Chapter 18: Misfortune Town
Su Xiao had just arrived before the crack in the wall when, with a bang, Azaz burst through the door.
"Thanks for the warning, but, Bai Ye, you should take a look above us."
Azaz pointed at the ceiling, which was already dilapidated—nothing too unusual—but he meant even higher up.
"Time is short. Be specific."
"A giant eye appeared in the sky, about this big..." Azaz raised his hands to gesture, then gave up on the somewhat foolish action and said, "That eye is at least half the size of Angor City."
"More details. What feeling does the eye give off?"
"That eye... is furious, a resentful fury."
Hearing this, Su Xiao thought of the 'Resentful Orphan.'
"This is normal."
"Normal!?"
Azaz was stunned. Seeing such a terrifying sight in the sky was supposedly 'normal.' He felt like his entire life had been wasted. He had experienced many mysterious events, but a giant eye in the sky—this was the first time he had witnessed such a shocking scene.
"Guard the door. If anyone besides our own comes in, kill them."
"This..."
Azaz hesitated for a moment before finally agreeing.
A crystal layer spread over Su Xiao's body as he reached his hand into the crack in the wall. The moment his fingertips touched the surging darkness, even through the crystal layer, he could feel the chaotic consciousness within.
A pulling force came from his hand. Su Xiao tensed all his muscles but did not resist the pull.
Pale, small hands emerged from the surging darkness, dragging Su Xiao into the darkness.
"Go back, go back quickly. You're alive, don't come here."
A child's voice appeared, a little girl's voice.
Among the many pale hands, one slightly bloodied hand pushed against Su Xiao's chest, while the others pulled, and this one pushed.
"Go back, don't come here. You'll die."
This hand seemed to realize it couldn't push Su Xiao, so it reached for his face. Seeing this, Bubu Wang and Baha's expressions twisted. They couldn't laugh now, absolutely not—they had to be serious. This was the first time they had seen someone dare to grab Su Xiao's face.
Su Xiao was completely pulled into the surging darkness, and the child's voice sounded again.
"Follow my direction, or there's no hope."
A small hand with dirty fingernails grabbed Su Xiao's wrist, trying to drag him in one direction. In the surging darkness, Su Xiao exerted force in his arm, breaking free from the hand. Its aura was too peculiar—strong goodwill, but also malice so intense it made one's hair stand on end.
A faint light appeared ahead. Su Xiao trudged forward with difficulty. Even with his physique, it was like this. For an ordinary person, they would have been crushed to death by the darkness.
The light seemed right ahead, yet it was unreachable. Su Xiao felt like he was suffocating. The pressure around him and the need to exert full effort with each step caused the oxygen content in his blood to drop rapidly. If he tried to take out oxygen equipment now, it would be crushed instantly.
Just as Su Xiao felt he was about to suffocate, his hand finally reached into the light.
A sensation of breaking free came from his hand. Su Xiao lunged forward, and dim light appeared before him. He successfully squeezed out of the surging darkness.
Pulling his left leg out with effort, Su Xiao took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and looked around. He was in a small wooden cabin. The furnishings inside were severely decayed. A skeleton leaned against the corner, its hand bones clutching a rusty dagger.
This skeleton was grayish-white. Judging by the grip on the dagger, it had likely committed suicide.
Su Xiao picked up a half-rotten piece of wood and tossed it at the skeleton. With a thud, the wood bounced off the skull, and the skeleton instantly crumbled into dust.
On the wall of the cabin was a meter-wide crack—this was where Su Xiao had entered. The crack was healing very slowly.
[Warning: The Hunter has arrived near 'Misfortune Town'!]
[Warning: The Hunter has not obtained the Light and Dark Amulet!]
[Warning: If the Hunter leaves the 8-meter range of the 'Gap,' they will suffer erosion from the power of an Ancient God, taking 3% of maximum health as True Damage per minute. During erosion, all recovery effects will be nullified.]
...
All the prompts were warnings. The more troublesome issue was that Su Xiao would take 3% of his maximum health as True Damage per minute. After just over 30 minutes, he would be dead. All recovery effects were suppressed, even his self-healing was affected, restoring almost negligible health.
The reward for the fourth ring of the mission was the [Light and Dark Amulet]. Su Xiao naturally didn't have it now. He had opened the Gap early and arrived near Misfortune Town.
The crack on the wall, the Gap, was still there. Before it disappeared, Su Xiao could use it to return to Angor City.
Su Xiao walked to the cabin door and pushed it open. Moonlight shone down, with a faintly red moon hanging in the sky.
Outside the cabin was a patch of blackened wasteland. A stone path crossed the wasteland, leading to the distant Misfortune Town.
Although Reincarnation Paradise hadn't warned of a high-risk area, Su Xiao was certain that the danger here had reached the limits of the Light and Dark World.
Walking across the light black grass, he reached the gravel road. After advancing a dozen meters, he spotted something in the roadside weeds.
Su Xiao drew the longsword at his waist. The 'something' by the roadside was a person, alive or dead. Their clothes had lost all original color, blackened and stained, with rough fabric. This was likely a resident of Misfortune Town, probably male.
"It's all my fault. God, forgive me. It's all my fault."
The emaciated resident muttered softly, kneeling and facing the direction of Misfortune Town.
"Hey."
Su Xiao spoke, already prepared to swing his blade and unleash a sword aura.
Hearing Su Xiao's voice, the kneeling resident trembled. He slowly turned his head, his murky eyes looking at Su Xiao.
"You... are still alive?"
The resident was somewhat incredulous, a glimmer of life returning to his murky eyes.
"Ah~, I see. You lit the bones of the rebel and opened the Gap. That's how Emperor Okaz brought us here. We shouldn't have come. It's all our fault. Emperor Okaz was too greedy. We were just ants, outsiders, breaking the balance. I am a penitent sinner. A hundred years, a thousand years, I must atone here."
The penitent sinner clutched his head in pain, slamming it against the ground, using this method to repent for his sins.
Su Xiao sheathed his longsword. This kneeling penitent sinner wasn't strong—in fact, he was very weak. If he was from Emperor Okaz's era, he had lived for over a thousand years. A normal person of this strength couldn't live that long. The penitent sinner existed between life and death, unable to die, unable to live.
Time was running out. Su Xiao ignored this mentally disturbed, incoherent penitent sinner.
Following the gravel road, Su Xiao headed toward Misfortune Town, less than half a kilometer away.
After advancing a hundred meters, Su Xiao stopped. He saw something on the ground ahead, glinting faintly in the moonlight.
Walking over, Su Xiao picked up the object. It was a ring with a slash mark on it.
[You have obtained the Ring of Oblivion (Epic).]
[Ring of Oblivion]
Origin: Misfortune Town (Seventh Rank High-Level Area)
Quality: Epic
Category: Ring
Durability: 5/30
Equipment Requirements: None
Equipment Effect, Fortitude (Passive): If subjected to a judgment effect of Sixth Rank or below, it can be exempted once.
Tip: Fortitude (Passive) has a cooldown of 1 hour. Each exemption judgment consumes 3 points of equipment durability.
Rating: 669 (Epic quality equipment rating range: 530–700 points).
Introduction: We will not part, not even in death.
Price: 315,000 Paradise Coins.
...
Su Xiao was momentarily stunned. He hadn't even entered Misfortune Town yet and had already picked up an Epic-grade piece of equipment. This was definitely the easiest time he had ever obtained equipment. And the equipment's ability was very strong—every hour, it could exempt one judgment effect of Sixth Rank or below, not only control effects requiring judgment but also curses and similar abilities.
Even stronger was that this equipment had no requirements. A First Rank newcomer could use it.
Su Xiao looked toward the distant Misfortune Town. He had already mentally prepared himself for how dangerous it was. High risk came with rewards so high they were hard to believe.