"?"
Almost simultaneously, Gu Pan, who was squeezing through the pink cavity in the tunnel and moving outward, felt a twinge of fear envelop her heart.
She felt a prickling sensation on her back, a sense of imminent disaster, as if the end of the world was about to descend!
However, in the next mont.
Crack.
A yellow droplet, filled with black mist, flickered.
An extrely deep, light-excluding black aura also lit up.
When the yellow-black droplet and the pure black aura collided, they imdiately entangled with each other, seeming to wrestle and struggle in the space tunnel, eventually extinguishing together, but the remaining black aura filled the tunnel outlet, isolating the subsequent yellow-black droplets outside.
—All of this happened in an unobservable instant, in a ti imperceptible to the ordinary person.
"Uh, what happened? What’s going on?"
Gu Pan’s eyes widened, clueless, and saw that several fragnts were corroding and falling from the walls of the space tunnel, turning into ashes.
"Uh...this..."
Gu Pan swallowed hard.
For so reason, she vaguely felt that she was just locked onto by sothing familiar.
What was it?
It seed... it seed like the aura when night fell at the Death Report Ridge earlier?
Not entirely the sa?
For a mont, Gu Pan was both afraid and hesitant, not knowing what had happened.
Until in her mind, the newcor nine-tailed creature started cursing nervously, "Idiot, why stop? Move, hurry up! Hey, tell your little descendant not to freeze up!"
Its latter words were directed at the Gu Family Kui Niu Ancestor who had already shrunk its head in.
The Kui Niu ignored it, simply shrinking its head, playing its part in the Great Sword Tomb, like a dead object.
"Ah, this..."
Gu Pan was suddenly stunned.
She knew that this new arrival, after a friendly exchange that called itself "Little Nine", was incredibly powerful.
It was definitely on the sa level as the monsters that attacked them in the Underground Bronze Temple before.
So, this was a demigod-level existence!
Even it was so frightened, what exactly had she just experienced?
Gu Pan shivered inexplicably and dared not pause another second, using all her strength to crawl outward.
Finally, she saw a light ahead and hurriedly used both hands and feet.
Thud!
Gu Pan fell to the ground.
She quickly sprang to her feet like a carp, looked around, and found that she was back at the underground entrance that resembled the passages of a warship.
The difference being that the previously open underground passage was now closed and covered with sand, leaving only a "keyhole" in the shape of a manhole cover, dark and exposed.
Upon closer inspection, Gu Pan was even more astonished to find that besides herself, there was only Ning Xin sitting on the ground, wiping the copper coin sword.
Everyone else, whether Xu Shu, Lu Bingwei, or others, had vanished without a trace.
"This..." Gu Pan was initially surprised, then quickly went over the knowledge she had learned but was using for the first ti, and suddenly understood.
They were "expelled" from Death Report Ridge!
Because when Xu Shu and the others entered Death Report Ridge, they used a triggering item, a broken sword hilt as thick as a baby’s forearm.
Therefore, once the triggering item had fulfilled its mission, Xu Shu and the others had no "support" to continue staying in Death Report Ridge, naturally being expelled.
But this was not a direct exit from the ruins back to the outside world; rather, from the Death Report Ridge, they were expelled and sent back to the Night Parade of Hundred Demons ruin.
On the other hand, she and Ning Xin remained in Death Report Ridge because they used the "Mother Goddess Church Silver Key" as the triggering item, and since they hadn’t fulfilled the "trigger task" but fled panic-stricken,
she and Ning Xin would continue to stay in Death Report Ridge, only being directly transported out of the ruins once the outside "Heart Fire Incense Burner" completely burnt out.
"Phew! According to those who successfully completed the trigger storyline in Death Report Ridge and returned to Japan, they would not land back where they were, but rather randomly in monster-heavy areas. I hope he doesn’t encounter any danger~"
"Damn, I haven’t even explained Auntie’s matter to him! Would this guy let that woman escape after leaving?"
After figuring everything out, Gu Pan lightly exhaled, feeling both relieved and annoyed as she muttered to herself.
Whimpering winds blew through, and Ning Xin, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, suddenly opened his eyes, looked at Gu Pan, and said, "Jun Moxiao, he asked to tell you he’ll find you when he’s out."
"What?" Gu Pan didn’t react imdiately.
Ning Xin closed his eyes and said, "Xu Shu asked to pass that ssage. When I left, he was stuck at the tunnel entrance and got sucked inside."
"Oh, I see, got it."
Gu Pan maintained a poker face, icy cold, looked again at the closed tunnel, and sighed, "What a pity! Ca here for nothing, without any gain. It’s just the two of us now, let’s find a place to hide, wait for nightfall, and we’ll be out soon."
Their initial goal was to enter the Mother Goddess Church, so the incense burner they used was not of a particularly high grade; for saving money, they bought one slightly better than the lowest third-tier, lasting 18 hours.
Priced at 1500 contributions, it’s not exactly cheap, but for a normal team, successfully hunting more than three Yin Kings or Corpse Kings in the ruins would allow them to break even and profit from the remainder, giving a good chance of earnings.
But this ti, things were special.
And considering her secret key valued over ten thousand was now almost wasted, despite entering the Duel Arena, she only watched and got no share of the bounty, tallying up to a loss of more than ten thousand contributions.
Plus, taking into account the lives of four teammates...
The unwritten rules of the Extraordinary World suggested that if you set out to subdue ruins together, losing a teammate ant compensating their families, or you couldn’t live with yourself, right?
Counting this all up, the losses were even greater.
Gulp! This left her, already poor, in even worse financial ruin. Had she known, damn it, she wouldn’t have co; she should have just sold the key instead of being greedy! Shouldn’t have been greedy, damn it!
... Gu Pan couldn’t help but feel heartache.
At this ti, she saw Ning Xin casually stand up and suddenly toss over a small, eerie purple gemstone.
"What’s this..." Gu Pan caught it effortlessly and, upon slightly tilting her head and looking, her eyes bulged.
It was a third-tier Erosion Crystal! And with eighteen threads, a max-level third-tier crystal!
As they say, rarity adds value; on the Ascension Network, it would sell for definitely over 3500.
Before Gu Pan could ask, Ning Xin proactively explained, "This was given by Xu Shu, saying it’s to subsidize our previous losses."
"Oh, alright."
Gu Pan’s expression showed no changes, but inside she felt a bit delighted.
Ha! This Xu Shu is still considerate; at least he didn’t really betray his ntor, or she wouldn’t have spared him in the future!
Thinking this, Gu Pan said, "This place isn’t fit for long stays. Let’s find a suitable location, steer clear of complications, and quietly await leaving the ruins."
"Mm." Ning Xin did not object, nodding lightly, "Haha, he was quite loyal to you."
"That’s right, we are, um, schoolmates." Gu Pan thought for a mont before saying.
Ning Xin didn’t show agreent or disagreent, and the two comnced their journey, with Ning Xin, guided by "Bloodlust," leading them to find a safe haven.
And during this ti, Ning Xin kept casting aningful glances at Gu Pan.
Gu Pan, feeling like there were ants crawling all over her, couldn’t shake off Ning Xin’s suggestive looks.
Eventual annoyance led Gu Pan to bluntly state, "Ahem, we are normal males, just brothers, nothing inappropriate, don’t overthink."
"Oh."
Ning Xin nodded easily but continued to glance at Gu Pan.
Leaving Gu Pan feeling literally pricked on the back.
After trekking several dozen kiloters, she couldn’t help but address Ning Xin, warning not to jump to conclusions.
----
At this very mont.
In the deserted Duel Arena Secret Realm, within each honeycomb cell, the imprisoned "Evil Spirit" creatures cowered on the ground, unable to express their terror.
The entire world trembled under the angry, roaring will:
"Wretch! You shall perish tonight!!!"
...
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