High Above

As soon as the song started playing, Ian noticed that the world around him began to violently churn.

A wave of fire-like fluctuations originating from the virtual realm scorched the surrounding space and time, swallowing him and the large forest land in the surrounding world in an instant.

And a force full of abnormality and distortion seems to have descended here from the far end of time and space, eroding and infiltrating the real world.

——In front of me is the starting point of the collapse of the virtual realm.

Ian understood this immediately.

The central laboratory building in front of us is a very vast experimental center with a large number of underground areas. It is the 'Silent Abyss', the place where the virtual realm fragments fell.

And the voice that I heard just now, in a sense, can be regarded as the voice of 'all the souls in this virtual realm'.

Ian looked up.

The laboratory building that was originally quite clear has now been covered by the white 'fog of madness', completely shrouding it.

As long as he continues to move forward, Ian will enter the 'gap' between the virtual world and reality, which is the 'subspace' like the 'Land of Exile' in the northwest of Yanjiang.

He chooses to move forward.

On the way to the laboratory door, an old lady appeared.

[Child, don’t go any further]

This aunt had an exposed wound on her head and deep scars on her body from being grabbed.

She is already a dead person, but her tone is still filled with kindness and enthusiasm that cannot be concealed, as well as deep concern: [Ahead is the land of the dead... If you are still alive, leave as soon as possible. You still have family and friends... Don't make them sad]

Ian nodded slightly, then shook his head. The young man passed her, causing the old man to sigh.

He chooses to move forward.

[Do you want to die so much? Young people, you still don’t know what you are going to face]

A knight with a curled sword and a piece of his head collapsed stood on the side of the road. He was adjusting the angle of his helmet to cover his head, which was smashed by some kind of blunt instrument.

When he saw Ian, he shook his head and admonished in a rude tone: "In addition to the dead souls and the savior, there are also vicious scholars full of conspiracies, and there are also terrifying guards who are extremely evil and enjoy torturing people... ...Escape quickly, you will fall into the center of hell here, you don’t have to die with us]

Ian didn't answer, but he kept the other person's advice in mind.

He chooses to move forward.

【If you want to die, just die】

A female elf with a bowstring broken and an arm missing, with a Huaiguang mark on the leather armor in front of her looked at the boy coldly.

She has a beautiful appearance and long flowing light blue hair. If she were still alive, she would definitely be an ice beauty.

She said to Ian indifferently: [But if you don’t want to die, just remember... dragons and fairies are the key. Apart from them, the more important thing is to have faith]

Ian did not respond to her words, but he knew very well that what the other party said was indeed correct, and it was a sincere reminder.

He chooses to move forward.

【careful】

[How can there be more than one group of such stupid people? 】

[It’s hard to persuade a damned person with good words, it’s a pity he’s so young]

【It’s not too late to look back】

Along the way, various phantoms appeared one after another, including monsters that were already crazy and attacked Ian as soon as they met, and some, like the first few people, would try to persuade themselves to leave while still retaining some sanity. , a benevolent phantom.

However, Ian did not stop.

When he encounters an enemy, he swings his sword.

When he meets a good person, he listens.

but no matter……

He chose to move forward.

Ian has made up his mind to find out the truth behind the disaster, all the deaths and anomalies that happened in Avak Territory.

He will not stop or change based on other people's opinions. He has always been like this. He has never planned to escape from anything. Even if he hesitates occasionally, he is still thinking about how to move forward better in the future.

Neither victim nor perpetrator, monster or human, can stop him.

Until finally, Ian came to the door of the laboratory building.

Here is the complete dividing line between 'subspace' and the 'real world'.

Behind the gate is the gap between virtual reality and reality.

In front of the gate, there is only a real world that partially overlaps with the virtual world.

Ian could see that in the world behind the door, all the bright colors had faded away, leaving only the scarlet blood and the darkness of despair. Balls of inexplicable burning fire of hatred and the wind of lament were swaying in it, revealing the world between heaven and earth. A dull, hazy sheen.

It's like putting on a filter that never fades.

The breath of death came from behind the door, and on the ground in front of the door, there was a layer of glimmering writing.

[The Huaiguang rescue team has entered the disaster site. Those who are latecomers can look back if they believe in us]

[If we succeed, there will be no need for others to take risks; if we sacrifice, there will be no need for other victims]

[Huijian/Redemption/Shazhou...]

A row of signatures.

"How arrogant, Huaiguang. But he is indeed a good person."

Knowing that he was not alone, Ian narrowed his eyes. He laughed and shook his head slightly: "It's not that I don't believe you, but I want to see what Archduke Thorin is up to."

With that said, Ian raised his hand and was about to push the door open.

However, before opening the door, the young man turned around and looked behind him.

He looked at the phantoms that he could no longer see and didn't know if they had disappeared or left, and had once persuaded him to leave.

"Thank you." Ian said with a smile: "But I still choose to move forward."

By the time he finished speaking, he was overdoing it.

The subspace behind the door reveals a deep darkness and silence. It is an atmosphere even more terrifying than one filled with blood and violent monsters. As long as Ian chooses to enter it, it will be extremely difficult to get out.

"Father, do we want to go in?"

Frost Butterfly shivered. The little fairy was not afraid. She simply felt something colder than her frost from the subspace behind the door.

That is the purest form of human malice.

"Yes." Ian said softly: "Are you scared?"

"Don't be afraid! Although this place is a bit dark, it feels a bit comfortable..." Shuangdie opened her eyes wide and cheered up. She was even more energetic - because subspace is more suitable for fairies to play: "But... why not Call me Senior Hua An and Senior Mo Feng."

"Because what is going to happen next is a confidential matter that needs to be kept secret."

"Oh! It's a secret!" Shuangdie suddenly became happy.

Although Ian had no idea why Frost Butterfly was so excited after hearing the secret, after the little goblin made such a joke, he did feel relieved a lot and no longer thought about it.

So, after a deep breath.

Ian stepped forward, he pushed open the door and entered.

Entered subspace.

In an instant, the world turned upside down.

Different time and space overlap and merge here.

Ian sensed that the original space-time structure began to change, with some parts expanding and some contracting. The entire huge experimental park turned into a huge alien world - huge skeletons appeared in the front yard of the originally empty experimental park. Kazuto's dead body, and the originally brand-new building was covered with scarlet palm prints and old cracks.

The dark ivy covered most of the corridors and buildings. Its roots were wrapped around many corpses and bones, and sticky blood flowed in the vines.

Here, there is no more color, no more light from the sun, and no more sound.

There is only deep darkness, extreme silence, and the burst of soul light from the human soul.

This is the Silent Abyss, the place of exile.

The wandering corpses and ghosts, and the crazy phantoms walking in the corridors of the room, appeared in front of Ian's eyes out of thin air.

Some of them wore simple experimental clothes, some wore researcher robes, some were guards, and some were obviously nobles who came here to inspect...

But now, they are all monsters.

Ian's soul released a bright water-colored halo. The light cyan light was quite bright, like a silent and peaceful moonlight, or like the diffuse light of the stars in the sky, attracting their attention.

For a moment, all the red eyes turned around and were firmly fixed on the young man.

Immediately afterwards, these monsters roared, wailed, and could even be said to be...crying and rushed towards Ian.

——It turns out this is hell.

Looking at these monsters, Ian lowered his eyes slightly.

The place looked unusual, indeed, but not much different from the wonders he had seen on Terra.

Indeed, there were terrifying phantoms and monsters here, but Ian didn't find anything scary. They are not fundamentally different from World of Warcraft and humans. Monsters will die when killed. They can also be injured, bleed and die - even if they are all dead souls who have died once before.

Holding the sword hilt tightly, the source of matter in the body circulates, activating one sublimation organ after another.

Ian knew that the power was always within him and his faith never wavered.

He still has a job to do. No more, no less, just one item.

"Isn't it painful?"

The bright young man pulled out the long sword from his waist with compassion, and stepped forward to meet the crying souls rushing towards him.

Raising the steel-patterned sword, Ian whispered: "Don't worry."

"The time for relief has come."