Me? I was transported into a book? And I became a vicious villain?

As night fell, the moonlight poured down like water, covering the ancient city with a mysterious veil. The city guardians set out on their journey again according to the new plan, aiming directly at the secret room full of unknowns.

"Be careful!" Xiao Yichen warned in a low voice, and at the same time, he nimbly dodged a sudden attack from a black shadow. The black shadow was extremely fast, and disappeared in the mist in the blink of an eye, leaving only a trace of cold breath.

"What are these black shadows?" Lin Wan'er couldn't help but shudder and gripped the sword in her hand tighter.

"They should be servants of the Shadow King," Su Mubai said solemnly, "It seems that the enemy we are facing this time is more powerful than we imagined."

"Don't panic, keep in formation and cover each other!" Chu Mengmeng calmly commanded the team, her tone full of confidence and determination.

They moved forward cautiously, taking every step with extreme caution. The interior of the secret room was wider than expected, and ancient runes were carved on the walls, emitting a faint light, illuminating the road ahead.

"I seem to have seen these runes before..." Chu Mengmeng carefully observed the patterns on the wall, and suddenly a flash of inspiration came to her mind, "I remember! These runes record an ancient formation that can summon a powerful guardian!"

"Guardian?" Xiao Yichen frowned slightly, "Are you saying that there are other guardians in this secret room?"

"That's right," Chu Mengmeng nodded, "and these guardians are very powerful, we must be careful when dealing with them."

As soon as the words fell, a loud noise was heard, and the entire secret room began to tremble violently. Then, a huge figure slowly emerged from the darkness and blocked their way.

It was a giant wearing black armor, holding a huge battle axe in his hand, and exuding a suffocating sense of oppression from head to toe.

"Oh no, it's the guardian of the ancient ruins!" Chu Mengmeng's face changed, "It seems that we have triggered the defense mechanism here!"

"What should we do? Should we fight it?" Lin Wan'er asked nervously.

"No, it's too powerful, we are no match for it!" Su Mubai shook his head, "We must find a way to avoid it!"

"But we have no way to retreat!" Xiao Yichen looked around and found that they were trapped in a dead end.

At this moment, Chu Mengmeng suddenly thought of something. She quickly took out an exquisite box from her backpack. When she opened it, there was a crystal clear blue crystal ball inside.

"This is..." Xiao Yichen looked at her in confusion.

"This is what I found in an ancient book. It is said that it can be used to control the formation!" Chu Mengmeng said as she raised the crystal ball above her head, "I hope it really works!"

The blue crystal ball in Chu Mengmeng's hand emitted a soft light, like a beating blue heart, activating the ancient runes. The runes on the wall seemed to come alive, moving quickly like flowing mercury, and finally gathered above the crystal ball, forming a huge energy vortex.

"boom!"

With a loud bang, the ground in the center of the secret room suddenly cracked, and an ancient altar slowly rose. Above the altar floated a long sword emitting golden light, and powerful energy fluctuations surrounded the sword. It was the artifact they had been searching for!

"Success!" Lin Wan'er shouted excitedly.

However, before they could be happy for too long, an even more powerful pressure came from the depths of the altar. The black mist rolled and condensed into a huge figure holding a black sickle. Its eyes were like two burning flames, emitting an icy chill.

"Who dares to trespass into my territory?" The black shadow let out a deafening roar, his voice filled with anger and murderous intent.

"It's the Lord of Darkness!" Su Mubai's face changed, "I didn't expect it to be hiding here!"

"Get ready for battle!" Xiao Yichen protected Chu Mengmeng behind him, the long sword in his hand flashing with cold light, his eyes firm and sharp.

A fierce battle broke out instantly. Under the leadership of Xiao Yichen and Chu Mengmeng, the city guardians fought a desperate battle with the Lord of Darkness and his men with tacit cooperation and powerful strength.

Chu Mengmeng dodged the shadow's attacks flexibly, and the crystal ball in her hand continuously released powerful energy shock waves, which repelled the surrounding enemies. Xiao Yichen was like a sword unsheathed, and every time he attacked, he brought a fierce murderous aura and killed the approaching enemies one by one.

Su Mubai and Lin Wan'er were not to be outdone. They cooperated well with each other. The weapons in their hands turned into streams of light and shuttled through the shadows. Every attack was precise and deadly.

Just when they thought victory was in sight, the altar suddenly changed. The path leading to the artifact was blocked by an invisible barrier, on which an ancient puzzle was displayed, and below the puzzle was a line of shocking words: Only by sacrificing one's life can the seal be broken.

"What does this mean?" Lin Wan'er asked in confusion.

"What it means is that one of us needs to sacrifice in order to break the seal." Su Mubai's voice was low and his tone was full of bitterness.

Faced with this difficult problem, there was a brief silence within the team. Everyone knew what this sacrifice meant. In order to protect the city and for their common goal, who was willing to pay the price of their life?

 The Darkness Before Dawn

In the secret room, the air seemed to freeze, and everyone's breathing became heavy. The artifact above the altar emitted an alluring light, but the words "sacrifice your life" were like an insurmountable gap that stood between them.

Chu Mengmeng tightly grasped the crystal ball in her hand, her knuckles turning white from excessive force. She could feel the warmth coming from the crystal ball, but this warmth could not dispel the chill in her heart. She looked at her companions around her, and everyone's face was filled with solemnity and struggle.

Xiao Yichen clenched the sword in his hand and looked at the altar firmly. He knew that in order to win, someone had to make sacrifices. But he couldn't watch his companions die, and he couldn't imagine what he would do if Chu Mengmeng was the one who was sacrificed.

Su Mubai and Lin Wan'er also fell silent. They all fought to protect the city and came together for a common goal. But at this moment, facing the threat of death, they felt unprecedented confusion and fear for the first time.

Just as everyone was hesitating, a deep voice broke the silence.

"Let me do it."

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw a mysterious man wearing a black cloak and with an unclear face walking out from the shadows. He slowly took off his hood, revealing a delicate but resolute face.

"Who are you?" Xiao Yichen asked vigilantly.

"I am a wanderer, nameless and without a surname," the mysterious man smiled faintly, "but I know that this city needs to be protected, and you need my help."

"Why are you doing this?" Chu Mengmeng asked, her eyes full of confusion and worry.

"Because I also have something I want to protect." The mysterious man turned his head and looked at the artifact above the altar, with a flash of determination in his eyes. "I believe that you can defeat the darkness and protect this city."

As soon as he finished speaking, the mysterious man resolutely walked towards the altar. He placed his hand on the barrier, and a powerful energy wave instantly erupted. His body gradually became transparent, and finally turned into starlight, dissipating in the air.

"No!" Chu Mengmeng couldn't help but exclaim, tears blurring her eyes.

With the mysterious man's sacrifice, the barrier on the altar also disappeared. The long sword emitting golden light seemed to feel the call, slowly flew in front of Xiao Yichen, and was held firmly in his hand.

After obtaining the divine weapon, a powerful force instantly surged into Xiao Yichen's body. He felt that his strength had been improved unprecedentedly, as if he could control everything in the world.

However, he did not feel the slightest bit of joy at this moment, because he knew that although they had obtained the artifact, they had also lost an important ally.

"We won't let your sacrifice be in vain," Xiao Yichen said with a firm look at the place where the mysterious man disappeared, "We will definitely defeat the darkness, protect this city, and protect everything you want to protect!"

The city guardians left the ancient ruins with heavy hearts and the belief that they would win. They took with them the artifacts, hope, and confusion about the future.

After obtaining the artifact, can the city guardians truly defeat the Shadow King and protect the peace of the city?