Chapter 16 Fear Itself

In the darkness, Honghu waited anxiously.

From his perspective, Tianma Xingkong, Feng Bujue, and Atobe were all standing beneath the hanging corpse, holding up their flashlights and remaining motionless.

Clearly, Feng Bujue's guess had once again proven correct. This monster actually possessed some kind of area-of-effect control skill.

Fortunately, Honghu hadn't gone with them; otherwise… a total annihilation might have occurred.

Time ticked by, and the pressure was entirely on Honghu.

Suddenly, a system prompt rang in his ear: [Team member: Atobe Shoushou, has died.]

Almost at the same time as the voice prompt, Atobe turned into a white light and vanished…

"Sigh… looks like it's time to improvise…" Honghu sighed as he raised his flashlight and looked around.

In this isolated situation, he was also in danger. Who knew what lurked in the surrounding darkness… So he needed to check his surroundings before taking action.

"Well… let's try attacking once and see…" After preparing himself, Honghu placed the flashlight on the ground, took out his weapon, and nocked an arrow.

After a brief aiming period, a light arrow shot out…

Honghu's archery specialization was already at the A level, and he was using a bow-type weapon (more controllable than a gun). At this distance, hitting a stationary target was guaranteed.

A second later, the light arrow streaked through the air and struck the corpse squarely in the chest.

However… the arrow didn't stay in the corpse's body; it passed right through it…

"Hmm?" Honghu paused slightly, his eyes widened, and after a moment, he mused, "A phantom?"

His deduction was correct. Using simple elimination, one could reach that conclusion… Light arrows were effective against both physical and spiritual bodies. Excluding those two possibilities, the remaining possibility was that the corpse was just an illusion.

"Hmph… playing tricks, are we…" Honghu snorted coldly, then re-nocked an arrow, aiming at the rope above the hanging corpse.

Chi—another arrow flew out, and this time… the light arrow successfully hit its target.

With just a slight graze, the rope snapped. As the rope broke, the corpse hanging below also vanished suddenly.

In the same second, Tianma Xingkong shuddered all over and jumped backward, muttering incoherently. After landing, he quickly adopted a fighting stance, looking around nervously.

"Oh? It's gone?" Feng Bujue seemed surprisingly calm. He turned around, looked at Little Ma and Honghu, and then glanced at the game menu. "Hmm… Atobe's dead…"

"Just… just now, those…" Tianma Xingkong's fear hadn't subsided. His face was pale, and he looked at Jue-ge with a slightly flustered expression. "...What was that all about?"

"Don't panic; it's all an illusion." Feng Bujue replied casually, then turned his head and shouted to Honghu in the distance, "Honghu, we're okay now."

"Hold on!" Honghu didn't believe them rashly. He remained where he was and shouted back, "Are you sure?"

His concern wasn't unreasonable. What if this scene was also part of a trap?

"Well…" Feng Bujue said, turning around and looking up at the severed rope, "I'm not really sure…"

No sooner said than done… Before the words faded, Jue-ge stepped forward and leaped upward.

In a flash, he firmly gripped the swaying severed rope and yanked downward with all his strength…

"Ah—" A wail suddenly rang out from above. Although it was just a cry, Tianma Xingkong immediately recognized the voice… it was the guy hanging from the rope.

Little Ma was immediately startled and raised his flashlight to scan upward.

When they had looked before, the other end of the rope was tied to a protruding crystal above. But now, shining the light directly on it, they found that the outer edge of the crystal pillar… actually had a strange creature clinging to it. And that "rope" was extending from the creature's mouth…

"Aiya ya ya… Okay! Stop pulling! Let go!" The creature said several times. Its tone wasn't sinister at all at this moment; it sounded quite friendly.

"I'll let go," Feng Bujue said, "if you come down."

"No, you're up to no good!" the other party replied.

"Come down," Jue-ge said again. "I promise not to beat you to death."

"I don't believe you!" The guy above shouted, "You mad zhi (because its tongue was being pulled, its pronunciation was not accurate)!"

"No, I'm not a madman…" Feng Bujue said in a very indifferent tone, and then… suddenly grinned, grabbed the "rope" with both hands, and began to swing his body wildly. "...I'm Tarzan! Aaaah—aaah~ aaah~ aaah~ aaah…"

Jue-ge imitated the trademark roar of the animated Tarzan (the protagonist of the novel *Tarzan of the Apes* by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs), swinging back and forth in the air…

And the strange creature on the crystal let out a series of cries in almost the same tone…

This scene left Tianma Xingkong and Honghu, who were watching, somewhat at a loss… but Honghu quickly regained his senses and walked toward them in large strides. Because Jue-ge's behavior at least declared one thing—the danger had indeed been eliminated.

In the end, the guy above came down. If it hadn't, its "tongue" probably would have been pulled out by the roots.

"Let me introduce you all. This is one of the four guards of Chomolungma Island… the Heart of Fear." After Feng Bujue stood still, he pointed to the strange creature that had fallen to the ground and said.

It turned out that… the Heart of Fear didn't look like a "heart." Overall, it looked more like a jet-black, two-meter-long gecko.

"Is it the one who killed Atobe?" Honghu frowned and asked.

"Saying 'killed' isn't accurate…" Feng Bujue replied. "Atobe died because his scare value was overloaded. In other words… he was so scared that he popped out of the script."

"Oh… those illusions were created by this guy?" Little Ma belatedly chimed in.

The Heart of Fear then flipped over on the ground and glared at Jue-ge. "Can you let go of my se-tongue?"

"Of course." Feng Bujue immediately released the "rope" and added, "See, I'm a man of my word."

"Really? So you're really a 'man'?" The Heart of Fear retracted its tongue into its mouth and replied in a mocking tone, "Then I can only suggest you go see a shrink…"

"I have. Several top psychologists and neurologists even held a joint consultation." Feng Bujue replied.

The Heart of Fear lowered its voice. "So… you're still in treatment?"

"No, the treatment ended a long time ago," Jue-ge said again.

"Uh… why did you give up treatment?" the Heart of Fear asked.

"Because after a while, those psychologists and neurologists also became patients," Feng Bujue shrugged.

"Forgive me for interrupting this god-like conversation…" Honghu couldn't listen anymore, so he interjected. "Can either of you explain what just happened…"

"Does this even need explaining?" the Heart of Fear said. "I just found a place to put down some bait and hunt, as usual, and then I met you guys."

"Oh… so the situation is… you ambushed us and killed one of our companions…" Honghu recited. "And now… you've fallen into our hands."

"Yep," the Heart of Fear replied.

"I really admire your straightforward and open-minded attitude…" Honghu said with narrowed eyes.

"Alright! Since you've admitted it, let's settle our grudges and settle the score!" After a few minutes, Tianma Xingkong had basically shaken off the shadow of fear and returned to normal. So, he took two steps forward, pointed at the gecko on the ground, and shouted, "You scared me for so long just now! It's a good thing I'm brave and didn't die. Now it's my turn! Feel the hero's fury…"

"Don't get impulsive." Feng Bujue raised his hand to stop Little Ma. "It's useless to kill it… Atobe won't be revived." He paused for a moment. "Besides… it's not really 'it' who was scaring you; it was you scaring yourself."

"Huh?" Tianma Xingkong was stunned. "What do you mean?"

"Let me explain," the Heart of Fear chimed in. "Earlier, when you came over, I activated my ability—'Source of Tremor'—on you. After that, what you saw, heard, touched, etc… basically all depended on your imagination…" It shifted its steps, pacing back and forth on the ground. "For example… when you approached the 'bait' I put out, you were very concerned about his face. So, you started to imagine… the scenes that might appear next, the changes that might happen, and so on… Of course, these are just catalysts… The truly terrifying things are the things you don't even dare to think about… those things only exist in your subconscious. That's what the Source of Tremor will guide out."

Having said that, the Heart of Fear raised its flat head and looked at Little Ma. "You're lucky. The terrifying memories in your subconscious are relatively limited, which restricts the space for imagination, so you didn't die. Heh… the other kid was different…"

"In short… Atobe has watched more horror movies and horror novels than you have, so his mind can conjure up richer scare scenarios." Feng Bujue was worried that Little Ma wouldn't understand, so he immediately added two sentences of explanation.

"So what! No matter what the principle is, you're the one who activated the ability!" Tianma Xingkong shouted at the Heart of Fear.

"Tch… I didn't force you to walk into my ability range. You could have detoured or gone back," the Heart of Fear retorted. "Who can you blame for walking into the trap?"

"Hey! So you're saying… we deserved it?" Tianma Xingkong asked.

"Don't be impatient…" Feng Bujue advised in a deep voice. "Actually… we do have some responsibility." His tone was very calm, making people willing to listen. "This place can easily trigger a team wipe (dialogue between players about the game itself; NPCs of the Heart of Fear's level can't hear it; it will be blocked by the system), so… the system gave us a hint in the previous plot."

Jue-ge paused for two seconds, then repeated Imitation Soul's advice: "'If you encounter the Heart of Fear, it's best to run away as soon as possible. You humans can't compete with it.'" He shrugged, adding, "At first, I wondered if the Heart of Fear used its 'ability' to attack us, could we really run? If we could run, wouldn't Mimic Hand's 'Rock-Paper-Scissors Domain' be unnecessary? Heh… now I understand. He meant for us not to actively walk into the trap."

"So that's it?" Tianma Xingkong asked, seemingly still a little unwilling.

"Hey~ As a hero, you have to know how to forgive others." Feng Bujue lectured like he was teaching a child. "I suggest you watch more of Kwan Tak-hing's *Wong Fei-hung* series. That's called benevolence. As long as people are willing to repent and say 'Master Wong, I was wrong,' he will give them a way out…"

"I'm not wrong," the Heart of Fear interrupted before Jue-ge could finish speaking. "Even if I kill all of you, it's within my duties and powers."

Silence… descended…

Tianma Xingkong and Honghu suddenly put on sympathetic expressions and silently stared at the Heart of Fear.

"Wh-what are you doing?" The gecko's back suddenly felt a chill.

"Heh…" At this moment, Feng Bujue curled up one side of his mouth, twisted his head with an evil smile, and stared at the Heart of Fear with an incomparably cold gaze…

…………

Fifteen minutes later.

"Sigh~ No zuo no die, this saying is absolutely true." Tianma Xingkong smacked his lips, chewing on the unique-tasting "gecko" meat, and said.

"Just hearing the name, I thought it would be a sinister and terrifying guy, but it's so straightforward." Honghu also ate the grilled meat and sighed. "So pitiful."

"You'll lose your integrity if you say those lines without wiping your mouth." Feng Bujue complained while stuffing a juicy strip of meat into his mouth.

At this time, the three of them had already built a fire. They were sitting on the spot, using the Heart of Fear's corpse to make barbecue…

It had indeed been two and a half hours since their last meal. Feng Bujue believed that replenishing food every 150 minutes was very important; as long as this rhythm wasn't broken, the consumption of physical strength could be maintained in the normal script.

Another thing to mention was… Before Feng Bujue killed the Heart of Fear, he pretended not to want to make things difficult for it and engaged in some negotiations.

In short… he used "you killed one of our companions" as a bargaining chip to negotiate with the Heart of Fear, successfully extracting the method to reach the Prison of Despair.

After achieving his goal, Feng Bujue made his move… followed by killing, cutting, and grilling in one go, with a side of blood-drinking play, but let's not mention that…

All in all, after paying the price of one teammate, the main quest finally had some clues.

The remaining three took a short rest. With enough blood and meat, they set off again.

They didn't rest for long this time, partly because it was dark and partly because solving the Heart of Fear hadn't consumed much of their physical strength.

Feng Bujue's analysis in the sacrificial hall was correct. Among the four guards, the strongest was Imitation Soul, and the other guys weren't worth mentioning at all. Although the guards were each endowed with a rather heaven-defying special ability (Mimic Hand's Rock-Paper-Scissors Domain, Imitation Soul's mimicry transformation, Heart of Fear's Source of Tremor), apart from that, Imitation Soul's innate racial ability was undoubtedly the strongest.

"Ah!" After the three of them set off again, Tianma Xingkong suddenly exclaimed and turned to look at Jue-ge. "I almost forgot to ask… how did you survive the 'Source of Tremor'?"

"Tch… Such a start… I thought you were going to ask something, it's just that…" Feng Bujue replied weakly.

"I'm also curious." Honghu chimed in from the side. "Speaking of imagination and memory reserves for various horror elements… you can be said to be a grandmaster. Facing your brain hole, even I willingly admit defeat…" He paused, his expression changed slightly. "You should be the least likely person to survive the Source of Tremor, right?"

"Oh? You think so?" Feng Bujue replied calmly.

Honghu continued, "Yeah… and why did the Heart of Fear say you were a madman? Judging from the conversation between you two, you must have had many exchanges in the illusion, right?"

"Heh… it's not really a big deal." Feng Bujue used a piece of nonsense to buy himself about two seconds. During these two seconds, he had already concocted a set of statements in his mind, half true and half false, which should be able to cover up the fact that he had no fear. "Because when I see abnormal situations, my first reaction is not panic or fear, but to think about the reason."

As he spoke, he raised his right hand and tapped his temple with his index finger. "This habit is deeply rooted. Even if the other party constantly guides out the things I fear, as long as I can maintain rationality and calmness, I can contend with it in the illusion." He paused. "Let me give you a simple example… One day you wake up, brush your teeth, and turn on the faucet, only to find that shit is flowing out of it…"

"Can you change the example?" Tianma Xingkong interrupted.

"Alright, blood is flowing out," Feng Bujue changed his words. "At this time, what would you do?"

"Rationally analyze the situation and tell myself… I'm dreaming, and then try to wake up." Honghu said as he thought. "Hmm… if I really can't wake up, then I'll use blood to brush my teeth and wash my face, pretending that this is water anyway, it's all an illusion."

Feng Bujue nodded with a smile, but said, "Wrong."

"Huh?" Honghu was stunned.

"You're thinking too much," Feng Bujue said. "If I encountered that situation, my thinking would instinctively make one reaction."

"What is it?"

"Turn off the faucet."

"Hmm…" Honghu and Tianma Xingkong both fell into thought.