The chamber's torches flickered wildly as Li Wei reached toward the bone-white mask resting atop the stone platform. The air felt thick, suffocating—almost expectant. Behind him, Zhang steadied his spear, Peng held his breath, Yao scanned the shadows, and Yan Xiu watched with razor focus.
Li Wei's fingertips brushed the surface.
Cold.
Smooth.
Lifeless.
But the moment he lifted it—
CLICK.
A soft mechanism triggered beneath the platform.
Everyone tensed.
"Trap?" Zhang whispered.
"No," Yan Xiu murmured. "He wouldn't kill him here. Not yet."
Beneath the mask lay a folded strip of black cloth tied around a thin metal rod—almost like a scroll. Li Wei picked it up carefully. The metal was warm, as though it had been waiting for him.
He slowly unfurled the cloth.
Words were carved into the rod itself in fine, deliberate strokes:
"You take your first steps well."
Li Wei's blood chilled.
A second line:
"But you were not chosen to be a builder."
Another line, deeper—cut as though by a trembling hand:
"You were chosen to replace me."
Zhang cursed softly. "Replace… him?! Madness."
Peng shook his head furiously. "No. No. No—this is insane."
Yao whispered, "Then why the tests? Why leave messages? Why call him back again and again?"
Yan Xiu exhaled slowly. "Because the Hunter-General wants to measure him. Break him. Mold him."
Li Wei stared at the final line.
The deepest.
The darkest.
"If you wish to understand your place… seek the second chamber."
Below it, etched in almost invisible strokes:
"She knows the path."
Li Wei's throat tightened.
She.
Mei Lin.
Yan Xiu's eyes narrowed dangerously. "What does it say about her?"
Li Wei didn't answer.
He simply folded the cloth and tucked it inside his robe.
The mask stared back at him, hollow-eyed.
Then—
THUMP.
A low, distant pulse echoed through the tunnel.
Zhang turned, spear raised. "What was that?"
Yan Xiu's eyes widened slightly. "A signal."
"From who?" Peng asked.
Yan Xiu inhaled sharply. "Not us."
Suddenly—
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
The sound grew louder—rhythmic, steady, like drums deep underground.
"No," Yao whispered. "That's footsteps."
Massive ones.
Approaching.
Yan Xiu grabbed Li Wei. "We have to move. NOW."
Li Wei nodded sharply, turning toward the far exit carved into the wall—the only passage leading deeper.
But as they approached, the floor trembled beneath their feet.
A voice echoed from the shadows.
Soft.
Mocking.
"You solved the first test quickly."
The team froze.
Zhang lifted his spear shakily. "He's here?"
But the voice wasn't coming from ahead.
Or behind.
Or above.
It came from everywhere—ciasting through the chamber as though from the walls themselves.
Peng's face went pale. "It's… an echo formation."
Li Wei swallowed. "Hunter-General—what do you want?"
The voice chuckled.
"What all hunters want."
"A worthy challenge."
Yan Xiu snarled, "Coward! Show yourself!"
Silence.
Then, a single whisper at Li Wei's back:
"Not yet."
Li Wei spun around—nothing.
The voice continued, drifting like smoke.
"Go to the second chamber. If you survive that, we will meet."
A pause.
"And if you do not…"
"Your death will tell me all I need to know."
The footsteps thundered again—closer.
Yan Xiu grabbed Li Wei's wrist. "MOVE!"
The team sprinted toward the only exit as torches along the chamber walls extinguished one by one.
FWIP.
Darkness swallowed half the room.
FWIP.
Three-quarters of the room plunged into pitch-black shadow.
Zhang shouted, "Hurry!"
Li Wei felt the darkness creeping behind them like a living thing.
At the tunnel mouth, he risked one glance back.
A single torch remained lit—right above the stone platform.
And in its glow, a shadow stood.
Tall.
Still.
Masked.
Watching him.
Li Wei's breath caught.
Yan Xiu yanked him forward. "Inside! GO!"
The team rushed into the narrow passage just as—
BOOM.
The chamber sealed behind them.
Sealed with the Hunter-General still inside.
Or… gone.
No one could tell.
The tunnel ahead descended sharply—slick stone beneath their boots, stale air thick with dust. The ceiling pressed low in some places, forcing them to crouch.
Zhang muttered, "Tell me again why we're going deeper?"
Li Wei raised the metal rod.
"The message says the second chamber holds answers."
Yan Xiu grunted. "Or another trap."
Yao scanned the walls. "Likely both."
Li Wei finally spoke, voice steady but cold:
"He wants us deeper."
Peng whispered, "Why? Why us?"
Li Wei answered quietly:
"Because the first chamber wasn't to kill us."
They turned to him.
"It was to measure us."
Yan Xiu nodded grimly. "Then the next chamber will be worse."
The tunnel began to widen.
Torches appeared—unlit.
Symbols adorned the walls—more complex.
And a faint glow—unnatural, pale—seeped from ahead.
Yao whispered, "The second chamber…"
Zhang readied his spear.
Peng whimpered.
Yan Xiu stepped forward. "Stay behind me."
Li Wei exhaled once.
Then stepped through the archway into the second chamber.
---
Teaser:
In the second chamber, the team finds something unexpected—living prisoners... and a deadly test that forces Li Wei to choose who survives.
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