Chapter 302: The Strange White Space

The moment the tendrils coiled around Lin Yifan, his complexion turned as white as snow.

He clearly felt something inside his body rapidly draining away.

Soon he knew exactly what was being lost from his body!

It was his life force!

In just an instant, he felt his body grow considerably weaker, accompanied by an indescribable terror.

That was the fear brought on by the loss of life!

To everyone else, the changes in his appearance were even more obvious.

Especially his jet‑black hair, which quickly turned speckled gray.

As if he had aged ten years!

"Lin Yifan!"

Seeing this, Ruan Qingtan's eyes reddened to the point of bursting; after a panicked shout, he instantly released a burst of holy light from his hand.

The holy light struck the tendrils, which had been wrapping around Lin Yifan's hand like iron chains, and they immediately began to thrash violently as if meeting their nemesis.

Seizing the chance, Lin Yifan broke free, rolling as he landed to dodge another sweeping tendril.

He gasped and glanced at the countdown—00:04:19.

"Four minutes left! Everyone hold on!" Lin Yifan clenched his teeth, wildly swinging the Dawnbreak in his hand; the holy light on the blade flared like fire, forming a warm, sight‑piercing fire dragon that roared toward the mass of tendrils.

Wherever the flames passed, the black‑mist tendrils convulsed violently as if confronting a natural enemy, screaming as they turned to charcoal.

A straight fiery path led directly to the castle gate, whose outline was now clearly visible.

"Run! Run!" the Survivors shouted as they rushed through the wall of fire.

Lin Yifan staggered behind them, his vision blurred from blood loss, yet he stared fixedly at the countdown—00:01:47.

Suddenly, the entire castle emitted a terrifying hum, and all remaining tendrils frantically recoiled, gathering on the ground into a massive black vortex.

At the vortex's center, a vague humanoid black silhouette rose slowly; it had no facial features, only a pair of blood‑red eyes fixed on Lin Yifan.

"Human… don't even think of escaping…" the shadow's voice sounded like the overlapping screams of ten million people.

Lin Yifan's blood nearly solidified.

Instinctively he raised the Dawnbreak, but the blade shattered piece by piece the moment it touched the shadow.

The shadow extended a withered‑branch‑like hand, its fingertips a mere inch from his throat.

The terror of death instantly enveloped Lin Yifan!

Bang!

At that moment, a golden light descended from the sky, piercing the shadow's head with pinpoint accuracy.

The shadow emitted a painful, high‑pitched wail as its body disintegrated into countless black specks.

Lin Yifan turned back in shock and saw Ruan Qingtan, his face pallid, collapsing to the ground.

"Ruan Qingtan, how are you?" he hurried forward, pulling Ruan Qingtan into his arms and asked anxiously.

"I just overexerted myself, feel a bit fatigued, otherwise I'm fine," Ruan Qingtan replied, shaking his head as he clutched Lin Yifan's arm.

"Let's leave quickly! If we don't, who knows what trouble will arise."

This place is truly bizarre; Lin Yifan still hasn't figured out where those inexplicable crises and tendrils came from.

Now that a sliver of hope finally appears, he naturally won't waste time here, reaching out to stop Ruan Qingtan, and the two stagger toward the gate.

Behind him, the reconstituted shadow and another wave of tendrils surged forward.

Fortunately, the countdown jumped to 00:00:05, and Lin Yifan's fingers finally touched the doorframe.

When they stepped inside, the countdown instantly cleared.

But the next second, a blinding white light burst from the doorway, engulfing everyone's sight.

The white light gradually faded, and Lin Yifan and Ruan Qing Tang's vision slowly cleared.

He found himself standing in a pure white space, nothing around, only the Dawnbreak sword he held emitting a warm glow.

"What kind of hellish place is this?" he muttered, his heart feeling clenched by an invisible hand.

Other surviving Survivors also appeared in the space, looking around bewildered, their faces marked with the daze of post‑catastrophe.

"We… survived?" someone asked trembling.

After surveying the surroundings, everyone collapsed to the ground, excitedly beginning to vent:

"There's no danger here, we survived, we finally survived!"

"Great! Really great! I almost got caught by those tendrils just now, but it was just a hair's breadth…"

"Woooo… why does this Ghost World have so many dangers? Luckily we survived this time!"

……

Lin Yifan surveyed the surroundings, confirmed there was no danger, then let out a long sigh, lowered his head and smiled at the Ruan Qingtan in his arms:

"We survived!"

Ruan Qingtan lifted their head, their pale, weak face unable to hide joy, nodding heavily as they said:

"Yes, we survived! Being alive is truly wonderful."

But when they swept their gaze around, they couldn't help but frown:

"But what is this place? Logically the countdown should have ended; we should have left this plane and returned to the Initial Domain."

Lin Yifan, hearing this, also sensed something was off.

Although there's no danger here, likewise, there's nothing at all.

The countdown that signified the end of the resource contest was gone, and the door they entered through was also gone.

That means, if they can't find a new exit, they're essentially trapped here.

Even if there's no danger here, how long can they hold out?

Ruan Qingtan also thought of this, their voice trembling: "Have we not truly left the Instance?"

Lin Yifan shook his head, his voice low:

"It doesn't matter whether we've left the Instance or not; we may have left the Instance and entered another space, only to be trapped here!"

"What should we do now?" Ruan Qingtan asked anxiously:

"There's nothing in this space; we can't hold out for long!"

"Let's wait a bit longer." Lin Yifan squinted, recalling all that had happened earlier, and spoke in a deep voice:

"I feel this is all like a plot, a scheme that led us here; otherwise, why would we end up here after stepping through the door?"

"If my guess is correct, we only need to wait quietly, and the one hidden behind the scenes will naturally appear…"

"You're indeed clever; we even guessed this."

Before Lin Yifan could finish speaking, an echoing voice rang out from all directions.

Lin Yifan sprang to his feet, his face full of vigilance as he looked around.

Because of that voice, he felt it sounded familiar!

Only, he still couldn't recall who the voice belonged to; the pure white space began to warp, the surroundings peeling away like a torn canvas, revealing a ferocious darkness behind it.