Chapter 168 - 168 Twenty-five

Words : 1383 Updated : Sep 19th, 2025

168: Twenty-five. Good night, sweet dreams 168: Twenty-five. Good night, sweet dreams The steps extend from his feet to the 1700th floor. There, a new change appeared. Starting from the 1700th floor, the corridor walls were covered with gray-black slender tentacles that congested the downward path, occasionally writhing to reveal the steps extending downward. In the bloody red, eerie setting, the writhing slender tentacles resembled the entrance to hell. The end was not yet in sight, and there was still a path below. But to get past, Lu Li didn’t know how many floors were occupied by the tentacle-infested space. If the hints on the walls were to be taken as a reference, considering these slender tentacles as parents checking on learning progress, and each floor’s time being 30 minutes, then the parents’ inspection time might be between 30 to 60 minutes. Perhaps only one or two floors. Lu Li continued downward. The dense slender tentacles grew closer and closer, their movement seemingly unconscious, swaying with the wind, indifferent to Lu Li’s approach. Finally, Lu Li stood smoothly before the entrance of the tentacles, his wrist lightly flicked as he tentatively swung his shortsword along the edge of a tentacle— The sharp shortsword passed through the slender tentacle like a phantom, directly penetrating it. Weapons were ineffective against them. Feeling the attack, a cluster of lazily drifting tentacles suddenly stretched out, a dozen slender tentacles turning into afterimages and darting towards Lu Li. Lu Li came to his senses and raised his arm to shield himself from the direction of the incoming attack with his round shield. But due to his momentary distraction, he was half a beat too slow, unexpectedly, a pale face wearing a smile abruptly surfaced around Lu Li, blocking the assault of the slender tentacles. Lu Li furrowed his brows, looking at the pale face that seemed to shield him like a protective barrier. If the slender tentacles represented the parental checks, then they symbolized... the knowledge he had received. Lu Li stepped forward, directly entering the space composed of writhing tentacles. As the slender tentacles moved, they affected the whole body, yet were continuously obstructed by the emerging gruesome pale faces. He took a few steps forward, and suddenly, a force from below caught him, numerous muddy, withered hands stretched out from the step’s underside, grasping at Lu Li. Cold light flashed, and neatly cut muddy withered claws fell to the ground. And his weaponry and armor represented his physical strength. With a calm and steady demeanor, Lu Li, amidst the tentacles writhing like dense weeds, blocked by the gruesome pale faces, swung his sword and shield, taking large strides downward, his pace firm and unwavering. Lu Li’s figure was engulfed in the tentacle space, time gradually passed... Suddenly, a slender figure cloaked in a black coat unexpectedly emerged from the weed-like tentacles. He must have been extremely close to the exit, but at that moment, a tentacle entangled his arm. The shortsword swung, caught up by the tentacles, the shield smashed down, entangled by the tentacles. Helpless, Lu Li had no choice but to awkwardly release the shortsword and shield, along with the black coat entwined by the tentacles, holding only the necessary oil lamp, he slightly clumsily broke free from the sea of tentacles. 1800th floor. A number manifesting on the wall in front of him. Lu Li turned back, the restless tentacle space swallowed all his belongings and, as he left, returned to tranquility, swaying like seaweed in a breeze as at the beginning. Lu Li had passed through the tentacle space. Or rather, the little boy had passed his parental check. “Tsk...” Lu Li clicked his tongue lightly, mourning for his black coat now far behind him. He harbored a feeling, an intuition, that he had overcome the most dangerous part of this endless staircase. Withdrawing his gaze, Lu Li, standing on the 1800th floor, looked downwards. The staircase underwent another change, becoming darker and more somber. The wall color shifted from the initial blood red to a dark red, the agitation brought by red gradually dissipating, replaced by an indescribable oppression. 1800th floor... the sky was indeed almost dark. Still unable to open. The only thing unchanged was the fractured, chaotic hints on the dark red walls. In the dim light that still allowed visibility, Lu Li restarted his steps, moving towards the next time point. 1830th floor “Goodnight” The broken script of the wall’s gratingly mixed into an unrelated greeting. Lu Li tried to piece it together into a complete sentence, but the content was not quite right. This ordinary farewell appearing on the wall, was like a bloody death knell, ready to ring at any moment. As Lu Li moved downward, the prevalence of “goodnight” on the walls increased. At floor 1900, Lu Li encountered a table again, but there was nothing on it, nothing placed atop. At floor 2000, Lu Li heard his old friend — to say he heard it was somewhat amiss. Because it was a presence Lu Li couldn’t listen to. Laughter and cheers approached from afar, then receded into the distance until they vanished. Lu Li waited for them to disappear completely before he lowered his hands from his ears. Never being careless was one of the reasons Lu Li had survived until now. At floor 2030, the dark red of the space deepened, and “goodnight” dominated most of the wall. At floor 2100... Goodnight Goodnight Goodnight Goodnight Goodnight Goodnight Goodnight Goodnight Goodnight. Walls, ceilings, steps, everything within sight had “goodnight” written on it in varying scripts. The densely packed “goodnights” of varying sizes and arrangements spread across the walls and floor, extending into the unseen darkness below. Time to sleep, time to turn off the lights, naturally, then there was no light. And on the wall at floor 2100, a door stood open, its other side equally enshrouded in darkness. “Avoid staying up late; it’s your biggest enemy; health is more important than you think.” The tip given at the first floor resurfaced in Lu Li’s mind. It was clear, to continue downward would be to enter the hours of staying up late. But entering the door might relate closely to sleeping, perhaps it also led to an exit. Or a dead end. Lu Li looked towards the dark, silent door and then towards the deep, hollow floor below. The breeze rising from below carried something uncomfortable. It seemed like the salty sea wind, seemed like whispering murmurs, seemed like the clanking of chains... Lu Li decided to follow the hint and go “to sleep.” At least until now, the wall’s hints had never harmed him. Lu Li had no reason not to continue trusting the hints. After a deep stare into what seemed like an abyss of stairs, Lu Li stepped into the door on the 2100th floor, his figure swallowed by darkness, disappearing from sight. In the boundless darkness, Lu Li silently moved forward. Ahead in his sight, a blur of light slowly emerged, rapidly enlarging. “This is the most ordinary day.” The blur of light turned out to be a row of characters emitting a milky white glow, revealing their true form as Lu Li approached. Lu Li looked ahead; every few distances there was a point of light. At the end of his vision, a white space stood conspicuously in the darkness. “Don’t be irritable, don’t get discouraged.” “The road ahead is long and distant; the uniformity behind awaits a better world.” “Good or bad, depends on your initial choices and efforts.” As Lu Li passed each line of text, the white space ahead gradually became clear, revealing its true nature: a space of pure white, out of place with the surrounding darkness, with a clean bed in its center. One foot stepped into the space, followed by the other. Lu Li walked into the white space. He walked to the bed, climbed on, and as drowsiness overcame him, he fell into a deep sleep. In the brightness within the endless darkness, Lu Li’s breathing gradually became steady. The last two sentences echoed inside his mind. “So now, rest well.” “An existence from the deep sleep awaits you in your dreams.”

Chapter 168 - 168 Twenty-five

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