Chapter 131: Get Down! |
"Dad, are you alright? How did you suddenly age so much?"
Lu Qiuqiu's eyes welled up with tears as she looked at her father, Lu Mingyi, who had aged decades overnight and appeared frail and haggard.
Lu Mingyi was stunned to see people breaking through the wall, taking a long moment to regain his senses. He stammered, "Qiuqiu, how did you get in here? Was it that damned guy? And who are these people...?"
Indeed, from Guan Shan and the others' perspective, it was as if they were opening a door.
But from Lu Mingyi's side, it looked like they had pried open a huge hole in the wall and then walked in boldly from the other side.
"No time to explain. Just know that we're here to save you!"
Guan Shan said as he picked up the Crowbar and headed towards the door of this room.
Since the rooms were connected...
Lu Mingyi, however, didn't look relieved but instead panicked, shouting, "You need to leave, now! This place..."
Guan Shan looked at the blood water, turned around, and said, "The time flow here is different, right?"
"How did you know..." Lu Mingyi coughed, astonished.
From their appearances, it seemed they hadn't been in this cursed place for long.
The mysterious voice had adjusted this room's time flow to thousands of times normal to force him to reveal the Ksitigarbha Statue's origins and use, turning Lu Mingyi into an old man in just one night.
The robust middle-aged man Lu Qiuqiu described, who stayed up late and was always healthy, had turned into a decrepit old man.
Lu Mingyi, just an ordinary person, was nearly scared to death. The older he got, the more he cherished his life, especially with a daughter to care for, so he confessed everything.
Why was he still locked up here?
Because he knew nothing! The Ksitigarbha Statue was something he had picked up from an antique market, and he had always treated it like an ordinary statue, burning incense and making offerings. His patients felt clearer and more open-minded after spending time in his study, but he had no special method.
Lu Mingyi explained everything, but instead of freedom, he received more threats from the mysterious voice, demanding the true method or his daughter would be brought in too.
Desperate and wronged, Lu Mingyi felt there was nothing he could do. He had spoken the truth, but the madman accused him of lying.
What could he do? He could only wait for death.
In reality, Carpenter was furious, thinking Lu Mingyi had tricked him since he found the statue useless.
Obtaining the Ksitigarbha Statue but being unable to use it was Carpenter's greatest frustration.
So he planned to capture Lu Qiuqiu to force Lu Mingyi.
As for the Special Security Group members, he didn't care.
Unless there was an Esper who could counter his ability, they were no threat. He had investigated thoroughly before acting.
...It was supposed to be like this.
"How did you know?"
Guan Shan lifted his foot, feeling the wetness from the water, and smiled, "Because the water levels are different."
Originally, the simulator altering his perception should have been terrifying, but now he found it helpful.
The simulator's changes in his perception often served as warnings of danger.
For example, in the restaurant, the meat appeared as rotten and unidentified objects, which turned out to be Fang Minmin's parasitic methods.
If he had eaten it, he wouldn't be here now.
The same applied here; the blood water others couldn't see...
"Water level?" Lu Mingyi looked around, puzzled, seeing no sign of "water."
Lu Qiuqiu explained Guan Shan's "condition"...no, ability.
Guan Shan didn't expect them to understand, muttering to himself, "The water levels equalizing means the rooms become a single entity, and the larger space can't support a faster time flow. There's a balance."
"The Esper's control over time flow is limited, possibly having a fixed 'total water volume' that must be distributed."
"Otherwise, he could have made our side's flow as fast as this one from the start, implying more 'water' is in this room. He must manage the water volume to adjust the time flow."
"In other words, expanding the space would distribute the time flow..."
"If the total amount is limited, the number of rooms is also limited. Opening the last room might lead to the real 'room.'"
"Crack!"
Guan Shan pried open the door of this room too.
The room beyond was no longer Lu Mingyi's study but a dim, unfamiliar room.
Blood water spread, filling this room, piled with over three skeletons...no, they weren't skeletons, as they stood up.
Carpenter's voice echoed again, sinisterly ordering, "Kill them, and I'll give you freedom!"
Guan Shan saw information about the skeletons.
【[Undead] Skeleton (lv.14)】
【Health: 7000】
【Description: Bones imprisoned here for 50 years, having lost their will, leaving only hunger and madness.】
These were likely people Carpenter had captured, now dead or turned into his minions!
Seeing at least four level 10+ skeletons, Guan Shan took a deep breath, "No wonder no one returns. The previous victims became minions, preventing any escape..."
For others' safety, Guan Shan switched to the Demon Blade and shouted, "Get down!"
Then he pulled out the 【Shock Grenade】 and threw it!
Lu Qiuqiu and her father didn't react fast enough, but the logistics team did.
The well-trained logistics members immediately dragged them into another room, pressing them to the ground.
"Boom!"
"Buzz—"
The grenade exploded among the skeletons, the loud bang and flash filling the narrow space, amplifying the effect.
Even those in the other room felt their heads buzzing.
The skeletons were worse off.
One fragile skeleton disintegrated, giving Guan Shan 6000 experience points.
Dust filled the room, obscuring vision, as a blood-red arc flashed, and Guan Shan's figure burst through the dust, appearing before a skeleton.