Chapter 1440 The Underwater Eight Gates

Seeing Feng Bujue charging towards the unidentified object with such confidence, Isaac and the others didn't have time to think and followed.

A few seconds later, the moment Feng Bujue touched the cluster of pixels, his body flashed with light and disappeared. The three who followed closely behind experienced the same transformation one after another.

[Current quest completed, main quest updated]

As the scene before his eyes changed, Feng Bujue heard the system's voice prompt in his ear.

He opened the quest bar and saw that the main quest [Enter the "Underwater Eight Gates" of the Contra Area] had been crossed out, and its follow-up quest [Break through the "Underwater Eight Gates" and enter the Deep Breakthrough Zone] had been refreshed.

"So that's how it is..." At this point, Feng Bujue finally understood why the system had brought him to this "Underwater Eight Gates."

This level itself, like the Pita, is a "non-existent existence"—a paradox. To approach the core of the Pita in this virtual dimension, one needs to find such a space, which is where the Pita's logical barriers cannot defend. Only through here can one break through that AI's firewall.

"Whoa? There really is an 'Underwater Eight Gates'?" The Bearded Man, once he stood still, looked at the scenery in front of him with a surprised expression and muttered.

"Looks pretty similar..." Isaac also looked around and replied in a deep voice.

"Yeah, anyway, there's a lot of water around." Lightning Head added.

Indeed, this level as a whole is a water world. The place where Feng Bujue and the others were standing was a huge rock floating on the water. And there were many such floating rocks in front of them, with varying intervals between them, but overall they extended in the same direction.

"Alright, regardless of whether it is or not... in short, getting to the end of this level brings us one step closer to the Pita." Feng Bujue didn't comment much on whether this was the so-called "Underwater Eight Gates," he just pointed out the next course of action.

The four exchanged a few words and set off again.

But... after walking for less than three minutes, they discovered that the difficulty of this "Underwater Eight Gates" was unbelievably high.

If the six levels they had experienced before were normal Contra, then this level was some kind of *doujin* enthusiast's masochistic game modification.

What awaited the four of them... were soldiers of various types, with amazing strength and in countless numbers; an intertwined and ever-changing network of firepower; hidden and deadly death traps; and... occasionally appearing, regular enemies that were even stronger than some of the previous mini-bosses.

To be honest, even Feng Bujue was surprised by the difficulty. If it weren't for the help of three NPCs, allowing him to pass this level alone without being able to use his skills... he would probably have had to resort to a certain razor.

…………

"Phew... finally..."

A full two hours later, when he saw the end of the floating rock, Lightning Head breathed a sigh of relief, his expression relieved.

At this time, except for Feng Bujue, the other three were all bruised and battered.

As for Brother Jue... although he looked fine on the outside, he was actually the one who had taken the most damage in the team. It could be said that a large part of the reason why the four of them were able to make it through without anyone dying was due to Feng Bujue's efforts.

Along the way, Brother Jue had to trigger various traps and engage in the first round of confrontation with new enemies. If it weren't for his good reconnaissance work, with the disgusting level of this level... it would have been enough to wipe out this four-person team more than ten times.

"So... next..." When he arrived on the last floating rock, Isaac asked, "We probably have to jump into that hole, right?"

The "hole" he was talking about was a pixel bug-like object similar to the monster at the end of the sixth level. However, this time the teleport point was not a moving object, but a gas cloud floating in the air. The diameter of this gas cloud was about three meters, and it would display the exact same distorted image from any angle.

"There's no other choice, is there?" Feng Bujue replied, and stepped forward, preparing to be the first to enter.

Unexpectedly, at this moment...

*Crack—*

The sound of rock cracking suddenly rang out, and at the same second, the floating rock under the feet of the four people trembled violently.

The other three were fine, they staggered a few steps and then stood firm again, but the Bearded Man carrying the small cannon was unlucky... Due to the weight, the sudden tremor caused him to fall to the ground.

No one expected that the consequences of this fall would be...

*Crack crack crack crack—*

Before everyone could recover from the effects of the first vibration, similar cracking sounds came one after another.

At the same time, all the floating rocks within Feng Bujue's field of vision showed cracks and shattered into pieces of varying sizes at a speed visible to the naked eye.

That's not all...

What happened simultaneously with the shattering of the floating rocks was... the surrounding seawater instantly changed from blue to red, all turning into lava.

No sooner said than done.

Just as Isaac and Lightning Head's expressions changed from surprise to horror, about to shout out, Feng Bujue had already reacted... Using the force of the rocks under his feet that had not yet completely collapsed, he grabbed the two of them, one in each hand... and threw them towards the pixel gas cloud floating in the air.

As Isaac and Lightning Head screamed, their feet left the ground and they collided with the gas cloud one after another and teleported away as light.

However...

Two seconds later, when Feng Bujue rescued the two and turned his gaze to the Bearded Man farthest away from him, the latter's lower body had already sunk into the lava and broken rocks. Moreover, at this time, Brother Jue had also lost his footing... Relying on his superb movements and zero-time-difference calculation, he was barely able to jump back and forth on some of the unmelted broken rocks, keeping himself from falling into the lava.

"What are you doing! Bastard!"

Just as Feng Bujue was approaching the Bearded Man in this "dragonfly skimming water" manner, he suddenly heard the latter's roar.

From the time they met until now, the Bearded Man had always called Brother Jue "Savior," "Mr. Feng," but at this moment, he excitedly shouted "Bastard."

"Go! Hurry!" The Bearded Man didn't wait for Brother Jue to respond, he immediately said again, "Can't you see that I'm beyond saving!"

Yes, everyone could see that he was beyond saving...

While saying these two sentences, the Bearded Man's waist down had already sunk into the lava, and his head and arms that had not yet sunk were also burning in the fire.

It's hard to say if this is fortunate... Because he had transformed into dimensions, the Bearded Man did not feel any pain at this moment, so he could still speak.

Seeing this scene, Feng Bujue could only sigh secretly, and quickly stepped onto a larger piece of broken rock and jumped towards the pixel gas cloud.

"Is there anything you need me to convey?" Brother Jue shouted back at the Bearded Man in a very fast voice while jumping in the air.

To be honest, Feng Bujue really wanted to save the other party as well, but this series of changes happened too quickly, and his skill bar was locked. If he stayed for a while longer, even he would be in danger... Therefore, he could only do this much.

"Tell them not to be sad for me..." The Bearded Man raised his head and shouted back with difficulty, "I'm just... going to reunite with my wife and daughter..."

He didn't finish his words, his head submerged into the lava, leaving only his right arm still stretched straight on the surface of the lava.

At the very end, in the instant before Feng Bujue fell into the pixel gas cloud... he clearly saw the Bearded Man's right hand slowly clenching into a fist and giving him a thumbs up.

…………

Silence, oppressive silence.

After the teleportation, the original four-person team was left with only three people.

In fact, Isaac and Lightning Head had already guessed the Bearded Man's fate before Brother Jue completed the teleportation, so when Feng Bujue appeared alone, they silently accepted this unfortunate fact.

This silence lasted for about five minutes, and then Isaac spoke...

"Let's go." When these words were spoken, he had regained his cold expression.

Hearing this, Lightning Head also wiped his face with his hand, took a deep breath, and stood up.

After the two of them were ready, they both looked at Feng Bujue, waiting for his next instruction.

Until this moment, Brother Jue truly felt the strength of these two people, or rather... experienced the cruelty of this script world.

Isaac and Lightning Head didn't even ask if the Bearded Man had left any last words...

It wasn't that they didn't care about the death of their comrade, it's just... they had become accustomed to transforming the sadness of losing someone into strength and continuing to fight.

War can teach people many things, and its first lesson is often "the fragility of life."

Isaac and the others had become accustomed to facing death directly, because they had already lost too much.

The will and mentality of those veterans, was something that even Feng Bujue did not possess.

"Then..." After a moment, Feng Bujue also spoke, "I'll still lead the way..."

…………

The three who embarked on the journey again needed to face the space defined by the system as the "Deep Breakthrough Zone."

The situation here... can only be described as "crazy."

Image fragments from various games, tangible flowing sound waves, and countless pixel monster-like substances were running around and devouring each other here without any regularity.

Fortunately, in this chaotic space, Brother Jue and the others' path forward was still very clear. Near their initial teleport point, there was a very conspicuous blue optical cable, extending all the way to the distance. In addition, after entering this space, Feng Bujue's quest was updated from [Break through the "Underwater Eight Gates" and enter the Deep Breakthrough Zone] to [Follow the Blue Light, Find and Enter the "Core"].

"There's something I want you to know." After walking for a while, Isaac suddenly said, "It's about the Bearded Man..."

"What is it?" Lightning Head replied.

"It was... about a month ago." Isaac slowly said, "He told me that he had been diagnosed with a brain tumor." After saying half of this sentence, he paused, and then said, "And he also knew... that with the technical conditions of our Rebel Army, this kind of disease cannot be cured."

"'With the technical conditions of the Rebel Army'..." Feng Bujue quickly captured the key information in this sentence, and repeated it in a deep voice.

"Yes..." Isaac said, "If we use the nanobot technology from the Pita side, this disease can be completely cured. But... on our side, this is an incurable disease."

"What did you say to him?" Feng Bujue asked.

"I didn't say anything." Isaac replied, "Because he didn't come to me for advice, he just wanted to confide in someone who could keep a secret."

"In other words..." Feng Bujue said, "At that time, he was already prepared to die?"

"It should be said that he had no other choice." Lightning Head replied, "Even if he wanted to betray the Rebel Army and go to the Pita side in exchange for treatment, the result would most likely be that he would be transformed into a PM..."

"However..." Isaac said, "Just like the Bearded Man himself said, rather than being transformed into a PM or betraying his comrades... he would rather commit suicide." He paused for another two seconds, controlled his emotions, "Although he never mentioned it to anyone, I always knew... that he loved games. Indeed, the Bearded Man's initial motivation for joining the Rebel Army was just revenge, but later... when he really came into contact with video games and the game culture that was erased by the Pita, his thoughts changed. He was no longer fighting solely for revenge, he also recognized that... returning games to humans was a noble cause, and it was worth sacrificing for."

"So in this 'suicide mission,' you chose him to be in the squad." Feng Bujue replied, "You understand... he would rather die on the battlefield than in a hospital bed."

"Heh..." Isaac didn't answer Brother Jue's question, just gave a bitter smile, and asked, "Do you believe in heaven? Mr. Feng."

"I... 'certainly' believe in heaven." Feng Bujue replied with particular confidence.

"Is that so..." Isaac responded with a sigh, "Then... the Bearded Man has already reunited with his family in heaven, right?"

"Hopefully." Feng Bujue was not so sure when answering this question, after all, he had never been to heaven and didn't know what the situation was like there. In addition... he was basically certain that he would go to hell after death, so he probably wouldn't have any chance to confirm this matter in the future.

After the three of them talked about this rather heavy topic for a while, they fell silent once again.

However, their speed of travel did increase a lot because of this...

Because the substances in this "Deep Breakthrough Zone" had no logic to speak of, they would not generate any targeted "hostility." The three only needed to avoid those data blocks that looked very aggressive to advance safely.

Thus, after about thirty minutes, they arrived at the end of the blue light path...