Tokyo underground city

Chapter 196...Go home!

"It finally came out..."

Lin Huai'en took Yuan Ximu's hand and emerged from the cave.

The "Dark Forest" was left behind them. The tall and dense tree walls cut off their sight of the inside of the forest. In front of them, there was a suddenly open vine and twilight forest.

Although they had deviated from the place where they came down, they could still see the towering figure of the forest of giant trees not far away.

"We should have reached the outskirts of the Dark Forest."

Ziyuan looked at the surrounding environment and smiled slightly: "Then I'll take my leave."

With that said, before Lin Huaien and the others could react, they disappeared into the air.

Only Lin Huai'en and Yuan Ximu were left looking at each other.

He opened his backpack and found the tuberose pendant, which was still lying there obediently: "Is everything just acting..."

He couldn't help but sigh: "Forget it, it's good that you can come out. You can tell the audience in the live broadcast room that you are safe."

"Yeah." Yuan Ximu nodded.

Although they failed to break through the blockade of "Dark Forest" from the inside, just two people managed to escape from that environment, which was enough to be called heroes by others.

The warm cheers made even Yuan Ximu feel a little carried away.

However, the process of returning to the ground from the Forest of Giant Trees is still full of dangers. I don’t know if it is affected by the "Shadow Forest". The monsters in the Forest of Giant Trees have completely changed their appearance. Their bodies are covered with green moss, and their internal bodies are full of dangers. Some vine-like roots also began to grow, but fortunately they had the experience of solving "Shadow", and the two people, who lacked medical treatment, still staggered back to the ground.

"What are you going to do? Go back and wait for news?"

Yuan Ximu looked at the long-lost world on the ground and couldn't help but stretch: "I'm so exhausted. I didn't expect this trip to the dungeon to be so long."

Because of the influence of "Shadow Forest", the future of the film that had already been filmed was also uncertain.

And if the "Wind Passing" movie dies midway due to the influence of "Shadow Forest", it will also be a huge blow to Hara Yumu.

However, the two of them had a very tacit understanding and did not mention this.

Waving goodbye to Yuan Ximu, Lin Huaien returned to his apartment near the subway station.

The long-awaited sleep in bed made him feel nostalgic, and even the idea of ​​​​targeting the deeper levels dissipated a lot.

"It's not that comfortable in the underground city..."

"It's hard and tiring. I really don't know why those high-level explorers are so excited to go deep..."

"Although it is indeed satisfying to become stronger, when I return to the ground and see myself losing everything, I also feel empty..."

No matter how powerful he is in the underground city, he is still just an ordinary person in the surface world.

But after becoming a movie star, can you become an "extraordinary person"?

He didn't feel the same way even though he had experience as a dungeon crew.

"Hey...empty..."

Lin Huai'en turned over on the bed and suddenly felt a hint of "everything is empty and everything is allowed".

.

He spent the next few days sleeping, occasionally checking in on the latest developments on Wilderness House.

The mental hackers belonging to the Shangcheng District Association seem to have found a solution to the "Dark Forest", which makes his and Hara Yumu's efforts to escape from the "Dark Forest" seem even more empty and meaningless.

"Ha... the void is almost covered with shadows..."

He muttered to himself and looked out the window.

If there is anything worthy of praise in this dungeon adventure, it is his understanding of the spiritual world and his mastery of psychic skills.

"However, too many abilities make me a little confused."

"Now, my cursed body is very strong, but it has strong negative effects; although my sword skill is very strong, it is stuck at a bottleneck; my psychic ability is very strong, but it is not suitable as my main ability, and it is also difficult to improve. Attributes."

"All in all, the future is bright, but the immediate future is dark."

I don’t want to work hard, I don’t want to work hard.

Lin Huaien looked at himself in the mirror and sighed.

"Human beings always have to live. Since you choose to be an explorer, you have to face it."

“No matter how false an ideal you draw for yourself when you become an explorer, there will eventually be a moment when you wake up from the dream.”

"At that time, if I can still face it with a normal heart, I will be considered a real explorer..."

He steeled himself, looked at the toilet dungeon in front of him, and lifted the shoulder strap of his backpack.

"If there is only one kind of heroism in this world, it is to still love life after seeing the truth of it..."

.

Lin Huai'en spent the next few days in the Salt 10 shelter.

During this period, I will occasionally pay attention to the progress of "Shadow Forest".

The mental hackers seemed to have reached a deadlock again, with no progress, leaving Lin Huai'en to spend time alone in the Salt 10 shelter.

"Why has dungeon exploration suddenly become so boring?"

"I'm so tired... I really want to lie down and rest and give up being an explorer..."

Lin Huai'en lay on his back on the bed, a feeling of exhaustion from the depths of his soul making him more and more sleepy.

"After practicing for so many days, there is no new progress and no new equipment."

"Every day you can get some crystal cores to exchange for banknotes, but it is even more meaningless."

"Why did I choose to be an explorer in the first place? What is the difference between my life now and the two-point-one-line situation when I was working?"

"I am alone and leave home to go to work. At that time, there were still colleagues who could talk to me. But now, after getting the [Curse of Loneliness], I can't even find anyone to talk to."

"Do you want to give Yuan Ximu a call?"

"No, forget it, I'm not planning to find her as a teammate. She is a talented child star and doesn't have much time to care about you, a lonely old man..."

Lin Huai'en closed his eyes and felt his head pounding.

After a long time, he realized that this was not his illusion.

"Mobile phone...who will call me..."

Lin Huaien raised his head with some difficulty and opened the screen of his mobile phone to take a look.

Unfamiliar number.

"Hello? Who is this?" He put the phone to his ear.

"Where do you live? I'm going to find you now."

On the microphone was Yuan Ximu's voice.

.

Half an hour later, the girl appeared at the door of Lin Huaien's apartment.

He was just about to pretend to be relaxed and say hello to her, but he saw Yuan Ximu walking into his room with a sullen face:

"How long have you been here alone? Luckily you answered my call."

"How long have you been here?"

Lin Huai'en looked at the calendar: "About eight days."

"For about eight days, you haven't seen anyone else except online?"

Yuan Ximu asked.

"Uh... probably not. I also met an old friend in the dungeon."

Lin Huai'en was stunned for a moment, thinking of the mummy swordsman.

"What did you all say?" Yuan Ximu asked.

"What did you say..." Lin Huai'en hesitated for a moment: "You don't seem to have said anything?"

"Think about it again."

Yuan Ximu took off the sneaker hat on her head, looked around, and suddenly took out an iron crowbar from her backpack, and knocked it hard against the wall of Lin Huaien's apartment!

"what are you doing?!"

Lin Huai'en was startled and hurriedly tried to stop Yuan Ximu.

However, the girl just struggled to grasp the crowbar in her hand and shouted loudly: "Look carefully where you live before you stop me!"

At that moment, Lin Huaien felt his scalp numb.

Yuan Ximu's yelling inspired something rigid in his body.

He felt something sparkling with vitality and light flowing out from the cracked gap.

As the energy and light flowed more and more, the shell covering his body gradually broke open, and finally——

He covered his eyes with his hands and put them down again.

The world in front of me has completely changed.

"you're awake."

The "Perfect Flower" with blond hair and golden eyes looked at him with a smile.

And Yuan Ximu put her right hand on him, staggered, and suddenly fell on him.

"I didn't expect that your fighting ability is so strong, but the shadow in your heart is the biggest among all of us."

Shion sighed and said.

Looking at her expression, Lin Huai'en also reacted somewhat belatedly——

"Haven't we already left the "Dark Forest"? Could it be that..."

"That's it." Ziyuan nodded with a stern expression: "It's very bad news. "Dark Forest" has evolved, and it is now complete."

Lin Huaien sat up and looked at the world around him.

He and Hara Yumu have returned to the crew's camp. Aster's golden flower field protects them, but outside the flower field, the roar of the forest can be heard.

Seeing such a scene, Lin Huaien's face couldn't help but darken. He lowered his head to check Yuan Ximu's condition.

Ziyuan took the initiative and said: "She was just asleep. In order to wake you up, she pulled you out of your shadow."

"My shadow... 'abandonment' and 'emptiness'..."

Lin Huai'en couldn't help but be a little silent. Although he realized it later, he knew what was wrong with him.

This is a common mistake that philosophers make - "nihilism".

In other words, seeing the world too clearly makes everything seem meaningless.

After recovering from the illusion, he rediscovered the meaning of his actions——

At least the current meaning of action.

"Didn't you say that after arriving at the center of the forest, you can pass through the periphery of the forest and leave the "Shadow Forest"? We failed?"

He first confirmed the situation with Ziyuan.

"We are one step late." Ziyuan nodded and said: ""Shadow Forest" was one step ahead of us and completed its evolution - it has become stronger now, and ordinary fighting methods can no longer escape the forest world."

"Is this so..."

Lin Huai'en frowned and thought.

"So...we can only sit back and wait for death?"

Lin Huai'en sighed and looked outside the golden flower field, where the shadows were watching them eagerly.

Ziyuan must have used all his strength. A large field of flowers, wider than what he had seen in the underground city before, covered every space in his field of vision.

Even "Specialized Slaves" like "The Hangman" and "Steel Shell Woodcutter" did not dare to attack them under the full force of "Perfect Flower".

"There is another way."

However, Ziyuan shook her head, looked at Lin Huai'en, and said meaningfully: "As long as one of you two can absorb your own 'shadow', I can break the current predicament and take all of us out."

"...How many days have we been in coma for 'another' time?" Lin Huai'en thought for a while and asked.

"You were in a coma for eight days, and Yuan Ximu was in a coma for five days."

Ziyuan shook her head and replied: "Neither she nor I expected that it took you so long to wake up."

"Yuan Ximu has no psychic talent. Forcibly entering your spiritual world and waking you up will cause great harm to her spirit."

"The hug and stop in your consciousness are, to her, a spiritual shock that can crush her soul."

"Fortunately, your spiritual body is not strong enough, otherwise even I would not dare to let her enter your spiritual world rashly."

Hearing Ziyuan's answer, Lin Huai'en frowned and thought for a while:

"So...do you think I still have a chance to swallow my own shadow?"

However, Ziyuan just looked at him with a smile and said, "What do you think?"

Seeing the playfulness in her eyes, Lin Huaien couldn't help but sigh and looked at the unconscious girl:

"Can we only look forward to her..."

[In short, I will update 4,000 words first, and update 12,000 words every day. This is my first time trying it, so I will try my best to maintain it. 】

[If the plot is stuck, restore 4,000. Anyway, for me, the goal is 240,000 words per month (8,000 per day)]

[The second volume should be almost finished. 】

[We should be able to wrap up all the foreshadowing for now, and then go to Siberia to find the Russian girl in the third volume! 】