“Brother Feng… aren’t you too calm?” Even Long Aomin felt rather unsettled seeing this. However, Xiao Tan was comparatively calmer this time because he was used to dealing with human organs. Laughing Soul did not make much of a reaction. Her brows tightened, thinking how disgusting it was, while Passing Rain’s unaffectedness could rival that of Feng Bujue.
“If we assume that Brother Invincible ran into something similar on the second floor earlier,” Feng Bujue said, “given that he was alone, walking through the seemingly identical corridors and the reflections in the mirror suggesting that he was trapped inside his own intestine… how would he react?”
“Run.” Passing Rain’s answers were always so succinct.
“Yes.” Feng Bujue nodded. “So, we cannot do the same. We have to slow down.”
“He died from running around in panic?” Long Aomin thought about it and said, “Then… does this mean the corridors are trapped? Like hard to discern metal lines hanging in midair?”
“But we’ve been walking through the corridors,” Xiao Tan argued. “Why didn’t we run into any traps?”
“Have the mirrors always been around?” Feng Bujue interrupted. “The scene around us could change at any moment, so they are meaningless.”
He used his fingers to knock on the wall by his side.
“The wall might look to be a wall, but it could be a door, a window, or even emptiness.” He retrieved the baseball bat from his backpack. “From now on, we cannot rely on things that we ‘see’.”
Feng Bujue walked to stand before Long Aomin.
“I will lead us forward while closing my eyes.” He treated the baseball bat as a walking stick. “You don’t need to close your eyes, just follow behind me. Even if I look like I am running into a wall, or stepping on air, there’s no need to call me out on it. Just make sure to follow behind me.
“I will try my best to focus and move as fast as I can, so I’ll leave the part for memorizing the route to the rest of you. You don’t need to memorize the whole journey, just remember the turns that we take. If I take the same turn three consecutive times, then please say something to stop me.”
“By the way… Brother Jue, what is it that you do in real life?” Laughing Soul could not help but ask the same question that Long Aomin had asked before.
“A great scribe,” Feng Bujue answered shamelessly.
Passing Rain’s expression shifted slightly, and she asked, “So, a novelist?”
“Wow, you’re amazing, you can guess that from his foolish answer?” Xiao Tan gasped.
Feng Bujue was also surprised, and he thought to himself, This is not the first time she has seen through me… What’s going on?
“Eh? Then does that mean you’re famous?” Laughing Soul asked.
“I guess I’m as famous as some C-list actors,” Feng Bujue answered.
Laughing Soul was startled. She immediately opened the team tab to look at his IGN, and she thought, Feng Bujue… Feng Bujue… No way! He’s that ‘Bujue’? He used the same name for his IGN and penname?
“Cousin… He’s your…” Laughing Soul turned around to whisper something to Passing Rain.
“I know.” Passing Rain cut her off and raised her voice to say, “Now is not the time to chat. Please lead the way, Great Scribe.”
Feng Bujue had not realized anything. He shrugged and turned around, closed his eyes, and extended the baseball bat forward. He started to move while bending over. The posture was uncomfortable, but he had no choice; the bat was around one meter long, and while a normal walking stick for the blind would reach one’s chest, the bat reached just above his waist.
The speed slowed down compared to before, but for a blind leader, this was relatively fast.
Everything was normal until they reached the first corner. The wall at the end of the corridor was real. Feng Bujue touched the wall before taking a left turn. The strange thing was, he turned not to face the corridor to the left but slightly slanted. The four with their eyes open followed him and discovered something shocking. Feng Bujue’s body slowly embedded into the wall on their right. They did not say anything and followed the man, walking into the wall that was supposed to block their way.
Human eyes were the most easily tricked, but the human body came with its own sense of balance, and it was powerful enough to walk in a straight line even without sight.
The corridors looked like they were perpendicular to each other, but they were actually slanted. Feng Bujue moved forward with his eyes closed. And when he reached the end, he turned ninety degrees, and thus, his direction deviated from the direction of the corridors.
With him leading the way, the group moved through walls. The ground underneath their feet, stairs, and the decorations next to them could not be trusted. The second floor of this building was a strange space, and the things in their eyes, be it the doors, windows, walls, or even a large hole on the ground could be real or fake. From a certain perspective, it was more complicated than a maze. The straight corridor could be curved, and a wall might be the spot that they needed to pass through. Only by closing their eyes could they move in a straight line, or else if they took reference from the images around them, they would definitely be confused.
This strange journey continued for a whole thirty minutes, and they did not run into any traps or any attacks from the spirit. It was as if the spirits themselves did not dare venture into this space.
Other than the environment that was used to disorient the players, many ‘x-ray mirrors’ showed up along the way. There were many strange pictures meant to make players dizzy showing up on the wall as well. The more one remained on this path, the more confused and isolated one would feel. If a player attempted this scenario solo, and moved forward with their eyes open, there was still a chance for clearing the scenario, but that person had to have strong willpower.
The long silence lowered the morale, but thankfully, it was soon over. Feng Bujue arrived at a door, a real door with real walls on both of its sides. This was apparently the ‘end’ of the corridors filled with illusions.
Actually, the journey would have taken fifteen minutes at most if it was a normal corridor, but they had taken about thirty minutes to complete it. By then, Feng Bujue was exhausted. It did not show on his Stamina Points because it was a mental exhaustion. He was not blind and had not received such training, so walking for such a long time with eyes closed was not that easy.
To any readers interested, try replicating his experience. Close your eyes and wander around your house, a place that you’re familiar with, and you’ll understand its difficulty. By the way, be careful.
“We’ve arrived, it seems,” Long Aomin, who was second from the front, announced.
Feng Bujue opened his eyes and took some time to get used to the small light. Then, he saw the ‘end’, a door that seemed to be constructed out of flesh and blood. On the ‘flesh door’, there were intertwining blood vessels, stitching out a stanza for The Haunted Palace.
And all with pearl and ruby glowing
Was the fair palace door,
Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing
And sparkling evermore,
A troop of Echoes, whose sweet duty
Was but to sing,
In voices of surpassing beauty,
The wit and wisdom of their king.
“This is the fourth stanza. This means… we’re only missing the sixth stanza,” Feng Bujue said as he went to grab the handle that was made from bone.
“Brother Feng, I think I should go first,” Long Aomin suggested.
“It’s fine.” Feng Bujue had already put the bat away, and he did not even wear the Eyes of Hostility.
Earlier in the dining room, when Roderick controlled the chandelier, the eye had been unable to sense him because he was hiding in the dark. Later, when he controlled the chair, Feng Bujue had sensed through the eye that Roderick’s target was the wooden chair. So, for an enemy that relied on indirect attacks, the eye was useless.
The door opened to reveal a medium-sized room. The room had no windows and no lamps, only walls that were made from flesh and a bone-constructed floor. The ceiling dangled with human hair, and the hair was weaved together with a strange method to form the roof.
Other than the door, there was no exit.
Hanging from a bone-beam in the middle of the room were two dead bodies. One male and one female. They were bound by something that looked like intestines.
The man was wearing a classic western suit, and the woman was in a white dress. Neither body showed signs of decay, although their skin was whiter than a living human should be. Their eyes were closed, and death radiated from them.