Chapter 260: The Gate to the Endless Dark Kingdom of the Dead

The fortieth floor of the Strange Tower.

In this extremely unique level, the kingdom of the dead is hidden.

Every time he enters a scenario, Wen Xishu experiences a moment of mental blur, as if falling into chaos.

Until he opens his eyes.

But this time, after Wen Xishu opened his eyes, everything around him was still chaos.

He only felt as if he were walking in a quagmire.

His footsteps became very heavy; every step Wen Xishu took required him to lift his legs with force just to avoid being stuck by the eerie liquid beneath his feet.

Although this is the Strange Tower and he lacks the Three-Phase Power to use the Ultimate Kick, Wen Xishu’s leg strength is indeed very strong.

"What kind of place is this?"

Black, endless black.

He cannot see anything, but fortunately, even without relying on vision, his current Anti-Magic Value is enough for Wen Xishu to perceive his surroundings.

All around is an endless "void."

There is nothing, only these viscous liquids beneath his feet.

They act like mud, hindering Wen Xishu’s progress.

Wen Xishu felt a bit lost.

In such an empty, dark world where he cannot see anything and the only option is to keep walking forward, he felt a sense of fear in his heart.

Fear stems from the unknown.

Life and death are the most absolute laws, and this time his mission seems to be to reverse a person’s life and death.

To bring the deceased back to the human world.

This seems impossible to complete; if it could be completed... then the slaughter between the constellations would become a joke.

So Wen Xishu is actually a bit afraid of any world related to death.

In such a world, the number of people who can explore it is absolutely countable on one's fingers.

"Where am I? How much longer must I walk like this?"

This world has a very simple and brutal punishment called solitary confinement, where a person is locked in a completely pitch-black space, unable to see anything, feeling only oppression, and gradually forgetting time.

After a long time in this state, one begins to feel fear, terror, and madness.

Four hours.

Wen Xishu has been walking in one direction in this dark place for four hours.

During this process, Wen Xishu also took out the Luo Pan...

But it was useless; the Luo Pan did not indicate anything here.

He walked for more than four hours, over two hundred and forty minutes, over fourteen thousand four hundred seconds.

In fact, Wen Xishu is not even sure of these numbers; he was just counting to prevent himself from collapsing, counting with his own footsteps.

One step per second, enough to show his slowness. Over ten thousand steps can actually take one very, very far.

Yet Wen Xishu still cannot see any "end."

Because of the darkness, and because this place remains an infinite void.

Even having experienced countless eerie scenarios, at this moment, Wen Xishu struggled a bit.

"Am I wrong?"

He began to feel confused.

No field of vision, it is as black as if his eyes were closed. One can walk in any direction.

If one doubts they have gone the wrong way at this time, the pressure is incomparably immense.

Because it has been four hours, and he cannot see any clues.

And there are so many directions waiting for him; if this is a wrong path, then after walking for four hours, has he gone even more absurdly wrong?

The world of the dead must be very vast, perhaps even larger than the world of the living.

Can he really walk through it?

Eleven hours later.

Wen Xishu’s willpower began to loosen; he even thought that the answer might not be in front.

But below.

To let himself lie down and allow these black viscous liquids to swallow him. Perhaps below is a world with light?

He actually did that, but strangely, those black liquids did intend to swallow Wen Xishu at first, and Wen Xishu felt himself sinking...

But soon, he was pushed back up by a force.

He could even touch the "bottom."

Those black liquids seemed to refuse to swallow him, merely hindering his movement.

It had only been eleven hours, so Wen Xishu was naturally not yet in despair.

But seeing no clues or possibilities made Wen Xishu no longer calm.

"Damn it. How is this place supposed to be cleared?"

"Could it be that I have to stay here for seven days?"

"Annoying."

It is meaningless; the sound has no echo, the surroundings are empty, but also vast.

This is the first time Wen Xishu has encountered such a situation.

It is as if you are playing a game where you control a car, the car drives forward, the scenery around you is always the same, you cannot see any other vehicles, and the scenery ahead never changes.

You cannot even be sure if your car is actually moving.

That is how Wen Xishu is right now.

He is even doubting himself: "Am I really walking in a straight line the whole time?"

Research shows that after closing one's eyes, a person's footsteps tend to draw a circle.

Wen Xishu could not help but suspect that he might just be drawing a strange circle.

Twenty-three hours later, his mental state was severely damaged.

But even so, Wen Xishu still kept walking in a straight line, at least... according to the straight line he imagined.

He still could not see anything, and he had no way to deal with this place.

The Scorpion Dagger generated portals in many places...

But perhaps this place is too big; he never saw a portal.

He was also a bit tired.

For the first time, Wen Xishu began to think about the taste of food. He had eaten many good things.

But now, he began to crave the compressed biscuits he had when he was on death row.

Twenty-four hours.

Wen Xishu lay on the ground and fell asleep.

In his dream, Wen Xishu returned to his original world, and everyone in the bunker appeared in his original world, only their identities had changed.

Albert became an old bachelor, but a very cool old bachelor.

Yueyun was a basketball player, and Nisen was a DJ.

This dream ended quickly.

Wen Xishu opened his eyes...

It had already been twenty-seven hours since he arrived at the fortieth floor of the Strange Tower.

He had only slept for three hours.

Usually, when entering a Strange Tower world, Wen Xishu might grasp the essence within just a few hours.

But now, nearly thirty hours later, he was trapped in an infinite space... beginning to doubt and negate himself.

Finally, Wen Xishu took out the Horn of Competition.

He had not gone mad, but his mental state was not good, because this environment seemed to contain a power that made people feel restless.

Wen Xishu quickly calmed himself down.

"Discard those distracting thoughts, don't be anxious... don't be anxious, calm down."

"I will definitely be able to solve the puzzle."

"The current situation is that I have received a problem, and I need to solve it, but the strange thing is, nothing is written on the problem; it is just an infinitely large blank sheet of paper placed there."

"I keep searching the blank paper for where the problem is; after all, I must know the problem to solve it."

"But the more I search, the more I feel... why is this paper so big? This blank paper that should have had the problem written on it seems infinitely large."

"To the point that I don't know if a problem even exists."

Wen Xishu patted his face, making a slapping sound.

"With my constitution, it won't matter if I wait here for seven days. So don't be anxious..."

Since I cannot find the problem, I will write one on the blank paper myself.

Thinking this, Wen Xishu used the Horn of Competition. Upon touching the Horn of Competition.

Wen Xishu only felt a divine aura pouring into his body. Subsequently, the following text appeared in his mind.

[This round of competition is: Brave vs. Demon King. The "Demon King" has been constructed; the Demon King will hunt the Brave, the Demon King will have the ability to sense the Brave's location, and will hunt the Brave at all costs.]

[Brave's victory method one: Evade the Demon King for over seventy-two hours.]

[Brave's victory method two: Imprison the Demon King.]

【Brave's winning method three: Kill the Demon King.】

【The reward will be related to the winning method; killing the Demon King will yield the maximum reward.】

【The competition begins. All living beings in this Obsession World are eligible to participate.】

【Because the holder possesses the "Golden Horn," you will gain a competitive advantage.】

【Competitive assistance: Compared to other participants, you will gain Demon King Vision.】

Wen Xishu was amused.

Alright, now there is a question on the blank paper; no matter how vast you are, where you hide the question...

...is no longer the only thing I need to solve.

At least for now, in this space, I am no longer the only one here.

Even if it meant one more enemy, as long as he was no longer alone, Wen Xishu felt his mental state clearly recover.

Especially since Wen Xishu also noticed that he could now actively activate a new skill.

Demon King Vision.

"It seems that once activated, I can see whatever the Demon King can see?"

Wen Xishu decided to try it.

He closed his eyes, and before long, a certain eerie energy began to appear on his body, transforming into a faint purple halo.

Wen Xishu opened his eyes.

His pupils had changed, becoming vertical pupils similar to those of a beast.

And the scene in his eyes was no longer pitch black.

Instead, it was endless magma.

Countless things with human outlines, yet appearing somewhat illusory and transparent like ghosts, were wailing incessantly in the magma.

The Demon King should be flying in the sky.

The Demon King seemed to possess considerable intelligence; it quickly frowned:

"Hell? Damn it, why did I end up here?"

Wen Xishu was very curious about what level this Demon King, created by the Competition Horn, actually was.

To actually recognize this as hell at a glance?

"Bastard, to actually use the Competition Horn to start a match in a place like this. Why can a dead person use this kind of thing?"

"No... could it be that a living person has come to the land of the dead?"

Thinking of this, the Demon King felt fear itself.

"Are the current challengers already this extreme?"

The sea of fire formed by magma was boiling countless wronged souls. This scene was indeed very hellish.

The Demon King dodged the magma several times, its movements incredibly agile.

Although Wen Xishu could not see a third-person perspective, he could feel the Demon King's speed through the speed of the space shifting even from a first-person perspective.

Soon, Red House level.

Wen Xishu felt that since he couldn't get out anyway, he might as well watch how the Demon King breaks the situation.

The scene before him was a huge circular "magma pool."

At the top of the sky were some existences similar to magic arrays. After observing for a while, the Demon King... actually did not crash into them directly.

Next came the operation that left Wen Xishu dumbfounded.

In the Demon King's line of sight, some text appeared.

【Enable space deconstruction?】

This was the same as the text that often appeared in Wen Xishu's eyes—whether to use the Inversion Dice.

This Demon King, it has this kind of ability too?

I have to say, in the competition created by Taurus, the Demon King actually has a very high gold content.

This is not a competition built by the Land of Obsession; this is a competition purely built by Taurus.

In other words—the house is very strong.

【Space deconstruction enabling—Number of participants: 1.】

【Distance between participant and you—Infinite. There is a difference in spatial dimensions.】

【Current area analysis: Lava Hell, a type of elemental hell. It is recommended to leave the hell area as soon as possible. You can try using blood to leave this area.】

Incredible.

Wen Xishu could only say, damn it, are you cheating?

How is this still playable?

Being able to forcibly analyze space and even directly obtain the distance between oneself and the participant?

You're already the Demon King, and you're still cheating? This isn't just a stat crush; it's a technological crush too.

Wen Xishu really wanted to say: Turn it off, it's boring.

But he had to admit, everything depended on the Demon King now. The Demon King had given him quite a bit of information.

"The Demon King was assigned to hell, which is reasonable. Now the Demon King's task is to escape hell."

"But what is my task?"

"The only text prompt is that the Demon King and I are not in the same space, so the distance between me and the Demon King is infinitely far..."

"In other words, I really did waste a day... no matter how I walk, I can't meet up with the Demon King."

"The area I am in might really be an infinitely large area."

"But why?"

Wen Xishu began to sort through all the clues.

"I am a living person."

"There is only one way for a living person to enter the world of the dead, and that is to die."

"But because of the Strange Tower, I can enter the world of the dead as a living person."

"The Strange Tower is a Land of Obsession, and a Land of Obsession can construct countless rules..."

"But the rules of life and death are absolute. If the absolutes of life and death are broken... then it's just like Dragon Ball, where no one's death can make anyone feel sad."

Wen Xishu liked Dragon Ball, but when he watched Dragon Ball in the past, it was indeed only fiery and passionate, without the slightest bit of being moved.

After all, anyone could be resurrected after dying.

The price of death was just wearing a halo; otherwise, it seemed no different from a living person.

Dead people could still fight Majin Buu.

He remembered Albert's silent sorrow again. Mr. Jin's death, the deaths of countless tower climbers in the bunker...

These were unchangeable. And precisely because death is an absolute parting, it makes everyone cherish being alive so much.

The obsession of the Land of Obsession only transported one to the place closest to the dead...

But it was still not the true world of the dead. No matter how powerful the obsession of the Obsession World is, even the constellations have to abide by it...

But for such an obsession to break through the barrier of life and death is also very difficult. Those so-called resurrections are only at the moment of death, not bringing someone back to life long after they have died.

"This is the boundary between life and death. There is endless space here, causing every living person to get lost, and only after dying... perhaps can one truly enter."

"In other words, I can't get in."

"But the Strange Tower should have an error-correction mechanism, right? If a level is blocked... the Strange Tower wouldn't just leave it unfixed, would it?"

Thinking of the mission description he had read not long ago, it was clear the Strange Tower seemed certain it could get tower climbers into the world of the dead.

But how should it be done?

This world of absolute darkness and boundless chaos is just a wall; as long as one crosses this wall, one can enter the world of the dead.

Wen Xishu suddenly thought:

"That's not right... if I can't enter the world of the dead, why can Taurus's Competition Horn?"

"The environment where the Demon King is located is Lava Hell; that place, no matter how you look at it... is a place where dead people stay."

Wen Xishu began to think again:

"What is the difference between me and the Demon King?"

(End of chapter)