"No one... No one can escape..."
"Hahaha... So pitiful... Truly pitiful..."
The raspy laughter abruptly stopped as the old man's head tilted and he ceased breathing.
The frozen grimace on his face seemed to judge everyone, while the last few barely audible words were like an invisible rope tightening around each person's neck.
Jensen uneasily tugged at his collar, realizing that he was drenched in cold sweat down his back, and his throat was dry to the point of being parched.
It was then that he suddenly realized—the screams from below had stopped at some point.
In the midst of the silence, a loud wail suddenly pierced through—
"Waaa—"
The cry of a baby... It came from down the corridor.
"Gulp!"
Several people craned their necks and swallowed their saliva. They nervously turned their gun barrels, aiming into the pitch-black corridor, not daring to approach or let down their guard. All the horror stories they'd heard rushed into their minds at once.
At that moment, Jensen suddenly noticed the commanding officer's gaze falling on him again, tightening his heart.
The officer commanded resolutely, "You, go in and see what's going on!"
Jensen hesitated for a moment but dared not disobey the order, reluctantly heading towards the corridor.
Vid immediately followed, and the corridor beneath their feet no longer seemed like a 3D mural but a real extension.
Jensen walked slowly, fearful of the unknown risks below, hoping to prolong the time as much as possible—even if only by a few seconds.
Thus, Vid overtook Jensen, arriving first at the underground Chamber of Secret.
When there were only a dozen steps left, Vid saw golden light streaming through the chamber's door, illuminating the floor ahead in a radiant glow.
Seeing this, Jensen hesitated even more, almost wanting to turn and flee. But as he was turning around, another wail echoed:
"Waaa... Waaa..."
The sound grew clearer, Jensen's legs trembled, weakened to the point where he couldn't stand, and he dropped directly onto the steps with his gun in his hands.
A child slowly crawled out from the doorway!
The scene abruptly shattered, as sudden white mist completely obscured Vid's vision, as if Jensen, in a state of extreme terror, forcibly erased this memory.
After a moment, the scene stabilized again, and Jensen was already standing in the golden Chamber of Secret, not knowing how he got there.
His mouth was agape, the terror on his face gone, tears streaming down as he looked ahead.
Vid, following his sight, looked over—
Inside the Chamber of Secret, a massive black cabinet shattered, scattered all over the place, as if rudely broken apart by someone.
Where the cabinet used to be, a long, irregular crack stood, like the gap left after an invisible glass was smashed.
Golden sand-like particles blasted out of the crack like sparks, creating a thick layer at the wooden cabinet's broken base, resembling natural gold sand.
Several soldiers stuffed these sands into their pockets, clothes, and boots, even holding some in their mouths!
They probably wanted to gather as much unexpected wealth as possible, but didn't realize... that the gold sands were not real Gold, but a sinister substance that could claim lives through contact!
When Jensen descended, all changes had already concluded.
His colleagues, some who had lived through decades in mere seconds, aged, withered, their hair whitening and falling, once strong bodies hunched and shriveled, eventually becoming mummified remains wrapped in ill-fitting military uniforms, lying on the ground, their deep eye sockets staring at the dark ceiling.
Some were frozen in place, maintaining the gesture of grabbing the sands with twisted, greedy smiles, even their eyes still fanatical, but their chests no longer rose and fell with breath.
Others were in a stranger state—a soldier crawling the steps trying to escape, his head dried to a skull, his upper body also shriveled, but his lower body rapidly shrunk, becoming more fragile than an infant.
No one could withstand such terrifying and drastic transformations; those who entered the Chamber of Secret earlier were all dead, the place instantly became Hell, while the gold grains continued to cover those few remaining.
At that moment, to Jensen, the golden light was no longer beautiful. It became the most sinister, most incomprehensible Curse.
Jensen covered his face, suppressed the urge to cry aloud, cautiously, step by step, retreated.
Vid's gaze had to withdraw from the Chamber of Secret, then he noticed something peculiar by its side.
Vid turned his gaze, slightly stunned, then his pupils contracted rapidly, his heart nearly bursting out of his chest!
Small handprints and footprints extended from the doorway, yet outside the door, there was no baby... just a fist-sized chunk of bloody flesh!
The few-second image flickered past, quickly shifting to the ground scene, where the indistinct commanding officer swung his arm forcefully, shouting loudly, "Fire!"
"Boom boom boom boom boom..."
Meteor-like bullet heads dragged flames, rushing into the underground corridor.
The officer seemingly let out a satisfactory low chuckle. For some reason, in the realm of memory, this laughter was exceptionally clear.
Jensen, soot-covered, quietly stood aside, witnessing this scene although still visibly frightened, but much calmer than before, as if numb, or as if he matured instantly.
Boom—!!!
A violent explosion suddenly came from underground, the entire ground trembled, fire and dense smoke burst out from the basement entrance, engulfing everything!
Jensen and the other surviving soldiers were pushed back by the shockwave, Jensen accidentally missed a step, screamed miserably, and fell directly down the steps along with a fellow blonde soldier.
As Jensen got up, he naturally turned to look, then froze:
The blonde soldier, originally in his early twenties, now had broad shoulders, wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, looking every bit around forty.
"Hahaha, with enough firepower, any monster can be killed!"
The blonde soldier said merrily, reaching out, "What's wrong, leg injured? ... Why are you crying?"
Jensen looked at the now fifty-like blonde soldier, tearfully, "We'll die... All of us will die... No one can escape..."
"Scared senseless?"
The blonde soldier muttered.
He turned to look at his officer, only to find amid the ruined rubble from the explosion, wisps of golden sand particles drifting out!
"Damn it! Officer, it's not over!" The blonde soldier shouted loudly, raising his gun to shoot, but this feeble combat yielded no response, only his own gunshots echoed through the building.
"Officer! Henderson! Oliver! Robert! Damian!"
The blonde soldier shouted his comrades' names yet received no response. An ominous feeling surged in his heart, reaching to push the unmoving officer, but he halted his hand mid-air.
He saw the wrinkles on his hand, the bulging veins, and numerous dark spots, plunged into utmost despair, yet laughed.
"Ahaha... So, I'm also..."
The gun clanged to the ground, and the blonde soldier died standing.
Jensen hesitated no more, no longer caring if the golden sands might cling to him, he turned tail and ran, crying and howling as he dashed out of the building, then collided with someone.
"Ah!"
The person screamed as they flew away, smacked to the ground like a flattened gingerbread man. His nose broke, blood flowed down his bridge, looking especially miserable.
"What happened? Why does it seem like someone's screaming?"
The person hit sat up, holding his nose as if not yet understanding, looking curiously at Jensen asking, "Which batch are you from? I haven't seen you before?"