Chapter 258
Chapter 258
The crimson glow filled the entire screen, and soon the blinding light faded, revealing two figures collapsed at the center of the transmutation circle.
About half a minute later, a golden-haired figure rose first.
"How could this happen... How? No—!" Āndélǔ stared in horror as his skin began to dry and crack like tree bark, his hair falling out in clumps. He roared in fury.
A few seconds later, Ā Sè staggered to his feet. At first glance, his body showed no anomalies. But his eyes were vacant, his gaze fixed on his brother without a word.
"Why... Why is this happening?" Āndélǔ bellowed, clutching his body as searing pain erupted across his skin. The agony now tearing through him far exceeded what any ordinary person could endure.
At the sound of the hoarse shout, Ā Sè seemed to snap out of his trance. He rushed forward and knocked Āndélǔ unconscious. Not that it mattered—his brother was already on the verge of collapsing from pain anyway.
"Ha... ha..." Ā Sè’s own body trembled as he gasped for breath, his limbs drained of strength from that simple act. But compared to Āndélǔ, his suffering was nothing. At least his body showed no signs of zombie-like symptoms.
Standing there, Ā Sè’s eyes flickered with confusion and dread, clearly lost in thought.
A minute later, Ā Sè approached the unconscious Āndélǔ, hoisted his upper body over his shoulder, and dragged him out of the room, arms locked tightly under his brother’s armpits.
——
"Two brothers trying to perform a transmutation together... and failing?" Feng Bu Jue mused as he watched the cutscene unfold. "They weren’t trying to resurrect their mother or something cliché like that, were they?" He pondered further, "This footage probably explains why Ā Sè kept muttering those lines at the start—'Don’t worry... everything will be fine... something must’ve gone wrong... I’ll find a way...' He wasn’t just reassuring his unconscious brother. He was trying to convince himself."
Rubbing his chin, Feng Bu Jue continued, "So it seems my current state isn’t because Ā Sè turned on me and turned his brother into an experiment. It was just a failed transmutation. And locking me in that zero-numbered cell was his way of buying time to fix me..."
"Hmm... Looks like the full story’s finally coming together", he thought, stepping into the room. "Anyway, let’s find that gray key first."
But the next moment, disaster struck.
Feng Bu Jue had always tested every room he entered with an iron bar to detect hidden traps, but this time—after watching the cutscene—he’d grown careless. He walked straight in without checking.
A cacophony of snapping sounds erupted as the floor beneath him collapsed from the central ritual array. Feng Bu Jue had no time to react before he plummeted downward.
Naturally, he remained calm even as he fell. His heartbeat stayed steady, his mind sharp.
The building’s structure was etched in his memory. He knew the empty room below was just a void between floors, and the drop was barely over four meters. At most, he’d break his neck if he landed face-first. But in his current full-health state, any other landing would be survivable.
The fall ended in two seconds. He didn’t die—but his kerosene lamp shattered.
"Great timing", Feng Bu Jue muttered, sitting in the dark amidst debris from the upper floor. Even if the key lay inches away, he’d never find it now.
"Come to think of it, where did Ā Sè go after locking me in that zero-numbered cell? He’s making all this noise but won’t show his face", Feng Bu Jue muttered, checking his vitality bar. Only 15% lost—exactly as expected.
He stood, brushing dust off himself, when a faint jingling sound caught his ear.
"No way..." Feng Bu Jue’s lips twitched as he crouched, following the sound.
[Name: Gray Key]
[Type: Plot-Related]
[Quality: Common]
[Function: Permanently unlocks gray iron doors. Disappears after use.]
[Can be taken out of scenario]
[Background: Fell out of the shattered kerosene lamp, landing on a dusty figure.]
"Heh", Feng Bu Jue uttered with dry amusement.
As soon as the key entered his inventory, a system prompt chimed: [A door somewhere has opened.]
"Alright... No illumination device left. Guess I’ll have to head back to the basement levels", Feng Bu Jue grumbled, pulling out his iron bar.
The room was empty, so he extended the bar, sliding it along the walls until he found the door within seconds.
Using his memory of the building’s layout, he navigated the corridor with ease—every turn and distance etched in his mind.
Humans are born with an innate fear of darkness. Narrowed vision means expanded unknowns, and as information dwindles, vigilance spikes to preserve self-preservation instincts.
In short, fear of darkness stems from the psychological need to maintain self-preservation—a fear that forces attention to even the smallest, subtlest clues in the dark.
But Feng Bu Jue felt no fear. He didn’t need its mixed blessings.
With his memory of the environment and sharp imagination, he could walk confidently even in pitch black.
A minute later, he reached the storage room. He pushed inside and strode directly toward the large door leading to the basement levels 1F.
The system restriction had lifted. Feng Bu Jue turned the handle easily, the corridor’s light flooding his vision.
As he descended the stairs, he pulled out all six keys, gripping them tightly.
The key vanished as the lock clicked open, but a prompt stopped him: [Red Iron Door hasn't been opened yet].
"Oh... Need to follow an order, huh?" Feng Bu Jue decided to unlock all six doors at once.
A minute later, the final key vanished, and a system prompt appeared: [Current task completed. Main quest updated.]
The old task—[Explore ground floor 1F, collect red, yellow, blue, black, white, and gray keys, then return to basement levels 1F to unlock six iron doors]—was checked off. The new one read: [In the order of red, yellow, blue, black, white, gray, explore basement levels 1F’s six rooms.]
"Alright, let’s see what pranks you two are pulling", Feng Bu Jue said, approaching the red iron door and turning the handle.
He paused at the threshold. The room glowed crimson, but no light source was visible.
He extended his iron bar to test the room—only for a sudden arm to shoot out from the side, snatch the bar, and yank it violently inward.
Caught off guard, Feng Bu Jue released the bar to avoid being pulled in.
Here’s the thing: Feng Bu Jue’s hands were equipped with both gear and clothing. His gear was [Spider Silk Glove], while his clothing was a pair of dark leather gloves. Normally, he displayed his bare hands, switching to clothing only when needed—since he thought the spider silk glove’s appearance was too awkward.
But as long as the spider silk glove was active in his gear, its effect worked. And what was that special effect? Let me remind you—[Can adhere to objects].
That tiny detail sealed his fate. The moment he let go, the glove’s adhesive effect kicked in, dragging him forward along with the bar.
Feng Bu Jue reacted instantly. As he stumbled inside, he activated Spirit Sense Body Technique and drew his pipe wrench. The sudden boost in physical prowess gave him the edge to adjust his stance.
He lunged forward, handspringing ahead with a single push, flipping forward to land upright, now facing the attacker head-on.
He’d expected another synthetic monster, but the figure was human—a man in his early thirties in a military-style uniform. His right arm—the one that had grabbed the iron bar—was a mechanical limb.
The man’s expression twisted at the sight of Feng Bu Jue. "You monster... come to kill me? I won’t let you..."
"Wait!" Feng Bu Jue raised a hand. "I don’t want to fight." He eyed the broken iron bar on the ground, thinking: This guy’s combat power’s off the charts. That mechanical arm’s tougher than my pipe wrench.
"Hmph... Don’t want to fight..." The man sneered, charging forward with a stomp. "What a joke! You think I’d believe you?!"
But Feng Bu Jue kept his Spirit Sense Body Technique active. Seeing the man attack without hesitation, he had no choice but to engage.
(End of Chapter)
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