Chapter 483: Spherical objects
Although Lin Ye believed the heart was the Silhouette's vital spot, the Silhouette did not suffer a fatal injury. It merely paused in place for a few seconds before stomping through the roof and continuing its pursuit of Lin Ye.
Lin Ye had previously analyzed the overall structure of the entire building based on parts of the house's layout, so he didn't hesitate at all. With just a few jumps, he reached the first floor.
The reason for coming to the first floor was because he felt the Silhouette was intentionally driving them upward, and there was nothing useful on the third or second floors either.
Upon reaching the ground floor, Lin Ye swept his gaze over the several corridors connected to the lobby and directly chose the corridor that, proportionally speaking, occupied the largest area.
The Silhouette also jumped into the first-floor lobby. Seeing Lin Ye had entered that corridor, it hurriedly charged after him.
Lin Ye stopped conserving his stamina. He sprinted down the corridor at a speed exceeding the limits of this physical body. His gaze swept over every area he passed. When he passed by a locked room, he abruptly halted his steps.
This wasn't the first locked room he had passed, but this room's layout was the most peculiar.
The Silhouette suddenly vanished, reappearing behind Lin Ye, only to have its heart pierced by the kitchen knife once again. The invisible blade it released not only failed to chop off Lin Ye's head but instead shattered the locked door.
Lin Ye ducked into the room. With just a glance, he discovered the wooden floor hatch leading underground.
Using the kitchen knife to pry open the lock, Lin Ye lifted the wooden door and jumped into the basement. The basement was pitch black. Lin Ye used the kitchen knife to reflect the light shining down from above into the basement, quickly figuring out the situation inside. At that moment, the Silhouette also jumped into the basement. It charged furiously at Lin Ye but suddenly stopped in its tracks.
"... Don't."
This was the first time the Silhouette had made a sound. Its voice was full of fear, even mixed with a hint of pleading.
But Lin Ye did not stop his action. He thrust the kitchen knife into the chest cavity of the withered corpse in the basement.
Since you've decided to kill, you must have the resolve to be killed.
The Silhouette wailed and collapsed to the ground. A certain black substance flowed out from its corpse, surging into the kitchen knife.
"Huh?"
Lin Ye pulled out the kitchen knife. At that moment, he received a segment of spiritual imprint:
Foundation.
Movement.
Attack.
This seemed to be some kind of selection menu.
'Is this... some kind of ritual? Kill an enemy, acquire the enemy's ability?'
Lin Ye thought of the handcart and the black cloth from before. Those were likely some kind of ritual items.
'Foundation should be the body's basic strength. Movement should be that instantaneous teleportation ability. Attack is probably that invisible blade attack...'
Lin Ye thought for a second and chose Foundation. Compared to those somewhat decent abilities, Foundation was more suitable for him.
After Lin Ye made his decision, the kitchen knife suddenly flashed with an eerie red light. Lin Ye felt his body strengthened considerably, roughly equivalent to the strength of an ordinary First-Level Spiritual Energy User.
However, this enhancement only took effect while Lin Ye was holding the kitchen knife. Letting go of the knife would cause the enhancement effect to disappear.
'Trash effect.'
Although the enhancement effect was rather trashy, Lin Ye still tightened his grip on the kitchen knife. In a place like this, an ordinary person was far too weak. Being able to enhance to the first level was already quite good.
Lin Ye returned to the organization's Lounge with the kitchen knife and fragments of other people's corpses. The moment he entered the room, the door automatically closed, and the sound of locking came from outside.
'So this is also part of the ritual?'
Lin Ye pushed against the door and found it could no longer be opened.
"What now? Surely they don't expect me to cover the handcart with the black cloth and then unveil it myself? Hopefully, not everyone has to go through this..."
When Lin Ye turned around, the black cloth had already been draped back over the handcart.
"...Alright, quite ritualistic."
Lin Ye tried to lift the black cloth with one hand but found it seemed glued to the handcart, completely impossible to pull off.
"What does this mean?"
A strange sound suddenly came from within the black cloth. Gray mist like snowflakes appeared around it, and a large amount of blood-red liquid gushed out from beneath the black cloth, quickly covering the floor of the Lounge.
The handcart began to twist and deform. A metal monster crouched beneath the black cloth. It stared at Lin Ye with its hollow eyes, its mouth open as if emitting a silent wail.
The material and color of the black cloth began to change. Something was continuously wriggling beneath it.
"This is really..."
Lin Ye had already released his right hand gripping the black cloth, but at that moment, the black cloth slowly slid off the handcart monster, revealing the monster's back.
A spherical object wrapped in gray mist was placed behind the monster. At the center of the mist was a bright red ocean. The mist and seawater continuously vanished at the periphery of the sphere. If one observed carefully, they would find an invisible layer there, enveloping that gray mist.
Furthermore, there seemed to be some invisible things on the sea's surface. These things mingled with the red seawater, giving the ocean an added touch of strange color.
"Uh, this ritual isn't personalized based on individual circumstances, is it?"
Lin Ye felt an impulse to commit suicide. Here, he could still restart the simulation. What would happen after opening the large door was hard to say. Perhaps at this very moment, the situation was continuously tilting towards the worst possible angle.
*Knock knock knock!*
The door to the Lounge was suddenly knocked on. Lin Ye very decisively thrust the kitchen knife into his own heart. Blood gushed out, but Lin Ye realized he didn't feel any pain.
It was as if the kitchen knife hadn't pierced his heart at all.
Lin Ye forcibly unsealed the Abyssal Eye. He saw that his body hadn't performed any action at all; the kitchen knife was still held in his hand.
His body began moving towards the handcart monster. His right hand released the kitchen knife and very naturally reached for the spherical object behind the monster.
Lin Ye wanted to resist, but this body simply couldn't support him forcibly using mental energy. Before his head exploded, he might lose consciousness first.
Then it would truly be over.
Yes, right now he couldn't forcibly use mental energy.
The knocking outside the door grew increasingly urgent, turning into a sharp, completely uninterrupted noise, as if someone was drilling holes in the door with an electric drill.
Lin Ye tried to use the Abyssal Eye to summon Abyssal creatures, but only then did he discover that those Abyssal creatures were already inside the room, watching and eagerly awaiting him to touch that spherical object. There was no need for the superfluous step of summoning.
This place was already within the Abyss.
Just as Lin Ye was preparing to try overclocking his mental energy to blow up his own head, a card engraved with a black question mark appeared before his eyes.
At that moment, Lin Ye discovered he now had a new choice. He could choose, by his own will, to touch the question mark card or the spherical object.
Lin Ye, without the slightest hesitation, grabbed the question mark card. The card shattered in his hand, and a huge black question mark appeared right in the center of the room.