Chapter 576: Chapter 158: Torment
Something like a TV static screen appeared on the ceiling, flickering constantly as if something was trying to come out.
Guo Fengyan frowned, feeling a chill down his spine, and stood up abruptly, edging towards the wall.
He took a few steps back and suddenly noticed that the prison bars had disappeared into thin air without him noticing.
"What’s going on?"
He widened his eyes, unable to understand the situation, but instinctively ran out from where the bars once were.
Outside was a straight corridor, seemingly endless, with pitch-black darkness at its far end.
The side of the corridor had small rooms, barred off, most of which were empty or contained mummified bodies and dried bones.
Some looked human, some didn’t at all. Giant bones spanned entire rooms, and others, shaped like spikes, spread out in rows.
The corridor was dimly lit, though the source of this light was unknown, as the prison appeared to be sealed off.
He ran forward along the corridor, with the lighting flickering between brightness and darkness, his vision switching back and forth.
The environment was exceedingly bizarre, yet he saw hope of escape. At least he could still move freely here, couldn’t he?
Feeling something amiss, he glanced back and saw a black and white silhouette trailing him not far behind. It resembled a person but was short, with an indistinct face, long arms, thick legs, leaving static screens on the ground it passed.
The thing moved incredibly fast, closing in on him in an instant.
Guo Fengyan felt despair, shackled and only slightly faster than an ordinary person, he was bound to be caught.
Yet he kept running, unwilling to surrender.
He had to make one last struggle!
Eventually, he was caught, and his vision plunged into darkness. When he reopened his eyes, he was lying on the ground, staring at a familiar ceiling.
"What’s going on?"
He felt dazed, thinking he had returned to the previous room, the surroundings identical.
Soon enough, he heard footsteps again. This time, they didn’t approach him but gradually moved away.
The only difference was the time on his phone and a chat with Chen Ling, otherwise, he might’ve thought he’d gone back several minutes.
Considering this, he looked to the ceiling once more, watching the snowflakes reappear, obscuring his vision as if something was about to emerge.
He leaned back, instinctively glancing behind only to find the bars gone again.
Again, he ran forward down the corridor.
Identical environment, identical experience.
This time, he looked back earlier, noting the creature had emerged from the very room he was in and was following his path.
It was only faster than him.
"Stay away!"
Guo Fengyan swung a punch back at it, and as soon as he touched it, his vision blacked out once again, bringing him face-to-face with the familiar ceiling pattern.
Upon closer inspection, the pattern resembled a twisted human face.
This time, he genuinely panicked, hearing footsteps again, only farther away, before seeing the snow screen on the ceiling once more.
He rammed into the bars but was bounced back.
A few seconds later, the bars vanished before him.
Guo Fengyan dashed out, running in the direction the footsteps were leaving. The scene was still familiar, seemingly unchanged from before.
The silhouette pursued him again, its speed about the same as before, but this time he was faster.
"Damn it!"
His voice echoed down the corridor.
Once more, the familiar ceiling appeared in front of his eyes, along with the familiar pattern.
"What is happening!"
He was truly confused, yet not entirely willing to give up.
This time, Guo Fengyan timed the bars’ disappearance, and dashed out, running forward along the corridor.
He recalled that one of the doors in a room ahead was open, perhaps he could hide inside to evade the creature.
However, by the time he ran in and tried to close the door, the creature had chased him again.
In terror, he found himself back in the previous spot, staring at the familiar ceiling, the familiar pattern, feeling somewhat on the verge of collapse, his eyes bloodshot.
After the bars vanished, he instinctively ran out, replicating his previous actions, finding a nearer room to hide in, and shut the door.
The creature battered the door from outside, causing the bars to deform and bend, before bursting in and hitting him.
In this repetitive cycle, he gradually neared a breakdown.
No one could persist in repeating meaningless actions indefinitely.
This torment was more terrifying and unbearable than death.
...
With the vast number of mysterious items procured from the Doomsday Shop last night, Su Changxing crafted a hundred pendants once again.
Each of these hundred pendants was different, no two were exactly alike. In effect, they could broadly guide ordinary people to become Extraordinary, though their details varied.
This was due to the rules, no two mysterious items were entirely identical.
"So many!"
Zhou An was stunned to see the pendants hanging from both Su Changxing’s hands, "Were all these made by Brother Su using those mysterious items?"
"More or less, these things can only be worn personally, not passed on or sold." Su Changxing emphasized once more.
"Okay, I’ll head over now."
Zhou An took the pendant and left immediately, humming a tune as he seemed to be in a good mood.
Every Extraordinary influences the outside world but also gets influenced by it. In theory, a place with a large number of Extraordinary is prone to spawning new ones.
It’s a kind of aggregation effect.
At a certain point, the Extraordinary will emerge explosively.
This is what is called the ’Era of the Extraordinary.’
The Era of the Extraordinary wasn’t given by the Doomsday Game, but created by them.
Next, Chang Yi walked in as Zhou An was leaving, holding a red leather book in his hand.
It was a mysterious item, enhancing control over the Fire Element.
"Team Leader, our third team also deserves a share, doesn’t it? You gave so much to Captain Zhou and the others," Chang Yi feigned grievance.
Su Changxing made over twenty pendants appear in his hand, glanced at Chang Yi, and chuckled, "Already prepared, knowing you’d come by."
Chang Yi carefully accepted the pendants, nodded, and said:
"Understood, Team Leader, but there’s one more thing... Miss Bai is missing. I suspect she escaped. We suspect she’s not an Extraordinary, but from the Wizard World."
"People from the Wizard World?"
Su Changxing raised an eyebrow, surprised by this turn of events.
He hadn’t sensed any wizardly aura from Miss Bai, so he naturally assumed she was just an ordinary Extraordinary.
"How did you find out?" Su Changxing asked.
Chang Yi shrugged and said: "Simple, we checked her ID, which she couldn’t provide. Initially, we thought she just didn’t want to say. Later, it turned out she knew nothing about the forum."
"Just as we were about to capture her, she vanished. A set of a wizard’s magic robe was found in the infirmary."
"Whatever her intentions might have been, whether to gather intel or something else, many people in this settlement had received treatment from her."
Su Changxing realized he had been negligent, allowing a wizard to stay under his nose for so long.
Even if uncertain of their intent, it was certainly dangerous.
