Chapter 448 - 211: Soul-Catching and Dream-Planting, a Commanding Lead
Chapter 448: Chapter 211: Soul-Catching and Dream-Planting, a Commanding Lead
The next moment, Lin Ye sensed that mists of emotion, visible only to him, had appeared above everyone’s heads.
The mists came in a variety of colors. Hues of orange and red represented positive emotions, while shades of blue and purple signified negative ones.
The vibrancy of the colors reflected the intensity of their emotions.
And humans were creatures of incredibly complex emotion.
Take Zhang Daoxuan, for example.
His was a mix of both positive and negative emotions.
This meant that he genuinely felt joy that they had overcome the ordeal as a group.
But the underlying shade of his emotions was still hatred and jealousy.
Lin Ye stopped channeling his Spiritual Power.
A moment later, the mists of emotion above everyone’s heads slowly dissipated.
Lin Ye grew pensive.
’Judging by the abilities displayed by that Black Nightmare Race creature, this skill’s potential is definitely far greater than simply perceiving emotions.’
’This must only be its initial form.’
’Lin Ye figured that as he grew stronger and the skill developed, it would likely evolve beyond just perceiving emotions and reading the memories of the dead.’
’Perhaps...’
’It could allow him to read minds from afar and weave dreams from thin air!’
...
「Yanjing, Kunlun Sub-Palace.」
The grave atmosphere in the conference room had long since given way to a stunned silence, a mixture of awe and disbelief.
Lv Yongze’s face was filled with admiration.
"That was... brilliant," he remarked with sincere admiration.
"I really thought they were going to be wiped out this time."
"I never expected two newcomers to step up in the end. One was impossibly calm and managed to deduce the true target of the Black Nightmare Race’s possession. The other displayed absolute leadership, making everyone realize they were in a dream and shattering the entire dreamscape."
"They managed to turn an impossible situation around."
A great weight was lifted from Long Bohan’s shoulders as well.
In fact, a profound sense of admiration welled up within him.
He put himself in their shoes and realized that if he’d been the one targeted by such a terrifying Celestial Abyss Race creature, he would have been long dead by now.
Xiao Yuanshan, on the other hand, looked absolutely thunderous.
Although the members of Xinhuo on the screen looked drained, the bond forged by their shared ordeal had only grown stronger.
’Then he thought about his own people from the Kunlun Martial Hall. They were still running around like headless chickens, each for themselves, circling uselessly in the first level’s endlessly repeating maze, unable to even find the right entrance.’
’The comparison was just brutal!’
...
Within the massive vertical shaft, an invisible Gravity Field once again enveloped them all.
Lin Ye led the group down through the seemingly endless abyss.
The surviving members of Xinhuo were still shaken from the ordeal.
Some would even periodically reach out to pinch their noses, hold their breath, and then release with a great gasp of air, as if it were the only way to confirm they had truly returned to reality.
Even Lin Ye himself felt a faint, lingering sense of unease.
After all, the dream had been too real—so real it could warp one’s perception.
However, Lin Ye quickly dismissed this doubt.
’The kill notification from the system was the most definitive proof.’
’That Black Nightmare Race creature was truly dead, and they had truly escaped the dream.’
The descent was long and tedious.
By the time their feet finally touched solid ground, Lin Ye estimated that at least ten minutes had passed.
For the first time, they had truly reached the deeper levels of the Painful Labyrinth.
The instant they landed, the feeling of weightlessness from Passage G-7 vanished, and normal gravity returned.
The group found themselves standing on a bridge made entirely of black stone.
"This... is the next level down?" Hu Dahai asked, his voice full of caution as he scanned their surroundings.
It was a vast, seemingly boundless subterranean space.
The entire space was filled with a thick, gray fog, reducing visibility to almost nothing. Every so often, all sorts of bloodcurdling roars and strange cries echoed from the distance.
From the air above, they could faintly hear the muffled beat of wings.
Then, they would see vast, indescribable shadows appear and disappear within the fog overhead, or glide beneath the bridge over the bottomless chasm, like a school of manta rays in the deep sea.
The stone bridge beneath their feet was stranger still.
The bridge’s surface was covered in clusters of bizarre, slow-writhing plants that gave off a faint purple glow, resembling some kind of living flesh.
No one knew where the bridge led; its end was completely swallowed by the thick fog.
Even more terrifying, through gaps in the fog, they could see in every direction—above, below, and all around them—countless, densely packed stone bridges, all identical to the one they stood on, floating in the void.
The bridges crisscrossed haphazardly, extending into the unknown distance at angles that defied the laws of physics.
Cold sweat beaded on everyone’s foreheads.
Compared to the first level, this environment was even more bizarre and oppressive.
They had escaped one labyrinth, only to enter another, even more terrifying one!
Just then, everyone’s wristbands vibrated simultaneously.
A screen of light popped up automatically.
[The Painful Labyrinth has been open for 24 hours. The first day’s leaderboard results are now posted.]
[Individual Score Leaderboard]
[First Place: Zhang Daoming (Kunlun Martial Hall), Score: 85,470, Status: Has entered the depths of the second level.]
[Second Place: Lin Ye (Firewood Martial Hall), Score: 28,840, Status: Has entered the second level.]
[Third Place: ...]