Chapter 1 A World Transformed

The moment Hao Ren stepped through the teleportation gate, he felt everything around him change dramatically. It wasn't just that he had arrived in an unfamiliar place; the transformation was so profound that it gave him the illusion of having suddenly fallen into another world. He felt every one of his senses shift in that instant. The surrounding atmosphere, gravity, temperature, and the very feeling of the space… the moment he set foot in this Disaster Corridor, he realized he had arrived in a place bordering on the otherworldly. Although this was part of the Ankataros Domain, this space had been completely heterogenized.

Then, a chill that seemed to penetrate to the marrow of his bones suddenly struck.

Hao Ren shivered. He thought he was being attacked, but quickly realized it was just the cold. Moreover, this cold wasn't real; it was as if some vast, indescribable power was spying on them, and the hostility and pressure of that power gave him the illusion of falling into an ice cave.

"What a hellhole…" Hao Ren muttered to himself, using his own voice to dispel the unease in his heart. He looked around and saw that he was standing in a deep corridor that seemed to stretch on forever. The corridor was narrower than he had expected, but had a very high, sloping ceiling like a trench. Tattered banners hung from the ceiling, swaying slightly in the air despite the lack of wind. The entire corridor was built from huge black stones, devoid of decoration or bright colors. All that met the eye was a sense of oppression, as if color itself had been deleted from this place.

But the corridor wasn't completely dark. A faint light of unseen origin was evenly distributed in the air, allowing Hao Ren to see his surroundings. He noticed that a thin mist permeated the corridor, its texture very similar to the thick fog he had seen when he first entered the Ankataros Secret Realm.

Footsteps came from behind, and Izhaks and the others teleported into the place as well. Hasson, like Hao Ren, sensed the unusual atmosphere. He held a hand crossbow in one hand and a rune card in the other, his tone very serious. "Did you guys feel that?"

Izhaks rumbled in reply, "Yeah, a powerful force is lurking here, spying on us, but I can't sense its exact location. It's like this force is spread throughout the entire space. Probably the mother of those Chaos Shadows, if they have a mother."

Vivian was the last to enter. She frowned, but after hearing Hasson and Izhaks' conversation, she was a little confused. "A powerful force? Is there? I don't feel anything."

"You don't feel anything?" Hao Ren looked at Vivian in surprise. "I feel it. I've got goosebumps all over."

"I just think this place has a bad atmosphere," Vivian said, shrinking her neck uncomfortably. "Not just the darkness, but the feeling that something is lurking everywhere. But other than that, nothing."

Hao Ren and Izhaks exchanged glances. They both clearly felt something powerful and indescribable lurking in this space. Although they couldn't put it into words, the feeling of being watched by that thing made their hair stand on end. There was no mistake. But Vivian, who was usually so perceptive, didn't feel anything at all. That wasn't normal.

"I don't know what's going on," Vivian said, her expression becoming serious. She knew that Hao Ren and the others wouldn't lie. "It looks like my senses are off… there are two possibilities. Either this space is strange, and different people will sense different things here, or the problem is with me."

Vivian didn't explicitly state her second guess, because she knew she had too many strange things going on with her, and there was no way to explain them. But she guessed that this problem might be related to her successful sealing of the Chaos Shadows thousands of years ago: if she could ignore the strange atmosphere in this space, maybe she really had a chance to reseal those shadows.

There was only one path in the corridor. Woggus was right; this maze of shadows was used to trap those mindless, restless things. People with normal minds couldn't see the countless forks and traps that riddled the maze. After gathering their spirits a little, Izhaks and Hao Ren took the lead, advancing into the seemingly endless depths of the corridor.

The thin mist and dim light obscured the group's vision, but Hao Ren and the others weren't ordinary people, so they could still see their surroundings. And they didn't dare to create any light casually: light would create shadows, and shadows would attract those Chaos Shadows, which would only increase the danger.

The special thing about the Chaos Shadows was that they didn't just lurk in the darkness; they lurked in the shadows formed by the interweaving of light and darkness. So the overall dimness of the corridor was actually safe: without light, shadows couldn't stand out.

That was probably one of the sealing methods of this "Shadow Maze."

The Disaster Corridor was long and winding. Straight corridors and corners appeared again and again, but there was still no sign of an end. Hao Ren could only vaguely judge that he was indeed walking in a maze based on the distribution of these corners: the shape of the corridor was very similar to the winding paths in a maze. He guessed that the seemingly complete and smooth walls around him must be hiding countless forks and secret doors, but because he was conscious, he couldn't perceive these invisible paths.

Perhaps if he was infected by the Chaos Shadows, he would be able to see those hidden paths?

The thought suddenly popped into Hao Ren's head, and he quickly shook his head to dispel the dangerous idea.

This eerie space was so oppressive that it was making his thoughts strange.

Izhaks walked next to Hao Ren, running his hand over the black rocks on the corridor wall. "This space has been completely heterogenized. These stones… they were originally stones, but now they feel greasy, almost biological, to the touch. But their material hasn't changed, and there's nothing covering the surface. It's the domain that's changed; it's distorting the nature of these stones."

"How long have we been walking?" Hasson suddenly asked.

Hao Ren casually pulled the Data Terminal out of his pocket to check the time. "Almost two hours, I guess. This damn place is pretty big."

As soon as the Data Terminal was taken out, it quickly lowered its brightness. "Shh—tell me before you take me out, so I can prepare."

Hasson was stunned, then suddenly pointed at the Data Terminal. "You brought this in? Didn't you say only the four of us…"

"This shouldn't be a problem," Hao Ren said, scratching his head. "It's not affected by the Chaos Shadows, and although it's quite chatty, we can actually not count it as one of us, because it's an AI…"

The Data Terminal slammed into Hao Ren's forehead. "You're the one who's not human!"

Hao Ren grabbed the Data Terminal. "Are you human?"

"This unit is not human."

"Then what the hell are you yapping about!"

"Oh, right."

Hasson: "…"

"So I advise you not to study these strange things on Hao Ren," Vivian said, glancing at Hasson. "Just treat him like a robot cat. Just know he's amazing, and don't pursue the rationality of anything in his pocket."

Hao Ren: "…"

In any case, the Data Terminal's interruption inadvertently dispelled the oppressive atmosphere that surrounded them. After Hao Ren stuffed the alloy brick back into his pocket, he looked up at the still-long corridor in the distance. He could still feel the "residual power" of that powerful force surging around him, but he couldn't feel whether he was actually getting closer to the force's main body.

It was as if this space was infinitely extended.

But this seemingly endless corridor did have its limits. After another hour of walking, Hao Ren noticed that the surrounding situation had changed: the corridor was starting to widen, and the corners were decreasing. It seemed like they were approaching the core area of this huge structure.

A door suddenly appeared ahead. An oppressive, chaotic, terrifying aura, filled with hatred and hostility, came from behind the door. Hao Ren and the others exchanged glances and immediately ran towards the door.

"There are words on it!" Vivian seemed completely unaffected by the surrounding aura. While Hao Ren and the others were bracing themselves against the aura emanating from the door, she observed the stone door with interest and discovered a few sentences carved into the lower half of the door. Unexpectedly, they weren't written in Tanagothian, but in ancient Laitan:

"... an eternal curse has befallen us. We, the exiles from foreign lands, bear a heavy sin. We are destined to fall into endless slaughter, controlled by hatred without origin or reason... Behind this door lies the cause of all sin and curse, yet no one can eliminate it or appease it, for both the perpetrator and the victim of this sin are dead. No one can forgive anything anymore."

The passage was signed with an unfamiliar name: Cassandra the Awakened.