pjbooks Chapter 73, 2 Gates
Chapter 73, 2 Gates
The "passengers" on the roof seemed quite interested in the growing smell of fear.
The dripping blood stopped, and the crawling sounds stopped too.
But the suffocating malice and oppression that almost solidified did not disappear; instead, it enveloped the area where the bald man was even more intensely.
It is waiting, waiting for a "loud" sound.
"Uh...heh..."
The bald man's breathing became increasingly rapid, and his chest heaved uncontrollably.
The taut canvas jacket rubbed against the leather seat, producing a continuous and incredibly grating "rustling" sound.
He may have realized the danger and was desperately trying to control his body's instinctive reactions, but fear had already destroyed his mental defenses.
"puff--"
A muffled sound, so faint it was almost imperceptible, yet clearly audible in the surroundings, rang out.
It appears that the bald man, due to excessive tension, experienced gastrointestinal spasms and uncontrollably expelled some gas.
The sound wasn't loud, but in the absolute silence and highly tense atmosphere, it was like a thunderclap!
"Hiss—Gah!!!"
A piercing, inhuman screech, a mixture of anger and excitement, came from the roof of the car!
Immediately following was the "ripping" sound of canvas being torn by a sharp blade, and the dull thud of a person being dragged by tremendous force and slammed against the roof of the vehicle.
The bones were instantly twisted and crushed, and large amounts of liquid were spilled...
Lin Yu held his breath and focused his attention; this bald man had most likely already been hacked to pieces.
The whole process was incredibly fast, taking at most two or three seconds.
Then, silence returned.
The only sounds were the sticky dripping sound of liquid and the overwhelming, pungent smell of blood.
The crawling sound on the roof resumed, this time slowly receding towards the other end of the carriage, eventually disappearing into the deathly darkness.
Several more minutes passed, seemingly an eternity.
"Click."
With a soft click, the lights inside the carriage came back on, restoring that stable, dim yellow glow.
Lin Yu slowly opened his eyes.
Everything inside the carriage seemed unchanged: the seats, the luggage, the other passengers...
It was as if the ten minutes of darkness just now were a vivid collective nightmare.
Except for the middle of the carriage, where the bald man originally sat.
It was completely empty.
Only a large, radiating patch of dark red to black, viscous blood had splattered on the seat, not yet fully coagulated.
The bald man disappeared.
Along with his bulging baggage, it was as if an invisible hand had completely wiped him from this world.
The carriage was deathly silent.
Lin Yu calmly withdrew his gaze and looked again at the flowing gray mist outside the window.
The same was true of those around them; the death of a fool did not resonate with these extraordinary individuals.
The train continued its silent journey, as if nothing had ever happened.
The rest of the journey was uneventful.
About three hours later, the thick gray fog outside the window suddenly thinned, and a huge, towering shadow appeared on the distant horizon.
It was the city wall, so vast it defied imagination, standing silently between heaven and earth, its top disappearing into the low-hanging clouds.
The outer wall of the Ninth Nature Reserve.
The train began to slow down noticeably.
The train conductor's cold voice blared again from the loudspeaker:
[Approaching: Outer City of the Ninth Protected Area, Third Assembly Point.]
The first stage of the Abyss Trial, "Twenty Gates," will officially open tomorrow at 8:00 AM.
[All participants are requested to take their belongings, disembark in an orderly manner, and proceed to the designated area at the assembly point to report for and collect basic supplies.]
[Repeated: The first stage of the Abyss Trial will open simultaneously at 8:00 AM tomorrow.]
[Wishing you all... great success in your military campaigns.]
"Clang!"
The train came to a smooth stop.
The car door slid open, and Lin Yu, carrying his luggage, stepped off the train with the silent flow of people.
Before me lay an immense, gigantic plaza constructed from grayish-white, high-strength concrete.
It looks like it can accommodate tens of thousands of people.
At this moment, hundreds of people have gathered in the square. They are all trial participants who have come from various unplanned areas and even some areas outside the protected city.
Their clothing varied, their equipment was all sorts of strange, and most of them wore expressions of weariness from a long journey, wariness of the unknown, and an ambition or fear that could not be completely concealed deep in their eyes.
They maintained a cautious distance from each other, with few whispering conversations. Most simply observed their surroundings in silence, especially the undeniable presence at the far end of the square.
At the end of the square stands a building that defies description, exuding an aura of antiquity and madness.
Those were twenty doors.
Twenty colossal stone gates, each over twenty meters tall, are arranged in an illogical arc, resembling the entrance to a Titan's palace in mythology, or perhaps boundary markers leading to different hells.
Each door is carved from a single piece of a black, neither-gold nor-stone material, with its surface covered with intricate, twisted, and constantly slightly writhing relief patterns.
Those patterns were like living things, or like some kind of incomprehensible writing; just looking at them made one's eyes sting and one's mind go blank.
From the cracks of each tightly closed stone door, faint, distinct lights emanated, making it easy to guess what kind of eerie object it was.
Let's call it a "door" for now.
A heavy, invisible force field, mixed with mad incoherent ramblings and icy order, emanated from the cluster of twenty giant doors, enveloping the entire plaza.
It makes every trial participant standing beneath it feel as insignificant and fragile as dust.
Everyone instinctively held their breath, staring at the twenty doors with complex expressions.
Just then, a middle-aged military officer in the uniform of a protected area stood on a high platform in front of the square, holding a megaphone, and loudly announced the rules:
"Trialers, welcome to the first stage of the Abyss Trials—the Twenty Gates."
Before you are twenty doors.
Behind each door lies a separate, rule-bound space. Within this space may lie bizarre entities, deadly traps governed by rules, mental pollution, spacetime distortions... anything is possible.
Your mission: Enter through the first door and survive to reach the exit behind the twentieth door.
The rules are as follows:
1. You will receive a "Door Mark" for each door you pass through.
Collect all twenty to unlock the final exit.
Second, the flow of time inside the door is different from that outside. It may take several days inside the door while only a moment passes outside, or vice versa.
Third, the conditions for passing each door are different. It might be killing a specific entity, solving a rule-based puzzle, or simply surviving until the time limit expires.
There will be clues inside the door, but you will have to judge for yourself whether they are true or false.
IV. Fighting, killing, and plundering are permitted within the gate, and team formation is allowed. However, any stable cooperative group of two or more people will be marked by the space and will encounter targeted calamities.
5. Death means elimination. Anyone severely injured and unable to move for more than ten minutes is considered eliminated.
Mental breakdown and complete contamination are considered grounds for elimination.
6. At 8:00 AM tomorrow, all twenty doors will be opened simultaneously.
You can choose any door as your starting point, but once you enter, you must proceed through them one by one in order; there is no going back, and you cannot skip doors.
7. During the trial, there will be no outside assistance; you will have to rely on yourselves.
The officer paused, his gaze sweeping across the dense crowd in the square:
"Finally, a reminder: the Abyss Trials are a matter of life or death."
Now, you are dismissed and free to do as you please until 8:00 AM tomorrow.