Chapter 1141: Chapter 110: The Sixth Time
[I have arrived, the frequency is related to death, each time leads to the loss of previous memories, including one’s own memories, and deepens the connection (uncertain). There are enemies]
Lu Li quietly gazed at the oil lamp casting dim light upon the text in his own handwriting, then abruptly stopped.
The surface of the dust-covered table is filled with shoeprints and contains three notes.
Confirming it’s not a trap, Lu Li approached the table, his dark eyes paused upon the familiar yet chaotic shoeprints on the table, and he picked up the three notes.
The first note’s text was illegible, incomprehensible, the second and third were his notes, his tone.
Connecting the third and fourth times’ notes with the crumpled note in his palm, a vague truth emerged: This place is a corrupt sewer, one of the forbidden zones. Death is not actually dying, but each time dying leads one to forget memories— including original memories.
This is not good news, because people cannot perceive what they have truly lost, including Lu Li himself.
Land of Light, Annie, Andrea…
Important memories still linger in the mind, but have similarly important memories already been lost?
Traces of the house, footprints existing on the ceiling and floor witness the authenticity of the notes, yet Lu Li followed the prints, headed upstairs and to the window to confirm the clues.
A few minutes later, Lu Li returned to the living room.
The last summoned Merchant Anthony confirmed this was Lu Li’s fifth call to him.
Four notes placed on the table at this moment. Assuming these are real, Lu Li inferred his previous circumstances: Because death enhances the link to the corrupt sewer, the first two times Lu Li appeared on the ceiling as an outsider, leaving illegible notes. After twice “dying,” the deep Connection made the third time himself not upside down, leaving a second note that could be identified.
Then the fourth time Lu Li appeared, left the third note pursuing the footsteps of his last self.
Meanwhile, ultimately left the last note in Lu Li’s palms.
Perhaps very close to the truth, but questions still arise—
Like why the first two times he died: from learning the truth? or encountering danger?
Lu Li remembered the final hint “enemy.” Regardless, the house with the wooden sign, which killed Lu Li twice, is unfit to approach, and the house beneath is no longer safe.
Leaving four notes behind, Lu Li departed from this place which appears each time after dying, advancing toward the neighboring house with an open upper window.
Creak—
The door opening noise disturbed the quiet house, the oil lamp’s dim light reached into the living room, a shadow fleeting by the stairs.
Rustle—
Dust showered from gaps in the ceiling.
Raising the oil lamp, Lu Li stepped into the dim living room, his slender fingers loosened the pouch, ingested the Guardian Potion and Revealing Potion, stepping onto the wooden stairs.
Transparent threads were pulled tight along the handrail, triggering as Lu Li passed.
Clang—Clang—
An empty can toppled over, echoing as it rolled downstairs in the empty house.
His dark eyes departed from the can rolling to the first floor, Lu Li lifted his gaze towards the corridor on the stairs.
A terrified shout was also heard from the depths.
“I know you’re there! We’re not enemies, this is a tournament, the top ten competition, we are all contestants! Giant Tree Academy… Knights Order… Church… this isn’t in the wilderness. Killing is meaningless!”
“Do you know what this is about?” Lu Li spoke then.
While the shouting from the corridor’s depths continued.
“I know you’re there! We’re not enemies, this is a tournament, the top ten competition, we are all contestants! Giant Tree Academy… Knights Order… Church… this isn’t in the wilderness. Killing is meaningless!”
The voice repeated the same line.
Amidst self-talk shouting, Lu Li advanced further, touching the second canister trap.
“Stop coming up! Halt!”
Amidst the sounding of rolling clangs, the shout turned into a scream: “Don’t attempt to converse with me, I can’t remember, you have died too many times!”
Lu Li paused his steps, perceiving deeper meanings in the words: “I don’t understand.”
“…I know you’re there! We’re not enemies, this is a tournament…”
The shout reset again.
Yet Lu Li, who had detected certain keys, waited patiently, silently awaiting more from the voice.
“Also, don’t try to talk to me, I can’t remember… you have died too many times, already part of the corrupt sewer just like those former residents… Don’t ask! If you’re hearing this topple a can to inform me!”
Lu Li glanced toward the railing, reached out to knock over an empty can.
Clang—Clang—
The can rolled step by step downward, the shout then followed from the depths of the corridor: “Good… you can communicate… too good… too good. What do you want to know, wait don’t talk to me! I guess you don’t know who you are? Don’t know why you’re here? You’re a contestant, a competitor in the top three competitions… We are in a game, this is a forbidden zone…”
As the voice supplemented information, Lu Li recorded the clues from the stairs. If he gets a sixth time, he could avoid bewilderment to the greatest extent then.
“…Each time you die, you deepen the connection to here, from upside down on the ceiling, from incomprehensible language… the proof is you’re no longer upside down now, and you’ve grasped the power of forgetting! Yes… the power of forgetting… you resemble an unknowable abyss, we can’t hear, no, you’re not in our memory, you seem nonexistent in the real world…”
The voice gradually became nonsensical, but enough for Lu Li to understand.
“Leave… please leave… I will remember you, after going outside I will tell them to save you… Please go…”
While Lu Li pondered, the Parchment in the inner pocket radiated heat.
“Lu Li… this is the crossroads…”
At that moment, Will Ken’s fragmented whispers echoed in his mind: “The cursed title of the corrupt sewer… is approaching.”
“Because of forgetting?”
“Yes… the more you forget… the closer it gets.”
“How do I leave?”
“Acquire the cursed title… that’s also the exit… remember… don’t lose yourself in slaughter… remember.”
Lu Li did not ask how to obtain the cursed title, because the answer lay before him: death.
“Believe in Will…”
Will Ken’s ancient voice faded, the calm Lu Li retrieved a white pill from the pouch.
Confirming no omission of notes, enough for himself to know the truth, Lu Li swallowed the pill—
“Are you still there?”
The corridor’s depth voice faded as Lu Li lost consciousness…
Lu Li’s figure disappeared on the stairs shortly after.
A dreadful, spine-chilling cold enveloped the house.
As if footsteps resounded, entering the living room, ascending the stairs, reaching the second floor.
Empty at the depth of the vacant corridor.
…
Mist enshrouded the depth in shadow.
The dim oil lamp gradually lit, dispelling darkness, revealing a figure holding an oil lamp.
The dim light spread out, exposing more concealed things in the darkness.
Lu Li raised the oil lamp, before him displayed a long-neglected old living room. The ceiling hung with a fan, disordered dishes cast on the table, windows covered with curtain-like dust.