Chapter 10 The Tunnel

Several paintings hung on the wall of the first-floor living room, most of them resembling the work of mental patients, filled with bizarre and obscure illusions. But one painting stood out as less abstract.

It depicted the interior of a narrow, rectangular tunnel with low, smooth, and white walls, uninterrupted and unadorned. The path ahead sloped downwards. It looked somewhat like... no, it was very much like a tomb. Subtle details suggested that this cave was buried deep underground. There was no visible exit in the painting, nor any artificial lighting. The artist had somehow managed to imbue the scene with an eerie, incongruous light.

Feng Bujue stared at the painting for about five seconds, his gaze seemingly frozen in place. An unknown force prevented him from speaking or moving. The next moment, darkness enveloped his vision, and he could see nothing. Soon after, when he regained the ability to move, he took out his flashlight from his backpack, turned it on, and saw that he was already inside the tunnel depicted in the painting.

He didn't understand the principles of this teleportation, nor whether Xiao Tan and Long Ge had seen him leave. But regardless, he would have to rely on his own strength to escape this place.

Behind him was a stone wall, immovable when pushed. The ceiling was low, with no apparent escape route above. Feng Bujue sighed, took out the Eyes of Hatred from his backpack, put them on, and, holding the flashlight in one hand and the pipe wrench in the other, began to walk downhill along the tunnel.

With the Jazz Dance boots on his feet, Feng Bujue wasn't worried about losing Stamina Points from exploring. He didn't care how far he had to walk. With 1100 Stamina Points, plus the equipment's effect of reducing energy consumption from walking and running, he could moonwalk all the way. Even if this place was as big as Castlevania, he was confident he could map the entire area.

After walking along the tunnel for about ten minutes, Feng Bujue's flashlight flickered a few times. He shook it, slapped the side of the barrel, and thought, *Low battery? Impossible... I didn't use it that much in the last scenario. Bad contact? Even less likely. This thing says "mAde_in_ChinA" on it. The quality is guaranteed...*

Suddenly, a strange whisper came from ahead: "Let me out..."

The voice came from about ten meters ahead of Feng Bujue. He shifted his gaze from the flashlight and looked in that direction, but the flashlight's light completely disappeared at that moment, plunging him into darkness.

Then, the flashlight flickered briefly again, just enough to illuminate a lonely white figure standing in front of him. Judging by the shape, it was a woman. She was covered in wounds, emaciated, and her white clothes were stained with blood. Because he only saw her for a short time, and due to the lighting and distance, Feng Bujue couldn't make out her face at all.

The light vanished as quickly as it appeared, and Feng Bujue's vision was once again plunged into darkness, leaving only the terrifying image on his retina. Then, he heard another mournful cry.

"Let me out!" The sound of a body hitting wood followed in the darkness, the sounds of friction and impact, and the creaking of hinges. Another extremely distant sound faintly carried over… as if someone were wailing mournfully deep within this dungeon.

About thirty seconds passed, and the flashlight returned to normal, emitting a steady beam of light.

Having encountered the scene just now, Feng Bujue not only didn't change his expression, but also sighed in relief and said, "So the flashlight wasn't broken, just a plot-induced flicker..."

At that moment, another system notification sounded: \[Side Mission Progress Updated]

Feng Bujue checked it, and the current progress of the mission \[Find all six verses of "Ghost Palace"] had become 2/6. Presumably, others had found another verse, but the specific content couldn't be seen in the mission bar.

At the same time, Wang Tanzhi and Long Aotian, who were on the first floor, were crouching next to the fireplace in the kitchen, looking at the second verse of "Ghost Palace" written on the brick wall in a coal-ash-like black substance.

\[The golden banners of the king shine bright,
Fluttering and flying on the palace roof.
All of this is but a memory of the past,
Those days of gentle breezes,
Beautiful and peaceful.
Along the white palace walls,
A dark fragrance flits away.]

"Ah... I don't understand any of it!" Wang Tanzhi had forgotten almost everything after reading it. He went to the fireplace, looked up, and stuck his head inside to check the condition of the chimney.

After getting his face covered in black, he came out and said, "Ugh... it's too narrow, there's no way to climb out."

At first, Long Aotian didn't seem to pay attention to him, and Wang Tanzhi didn't mind too much. But a few seconds later, Wang Tanzhi turned his head and found Long Aotian's expression very strange. His eyes were wide open, and his mouth was moving as if he were speaking loudly, but Xiao Tan didn't hear a single word.

This bizarre scene sent shivers down Wang Tanzhi's spine, and he immediately realized something... At that moment, his own voice wasn't coming out of his throat either.

The following scene was terrifying to those involved, but it would have been hilarious to onlookers.

The two people who didn't understand sign language gesticulated wildly, expressively using facial expressions and lip reading for a long time, but in the end, neither of them understood what the other was saying...

I think the most suitable lines for this scene would be: "Are you crazy?" "Do you have medicine?" "How much do you have?" "How much do you take?" "Take as much as you have!" "You can take as much as there is!" "Are you crazy!"...

But in reality, the content of what they were saying was:

Wang Tanzhi: "What's going on? What are you saying? What does this gesture mean?"

Long Aotian: "It's that black stuff on your face that's causing it!"

From Long Aotian's perspective, it was clear that the black coal ash on Wang Tanzhi's face was like a "living" mask, now making a grotesque smile. This "black face's" expression had nothing to do with what expression Xiao Tan himself was making; it was as if it was a painting floating on his face.

Finally, Long Aotian thought of a way. He found a rag in the dirty kitchen, held it in front of his face, and made a clockwise wiping motion from a distance, then pointed at the rag and pointed at Wang Tanzhi's face.

The latter seemed to understand, took the rag, and wiped it all over his face without hesitation. When he took the rag away, both of them simultaneously regained the ability to speak normally.

"Wow! What kind of monster is this?" Wang Tanzhi looked at the rag in his hand. The "black face" was imprinted on the cloth, maintaining the complete human face shape as it transferred from Xiao Tan's face to the rag. At that moment, Xiao Tan's face became clean, without a trace of black ash.

"Although I don't know what the system's purpose is in setting up this thing..." Long Aotian then realized that this black face, which had no real destructive power and wasn't particularly scary, seemed to have no reason to be here other than to express the system's malicious intent to troll the players.

"But I think it's safer to burn it." Long Aotian took the mask and found two flints next to a stove...