Chapter 20: No Turning Back
Putting down the notes of High Priest Nuoe, Su Xiao's eyes showed contemplation. Based on his speculation, the Luyang Continent should be some Primordial World, and High Priest Nuoe came from there.
The game participants chosen by the Death House were not limited to the Void alone. As for the "Desecration of Death" mentioned in the notes, there were too few clues to reach a conclusion.
High Priest Nuoe was one of the deceased within the Death House. The deceased were not dead people; they were equally alive.
This wooden cabin had once received many visitors. In the beginning, High Priest Nuoe interacted with these people amicably, exchanging knowledge and such. One person even became his close friend. Before leaving the Death House, that person took a huge risk to return here and visit High Priest Nuoe one last time.
Unfortunately, the friendly interactions didn't last long. After learning that obtaining a Shadow Stone would allow him to leave this cabin, High Priest Nuoe began to trap and kill visitors.
The first time he killed someone, High Priest Nuoe was chained by the neck with iron shackles on the wooden wall. At that time, the chain was still long, allowing him to move freely within the room.
As High Priest Nuoe killed more and more visitors, the chain imprisoning him grew shorter and shorter. By the time Su Xiao arrived, the chain was only three meters long.
Killing visitors not only shortened the chain but, more terrifyingly, reduced his intelligence. By the middle and later stages, High Priest Nuoe had forgotten who he was. Strangely, he still remembered the knowledge in his mind and a phrase: "Truly degenerate."
Su Xiao had previously wondered why High Priest Nuoe was so stupid. His door-opening and closing strategy had many flaws, yet High Priest Nuoe acted like a boss stuck in a bug—when the door closed, he would hold back his abilities, and when it opened, he would start accumulating again.
High Priest Nuoe's abilities were similar to a Necromancer's. Most of his abilities required energy accumulation, commonly known as "casting time."
The funny thing was, as soon as Bubu Wang closed the door, this guy would stop "casting," and when the door opened, he would restart "casting." This led Su Xiao, after killing him, to briefly think he was playing dead.
Being restricted in movement range was already despairing enough, but having intelligence reduced was even more terrifying.
And even more "terrifying" was that this deceased named Nuoe was very poor. He hadn't recorded the knowledge in his mind, and the books on the shelves were all biographies and such, of little value.
The candlelight flickered. Su Xiao's gaze shifted to the candlestick, where a candle burned with a small flame. He approached the candlestick and touched the candle with his index finger.
[You have obtained 'White Tallow Candle'.]
[Hint: The White Tallow Candle can be used for illumination for over 90 years. If used to dispel 'Dark Mist', its burning and melting speed will accelerate, with a time limit of 20 minutes.]
Su Xiao pulled the White Tallow Candle from the candlestick and blew it out. Instantly, the cabin was plunged into darkness—a darkness so thick you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.
"Wooaooo!"
Bubu Wang let out a miserable howl.
"You're not blind."
"Woof?"
Under Bubu Wang's confused gaze, Su Xiao lit the White Tallow Candle in his hand, and the darkness was quickly dispelled.
Su Xiao walked out of the cabin. As soon as he stepped out, the door slowly closed behind him, emitting a harsh scraping sound.
The Black Mist Wall surged, and the wooden door on it was gradually swallowed, eventually disappearing completely.
Su Xiao stood before the Black Mist Wall. Not far ahead of him, spatial fluctuations emerged, and a wooden cabin appeared—the very same one he had just been in.
This cabin had faint black mist drifting around it. This was the only difference between it and the other cabins.
Looking out, the open ground ahead had at least several hundred cabins. What this represented needed no further explanation.
Now, there probably weren't many deceased left in the Death House, but the Death House had existed for too long. During that time, countless deceased had died here. The cabins they lived in during their lifetimes all appeared on this open ground, accumulating over time to this number.
Earlier, through the information on the Shadow Stone, Su Xiao had learned one thing: there were two types of deceased—those who could be negotiated with and those who couldn't.
The negotiable deceased were probably those without iron chains around their necks, who hadn't killed any Death Game participants. Those with iron shackles around their necks had killed Death Game participants, and the shorter the chain, the more people they had killed.
Whether all these non-negotiable deceased had their intelligence reduced was unknown. High Priest Nuoe's former strength could only be considered average. Even without the chain binding him, Su Xiao could still handle him.
The rows of cabins ahead weren't worth exploring. These cabins had long been thoroughly looted by other Death Game participants. Searching here was a waste of time.
Su Xiao glanced at the White Tallow Candle in his hand, thought for a moment, and then brought the candle close to the Black Mist Wall.
As soon as the White Tallow Candle neared the Black Mist Wall, a small patch of black mist was dispelled, forming a passage two meters high, one meter wide, and less than half a meter deep.
A drop of wax dripped from the White Tallow Candle, accelerating its burning and melting speed.
To continue exploring forward, the White Tallow Candle was essential. Su Xiao's guess was that there should be other cabins within the black mist. He needed to dispel the mist and search inside.
Su Xiao blew out the White Tallow Candle in his hand. This area had three sides of Black Mist Wall—front, left, and right—while behind was a Gray Mist Wall.
Su Xiao wasn't ready to venture deep into the black mist just yet. He wanted to search and see if he could find another wooden door on the Black Mist Wall to obtain a second White Tallow Candle.
Moving between the cabins, Su Xiao went at full speed. He encountered no danger along the way and soon reached the left side of the cabin area, before the Black Mist Wall.
He lit the White Tallow Candle. A strange thing happened: the black mist wasn't dispelled. As soon as the candle neared the Black Mist Wall, it went out.
Seeing this, Su Xiao headed straight for the right side of the cabin area. Although this was a waste of time, he was already the last one to advance into the black mist, so a little more time didn't matter.
After some experimentation, Su Xiao found that the left and right Black Mist Walls couldn't be dispelled with the White Tallow Candle. As for the Gray Mist Wall leading back to the banquet hall, it was now sealed.
The black mist above also couldn't be dispelled. The only dispellable section was the Black Mist Wall in front of the cabin area.
Returning near the front Black Mist Wall, Su Xiao began to patrol along it. Soon, he found three cabins still emitting black mist.
Bubu Wang started tracking scents, traces, and footprints, quickly locating the spots where Mont, Nita, and the others had each entered the Black Mist Wall. Dilin was more cautious, covering up the traces she left along the way.
Su Xiao wasn't planning to track the other participants. He chose a section of the Black Mist Wall that no one had entered, lit the White Tallow Candle, and the black mist ahead was dispelled, revealing a passage.
Su Xiao held the White Tallow Candle in front of him and began to move forward. Bubu Wang followed behind him, while Baha walked at the rear with a sneaky gait. His flying and walking were complete opposites—when flying, he was the sky's overlord; when running, he looked like a vulture that had just stolen a bird egg, his steps as flamboyant as could be.
The black mist ahead was dispelled by the White Tallow Candle in Su Xiao's hand. Since the dispelling speed wasn't fast, Su Xiao could only walk. If he accelerated, he would immediately crash into the black mist.
Su Xiao held a wooden plank in his hand, which he had torn from a cabin. This type of wood was quite tough, with hardness no less than metal while retaining the flexibility of wood.
He tossed the wooden plank into the black mist beside him.
Hiss...
The plank quickly cracked, and a black-purple liquid appeared on its surface, eventually eroding it into fragments that dissipated.
Seeing this, Su Xiao continued forward. But after advancing just over ten meters, the black mist behind him slowly converged, sealing off the rear.
Venturing deep into the black mist was practically a one-way trip. Going back would waste the White Tallow Candle. Without the candle to clear the way, Su Xiao would be stopped at the second round of the Strongest Battle.
But if he kept moving forward, when the White Tallow Candle burned out, Su Xiao would be eroded by the black mist. At that point, his chances of survival were negligible.