, but Yue Qiang understood more or less what he was talking about.
Basically, Ai Qian guessed that both Yue Qiang and Yin were amnesiacs, and he narrated on how he came to that conclusion.
Ai Qian let out a long sigh of relief once he finished his words. It would appear that he had a hard time keeping these words inside his heart, and now that he had spoken them he was feeling much better.
"So, that's basically it." he said again, "There are no one else from this world here, so let's exchange some information. If I die, I would at least like to die knowing than not, you know? What do you guys think?"
"C'mon, speak, you all. Don't just let me speak to myself." Ai Qian said loudly, "Do you know how scary it is that my voice is the only thing resounding in this kind of environment, and you guys are not talking?"
Yue Qiang had long had a feeling that everyone in this world who had the Memory Unlock Rate were modern people. However, this assumption wasn't exactly foolproof. For example, Yue Qiang himself had an intact memory. For example, the scholar Hui Shi was a character that truly existed in ancient history, and let's not forget that he was controlling his character through a mouse and keyboard, whereas Ai Qian and the others were completely teleported into the world itself, so on and so on.
If they were seated inside a comfortable environment with a table, a wine jar, and a plate of peanuts, then they could discuss this in leisure and sort out all the information.
But the current situation forbad them from doing so.
They had lost six out of nine men for some unfathomable reason, and their way out were cut off as well. Ai Qian had obviously given up on hope to choose to speak of such things in this dangerous situation.
But he was not Ai Qian. Yue Qiang's thoughts were simple: Set aside all other problems until the hurdle was passed! It was just way too cowardly to give up before they even met the dungeon boss!
"We can talk about this once we get out of here." Yue Qiang said, "What we need to do now is to one, think of a way to leave here alive, or two, grab the treasure, solve the mystery, and leave here alive!"
"Leave here alive? That's impossible!" Ai Qian suddenly yelled, "Don't you guys feel it? Every since I came down that ladder, my head is spinning and my entire body is screaming in discomfort. If I haven't kicked that armor and hurt myself I might have fainted already!"
"I just wanted to earn some riches and live, but as it turns out I'm going to die here today." he continued, "So just take a seat and let's talk about things. Let us know everything there is to know before the darkness devours us completely and kill us."
Ai Qian looked like he had completely given up. He didn't even think to consider how the armored soldiers were killed. He was simply sitting there while rubbing his foot with one hand and massaging his temples with the other.
At the side, Yin hadn't said anything every since she said, 'We are both amnesiacs'. She went closer to a body and pushed it gently. Then she cocked her head and appeared to be in deep thought.
Suddenly, she spoke, "We are not going to die. Let us go on."
Both Yue Qiang and Ai Qian looked towards her at once. The fact that she would say such a thing in such a bizarre situation could only be described as strange. While Ai Qian was looking at the beautiful girl with some measure of disdain, Yue Qiang actually half believed her words. After all, Yin's powerful observation skills left him a strong impression, and it might just be that she had noticed certain details and discovered the true cause behind the armored soldiers' deaths.
"Their deaths are not worthy." Yin said calmly before walking beside Ai Qian and taking the torch from him. Then, she continued deeper into the passage and said, "It's fine now. Let us continue."
"Hey, woman." Ai Qian shouted at her from the back, "There are two bodies beside your feet right now, and three more not far ahead of you. I'm not taking a step forwards if you don't tell me what's going on!"
"I can do that. But can you follow my words?" Yin turned around and choked him indifferently with words.
"Tell us." Yue Qiang also typed.
Seeing Yue Qiang's response, Yin nodded slightly and walked up to a body. She said, "First, we will assume that all these occurrences can be explained logically. This will be the foundation of what I'm going to speak later."