Volume One: First Steps in the City Chapter Forty-Seven: Arrival at the Map’s End

“Huff, huff, finally made it to the end,” Lu Yi gasped, utterly exhausted. The other three showed only slight signs of fatigue, their spirits still lively; Cedric even wore a smile, clearly satisfied with their gains.

Once Lu Yi and his companions left the layer of luminous creatures, they immediately entered a shadowy realm. Here dwelled not only spectral entities formed from the grudges of countless beings, but also monsters left behind by the ancient war of sealing.

These were nothing like the kindly creatures of the previous layer. Upon seeing the group, they attacked without hesitation. On one occasion, Lu Yi was caught off guard and pinned down, his firearms destroyed one by one before he managed to escape from the monster’s clutches.

Everyone emerged from that layer with fresh wounds, but their haul was substantial. Cedric, in particular, deduced from various clues that this was the secret domain left by the legendary sorcerer Zock, and thus, after confirming his theory, he willingly removed the black mark from Lu Yi’s neck.

As for He Lian Ying, despite her usual aloof demeanor, she was thoroughly pleased with the journey. Many beasts she slew were too beneath her pride to claim, even though Lu Yi repeatedly insisted that all spoils were fair game. Left with no choice, Lu Yi used one of his requests to persuade her to accept the spoils.

Not long after, He Lian Ying encountered a prey that truly tempted her. She declared she would sew its hide into her scarf. Cedric also coveted the beast, and together they fought for it. Ultimately, He Lian Ying’s skill prevailed, securing the bounty for herself.

He Lian Xun, for her part, claimed she had gained precious combat experience.

Yet all these trials were mere child’s play compared to what awaited them. As they entered the third layer, the city finally issued a long-awaited alert: achievement unlocked. At the same moment, Lu Yi glimpsed the map—this dungeon’s rating was gold, second only to dark gold, signifying a peak-level challenge.

Then the nightmare began. To this day, Lu Yi still could not fathom what transpired in the third layer. No sooner had they entered than they encountered a moving corpse. Cedric, being a black sorcerer, dismissed it as trivial and attacked with a casual spell. But to his shock, it had no effect whatsoever.

The corpse struck back, gravely injuring Cedric. If not for the He Lian sisters intervening, he would have died on the spot. Though his life was spared, the corpse proved exceedingly troublesome. He Lian Ying and He Lian Xun’s attacks barely made a dent; Cedric, after taking some unknown restorative, recovered almost completely. He gazed at the corpse’s half-weeping, half-laughing face, uttering terms Lu Yi did not understand.

The sisters, however, understood and promptly shifted their tactics. With both attacking in tandem and Cedric launching sneak attacks, they finally managed to slay the corpse after a fierce struggle. The trio then discussed something else over the corpse, again using words Lu Yi couldn’t grasp. Soon, more seemingly ordinary creatures appeared nearby.

Cedric pulled Lu Yi along as they fought and fled, encountering even flying corpses with wings. To escape from these abominations, the trio resorted to all sorts of methods that Lu Yi could never have imagined. At last, they reached the endpoint marked on the map, slamming shut a door engraved with complex sigils.

The ordeal had been so harrowing that, once Lu Yi confirmed the safety of their destination, he lay down and promptly fell asleep.

In a haze, Lu Yi heard a piercing scream. He opened his bleary eyes and shook his head, noticing the room had changed without his realizing. He Lian Ying and Cedric were trapped by chains of black lightning anchoring them to the floor, their eyes fixed on something above.

Lu Yi hastily looked up. He Lian Xun was floating in midair, the source of the earlier scream. Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t that she was floating: a skeleton was holding her aloft, slowly merging into her body. Lu Yi saw two bones protruding from the skeleton’s shoulders, resembling the flying corpses they had encountered—suggesting they were of the same species in life.

Realizing he had to act, Lu Yi sprang to He Lian Ying’s side, retrieving the Purification Elixir from their team’s storage. He splashed it onto the black lightning, which immediately sizzled with faint white flames. However, the lightning did not dissipate right away.

“It’s useless. We’re all going to die here,” Cedric said in despair, his gaze fixed above. He turned to Lu Yi. “You won’t escape either.”

Lu Yi froze, then realized Cedric wasn’t merely looking at him. He spun around. The entrance had vanished completely. At last, he understood why the place felt so strange: they were no longer where they had been.

At that moment, another agonized scream came from above. Lu Yi looked up to see the skeleton merging one of its arms into He Lian Xun’s body.

Coughing, Lu Yi grabbed at his face and sat up from the floor. He saw Cedric’s exquisitely handsome face, then glanced around—the He Lian sisters were surveying their surroundings, and the door they had shut remained firmly closed.

Lu Yi wiped sweat from his brow. “Was that just a dream?”

“I’ve examined the map. It divides into four sections. The first three correspond to the three layers. So what’s the last part?” Cedric asked, pointing at the map.

Hearing Cedric’s question, He Lian Ying and He Lian Xun gathered around as well. “No idea. We can’t reconstruct the map using the previous method,” Lu Yi replied, feeling drained, still shaken by the dream.

“Have we checked this place? Are we sure we won’t suddenly find ourselves unable to leave, or get teleported elsewhere?” Lu Yi asked uneasily.

“You worry too much,” Cedric said with a smile, patting Lu Yi’s shoulder.

Lu Yi stood up and immediately noticed some stones of similar size scattered on the floor. “What are these?”

“Oh, we must have shaken them loose during our earlier battle,” Cedric replied, pointing upwards.

Lu Yi looked up at the ceiling, which was littered with disorderly black stones.

“Relax, there’s no danger from these. Even if they fall, the worst you’ll get is a bump on the head,” Cedric said, seeing Lu Yi staring at the ceiling.

“I’ve got it!” Lu Yi exclaimed, suddenly excited. He held the map up to the black stones overhead. “These are characters! They’re inscriptions recording the secrets of this place!”