Chapter 27

In the midst of cherry blossom petals dancing in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of the promise written there.

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Two bizarre monsters, two vastly different powers, their howls clashed and intertwined in the air, transforming from无形的声音 into tangible harm.

The demon's body was torn apart, like an animal being devoured by piranhas, exposing the flesh and bones beneath its black-gray skin. It was gradually stripped of its flesh, leaving only a skeleton that fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.

The tree monster's body was covered with countless erosion marks, spreading from the trunk to the upper branches. These marks were like wounds that could not heal, and they continued to deepen the damage to the tree monster.

It seemed that the situation was about to turn into a mutually destructive confrontation between the two monsters. However, darkness descended inappropriately...

Suddenly, the five people were plunged into complete darkness. This darkness could swallow everything, enveloping all things, whether indoors or outdoors, and even if a light source was right in front of them, it was of no use.

This time, no complex and terrifying sounds arose from the darkness, but this was clearly not because they were covering their ears with their hands. A few seconds later, a very clear whisper still reached everyone's ears.

"Meddlesome lesser god, you will pay the price for this..."

As these words ended, the darkness immediately passed, and the scene before them returned to brightness. They stood up and faced the withered tree, wanting to see what the monster would mutate into.

Feng Buju was the first to notice the abnormality. The tree did not seem to have grown stronger; instead, the damage it had suffered became more evident. Its branches were falling off, turning to ashes.

"Are you the lesser god mentioned in that voice?" Feng Buju actually walked up to the monster and spoke to it.

The other four people had not yet reacted, but the tree monster had already answered, "Human... find the key, restore the seal."

"We have already found the Fire Key," said Feng Buju. "What happened to this city? Who is the mastermind behind all this? Where is the Wood Key?" He asked three questions in quick succession.

"Samarthil... one of the servants of the Lord of Time, he betrayed his master, so he was stripped of his divine power and exiled to the endless river of time..." The tree monster's branches had almost completely turned to dust, and its trunk was beginning to turn to dust as well: "A creature with many legs does not stiffen when it dies... Samarthil did not surrender; he used his remaining strength to extract this city from reality and hide it here. This place is no longer part of the river of time... but a puddle outside the river." The bark on the tree monster's face was also peeling off: "To avoid the Lord of Time's punishment, he summoned the Demon Gate. Once the seal on the gate is unlocked, allowing the city to connect with the demon world, it means this place has become the territory of the Chief of Demons, and the Lord of Time has no authority to intervene."

"Some humans made a deal with Samarthil; as long as they helped him unlock the seal on the gate, their lives would be spared. But the moment the demons emerged from the gate, Samarthil immediately abandoned those people, greedily devouring all the humans in the city before the demons could get to them."

"Only a few survivors managed to escape with the two keys through the Demon Gate." The tree monster was almost completely withered, but it still persisted: "The one holding the Wood Key died underground... I have opened the way; after my death, you can go down..." Its mouth finally turned to dust, and a few seconds later, from the trunk to the roots extending underground, everything turned to black powder in an instant.

Although the tree monster was dead, the large hole it had created in the ground became an entrance to an underground passage.

[Current mission has changed, main mission updated]

After the prompt sounded, the mission displayed in the task bar changed to: [Enter the passage, find the Wood Key]

Feng Buju turned to look at the others: "Let's go check the daily necessities shelves for flashlights before we go down."

The others had just heard a long story and were still a bit dazed, standing there in a daze. After a few seconds, Wang Tan asked: "Uh... Brother Jue, what's going on? Can you explain it to us?"

Feng Buju was already heading towards the area selling daily necessities: "After that battle and the voice in the darkness, I realized this tree is not on the same side as the other monsters we've encountered so far." The four people followed Feng Buju, listening to his explanation: "Seeing that it was likely to die soon, I quickly asked those three questions. It fulfilled its duty as an NPC, contributing to the battle, revealing the plot, providing a hint, and creating a passage, then tragically met its end."

He walked to a fallen shelf, picked up a package on the ground, and began to open it: "According to what the tree said... only those near the keys or the Demon Gate do not disappear like the other humans in the city. This explains the situation at the police station and indicates that the Wood Key is not in this empty shopping center."

"Oh, and... I think we are exceptions, perhaps because we are players and do not belong to the 'human' category in this time and space, otherwise we would have been eliminated by Samarthil as soon as we entered the scenario."

Feng Buju paused for a second and continued: "The current situation is actually quite clear... The big boss of this scenario strengthens all the demons on the map every 30 minutes or so through darkness. He himself may not appear, and he may not even have a 'physical form,' but the demons constantly threaten us."

"The boss's goal is to kill all those who can use the keys. Once this is achieved, this space will be permanently connected to the demon world, and as long as he hides here, the Lord of Time cannot pursue him."

"Our way to clear the scenario is to find the two keys, return to the Demon Gate, and try to restore the two seals on the gate. If successful, this space will no longer be connected to the so-called 'demon world,' and the Lord of Time can intervene and tear Samarthil to pieces."

"This worldview is quite unprecedented..." Wang Tan remarked.

Feng Buju had already found several flashlights, which were intact but without batteries: "These can all be used. Each of you take two, just in case, and find some batteries." He added: "Oh, and I saw hockey sticks, baseball bats, and golf clubs in the sports goods area... those things should have no equipment requirements, and we can each have one."

Thus, the five people armed themselves. This time, each person had at least one ordinary-quality cold weapon. Loneliness found a longer and narrower Western kitchen knife in the kitchenware area, which was a bit longer than the fruit knife Wang Tan was holding, and everyone took one. Xiao Tan finally got rid of the fruit knife he had been using since the beginner tutorial.

Only Long Aomin did not choose a longer and narrower Western kitchen knife; he took a Chinese cleaver, specifically a heavy bone cleaver, apparently feeling that a heavier weapon was more reliable and convenient to use.

After doing all this, it took nearly ten minutes. Considering the possibility of monsters underground and the time limit for the darkness to descend, the group did not delay any further and entered the passage led by Long Aomin.

When they first entered underground, the surroundings felt narrow, and the ground was covered in dirt. The path ahead was a slope, and there was no light below. However, after walking for a while, they reached a relatively spacious sewer where they could stand upright. It seemed that the tree monster had only created a passage between a section of the sewer and the underground of the shopping center. The path ahead was the one taken by the person holding the Wood Key. Since the tree had clearly indicated that the holder "died" below, the possibility of some kind of monster lurking in the sewer was quite high.

The cylindrical sewer gave a strange sense of oppression, as if the surrounding space was constantly contracting, though this was just an illusion. The truly unpleasant sensation was the foul smell and the floating debris in the water below, which were hard to look at. Loneliness had a bad expression from the moment she came down, holding the flashlight and looking straight ahead, not looking at the things below, and following behind Loneliness.

Long Aomin, holding a shield in one hand and a baseball bat in the other, walked at the front of the group. If any monster suddenly appeared, he would definitely be the first to attack with a flurry of bat swings. If the bat failed to kill it, he would use the cleaver to finish it off. Feng Buju and Wang Tan walked in the middle of the group, ready to support Long Aomin at any time.

This sewer had only one path. The entrance they came from was already buried on the left side, with only some gaps and small pipes on the wall still allowing water to flow in. Therefore, the possibility of monsters attacking from behind was small, making it relatively safe for Loneliness and Loneliness to walk at the back.

The group proceeded like this for about five to six minutes.

"Look at that," Long Aomin suddenly stopped and said, "right there, that dead body."

Feng Buju stretched his neck to see over Long Aomin's shoulder and noticed that about ten meters ahead, the sewer ended at a closed iron gate. Water continued to flow through the gap at the bottom of the gate. In the corner there, the flashlight illuminated a corpse.