Star Trace Gate

Three screams like howls were still ringing in their ears, which made the other team members a little confused, but Ren Ye still recognized it at the first time. It was Brother Hong's voice.

"Hey, Hong, can you hear me?"

"Speak!"

"...!"

Ren Ye stood in the lobby of the shopping mall on the first floor, holding the headset, and shouted several times in succession, but still did not get a response from Brother Hong.

His heart skipped a beat, and he turned to look at the old cadre, and shouted urgently: "The explosion just now came from the north. Let's rush over there, quickly!"

“Brother Hong, Brother Hong, can you hear me?” The old cadre’s face also became serious. He ran after Ren Ye while shouting, “The aura just now was on the north side. Everyone, hurry over there and get closer.”

"Hey, Hong, I got your reply."

"Brother Hong, Brother Hong, speak up!"

"...!"

At this moment, all members of the team rushed to the north, constantly shouting Brother Hong's name.

Along the way, the fire in the building has been completely extinguished, but there are still a large number of burning corpses blocking the way. In order to find Brother Hong as soon as possible, the old cadre is also very good at helping Ren Ye clear obstacles so that he can get to the scene faster.

Soon, the two arrived at the place where the explosive aura had just surged. The old cadre said urgently: "I'm attracting the burning corpses around, you go find him quickly."

"it is good."

Ren Ye rushed into the north area of ​​the shopping mall on the first floor without looking back. After walking quickly for dozens of meters, he froze in place.

This was supposed to be the north hall of the mall, but now it was a ruin. Looking ahead, all around were collapsed walls, cement, bricks and tiles; and buried under the ruins were the shattered bodies of the people who had been burned, like a layer of meat paste, covering the ground.

A strong smell of blood hit my nose, mixed with a hint of Brother Hong's unique scent.

This means that Brother Hong has just demonstrated his supernatural powers here.

Ren also stared blankly at the front, and his first judgment was that there had been a huge explosion here, as if the remaining soul of a super-level gatekeeper had launched an attack, or a magic weapon had exploded, or two powerful masters had a life-and-death battle.

"Whoosh!"

After Ren came to his senses a little, his body immediately disappeared from the spot.

The corpses burned in this area had already died in the explosion just now, so he was not stopped for the time being.

"brush!"

Ren Ye's figure suddenly appeared at the center of the explosion. He turned his head and looked around, with a glimmer of hope in his heart: "Brother Hong, Brother Hong!"

"Whoosh!"

At this moment, a burly white-haired figure flashed from the other side and instantly stood in front of Ren Ye.

After Ren Ye recognized that the person was Yin Hu, he immediately said, "You are particularly sensitive to smells. Quick, find Brother Hong!"

Yin Hu was covered in blood, and he stood stiffly in place, muttering softly: "There is only a residual aura fluctuation of a supernatural being here, which belongs to Brother Hong. But...but the source of the aura is dissipating..."

Ren Ye's brain buzzed when he heard this.

Yin Hu's face was extremely solemn and surprised. He slowly turned his head, looked towards the northwest corner, and then walked over.

Ren Ye's gaze followed his body, and finally saw Yin Hu slowly bending down and reaching out to pull away a pile of rubble and tiles from the ruins.

He looked intently and saw half of a head buried in the rubble, the skull cracked and the right eye wide open.

Just one glance, just one glance...

Ren Ye instinctively reached out to grab his head, unconsciously bent over and squatted, making a grunting sound, and cursed in a state of near collapse: "Fuck... It's obviously over, how could this happen!"

The head was buried in the ruins, covered with dust and filth. Although it looked extremely miserable, Yinhu instantly recognized that it was Brother Hong's head.

He...is dead.

Died in an explosion that cannot be explained yet.

Although Yinhu has a rather cold personality, when he looked at this half head, his mind unconsciously recalled the thrilling times they had spent together over the past few days.

His eyes flashed with a dim color, and he just looked at the ruins in silence.

"Whoosh!"

Soon after, Fatty Tan also appeared, staring blankly at Brother Hong's head, his eyes filled with disbelief: "Fuck...what...what's going on? It's...it's all over, we're ready to retreat, how could he be killed?!"

"No matter how many bodies are burned, it is impossible to kill...kill him in such a short time."

"There are no other magical powers' aura fluctuations here." Yin Hu also replied blankly: "Only Brother Hong's own. He seems to have encountered a powerful guarding soul..."

"Tap tap tap...!"

Not far away, there was a burst of violent footsteps. Xiao Shuai shouted as he ran, "Did you find Brother Hong? These... all the cremated corpses around here are here."

Yinhu was silent for a moment: "Brother Hong is dead."

Xiao Shuai was stunned for a moment: "How...how could this happen?"

It was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop through the earphones.

After several dozen seconds, the old cadre could no longer bear it and reminded: "I... I have too many burned bodies here...!"

When Fatty Tan heard this, he stared at Brother Hong's half-head and gritted his teeth and said, "Take the head. We have to leave."

"Sandbag!"

Yinhu also turned around and shouted.

Not far away, Ren Ye squatted on the ground, scratching his head with both hands, his thoughts a little confused.

Brother Hong’s death was so sudden that he couldn’t accept it for a while.

At the moment when the Heavenly Fire was completely refined, he let out a long breath into the intercom, informing everyone that he would rush to the first floor.

But as soon as he finished speaking, he let out a scream. When everyone arrived here, his entire body was broken into pieces and buried in the dust of the ruins, without even a complete limb left.

Ren Ye's emotions were a little broken, because he and Brother Hong had already formed a kind of "tacit understanding between men". They didn't say it clearly, but both sides understood it.

Why did Brother Hong take the risk and jump down from the collapsed area on the right side just before refining the Heavenly Fire, and said half seriously and half jokingly that he and Xiao Shuai were being taken advantage of by Ren Ye and were being treated like slaves?

And why did Ren Ye promise to give the other party 1.2 million star sources?

In fact, this was an unspoken agreement between the two. Because Ren also felt that Brother Hong had long wanted to give up the final fight for the star gate. His personal ability and the degree of fit with the rules and mechanisms of this star gate were not outstanding, at most he was in the middle.

In terms of combat power alone, Yinhu is definitely the ceiling, and the mysterious thick land he comes from is at least a semi-rare inheritance, and he must have some unused trump cards. Even if Ren Ye fights with him, he is not sure of winning.

In terms of IQ, in terms of being able to calmly follow the rules and pass the levels continuously, Ren Ye, the very low-key old cadre, and Tan Pang with high EQ, they are all the best among the eight.

Therefore, even if Brother Hong fought hard, it would be very strenuous. And most importantly, the accumulation he got in the previous missions was too poor. He didn't encounter any rare elixirs, nor did he scratch out any advantageous treasures, and his gold coins were not in a leading position...

In this case, it would be extremely difficult for Brother Hong to catch up from the last place.

Why did he just agree to accept the 1.2 million star sources from Ren Ye?

And is Ren really taking advantage of everyone for free?

That's not the case at all. If he didn't go get the fire, no one would be able to enter Room 3999, so putting out the fire was a necessary part of the mission. And Ren Ye was the closest, had the strongest ability, and had the Phoenix Fire Furnace in his hand, so he was obviously the most suitable person to go.

Therefore, Ren Ye agreed to give the 1.2 million star sources because of human feelings. He was telling Brother Hong, if you don’t want to fight anymore, then let’s go together, and I will definitely guarantee you a minimum return.

Brother Hong naturally agreed to accept it, and he didn't feel like he owed anyone a favor. This was also telling Ren Ye, if you guarantee my capital and let me leave the door safely, then I will follow you. I will definitely help you in the future if I can.

Just now in the bloody battle on the first floor, Brother Hong fought alone and fought until he was exhausted, but he did not retreat a single step. Isn't this also a manifestation of keeping his promise?

It was when Ren thought about this that he broke down emotionally.

"Sandbags, sandbags... Damn it, let's go!"

Fat Tan turned around and yelled.

Ren Ye gritted his teeth, forced himself to calm the negative emotions in his heart, stood up suddenly and shouted: "Wait a minute, help me delay it a little longer."

"What are you going to do?" Yinhu asked puzzledly.

"He just reminded me that he must have left something behind." Ren Ye pursed his lips and said, "I...I want to find it."

As he spoke, his figure moved quickly in the ruins, his eyes staring at every inch of the ground almost crazily.

While wandering, he saw Brother Hong's severed leg in front of a collapsed shop, and also saw two gold coins in a bloody place.

When Yin Hu saw this scene, he also shouted, "What are you looking for? Tell us and we will help you."

"A grey jar, the one he eats from."

Ren responded as he searched.

Not far away, Fatty Tan and Yin Hu also started to move. While searching, they also found several scattered gold coins and a fragment of Pan Lianrong's autobiography.

Gold coins only appear after a player dies. Otherwise, they cannot be given or picked up...

As for the fragment of the autobiography, Fat Tan also took a careful look at it and judged that it should be a duplicate because he had seen it at Brother Hong's place before.

In the ruins, Yinhu suddenly looked up and shouted: "Is this it?!"

"Whoosh!"

After hearing this, Ren Ye came to Yin Hu in a flash and saw that he was holding a gray jar in his hand. This thing was exactly the utensil that the other party used to eat in the car on the first day Ren Ye and Hong Ge met.

Before Brother Hong died, he called Huhu twice in a row on the intercom, so there must be a deeper meaning behind this.

Ren also squatted on the ground and immediately released his perception, wrapping the jar containing the paste.

"brush!"

The gray jar suddenly flashed fluorescent light.

"Whoosh!"

The mouth of the jar opened slightly, and a wooden brown box that looked about the size of a walnut slowly flew out.

The brown box stood in the air, emitting a bright light, and gradually became larger. After a while, it became the size of an ordinary wooden box for storing miscellaneous items.

Ren Ye concentrated his senses and saw a shadow floating out of the box.

"brush!"

The three of them immediately looked up and saw that the shadow was exactly Brother Hong.

In the endless ruins, the shadow of Brother Hong floated in the air. His eyes were dull at first, then he was silent for a while, and then he spoke in a low voice.

"My name is Xing Hong, and I'm a gold digger from the Chaos Secret Realm."

"The box you see in front of you is called the gold digger's relic box."

"If you saw me too... then I must be dead."

"Under the starry sky, there are countless secret realms and many dangers."

"In the end... I still wasn't able to bring the harvest of this trip back home."