In the ocean.
The ship shrinks from large to small until it completely disappears.
Everyone is subrged in the seawater, floating and sinking in the reflection of the full moon on the water.
A dim, indeterminate-material giant door hangs at the bottom of the sea, exuding an abnormal atmosphere.
The seawater spirals silently and eerily, pulling everyone to the bottom, toward that... seemingly door-like position.
However, not everyone, like Bai Yanliang, crosses back to the past.
The ones disappeared in the ocean were only that woman in a Gothic dress, Lin Xiaohui, and Bai Yanliang, who was dragged by Xu Zhifei into the sea.
As for Gu Pingsheng, Yu Wenxuan, Song Que, Xu Zhifei, and the curious Yu Sheng, all five were bizarrely floating at the bottom of the sea as if they lay atop the eerie giant door, their fates unknown.
However, in another world... these five have just awakened.
This is a sunless room, with a round table at its center, upon which sits a scarlet key, looking mysterious and eerie.
Gu Pingsheng and the other four are lying around the round table, each deeply asleep...
————
Bai Yanliang chatted happily tonight, making an effort to search his mories, finding that he seed never to have felt such joy before.
He wasn’t sure if his current mood counted as joy, but his body seed able to sense every breeze at night, and he could hear every faint insect sound amidst the noise.
As he spoke, Bai Yanliang suddenly noticed that his brother seed a bit distant.
Though he was smiling, his eyes lacked focus.
"Brother?"
Bai Yanliang called out.
Bai Yanren slightly lifted his head, the light returning to his eyes, and glanced apologetically at Bai Yanliang, "Sorry, Yanliang, I’m a bit tired. Let nap for a bit. I’ll feel better soon, and we can chat the night away."
Bai Yanliang looked around, "Brother, maybe we should go back ho. It’s too noisy here, and you won’t be able to rest."
"It’s okay, I’m used to it. Besides... going ho would be inconvenient; you and the younger you can’t et." Bai Yanren propped his chin with his left hand, leaning on the table, yawning, giving Bai Yanliang a gentle gaze, "Wait for awhile, soon... it’ll be okay..."
————
Where is this?
Gu Pingsheng was the first to wake up; shortly after, the other four gradually regained consciousness.
With clarity returning, having been through many life-and-death trials, there was no confusion in their eyes, and they soon grasped the situation at hand.
Monts ago, they were on the ocean; now, they’re in this eerie room, which clearly doesn’t an the ga is over.
The room is peculiar, with no doors, surrounded on all sides by walls. Wooden torches inserted in the walls provide barely sufficient light to illuminate the rather cramped space.
"Good evening, everyone."
While Gu Pingsheng, Song Que, Yu Wenxuan, Yu Sheng, and Xu Zhifei were examining the room, a man’s voice suddenly resounded.
Only then did they realize there was a sixth person sitting at the round table.
This man rested his chin on one hand, his face unclear, though he wore no mask or anything similar, light seed unable to reach his face, making his appearance blurry to the others.
Song Que felt confird that this wasn’t due to the lighting, as he could see in the dark, yet he still couldn’t make out the man’s true features.
They could only judge from his unaltered voice that this person was indeed unlike anyone they knew.
Such a strange person didn’t seem like the fierce ghosts commonly seen in Wuji; could he be... another key holder?
Wait...
The key!
They finally noticed the scarlet key at the center of the round table!
Gu Pingsheng’s eyes lit up. Could this be an independent space of the key? Perhaps this man is so manifestation of the key’s will...
Clearly, not only he thought of this; the others also ca up with similar conclusions.
However, what the man said next shattered all speculations.
"Gentlen, I am the owner of this key."
He spoke astonishingly.
"You ca through the ga I left, didn’t you?"
Song Que, clutching his crippled arm, asked skeptically, "Are you referring to ’the moonlit ship, the drowned n’?"
"I didn’t leave those words, but to pass the ga I left, you must not avoid death." The mysterious man’s tone was extrely calm.
"Survival is human instinct, so I set so irrational ways to die on that ship, incorporating death hints. Looks like you all didn’t confront death directly," he continued.
Wait...
Then, everyone realized he must be referring to those bizarre death scenarios, like being smothered by a cake?
"To clear it, you can’t die in the water. Of course, you can’t commit suicide either. You must die obediently at the death points I left to solve this enigma."
The man’s statent brought silence among them all.
Indeed, survival is human instinct, and witnessing the terror of death firsthand, who would dare wager like that?
Yet, as he said, before the ship completely shrank and vanished, there were naturally many places where death could be triggered.
Whether it was that eerie cake, the flying head balloons, or the space compression from the shrinking ship, all could lead to death.
If it were as he said, adopting these ways of death without resistance wouldn’t lead to a "drowned fate."
And the decryption provided by Fog Gathering could indeed be misleading, but ultimately could be interpreted literally.
As he said, it was indeed interpretable.
"Who are you? Why have you set this ga in Wuji?" Gu Pingsheng’s heartbeat began to race oddly; it rarely happened, but ever since this person showed up, he had an indescribable feeling like... he knew this person, and that this person... was very important.
"I believe you all have this question, so... let explain briefly." The mysterious man seed to have anticipated the question, or perhaps, his previous words were ant to guide them to ask.
"I am a chosen one, also one of the final victors, what you call... the Prison Master."
Yu Wenxuan, who had been silent, suddenly spoke, "You aren’t in the real world?"
The mysterious man paused, looking at Yu Wenxuan with apparent interest, then asked, "Oh? Why do you so naturally assu the world you inhabit is the real one?"
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