Escape the Infinite Chambers

Chapter 25: Omen

The knife he held grew hot; the scorching heat nearly seared Luo Jian’s hand. Luo Jian glanced down at his right hand, then observed the short dagger grasped in his palm. The knife burned to the touch, but a penetrating, glacial light glinted off the blade; this chilling iciness was a stark contrast to the blistering heat.

Guests seldom stayed in the VIP private wards on the fourth floor. When Luo Jian arrived to the fourth level, he didn’t see a single person. However, when he walked over to Feng Yu Lan’s ward, he noticed two police officers lying facedown on the ground. They didn’t have any physical injuries on their bodies; they only seemed to have passed out. A nurse who followed Luo Jian upstairs saw this scene and suddenly exclaimed. Luo Jian was unperturbed. He simply turned his head around and told the nurse to go back downstairs and call for a doctor. After the nurse left, Luo Jian immediately sidestepped the two hapless officers sprawled on the ground and directly entered Feng Yu Lan’s room.

Sure enough, there wasn’t a soul in sight; it was completely empty.

But the Luo Jian as of now wasn’t the Luo Jian of back then. He was able to discern the nearly imperceptible, unusual traces on the hospital bed and on the ground, allowing him to assess the situation. He didn’t pause and headed straight for the lavatory. The window inside the bathroom was left wide open; the heavy, cool winds blew inside. He went to the window, poked his head outside, and looked down. Two dark figures flashed through the deep alley, seemingly entangled with one another, struggling and chasing.

“Ah Lan—!” Luo Jian shouted loudly. He could vaguely recognize one of the shadows in the narrow alley below, but he couldn’t see very clearly for the trees and surrounding buildings were obstructing his view.

Luo Jian’s heart pounded violently; his stomach clenched as he grew more nervous.

He climbed out of the window without hesitation and calculated the distance of the fourth floor from the ground. Then, he took a deep breath, kicked out his foot, and leapt.

If it was before, Luo Jian would never have even considered jumping down from such a height. Even if he was surrounded by fire and there was no alternative solutions but for him to jump, he would still try to find a way to rush out of the flames, rather of leaving his life or death to the earth’s vile gravity.

But, of course, that was before. Currently, Luo Jian had a strange feeling that his strength seemed to be growing by the second. This feeling was particularly strong when he’d escaped the second chamber, the ghost ship. The weapon in his hand gave him valor, a great courage that bred Luo Jian’s confidence, leading him to blindly trust in his own power.

Luo Jian’s inherent fighting instincts were maxed out to the extreme. Right before he crashed to the ground, Luo Jian did exactly as the masked man who was after Feng Yu Lan did; he skillfully executed a flawless roll, reducing the impact of his fall. He staggered to his feet and followed the trails leading to the battle. Luo Jian couldn’t delay; he soon found the two people deep within the alley.

But…the situation was rather odd.

Luo Jian fiercely rubbed his eyes and suspected that he was seeing things; he figured he was only mistaken, or that his exhaustion caused him to hallucinate. Because he actually saw his Ah Lan and some random man tightly embracing each other! The two individuals’ clothes were messy, Ah Lan was pressed up against the wall by the man, and one of his arms were rounding the other man’s neck. The man’s back was facing Luo Jian, so Luo Jian couldn’t see this guy’s mug. The only thing Luo Jian could see was half of Ah Lan’s pale face, more specifically, his dazed expression as well as the blood that stained the corner of his mouth.

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This scene stunned Luo Jian speechless, and he stood in place, completely paralyzed. It was only until Feng Yu Lan let out a faint cry that Luo Jian came back to his senses and promptly darted forward into action. The man embracing Feng Yu Lan suddenly struck out his hand behind him; the tang dao flew through the air, heading towards Luo Jian.

Luo Jian nimbly sprung back, evading the attack, and raised his head to see that strange man, who held Ah Lan in his arms, turn around. The man was dressed in all black. His long, raven hair fell down to his shoulders, and a ferocious demon mask hung on his face. The mask was partially pulled back, exposing half of the other’s face. Those deep, black eyes. Contrary to expectations, the man was rather good-looking; it was just that the man had a rare, hideous scar that ran across his right eye, destroying his natural beauty.

Feng Yu Lan was nestled in the man’s arms, his breaths were slowing. Seeing this, Luo Jian immediately realized how severe his Ah Lan’s current state was. The man held a tang dao in one hand while his other hand was wrapped around Ah Lan’s waist, pressing down on the fresh injury at Feng Yu Lan’s waist. He then ruthlessly plunged his fingers into the unhealed wound. The wound was torn open, and the blood flowed down from Feng Yu Lan’s body.

Feng Yu Lan looked to be in a trance, as if he wasn’t conscious of anything. He clung to the man, instinctively seeking anything to support himself. His body was trembling, his lips were painted in bright red blood. His grimoire was laying open on the ground, motionless. The pages of the book were also stained with scarlet.

Feng Yu Lan’s appearance really made Luo Jian worried; he didn’t take into consideration the man’s strength and just drew out his short dagger and threw himself at him. Luo Jian’s movements were incredibly swift and exact. He dodged the masked man’s every blow, and sliced across the air; his blade rushed straight at him! But, surprisingly, the masked man didn’t try to avoid this attack. With a sudden sneer, he viciously shoved Feng Yu Lan onto the path of Luo Jian’s knife. Luo Jian had to snatch back his knife midair. He opened his arms wide and caught Ah Lan, securing him in his embrace.

The masked man wasn’t interested in Luo Jian. Instead, he extended his hand that was stained with Ah Lan’s blood and gave it a lick. He seemed obsessed with the taste of his blood; a crazed grin crept onto his face. Luo Jian’s stomach churned at the sight of this. Luo Jian glanced down at Ah Lan, who was drenched in his own blood, dying in his arms, and scrunched his eyebrows, feeling unbearably distressed. How could anyone dare bully his family’s Ah Lan? Since he was small, Luo Jian had always protected his dear baby brother! Righteousness and heroism engulfed Luo Jian’s heart. He had to cut up that sick man; he wouldn’t be at peace if he didn’t behead that unfamiliar, repulsive masked man with his blade!

But there was one thing that was far beyond Luo Jian’s calculations. He had temporarily set Ah Lan down, used his clothes to block the heavily-bleeding wound, and picked up his own knife, preparing to battle for three hundred rounds, when Ah Lan suddenly woke up, reached out with his hand, and captured Luo Jian’s arm.

“Ah Lan?” Luo Jian worriedly looked down at Feng Yu Lan’s face. Feng Yu Lan was expressionless. His face was pale from blood loss, and his eyes were as lifeless as before. He seemingly still hadn’t regained his will. However, just then, Feng Yu Lan opened his mouth and uttered a word.

It was strange. Luo Jian couldn’t understand what he was saying. He only heard a series of distorted syllables that weren’t Chinese or English. According to what Luo Jian already knew, Feng Yu Lan’s native language was Chinese, but he was also fluent in English, and he also knew some German and French. Luo Jian has heard Feng Yu Lan speak all these languages before, but they weren’t at all close to the language Ah Lan was currently speaking.

“It’s best if he stops reciting those disgusting mantras.” At this moment, the masked man, who was standing at the side, suddenly spoke up.

The masked man’s voice startled Luo Jian. He’d interacted with the Stalker before, so Luo Jian had believed this man to have a similar nature as the Stalker; thus, he assumed this masked man also couldn’t speak. However, it was obvious this man wasn’t a Stalker; he didn’t possess the one thing that characterized Stalkers—bright crimson eyes.

“Who are you?” Luo Jian warily glared at the masked man, sending out as much of his own malice as possible. But the masked man hardly cared. He cracked a grin and chuckled in amusement, “My name is Duan Li.”

“Why’d you attack him?”

“Because…” Duan Li raised his tang dao and placed it on his shoulder, that twisted smile remained on his face. “I just like to cut people, nothing more…”

“You’re that serial killer?”

“I suppose so. After all, that is what they call me.”

Luo Jian took a deep, ragged breath, trying to suppress his inner fury that was threatening to explode. The world was such a baffling mystery! There were many inexplicable phenomena, such as some ineffable boneheads who just killed people for an even more ludicrous and incomprehensible reason! But, clearly, one of these boneheads was standing right before his eyes! There was no use in wasting words on this brainless guy!

One has to understand. There are some people who simply enjoy sitting and watching the world’s destruction. For such people, threats and promises have no effects. They aren’t concerned of worldly affairs and laws, they regard material riches as trash, they treat authority as shit. They only act on their own interests, kill people just for fun.

Luo Jian detested such people.

Indeed, Luo Jian himself wasn’t a saint. He was also very selfish. He would never hesitate to sacrifice the interests of others for the sake of his own gains, for the people and things he valued and cared for. But Luo Jian would also never choose to be a wicked man. Even if the world was really destroyed, even if darkness descended upon the earth, even if all the people around him chose to fall to the abyss of sins, succumbing to evil, Luo Jian would not persecute others; he would never harm another’s life for the hell of it. Because Luo Jian was, ultimately, a human being, not just a savage beast.

This was the difference between man and beast.

As for the masked man before him, he was entirely worthy of being a damned beast.

“If I kill you here right now, I wonder if it’d be considered a justifiable homicide in self-defense.” Luo Jian gently shrugged off Feng Yu Lan’s hand, picked up his weapon, and faced the masked man. This was the first time he was overwhelmed by such an intense emotion, such violent thoughts. This wasn’t just for Ah Lan, but also for those who’ve died by his hands. Luo Jian only had one conviction in his heart at this moment: If I don’t eliminate this man, then I swear I’m not a man myself!

“Hahaha…” The masked man laughed as he narrowed his eyes at Luo Jian. “That’s truly a nice expression you got there.”

While Luo Jian and Duan Li were fighting, the pages of the grimoire that lay on the floor suddenly began turning despite the lack of wind outside. The bloodstains soon vanished, and immediately after, the book quivered, floated in the air, then flashed over to Feng Yu Lan’s side. A short phrase appeared:

【Are you ready?】

Feng Yu Lan had been silently chanting the spell the entire time. Even if he wasn’t consciously aware of it, this lengthy mantra was engraved within his impeccable memory, and he was able to read aloud verbatim.

【This is a forbidden spell. It’s impossible to use at your current strength. The cost of doing this is that you’d be struck by a powerful curse. However, you’d also be able to obtain unrivaled power at this stage.】

Regardless whether Feng Yu Lan could see the sentences, the grimoire continuously presented these words on its own accord. These warped characters presaged a sinister omen, indicating that Feng Yu Lan’s world was bound to be distorted, shattered to pieces.

【Master, your inner demons have been suppressed for far too long. It’s time to release them.】