Chapter 1 The Abyss

Li Ang supported himself with his hands, quickly sliding down the cliff and landing steadily on the seabed.

As the distance closed, Li Ang could see more clearly the state of these Datura patients controlled by the ritual.

They were still wearing normal clothes, but their mental state could in no way be associated with the word "normal."

The muscles of everyone's body were trembling.

They were holding each other's hands, the backs of their hands bulging with veins like earthworms. Their necks were stiff, and their facial muscles appeared extremely rigid from excessive exertion.

Beneath those grim and terrifying expressions lay immense pain.

Even those who were laughing wildly clearly showed signs of suffering.

They were unaware of what was happening to them.

Or rather, the rational will that usually dominated their bodies had been buried deep within their subconscious. Everyone was in a state similar to a comatose sleepwalk.

If it were someone else, they would probably have been intimidated by the noisy shouts of ten thousand people at this moment.

But Li Ang was completely unaffected, heading straight for the circle formed by the crowd.

Wherever the light of the Bafang Mingyue (Eight Directions Bright Moon) Palace Lantern in his hand reached, the constantly rotating crowd spontaneously released their hands, creating a spacious path for him to the center of the circle.

Li Ang walked along the path to the center, his expression unchanged.

The ferocious expressions on the faces of the crowd on both sides, illuminated by the light of the palace lantern, softened a lot, appearing dazed and blank.

The dark cloud in the air also slowly melted like accumulated snow under the light of the palace lantern—but as the palace lantern left, the crowd quickly assimilated into the atmosphere again, and the dark cloud was replenished by the black smoke gushing from their mouths.

"Hoo."

Wearing a gas mask, Li Ang ignored the shouts on both sides, treading on the soft sand and quickly walking towards the center of the circle.

There were three figures at the center, all wearing black robes, standing in a triangular position.

In the open space between them stood a black, unadorned pole, the exact material of which could not be discerned.

The pole was about three fingers thick, straight and slender, stuck in the fine sand, with at least three meters of it exposed above the ground.

Upon closer inspection, countless tiny holes could be found on the surface of the pole, like decayed wood eaten by insects, or coral full of holes.

And at the part where the pole was close to the sand, there was a layer of pale light.

That light was rising along the pole over time.

"Buzz—"

The pole vibrated every few seconds. Correspondingly,

The surface sand would vibrate slightly and flutter.

The crowd circling the pole would let out a shout, and the constantly rotating dark cloud in the sky would contract slightly, like a heart with a throbbing frequency.

Li Ang's arrival did not alarm the three figures in the circle. Only one of the figures who had been standing up earlier walked over, while the other two stood still, motionless, not knowing whether they were performing the ritual or daydreaming in a daze.

"You've come."

The figure walking towards Li Ang took off his black robe, revealing his face.

This was a middle-aged man with a long, narrow skull, no hair, extremely deep wrinkles below the apple muscles on both sides, and skin as pale as if it had been soaked in water for days. His expressionless face was full of folds,

Giving off a very uncomfortable feeling.

The eyeball on his left side was filled with red bloodshot, staring straight ahead.

The eyeball on his right side, however, trembled and shook constantly, as if possessing its own consciousness and completely out of control.

Congenital nystagmus?

Li Ang's mind was racing, disguised as a Jìjiǔ (libationer), but his face showed no expression as he nodded towards the black-robed man. "I'm here."

"?"

The black-robed man may have been stunned for a moment, but to be honest, with his deathly face, it was really impossible to see his specific expression.

According to the Jìjiǔ (libationer), even the Jìjiǔ's superiors did not know the specific information of the person in charge of the ritual, only that his codename in the organization was "Viper."

The contact person paused, glanced at the Bafang Mingyue (Eight Directions Bright Moon) Palace Lantern in Li Ang's hand, and said slowly, "Didn't Yuan Mo (Grievance Demon) come?"

Li Ang shook his head. "I met a lot of good players in this deathmatch mission. He didn't make it. He was hunted down by two players from Ri Dao (Sun Island).

Those two Ri Dao (Sun Island) players, one driving a pedal-powered wheelchair and the other wielding two nunchucks made of salted fish,

Descended directly from the sky and beat Yuan Mo (Grievance Demon) and his teammates into cripples. I was there on the scene.

Yuan Mo (Grievance Demon) and his teammates didn't die peacefully when they fell. Their corpses bounced on the ground like live fish for half an hour. The power went out halfway through the cremation. They were pulled out and left to dry for half a day before being burned again, sizzling and popping. They even cheated death, shouting that they weren't dead, howling in their mouths.

It took a whole day to burn them completely. After the cremation, they got on the hearse, and the car crashed as soon as they left the door. The ashes were scattered all over the ground, and a lot of them were blown away by the wind. The onlookers bravely resisted crying, and one of them even laughed out loud."

"???"

The contact person Viper was stunned for a long time, and his expression towards Li Ang was a little strange.

Li Ang waved his hand quickly and pointed to his head. "Don't look at me like that. I was cursed by other players in this deathmatch mission, and my mind is very confused now."

"Okay."

Viper nodded. "What about Zhíjué (Executor)?"

"He's dead too,"

Li Ang sighed. "He fought with those two Ri Dao (Sun Island) players. The two sides fought fiercely and heartily to the ends of the earth. They ran directly out of the barrier shrinking range and were worn down until their sanity points were exhausted. They became idiots who couldn't even speak.

In the end, he suffocated to death because he forgot to breathe.

He was still fighting the last second before he died, howling, it was so exciting.

Speaking of which, after this mission is over, we'd better retrieve their bodies. After all, they are the heroes of our Datura. It's really not appropriate to leave them in a public toilet.

As for now, the players from the other teams are basically dead. I was lucky enough to survive to the end by relying on the various life-saving props given to me by the organization.”

""

Viper's expression towards Li Ang became even stranger. If it weren't for the wrong occasion, he might have directly snatched the Bafang Mingyue (Eight Directions Bright Moon) Palace Lantern from Li Ang's hand.

Li Ang suddenly thought of something, frowned, and asked seriously, "By the way, how is the ritual going now?"

Viper was silent for a moment, then shook his head. "It's almost done. Give me the palace lantern first."

With that, he reached out towards the Bafang Mingyue (Eight Directions Bright Moon) Palace Lantern in Li Ang's hand, vaguely intending to snatch it directly.

Wan Jia Xiong Meng