Life Game In Other World
Chapter 736: Remains of the Departed (Seeking Monthly Passes for the Big - )

Chapter 736: Chapter 736: Remains of the Departed (Seeking Monthly Passes for the Big Chapter)

Feiya looked at the three paths before her.

The middle one was the main path, and looking far into the distance, one could vaguely see the doors of some rooms.

The road on the right was the second widest, and one could also make out some smaller doors that seemed to lead to more secluded rooms.

As for the left path, it was the narrowest of the three and the most remote, with only smooth walls, appearing to lead to some indescribable depths.

She turned her head and looked at He Ao, "What’s the problem with the left path? It seems the most dangerous, doesn’t it?"

"Hmm?"

He Ao glanced at her and asked softly, "What is our fundamental purpose right now?"

"To find the ’Underground Palace’s’ secrets, to look for the reason why the Underground Palace is close to the main world?"

Feiya pondered and answered.

"So, where are these secrets and reasons most likely to be hidden?"

He Ao continued to ask.

"The deepest part of the Underground Palace?"

Feiya looked at He Ao, "Considering the current situation, the deeper we go into the Underground Palace, the stronger the Transcendent power becomes—it’s capable of moving the powerful forces between two worlds, so it’s probably hidden in the deepest part of the Underground Palace, on the lowest floor."

"There’s actually another reason to think that the secrets of the Underground Palace might be hidden on the lowest level,"

He Ao took up the conversation, leading Feiya toward the left path, "Based on what we’ve deduced so far, the Underground Palace was originally used for some special purpose. Furthermore, the designers of the Palace considered its dangers from the start and designed barriers on every floor,

"On this basis, if we consider the first floor as a safe area, the further we go from the first floor, the more barriers we’ll encounter, and the greater the chances we’ll be stopped. Hence, if there were any ’dangerous’ items originally in the ’Underground Palace,’ they would likely be placed on the floor farthest from the first level—the lowest level."

He paused, "At this point, we’ve found our secondary goal derived from the fundamental purpose—’finding the lowest level or the deepest part of the Underground Palace,’ because that’s where we might find something to resolve our principal issue,

"However, the staircase between the third and second underground floors differs—here, there is no corridor leading to the next floor, just one corridor going to the third basement level.

"This suggests two possibilities: the third floor might be the last one, so one corridor is enough. Or perhaps, there is a fourth underground floor, but the pathway to it is located somewhere else."

"So," Feiya seemed to begin understanding, and she looked at the shadowy path ahead, "Could this road possibly lead to the fourth level of the Underground Palace? But why?"

"If we assume that there is a fourth floor, think about it—why is the pathway to the fourth floor not adjacent to the third floor’s?"

He Ao walked ahead along the path, peering into the darkness ahead as he casually asked.

"For safety?"

Feiya thought it over and continued,

"If there’s a barrier at the entrance to the fourth-floor corridor, and another barrier at the entrance to the third-floor corridor, then to travel from the fourth floor to the second, one would have to pass through two barriers. This is more ’safe’ than the design on the second floor, where the second and third floors’ staircases are next to each other, and there’s only one barrier between them."

"And this ’safety’ comes at the expense of some convenience,"

He Ao used his flashlight to glance at the bloodstains on the walls of the ’alleyway’ they were in,

"So, the corridor to the fourth floor won’t be too far from the third floor’s corridor, to prevent the workers headed to the fourth floor from having to walk too much,

"This path is the closest to the corridor exit we just came from, and there are no other rooms arranged along either side of the road, so it would not cause congestion for the workers of the third and fourth floors and affect the efficiency of transportation,

"From a design perspective, this is the most likely of the three paths to lead to the fourth floor’s corridor."

In fact, He Ao had another speculation.

If there really were a fourth level in the Underground Palace, the ’barrier’ of the fourth floor’s corridor probably wouldn’t be as simple as those on the previous three levels, which were just hallways full of gates.

Otherwise, the designer would just need to design an extra-long gated passageway and then open a gateway to the third floor in the middle, instead of creating extra trouble and making the fourth floor’s workers take a detour.

"Impressive!"

Feiya gave He Ao a thumbs up.

Having clarified the current situation, she turned her attention back to the shadowy path ahead. They were moving quickly, and by now they had traveled some distance down this road.

The silence ahead was still pitch-black, as if some terrifying beast lay lurking in the endless darkness, its massive jaws wide open, waiting to devour them.

Holding the flashlight, she shone it forward and lowered her voice, "How much longer do we have to walk before we can..."

As soon as she began to speak, she saw He Ao gesture for her to be quiet with a gentle shushing motion.

Then He Ao pointed to his ear, signaling her to listen carefully.

Both of them lightened their footsteps simultaneously.

Creak—Creak—

When everything fell silent, from the depths of darkness ahead, there faintly came a delicate, gnawing sound.

And as the two quietly listened to this sound, it abruptly ceased, turning into a hush silence.

The pair exchanged a glance, slowed their pace further, and proceeded forward with caution.

A few dozen meters on, a puddle with a grayish glow of fresh crimson blood appeared before them.

At the center of this bloodstain lay a disfigured monster in human form, its chest cavity gouged open, its innards hollowed out, and its limbs showing signs of being torn by some sharp object.

It had a somewhat human head covered in fierce hair, now with its eyes wide open, revealing a final trace of ferocity.

"It died not long ago."

Feiya looked down at the corpse and whispered hastily.

"Hmm."

He Ao nodded slightly; he scanned the surrounding area but did not see any obvious bloodstains or footprints.

One in front of the other, they continued on.

After another dozen steps, an open sluice gate appeared on the wall to the left of their path.

Both paused simultaneously.

He Ao looked at Feiya, pointed to himself, then to the sluice gate.

Feiya swiftly nodded.

They had their duties assigned; He Ao would check inside, while Feiya would watch the outside.

Quickly reaching the sluice gate, He Ao shone his flashlight inside.

This was not a passageway but a small room of about thirty square meters, densely packed with simple blood-stained metal chairs, and at the very back, a large storage cabinet with several doors, all open and empty.

In the corner of the room, behind a door that was ajar, there was a small chamber with a blood-smeared toilet inside.

While He Ao observed the room, Feiya stood with her back to him, scanning the surroundings with her flashlight.

She swept the light around the floor below, finding nothing, then lifted the flashlight thoughtfully.

In that instant, a huge, grim human face dropped from the ceiling above her and suddenly appeared before her eyes.

"Ah!"

She screamed instinctively.

A pair of claws, spiked like an orangutan’s palms, suddenly stretched forward, aiming for her throat.

Though startled, she did not panic but quickly stepped back, smashing the flashlight forward to briefly block the two claws while reaching toward her waist.

In that fraction of a second, a flash of sword light shot out from behind her, striking the creature on the ceiling and nailing it to the wall instantly.

Only then did Feiya clearly see what the creature looked like.

It was an upside-down being, with wide, flat feet like fins, clawed hands, a narrow head, pale cheeks like that of a long-dead person, its whole body covered in pitch-black fur—a humanoid monster.

Impaled on the wall, fresh blood with a gray shimmer streamed down from its wound.

At that moment, He Ao emerged from behind Feiya, glanced at the creature, quickly approached, and pulled out the bone sword.

Then he turned and walked toward Feiya, "This must be the one we heard earlier."

The flashlight that Feiya had thrown, which hit the creature and fell to the ground, illuminated the scene behind He Ao:

The humanoid monster slid down the wall, abruptly opened its eyes just before touching the ground, pushed itself up with its hands, and several tentacles shot out from its feet, quickly wrapping around He Ao’s neck.

"Be careful!"

Feiya stretched out her arm and shouted.

In that instant, He Ao, who had been smiling at Feiya as if totally unprepared, suddenly ducked down, sweeping his leg, his bone sword whirling through the air, shifting from a traditional grip to a reverse grip while rising sharply upwards.

The tentacles passed over his head, and before the tentacle-extending creature could react, it was knocked down by He Ao’s sweeping kick, its body toppling to the left.

But before its body had entirely fallen, a white sword light slashing diagonally upwards came straight towards it, cutting its body in half at the waist.

Immediately after, He Ao, taking advantage of the momentum from his sweeping leg, spun into a jump, sheathed his sword on his back, and retreated several meters, avoiding the splattering blood.

"Did you just..."

Feiya looked at He Ao with wide eyes, "Did you do that on purpose?"

"Hmm,"

He Ao nodded, glanced at the monster that had been cut in two on the ground, and walked towards the gate, "This guy was well-hidden, I bluffed it."

If not discussing abilities, and purely in terms of strength, this monster was actually much stronger than the snake in the second-floor corridor.

The strike He Ao had just made had flung the monster away, but it hadn’t killed it.

What was interesting, though, was that in the feigned death state, the creature’s body exhibited no signs of breathing, and its energy circuits would quiet down. The vast majority of its energy circuits would cease energy flow, making it appear truly as though it were dead.

If it were not for He Ao’s careful observation of those faintly operating energy circuits hidden inside its brain, he would have truly been deceived by this creature.

However, in its feigned death state, He Ao couldn’t see the energy gathering points of the monster, so he decided to go with the flow, led the creature to strike and found its energy gathering point to deliver a fatal blow.

"That move you just did, kind of cool."

Feiya, watching He Ao with his sword on his back walking over, went to pick up a flashlight, smiling as she spoke.

The sweep of He Ao’s leg followed by the swordplay and twirling retreat was executed with such grace, like a feather dancing in the air, nothing at all like a fight.

"Just sensible use of body movement,"

He Ao arrived in front of the gate, glanced at her and smiled, "We can have an exchange of techniques when there’s an opportunity."

Feiya’s combat instincts and skills were actually not bad; what she lacked was strength.

"That might have to wait until we’re evenly matched."

Feiya smiled, then turned around and, together with He Ao, looked into the room inside the gate, at the chairs, and with some puzzlement said, "It seems like someone has been here."

"Hmm,"

He Ao nodded and walked into the room with Feiya.

He turned on the flashlight, illuminating the corners of the room.

On the ground, there were some scattered rusted cans that seemed to have been used for storing food, and the walls were covered with dark red bloodstains.

This place too might have once witnessed a massacre.

He Ao’s gaze eventually rested on a mechanical switch behind the gate and a monitor that had gone dark.

He walked over to the monitor, groped for a button below it and pressed it.

The entire monitor lit up in an instant, displaying a night-vision view of the outside corridor.

"This is?"

Feiya had also walked up to his side by this time and looked at the monitor.

"It’s somewhat similar to the ’habitat’ where Kalin and the others are staying,"

He Ao said, reaching out to pull the switch.

Boom—

With a loud tremor and the sound of mechanical movement, the opened gate quickly closed.

Then He Ao pushed the switch back, and the closed gate slowly began to open again.

"Is this also some kind of habitat?"

Feiya turned to view the scenery behind her.

The room had no beds, just rows of densely packed chairs, and, in one corner, an ’open’ restroom.

In terms of ’habitat’, the conditions here were not comfortable.

"Maybe it’s some kind of temporary shelter,"

He Ao glanced at the gate, "Perhaps the entry to the fourth level of the Underground Palace is not far from us."

The ’refuge’ set up here might have been specifically prepared for those who managed to escape from the fourth level of the underground but could not make it to the second level in time or were unable to do so.

"Quite a few people must have hidden here before," he said.

Feiya glanced at the bloodstains on the seats.

"There are no signs of destruction on the gate."

He Ao looked at the gate and whispered, "They must have opened the door and left on their own."

Perhaps the reason for opening the door was the same as for the first level.

He picked up the flashlight, "Let’s go."

Feiya nodded, and the two of them left the room.

Stepping over the corpses and bloodstains on the ground, they continued forward for more than a dozen meters, turned a right-angled corner, and a gate torn in half lay on the ground before them.

Spotted blood and rust stains crawled tightly over the gate, the tear on the gate showed clear signs of ripping, and the top bore marks resembling handgrips as if it had been violently torn open by some humanoid creature.

Behind the gate was a deep portal, with its edges exposing destroyed mechanical structures and electronic circuits that matched the portions of the gate on the ground.

"There is a strong, very strange power inside."

Looking into the deep darkness, Feiya suddenly spoke.

"Hmm."

He Ao nodded softly.

One after the other, they passed the gate and slowly entered that deep darkness.

Until they reached the pitch-black portal.

This seemed to be a vast space, where the faint light of their flashlights could hardly illuminate the inner regions of the dark portal.

He Ao thought for a moment and slowly stepped into the portal.

And in that instant, a dazzling light suddenly lit up.

The entire pitch-black space seemed to brighten up as if illuminated by a fiery red sun.

It was a giant circular hall with a diameter of tens of meters, where lamps hanging from the ceiling lit up like a vast array of stars.

Several broken pillars supported the hall, and countless bloodstained, shattered bricks and stones were scattered on the floor.

At the end of the hall was a pitch-black circular passage that seemed to extend deep into the ground.

A muscular man with a robust physique, wearing only a pair of black shorts, stood before this passageway. A huge black broadsword was embedded behind him; his hands rested on his chest, and his eyes were tightly shut.

He appeared to be dozing off or perhaps in an eternal sleep.

His strong body was covered in various scars, with the largest one stretching from his neck to his flank, nearly severing half of his torso.

Countless tiny tentacles stretched out from his muscles, forming twisted flesh membranes that sealed his wounds and maintained the integrity of his body.

Faintly, He Ao felt that the figure standing before him was not a ’living person,’ but a ’corpse’ reanimated by distorted forces that had forced it to stand up.

On this ’corpse,’ the shadow exuded an aura familiar to He Ao.

It seemed to be the power of Martial Arts.

While He Ao was observing this ’corpse.’

The corpse also raised its head to look at him.

The muscular cadaver opened its eyes, revealing soulless sockets filled with grey mist.

Then he reached out to pull the black broadsword from behind him.

Bang—

Accompanied by a sudden explosive sound, the cadaver disappeared instantly from its position.

The cold broadsword, carrying the threat of death, slashed directly towards He Ao.

B-level!