ATPnovel Chapter 31 Plot Items
Chapter 31 Plot Items
The crimson sea of fire was still burning behind them.
Having obtained the item, Yu Jing paid no further attention and quickly rejoined the rest of the team.
They have found the fog door leading to the next room.
"Since it's a hidden level and we've taken a huge risk, there should be some reward. The key is whether we can find it!"
Yu Jing tossed the Crystal of Resentment to the Green Demons, letting them examine it in turn, and then said,
"I heard the vengeful spirits imprisoned here howling inside. The flames gave them temporary relief, which is their way of repaying me. Perhaps this will come in very useful in the future."
The value of rare quality items goes without saying.
The reason why Yu Jing did not choose to hide it, but took the initiative to share it, is very simple.
This thing is clearly a "story item"!
Others might not see anything special, but the Torch watch provides quite clear information.
The Crystal of Resentment, being a rare item, has no special effects, which is clearly abnormal, and its usage conditions provide some kind of hint.
Based on its name, the surrounding environment at the time of its creation, and its ever-changing appearance, one can easily guess that this crystal is the crystallization of the resentment of those imprisoned here over the years, and it may even harbor many vengeful spirits.
Their only goal is to take revenge on the culprits who caused all of this.
In other words, only by finding the one they so desperately "long for" can the true effect of the Crystal of Resentment be activated.
This is the most valuable part of the "hidden levels".
That's why Yu Jing pretended to have overheard something and emphasized how useful the crystal would be in the subsequent operations.
This is to prevent anyone from eagerly trying to snatch the crystal through bidding or other means, then hoarding it like a treasure, which would affect subsequent actions.
However, to Yu Jing's surprise, the crystal, after circulating among Qing Gui and the others, quickly returned to his hands.
This undoubtedly means that others assume he is the best person to keep the crystal and let him decide how to use it.
If the mercenary became the initial leader of this squad through experience and a sense of responsibility.
So, as the assessment has progressed to this point, Yu Jing has earned the recognition and respect of others entirely through his personal performance.
He wasn't a pretentious person; he simply put the crystal into his trench coat pocket.
It's not too late to be modest after we leave here, since Black Hand's current situation is not optimistic.
Now that we have the goods, there's no point in lingering any longer.
"There shouldn't be a second door this time, right?"
Walking straight to the newly discovered fog door, Yu Jing glanced at it briefly and quickly noticed that the appearance of this door was more unique than the ones he had seen before.
The use of mahogany and the exquisite carvings on the door panels are enough to prove that the room behind it is extraordinary.
As expected, high risk corresponds to high reward.
Perhaps the objective of this assessment is hidden in the next room, or... another hidden level?
The first to lose his composure was Black Hand, who strode forward past Yu Jing and pushed open the fog door.
There was nothing he could do. The numbness in his left arm was spreading from his forearm, where the wound was, to his shoulder. If he delayed any longer, it might threaten his heart. If that happened, even if he passed the test, he would leave the alien world sideways.
"Stay vigilant!"
Seeing that Black Hand was rushing into the fog gate, the equally wounded mercenary could only give a brief instruction and follow.
The remaining two followed closely behind.
The moment Yu Jing passed through the black mist, before he could even see the layout of the room, a chilling aura surged in from all directions, the ambient temperature plummeted, and the air became so damp it felt like you could wring water out of it.
This made Yu Jing, who had just come from the inferno room, feel uncomfortable all over, and even his breathing became heavy.
Not only that, but the air was filled with a nauseating odor.
It smelled like the musty smell of old newspapers smoldering in a corner when I was a child, mixed with the musty smell of aging leather bindings... There seemed to be a faint, faint smell of sulfur, drifting from afar, its source hard to trace.
The only good news is that the dark environment that had almost driven the team to the brink of destruction has finally receded in this room!
Of course, it's just that it's not as dark as the previous rooms.
Perhaps due to the humid environment, the floor, walls, and even the ceiling of this room are covered with glow-in-the-dark moss, with a pale green light that flickers and barely outlines the space.
As it turned out, Yu Jing's hunch was correct; the appearance of the fog door was highly correlated with its internal condition.
There were neither ruins nor debris scattered on the ground, nor food scraps or sticky cobwebs.
Instead, rows of tall black oak bookshelves stretched from the ground to the ceiling. Upon closer inspection, one could see that the wood of the bookshelves had long since turned black and cracked, with dark green mold spots and tiny wormholes crawling all over the surface.
Some bookshelves were tilted and collapsed, with ancient books piled on them scattered all over the floor, their pages rotten beyond recognition.
It's clear that it has been preserved here for a very long time.
"Is this... the castle's library?"
The blue demon looked around, his tone somewhat uncertain.
The journey here has been filled with skeleton ruins and spider nests, so this suddenly artistic environment feels quite out of place.
"Maybe so. Anyway, be careful. These bookshelves can be a distraction, and there might be a monster hiding behind one of them."
Turn the helmet's light up to its brightest setting. This time, the light was no longer suppressed and easily illuminated the surroundings.
The group, including Yu Jing, breathed a sigh of relief.
"Let's go! There's nothing to be afraid of as long as there's light. I want to see what monsters dare to come near, then I'll just give them a good blast!"
Black Hand, who had picked up the submachine gun again because of his injured left arm, kept urging him on.
The group stepped into the library.
It's unclear who managed this library back then. The passageways between the bookshelves were designed to be exceptionally narrow, barely wide enough for two people to walk side by side. The team was forced to abandon their original triangular formation and instead become mercenaries leading the way, with Yu Jing bringing up the rear, and Black Hand and Green Ghost in the middle.
We walked for a while, and it went surprisingly smoothly.
Neither the anticipated corner kill nor the surprise attack through the bookshelf occurred.
Yu Jing, who was at the bottom of the queue, would occasionally glance at the Torch Watch. The detector's pointer remained in the safe zone at the bottom, indicating that there were no monsters nearby.
Did we stumble upon a safe room?
Bending down to avoid the thick spiderwebs above his head, which were covered with small pieces of moss and scraps of paper, Yu Jing turned his attention to the ancient books filling the bookshelves.
To be honest, he was a little curious about what foreign documents were like, and whether they might record the history of this ancient castle.
I randomly picked up a book, and it was probably because it had been stored for too long and hadn't been properly maintained. The cover was cracked and curled in large areas, making it unrecognizable. I flipped through a couple of pages and found it full of strange symbols that I couldn't understand.
I put it back on the nearest bookshelf with some disappointment.
After walking a while longer, Yu Jing heard Black Hand complaining ahead about why they still couldn't find the Fog Gate, and he was startled.
How big can a library be?
Logically, assuming there are no monsters blocking the way, you should be able to see the wall on the other side by now...
What is going wrong?
During a moment of contemplation, Yu Jing, who was turning past a row of bookshelves again, suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Frowning, he looked at the tattered book lying horizontally on a row of ancient books on the left bookshelf, and it seemed strangely familiar.