The "cracking" burning bonfire disperses the surrounding gloom.
Lu Li sat quietly by the campfire, leaning against the rocks and writing down the contents in his open notebook.
"I've reached the second level."
Soon, new handwriting appeared in the margin of the note.
[As expected of Lu Li, what is the exit? 】
"The exit is the fog. When you deliberately look for the fog, it will not appear. Only forgetfulness will allow it to exist."
[It sounds really complicated... I'd better stay in the first level and eliminate the contestants]
The words that appeared were quickly crossed out and changed below: [Forget it, I still find a way to pass. Are you still in the swamp? 】
"Probably not here."
Lu Li raised his head and looked around.
The terrifying giant tree seems to surround the iron bars of the prison cell, and humans are like tiny ants within it. The gloomy branches and leaves that block the sky cannot let in any light, and the twisted branches and hanging vines surge like dark seaweed.
Lu Li wrote down the description of the environment of the dark giant forest and received the answer:
[Sounds like a weird jungle... Dig up the soil and see if there are any tree roots in the depths]
Lu Li is already doing this.
By the flickering light of the fire, Lu Li dug through the soil beside the campfire. His fingertips touched a hard object within a few inches of the soft and soft mud.
Throw a fluorite block into the excavated mud pit, and the shadow that cannot be reached by the fire is illuminated by the dim light, revealing the layers of ferocious roots like blood vessels under the mud layer.
"This is a strange jungle."
[Hmm...confirm your location first and then take refuge in a nearby hut. You know what to do and you don’t need to remind me. I’m going to find a way to get to the second level now]
[Also, I am already close to the mining area and there is no way to go in. The earth dwellers are searching for something in the mining area like crazy, and they even have conflicts with people from the Bloodline Family Alliance]
The reaction speed of the earth dwellers is faster than expected.
The earth dwellers and miner slaves who saw Lu Li step into the cave had all died in the shock caused by the escape of the earth guardian. He should only be suspected, rather than directly identified as the murderer.
"Will the players die?"
Claire on the other end of the note was getting busy when Lu Li suddenly wrote down.
[What happened? Did any of your companions die? It’s a pity, but they are indeed dead. 】
Lu Li stared at the handwriting emerging from the note and fell into silence.
But after more than ten seconds, new content emerged bit by bit.
[Okay, you are already suspicious. You will know the truth soon, so I’ll tell you directly... The Top Ten Tournament will protect all contestants, and they will be resurrected even if they die. I think mother and others don’t tell you because they want to let you know.
If you awaken other cursed titles, don’t blame them...】
Same thing as Will Ken.
"Will Ken."
Lu Li took out the parchment that resided in Will Ken's consciousness. Since entering the second level, Will Ken no longer appeared, and the parchment returned to normal.
There was no response. Lu Li put away the parchment and the notes whose contents no longer appeared, took out the compass, summoned the merchant Anthony, and recalled the rumors about the strange jungle in the forbidden area.
However, the being here arrived before the merchant Anthony...
Different from swamps and filthy sewers, the danger of the strange jungle stems from the existence of the terrifying giant trees and accompanying trees in the forbidden area itself, attached to them.
The silence was broken by the rustling sound echoing from the dark canopy of trees that blocked the sky from observation.
[The strange jungle is their territory, any outsider will be rejected and become part of the jungle's nourishment]
Lu Li extinguished the bonfire, only used cloth strips wrapped around wooden sticks to make a simple torch, and left the embers of the fire where it had stayed for too long.
Lu Li held a torch and followed the compass pointer, walking in the vast and eerie dark forest. But in an environment lacking reference objects, the only function of the compass was to tell him which direction he was heading.
The businessman Anthony brought a temporarily useless map. The surroundings were the same: the darkness surged like mist in the silent forest, and terrifying giant trees with a diameter of dozens of meters, deeper than the darkness, stood everywhere.
There are no shrubs, no life.
Lu Li asked the businessman Anthony to contact Kiluaite, contact Nunes, and contact everyone who held the eyeball in the first level except Claire, but there was no response.
The torch gradually dimmed. This weakness was unreasonable. It should have been burning for more than ten minutes, but now only three or four minutes had passed.
The approaching existence surged in the darkness, waiting for the opportunity to move, waiting for the torch to be completely extinguished.
[They are afraid of flames and hate flames. The more hatred they have, the more they will be afraid. The more they fear, the more hatred they will have.]
Lu Li, who still didn't know where he was, could only continue moving forward, walking among the sparse giant trees.
[Tree Whisperer] doesn't seem to work here, at least not completely. Lu Li is not regarded as a friend here, but he has never encountered any strange rumors about the strange dense forest.
laugh
The weak torch suddenly made a sound like it was being extinguished, and the flame was extinguished into a rising plume of green smoke.
The flames no longer protected the silhouette that was mired in darkness, and the surrounding darkness surged towards Lu Li.
But in the darkness that suddenly fell, Lu Li was able to peek deep into the gap between the terrifying giant trees. There was a weak firelight behind a window, dimly reflecting the blurry outline of half the wall.
[The cabin in the woods is the only exception, the corpse remains respectful. If you find a cabin, you will gain temporary peace]
Heavy layers of darkness descended, and just when the figure was about to touch the ground, it was like holy wings spreading out, and a glow suddenly appeared around Lu Li's body.
The gleaming saplings stretched their trunks, turning into a substantial darkness that shrouded Lu Li and gradually shrank back into the sky. Plants scrambled to emerge from the soil, growing visibly to the naked eye.
Lu Li abandoned the torch and approached the forest hut, guarded by the seedlings that burst out of the ground.
Soon, people in the forest hut discovered Lu Li.
The light beside the window was blocked, and many people gathered around the window to look at the glowing and vibrant outline standing in the dark forest.
They looked at each other.
Ten seconds later, the wooden door of the forest hut opened, a figure stood at the door, and shouts echoed.
"Are you Lu Li, the exorcist?"
Lu Li nodded lightly, his eyes falling on the badge on the figure's chest: Old Sewer Front.
"What's the prompt for the second level?"
If there is a hint for this level, it is most likely to be placed in a cabin in the woods.
Lu Li stopped because he saw the shadowy silhouettes in the forest hut and their badges: they were all players from the Old Sewer Front and Conspiracy Spiderweb gods.
Obviously, either other camps are excluded from approaching this hut, or other camps that originally existed have been jointly eliminated by the two camps.
After waiting for a moment, a crow flew from the forest hut with a note in its mouth and landed in the grass extending under Lu Li's feet.
Lu Li's gaze briefly paused on the bloodshot crow under its wings. Lu Li picked up the note. The blood crow with its beak free tilted its head and curiously pecked at a small white flower that it had never seen before.