Chapter 182 - Endless Tunnel

Seeing General Tang was warning them so seriously, Zheng Hongru and the others knew that this was no small matter. Every one of them nodded profusely after hearing what he said.

-But, what on earth happened to Zhang Che?-

In the end, Xiao Yi couldn’t resist stopping in place as he reached the door. He turned around, facing General Tang and that casually dressed middle-aged man and asked with difficulty, “General, may I ask, Brother Che… I mean, Zhang Che, what happened to him? Is he in danger?”

In truth, the four of them understood that after Zhang Che was suddenly sucked in by that black door that appeared out of nowhere and disappeared just as quickly, it was highly likely that Zhang Che would never leave this place alive. They had never heard of any similar incidents. One could only imagine…

General Tang fell silent for a short while, before saying with a low tone, “His life and death unknown, a blessing or curse uncertain…”

After saying this, he waved at the four of them, sending them away.

After stepping out of this ad hoc tent, Zheng Hongru and the others’ faces kept changing. They didn’t understand what General Tang meant by that, but they were vaguely able to make out that perhaps Zhang Che might return one day?

The four of them were feeling extra down. They no longer had any mood to care about the examination, only hoping that this big brother of theirs who they only spent three short days with would return safely.

Although Zhang Che would say some harsh things to them from time to time, the four of them knew very well that in the two days they entered the hunting zone, Zhang Che didn’t let them brave any dangers at all. Whenever there was anything amiss, he would be the one to rush in front, protecting them like a gigantic fort.

Even if Zhang Che was only afraid that his results might be affected if anything happened to them, he still did his best to protect them for the past two days. It was truly hard to repay him.

————

In the tent, General Tang and that casually dressed middle-aged man both fell into a prolonged silence. After some time, it was the middle-aged man who broke the silence, “How many years has it been? I didn’t expect that strange thing to appear again!”

General Tang nodded. He sighed, “Right, there’s no pattern to its time of appearance at all, and all those who were sucked into it ended up disappearing from the world. There’s no way for us to investigate it, even if we wanted to.”

The two fell into silence again. After a while, the middle-aged man suddenly said, “Say, do you think this is related to the sudden appearance of this world into ours?”

He extended his hand and waved it around him, referring to the beast worlds that descended upon Mercury thirty-six years ago so bizarrely.

“Who knows? There aren’t any survivors in all the cases that happened around the world, nor was there any further study into it. All of it is but mere guesses.”

It was obviously hard to carry on this topic. The casually dressed man said, in a discussing tone, “Then, what about those four kids? This came unexpectedly, and now they’re left without a strong guy to lead them. I’m afraid it’ll be very difficult for them to get a good ranking.”

“Let’s see how it goes. Who knows, I think that they might experience an unexpected growth?”

The inside of the tent fell silent again.

Going forward, this matter wasn’t spread among the other examinees. Other than Zheng Hongru and the rest of the team, who knew about this matter and were told to keep their mouths shut, the soldiers who took part in this rescue mission were similarly forbidden to leak any of this information.

However, the next day, a detailed report of this matter was given directly to the upper echelon of Hua Xia region through some secret means, and was sealed tight, along with other similar cases in the past.

There weren’t any subsequent rescue operations, as every appearance of the black door was at random. The time, location, everything. There was no way they could do anything about it.

———-

In the instant Zhang Che was enveloped by the chaotic mass of light, he only managed to recall his two subdued beasts before he felt he was sucked into a long interspatial tunnel. Under the irresistible suction force’s guidance, he flew in a certain direction at great speed.

The tunnel seemed endless. Zhang Che was bound by the force for an indeterminate amount of time, and there still wasn’t any sign of him reaching the other end.

“No, this can’t continue on like this. Heavens know what kind of place is on the other end!”

Although Zhang Che couldn’t move his body, his brain was spinning at flying speed, trying to think of a way to end his current predicament.

Alas, what solution could he possibly think of?

He couldn’t move his body at all, and even the subdued beasts and pets in his spiritual sea seemed to be locked inside, unable to summon.

However, even if he could summon his babies, what help could they provide?

It was unimaginable…

Zhang Che gradually calmed down, and he started thinking in another direction.

-Why am I the only one who got sucked in, and yet Zheng Hongru and the others, who were standing right next to me, unaffected?-

-The problem must be on me!-

-Could it be because of the rainbow crystal in my spiritual sea?-

-No, no, there wasn’t any response from the rainbow crystal until now. It would have done something otherwise. It’s impossible for it to lay in my spiritual so peacefully.-

-Then what is the reason?-

Zhang Che tried his hardest to think, when he suddenly thought of the peculiar demonic flower.

-Could it be that that demonic flower wasn’t something from the beast world, but hailed from another plane? And the reason why I was sucked into this endless tunnel was because my body contained traces of that demonic flower’s energy and aura?-

Zhang Che felt as if he discovered the truth, but he grew increasingly scared. In the first place, the soul born from the demonic flower tried to consume him!

If that damned thing really came from another world, then what ending would he meet later? He could think of it even if his brains grew on his fingertip!

“No, I must force my way out… Rainbow crystal, boss! Master! Why don’t you have any response this time!?” Zhang Che looked into his spiritual sea, focusing on the rainbow crystal, crying out inwardly, trying to get the rainbow crystal to help him like it did the few times prior.

The rainbow crystal seemed to be woken up by Zhang Che. The rainbow crystal, originally laying silently in his spiritual sea, suddenly trembled violently. An extremely concentrated mass of rainbow energy suddenly burst forth, gushing towards the rest of his body.

This mass of concentrated rainbow energy was different from the usual energy present in his spiritual sea. It was extremely violent and tyrannical.

Zhang Che immediately felt excruciating pain spreading from his bone marrow as the surge of energy entered his body, spreading through his cells. It was so painful he almost lost consciousness.

Alas, the toughness of Zhang Che’s soul was far above that of ordinary humans. It wasn’t that easy for him to faint.

“Ahhhh!” Under the severe pain, Zhang Che could only open his mouth and cry out loud. However, in this mysterious endless tunnel, no sound came out from his mouth.

As time slowly passed, the remnant of the peculiar demonic flower’s hidden aura was gradually removed from every cell in Zhang Che’s body, bit by bit. For every bit of its aura removed from Zhang Che’s body, the binding on him and the suction force pulling him through the endless tunnel grew slightly weaker.

“That really was the case!”

Despite the pain being so much that it left him wanting to die, and a layer of sweat had covered his entire body, a hint of joy finally flashed in Zhang Che’s eyes.

As long as the remnants of the demonic flower were thoroughly removed, he wouldn’t be sucked into the other end of the endless tunnel.

As for what happened afterwards, he could only leave it to fate…