Chapter 1 What's Most Frightening in a High-Difficulty Dungeon

What's most frightening in a high-difficulty dungeon isn't a powerful enemy, but an unknown mechanism.

Just like now.

Most of the time, as long as you figure out the mechanism of the dungeon, all that's left is a powerful enemy, and you just need to deal with it.

The Yaoguang Statue possessed the Zhanxian Flying Knife (斩仙飞刀), so powerful that it could instantly kill any of them, but wasn't it still slain by the team's strength?

They could fight even if they encountered a level-nine main tomb, but if they couldn't figure out the dungeon's mechanism, they might be defeated one by one and ultimately wiped out as a team.

Zhang Yuanqing didn't even know who the enemy was right now, nor the reason for his teammates' bizarre disappearance. He was completely in the dark, not knowing where to direct his efforts.

He forced himself to calm down, thinking, "With their level, they have enough strength to deal with the crisis, and they won't be in danger in the short term."

"Before that, figuring out the mechanism of this level will turn things around." Zhang Yuanqing thought quickly.

"We must have triggered the dungeon's mechanism, which caused the bizarre disappearances. Xiahou Aotian disappeared when the ghost marriage procession passed by, and the others disappeared after separating from me. Perhaps, it's not them who disappeared, but me."

"My scout Yin Corpse (阴尸) also disappeared inexplicably, but the Yin Corpse didn't see the ghost marriage procession, so the trigger for the disappearance mechanism isn't the ghost marriage procession."

Analyzing this far, Zhang Yuanqing vaguely came to a conclusion: what triggered the disappearance was entering this area.

When they entered this place, they had already triggered the mechanism of the second level, but why Xiahou Aotian disappeared first, and why the Yin Corpse disappeared faster than his teammates, these details hadn't been clarified yet.

Zhang Yuanqing landed lightly, dispersed the miniature sun behind his head, and deactivated the Raging Sun God state.

At this time, because it had devoured too much Yin energy and Sun God power, the Devouring Heaven Beast's abdomen was bulging, it stopped running, waiting to activate the second state after fifteen minutes.

Zhang Yuanqing, wearing the Devouring Heaven Beast, which was already full and didn't worry about rebelling against its master again, walked towards the golden-roofed hall not far away. The housing area had already been checked, and he wanted to explore the golden-roofed hall.

Although it might trigger a crisis in the hall, which was a bit dangerous alone, it was also the only way to quickly find a way to rescue his teammates.

Dense black smoke filled the air, obscuring vision and clouding the senses.

Zhang Yuanqing cautiously groped forward, took a dozen steps, and suddenly heard a call from behind.

"Yuanzi, why are you here?" Zhang Yuanqing was stunned. It was Chen Shu's voice.

The next second, someone grabbed his arm from behind and said angrily, "You're hiding here again!"

Zhang Yuanqing felt a chill in his heart, instinctively turned around, and threw a punch behind him.

Along with his turn, the black smoke-shrouded environment turned into a summer dusk, the sun hanging in the west, fiery clouds covering half the sky, magnificent and majestic.

He was sitting under a locust tree outside the village, punching Chen Shu in the stomach.

Chen Shu, who was more than ten years younger, frowned and slapped Zhang Yuanqing to the ground with a backhand, angrily saying, "You don't listen when I talk nicely, do you have to be beaten to know fear?"

Zhang Yuanqing's face was burning, and he looked down at his fist in disbelief, thin and small. He looked around at his white work shirt, goose-yellow shorts, and a pair of Double Star sneakers with rubber studs on the bottom.

How could I be here? His mind was in a mess, unable to think calmly, like a state after being drunk.

Chen Shu's scolding echoed in his ears, "I'm going to be transferred to work in Songhai city tomorrow. If you don't want to live with your grandparents, then stay here alone. I'm leaving today, I can't be bothered to take care of you."

After saying that, she turned and left. After a dozen steps, seeing that Zhang Yuanqing hadn't followed, she was furious, strode forward and slapped him, grabbing the back of his neck and leaving.

Zhang Yuanqing remembered that after his father died, Chen Shu planned to leave the town and return to Songhai to work.

But he didn't want to leave. He had grown up in the town since he was a child. He had his playmates and familiar neighbors here, and the big locust tree where his father often brought him to cool off. These were all filled with his father's aura.

Zhang Yuanqing wailed loudly, struggling desperately under his mother's suppression.

At this moment, his heart began to beat wildly, "thump, thump, thump," each beat more intense than the last, his chest rising and falling with the beating.

But Zhang Yuanqing suddenly stopped his actions, his pupils dilated, and he fell into a daze.

A few seconds later, his eyes regained their brilliance, deep and calm, wise and bright.

"Sigh, Chen Shu is so annoying even in the illusion..." Zhang Yuanqing waved his hand gently, and Chen Shu, the sunset, the locust tree, and the village, all dissipated, returning to the black smoke-filled Shushan Southern Garden.

He had just been pulled into an illusion.

The illusion came from his heart, one of his unhappiest childhood memories. Fortunately, the Illusion God's Heart was too special, giving him a "reminder," coupled with the characteristics of the Night Wanderer profession, allowing him to quickly break free from the illusion.

So, it seems that the others should also be in illusions. Logically speaking, if their consciousness is pulled into an illusion, their bodies should still remain in place.

But Zhang Yuanqing didn't see his teammates' figures.

At this time, the golden-roofed hall was less than ten meters away from him, only a blurry outline visible in the black smoke.

He raised his hand, and a ball of golden light lit up in his palm. The clear sunlight was like a torch, and the surrounding black smoke quickly retreated.

Although it wasn't as effective as the Devouring Heaven Beast, "Sunrise," and "Raging Sun God" combo in diluting the black smoke on a large scale, it was enough for "illumination."

Using the golden sunlight, Zhang Yuanqing concentrated and looked, under the eaves of the golden-roofed hall, hung a plaque, with upright regular script writing: Zhengqi Hall (Hall of Righteousness)!

Zhang Yuanqing put on his Purple-Gold Armor, wore the Golden Dragon Shield on his right arm, held up the golden flame in his left arm, and stepped over the high threshold into the hall.

The size and layout of this hall were no different from the Yaoguang Hall. On the high base, stood a handsome man with a flowing beard, wearing a flowing robe and carrying a sword on his back.

The black smoke in the hall was so dense that even the golden flame seemed to be covered with a layer of dark veil, hazy and blurry, the illumination range less than ten meters.

Author: Mai Bao Xiao Lang Jun