Chapter 965: Under the Ruins

Under the Ruins

This was a natural disaster, a tragic past forever recorded in history.

Even Fang Liangye had read about this rare massive earthquake in history books. Now, witnessing the disaster descend before his eyes and seeing the city torn into ruins in an instant, an indescribable sense of horror rose in his heart.

It wasn't that Chen Ling hadn't seen hell on earth—the Cold Disaster in the Aurora Domain, the wars in the Red Dust Domain—but those disasters all had precursors and didn't appear abruptly... But here it was different. A second ago, this place was peaceful and tranquil; children were laughing and playing in school, Old Men were napping at home, and youths were sweating for their futures...

The next second, tens of millions of living beings were buried under the ruins.

The piercing alarms were still echoing among the ruins. It took Chen Ling a long time to come back to his senses. He subconsciously wanted to do something, but his figure only floated lightly through everything, like a ghost that didn't exist in this time.

"Damn it..." Chen Ling muttered to himself.

He had entered the past of that Nuo Mask and could only move around it. The Great Crimson Theatrical Robe landed step by step toward the ruins. As he approached, a groan of pain sounded from the ruins.

"It hurts so much..."

Heavy floor slabs and wall fragments were piled up haphazardly, each piece weighing hundreds of catties, like a heavy, lightless tomb. At the very bottom of the ruins, a figure was stuck tightly in the gap of a crevice, half of his body crushed under fallen rocks, turning into a bloody pulp.

Shen Nan basically couldn't sense the existence of that half of his body. Only an unprecedented severe pain stimulated his scalp. He struggled, wanting to push away that boulder, but no matter how hard he tried, the boulder didn't budge an inch.

Dark, narrow. The dust permeating the air stimulated Shen Nan's nasal cavity, making him uncontrollably cough violently... He didn't know where he was right now, nor did he know which direction to go to get out. The fear of the unknown and his physical disability left him terrified and at a loss.

"Dad..." Shen Nan called out hoarsely, like a despairing person about to drown, calling for the last hope.

"Dad... is that you? Are you there?"

In the suffocating darkness, there was dead silence.

Shen Nan couldn't see anything, but from Chen Ling's perspective, at a position slightly higher than Shen Nan, a figure's lung lobe had already been pierced by a broken steel rebar. He was in pain, wanting to breathe air, but could only open his mouth wide and constantly cough up scarlet blood from his throat.

He heard Shen Nan's cry for help beneath him, but even using all his strength, he couldn't make any response.

But even so, the weak struggling sound was particularly clear in the dead silence. Shen Nan heard the commotion from above, and while speaking, he laboriously reached his hand out to grab there.

"Dad... are you okay?"

He fumbled around his surroundings with his fingertips, but his arm was scratched by sharp fragments. He let out a soft cry, and trickles of blood flowed in the darkness...

Gritting his teeth, Shen Nan pulled one of the fragments back and found that it wasn't Glass, but a fragment of a Nuo Mask.

The earthquake not only crushed the house but also crushed his father's workroom. Over a hundred completed or incomplete Nuo Masks had turned into countless fragments, crushed amidst the ruins.

"Dad... hold on a bit longer, someone will come save us soon." Shen Nan's crushed half of his body had completely lost sensation. Slowly, his vision began to go dark.

He knew it was almost impossible for him to leave here on his own, and could only take deep breaths as much as possible.

"Dad... our Teacher said not to be afraid when encountering an earthquake... think of a way to make noise. If there are people around, they will come save us immediately."

Shen Nan reached out and grabbed a Nuo Mask fragment. Gritting his teeth, he knocked it against the boulder beside him, making muffled thuds that echoed through the ruins.

Thud——thud——thud...

No one passed by, no one responded. Now the entire city had been reduced to ruins, who could come to rescue them immediately?

But Shen Nan didn't give up. He still knocked hit by hit. Blood spread beneath him, and his arm became heavier and heavier, as if he was about to fall asleep entirely.

"Dad... hold on a little longer... when I get out, I have something very awesome to show you..."

"I definitely... can..."

Shen Nan's complexion grew increasingly pale. Under massive blood loss, his consciousness gradually blurred, and he finally fainted completely.

In the darkness, it was so quiet that only the ticking sound of flowing blood remained.

Chen Ling watched everything with a frown the whole time. He was just an "Audience" member and couldn't intervene. But from the current situation, the Shen father and son were already doomed to die.

Just as Chen Ling was wondering where the chance of survival would come from, he seemed to sense something and suddenly looked up at the sky...

A purple star slowly lit up.

"The Divine Path Star of the Path of the Witch God... is it here for Shen Nan?" Chen Ling muttered to himself. "No, that's not right..."

The current Shen Nan already possessed the Path of the Actor. Even if his talent in the witch path was high, he would no longer receive the favor of another Divine Path... So, the target of this Divine Path Star was...

Chen Ling's gaze landed on the man whose lung lobe was pierced.

At the same time, the man also seemed to sense something, and his dying eyes raised slightly. Even though he was crushed by heavy ruins, he seemed to see that star approaching him.

Countless Nuo Mask fragments were paved around him like thorns. A faint purple light descended like a heavenly verve, shrouding him and those Nuo Masks with a trace of Divine Nature.

The man's gaze went from shock to bitterness, and finally turned into deep helplessness... He didn't accept the favor of the Path of the Witch God. Instead, he laboriously turned his head to look beneath him, at Shen Nan, whose half-body was crushed.

Shen Nan's breathing grew faint. His life was like a flickering candle in the wind, seemingly about to extinguish at any moment.

The man pursed his lips slightly. He looked back at that star, his gaze full of pleading...

He tremblingly stretched out his hand and pointed at Shen Nan.

He didn't speak, nor did he make any sound, but his eyes and fingers already indicated his thoughts... He wanted to give the Path of the Witch God to his son.

But a Divine Path was not a gift that could be given casually, nor would it change its target because of his pleading. Ultimately, the Divine Path still chose the man, and faint purple light successively poured into his body.

"Has the Path of the Actor, also has the Path of the Witch God..." Seeing this, Chen Ling's eyes narrowed seriously. "So, next is the key..."

The next moment, under Chen Ling's astonished gaze, the man who obtained the Path of the Witch God didn't hesitate to slit his own wrists.

Blood flowed down his arm. He struggled to move his body, allowing the steel rebars and fragments to cut his internal organs open, and his fingertips laboriously reached toward a corner of the ruins...

There, a hideous Nuo Mask was quietly lying amidst the dust.