Chapter 3265: The Air Suddenly Solidifies

The two metal doors in front of Su Xiao opened. He didn't know what kind of metal this silver-gray door was made of; it was not only indestructible but also had a deep, cold feeling from the deep sea.

As the ward door opened, Su Xiao saw darkness inside. Wisps of cold fog drifted out along the edge of the door. In the darkness ahead, purple light spots flickered, as if blurring the boundary between reality and nightmare. Ahead, there was both the mystery and terror of a nightmare, and it also made people feel an ominous feeling from the bottom of their hearts.

Madness that had almost turned into substance rushed toward him. Without a strong willpower, one was not qualified to step into the "purple-black nightmare" ahead.

Su Xiao had entered this kind of nightmare once before in the Eternal Hope Town of the Sand World. That time, he fell asleep at a fixed location in Eternal Hope Town, which allowed him to enter the Nightmare: Eternal Hope Town, where he met Pig Brother, saw the Swollen Eye, etc.

In principle, "Nightmare: Gubao Ward" and "Nightmare: Eternal Hope Town" were both similar and had essential differences.

Both places required consuming Sanity to enter—this was the "ticket." After entering, Sanity would continuously slide. These were the similarities.

The difference was that the Nightmare: Gubao Ward was directly connected to reality. As long as Su Xiao took a step forward, he could walk into the darkness ahead—that is, enter the ward.

This situation was very terrifying. There was almost no boundary between nightmare and reality. One didn't need to enter a dream first to enter a nightmare.

Inferring from this, if one entered the Nightmare: Gubao Ward, it wouldn't be a spiritual body entering, but Su Xiao himself entering it.

Entering the Nightmare: Gubao Ward required consuming 430 Sanity points. Su Xiao's current Sanity was 429/495 points. If he chose to enter, he would immediately undergo mental beast-ization the moment he entered, dying in seconds.

If Su Xiao put on all five pieces of the Sun Church set, he could increase his Sanity by 50 points, reaching a reputation cap of 545 points.

Su Xiao's existing 【Sun Head Bucket】 and 【Church Knight Head Bucket】 were both good things. One increased his own Sanity by 50%, and the other reduced Sanity but increased resistance in this aspect.

The 【Sun Head Bucket】 lent to Morey and the Apostle of the Moon involved many problems. He would have to "have a good talk" with Morey and the Apostle of the Moon later.

Su Xiao closed the ward door and turned to walk toward the room with a brand on the door. That was the safe room, a place notarized by Reincarnation Paradise.

Passing by Room 5 on the way, Room 5 was knocked from the inside.

Dong dong, dong~

The last knock was very heavy.

"It's you. How is it? Have you been to the desert?"

An old voice came from inside the door. This voice was hoarse and weak. Then, the old man behind the door began to cough dryly. He was like someone suffering from tuberculosis, wishing he could cough his lungs into fragments and then cough out the fragments before he was willing to stop.

"Hoo~, hoo~," the old man in Room 5 only smoothed his breathing after a while. He said: "An old problem, don't mind it. Since you have already been to the desert, you must have some understanding of the dynasty."

"..."

Su Xiao didn't pick up the conversation.

"A strong person who uses a blade, why don't you speak? Oh, it must be that person who spoke ill of me. As noble as she is, she actually smeared a prisoner like me. It's ridiculous, isn't it? Like this world, and like the Trace Kings, it's just as ridiculous. This is an inevitable fate. It's clearly a problem with the ink, yet they tear up the canvas. Ridiculous."

The old man in Room 5 chuckled. After a long while, he found that Su Xiao still hadn't spoken, but he didn't mind and continued to talk to himself:

"Things born from evil, yet they hope it can bring light. It's darkness. The origin of all colors is black. Without black, where would there be white? Without darkness, how can we talk about light? Darkness... will inevitably bring madness, blood, and beasts. Isn't this very interesting?"

After the old man in Room 5 finished speaking, there was no sound, and even the sound of breathing disappeared.

Su Xiao looked at this door for a moment. The Young Lady had reminded him before not to bother with the old man in Room 5.

Note, it was "don't bother with," not "don't believe" or "be careful of" the old man in Room 5. The Young Lady meant more that interacting with the old man in Room 5 would bring unimaginable danger, but this danger shouldn't come from the old man in Room 5 himself, but from the information he gave.

The Young Lady was a neutral unit notarized by both the Tree of the Void and Reincarnation Paradise. Scroll Fragments were all submitted to her. Even if her origin was mysterious, if one compared the Young Lady with the old man in Room 5, the Young Lady must be more credible.

Su Xiao had many troubles now. The Sun Bird: Taihakaku was the most troublesome problem, followed by the Crow Woman of the Arcane Eternal Star.

According to the information revealed by Lilim, the Crow Woman was an outlier of the Arcane Eternal Star. She was not a spellcaster but was cultivated by the spellcasters to eliminate dissidents.

Some dangerous and dishonorable things were all handled by the Crow Woman. After killing someone, she wouldn't clean up the scene and would even leave survivors, letting the survivors spread the word.

This was an implicit expression that this was the end of offending the Arcane Eternal Star. What was more clever was that the Crow Woman was a "prisoner" of the Arcane Eternal Star. She could represent the Arcane Eternal Star, yet she couldn't represent the Arcane Eternal Star.

Simply put, she carried the dishonorable side—it was all done by her escaping from prison. At the same time, it could also let those who were eager to move know that this was a method from the Arcane Eternal Star.

And this time, letting the Crow Woman go to battle, the Arcane Eternal Star's external claim was that the Crow Woman had performed well in prison and this was an opportunity for her to make up for her crimes. In fact, everyone knew that it was because the Crow Woman could fight. What prisoner? This was a killing machine cultivated by the Arcane Eternal Star.

It wasn't clear yet whether that side had come or not. Compared to that side, Su Xiao wanted to know more about who the two new factions that entered this time were, besides Water Brother from the Death Paradise.

Not to mention anything else, this guy who just entered was simply cowardly to the sky. Saint Dan City had been beaten into such a state, yet this person had never appeared. He/she was even more cowardly than the Apostle of the Moon.

Besides the ward door and the ceiling cover, there were seven doors on the left and right sides of the Shelter Hall. Among the seven doors on the left, Door 7 had already been opened. Caesar was inside before.

Su Xiao had just looked at the situation in Room 7. It was about 6 square meters, and besides a hole in the wall, there was nothing else worth noting.

Room 6 was the Kneeling Man. Su Xiao had just knocked on the door before, and the guest inside had knelt down with a "thump."

Room 5 didn't need to be mentioned; this old man was full of suspicious points.

Room 4 was the Fierce Brother. The Fierce Brother's voice was fierce, but he was actually very cowardly. That voice, fierce in appearance but weak in reality, was something people would believe even if he said he was scared to the point of wetting his pants.

Room 3 was a little girl. Su Xiao knocked on the door, and she cried "ying ying ying." Ignore it.

Room 2 was the Slick Man. He was a bit treacherous, but only to the extent of a commoner, not a great villain.

Finally, Room 1. Inside was the Table Knife Sister. The reason she was called this was because her voice, which was fierce but fearful, easily made people imagine a woman in her 30s with disheveled hair, sunken eye sockets, wearing loose robes, holding a table knife, and she was also a bit neurasthenic.

According to Su Xiao's experience of reaching the eighth tier and dealing with many indigenous people, the guest in Room 1 (Table Knife Sister), the guest in Room 2 (Slick Man), and the old man in Room 5 were the three most likely to know something.

Su Xiao came to the door of Room 1 and knocked. A few seconds later, a voice came from inside the door.

"It's you. Didn't I tell you? Go away, don't bother me."

Bang.

A table knife pierced through the door panel, revealing one-third of it. This surprised Su Xiao. This door was blessed with a kind of unknown energy, and the difficulty of destruction was extremely high. Compared to this, the table knife was very special.

The Table Knife Sister's temper was very bad. Su Xiao held the front half of the pierced table knife with two fingers. As soon as he touched this table knife, he felt a coldness that went deep into his bones. This feeling was... nightmare! That's right, only metal utensils in a nightmare would have this touch.

After holding the table knife with two fingers for a few seconds, Su Xiao felt a pulling force between his fingers. Judging from the voice of the Table Knife Sister inside the door, she had already used all her strength.

"Let go!"

The Table Knife Sister roared. Hearing this, Su Xiao released his index and middle fingers, and the table knife was pulled back with a "whoosh."

Dong~

The sound of a skull hitting the ground came from inside the door. Just now, in order to pull out the table knife, the Table Knife Sister must have been holding the knife handle with both hands, and perhaps both feet were kicking against the door. Su Xiao suddenly let go, and the Table Knife Sister must have fallen backward, and then the back of her head hit the ground with a "dong" sound.

Soon, painful groans with tremors came from the inner door. One could imagine that she must be lying on the ground, holding the back of her head with both hands, her body gradually arching into a shrimp.

After a while, the Table Knife Sister shouted angrily and stabbed the wooden door with the table knife continuously. But after a few stabs, the room actually opened with a "creak."

Su Xiao saw that in the dim room, a disheveled figure stood inside the door. Because of the hair covering, she only revealed one eye, an extremely terrified eye.

The atmosphere was suffocatingly awkward. It was like a keyboard pianist who had just "played" a world-famous song with a keyboard, scolding a netizen to the point of being bloody, and when he turned his head, he saw that the netizen he had just scolded was the old brother sitting next to him in the internet cafe, the kind he could hit if he reached out.

Bang!

The door was closed, and there was the sound of panicked locking. Although the Table Knife Sister closed the door quickly, Su Xiao saw the situation in her room.

The Table Knife Sister's room was not small, about 80 square meters. There were all kinds of facilities inside, and there were gauze curtains around the bed. Besides these, Su Xiao also saw many hung clothes.

Those clothes were obviously not the Table Knife Sister's. A small piece of sunstone was placed near those washed and not yet dry clothes, and the sunlight emitted could gradually dry those clothes.

Judging from the style of these clothes, they looked very much like... the Young Lady's clothes? Thinking about it this way, the Table Knife Sister should be a servant of the Young Lady.

"Can all six of you guests open the door from the inside?"

Su Xiao asked. After a few seconds of silence behind the door, the answer came: "Only I can. I am not a guest; I am the Young Lady's servant."

The Table Knife Sister had the qualifications of a keyboard warrior. After the door opened unexpectedly just now, her voice was gentle and peaceful at this time.

"I opened the ward door just now."

Su Xiao was probing. He had seen many bottles and jars for medicine, as well as old-fashioned syringes, infusion stands, etc., in the Table Knife Sister's room just now.

"Did the Young Lady tell you the secret code? Tell me the first half to prove you know it."

"14, this is the secret code for the third-to-last and second-to-last digits."

"14... hmm, indeed correct. The password is not needed yet. Now you have the secret code, that's enough. Remember, before entering the fourth painting, you must use the secret code, otherwise, you lose the meaning of obtaining it."

Hearing the Table Knife Sister's words, Su Xiao looked thoughtful. The Table Knife Sister looked fierce, but in fact, her malice was not strong. She was more like a hedgehog, making herself look unapproachable. The table knife in her hand was stabbing the door the whole time.

For this kind of person who seemed to be in the chaotic faction but was actually in the good-leaning faction, physical interaction could have phased effects. If interacting later, unless 【Endless Darkness】 was served, it would be difficult to continue interacting. The Young Lady had helped drive away the Sun Bird: Taihakaku before, and the Table Knife Sister was the Young Lady's servant, so physical interaction was a bit inappropriate.

"Open the door."

Su Xiao continued to probe. If it really didn't work, he could only use physical interaction.

The Table Knife Sister hesitated for nearly half a minute before opening a crack in the door. From the width of a finger, it gradually opened to the width of a fist. Su Xiao threw an object through the crack in the door.

"Ah!!"

The Table Knife Sister screamed. If someone didn't know, they would think what Su Xiao threw in was Apollo.

After a few seconds, it calmed down behind the door. What Su Xiao threw in just now was a 【Warm Sunstone】. He had gotten 492 from the Sun Church, and he didn't feel bad about using one now.

For the people in the Gubao, the 【Warm Sunstone】 was a rare treasure. The Main Painting World only had one Gubao left, and outside was the surging purple-black semi-fluid. There had been no sun for a long time.

The sunstone in the Table Knife Sister's room was not only of low quality but also only the size of a grain of rice, while the 【Warm Sunstone】 Su Xiao just threw in was almost the size of a fist. This was the purest and rarest sunstone in the Sun Church.

After a while, the door was opened into a crack again. The Table Knife Sister's hand reached out, holding a long, small box. After Su Xiao took the small box, the Table Knife Sister hurriedly withdrew her hand, closed the door with a "bang," and stopped talking.

Su Xiao opened the wooden box. Inside was a very thin metal syringe.

【You have obtained Extracted Sedative (Holy Spirit-grade potion). This is a legacy of the dynasty's technology. It can stabilize your mind, exclude the madness invading your body, and thus restore a large amount of your Sanity. It can restore 300~390 Sanity points (the recovery amount varies depending on the user).】 ===== CHAPTER 3266 =====