Chapter 754: In the Darkness (Beginning of Month, Requesting Double Moon Tickets)

Fuck!

Although Lu Mi had already considered the idea of taking a risk, he had not yet fully decided; faced with the sudden extinguishing of the white candle, he couldn't help cursing inwardly and instinctively reached to activate the black mark on his right shoulder to "teleport" out of the underground crypt.

At that moment, he felt a bone-chilling cold rise in the palm of his right hand, accompanied by a faint prickling pain.

This made his mind clearer, and he detected no other, worse changes in his body.

Indeed… Lu Mi instantly regained his composure and abandoned the idea of using the "Spirit World Transit" ability.

His suspicion had been confirmed!

He quietly clenched his right fist, ensuring the protruding seal mark of the "Man of the Mingdao " would not be "seen" by other things in the darkness.

After being mistaken for one of their own by the aged, decayed, and clearly abnormal crypt keeper, Lu Mi had suspected this was caused by the "Man of the Mingdao " seal.

After all, the "Spring of the Samaritan Woman" was closely tied to the "Man of the Mingdao," and one major reason for constructing the underground crypts of Trill was to contain the overflow of the "Spring of the Samaritan Woman," with crypt keepers taking turns guarding the massive chamber leading to it.

If mutated crypt keepers could walk through the underground crypts' darkness without carrying a lit white candle and not vanish, then logically, someone with the "Man of the Mingdao " seal should be able to too!

Of course, this was extremely dangerous—if he guessed wrong, he would die, leaving no trace of his existence whatsoever; thus, despite the Fengkuangniantou already rising in his mind, he still could not make up his mind.

In the pure darkness where his eyes saw nothing, Lu Mi felt as if he were inside Trill's underground river, surrounded by cold, damp, heavy, and lifeless stillness.

Yet his breathing did not grow difficult; his body and soul were somehow drawing air from the thick, dark "water," sustaining his existence.

He felt like a fish in the depths of the abyssal water.

The darkness truly resembled flowing water, layer upon layer pressing down, isolating this space from its surroundings and the outside world.

The next moment, Lu Mi heard the aged keeper's hoarse, cold voice:

"In this period, three people tried to approach the spring, and I stopped them."

Three people… Lu Mi perked up and asked:

"Who were they?"

"One was a Follower of Darkness and Death, accompanied by a 'Hunter.'" The aged keeper described it in his own way.

A Follower of Darkness and Death with a "Hunter"… That's me and Ms. "Hela," no—Ms. "Hela" and me? You remember us… Lu Mi first realized, then silently grumbled.

He had assumed this aged keeper differed from more active keepers like Kendar—he was nearly in corpse-state, recognizing people not by sight but by sensing aura—during Lu Mi's journey through the crypts to the "Old Bone Chamber Entrance," he had encountered two keepers guiding tourists, neither of whom regarded him as one of their own; instead, they warned him not to wander alone and to always keep his white candle lit.

"Who was the other?" Lu Mi pressed.

Was it Harrison, or the Amon avatar Monite, active in the crypts?

The aged crypt keeper spoke mechanically, in a low, dull tone:

"An outsider. His aura was very close to ours, but also different, so I stopped him."

Very close… yet different… outsider… After chewing over these descriptions, Lu Mi concluded it was almost certainly Harrison, the visitor from the Resurrection Island!

"What did he look like?" Lu Mi controlled his emotions and asked calmly.

His vision could not pierce the darkness; he could not even make out the silhouette of the aged keeper, yet he clearly sensed the man stood before him, no more than two meters away.

He then heard the aged keeper reply:

"I've been a keeper too long—so long I've forgotten many, many things.

"Even death itself fades here; how much more so our memories?

"I don't remember what he looked like, only that he didn't resemble the people of Intis, Ruin, or Fasak."

After a brief pause, the crypt keeper continued, his tone still flat:

"I should return to rest…"

Lu Mi did not urge him to stay, nor ask further.

Though he heard no footsteps and sensed no movement ahead, he suddenly had a crystal-clear thought:

"That man has left."

Not resembling Intis, Ruin, or Fasak… outsider… visited the fourth level of the crypts in recent months… Lu Mi replayed the keeper's words over and over in his mind.

Suddenly, he recalled something:

Franca had mentioned encountering in the crypts a man who seemed from the "Master of Heaven" world—that is, the world they had crossed over from—and her basis was that his appearance closely resembled people from that world, differing noticeably from those of Intis, Ruin, Fenepot, and Fasak!

"So, Franca met the same person the aged keeper warned away? And that person was very likely Harrison from the Resurrection Island…"

"Is the Resurrection Island actually a nexus where two worlds intersect?"

"Is the reason the map to the Resurrection Island is wrong because it lacks mystical content—arriving at the designated sea area only brings danger, not the island?"

"This explains perfectly Franca's divination result that 'the map is true' and adventurers' failures to find the island—the map is indeed true, it just doesn't record how to open the 'Island Gate'!"

"If so, the deeper reasons behind Franca's group being transported, and the islanders' appearances on the Northern and Southern Continents, must have deeper explanations…"

"The good thing now is that Franca saw the suspected Harrison and, through ritual, has drawn his portrait—this will help us locate him later."

"Heh, Franca and Jianna's exploration yielded crucial information on many key matters—full of the scent of arrangement."

"This may not have been done by Him, but it's almost certainly tied to the Amon avatar who frequently appears here…"

Lu Mi's greatest confusion now was why the "True Creator" or Amon cared about this matter—Their previous "help" had mostly concerned fighting the outside barrier deities, not issues involving another world.

"Hmm, is that Celestial Lord considered an outside barrier deity?"

"Does He come from the 'Master of Heaven' world?"

"Is this part of a demonic invasion?"

After a brief speculation, Lu Mi considered another question:

Should he tell Franca, "007," Ms. "Hela," or other members of the "Fuzzy Baboon Research Society"?

Lu Mi could already imagine the scene:

Some members of the "Fuzzy Baboon Research Society," including Franca, would go mad, rushing to sea one after another to find the Resurrection Island marked on the map—finding it was dangerous, but not finding it was even more dangerous!

And Lu Mi preferred Franca to remain as she was now:

Happy, aside from her gender obsession.

After a moment of silence, Lu Mi laughed slightly, unsteadily, murmuring to himself in the dark, water-like environment:

"Will you avoid seeking a way to find Aurora because of danger and others' expectations?"

"Will you abandon resistance because of danger and others' expectations?"

"Will you refuse to fuse Oumibela's bloodline because of danger and others' expectations?"

"No!"

Lu Mi made his decision and turned his attention to the surrounding environment.

He saw nothing, yet faintly sensed shadowy figures wandering in the darkness, felt hands reaching for him—gripping his arms, ankles, neck, body—but producing no tangible effect.

No, one thing: Lu Mi felt distinctly colder; even with the "Harvester" body's traits, he nearly couldn't resist contracting his pores and trembling slightly.

He also heard faint, pained, desperate weeping, but could not determine its direction.

"Are these the people who vanished inside the crypts?" Lu Mi tried to listen closely, to find one or two missing persons and learn their current state—but it was useless.

Suddenly, he shivered.

That coldness and stillness seeped into his mind.

His thoughts grew slightly sluggish; some memories became hazy.

"The 'Man of the Mingdao ' seal only prevents me from vanishing instantly, erasing all trace of my existence, but cannot stop me from being slowly corroded here, like those crypt keepers… and I'm being corroded faster than they are…" Lu Mi snapped out a flame, igniting the white candle in his hand.

The darkness, cold, heaviness, stillness, and dampness immediately receded with the spreading light.

Lu Mi glanced at the candle flame in his hand and nodded, murmuring:

"I had mistaken the 'Man of the Mingdao ' seal for another kind of white candle flame, but now it seems they're different—fundamentally, entirely different."

"One originates from a sealed anomaly; the other draws upon the power sealing this place?"

Amid swirling thoughts, Lu Mi carried the burning white candle and retraced his steps upward.

When he returned to the "Old Bone Chamber Entrance," he saw the previous university students were gone.

"Scared off already?" Lu Mi sneered, slowly leaving the crypt and returning to the Purgatory Square.

In Apartment 702, No. 9 Aoluosaijie, Memorial District.

Franca, who had just planned to go out and gather information on the "Mirror People," saw Lu Mi again.

"Why are you here again?" the "Joyful Witch" asked, her lips twitching slightly.

PS: Beginning of the month—requesting double moon tickets~

(End of Chapter)