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墨書 Inktalez
Despite not having a holiday this year for the New Year, I still managed to enjoy the most relaxed and indulgent celebration, sitting in front of my computer without the pressure to write. I had a few rounds of drinks.
If it weren't for the loyal readers of This Book on my mind, I would have seriously considered taking a longer break. It had been ages since I felt this carefree.
Over the past year and even in recent years, I would pick up my glass at dinner every night, only to put it down again. To honor my faithful readers, I buried myself in front of the computer, typing out a pitiful few thousand words until I was bleary-eyed.
After finishing this story, I planned to take a good rest and live like a normal person for a while. Being a reclusive writer was exhausting and devoid of joy. Alas!
This exclamation jolted me upright.
I had no idea how long I had been dozing off; when I opened my eyes, I struggled to adjust to the light. Although the illumination around me was dim, primarily from Glow Sticks, their glow didn’t irritate my eyes too much.
However, several Flashlights were different. Though they weren’t directly shining into my eyes, the light they emitted was strong enough to make me squint involuntarily, forcing my gaze away from the brighter sources.
“Brother Qiang, are you hurt?!”
A San was sitting on the ground beside me, excitedly shouting as he saw me sit up.
I responded with a mouthful of blood.
The sense of crisis brought on by his shout made me sit up straight, but how could my abdominal injury have healed so quickly?
The moment I sat up, a sharp pain twisted in my abdomen, and an uncontrollable wave of Blood Smell surged up my throat.
After spitting out that mouthful of blood, fatigue overwhelmed me again; my body felt weak and limp, and even the Severe Pain in my abdomen couldn’t tighten my muscles.
However, it wasn’t all bad news; after expelling that blood, my breathing became much smoother. The heaviness in my chest eased. My mind quickly cleared up as I realized we might have reached our destination.
I raised my hand and rested it on A San's shoulder, asking him, “Where is this place?”
“Eternal Gate. We’ve arrived.”
I was answered by Tang Yumo. I looked up and saw her standing next to A-Yong.
I glanced around but saw no doors.
I had seen their Eternal Gate in the sacred ground of the Hakka People. It was a grand altar with a stone platform that could accommodate a key.
But here, I saw nothing above the Ground; it was a smooth expanse of polished granite. A single slab of granite, polished to a mirror-like smoothness.
The space wasn't large; a few Flashlights were shaking, occasionally illuminating distant corners, revealing a few edges of this space.
Next to me were only A San, A-Yong, and Tang Yumo. Jack and the European were far to my left, while the remaining warriors and Xiao Ting were not far to my right. They, along with the people beside me, were waving their Flashlights as if searching for something.
On the Ground lay several Glow Sticks, likely scattered intentionally to outline the space quickly. However, these Glow Sticks were thrown haphazardly, not evenly spread across the small area but rather concentrated in the middle.
I did not see Cao Mingzhe.
"Where's Old Cao?" I asked A San.
A San and Tang Yumo turned their heads simultaneously. In an instant, I noticed their expressions turn anxious.
"Damn it, he was just here," A San said nervously, staring at me.
"I'm here." Cao Mingzhe's voice came from behind me.
I turned around and saw him stepping out of the darkness as he spoke.
It was incredible. Despite the space being as dark as ink, its small area meant that the Glow Sticks on the Ground and the few Flashlights illuminating various parts of the space provided some brightness around us.
Yet Cao Mingzhe seemed to blend into the darkness; it was as if he could make the light around him disappear. Without light, there naturally could be no image.
He took a step forward, and suddenly he appeared right in front of me, while the darkness receded a step behind him. He emerged under the faint glow of the Glow Stick.
I did not question it. I had already decided to trust Xiao Guolin; Cao Mingzhe was the one I needed to be wary of. He could easily become an opponent or even an enemy.
Before I understood the situation, I had to endure. I didn’t want to provoke him prematurely. His fighting ability was on par with Xiao Guolin's, and without a decisive killer instinct, angering him would be tantamount to seeking death.
To my surprise, the Hakka People and Vietnamese remained equally silent, seemingly unfazed by Cao Mingzhe's strange appearance.
"You've recovered better than I expected. It seems that the title of Awakened One is not just for show," Cao Mingzhe said as he walked up to me with a smile, calm and composed. "We have arrived at our destination. This is the core area of all secrets in Lop Nur, which is exactly what we've been searching for—the Eternal Gate."
After saying this, Cao Mingzhe raised a hand and pointed his index finger in a direction.
I turned my head to follow where he was pointing. It was darkness.
The place he indicated was right in the middle of the irregular triangle formed by me, Jack, and Xiao Ting. But when I looked over, there was nothing—just darkness that seemed to stretch into the void.
I glanced at Cao Mingzhe in confusion, but he did not respond, still fixated on that direction.
A San thoughtfully turned on the One-Eyed Beast Flashlight, signaling me to look towards its beam. I turned my head again, but all I saw was darkness.
I remained perplexed, but seeing everyone else’s tense expressions made me feel somewhat infected by their anxiety. Despite not understanding what Bai Ta and the others were worried about, I widened my eyes and stared into the darkness illuminated by the Flashlight, hoping to discover something hidden within it.
Suddenly, I shivered all over. I couldn’t see anything except for darkness. The very fact that I couldn’t see anything filled me with fear.
I could no longer sit still. Curling my legs up, I leaned on A San’s shoulder and mustered enough strength to stand up. A San cooperatively stood beside me, acting as a makeshift crutch. A significant portion of my weight pressed down on one of his shoulders.
I had just noticed that Jack and Xiao Ting’s Flashlights illuminated the edges of the space across from them as they swayed. However, when A San’s Flashlight steadily shone straight ahead, I could not see the other side of the space.
This certainly wasn’t because the space across from us was particularly deep; earlier, when the Flashlight had swayed, I had seen the edges of the space facing me.
At that moment, the Flashlight seemed to be swallowed by darkness. I recalled a scream I had just heard: black hole!
That voice must have come from Jack. I'm not a science student, but I know this can't be a real black hole. What could possibly make light disappear?
Jack's knowledge of physics is far superior to mine; he shouldn't have shouted something so foolish. But he did, why?
I stared in terror at the front, at the place where the Flashlight had vanished.
A San wrapped one of my arms around his shoulder, releasing the hand that had been supporting me, and began adjusting the aperture of the One-Eyed Beast Flashlight. He turned it wider, slowly and cautiously.
I couldn't see any changes; the Flashlight's beam couldn't reflect off objects, so there was no way to tell how large the aperture was. I could only rely on experience and instinct to know that A San was widening the One-Eyed Beast Flashlight's beam.
At one moment, my powerless legs tensed up as if electrified, and I involuntarily uttered two words: "Damn it."
Of course, it wasn't a ghost, but something even more chilling and incomprehensible. Because I saw a black hole! (To Be Continued.)
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