No way back

Inside the cave was very dark it was almost impossible to see if it wasn't for the light of the sun behind them despite that the way was very smooth without rocks or holes in the ground that could make them trip as well Chen Kai and Nameless were going down in a straight line it seems that the mountain was just facade. After a few minutes, the light disappears, and just after that *SWOOSH* torches on both sides of the cave lightened the place, revealing a long cave, Fannel walks a few steps in front of Shallot, and he turns to see his right side still walking and says with a mocking grin " Oh, puny brat, I almost forgot to tell you, you have lost the reward for being the first one to bring the chosen ones here "

Shallot frowns and says " Goddamit, who won it? You know what, I don't care just shut up and walk faster " It seemed that whatever that reward was Shallot was annoyed to lose it, or that's what Chen Kai and Nameless thought when they saw his expression

Fannel just keeps grinning as he turns his head around to see in front of him once again. Minutes passed again and they hadn't seen the end of the cave's passage yet, this passage was very long making Chen Kai and Nameless though that it was endless, but finally, they could see something that could be the end of the passage.

They arrived at a giant iron gate, the gate was at least 4 meters tall and 3 meters wide. Fannel walks towards the door and puts his hands on it pushing the gate *CREAKS* the doors open from the middle slowly making the process a very strong creak indicating that the door is very heavy

When the door opened completely Fannel said " Come on " as he walked again

When Chen Kai and Nameless entered the place they saw above them with mouths open the whole cavern was giant with only a few torches here and there even if the number of torches was abundant they weren't enough to illuminate the entire place, besides, the place where Fannel was heading, was still very dark, it might seem like there aren't any torches on that direction

As both Nameless and Chen Kai were dumbfounded by the cavern Shallot said " Move idiots " and walked again

Both followed Shallot after he reprimanded them. Fannel walks towards the darkest place of the cave and when he arrives at the exact edge where the light ends he stops just like Shallot behind him

Chen Kai and Nameless made expressions of doubt and somehow they expected Fannel to turn around to see them but he just talked without turning around " Hey old guy, can you move? you are blocking the way " Chen Kai and Nameless frowned with doubt but Shallot had a very calm expression

Suddenly from the darkest part, a deep but inhuman voice responded " You want me to teach you some manners, little bastard? " At that moment Chen Kai and Nameless saw the darkest part with surprise, and the next moment two giant yellow eyes appeared in the darkest part, making them take a couple of steps back in fear

The eyes were feline and yellow with some touches of blue and green on them, besides, each of them was as big as the giant iron door behind them, and for the position the eyes were, the creature must be huge, so they needed to raise their heads remarkably to see the eyes, even beasts that they have found on the island weren't so big

Fannel raises his shoulders with a smile and says " Come on, I just want you to move, you are obstructing the entrance, you don't have to be so mad "

The two big yellow eyes narrowed then closed, the next moment the darkest part began to receive light from the torches behind the beast, and they finally saw the beast, it was a white tiger around two meters tall standing in front of them

Chen Kai was in shock seeing the tiger just as Nameless, but Chen Kai was the only one who seemed to know what was ' It's a legendary beast, the White Tiger! Why is it here?! His strength must surpass all of those evil spirits outside since it can change its size at will! '

The white tiger shows them his very sharp fangs while it growls at them then he moves to the left side and lies on the ground then a voice comes from his direction " This is the third time you woke me up, pesky brat "

Fannel shakes his head with a grinning face and walks again, Shallot ignores the tiger and walks after Fannel while Nameless and Chen Kai walk after Shallot but both of them couldn't help to turn to see the White Tiger one more time. The tiger just watched them for a couple of seconds making them feel very anxious at its sight and that feeling dissipated when the tiger lays its head on the ground to fall asleep ' The white tiger is some kind of guardian? That's crazy! How can it do it willingly? They are supposed to be as prideful as dragons and phoenixes or are the stories about them wrong? " Chen Kai thought as he left the place

Fannel guides them to another entrance, this time the entrance was smaller and there weren't any doors on it, so they entered, inside it was a smaller cave and when Chen Kai and Nameless saw the place they made expressions of doubt and wonder, they never had seen anything like it not even heard about it. The place had multiple big crystal containers full of green liquid, the liquid was very dense but still, they could see the silhouettes of some people inside of them, while some cables seemed to be connected in every part of their bodies, besides that, there were five that were empty apart from the three that have people

Shallot seems to be scanning the place while they are in a daze, then he says to Fannel " Where are the other three? "

Fannel walks to two containers and hits them lightly, the containers open and he says " They didn't want to be in this place "

Shallot smirks awkwardly and says " Understandable " Then he turns to see Chen Kai and Nameless that were still stupefied by the place and says " Hey, you two, get ready "

Chen Kai and Nameless turned to see him with surprised expressions while Shallot pointed at the containers and said " Enter "

Nameless sees the empty containers and the ones with people so he says " For what are they? " Chen Kai sees him from the corner of his eye it seems that he wants to ask the same

Shallot makes a serious face but Fannel is the first one to speak " They are the last part of the second phase and the reason you will get stronger "

Then Shallot continues " After this, there is no way back, no matter what you try or do, you will never be the same but you already know that... didn't you? "

Nameless and Chen Kai made serious expressions and Chen Kai thought' He said that before but I thought he meant about strength but this is different, very different ' He sees the empty containers and hesitates to move toward them ' And these containers, I have a bad feeling about them '

While Chen Kai was like that Nameless was already walking toward one of the containers, making Chen Kai see him with a frowning expression

Chen Kai Clenches his fists and thinks ' Whatever, I need to get strong if I want to find my parents ' Then he walks to the empty container

When they entered the containers, Fannel closed them in the same way he did before by hitting them one time lightly now they were standing still inside them

(Chen Kai's POV)

I was confined in this crystal container where the only thing I heard was the sound of my breath echoing, I couldn't hear what Shallot or Fannel were saying outside this, they seemed to be talking about something after that Shallot left the cave leaving Fannel that put his hands on the containers

Fannel puts his hand on the containers thanks that they are next to each other he can do so, then his hands shine with white light, and " Aaah! " A massive pain invades my back, so I try to move my head to see what caused the pain and I notice a thick cable pierced my back like a spear, suddenly " Ugh... " I feel something entering my body through the cable, I don't know what it was, but it burns like hell it even made me clench my fists and grit my teeth by the pain. The pain paralyzed me, I couldn't move at the slightest, and suddenly " UGH! " I felt more cables piercing my back again and " AAGH!! " Even more cables pierced me but this time they pierced my stomach, chest, legs, arm, neck, even my temples, and where my right arm used to be If it wasn't for Shallot's brutal beating, and the beasts' attacks and poisons I went through before that this kind of pain would be unbearable, at the point that I could pass out at any moment, so that's why Shallot brutally beaten us before?

" Argh! " I was gritting my teeth in pain, and the cables kept pouring some kind of black liquid inside my body I could see it going in the cables on my chest and stomach, that liquid was burning even more with every second passing, not even the fire of the Blazing Noxious Lion burned like this, so I couldn't help to yell loudly " AAAHHH!! " I was feeling like my body was melting, and my muscles were turning disintegrating, I could even feel my bones cracking ' What is that liquid doing to my body?! '

Suddenly " ...!! " Some kind of black goo sticks into my face making me shut up, the black goo was connected to a very long tube that came from the top of the container, The substance covered half of my face, leaving only my eyes exposed, I tried to move my hand to remove it, but my body doesn't respond, the weirdest thing was that despite that thing in my face I can still breathe using my nose, but I can feel my mouth getting filled with some kind of liquid, it must be the same liquid that the cables carry because it burns, besides I was forced to drink it by the strange goo thing that covers my mouth, the liquid now was melting my throat and stomach

After a few seconds, the containers began to fill with a green liquid that came out under my feet, it must be the same green liquid I saw in the other containers with those blurry people, the green liquid made me float when the containers were full of it, but now I couldn't see the outside anymore. The liquid wasn't an annoyance to my eyes and even better it lessened the pain, but the pain persisted, it came and went with great force each time

Hours have gone by, and the pain seems to be intensifying, to the point that I can't stand It anymore, I wondered how much pain this thing will cause without the green liquid I can't even imagine that, and then, I lost my consciousness