AITAMITB Chapter 53

“Hu…chi…”

Lin Bai suddenly stopped, emitting a breath that sounded like he had run eight kilometers. At the same time, his fingers on the tablet began to tremble uncontrollably.

The glow on the tablet in his hand had been completely swallowed.

“I can’t see it,” he said. “But the data I calculated earlier all indicates that the further we go, the more unstable the space becomes, and the stronger the effect we can cause with the disruptor, the higher the probability of leaving.”

“My physical strength is decreasing!” Gou Rixin said, “If we go further, I won’t be able to hold on for long.”

The recovery ability of the extraordinary is stronger than that of ordinary people, but in the end, they are still human, not gods.

While fighting, they were also extracting energy through a mysterious formation. Right now, they were like two swimming pools with two drains open simultaneously; drying up was just a matter of time.

Even Zhao Xiaokui, who had once again sent the enemy flying, felt fatigued.

Without turning her head, she asked, “How much longer do we have to go? If we stop, when will the rescue arrive?”

Lin Bai panted, “From the discovery of our disappearance to headquarters rushing over, it will take at least fifteen minutes.”

Zhao Xiaokui asked, “How much time has passed now?”

Lin Bai replied, “Eight minutes.”

Gou Rixin muttered, “Damn.”

Zhao Xiaokui also wanted to curse.

This space affected their perception. Now both of them felt as if they had been fighting for two hours. Who the hell would have thought that only a few minutes had passed?

“Do we keep going?” Gou Rixin asked, leaving the decision to Lin Bai.

Lin Bai hadn’t had a chance to speak yet, and Gou Rixin, whose reaction was slow, felt a sudden pain in his shoulder. He took in a sharp breath, “This thing has claws, very sharp!”

Just after cursing, he added, “Damn, it’s poisonous. My arm can’t move.”

To go or to stay?

Lin Bai’s mind quickly weighed the pros and cons.

He knew both teammates were waiting for his answer, but at this moment, it was hard to say which answer was better or, to put it another way, which answer wasn’t so bad.

Gou Rixin’s arm was temporarily immobile, and both he and Zhao Xiaokui were experiencing a significant decline in physical strength. According to the current trend, the deeper they went, the more of these strange creatures would likely appear…

He shouted, “Retreat!”

Zhao Xiaokui lifted one of his arms, and together with Gou Rixin, quickly retreated in the direction they came.

Moonlight once again spilled down, and the eerie creatures seemed to retreat back into the darkness. Zhao Xiaokui looked at Gou Rixin, and her gaze froze when it fell on his arm.

“Your wound—”

On Gou Rixin’s arm, near the shoulder, four claw-like wounds had swollen and turned red and black, emitting an ominous aura.

“Can you hold on?” Lin Bai asked.

“Shouldn’t you be asking yourself that question?” Gou Rixin’s complexion wasn’t looking good, but he still smirked, “Can you hold on, weakling?”

Indeed, Lin Bai’s condition wasn’t any better than Gou Rixin’s.

Although he hadn’t fought the monsters directly, calculating the weak points in the space consumed a considerable amount of his mental energy. Moreover, his physical condition was inherently inferior to Zhao Xiaokui and Gou Rixin. When energy was being drained, he weakened even faster.

At this moment, Lin Bai, with each breath, sounded like tattered bellows pulling on a belt.

Zhao Xiaokui asked, “What should we do?”

“Wait,” Lin Bai weakly said.

He couldn’t think of any other solution, so he could only place his hope in his colleagues at headquarters.

He believed that the Nightwalkers would surely notice their disappearance first, but his worry was whether the three of them could hold on until the rescue arrived.

“Don’t worry, the rescue team will be here soon. What storms haven’t I experienced? This is just a drizzle,” Gou Rixin said, feigning ease in his words, but his heart sank bit by bit.

As soon as he entered the safe zone, he tied a tourniquet near the wound’s proximal end. Despite that, he could still feel that strange energy spreading along his blood vessels and veins, infiltrating every part of his body.

His throat tickled slightly, and he suppressed the urge to cough. Yet, he still felt uncomfortably as if he had swallowed a clump of willow fluff.

None of them spoke, only the increasingly heavy breathing echoed in this space.

“How many minutes?”

“Nine minutes.”

Time passed slower than imagined.

Zhao Xiaokui could feel that the breath of her two teammates was gradually weakening.

“Cough, cough—” Gou Rixin, who couldn’t hold back any longer, started coughing uncontrollably.

“If the rescue doesn’t come, take the disruptor and charge inside. Keep going until you can’t move, then activate the disruptor, understand?” Lin Bai suddenly said.

To Zhao Xiaokui’s ears, this sounded like a last will.

She gritted her teeth, forcing herself to stay calm. “Are you saying I should go in alone?”

Lin Bai said, “Both Gou Rixin and I can’t hold on. If anyone can escape, it’s only you.”

“Don’t worry, there’s a large disruptor in the car. After you break out, you can activate it, and then we’ll all be saved.” Gou Rixin took out the disruptor from his body and handed it to Zhao Xiaokui.

Lin Bai nodded in agreement.

Deceiver.

Zhao Xiaokui looked at the two who were clearly in a weak state, yet their eyes were filled with encouragement.

It seemed as if, by simply breaking out, she could be like all the saviors and rescue everyone.

But she couldn’t bring herself to refuse.

She also took the disruptor from Lin Bai, and the three disruptors were combined. When activated simultaneously, they could exert a double effect.

Lin Bai looked at her and said, “Don’t waste your talent.”

Gou Rixin, as usual, patted his bald head and said, “Run faster, we’re relying on you, me and Lin Bai.”

Zhao Xiaokui’s eyes turned red.

Gou Rixin pushed her into the darkness.

The girl’s figure instantly disappeared into the darkness.

Gou Rixin sat down and began to curse, “Damn, damn, damn… it hurts so much. What the hell is this… the poison is too strong…”

Lin Bai, standing by the support pillar, kicked him, “Quiet down, you’re waking up the dead.”

Gou Rixin: “…” Little pretty boy, you’re too heartless.

With gritted teeth and covering his wound, he asked, “Xiaokui should be able to run out, right?”

Lin Bai looked into the boundless darkness and nodded, “Yes, she can.”

“I think she can make it out. A great master has great disciples, you know. But, damn, encountering something like this on her first mission, I don’t know if it will leave a psychological shadow on the young girl…”

Both fell silent at the same time.

In situations like this, no one could predict the outcome.

“I still remember the first one to go was Guangzi. He said he would treat me to soup, but after all these years, I still haven’t had the soup he promised.” Gou Rixin sighed, “When I go down, I’ll make sure to collect all those years of soup—”

He suddenly stood up with a swish, as if he had never been injured, “How the hell did you come back?”

In the dense darkness, which, usually, was just an exaggerated literary device.

But the darkness in this space could truly be described as thick.

The further they went, the more the air around them became viscous, as if they had entered water. Each step faced tremendous resistance.

Yet, Gou Rixin felt like a fish out of water.

A lazy fish.

He would rather not have succeeded in escaping.

Otherwise, today’s experience might become the black mark of his life.

Zhao Xiaokui, for the moment, had little concern for the thoughts of her two teammates. She held a big man in one hand, and her steps were swift.

Beneath her feet were the strange creatures that had once fought her fiercely.

The deeper they went, the more numerous these peculiar creatures became.

However, for creatures known for their speed, high density would actually limit their movements.

Zhao Xiaokui was precisely exploiting this limitation.

These creatures seemed incapable of flying. Countless creatures surged towards her, gathering under her feet. Even though she couldn’t see anything, Zhao Xiaokui boldly stepped on their heads or shoulders, swiftly running towards the direction Lin Bai had indicated.

“Front, left, left, right…”

Zhao Xiaokui didn’t quite understand how Lin Bai calculated the rules of this space, but amidst the increasingly dense dark atmosphere and the growing number of peculiar creatures, she could indeed feel that she was running in the right direction.

“Thud—”

Zhao Xiaokui stepped into nothingness, and her knee directly banged against the solid ground.

Sudden light spilled over her.

She lifted her head, and behind her was endless darkness, but right in front, there inexplicably appeared a square platform.

On the platform was a crystal ball the size of a fist.

Inside the crystal ball, a black mist churned.

Countless whispers suddenly echoed, as if millions of people were conversing in hushed tones, creating a disorienting cacophony.

At the same time, a thought arose in Zhao Xiaokui’s mind—

Take it down, take down the crystal ball, and these voices will disappear.

Take it down, and she will gain unprecedented power, becoming the most powerful person in the world.

Take it down, and no one will be able to threaten her any more.

Take it down, and she can be with her beloved forever.

Take it down…

“Ah—” Gou Rixin shouted in pain.

Lin Bai, too, knelt on the ground, holding his head, blood flowing from his ears and nose.

Desire flickered in Zhao Xiaokui’s eyes. She slowly stood up, leaving her two teammates lying on the ground, and walked towards the crystal ball.

One step, two steps.

She got closer and closer to the crystal ball.

The black mist churned more and more violently.

At this moment, an invisible ripple suddenly emanated from her hand hanging down by her side.

Zhao Xiaokui’s expression changed, and she rolled to the side of her two teammates, tightly grabbing their clothes. At the same time, she lifted her head, staring intently at the crystal ball.

However, this time, her eyes were no longer infatuated but vigilant and wary.

As the disruptor activated, cracks gradually appeared in the space. Through the cracks, scenes of the real world could vaguely be seen.

Zhao Xiaokui, holding onto the waistbands of her two teammates, tensed her muscles slowly.

Finally, when a massive crack appeared, she shot out like an arrow released from a bow.

Behind her, angry and pained voices roared, “I’ll kill you—.”

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