Chapter 697

Chapter 697: Phantoms in the Tomb

ghostly green flame lit up the entrance of the corridor and made the dim lights farther in look even more heavy and oppressive. In that unsettling gloom, the corrupted “historical avatar form” suddenly went still, like a stone statue standing in the distance, deaf to Duncan’s words.

But that silent and eerie standoff lasted only a short time. Before Duncan’s eyes, the “historical avatar form” that had been frozen for only a few seconds suddenly shook again, and in the next moment it snapped its head around!

Its once-human features had twisted into dark hollows and swirling pits. Only the torn crazy smile still spread across that scrambled face. It twisted its body at angles no Human could make. In an instant, its four limbs turned into tentacles that clung to the walls and ceiling. With a sudden burst of sharp, chaotic screeching, this terrifying, freakish thing hurled itself at Duncan without a hint of fear!

Duncan frowned at once. The next second, blazing ghostly green spirit flame flooded the entire corridor.

Flames rose in layer upon layer of walls, filling everyone’s sight. The corrupted horror screamed, laughed, and burned as it ran madly toward the exit of the tomb. It forced its way through one barrier of spirit flame after another. It even pushed forward until it was less than four or five meters from Duncan before the burning wreck finally collapsed to the floor, twitching once and then going completely still.

Several minutes later, the flames slowly faded.

Duncan, still frowning, carefully walked up to the remains that had almost been burned to ash. In the ashes there was only a shriveled, charred lump. He had left it on purpose by controlling the fire. Any trait that had once marked it as Senkin was completely gone, but there was still a twisted crack on it, like a laughing mouth frozen in place on the blackened lump, filled with a chilling, crazed joy.

After hesitating for a moment, he picked up the last bit of remains with a strange feeling, then cautiously backed out of the corridor of Vision 004 and returned to the gate.

The few people waiting outside the gate hurried over at once. With tense and uneasy faces, they looked at the “charcoal” Duncan had brought out. Helena stared at the torn mark that looked like a smile on the remains. After a while, she lifted her hand and lightly traced the mark of the Storm Goddess over her chest. “Goddess protect us… Frem, that’s the ugliest smile I’ve ever seen.”

“I’m just glad you can still joke at a time like this.” Banster glanced at Helena and shook his raspy head. Then his attention returned to the remains. “…It’s the smell of Subspace.”

“How could there be Subspace power inside Vision 004?” Rune frowned hard and glanced up at the tomb gate beside him. “It’s always been dangerous, but its danger lay in the strict rules inside the tomb and in that powerful, eerie Gravekeeper. I’ve never heard that it carried the power of Subspace…”

Duncan thought for a moment and asked: “What is the structure inside the tomb like? And what kind of being is this so?called ‘Nameless King’?”

The people present all looked at each other. After a brief, awkward silence, it was Vanna who finally answered the captain’s question: “Aside from knowing a few basic ‘rules of conduct,’ no one knows the true shape of the inside of the tomb.”

Duncan looked confused at once: “No one knows?”

“When a Listener leaves Vision 004, they forget all memories about the interior of the tomb. Only a small part of the information is brought out in the form of parchment sheet fragments. All we can be sure of is that there is a burial chamber inside Vision 004, and some ancient and mysterious being waits in that chamber for the Listener’s visit,” Vanna explained patiently. “But no one remembers what the chamber actually looks like or what the master of the chamber looks like.”

“Protective forgetting…” Duncan softly repeated the words. Then, all of a sudden, he seemed to sense something. He quickly looked up at the gate of the tomb.

Heavy, slow footsteps suddenly echoed in the corridor. A tall, grim figure walked into view with the sound of those steps.

The Gravekeeper of Vision 004 appeared!

The Gravekeeper, “late” by quite a long time, simply walked out like this. Even Duncan did not see how he had emerged. It was as if the tomb itself had suddenly “generated” a body. This eerie Gravekeeper stepped with stiff, corpse-like, heavy steps toward them. The chains coiled around him gave off sharp, scraping sounds with each movement.

Helena and the others tensed at once. Vanna leaned forward a little without thinking, ready to spring into action. Since the Nameless King Tomb was clearly acting abnormally, the “Gravekeeper” walking out of it was clearly no longer safe.

But the “Gravekeeper” seemed not to care about their guarded stances. He simply walked out slowly as usual and finally stopped in front of Duncan.

After a brief silence, the tall Guard, wrapped head to toe in bandages and seeming caught between life and death, turned slightly to the side. He raised a hand and pointed toward the passage, making a silent gesture of invitation.

Duncan raised his eyebrows: “You want me to go in?”

The Tomb Guardian slowly nodded.

“Be careful,” Rune warned in a low voice at once. “Something is wrong here.”

Duncan ignored him. He calmly fixed his gaze on the cloudy eyes that showed through the bandages of the Tomb Guardian. After a few seconds, he suddenly said: “And what if I refuse the invitation?”

The Tomb Guardian fell silent. Just when everyone thought this special entity, created by Vision 004, would not answer at all, it actually spoke. A low voice came from under the bandages: “Then when will you have time?”

Duncan: “…”

He froze for a heartbeat, and in that moment the Tomb Guardian spoke again: “His time is running out.”

“‘His’? Running out of time?” Duncan blinked in surprise, and his expression changed at once. “You mean the master of the tomb? What do you mean, ‘running out of time’?”

This time, the Tomb Guardian did not reply. He simply stood quietly before Duncan, saying nothing and yet somehow saying everything.

“…All right.” After two minutes of serious thought, Duncan suddenly nodded. “Then I’ll go see ‘him’.”

As soon as he spoke, Helena beside him said at once: “Are you sure? The situation inside Vision 004 right now—”

“Subspace doesn’t count as corruption for me.” Duncan shook his head. He had clearly made up his mind. “I heard the ‘bell.’ It seems this round was prepared for me. My gut tells me I shouldn’t refuse this ‘invitation’.”

“Your gut…” Helena was stunned for a moment. Then she seemed to realize something, and she pulled back the words she had meant to say and stepped half a pace away. “All right. I understand.”

The Tomb Guardian slowly turned his head and looked at Helena, Rune, and the others.

“Keep your distance. Do not cross the facility gate again,” he suddenly said. “The C-32-E7 Protocol Tree is unstable.”

Helena and the others all froze at his words. Rune spoke before he could stop himself: “…What protocol tree?”

But the Tomb Guardian did not seem inclined to answer. He only stepped to the side and opened the way to the passage, once more making an inviting gesture to Duncan.

Duncan gave the Guard a deep look, then stepped forward. Before entering the passage, he glanced back at the anxious Vanna standing behind the others and gave her a small nod: “Wait in peace. I’ll be back soon.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he walked into the long, deep, and seemingly endless dark passage.

The heavy gate of the tomb boomed shut, cutting off all sight from outside and blocking all sound from beyond Vision 004. The dim lights on the walls of the passage burned quietly. A strange dead silence closed in from all directions.

Duncan heard only the heavy footsteps of the Tomb Guardian behind him and the harsh scraping of chains rubbing against each other.

But after walking for a while, he suddenly noticed a change in the footsteps behind him. The sound of chains scraping together had vanished as well.

Curious, he turned his head—and his face showed clear surprise.

A tall, silent man with slightly dark skin, black hair, and a white robe was walking along the passage.

Duncan stared for a second, then suddenly reacted: “…That’s what you really look like?”

The tall, dark-skinned man turned his gaze. His pupils were a strange pale gold, and something deep within those eyes seemed to shift, focus, and lock onto Duncan. Then he gave a slight nod. “Yes.”

Duncan frowned, but just as he was about to ask something else, something at the edge of his vision caught his eye and broke his train of thought.

Far ahead in the passage, a shape like a crossroads had appeared at some unknown time. The junction floated and flickered as if it were an illusion. In front of that phantom crossroads, a group of vague figures in white robes suddenly appeared and were walking toward the distance.

They passed through the ghostly crossroads, walked along the deep, long passage, and then vanished into the solid, heavy wall on the opposite side.

Duncan watched the scene in surprise and curiosity and could not help asking: “What is that?”

“As the protocol tree falls out of balance, the folding and disorder of the Time-Stream are rolling back toward the source—that is a moment from long ago, when they set out.”

Duncan’s heart stirred. “They? Who are they?”

The Tomb Guardian, now in Human form again, stayed silent for a few seconds, then answered in a low voice: “…Doomsday Observer, End Survey Team.”

Duncan suddenly stopped walking.

His eyes opened a little wider, as if he had linked many things together in an instant. Wild, tangled thoughts surged through his mind. He took a quiet breath and looked up along the long passage ahead. Just then another hazy phantom slid into his blurred view.

Another figure in a white robe was walking toward them.

It was a young man with short black hair. He walked with head held high and shoulders straight. His eyes were calm yet firm. He strode down the corridor, and in the instant they passed each other—maybe it was just his imagination—Duncan felt that the figure’s eyes seemed to shift, ever so slightly, in his direction.

Then they passed by each other and went on.