Chapter 1 A Grave Situation

Having searched for a long time in this vicinity, Nie Yan thought that since the mark on the treasure map was so large, it should be easy to find, but after a full thirty minutes, he hadn't found anything, which made him very frustrated.

Looking towards the hillside on the left, some green light spots seemed to flicker in the darkness.

Could it be over there?

Nie Yan remembered that he had searched that area just now, but besides a scattering of mounds, he hadn't found anything.

“I'll check again,” Nie Yan thought, and walked towards the direction of those green flames.

A few minutes later, Nie Yan arrived at the scattered mounds, and only after getting closer did he realize that this was a mass burial ground. The ground was very damp and muddy, scattered with stinking, decaying corpses, and some crooked tombstones were scattered in between. Wisps of green ghost fire floated in the weeds.

Being in the midst of it felt like being in a scene from a horror movie.

Could this be the tombstone point marked on the map? The Lich King's tomb shouldn't be this shabby, right?

Although somewhat doubtful, Nie Yan still entered this mass burial ground and searched all the way through.

Just as Nie Yan entered this cemetery, a powerful dark aura instantly spread out. He saw the corpses struggling in the mud and slowly crawling towards Nie Yan.

Just as a corpse approached to within two or three yards of Nie Yan, Nie Yan lifted his foot and, with a snap, directly kicked the corpse's head off.

Just a Level 160 common monster!

The corpse lost its support and collapsed into the mud.

Nie Yan walked straight ahead and found a relatively intact tombstone. The gray stone had been corroded and weathered beyond recognition. Several words were written on it in ancient undead language, making them unrecognizable. In the upper right corner of the tombstone was a blood-colored skull and a thumb-sized groove.

Could this be it?

This was an open wilderness, with no buildings except for a few graves.

While dealing with the corpses crawling towards him, Nie Yan searched the official website for keywords related to Lich King Yin Suo's treasure, but he didn't find anything new, which made Nie Yan a little irritable.

Looking at the groove on the tombstone, Nie Yan suddenly thought of something else. He still had a finger bone of Lich King Yin Suo in his backpack!

With a flash of inspiration, Nie Yan took out the finger bone of Lich King Yin Suo, glanced at the groove, and found that the size was just right.

Nie Yan put the finger bone of Lich King Yin Suo in it. After the finger bone was inserted into the groove, a dazzling ray of light instantly lit up.

At this moment, a series of words flashed through Nie Yan's mind.

"You have opened the tomb of Lich King Yin Suo. Before his death, Lich King Yin Suo cast a Nightmare Curse. Anyone who dares to approach his tomb will suffer the most painful curse, with all attributes reduced by 80% for one month. After casting the curse, the ten fingers of Lich King Yin Suo broke and scattered around the world. Obtaining any one of the finger bones will open his tomb. Brave or foolish tomb raider, having lost your powerful strength, do you still dare to continue?"

Sharp, piercing laughter lingered in Nie Yan's ears, as if mocking him to the extreme.

Nie Yan could feel a dark force falling on him, rapidly draining the strength from his body, making him suddenly feel much weaker.

Looking at his own status, there was indeed a Nightmare Curse state on it.

An 80% reduction in attributes was something that no player could bear.

Damn it, this curse lasted for a month and couldn't be removed, which made Nie Yan a little depressed. This meant that he couldn't do anything for a month. It would be even more troublesome if he encountered players from the dark faction. After the attributes were reduced by 80%, Nie Yan was not even as good as an ordinary player.

Just as Nie Yan was thinking, the ground in the open space in front of him suddenly collapsed, revealing a deep pit. This was an underground cave, with a staircase leading down.

The violent shaking almost made Nie Yan unable to stand still. Finally managing to stand firm, he saw this deep cave and hesitated. Should he continue?

With his attributes reduced by 80%, even if he encountered a Level 100 elite, Nie Yan might not be able to face it.

Just as Nie Yan was hesitating, a zombie crawled towards him, close at hand.

Like before, it was a Level 160 common monster, but now, Nie Yan had to treat it with caution.

This zombie was rotten all over, exuding bursts of stench. Its face was a mess of rot, with only one eye left, making it particularly terrifying.

Nie Yan waved the Bloodstained Dagger in his hand, and with a thrust, it hit the zombie's head with a *poof*. A damage number of over 5,000 floated up from its head. It had nearly 160,000 health in total.

Normally, Nie Yan could even kill it with one hit, but now, Nie Yan could only deal a little over 6,000 damage.

The zombie roared angrily and swung its arm down.

Nie Yan jumped back, but he was still half a beat too slow. The zombie slapped him.

With a *bang*, a damage number of over 3,000 floated up from Nie Yan's head.

Seeing the zombie pounce again, Nie Yan quickly performed a Backstab, brushing past the zombie and stabbing the dagger into its back.

The zombie swept its right hand across, and Nie Yan couldn't dodge in time, being hit on the back.

His speed had suddenly decreased so much that Nie Yan couldn't adapt for a moment.

Damn it! Nie Yan couldn't help but curse angrily. With his speed suddenly reduced so much, how could he fight! His movements were completely uncoordinated, even worse than these trash zombies.

Nie Yan exchanged blows with the zombie for a while and finally became somewhat familiar with his current speed, which was not much faster than when he was at Level 60 or 70.

After spending about a minute, Nie Yan finally killed the zombie.

Many more zombies came over from the side, so Nie Yan quickly retreated, raised the Headless Horseman Doro's Repeating Crossbow, pulled the trigger, and shot the zombies while running.

With his attributes reduced so much, should he still enter the Lich King Yin Suo's tomb?

After thinking about it for a long time, Nie Yan decided to go in and take a look. Since he had come here and suffered a curse for nothing, it would be too much of a loss to turn back like this.

Nie Yan jumped into the Lich King's tomb and walked down the steps step by step. Looking back, he saw the zombies gathered around the tomb, but they didn't dare to come down.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself down slowly, Nie Yan looked deep into the tomb. The lights in the distance flickered on and off, and the cold and damp atmosphere was chilling to the bone. In front of him was a tunnel, about three yards high, with bones piled up on both sides, leaving only a small path leading forward. These skeletons were still wearing various broken pieces of equipment, indicating they were adventurers in life.

"Welcome to the tomb of Lich King Yin Suo, welcome to challenge the game for the brave..."

A sharp, faint voice lingered in Nie Yan's ears, accompanied by a playful giggle.

A game for the brave, Nie Yan thought coldly, glancing at the ground. Did they think these corpses would scare him away?

Nie Yan prepared to respond to any crisis and took a step forward. He heard the wall next to him shake, and when he looked up, he saw dozens of thick wooden stakes suddenly stabbing down from above.

Just as these round logs were about to fall, Nie Yan leaped five or six yards away. He heard a series of *booms* behind him, and everything in the area where he had been standing was crushed.

That was close!

Just as he landed, hundreds of arrows shot towards Nie Yan in a dense barrage.

The area up to ten yards ahead was completely covered.

However, there seemed to be some gaps between these arrows.

Transform into a Gnome!

Nie Yan's body quickly shrank. As soon as the transformation was complete, he immediately activated the Wildcat Transformation skill, further shrinking his body and turning into a small wildcat, increasing his speed by 300% and nimbly dodging.

*Dudududu, dudududu*, the ground where he ran was covered with arrows.

If he had tried to dodge these arrows in human form, he would probably be covered in arrows and become a hedgehog by now.

After sprinting forward for fifty or sixty yards, the ground suddenly shook. Looking ahead, he saw a circular boulder rolling down the tunnel, getting faster and faster. It was so large that it almost filled the tunnel.

No wonder the whole way had been uphill!

Seeing this boulder approaching like a ferocious monster, Nie Yan turned and ran. He used almost all his strength. This was already his fastest speed, but the boulder behind him was still getting closer and closer, only about a yard away. The next moment, he would be crushed into a pile of mush.

Nie Yan jumped to the side and pressed himself against the corner of the rock wall, shrinking into a ball.

The boulder was round, and the tunnel was square, so some narrow spaces were left in the corners.

These spaces were not enough for a normal-sized human to pass through, but after Nie Yan transformed into a wildcat, his size was greatly reduced, allowing him to squeeze in just enough. However, the boulder roared past him, and the booming sound still made him break out in a cold sweat.

The traps here were much more terrifying than any trap he had seen before!

After traveling in the tunnel for as long as thirty minutes, Nie Yan had seen what a real trap was like, and he had almost been killed directly by these traps several times.

Having survived by the skin of his teeth, Nie Yan finally made it through the tunnel. He now understood what the game for the brave was all about. Nie Yan estimated that the traps in this tunnel were enough to kill over 99% of the high-level players who reached the Lich King's tomb. Those who could get through could only be said to have good luck.

This was just the beginning!

The Gnome Transformation and Wildcat Transformation skills had both ended, and Nie Yan returned to his original form. After upgrading the Gnome Transformation and Wildcat Transformation skills, the cooldown time was still as long as six hours. There was still a long way to go ahead, and he didn't know what kind of situation he would encounter. After careful consideration, Nie Yan stayed in place and waited for all his skills to cool down first.