Chapter 626: Do you always like testing others?

Do you always like testing others?

Cheng Shi still didn't step forward. Not only that, he subconsciously wrapped his feet.

No one knew why he did this; even the person who performed such an unfathomable action felt that his brain had just short-circuited.

A moment later, he pulled away the white cloth with a wry smile, then rolled his eyes and teased the Blind Man lying on the ground:

"Stop pretending. I've studied medicine; I can hear the frequency of a person's breathing. Although your breathing is long and steady, it isn't weak. This isn't the sign of fainting.

If you're truly tired and want to lie here for a while, please feel free.

I'm in a hurry, so I'll be going first."

As he spoke, Cheng Shi lifted his foot and walked toward the door, looking as if he had truly given up on traveling with the Blind Man.

Not until one foot crossed the threshold did he pause slightly, pricking up his ears to continue listening to the sounds in the room. But nothing in the room changed; An Mingyu, who had fainted on the ground, kept her breathing consistent, never waking up.

This made Cheng Shi furrow his brow slightly. He had indeed intended to test her, but the other party had given no response.

Was she really unconscious?

It couldn't be such a coincidence; the timing was too precise, not at all like the real thing.

Although he had doubts, Cheng Shi didn't hesitate in his actions. He stepped over the threshold in an instant and closed the door behind him.

However, just as the two door panels were about to meet, leaving only a sliver of a gap, that clear female voice rang out in the room again, though this time the tone was somewhat puzzled.

"Xinxin said that when faking a faint, one must adjust their breathing to be weak and long. I did it, and I considered it flawless. There is absolutely no way you could have seen through me on that point.

So you must have been bluffing me. Cheng Shi, you are indeed exceptionally sharp, but how were you so certain..."

"Bang—" The door was completely shut.

"?"

The Blind Man, who had opened his eyes slightly while lying on the ground, was left awkward. He realized his "attempt to keep him" hadn't worked at all. This Fate-Weaver, who claimed to have been summoned by 【Fate】, completely ignored the script. He had clearly heard his voice, yet still chose to close the door and leave.

Yes, Cheng Shi had simply left.

He liked fishing, but only on the condition that he was the one holding the rod, not the fish.

This 【Fate】 Divine Choice had clearly had Qin Xin distract Wang Mou because he had something to say to him, but if he wanted to talk, he should have just talked—why did he have to pull these stunts before opening up?

I hate insincere heart-to-hearts, so I refuse to have one with you.

And so, Cheng Shi walked away. He exited the inn—which couldn't be called dilapidated but certainly had a sense of age—and arrived on a street so broken and cracked it could hardly be called a street.

Underground!

This trial was indeed taking place underground!

That Investigator was well-traveled; he had seen the clues just by looking at the inn's layout. Cheng Shi, however, had only confirmed it the moment he left the inn.

And what made him so certain wasn't the architectural style or decor of the inn, but the sight right before his eyes—a sight so massive it was suffocating...

The 【Abyssal Volcano】!

This trial was actually near the 【Abyssal Volcano】, and extremely close at that!

One had to know that this volcano, which erupted year-round, was the most critical passage connecting the surface and the underground. Considering the duration of the trial, Cheng Shi even wondered if part of the anomaly in this round came from the surface.

Could this round require players to use the 【Abyssal Volcano】 to run up to the surface?

But he had absolutely no idea how to navigate the volcanic passage. Underground trials were rare to begin with, and the 【Abyssal Volcano】 was extremely dangerous when erupting; very few people knew how to travel between the two places through this volcano.

Furthermore, many high-end players, once they possessed a certain level of strength, preferred to take the safer Void, so the 【Abyssal Volcano】 remained a mystery to most players.

Cheng Shi only knew that there were many small towns around the underground volcano that had developed because people stopped there while traveling back and forth. In these towns, there were always people calling themselves "shuttle brokers," openly doing business transporting people from the underground to the surface.

They claimed they could safely send people to the surface but charged a high price. However, their reputation was generally decent, so the towns gradually grew in scale.

And where he stood now was clearly one such town.

But to be fair, why did this town always give him a sense of familiarity?

Cheng Shi furrowed his brow. He turned around to carefully examine the inn, whose very sign was cracked, searching his memory for similarities, but after thinking for a long time, he still had no clue.

He had clearly never been near the 【Abyssal Volcano】, so how could he feel familiar with a small town at its foot?

Was it an illusion?

He frowned again and looked at the massive, miraculous volcano that erupted from top to bottom.

That's right, the 【Abyssal Volcano】 wasn't a normal volcano. The word "Abyss" was less of a name for the volcano and more of an existence parallel to the "volcano." The "Abyss" on the surface and the "Volcano" underground together formed this rare, peerless wonder.

The volcano was easy to understand—a towering, conical mountain. The abyss, however, was a funnel-shaped bottomless pit similar to an inverted volcano.

Its external manifestation on the surface was a giant pit with inward-tightening rock walls that extended to infinite depth. Underground—yes, this bottomless pit wasn't truly bottomless; it had a real existence underground, and that image was the sky reflection of the underground volcano!

In other words, what Cheng Shi saw before him was a pair of volcanic craters facing each other from afar—an entangled body of one upright volcano and one inverted one.

And at this moment, the inverted volcano was erupting, scattering countless "magma" overflowing with crimson radiance into the underground, like a scorching red waterfall falling straight from the heavens.

Many people explored the underground, but few explored the 【Abyssal Volcano】, because the first batch of curious players, aside from bringing back news of their teammates' deaths, had never brought back any benefits from this volcano. The "magma" erupted by the volcano, however, was rich in minerals, which helped with some experimental research.

So gradually, aside from believers of 【Truth】 and 【Dementia】, exploration of this wonder by others slowly dwindled.

The trial unfolding in such a place was somewhat difficult for Cheng Shi, as he knew almost nothing about this area. This was indeed his blind spot.

But a little ignorance couldn't stop anything. As long as he took a turn around this dry, hot town, he was confident he would soon harvest countless fresh intelligence and information to fill the gaps in his understanding of this area.

And just as Cheng Shi was slightly conflicted, preparing to choose a direction to start his investigation, the Blind Man's voice suddenly appeared behind him again.

An Mingyu had walked out. She finally rose from the "cold" floor and paced listlessly behind Cheng Shi.

"Do you always dislike helping others?"

"Do you always like testing others?"

"..."

An Mingyu's tone stalled, and her expression became somewhat complex.

"Sorry, I didn't test you on purpose. It's just that your image in my mind is somewhat ethereal. The feedback I've received from various dimensions tells me you seem to be a very contradictory person. I just wanted to clarify that point."

"Heh, I say, Divine Choice of Peace, not everyone has the obligation to cooperate with you in clarifying your thoughts. Let's put that aside for now; I'm planning to head right. What about you?"

"The die tells me that the left is the better choice." An Mingyu took out a 20-sided die. This 【Fate】 die, which looked like a round ball, rested quietly in her palm, showing an 18.

Cheng Shi's eyelid twitched. He looked at the 18-point die without a hint of jealousy and nodded:

"Then I'll go right. I never believe in fate!" ===== CHAPTER 627 =====