407: Chapter 406 Qianchuan Tunnel

When Li Na also said she would go along, everyone couldn't help but turn their gazes toward Lin Liguo.

Lin Liguo remained silent for a moment before slowly speaking, "They have a point. Given the strength they've shown, if we travel together, we can at least help each other when danger strikes. Having a few more people to share the pressure will increase our chances of survival."

The implication was clear: he agreed to leave with these weirdos.

The group's feelings were complicated. Lin Liguo's words sounded nice, but in reality, he was just giving himself a way out. They were essentially being coerced into leaving together.

They were to be the pathfinders and cannon fodder in critical moments.

Though their hearts were heavy, a trace of ruthlessness flashed through their minds.

Who among them hadn't fought their way back from the brink of death? If it truly came to that, no one would willingly be forced to their deaths.

"Since it's decided, let's get on the road quickly. The speed at which the black fog of The Gloom is spreading seems to have accelerated again." Cai Hou leaped up, landed on Fat Pig's shoulders, and slowly sat down.

Chu Xuan looked back.

With his current eyesight, he could discern that although the black fog from behind was still far away, it was indeed creeping toward them.

Withdrawing his gaze, Chu Xuan remained as calm as ever, following the group as they stepped into the tunnel.

They had originally thought they might encounter a sudden situation inside this pitch-black tunnel, but everything turned out to be normal. No accidents occurred, and the group passed through smoothly.

Shortly after, the group traversed several mountain tunnels in a row.

One in particular, the "Qianchuan Tunnel," was a full fourteen kilometers long.

Inside the deep tunnel, it was pitch black; the lighting strips had completely failed.

Despite having gained night vision through continuous strengthening, the group still felt uneasy in this long, deep tunnel.

Fortunately, the group successfully passed through every single mountain tunnel.

"Strange..." Cai Hou suddenly looked back at the tunnel, a look of doubt on his face.

"I've had a feeling of approaching danger all along. We should have been targeted by a Specter. My sense of crisis was strongest when we were passing through that tunnel just now, but strangely, nothing happened."

"It's simple. Although Specters are influenced by their Bloodthirsty instinct, they aren't brainless. Since it didn't act, it must be because it's not confident it can handle us. It's just following behind because it's unwilling to give up." Li Na also glanced back, a flash of ferocity in her eyes.

"If we leave this region and it still dares to follow us, I'll turn back and kill it."

"Crazy woman, the influence of the Tyrant Pathway on you is deepening by the day; you're becoming lazier and lazier about using your brain. Speaking of which, you haven't been reciting Tyrant prayers just to gain power, have you?"

Cai Hou chuckled, ignoring the unfriendly looks from Li Na and the two burly youths. He turned to Chu Xuan's side. "As official Night Watchers, what are your thoughts?"

Lin Liguo said thoughtfully, "Based on our experience dealing with Specters, if they determine an objective is unattainable, they will choose to abandon the target. Hanging back like this is indeed somewhat abnormal. It's possible it's waiting for an opportunity."

"No matter how abnormal it is, can we turn back and kill it now? The most important thing is to get out of this region as quickly as possible. Speed up!" Li Na looked somewhat impatient.

Cai Hou ignored her and continued looking at Lin Liguo. "What kind of opportunity do you think the Specter is waiting for?"

"This... without enough intelligence, it's hard to say." Lin Liguo shook his head and looked at the other Night Watchers beside him; they all shook their heads as well.

Wu Wanqiu glanced at Chu Xuan inconspicuously.

"What do you think, brother?" Cai Hou suddenly looked at Chu Xuan and said meaningfully, "Wrapped head to toe in blood-stained bandages, you must have been seriously injured, right? To have run with everyone for nearly an hour without your speed slowing down is quite remarkable."

Everyone's eyes couldn't help but fall on Chu Xuan.

They hadn't thought much of it before, but now that Cai Hou had spoken with these testing words, everyone felt something was off, especially the Night Watchers other than Wu Wanqiu.

Cai Hou jumped down from Fat Pig's shoulder, sized Chu Xuan up carefully, and suddenly said:

"Logically, you Night Watchers all wear standard uniforms. Even if you're covered in bandages, you wouldn't have lost your trench coat and saber, would you?

Out of the seven of you, only you seem out of place. Moreover, throughout this journey, the others have barely spoken to you, and there's a certain distance in your movements. Could it be... that you aren't a Night Watcher at all?"

Cai Hou's gaze was deep. "So... who might you be?"

"Do you need to worry about who I am?" Chu Xuan met the other's gaze with a calm tone.

Cai Hou shrugged and chuckled. "I'm just curious. If you don't want to answer, that's fine."

"Skinny monkey, when did you become so cowardly?" Li Na said with a hint of mockery. "Given your personality, shouldn't you have just reached out and torn the bandages off his face?"

A smile remained on Cai Hou's face. "You might have some misunderstanding about me. We're companions for now, and I won't easily make a move against a companion."

"Is that so?" Li Na scoffed. "But I'm very curious."

Her gaze suddenly shifted, staring intently at Chu Xuan with a chilling tone. "If you're not a Night Watcher, then who exactly are you? Could you be a hidden Specter? Speaking of which, you really are an eyesore to us!"

Chu Xuan didn't speak, but a strange light suddenly flashed in his calm eyes.

In that moment of eye contact, without anyone noticing, Li Na's body trembled slightly, and her eyes went a bit vacant.

"He is definitely not a Specter!" At this moment, Wu Wanqiu suddenly spoke up.

"He just took some special healing medicine, and his injuries are recovering. Although he's not fully healed, just traveling is no problem."

As Wu Wanqiu finished speaking, Lin Liguo gave her a deep look and immediately stood in front of Chu Xuan, saying in a low voice, "This is our colleague. If you want to make a move on him, we wouldn't mind testing your skills right now."

When Lin Liguo said this, although the other four Night Watchers were extremely wary of these weirdos, they still immediately gripped their long sabers, standing ready for them to be drawn at any moment.

Their actions took Chu Xuan slightly by surprise.

"Ooh, ooh, ooh! Getting ready for a fight? Fat Pig, let's back up quickly. We mustn't get caught in the crossfire. If the Specter chooses to strike now, we can take the chance to escape." Cai Hou made an exaggerated expression and instantly jumped back onto Fat Pig's shoulder, putting a large distance between himself and the others.

"You're clearly the one who started this, and now you want to watch the show? Do you want to die?" Li Na suddenly turned her head and gave Cai Hou a cold, fierce glare.

"I started this?" Cai Hou sat with his legs crossed, a smile on his face, but his tone gradually turned cold.

"Crazy woman, I think you're becoming more and more abnormal, wanting to snap at whoever you see! Believe it or not, if we start fighting, I can take you out in ten seconds."

"Then let's try it." Li Na narrowed her eyes and hunched her body slightly, a faint black aura appearing on her fair face.

"These people are all lunatics. Let them fight; we're leaving first." Lin Liguo scanned both sides and spoke in a low voice, preparing to lead his people away slowly.

"Who said you could leave?" Li Na suddenly turned to look at Lin Liguo, her eyes faintly glowing red as if she were about to go berserk.

While the others hadn't reacted yet to this change, the twin brothers' expressions both changed. They exchanged a look, and blue veins suddenly bulged on their thick arms.

These bulging veins shimmered with bursts of blue light. The two of them stepped forward and pressed down on Li Na's shoulders. "Li Na, calm down!!"

The massive force caused Li Na's body to tremble violently. Blue light surged into her body, causing the black aura on her face to vanish instantly, and the ferocity in her eyes gradually turned to calm.

"Li Na, are you okay?" the twin brothers asked in unison, their faces filled with worry. Clearly, this wasn't the first time they had seen her in such a near-frenzied state.

Li Na frowned as she looked at everyone, then said, "Something's not right. I could barely suppress my hostility just now, and I even had hallucinations, with thoughts of wanting to go on a killing spree..."

Li Na looked around, her expression uneasy. "This place is a bit strange. Let's get out of here!"

With that, she took the lead and sped up, running with the twin brothers.

"Bizarre." Cai Hou sneered, patted Fat Pig's bald head, and urged, "Fat Pig, let's keep up. Don't fall behind."

"Everyone be careful. Let's go too." Lin Liguo gave the others a look and continued leading the way.

In the crowd, the glow in Chu Xuan's eyes gradually faded.

Li Na's outburst just now was naturally triggered by him using his Heart-Confusing Skill; a single exchange of looks was all it took.

Compared to the others, Chu Xuan could more clearly feel the constant, hidden surveillance.

Chu Xuan even had a strange feeling that there was a faint connection between him and the hidden entity.

Even more so, Chu Xuan had a strange intuition that the hidden entity seemed to have realized he had discovered it.

As for why that Specter hadn't acted yet and was just following them, Chu Xuan felt that it might be wary of his presence.

To avoid alerting the enemy, Chu Xuan didn't want to reveal his current strength too early.

Otherwise, with his current spirit attribute, no one present would be able to withstand his max-level Heart-Confusing Skill.

Especially someone like Li Na, who only increased her strength attribute and not her spirit attribute, and whose mind was already somewhat unstable.

Chu Xuan wouldn't even need to lift a finger to stir up the almost uncontrollable hostility and madness in her heart, instantly driving her insane.

However, these people were right about one thing.

The more people there were, the less pressure there was when facing a Specter lurking in the shadows.

Hide your strength and bide your time.

Next, it would be a matter of who could remain more patient.

As for Cai Hou, Chu Xuan gave him a deep look. He could feel that this person was paying attention to him; those previous questions were actually more of a test.

Amidst these thoughts, Chu Xuan followed the group as they continued forward, passing through mountain after mountain.

The feeling of being watched remained, yet no accidents occurred.

However, just as the countdown had less than an hour left and another tunnel appeared ahead, Chu Xuan's brow suddenly jumped.

Qianchuan Tunnel!

The group ahead all stopped in their tracks.

"Something's wrong! We just passed through this fourteen-kilometer Qianchuan Tunnel!" Cai Hou jumped off Fat Pig again, walked a few steps forward, his expression turning somewhat grim.

"A Specter's Forbidden Domain?" Lin Liguo frowned, then shook his head. "The rules have changed; currently, Specter Domains have shrunk drastically. If one could truly manifest such a large Domain that spans several mountains, it would have to be an incredibly terrifying Specter. It wouldn't stay hidden without appearing."

"It's this region that has a problem!" Cai Hou looked back toward the south and said in a low voice, "Although the black fog representing The Gloom hasn't enveloped us yet, it has affected the spatial structure here."

"What's the point of overthinking? Regardless, I can't just wait around! Since we can't get through the tunnel, we'll go over the mountain!" Li Na said coldly.

Cai Hou nodded. "It's worth a try."

Everyone looked at each other, then agreed to the proposal and began climbing the mountain.

Before long, they encountered several more tunnels, but instead of going through them, they chose to cross the mountains.

However, after only about twenty minutes, when another tunnel appeared before them, the four words on the sign caused everyone's hearts to sink.

Qianchuan Tunnel!

"We're back again?"

Everyone's expressions were incredibly grim.

"Maybe there's a problem with this highway. From now on, we won't take the highway; we'll head north directly across the mountains!" Lin Liguo proposed.

"Let's try it," Cai Hou responded immediately.

"Then let's go quickly!" Li Na was the first to move.

After the group climbed over the mountain above the Qianchuan Tunnel, they stood on the peak to get their bearings and chose to head down the mountain.

The mountains here were rarely visited by people, and there weren't even any mountain paths. However, with their extraordinary physiques, it wasn't a problem.

They still walked as if on level ground.

However, another twenty minutes passed.

The group's expressions became increasingly unsightly.

They had clearly made a conscious effort to avoid the highway, yet now, after crossing a mountain ridge, the highway appeared below them once again, not far away.

Not only that, about two or three kilometers away, as they looked out from their high vantage point, they could clearly see the four words on a sign outside a tunnel.

Qianchuan Tunnel!

"We can't get away?"

At this moment, everyone felt a chill in their hearts.

It wasn't just because they were stuck in this loop, unable to leave the mountains, but more importantly, the black fog of The Gloom behind them was getting closer and closer.

As they realized this, the chill in their hearts intensified.

"The speed of the black fog's spread has increased; we'll soon be trapped in the Dark Place again! This isn't the System matching the mission difficulty to our overall strength; we've been forced to trigger this, and the danger is uncontrollable!" Cai Hou said, gritting his teeth.

"There's no other way. Keep going, don't stop!"

The group continued forward, the black fog behind them creeping closer and closer.

However, just as the "Qianchuan Tunnel" appeared ahead once more and the group was on the verge of despair.

The 48-hour countdown finally hit zero!

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(Today's 4,000 words are released in one chapter.)