Chapter 53: Death Chasing.
Jun Wu had been walking for over an hour, but he never saw the end of the narrow passage. The narrow passage was infinite, which made his spine crawl with dread.
What should I do? This question lingered in his mind, but he had no answer.
Going forward was like entering an abyss, while retreating was not possible.
Besides, he had been contemplating where others were. Before he entered the pagoda, over a hundred had already entered, and now, it seemed every one of them had already vanished into thin air.
That alone was nerve-crackling.
While he was lost in thought, various sounds began to come from his back.
At first, the sound was faint, distant, but with each passing second, the sound grew stronger, rumbling.
Turning his head, Jun Wu widened his eyes. The walls were moving, shifting as if an invisible hand was controlling them.
’Shit!’ He cursed.
The narrow passage was merging at alarming speed, and it was a few meters from his position.
Without hesitation, he turned and activated his Swift Wind Boots.
He dashed through the narrow with all his might. From the corner of his eyes, he could see the walls disappear.
Stones hitting stones.
When he thought things couldn’t get worse, the narrow passage began to close.
"This is bad!" He screamed.
Previously, the passage was narrow, but now, he was being constricted on both sides.
And in the next few seconds, they would, eradicating the passage as if it never existed in the first place.
"I can’t die here."
He pushed himself to the limit, shooting through the narrow passage—darkness falling over him.
Time was running out.
Just when he thought everything was over, he saw a new passage forming in the distance.
"There...!"
Although the passage was just forming, he did not care if it was stable or not.
If he stayed any longer in the damned current passage, he would be doomed.
Ahhh! Ahhhh!
A miserable scream escaped from his lips as the walls brushed past his body.
He could barely move, but he was not willing to give up, and he pushed himself forward.
Gathering every ounce of energy in him, he pushed forward and arrived at the new passage.
Bang!
A thunderous sound echoed behind him, but he was too tired to care about it.
He lay on the ground, panting heavily. That was the closest he had come to dying.
Catching his breath, his eyes regained their focus, and the scene above his head made his jaw drop.
Above his head, walls were moving with fluidity, merging and separating like one entity.
Everything was jaw-dropping and frightening.
Suddenly, a creaking sound came beneath him, and he felt the ground moving.
He did not need to be told what was going on. He jumped to his feet and ran like his life depended on it.
And indeed, his life depended on it.
The ground was rising, and he was falling at alarming speed.
Shit! Shit!
That was the only word that came out of his mouth as he found himself flying.
Before him, there was nothing but endless darkness.
Falling only meant death.
Suddenly, he caught a wall moving below him at terrifying speed.
With his falling speed, this was the only chance to hang on to his dear life.
He braced himself for impact.
Bang!
He fell heavily on the ground, and a wince escaped from his lips, but the situation was deadly.
He was losing ground quickly.
He tried to stop his fall, but he couldn’t. The ground beneath him was moving too fast.
Jun Wu’s mind raced; he tried to grip onto anything his hands could hold, but found none.
He arrived at the edge, on the brink of falling over. With all his might, he held the edge firmly.
Holding the edge, he caught his breath, his back drenched in cold sweat.
Now, he deeply regretted entering the black pagoda.
Before he could recover from the insane adrenaline, he saw from the distance the wall was merging with others.
All the hair on his body stood on end, his heart raced. He knew he had to come up with something immediately.
Suddenly, an opening appeared a couple of distances from his location, and from the look of things—
It was stable with no moving walls or ground.
"I can make it!" He whispered, encouraging himself.
Pushing himself, he climbed over to the ground, his foot shaking.
He took a couple of steps back and took a deep breath.
Whoosh!
He jumped.
Bang!
He crashed into the open space and skidded for a couple of meters before he came to a stop.
"I made it!" He whispered, too tired to even check where he was.
He was both mentally and physically exhausted.
Ten minutes later, he had regained a portion of his strength and struggled to rise to his feet.
His body was covered in bruises, his palms with various cuts. His hair disheveled.
Looking at his body, Jun Wu could only sigh. He turned to look at where he made the jump, only to see a wall.
"What do I expect?" He mused.
Having learned his lesson, he headed forward, hoping to leave the hellhole as soon as possible.
At the end of the passage was a wide open room. Inside, there were many statues tens of meters tall.
Looking at the giant statues, Jun Wu was stunned.
’Where is this place?’ He wondered and entered the room.
Just the sight of the giant statues told him this palace had a deep history and was far from ordinary.
Perhaps, the moving walls were the least of his problems.
Just as he was examining the giant statues, he heard the sound of footsteps.
From another entrance, three haggard people stumbled into the room.
One of them had lost an arm.
The other two wore dreadful expressions.
When they saw Jun Wu, they only glanced at him before they sat on the ground to catch their breath.
From another, another group arrived, like the first group. They did not speak and chose to catch their breath and regain their strength.
And from the last door, a beautiful girl and two others arrived in the room.
Like everyone, they were haggard and exhausted.
Suddenly, a man among the people asked,
"W-Who knows what is going on?"
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