Sad

"That's good, but if you feel uncomfortable anywhere, don't try to be brave."

Hong Yuan pulled the blade of her giant axe from the stone slab and hoisted it back onto her shoulder.

She looked around the dimly lit environment.

"So where do we go next? This damn place is pitch black, and we can't just stay here looking at these broken paintings forever, right?"

Even someone as thick-nerved as Hong Yuan felt terribly uncomfortable looking at these murals with their faces scratched out.

"Don't rush."

Yin Chen stood to the side with his arms crossed, the blue light of his shield reflecting on his sharply contoured face.

"Since he is the key to this place, the direction is naturally up to him to decide."

Yin Chen tilted his head slightly and looked forward.

Leave professional matters to the professionals; he trusted their ace.

Yin Chen's words reminded everyone, and they once again focused their gazes on Chen Guan.

Chen Guan didn't answer immediately; he turned to face the endless darkness on the other side of the hall.

He didn't know if it was just his imagination, but the darkness there was even thicker than in the passage they had come from.

He did indeed feel a kind of pull.

There was no clear route map, nor any guiding voice, just a resonance originating from the depths of his soul.

The feeling was like faintly hearing a mournful cry belonging exclusively to himself coming from afar in the dead of a silent night.

The power of that lingering regret was forming a vague guide in this space, drawing him toward its source.

"Over there."

Chen Guan raised his hand and pointed to the pitch-black darkness where one couldn't even see their own fingers.

He didn't explain much, simply providing the most straightforward direction.

This mysterious behavior perfectly confirmed the group's speculations about the guidance of his bloodline.

"So it's settled?"

Hong Yuan swallowed hard as she looked at the darkness.

She wasn't afraid of the dark, but in games, these pitch-black places usually hid ambushers.

"It feels like there's a big guy hiding in there."

"If there's a big guy, we just kill it."

Long Ao replied concisely, his clenched fists never relaxing.

In his view, since the direction was determined, all that was left was to advance and fight.

"Long Ao is right."

An Changqing nodded, looking at Chen Guan with a solemn tone.

"We will follow behind you, Chen Guan. Just go with your gut feeling."

An Changqing turned to look at the others.

"Everyone, pay attention to keeping formation and be ready to deal with unexpected situations at any time."

"Roger."

"Understood."

The atmosphere in the team became orderly once again.

Chen Guan didn't say anything more; he just took the first step into the heavy darkness.

His back was quickly swallowed up, leaving only a blurry silhouette.

Black Panther followed closely at his heels. It had seen its master's condition just now, so it had to stick close and be ready to loyally protect its master at any moment.

It had understood most of what those people were saying. Simply put, its master was awesome, and sticking with him meant a bright future.

Yin Chen's staff floated up automatically, and the light from his shield became the team's only light source, illuminating the area about three feet around everyone's feet.

Considering the potential dangers they might encounter, he didn't luxuriously use other spells.

Suddenly, he somewhat regretted not bringing a flashlight... Yin Chen lamented in his heart.

They followed Chen Guan's footsteps, advancing silently in the dark.

The circular hall was perhaps just a prelude. The stone-paved path beneath their feet narrowed once again, reverting to the kind of passage that could only accommodate two or three people walking side by side.

Unlike before, there were no longer kneeling stone guards on either side of this passage; only bare stone walls remained.

It was unusually quiet all around, with only the sounds of their own footsteps and breathing echoing in the passage.

Su Yuehe walked beside An Changqing. She glanced back at the mural hall growing increasingly distant behind them, which had now completely vanished into the darkness.

She lowered her voice to a volume that only the two of them could hear.

"He seems to have really snapped out of it."

Su Yuehe's tone carried a sense of relief.

"The way he looked just now was too worrying."

"Yeah."

An Changqing looked straight ahead, his voice equally soft.

"He is much stronger than we imagined."

Su Yuehe pursed her lips, a hint of worry revealing itself in her eyes.

"But I keep feeling that even though he shook off that emotion, something was still left behind in him."

She weighed the words in her mind.

"It's a very strange feeling. On the surface, nothing seems to have changed, but the very core inside has melted."

Hearing this, An Changqing looked at the lonely figure walking at the very front and fell into a brief moment of deep thought.

"In the end, everyone has to walk their own path."

He responded softly.

"We are his companions. All we can do is stay by his side and give him a hand when he needs it."

Su Yuehe nodded and said no more.

Walking in the middle of the group, Yin Chen seemed to be calmly controlling the range of his shield, but from the corner of his eye, he never stopped watching Chen Guan.

He couldn't shake the feeling that after Chen Guan snapped out of that state, his entire aura had undergone a subtle change.

If the previous Chen Guan was a pool of bottomless, still water, then the current him had a volcano storing endless fury submerged beneath.

That kind of tranquility felt more like the calm before a storm.

And Chen Guan, the center of this swirling vortex, was currently feeling that pull from the lingering regret.

That power was like an invisible thread, one end connected to his soul, and the other extending toward the end of the darkness.

It was calling, and it was guiding.

As Chen Guan walked, he silently calculated in his mind.

The eeriness of this ruin had exceeded his expectations.

The so-called King's Bloodline was a complete misunderstanding. The true secret he bore was far more complex than being the descendant of a lost royal family.

Sys was also unreliable and couldn't be of much use.

The sound of footsteps as shoe soles met the stone slabs was mostly absorbed by the darkness, leaving only subtle friction noises to prove they were still moving forward.

"I have to say, this place is a bit too quiet."

Hong Yuan ultimately couldn't withstand the oppressive atmosphere. She deliberately lowered her voice, creating slight echoes in the narrow passage.

"It's so quiet it gives me the creeps."

"Don't talk nonsense."

An Changqing looked straight ahead, using a steady tone to give his companions an adequate sense of security.

Hong Yuan scratched her head, the restless agitation in her heart still not fully settled.

Silence meant the unknown, which was very hard to endure for someone with Hong Yuan's personality.

"I just feel like the vibe is off. Ever since we entered this path, I've felt uncomfortable all over."

Su Yuehe, who had been following silently by their side, also spoke up softly, her words carrying unhideable worry.

"I'm not just uncomfortable, I feel really sad."

She turned to look at An Changqing, her eyes full of confusion.

"It's like an unexplainable sorrow pressing on my chest, making even breathing difficult. I keep feeling like something very important has gone missing."