Iron Bull taucht wieder auf

Kapitel 294

"Help...me..." He realized his efforts were in vain and could only turn to me with difficulty.

I slowly shook my head: "Unless you tell me which is the correct route to escape this space?" There are so many openings, there is simply no time or energy to try them all, and the ice is spreading so fast that even if Suren and I exert our inner strength to the maximum, we will eventually run out of energy.

“Okay, I’ll tell you, but even if you find the right entrance, there’s still a more complex maze in the middle of the passage. I’ve tried, and many smart people have tried, but it’s impossible to get through and find the only exit…” He turned his neck with difficulty, looking in the direction where Suren was standing.

I dragged him by the arm and ran quickly toward Suren, the ice scraping against the ground with a screeching sound.

At this moment, white frost gradually seeped out from the ground, and I felt a bone-chilling cold surging from all directions.

“Brother Feng, the exit is at the apex of the pentagram. We can leave from there.” Suren’s furrowed brows finally relaxed.

"Yes...that's it, take me with you...let's leave..." The illusion demon grew weaker and weaker, and he gave up struggling. His neck was immediately covered by a thin layer of ice. "I don't want to die, I don't want to die..." If he stopped speaking, his mouth would probably be sealed shut soon, and he would never be able to speak again.

"Brother Feng, shall we go?" Suren turned around, a strange light flashing in his eyes.

I suddenly hesitated for a moment and asked cautiously, "Suren, do you feel anything unusual about your body?" That radiance didn't belong to her; it seemed to belong to someone else—Tengjia. I remembered the last scene in Youhuang Water County when I saw Tengjia's life fading away; she had also suddenly become radiant, as if she had suddenly glimpsed the true meaning of life.

“Me? I’m fine. Let’s go, let’s not delay any longer.” Suren’s gaze drifted towards the enormous spacecraft.

Now, it is white from top to bottom, encased in a thick layer of solid ice. Undoubtedly, its interior is also filled with ice blocks with enormous expansion force. Under the combined pressure from inside and outside, the spacecraft's metal exterior emits strange "creaking" sounds, as if it might shatter into pieces at any moment.

“I’ll lead the way—” She fastened her military watch to her wrist and then ran toward the slide that connected to the cave entrance.

My heart sank. Given Su Lun's combat experience, it was impossible for him to use such skillful buckling techniques. This watch came from a unique channel in the Swiss watch industry. To ensure that the soldiers would not loosen it when wearing it, it used four layers of Velcro with different directions and techniques. It would take an ordinary person at least half a minute to put on the watch.

When we were in the Egyptian desert, Tenga was wearing the same watch. I also witnessed her using a simple and effective method to deal with this troublesome watch strap. Whether she was taking it off or putting it on, it only took two seconds.

The way Suren just put on her watch was exactly the same as the way Tengjia used in the past.

"What does all this prove?" I couldn't help but feel a surge of heat in my head, a despair as if the sky were falling and the earth were collapsing. If Suren was not the original "Suren," but rather a vessel inhabited by another soul, wouldn't this recurring nightmare unfold once again?

"Please... take me away, I swear I will never hurt the Earth again... people, I swear..." The ice block imprisoning the illusion demon grew larger and larger, gradually showing a tendency to become a large ice ball.

Suren had already rushed onto the slide, using both hands and feet to climb upwards with an extremely skillful climbing technique. This "Mount Fuji climbing technique" was something Suren had never learned; it was said to be a secret technique that Japanese ninjas never passed on to outsiders. In every respect, she was "Fujika," not "Suren."

With two loud "cracks" and "booms," right behind us, the spacecraft was split in two by the ice, tilted to the left and right, and crashed heavily to the ground, causing another violent tremor.

Part 5: The Source of Energy

— Chapter 7 — The 361 Cubic Maze —

Without further hesitation, I bent down, picked up the illusion demon, raised it above my head, and chased after Suren.

Escaping with a puck weighing over 100 kilograms might be the most irrational thing to do, but my idea was to get more secrets out of him. If the spacecraft was completely destroyed, he would lose his last support and become a prisoner of me and Suren, naturally revealing the information we needed.

Capturing a Martian alive would be an immense achievement for humanity's scientific research into extraterrestrial life. More importantly, the secret of Japan's "Underwater Tomb" needs to be unraveled through the illusion demon. My brother went to that mysterious underwater world, but where did he go afterward? In an instant, I thought of many useful clues, which is why I went to the extra trouble to escape with this ice ball.

Suren had reached the end of the slide. Looking up, she immediately turned and shouted, "Brother Feng, drop that ice puck! There's a cliff here, over ten meters high. We definitely won't be able to escape with it, and the situation is so critical! Look—"

She pointed behind her, and I could already feel the intense chill creeping in.

"He's crucial; we need him to unlock the secrets of the 'Underwater Tomb.'" I didn't have time to elaborate; I simply made the decision decisively. Escaping this atmosphere was important, but the other missions we carried were equally crucial, and to do our best, we had to take on more dangers.

Suren sighed, gave up, and leaped up, using his "gecko wall-climbing skill" to slowly climb upwards.

I placed the ice puck at my feet and rested for a moment. The illusion demon was completely encased in ice, which was very strange; it was like an inflated balloon, its volume increasing infinitely. If an ordinary person were in such a predicament, they would probably have stopped breathing long ago. I could only hope that the Martian had a long enough lifespan to be able to stop breathing for an extended period without suffocating.

The world beneath the slide is being rapidly covered by ice, the ice blocks rising faster and faster like water lilies in spring. In other words, the scene is like a drowning house, the water level rising higher and higher, creating a sense of oppressive pressure. Except now, what's approaching isn't flowing water, but solid, bluish ice.

By the time Suren climbed the cliff, the ice had already covered the overturned and shattered spacecraft, and a vast expanse of white ice field appeared before my eyes.

“Brother Feng, I’ve already carved a few small pits in the rock face so we can hold onto them. Can you break the ice and carry him up?” Suren called to me from above. We didn’t have any tools to hang from; otherwise, a lifeline over ten meters long would have been enough.

I looked at the ice puck at my feet. If there was no other way, I had to do as Suren said. I had to break the ice to save him while also being wary of his retaliation once he woke up. I'd heard the story of "The Farmer and the Snake" hundreds of times; I couldn't make the same mistake again.

With a "whoosh," the ice beneath the slide suddenly cracked, sending white shards of ice flying everywhere. The young man, who had clearly died, leaped up and ran towards the slide beneath my feet. He was as fast as a nimble fox; it was truly unbelievable that such a physically robust man could display such superb lightness skills, making him a top-tier martial artist.

"Surlen, be careful! That dead man has come back to life—" I only had time to warn Surlen above before the young man floated past me, as if springs were attached to his knees, and soared into the air, quickly disappearing into the distance amidst Surlen's exclamation. Only then did the shards of ice that had been shaken off his body crash down from the cliff top with a clatter.

"Suren, are you alright?" That was my biggest concern.

Suren replied, "Thank goodness. How could he suddenly come back to life? His lightness skill is as fast as a ghost, and he's been heading straight for the tunnel ahead. Brother Feng, does he also know the way to retreat? Come on up, let's follow him right away."

The young man was indeed dead; when I examined his body, I found absolutely no signs of life. Therefore, I suspect that some soul had taken over his body.

"Could it be an illusion demon?" I stared coldly at the ice puck.

The illusion demon huddled inside the ice, its body curled up tightly, its eyes half-open, making it impossible to tell whether it was awake or asleep. If my fears come true, the people inside the "Asian Gear" outside are in for trouble again.

With two loud cracking sounds, the slide beneath my feet suddenly snapped and shattered into three sections. The ice ball imprisoning the illusion demon immediately plummeted downwards, crashing into the icy plain. Fortunately, as my foot slipped, I activated my inner strength and managed to hold onto the stone wall. Unfortunately, the ice ball fell right into it, instantly merging with the icy plain.

"Brother Wind, hurry up! The cliff is starting to freeze over." Suren reminded me, and after climbing up five times in a row, he did a somersault and stood on the top of the cliff. In the rectangular passage behind me, thin ice had already appeared, and then the thin ice thickened and spread up.

"We still couldn't bring him up. Suren, I always felt that we could uncover the secrets of the 'Underwater Tomb' through the Illusion Demon's thoughts. Now, we have to start from scratch."

I couldn't hide my disappointment. If the space beneath my feet had been filled with water instead of ice, I might have dove in and gone to great lengths to pull the illusion demon out of the water.

"But he's dead. For any living being, energy is everything. I suspect the reason this space froze is because of his death. Brother Feng, let's get out of here quickly. That soldier who just escaped is acting strangely. We mustn't cause trouble for the people from 'Asian Gear'."

Suren frowned, took my sleeve, and pulled me away from the cliff, leading me along a gray path.

Dozens of meters above our heads, there were still blue stone walls covering us. You can imagine that we were always underground, where the sun never shines, and we didn't know when we would be able to return to Guan Nan Wulang and the others.

The passageway descended all the way down, and the path beneath our feet widened, unlike what I had imagined, which led diagonally upwards towards the world of the Epang Palace.

Suren moved with great haste, as if she wanted to unleash her full potential and rush towards the end. We did indeed reach the end, but it was a vast gray plaza, blocked by a colossal skyscraper whose top was nowhere in sight. Confined by the stone walls on either side, the building stood firm, its facade covered with windows of uniform size, each measuring two meters square.

Such a building would not be too surprising if it appeared on the streets of Hong Kong Island or in downtown Cairo, but it is now in the heart of a mountain.

Looking around, this is the only way out, unless we have the wings of a bird that can soar into the sky and fly over the tall buildings.

The square was deserted, not a soul in sight, only the blue stones scattered on the ground and the black moss growing in the cracks between them. The building's exterior was a dark blue-gray, and all the windows presented an eerie, chilling silence, like the gaping maws of a monster.

"This is the labyrinth the Illusion Demon spoke of. It seems we'll have to go through some trouble to get out smoothly." I glanced back with some worry, afraid that the ever-expanding ice blocks would chase after us.

Suren calmly counted the number of windows, remained silent for five minutes, and then sighed sadly, "Brother Feng, this is a three-dimensional maze with 361 openings in each direction. If there is only one correct passage, the probability of us getting through is about one in several hundred million."

"We have no way out." I was simply stating the facts calmly.

“Yes, there’s no turning back. Brother Feng, can you completely trust me? This time, I’ll lead the way, and you follow behind, okay?” She smiled, her face full of fatigue, but she still maintained her fighting spirit and never showed any signs of slackness or frustration.

“Sulun, I trust you. You will lead the way.” I emphasized the name “Sulun”.

“Okay, let’s go.” She stood up and walked straight ahead.

We walked side by side across the empty square and entered an opening on the right. There were three small doors, about half a meter wide, to the front, left, and right of the opening, barely wide enough for a person to squeeze through sideways. Suren continued forward, passing through seven or eight doors, then suddenly turned right, climbed a small stone staircase, and entered a room on the second floor.

We were surrounded by stone, and a chilling cold emanated from every corner. Suren quickened her pace, climbing the third, fourth, and fifth floors before continuing straight ahead. She had no blueprints or other tools; she was simply navigating the stone chamber quickly, relying on her memory and intuition.

From the "Sea God's Plaque," Tengjia also gleaned a wondrous cube, a maze with 361 passages on each side, strikingly similar to the building before her. I pondered whether to expose "Suren's" true identity, opening my mouth several times only to be interrupted by her mutterings.

When we reached the tenth floor, Suren's pace slowed down noticeably, and we encountered several dead ends that were impassable.

"Suren, are you... feeling alright?" I reached out and took her hand; my dry, cold fingertips felt like they were immersed in ice water.

"It's alright, I just feel a bit of memory loss. Brother Feng, I need to sit down and rest for a while." She leaned against a corner of the wall and slowly sat down cross-legged. In the dim light reflected from the ground, I could see that her face was as pale as paper, her lips were tightly clenched, and her nostrils were flaring incessantly.

"The design principle of this maze is to extend the path that the traveler needs to traverse to the maximum extent possible, and almost every room must be visited. Next, I need you to carry me forward to conserve your energy, and you also need to trust me one hundred percent."

She spoke with her eyes closed, word by word, her face growing increasingly pale until it turned a waxy yellow.

"Do you believe me?" She opened her eyes and stared intently at me.

“I believe you, Suren.” I looked back at her, hoping to see what I wanted in her eyes. If she were “Tengjia,” what could she possibly offer me? In any case, now that I’ve entered the labyrinth, I must patiently continue until I reach a conclusion, whether right or wrong.

"Thank you." She leaned against the wall and struggled to her feet. "Carry me."

Her words became increasingly brief, her voice extremely weak.

I bent down and carried her on my back, moving slowly forward as she gestured. Her body became very light, as soft as the finest feather, making me feel as if I were in a strange dream.

The path beneath our feet grew increasingly slippery, gradually covered in frost, and the chill intensified with each step. One section of the path led down a series of steps, each step plunging us into a deeper, colder darkness, as if we were descending to the eighteenth level of hell.

"Trust me." She leaned her head against my back, her face pressed against my neck.

"I believe you," I replied softly, as if afraid of disturbing her sleep.

I couldn't see where the road ended; I just passed through door after door, dozens, hundreds of doors waiting for me in the unseen darkness. A cube of 361 by 361 rooms—that was an enormous astronomical number.

"Brother Wind, we need to hurry! If those strange ice blocks come after us and some rooms get blocked by ice, we won't be able to get out!" She struggled to lift her head and called out to the cold light reflecting off the darkness ahead. Sure enough, ice began to form on the ground and walls. After walking through a few more rooms, everything in sight was covered in ice surfaces and ice walls.

"Go down, just two more steps, and we'll reach the bottom of the maze, Brother Feng, we must... speed up..." A violent cough cut her off. I immediately accelerated, stumbling and scrambling forward on the slippery ice.

The ice blocks grew incredibly fast, blocking almost half of the easiest passageways. Fujika and I had to squeeze through sideways. Fortunately, we made it through the crucial section in time and began climbing again.

After running in the darkness for an unknown amount of time, when his strength had dropped to more than two-thirds and his voice was weak and barely audible, light finally appeared ahead.

"Suren, look ahead! We're out! We're finally out!" I couldn't help but shout.

“Yes, we’ve reached the end, Brother Feng, the very end—” she said, her voice weary as she leaned on my neck.

After passing through the four gates in a straight line, small buildings and snowfields appeared before us; this was the world of the Epang Palace.

I stumbled forward, collapsing onto the soft snow with Suren. The snow had stopped, but the remaining snow beneath me gave me an incredibly real feeling: "Finally out of the maze, finally out of the world of the illusion demons!" Struggling to look back, the intricate network of portals had become a frozen world.

If we had come out any later, we would have been trapped in ice again, just like the illusion demon, with no hope of ever getting out.

Suren lay face down, his limbs limply outstretched, his breathing barely perceptible.

“Feng… I have completed my mission and am about to leave. There are still many things to do for you regarding the ‘Underwater Tomb’. I am just a guide… Goodbye, goodbye…” She spoke haltingly, without even the strength to turn over.

I grabbed her shoulders and forcefully helped her turn over.

"Sulun, Sulun—" I called her name loudly, but at this moment my intuition told me that she was not Sulun, but the Japanese imperial princess who had run out of oil in Youhuangshui County.

“My mission is… my mission is…” Every time she moved her lips, it seemed so difficult.

Fujika himself said that his mission was to "play the highest note in the world," but now he can't even speak freely, let alone play the piano.

"Goodbye... good luck..." She never opened her eyes. Her right hand gripped a handful of snow on the ground, held it tightly, and then suddenly let go, her body straightening up instantly.

I froze, my thoughts in disarray: "Was it Tengjia or Suren who died? Could Suren also be—"

With only a second's delay, I immediately gathered my energy and placed my palms on her temples, directly channeling my true energy into her body. Regardless of whether Tengjia's consciousness was still within her, I had to restore her awareness first.

A few minutes later, she woke up and immediately sat up, her eyes shining brightly: "Brother Feng, what happened?" She looked around, wiped the snowflakes off her face, and pointed towards the cave: "I think that young man rushed in a while ago. We have to hurry and follow him to save him. His body has been possessed by the ghost of Tensho Jubei. Let's go!"

While I was still in a daze, she rushed over, grabbed my left wrist, and sprinted away, disappearing through the buildings and heading straight for the cave.

This is the true nature of Suren: to spot the most crucial entry point amidst a myriad of problems and act on it without hesitation or retreat.

"Sulen—" I shouted, and the wind whipped up snow and filled my mouth, choking me immediately.

"What?" She rushed into the cave first, ran her right hand across the stone wall, and cried out in horror, "Brother Feng, look, the stone wall is starting to frost over too! It seems that the freezing phenomenon caused by the death of the Illusion Demon will continue indefinitely, and I don't know when it will end!"

At the end of the passageway, a burst of gunfire suddenly erupted. It was the sound of five submachine guns, two heavy machine guns, and five shotguns firing in unison, but it stopped abruptly after only a dozen seconds.

"Something's wrong, the killing has already begun!" I sensed something was wrong and the shooting stopped abruptly. There was only one reason: the shooter had been killed in one shot.