After seeing Sarah out, Jones returned to the conference room and patted Byrne on the shoulder, his voice full of praise. "Good lad, well done! It's all thanks to you this time; otherwise, we might not have secured this project."
Other colleagues swarmed around him, layering on their own compliments. After all, this project was no small feat; being able to gain Sarah's approval meant Byrne's contribution was decisive.
Byrne smiled and waved them off modestly. "You're too kind. This was a team effort. I couldn't have done it alone."
Jones was in high spirits and made an immediate decision. "To celebrate the preliminary approval of the project, tonight's on me! I'm taking everyone to Wangjiang Pavilion in the south of the city for a big feast."
"Hooray! Thanks, Jones!" The room erupted in cheers, and the pressure of the past few days seemed to vanish in an instant.
However, Byrne frowned and instinctively felt the phone in his pocket. 5:48 PM was exactly when the next "Darkness" would begin. He decided it was best not to attend the dinner.
"Old Jones, I'm really sorry, but I won't be able to make it to dinner. I just took half a day off, and I won't have enough time."
Jones blinked, startled, but then nodded understandingly. "No problem, no problem. There will be plenty of chances for dinners later. You go ahead and take care of your business." In the company, Jones already had a good personal relationship with Byrne, and with the project preliminary settled, he naturally wouldn't make things difficult for him over such a small matter.
Back in his office, Byrne quickly opened his computer to record the revisions suggested by Sarah. He drafted a simple outline of the modification ideas and sent it to the team members, instructing them to proceed as requested. After finishing these tasks, he packed his laptop and left the company.
Time flew by, and soon it was 5:30 PM.
Byrne finished an early dinner and lay directly on his bed, waiting for the second "Darkness" to arrive. He didn't take a nap; instead, he kept his eyes open, staring at the ceiling as he replayed the events of the first Darkness in his mind.
Time passed second by second. The bedroom was so quiet he could hear his own heartbeat.
5:48 PM arrived.
Without any warning, the light before him was instantly swallowed by a thick, heavy darkness. Unlike the previous time, this darkness felt weightier, like congealed ink. Even the light from the lamps around him was completely suppressed, with not a single ray escaping.
Simultaneously, a powerful pulling force struck. Byrne felt his consciousness being pulled from his body again, falling into a freezing space.
When the sensation of being pulled finally vanished, Byrne found that he was still in a lying position. However, the sensation beneath him had changed from the soft mattress to a hard stone surface.
Hmm? Could I still be in that crack in the stone wall?
With this thought, Byrne immediately reached out to feel his surroundings. His fingertips touched a rough, cold stone wall. The uneven texture was identical to the crack where he had hidden last time. It seemed that after the first instance, subsequent entries weren't random teleports; he would return to his last location.
Byrne didn't go out immediately. Instead, he tilted his head to listen. After confirming that the creature was gone, he let out a shot of relief. He fumbled with his right hand and grasped the stone piece again.
Phew, good. This thing is still here.
As long as he had this, he didn't need to fear that monster. Unfortunately, the stone's light didn't persist; it only activated when the Night Demon was nearby. For now, his eyes still saw nothing.
Sigh, if only this stone could stay lit constantly.
With a helpless sigh, Byrne gripped the stone and crawled out of the crack, continuing to grope his way along the side of the stone wall. He pressed against the rough surface, moving with extreme caution. The darkness wrapped around him like a physical substance; he could see no light and hear nothing but his own footsteps.
The warm touch of the stone was his only comfort. After walking for an unknown amount of time, Byrne's footsteps suddenly halted. It wasn't because he had hit an obstacle or heard the dragging sound of a Night Demon—it was because the sensation under his feet had changed.
With his next step, the ground was no longer soft soil, but hard stone slabs.
Strange, why did the ground change?
Byrne stopped immediately. He tucked the stone into his pocket, crouched down, and felt the ground with his hands. The stone slabs were biting cold, showing slight signs of wear on the surface. The edges were regular and neat—obviously not a natural formation.
A man-made stone path?
When he was exploring the soil area earlier, the surroundings had been an empty, void-like darkness, except for the stone wall and the crack. He hadn't found even a trace of an artificial structure, let alone a stone path.
Byrne didn't stand up immediately. He remained in a crouch, slowly expanding his search area. As he felt further, he discovered that the stone slabs were uniform in size—roughly twenty centimeters square. The joints were tight and seamless, as if they had been meticulously polished.
Feeling along the direction the path extended, he found that these slabs weren't laid randomly but followed a straight trajectory forward, aligning exactly with the direction he had been walking along the stone wall.
It seems this path was built along the wall. Where does it lead?
Byrne stood up, brushed the dust off his hands, and decided to follow the path. After walking dozens of steps, his right foot suddenly met empty air, but he quickly stabilized himself and didn't fall.
Testing the area with his foot, Byrne discovered that the drop was actually a step leading downward. The steps weren't wide, barely enough for one person to pass.
A downward stone staircase. To go, or not to go?
During the first Darkness, he hadn't gone far before being ambushed by the Night Demon. Now, after walking for this long, he increasingly felt that this dark space was more complex than he had imagined. Venturing blindly into an unknown area was undoubtedly putting himself in a more dangerous position.
But on second thought, staying in one place wasn't a solution either.
Forget it, I'll go take a look.
Anyway, he had the stone. Even if he encountered the Night Demon, it wouldn't matter.
Having made up his mind, Byrne pulled the stone from his pocket, gripped it once more, and carefully began his descent. He deliberately slowed his pace, stopping after every step to test the ground with his toe, only moving forward once he was sure of his footing.
After descending dozens of steps, the ground ahead leveled out again. Once stabilized, Byrne began to grope along the edges of the stone wall once more. A few minutes later, he returned to his starting point.
After some exploration, he realized that the staircase led to a sealed underground stone chamber.
An actual stone room. What could be in here?
Driven by curiosity, Byrne began a systematic search of the area. Before long, his footsteps faltered as his foot kicked something.