Chapter 66: Otherworldly Space

……

Inside the narrow black hole,

Ding Mo landed in the middle, carrying the girl Xiao Yu, with Gu Zixu leading the way in front and the one-armed Zhang Yunfan bringing up the rear.

The group climbed along the cave walls.

The air inside the cave was incredibly humid, making Ding Mo feel as if he had fallen into the mouth of some creature.

Just moments ago, they had moved the Eight Immortals table, and seeing that there was no movement in the room, they took the opportunity to crawl into the hole.

The cave was pitch black and seemingly bottomless, with no indication of where it led.

However, they soon reached the end of the climb.

Jumping down from the exit, they seemed to have arrived in a corridor filled with an artistic atmosphere.

Numerous portraits were displayed on the walls, and the blue-and-white porcelain-like stone floor featured exquisite patterns.

The chandelier overhead emitted a dim, yellowish light.

The only anomaly seemed to be the black hole from which they had emerged.

It appeared out of thin air on a wall, completely out of place with its surroundings.

After surveying the area for a moment, having no time to appreciate the surrounding paintings, the group looked toward both ends.

They were in the exact center of a straight corridor, with both ends disappearing into darkness.

"Let's go this way."

Gu Zixu chose a direction.

After walking for a while, Ding Mo discovered that the path ahead was becoming increasingly dark, and furthermore,

the surrounding paintings were mostly portraits; at first glance, they had seemed normal, with realistic skin and full figures.

But after walking for a while, he didn't know when it started, but Ding Mo noticed they were becoming increasingly "withered and thin."

Even their faces were becoming more distorted!

The arrival of the group seemed to have disturbed something.

It wasn't just him; the others had noticed this scene as well. Everyone couldn't help but quicken their pace once more.

Sometimes, in a fleeting glance, Ding Mo could even see a portrait with a field as the background where the figure's mouth was opening wider and wider, squeezing their eyes smaller and smaller.

Before long, the exaggerated mouth almost covered the entire face!

Fortunately, the anomaly did not seem to have reached a certain critical point, and the group soon arrived at the end of the gallery.

The connection at the end was a wall with a crack half a person wide and over two meters long.

There was nothing to say; they were committed to this path anyway, so following Gu Zixu's lead, Ding Mo passed through.

Arriving behind the crack, they seemed to have reached another space; it was pitch black here, without a trace of light.

"The space here is completely chaotic..." A conclusion popped into Ding Mo's mind.

The group had only taken a few steps when suddenly, a "Crack!" sound rang out.

Ding Mo was startled and looked down, only to discover that he seemed to have kicked something.

He shone his flashlight—was that a severed limb?

To be precise, it was the lower leg of a corpse that Ding Mo had just kicked off.

Here... Ding Mo shone his flashlight forward and discovered, in total, over a dozen corpses within his line of sight.

Good grief, they had finally found people.

But in this situation, Ding Mo didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Who's there!" Gu Zixu suddenly shouted toward one direction.

As a black shadow flickered,

a man's voice came through: "Don't, don't be agitated."

He raised his hands, walked out from the darkness, and entered the light of the group's flashlights.

But when Ding Mo saw the figure clearly, he was shocked!

This person... was actually Tang Chen!?

"Tang Chen?" Zhang Yunfan and Gu Zixu were also surprised, and the former asked:

"Didn't you go to the hospital with He Xiang?"

"... Hospital?" Tang Chen, seeing that they were people he knew, felt joy amidst his surprise,

but upon hearing this, he wore a look of confusion.

"Are you talking about the hospital?"

"Yes, He Xiang said you were too severely injured and needed urgent treatment, and she also said she would take you to the Clock Tower to try your luck later... This wouldn't be the Clock Tower, would it?!"

As Zhang Yunfan spoke, he suddenly realized something and looked around.

However, his statement was quickly refuted.

"This isn't any Clock Tower; it's just a warehouse located next to the Salt Refinery!

"Tell me, did you meet He Xiang after she went out?

"What exactly did she do? You need to explain this clearly!!"

Tang Chen actually became agitated as he spoke, running up to grab Zhang Yunfan by the shoulders!

"After the warehouse door closed, we were separated. You said just now that you saw He Xiang with me; what is going on?

"I haven't been able to leave since the main door closed; this is impossible!!"

?!!

Is the real Tang Chen here?

Then who was the man who was with He Xiang yesterday?

His shocking words left the few of them looking at each other, silent for a long time.

"Calm down first; we aren't very clear on what's going on either," Ding Mo said, stepping forward to pat his shoulder.

Finally, after a bout of explanation once he had calmed down, everyone understood the full story.

It turned out that after Tang Chen fell down that time, he had been trapped here.

And the "guy" who left following He Xiang, the person they saw yesterday, was not him at all!

This matter made the few of them gasp in cold air.

No wonder the "Tang Chen" that He Xiang was supporting was always delirious; it was questionable whether it even had consciousness to begin with!

"..." A strange silence hung in the air for a while.

Tang Chen seemed to have deep feelings for He Xiang, constantly shouting that he wanted to go find her, appearing somewhat agitated.

"In other words, this thing is fake?" However, after Zhang Yunfan reacted, he remembered another matter.

He took out the bag of "salt" that He Xiang had given him, which he had been carrying on his person.

"How would I know!" Tang Chen said impatiently.

Coming back to his senses, Ding Mo saw this and thought for a moment before saying:

"Don't be too anxious; since we can't get out of here, why don't you temporarily act with us?

"Even if you want to find her again, you have to leave here first."

Upon hearing this, Tang Chen took a few deep breaths and said nothing, which counted as agreeing.

Thus, the few of them turned back to the gallery, preparing to head in another direction—

There were no exits in this warehouse; in the dozen or so hours he had been trapped here, Tang Chen had already confirmed this several times.

Turning back again, the few of them, now aware of the gallery's strangeness, walked with hurried steps.

But upon returning, they discovered that on most of the paintings in the gallery that contained "people," the figures had "disappeared"!

They had simply disappeared, vanishing directly from the canvas, leaving behind only a blank background.

Like the portrait with the field as a background that Ding Mo had seen earlier; now, only the "field" remained on it, and the "person" had completely vanished.

"Stay alert!" Gu Zixu said in a low voice.

But there was no need for her to say it; by this time, even a pig should have sensed that something was wrong.

A moment later, the group crossed in front of the original black hole.

To their surprise, that black hole had turned into a "painting"!

Within it, countless strange figures were gradually emerging.

A spider-legged woman, an upside-down man with a tail growing from his front, a hairless dried corpse! Each one looked hair-raising!

Among them, the person whose mouth occupied their entire face, whom Ding Mo had just seen,

was also among them!

Not only that, the figures within were still faintly emerging, seemingly about to break free from the painting!

"Run!" Someone shouted, and the group ran for their lives.

Ding Mo ran wildly, and when he looked back, he almost dropped his jaw in shock!

He saw that behind them, the corridor was actually starting to turn into a "scroll" step by step! It swept toward them like a Tide!

The Guaishou within were chasing them from inside the "scroll"!

"There are stairs ahead!"

At Gu Zixu's reminder, the group rushed over and ran up the spiral staircase with a "thud-thud" sound.

However, Zhang Yunfan, who was lagging at the back due to his injury, didn't make it in time and was actually swept into the painting by his right foot!

"!!" In terror, Zhang Yunfan struggled!

Yet he broke free easily?

Zhang Yunfan himself hadn't expected it to be so easy, but after a moment of stunned silence, he quickly regained his senses and ran up.

At this time, the others had already gone up the stairs, and no one saw this scene.