Escape the Infinite Chambers

Chapter 169 - Ancient Remains (III)

Editors: Kitty & Humu

“Is this really a ventilation duct? It looks rather disgusting.”

Luo Jian squatted at the entrance of the ventilation duct and looked around. The material inside looked like a type of silvery grey metal, but it felt like the skin of a living creature. This was especially so when the pipe was very narrow, which gave Luo Jian the illusion that he was climbing in the intestines of some giant creature.

“The symbol on the map says that this is the ventilation duct. The alien creatures in this giant spaceship also seem to need air and oxygen. They made the atmosphere in the spaceship into the right environment for them through equipment like central air conditioning and ventilation ducts…… most probably.”

Wang Yue looked at the map as he spoke. At the same time, he took a glance at the group of team members who couldn’t crawl into the ventilation duct.

“Brothers, we will finish this task in 20 minutes. You guys can stand by. This place is so big that it’s horrifying. If you walk around, you’ll get lost easily.”

After Wang Yue instructed his team members, he took the lead as he bent down and crawled into the ventilation duct, carrying his crossbow. Luo Jian watched him move but was not in a hurry to follow him. He first took a look at Xing Yan, and he noticed that Captain Xing Yan was also staring at him.

Luo Jian felt that he seemed to see through Xing Yan’s intention, so he took a small step and jumped in front of Xing Yan, reached for the hem of Xing Yan’s clothes, raised his small head, and looked at Xing Yan with cute eyes.

Xing Yan wanted to laugh a little. Their height difference waas too big. The child was almost as tall as Xing Yan’s waist. He was not only small but also had a small face and hands. When that child stared at him with expectant eyes, Xing Yan felt that he could hardly suppress the strange and impatient impulse in his heart. It was like being scratched by a kitten’s paw: very itchy.

So he squatted down, touched the child’s head, and asked him, “What’s the matter?”

Luo Jian raised his chin slightly and said naturally, “Kiss me.”

This sentence not only surprised Xing Yan but also surprised the several players around them.

But following that, something even more astonishing happened…… Captain Xing Yan seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then he put out his hand to hold Luo Jian’s small head and bit Luo Jian’s lips.

Naturally, the lips of such a small child were soft. Xing Yan felt some regret after kissing him. Naturally, he did not think he was a pedophile since Luo Jian also said that his appearance and his real age were totally inconsistent.

However, Xing Yan did truly have some hidden intentions towards the child. When the other party made such a rude request, Xing Yan even felt that he did not think about it or hesitate to act.

That was weird, wasn’t it?

Xing Yan never thought that he was the kind of person who did things without thinking. He felt the same as he did previously, but he felt that he was controlled by something. However, he did not feel the need to resist when he realized the thing was controlling him. His sixth sense seemed to perceive some things, but after careful thinking, he did not know what they were.

Only the lovely child in front of him was real.

Luo Jian was very happy. He rubbed Xing Yan’s neck in his arms and pecked Xing Yan’s mouth. Then he slowly turned back and followed Wang Yue into the ventilation duct. The ventilation duct was really like the intestines of some kind of creature. When Luo Jian entered it, he even felt that the ventilation duct was wriggling.

And behind Luo Jian, all the members of the team were shocked by what had happened just now. All of them stared at their family’s captain, dumbfounded. John was stunned for a long time and suddenly yelled: “Captain! You, could it be that&#k2026;&#k2026; the type you really like is this type?!”

Xing Yan glanced at the entrance of the ventilation duct expressionlessly and replied, “How can it be?”

“But…” John caused a great commotion as he pointed at the entrance of the ventilation duct, and the figure of Luo Jian had already disappeared completely.

“He gave me a strange feeling,” Xing Yan muttered, deep in thought.

Jiang Li, who had constantly not spoken and covered their body fully, spoke rarely: “That child also gives me a strange feeling…… as if he could disappear at any time.”

“Why can’t I feel anything?” John said, having his wires crossed. He waved his huge staff. “I’m the one being a great magician, ah!”

“You are too slow-witted,” Jiang Li responded.

At the other side, Luo Jian followed Wang Yue’s ass and climbed through the ventilation duct. This reminded Luo Jian of what had happened in the Burial Grounds instance. It was just that at that time, he was being hunted and it was a matter of life or death…… Right, at that time, Clown had come to kill him. At that moment, had Clown already started to play dumb?

“So, in that way…… I was lucky not to be killed by him.” Luo Jian talked to himself as he crawled. But soon he felt that something was not right. He remembered that he had met another version of himself in the Burial Grounds. Yes, he was the other boy who had a red umbrella, and that boy appeared exactly the same as the current Luo Jian.

Luo Jian could not help but reveal a smiling yet unsmiling expression, “Did I succeed?”

“What are you talking about?” Wang Yue thought he was talking to himself when he heard Luo Jian’s soliloquy behind him. He could not help turning his face to ask him about it.

Luo Jian said: “Nothing, I just recalled some things.”

“We’re almost there; up ahead is the power room,” Wang Yue said. After saying that, he sped up and they quickly crawled to the end of the duct, but it was blocked by a small round door. Wang Yue took out a wrench from somewhere, after a burst of knocking sounded out, he directly destroyed the small door violently and entered the power room.

The power room’s space was very large. At first glance, it seemed that there were a lot of instruments which functions were not clear at first glance. Therefore, a few of the instruments were still on. It seemed that they were still working. Wang Yue laid the map on the ground, illuminated the map with the light of a flashlight, and pointed to a marked dot on the map.

“We are in the power room now. This dot represents where we can turn on the power switch. I think the secret chamber has specially prepared everything we need—from mechanism to instruments—to escape from the secret chamber.”

“It’s like playing an escape room game in an interstellar setting.” Luo Jian looked at the map for a second, stood up, and swayed around the huge power room that was the size of a basketball court. It was almost full of all kinds of equipment that no one understood the use for. These equipment were arranged in a line, and each of them were three or four meters high.

“Ah, the chamber itself is a huge playground.” After checking the map, Wang Yue stood up and said, “And it’s a real game that will cost your life. Every mistake made is enough to make us fall into hell forever.”

Luo Jian felt his interest perk. He turned back to glance at Wang Yue. The dwarf was only a little taller than Luo Jian, who looked like a child. Wang Yue also wore a strange mask that looked to be a gas mask, only showing only a pair of smart eyes.

“What are your opinions on it?” Luo Jian asked him.

“Opinions?”

“What are your opinions on this terrifying playground, as well as the secret chambers?”

Luo Jian suddenly wanted to know what these players thought, whether they felt injustice or panic, whether they felt they really needed to leave and escape in this terrifying and distorted space-time. Or would some of them be happy to stay forever in this dangerous but thrilling world?

“No opinion.” Wang Yue’s answer seemed very casual, and he said, “I just want to survive.”

“It’s just that?” Luo Jian doubtfully asked: “When you can obtain great power from the secret chamber, when you can do whatever you want, don’t you feel like you want to stay here forever?”

“So what if I obtain it, and so what if I lose it?” Wang Yue said. He found the switch in the power room and climbed up the large instrument. While pondering over the instruments, he deliberated on how to answer Luo Jian’s question carelessly. He said, “Human beings, like all living creatures, will survive even in such a terrifying and dangerous environment, no matter how difficult it is.

“I used to desperately want to escape from the chambers, but now, I don’t think so much about it,” Wang Yue continued, “Because I know enough about the secret chamber, I know that the hope of escaping forever is very slim. So now, I just want to live longer and go further.”

“Well, if there was such an opportunity for you to completely destroy the whole secret chamber and escape from this deadly space, how would you deal with it?” Luo Jian then asked, phrasing his question this manner.

Wang Yue then laughed: “Haha! I would never let go of such a good opportunity!”

But after a while, Wang Yue suddenly and sadly said: “In fact, even if you can really destroy the secret chamber, the things lost can never be returned.”

Wang Yue finished speaking, and without waiting for Luo Jian to understand the meaning of his words, it seemed that he finally understood how to use the instruments in the power room. He found a huge pull rod. Compared with his dwarf’s body, the pull rod was so huge that he had to tie it with a rope, and using a small tool such as an axle, he fixed it and pulled the pull rod.

When the huge pull rod was pulled, there was a strange sound coming from somewhere like the sound of some kind of machinery being activated and the long and heavy sigh of some ancient creature when it was revived. With the loud noise roaring as it dragged on in their ear, soon, the light in the power room was on.

“It worked.” When Wang Yue spoke, the power room was completely on. The lights inside the space station did not seem to use light tubes and light bulbs, but the walls all around them were shining. The light emitted was not very strong but was gentle. It was an icy blue light, giving the whole space an icy-cold feeling.

“It’s as if when we pulled the switch, the power in this area was restored,” Wang Yue said.

However, Luo Jian frowned unconsciously and said, “On the contrary, I feel that…… It seems that this energy is waking up certain uncomfortable things.”

As if to confirm what Luo Jian said, they soon heard a strange rustling sound. The sound sounded like a lot of small creatures densely crawling together. It was scalp-numbing. These sounds first appeared on the ceiling above them, and soon they were heard outside the only big door in the power room.

There were some terrifying creatures outside the door. Listening to this sound, it seemed that the creatures were small, but a large number of these small things were densely packed outside.

“Something’s coming.”

Luo Jian froze for a moment and said to Wang Yue, “It’s outside the door. We should climb back along the ventilation duct.”

Although Wang Yue was shocked, he was not muddled: “You first, I go after.”

Luo Jian could not be bothered to care about him and immediately climbed back into the ventilation duct. Maybe because the energy had been turned on, the central air conditioning of the space station was also turned on. Therefore, Luo Jian felt that the air in the ventilation duct began to flow because he could clearly hear the rustling of wind, running wildly along the disorderly passageway in the ventilation duct.

“Wang Yue, hurry up!” Luo Jian turned back to look at Wang Yue, who did not keep up with him in a timely manner. He yelled: “The ventilation duct is not safe either! We need to get back as soon as possible!”

Wang Yue over there did not speak. He took a look at the door of the power room. The rustling things outside seemed to be hitting the door. However, Wang Yue took things out of his carry-on secret chamber in an orderly way and installed them on the surrounding walls and equipment. He was setting traps, which were necessary and could effectively help the team members and themselves delay for some time.

Wang Yue’s actions were carried out very fast, after installing the props messily, he immediately followed in Luo Jian’s footsteps, climbed up the ventilation duct, and blocked it with the small door that had been previously damaged. He even welded the door back as if he had used an electric welder. He took out a variety of different props from his carry-on secret chamber, and it was shocking how fully equipped he was.

Seeing this scene, Luo Jian could not help sighing. Indeed, he was from an elite team, quite different from the teams he met before. He had a good sense of combat, cooperated well with his team, and was worthy of being in Team Ghost Shadow.

Luo Jian had no such ability: he was more used to fighting alone, which may have been his weakness, but was also his strongest point.

The two men went back in the air duct, but as Luo Jian had expected, it was clear that the secret chamber would not have such a simple arrangement for them. Soon, when Luo Jian, along with Wang Yue crawled to the middle of the pipe, they heard the strange and creepy rustling sound again. And these sounds came from the ventilation duct not far away from the two of them.

Luo Jian stopped his crawling and quietly halted. Wang Yue, who was following him, said in a low voice: “What’s the matter?”

“We are surrounded,” Luo Jian also responded in a soft voice.

Then, Wang Yue heard a more terrifying and creepy shrill in the power room behind him. It was like the scream of some small creature. However, as soon as the scream was heard, they could determine that there was more than one of them, and he could see all the hairs on Wang Yue’s body stand. Wang Yue could not help but softly murmur, “The flame mechanism I set was triggered.”

“Flame mechanism?” Luo Jian said: “Did you set up a flame mechanism in the power room?”

“Don’t worry, the energy used by this ship-shaped space station seems to be different from ours. I don’t think it will explode so easily.”

Perhaps the creatures who stepped on the mechanism behind them had screamed so miserably that it served as a warning to other creatures. Luo Jian heard those rustling sounds again, but this time, those creatures seemed to be retreating.

“They ran away,” Wang Yue stated.

On the contrary, Luo Jian frowned deeper. “This is not that simple.”

T/N: Thank you guys so much for your good wishes! And sorry for the late wishes, but merry christmas and happy holidays guys! For those people who already celebrated christmas, I hope you guys had an awesome christmas! For those who don’t celebrate christmas, I hope you guys had a good rest and a nice holiday!