Chapter 67: Hidden Crisis

All around was pitch black, while Feng Yan's voice sounded calm and unhurried, and Chen Hao seemed to want to laugh a little.

He suppressed his smile and walked toward where Feng Yan was.

All around was darkness; Chen Hao slowly walked toward the place where Feng Yan had first made a sound, following that spot. There was not a single sound around, and Chen Hao could even hear his own heartbeat. After that, Feng Yan made no more sound, which made Chen Hao feel a slight unease. He walked slowly forward, each step requiring a kind of thought, and after a long while he stopped his steps and shouted ahead: "Who are you?"

The echo of Chen Hao's voice came from all around, and he felt a bit reassured, then continued walking forward.

Chen Hao continued forward, when suddenly a pair of hands tightly gripped his throat!

Chen Hao widened his eyes; his feet were already off the ground, kicking wildly in the air. The hands in the dark were extraordinarily strong, and lacking air, Chen Hao felt his eyeballs about to burst, sensing his life slipping away. Just then, a familiar voice came from behind.

"Really, you've gone too far." the voice said, and threw a punch straight at that huge figure.

Boom! After a loud bang, all that could be seen was that person gripping a red sword in hand, continuously emitting light, then a sword qi slashed toward that figure; the figure had just been flung against the stone wall, unable to move for a moment, and was directly cleaved into powder by a single sword.

Chen Hao was thus saved; he slowly stood up, gulping air, his consciousness gradually clearing. Seeing the red sword in that person's hand still faintly glowing, he directly cursed at that person: "Feng Yan, I almost bought the farm—do you still have the mind to play?"

Hearing Chen Hao scold him, Feng Yan realized Chen Hao had also come down; Feng Yan scratched the back of his head and said: "Sorry about that, but it's not really a big deal for you, so, you see, the problem isn't big—let's not make a fuss."

Chen Hao still wanted to say something, but seeing Feng Yan say that, he also had nothing to say, so he helplessly asked: "Then, what should we do now?"

"I don't know; after I fell into this pit, a voice called me, but I thought it strange—surely few people here should know my name? Yet they not only knew it, they even accurately called my nickname, which made me think it odd. This place is where Profit State stores treasures, but our simple treasures are just commonplace trinkets that aren't very valuable—could Profit State really be that poor?" Feng Yan answered Chen Hao's question while analyzing the situation of having entered the cave.

He began constantly recalling everything that had happened inside the cave, including seeing Yang Xin, the class teacher, and himself letting that soul exit the sword to help Wang Tingwan escape the cave mouth; he felt everything was normal, except for one thing Feng Yan couldn't recall: what happened during the period when Feng Yan lost consciousness.

They silently agreed in their hearts on one point: this place was their final stop; after passing through it, they should be able to leave, and at the same time, the events here would come to an end.

They would then be able to walk out of Profit State.

"After fully entering this game world, I have never missed my family as much as I do now." Feng Yan said, his voice choking up.

Chen Hao lowered his head, not knowing what to say; they were all the same—having come to this world, yet fearing death in this game world.

No one is unafraid of death, which signifies an end; yet you cannot know whether there will be another chance. Everyone will at times urge others to cherish the present, but some people, when they advise others, cannot follow their own advice.

This might just be a human trait.

Chen Hao thought this way; although it had been dark all around before and he couldn't see the road ahead, he still firmly believed that as long as he kept moving forward, there would always be a way out!

Chen Hao said to Feng Yan: "Let's just walk slowly; even though it's dark all around, staying put won't necessarily improve things."

"Mm." Feng Yan, upon hearing that, began to walk, trying to find an exit.

Suddenly, the surroundings began to shake violently!

"What's going on!" Chen Hao shouted.

The two of them struggled to keep their balance, when a deafening roar came from their ears!

"Roar!" The sound was extremely loud; both covered their ears, trying to keep the noise from reaching them.

"What is this!" Feng Yan, covering his ears, shouted toward Chen Hao's location.

"It's so dark all around, I can't see clearly either—I don't know!" Chen Hao replied to Feng Yan's words, also shouting loudly.

But strangely, after that roar, the surroundings returned to calm.

"Something feels off." Feng Yan felt uneasy and said to Chen Hao.

"No, what's wrong?" Chen Hao hurriedly asked.

"Don't you feel this gives a certain sense of crisis?" Feng Yan laughed and, while answering Chen Hao's words, said:

"You! Just messing around makes you happy?" Chen Hao restrained himself, didn't scold Feng Yan, and also began to laugh.

Hahaha

The two laughed out loud together, their voices reaching every corner of the cave mouth.

They, unaware, danger had already silently approached.

Their laughter continued without cease, spreading outward, but that sound did not just fade away; instead it gradually grew louder and became ever more resonant!

Chen Hao felt something was wrong; the sound kept increasing, and he shouted: "Stop! Don't make any more noise!"

"Huh? Why?" Feng Yan, though puzzled, still listened to Chen Hao and gradually stopped laughing.

At that moment, Feng Yan finally felt terror.

Their previous sounds had not dissipated over time; instead they gradually gathered, and that sound kept increasing.

At that very moment, the surroundings suddenly began to slowly brighten.

All that could be seen was a tiny flame flickering slowly around inside the cave; Chen Hao and Feng Yan widened their eyes, watching the flame dance slowly along the stone wall, then something in a crack of the wall ignited directly—at first just a faint spark, but as the flame slowly kindled it, it became as bright as daylight!

"How miraculous!" Chen Hao exclaimed, gazing at the sight before him.

Feng Yan bent down to observe the things previously shattered by his own hand, but the objects had already turned to powder; Feng Wen scooped up a handful of that dust with both hands and tossed it into the air.

Feng Yan watched the powder slowly dissipate in the sky, bit by bit returning to the ground, while emptying his thoughts, he murmured: "If only… could start over…"

"What, you're thinking about that again?" Chen Hao looked at Feng Yan and asked concernedly.

Feng Yan sighed and did not answer Chen Hao's words; Chen Hao also remained silent, knowing that Feng Yan was tacitly admitting it.

Feng Yan lifted his head, gazing at the stone wall above, and asked: "You say, why has it come to this? Once, we were friends—best friends."

Chen Hao listened silently, uttering no sound; he didn't know how to comfort Feng Yan.

Because he had never experienced such a thing, and it was even less likely he could utter grand words to win Feng Yan's forgiveness.

Because that was impossible.

Chen Hao, for a moment unable to think of words to comfort Feng Yan, could only say: "Perhaps this, too, is an experience—it can count as a kind of growth."

"You're surprisingly open‑minded; fine, I'll go with what you say—this is growth, this is cultivation." Feng Yan laughed, then continued: "So let's go; we need to hurry out of this country—this place is boring, everyone's just after money."

Feng Yan recalled arriving in this country: it was all about enslaving others or being enslaved—dwarves, bounty hunters, and the guards in the palace; they were merely after this, and their souls had long been replaced by money.

Feng Yan thought that, when a sound came from behind.

"Thud!"

"Plop!"

Hearing the sound behind him, Feng Yan's nerves first tightened, and he began to feel tense.

"What's wrong, Chen Hao?" Feng Yan asked aloud, while Chen Hao behind him had already fallen silent.

Feng Yan turned around, but discovered Chen Hao had already been knocked down to the ground, lying on the ground unconscious, the wound on his head continuously bleeding.

Feng Yan began to become alert, he slowly walked to Chen Hao's side, took off his own upper garment, then tore the fabric from the collar, bandaged Chen Hao's wound, stopping the blood.

Feng Yan hoisted Chen Hao onto his back, placed him leaning against the wall, while looking at Chen Hao's condition, after confirming Chen Hao was fine, he narrowed his eyes, smiling and said: "This looks pretty good, what do you say? Chen Hao?"

Chen Hao of course couldn't answer Feng Yan's words, he leaned against the wall, lowered his head, Feng Yan stood in front of Chen Hao, guarding the surroundings.

Whoosh! An iron rod came straight towards Feng Yan's face!

Feng Yan hurriedly used the black sword in his hand to block it.

Thud

The two weapons collided, making a sound, then the rod was knocked flying, then fell to the ground.

Feng Yan walked over and looked, then felt his own pocket, he realized, the thing before him was exactly that iron rod from his pocket!

Feng Yan felt something was wrong, he silently shouted in his heart: "Not good!"

Thump thump thump

One after another, huge footsteps grew closer and closer!

Feng Yan's heart was pounding heavily, he grew more and more tense, he listened to the sound, judged its direction, and took up a defensive stance!

But at that moment, the iron rod came straight down towards Feng Yan's back!

The iron rod whistled past with a wind sound, Feng Yan only felt his heart tighten; at this distance, he knew he couldn't dodge!

Feng Yan closed his eyes, thinking in his heart: "Could it be that it ends here?"

Thud! Then I heard a sound, then Chen Hao slowly got up, then said: "Really, can you be more careful?"

Only heard a sound ring out, then Chen Hao slowly got up, then he said: "Really, can you be more careful?"