Chapter 169: The Other Side of the Passage

In the depths of the Temple, a bonfire blazed. The bonfire here was not fueled by firewood but by pieces of armor that could burn in a special way. These armor plates were supplied unlimitedly by the Watcher. His unique physical body could continuously grow such plates. The ignited bonfire burned deep in the Gray Domain and was effective in suppressing other Patients as well as guarding the passage. Everyone was asked to sit around the bonfire, believing there would be a series of checks before entering the passage. However, there were no such checks, or rather, when Yi Chen and others stepped into the Temple and evaded the Black Halberd, they had already passed the checks. Sitting in front of the bonfire was just an informal chat. ... This Watcher, wearing a human face iron helmet, seemed solemn but actually enjoyed chatting casually with Yi Chen and the newcomers. He asked about everything from the current state of Zion to their individual assessments of becoming gentlemen and entering the city. Occasionally, a mature but slightly silly laugh would even emerge from beneath his iron helmet. During the casual conversation, everyone could see the Watcher’s body continuously growing five pieces of armor plates of different specifications, which he then casually threw into the bonfire. During the chat, the Watcher also willingly shared some information about himself. [Black Heavy Halberd – Orman Yude] An early Executioner of the Organization, and one of the Black Knights (a title now obsolete), he was a vital fighting force for the Organization. He later transitioned to become a Watcher, reducing his ties with the Organization and no longer handling killing tasks. The cast iron helmet he wore and the black halberd he held were specially made equipment from the time he was a Black Knight. He was born into a Knight Family and qualified for the “Gentleman’s Skin” modifications; his original outfit was a set of dark and heavy black armor. Later, as his skin content increased, when it reached 50%, the armor actually merged with his body. It seemed as though he wore no clothes, yet his physical body could achieve the defensive effect of armor… and he could even grow full protective armor during key battles, doubling the defense. With his increasing familiarity with the armor, he discovered more and more uses for it, such as the ‘Suppressing Bonfire’ formed by burning armor, and for example, when Orman rushed to the [Passage], he directly separated a large number of armor plates to form a deep helmet warhorse underneath him, weighing several tons, crushing any obstructing Patients into powder under the warhorse’s heavy hooves and the swings of his black halberd. Ｒαɴọ????Еʂ A pure Physique gentleman, who is now eighty years old, yet due to an Extreme Breakthrough, he disregarded the constraints of age, growing stronger each year. During the conversation, Yi Chen could clearly feel Orman’s ‘loneliness’. Having been mostly alone on the outside for a long time, with barely an opportunity to communicate with people, now encountering three young individuals whose talents were not inferior to his, he almost wanted to recount his life story in front of the bonfire. “Mr. Orman, can you not return to Zion?” Yi Chen suddenly threw out a pivotal question. The man under the cast iron mask was silent for a moment before replying, “Once I stop my hurried travels and settle in a temporarily comfortable place, a seed of ‘laziness’ would be planted in my heart. The world is ill, and places like Zion would eventually be swallowed by the Gray Domain. If we want to truly extend human civilization, we must cultivate enough people who can live normally in the Gray Domain before that happens, even if their bodies lean toward becoming Patients, as long as they can maintain their human nature. If I were to become lazy and abandon the duties of a Watcher, it would reduce the rate of nurturing talents, and you wouldn’t meet me here today.” Upon hearing this, both Yi Chen and the nearby Reagan also stood up to salute. “You three are quite exceptional, managing to remain calm in front of my Black Halberd without being overwhelmed mentally shows that you are qualified to go to the other end. Come, let’s first go see the [Passage], and then I’ll discuss the specific rules with you.” Lighting the kerosene lamp at his waist, they followed Mr. Orman all the way to the deepest part of the Temple, where an ordinary-looking stone wall blocked their path, Yi Chen, combining his vision with Grape, quickly spotted the difference, “Is it here?” Yi Chen pointed to a stone brick in the upper right corner of the wall. “Can you see it right away? Were the [Gathering Eye Disease] that affected you along the way absorbed by you?” Yi Chen scratched the back of his head, “Sort of.” Snap! Orman used his exaggeratedly huge hands to forcibly remove the stone, geometrically speaking, this stone corresponded to an area outside the temple. However, with the removal of the stone, a seemingly bottomless horizontal passage was revealed… even Yi Chen, peering deep into it, could not see its end. The passage was just big enough to fit one person, and one could only crawl through it. “You will be the first group of ‘outsiders’ to enter this passage,” “Since the passage was formed less than a month ago and only touches the surface of the Old World, the probability of you being discovered is very low… as long as you don’t actively seek death, you can mostly come back alive. I believe your teachers or instructors at Zion have already explained the rules to you, I’ll just briefly mention them here. Since the ‘time’ of the Old World has been sealed, it is difficult for individuals to judge the passage of time through their own senses, nor can they refer to any natural phenomena. Therefore, you need to take ‘time’ with you.” Orman took out a special hourglass he had prepared in advance, filled with gray sand taken from the local environment. This hourglass was very small and could almost not be damaged when packed in a backpack, and once the timing started, no amount of flipping would affect it. “[One day] This is the maximum time you newcomers can be active in the Old World. Should you exceed this time, the risk of exposure will increase exponentially, and your mind and body will be more susceptible to diseases… If you return in the state of a Patient, I might have to execute you on the spot. A final reminder, don’t be too greedy. Don’t think about obtaining something precious, something rare; regardless of whether you gain something, make sure to calculate the time and route of your departure in advance. You are still young, and there will be more opportunities in the future to undertake [Relic Events].” “Go.” “See you in a day!” In the same order, Yi Chen crawled first, Jin in the middle, and Reagan bringing up the rear. Reagan, with his stout physique, also managed to squeeze into the relatively narrow passage with some difficulty, Searᴄh the Nôvel(F)ire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Although the group felt they hadn’t been crawling long in the passage, they could already no longer see the exit behind them, nor sense the oppressive presence of the Watcher, as if they had lost contact with the Original World. Lorrian’s voice came from within: 『It’s surprising how easily they let you into the passage, I thought the human Watchers would perform quite strict checks. Hurry up and accelerate, I can’t wait to see the origin of the illness.』 As there were no dangers in the passage, the team gradually sped up their crawling. After an indeterminate amount of time, they finally reached the end of the passage. Strangely, the exit was sealed by a square stone block similar to those in the temple; pushing with a hand… snap! The stone block fell heavily to the ground. The area they arrived at after crawling out of the passage was still a stone temple, even the size of the space and the specifications of the stone pillars were exactly the same. But there were no Watchers here, nor any burning bonfires. The moment they crawled out of the passage, the kerosene lamp hanging at their waists went out, unable to ignite, Wearing gentleman’s clothes, they created a ‘real leather mask’ through erecting the collar and interweaving silk threads, allowing the group to breathe normally. Both Yi Chen and Jin could feel the agitation of the clothes, the ‘Gentleman’s Skin’ inside was being slowly consumed, and the Skin Content was gradually decreasing. This was also why the Watcher emphasized repeatedly that the newcomers’ activity time in the Old World was limited to one day. If they exceeded the time, like Jin, whose clothing had a low Skin Content, the protection would be greatly weakened after over half of it was consumed, greatly increasing the probability of infection, and survival would not be guaranteed. Of course, for a newcomer like Yi Chen, who had a higher Skin Content, perhaps they could slightly extend the time. The hourglass started, the countdown began, Stepping out of the temple, the scene in front of them made all three stop in their tracks and stare wide-eyed at the horizon. The vast sky had no obstructions to the view, no clouds, no moving creatures, as if covered with a layer of dead grey canvas. A pitch-black ‘sun’ hung at the center of the world, and this pitch-black sun was pierced by an unreasonably large sword, its blade embedding further into the earth, as if sealing and killing this world.