Chapter 125: Blood Shadow’s Advice!

The grotesque face began weeping again, tears streaming down its cheeks. After absorbing Wang Chen’s memories, its emotions seemed to have grown especially unstable.

Listening to its voice swing between exhilaration and deep gloom, Wang Chen was seized by an overwhelming terror.

Yet he was powerless to do anything. Although his consciousness remained intact, he was now completely under its control.

The sensation was like being injected with an anesthetic below the neck: he could think and move his eyes to see, but he had no way to move his body.

At the same time, the vibrations traveling through him made it clear that he was being cut open and stitched back together. It did not hurt, but it was horrifying.

“Where exactly are your enemies? Is it this man called Lu Han? Surely it can’t be this fellow who likes wearing overalls?”

The grotesque face examined his memories. “These people clearly shouldn’t be capable of posing any threat to you.”

“Let’s search a little deeper.”

The grotesque face chewed and smacked its lips in an exaggerated manner, like a connoisseur who loved and understood fine food—or like a starving ghost.

Suddenly, its exaggerated expression froze, as though a video had abruptly stalled.

Then terror rippled across its face.

“What is this…? You’re not from this world… What is this, too? A profession panel? No… no… this is higher-dimensional…”

It was as though it had bitten into a highly poisonous fungus while eating. Opening its enormous mouth, it tried to spit Wang Chen out.

But after gagging with its mouth agape for a long while, it still could not expel Wang Chen, who had already been more than half absorbed.

Before long, the corners of the grotesque face began to twitch. In an instant, the spasms spread across its entire face. No longer able to remain suspended in the air, it plummeted into the darkness and writhed on the ground like someone suffering a seizure.

A saliva-like fluid gradually seeped from the corners of its mouth. Within its reflection, countless scenes flickered and shimmered—different faces, different genders, even different species.

Then it exploded with a thunderous burst, splattering through the darkness like foam. A small puddle of froth remained where it had been.

No one knew how much time passed before the puddle suddenly contracted and gathered itself together, forming Wang Chen.

“Did I… survive that?”

He ran his hands over his entire body, making sure that none of his limbs or organs were missing.

“So the grotesque face is really gone? Then how am I supposed to get out of here?”

Wang Chen pondered this in silence.

As though it had heard his thoughts, the scattered foam in the dark space suddenly converged, forming a blurred, blood-red shadow.

Wang Chen became instantly alert, but he had no idea what he could possibly rely on to fight the blood shadow.

“Don’t be nervous. I am about to vanish completely.”

The voice entered Wang Chen’s mind, startling him once again.

“You are…” Wang Chen hesitated, unable to confirm it. “The face from before?”

“Yes. This is my true form.”

The blood shadow spoke directly into his mind. “When I absorbed your memories, I suffered a terrifying blow. My spiritual body is undergoing irreversible decay.”

“A terrifying blow?”

Wang Chen fell into thought. It must have been the system that helped him withstand the attack.

“But it no longer matters. I am finally going to die.”

When Wang Chen said nothing more, the blood shadow continued, a trace of amusement unexpectedly present in its voice.

“Are you happy about that?” Wang Chen asked.

“Of course. This endless life of mine is finally coming to an end. It should have ended many years ago. I have survived until now solely because of the instinct for self-preservation rooted in my blood.”

The blood shadow sighed. “I paid such a tremendous price, only to end up in this state.”

“A price? That’s the second time you’ve mentioned one. What exactly did you pay?”

Wang Chen was curious. Now that his life was no longer in danger, he developed a profound interest in the blood shadow and began firing off question after question.

The blood shadow merely answered with a laugh.

“You wouldn’t want to know.”

It continued, “I read your memories. You are someone who hopes to sweep away all the injustice in the real world, so you would not be interested in this matter.”

“You should remain immersed in your own dreams. That would make you happy—far happier than I ever was.”

Wang Chen considered the blood shadow’s words before asking, “Then what can you tell me?”

“Leave this secret realm as soon as possible, or you will become entangled with the people hunting me. They are nothing more than bothersome flies to me, but they will become a major problem for you.”

The blood shadow continued, “Forget what happened here. Do not try to find out what I am or what happened to me.”

Wang Chen listened in silence.

Seeing his expression, the blood shadow sighed.

“You’re not going to heed my warning, are you?”

Wang Chen remained silent.

“Very well. Perhaps this is fate.”

The blood shadow suddenly blurred, and a drop of blood flew toward Wang Chen, sinking into the center of his brow.

“When you are strong enough, you will learn what you wish to know—the truth about my past, and the truth itself.”

Wang Chen touched his brow. He felt nothing unusual there.

“The truth? The truth about what?”

The blood shadow was silent for a moment before answering in a low voice:

“The truth about the deception.”

“Deception? Deception concerning what?”

Wang Chen’s question came urgently, for the blood shadow had already begun to turn transparent.

“Do not ask so many questions. When you are strong enough, you will know.”

As it spoke, its voice weakened considerably, as though that drop of blood had consumed the last of its strength.

“Of course, I still hope you will stop here and continue living along the path your life was originally meant to take.”

Along with its increasingly transparent form, the blood shadow’s voice grew ethereal and faint.

“One final piece of advice: do not set foot upon that long staircase. Whatever you do, do not!”

With those final words, the blood shadow dissolved into drifting sand and slipped away into the darkness.

Wang Chen reached out, hoping to catch it, but could only watch helplessly as the sand fell through his palm, breaking into motes of light before vanishing before his eyes.

He stood there in a daze for a long while, countless questions surging through his mind.

Suddenly, Wang Chen cried out, “Damn it! I forgot to ask how to leave this place. Am I going to die of old age in this pitch-black wasteland?”

He immediately began moving his legs and exploring the space.

Yet no matter how far Wang Chen walked, he could not touch its boundaries. It was as though the space extended without end.

Just as Wang Chen began wondering whether strangling himself might be the only solution to his present predicament, waves of suction descended from the darkness above his head, pulling his entire body into the air.

Wang Chen did not resist. The sensation was similar to when he had been dragged into the dark space before. Perhaps this force could take him out.

He relaxed his body and allowed himself to be drawn upward.

…

“Ha!”

Wang Chen drew a deep breath and abruptly sat up from the ground.

Still shaken, he looked around and discovered that he had returned to the sandbar.

Not far away lay the Deep Pool Mysterious Toad. Wang Chen himself was sprawled in the mud and sand, with a dull ache in his back. It was not difficult to imagine that he had fallen from the air.

“How long have I been lying here like a corpse? Why hasn’t some ferocious beast eaten me?”

Puzzled, Wang Chen took out his phone to check the time.