Chapter 36 - Ragnarok.

Shi Lang entered the cottage and found that inside the cottage was a staircase leading to the underground. At the side of the stairs, small bulbs blinked. He did not move ahead without thinking. He had started using his ability to sense the things around him after it was confirmed that there was no other living being around him.

Shi Lang took off his shoes to step on the stairs. The reason he did this was to narrow down the risk of triggering some sort of trigger mechanism inside the floor. People might call him paranoid but he would rather be paranoid than die miserably. The shot earlier at the entrance was a wake-up call for him. If he dared to let go of his guard even a little then he would surely die.

Ever since he had taken a step inside this premise, he could sense a killing intent locked at his back, as if waiting for a slip-up. He could not allow that to happen. With that thought in his mind, he slowly stepped down on the edge of the stairs. He took a sigh of relief when after taking five steps on the stairs he did not trigger anything, but he did not relax.

He had twenty more steps to descend before reaching the end of this staircase. He used his hands to lean against the sidewall and placed his legs on the wall. Then he began to slowly begin to descend. His feet were on the wall and his hands were on the wall too. After the first few steps, he had been extremely alert and sensed a deadly threat, so he decided to give up the stairs altogether.

He slowly crawled along the wall and descended the stairway. The boy glanced below him and mumbled, "I was thinking about a jump landing."

Below him was a glistening pressure plate. The boy sighed as he understood that no matter what he did, he must at least trigger one trap, so he exerted pressure on his foot and palms as he pushed himself off the sidewall and landed on the ground.

As soon as he landed on the floor he sensed the pressure plate sink a little and just at that moment, Shi Lang rolled on the ground. The next thing was a light beam shower. These beams were all shots fired from phaser guns that had been triggered by the pressure plate.

The boy completed one roll and as soon as his feet came to touch with the ground he stood up and made a straight dash. The surroundings were dimly lit by the light beam fire or the bulbs blinking through the alleyway. His ability to sense things around him was completely fired up as he ran forward.

The floor was covered with caltrops. Shi Lang cursed those who designed such a sadistic trap but he was still keeping up with the firing guns chasing him and the caltrops on the floor. The guns were hidden inside the walls. They kept firing at him without a break. If he stopped for even a second he will die. He could tell this from the heat in the air.

Light beams burned everything in their way, even the air. Shi Lang ran while trying to keep a lookout for the blinking lights to follow because that was the safest passage and that was how he was told to report to the camp master. Suddenly, he noticed that he had taken two steps ahead of the path that he was supposed to take, the next moment he was overwhelmed by a frightful sensation.

He turned back while he ducked and quickly crawled his back to the path he was supposed to take, the reason he moved in such a manner wasn't that he was paranoid but a cut on his right cheek. If not for his sensory ability, the boy would have died from a needle in his forehead. He only sensed the needle when it was ten inches away from him.

He got back on the path and faced a lot of things, like scythe blades falling from the ceiling, electrocuting floor tiles. Sleeping gas and trip mines. He did not come out unscathed, his cheek had a bleeding cut, and his feet were scalded. On his back, there were a seven inches long bleeding gash. This gash was made from a miscalculation he made while avoiding the falling scythe.

At this moment, he was barely holding on to his consciousness. He had lost a lot of blood that made him weak. Thankfully, he was a peak three-star Terran and almost reaching the four-star. His body had a good self-healing capability, thus the bleeding stopped before it was critical. However, the constant strain in such an injured situation had made his mind extremely weak.

He had been using his special ability to get away from the traps or he would have died. He knocked on the door and asked, "May. I come in camp Master."

A soft voice sounded, "Come in."

He pushed open the door and got inside the room. He did not enter casually but sensed everything inside the room, he stopped believing that these people were kind. Their way of training was to swing him at the edge of life and death like a pendulum.

The boy walked slowly and in a discreetly decorated room, behind a table sat a woman dealing with some holographic documents. The boy did not have the energy to pay attention to her face and saluted her with his right hand on his chest, "Student Shi Lang reporting, CampMaster."

The lady nodded without raising her head and said, "Your attendance has been noted student Lang, you are dismissed, for the time being, tend to your injuries and we will talk in the morning."

Shi Lang nodded and was about to turn around when he found the world spinning as the surroundings became darker. With a dull thud, he fell to the ground.

Charlotte Knight, finally, raised her head. She said, "Dalia, he is left in your care."

A lady walked inside the office from the same door as Shi Lang. She wore a black skin-fit suit with a white lab coat over her body. She was a beautiful lady, blonde hair, light brown eyes, pink petal-like lips. She nodded to Charlotte and said, "As you command, CampMaster."

Then she crouched down and caressed Shi Lang's hair gently as she said, "You poor child." Her hand was placed on the back of Shi Lang's collar and then she dragged him away like a rag doll.

...

Shi Lang woke up to a warm sensation but he did not act immediately. He circulated his blood at a high speed to restore himself. He could sense that his feet were slightly colder, and his back was itchy. After half an hour, he stopped circulating his blood to cultivate, when he heard someone approaching him.

A warm voice sounded, "Awww, so you woke up. Good. Would you like to eat something?"

Shi Lang sat up on his bed and tracked the source of this sound. He was not surprised to see a beautiful lady, however, he did not reply to her. He checked his body and found that he could now stand on his feet. So, he got down the bed and saluted the lady with a serious expression on his face, as he said, "Student Shi Lang reporting, Madam."

Dalia nodded and asked again, "What would you like to eat?"

Shi Lang did not know how to reply so he said, "Standard military compressed food?"

Dalia let out a peal of laughter and said, "You are so cute, do not worry, in camp Ragnarok, the only peace time is meal time.. Come along, I will show you the mess hall."