AZI Volume 4 Chapter 18

"Piece of shit!"

With a clear expression of irritation on his face, Shao Tianming strikes at the wall.

"…"

To the side, Wang Yongning had a similar look on his face, but instead of it being mostly irritation, his expression is leaning more towards bitterness, and regret.

Glancing at the two, Yu Ji turns to Li Xue and Qing Yue, and asks—

"…Shall we try again?"

"…Maybe later."

"…We just keep walking forward—only to end up back here again."

Towards Yu Ji's suggestion, Li Xue and Qing Yue shook their heads. Their eyes seem utterly devoid of light—causing them to give off the air of a defeatist.

The area that they are in isn't too large, but it should be more than capable of fitting two semi-trucks without a trailer. And severing as sources of lighting—are the flashlights that littered the edges of the area.

"…Ai."

Raising a sigh, Yu Ji looks to her left.

On this side of the area are five pathways for them to take, while on the other side is the pathway that they had come into this area from.

Turning to Shao Tianming and Wang Yongning, Yu Ji asks—

"Surnamed Shao, surnamed Wang, how long have we been in this place for?"

Taking out his phone, Wang Yongning answers—

"Probably three, or four hours now?"

"It feels like it's been more than that…"

Towards Shao Tianming's remark, Wang Yongning shakes his head, and replies—

"In a place without the sun, it's all too easy to lose track of time."

Despite having attempted to make it to the next area—for reasons unknown, they would always end up emerging from the pathway that they had come into this area from.

Throwing a glance at Shao Tianming, Wang Yongning adds—

"Also… It's just as easy for a person to lose their sense of composure. Smoke a cigarette, or down a can of beer, anything to make yourself feel more comfortable."

"Uh…"

Realizing Wang Yongning's point, Shao Tianming heaves a sigh, and scratches the back of his head.

...…

"Alright, time to move the hell on."

With everything sorted out, and with his mood restored, Long Hua presses a fist to his palm, while Tian Cheng, who is holding onto a flashlight, asks—

"Which path shall we take then, master?"

"Hmm."

Using his divine senses to look as far as possible in both directions, Long Hua presses a hand to his chin.

"Uh?"

Turning his attention towards the pathway to his right, Long Hua sees a humanoid figure walking towards their area. Held in the figure's hand is a flashlight.

"Surnamed Long?"

"Surnamed Ye?"

As the person emerges out of the pathway completely, it is revealed to be Ye Chen, who remarks—

"I guess it's because I leaped in after you—that we ended up relatively close to one another's location?"

Shrugging a shoulder, Long Hua replies—

"Who knows? Well, found anything of interest?"

"Other than you, not much else. Mostly dead ends."

"I see, so this place is built like a labyrinth, then?"

Raising an eye, Ye Chen asks—

"Have you not moved from this spot at all since arriving?"

"Disciplining a certain thing ended up taking some time."

Recalling the odd creature, and seeing the cracks that are on the walls, and grounds of this area, Ye Chen's puts on an expression of understanding, and says—

"I see. Well, what's your plan? The way I came from—for the most part, has been looked over."

"Then the choice should be obvious."

Saying as such, Long Hua takes out his fishing rod, and ties a rock to the end of its line. Forcefully embedding this rock into the wall, he turns to the pathway on his left, and Tian Cheng follows suit—with Ye Chen a few steps behind them.

Taking out a flashlight from his storage pouch, Long Hua asks—

"Did surnamed Shao and knock-off Immortal come in at the end?"

"They probably did. I wasn't looking when I made my leap."

"If you wanted out of this ruin, you could have just asked the guys from the hall. Wouldn't that have saved you the hassle of dealing with more risks?"

"I'd rather deal with the risks than be a dog chained up to a leash."

"Working for the military—without being appreciated, isn't too different though, is it?"

For a brief instance, Ye Chen didn't reply, but eventually, in a cringed tone, he says—

"…Fighting against Immortals is something that I'm doing willingly."

"…"

Towards Long Hua's silence, which seems to be a show of amazement at how Ye Chen was able to say such a cheesy line, the latter awkwardly asks—

"…Not going to ask further?"

"You'd probably say something along the lines of us not being close enough for you to answer that."

"True. But I'm open to making an exchange."

"Hm?"

"Information on the Immortal Sealing Chain."

Shrugging his shoulders, Long Hua replies—

"You'd be better off asking the hall."

"They won't be honest with me even if I asked."

"And you expect me to be honest with you? In the first place, why would I be interested in your life story, surnamed Ye? There's plenty of tragedies out there, what makes yours in particular special? Hell, even my own isn't anything special."

"I wonder about that. Something tells me, yours is quite a different experience, surnamed Long."

"Mine is simply just me committing a mistake—that forced a white-haired man, to send off a black-haired man."

Contemplating for a bit, Long Hua adds—

"Doesn't matter how old we are or get, so long as we keep living, we're bound to make mistakes—since it's just a natural part of living. The important thing is… I guess, to walk out of the shadow of our mistakes? Ah, it all sounds too cliché for me to talk about it with a straight face."

Even now, Long Hua is uncertain of whether or not he, himself has walked out of his own mistakes' shadow, hence—

(…God, I feel like a hypocrite. In the first place, I'm completely unsuited to telling someone words of this nature.)

"…Even if the shadow is a person who refuses to forgive you?"

Towards Ye Chen's question, Long Hua suspects the aforementioned shadow to be Li Xue.

Turning his head to the side, Long Hua asks—

"Surnamed Ye, are you able to forgive yourself first?"

Before Ye Chen can answer the question, Tian Cheng halts her footsteps, while Long Hua places a finger to his lips.

"…"

Catching on quickly, Ye Chen also stops moving.

"…"

Sensing something tugging onto the end of his line, Long Hua tightens his grip on the fishing rod.

"…"

Playing a game of tug-of-war against whatever it is—that is on the other side of the line, Long Hua's expression gradually turns solemn.

An unknown is pulling upon the line at a steady rate without increasing, or decreasing its strength—in other words, it is matching the strength that Long Hua is using to pull with the exact amount needed to maintain an even balance.

Eventually—

*Ping!* the line snaps.

"…"

Looking at the line with a frown, Long Hua gradually retracts it, and upon reaching the ends, where it is cut off—

"Seems like it was grinded off."

Shining a light on the severed end, Ye Chen remarks as such, while Long Hua says—

"Hmm. Doubt it was the people from the hall. If they wanted to kill me, following this line back to me would be the smarter move."

"You think it's something similar to those sand piranhas from the first night?"

"This doesn't look like it was bitten off by some beast. If it was, the line would be more jagged—due to their uneven fangs. It's more like someone just took a blunt edge, and just sawed away at it…"

"So, there's something… I guess worse than those piranhas here?"

Thinking of this, Ye Chen can't help but recall those Sinners and practitioners from before.

Thinking the same, Long Hua cuts off the fishing line's grinded ends, and stores the tool away, and remarks—

"Well, way back is probably impossible to find now, so our only way forward—is forward."