Chapter 016: The Mysterious Reminder

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“Go over every inch of the area. Don’t miss a single detail, and pay attention to anything unusual.” Hawkeye turned to Qian Cangyi.

Qian Cangyi nodded and headed to the right, beginning his search along the circular clearing.

As the seconds passed, Qian Cangyi looked up at the horizon, growing increasingly anxious.

The two of them went around the clearing again and again, yet there was still no sign of the Death Sacrifice Stele.

“Wait... the rain...”

“If the Death Sacrifice Stele is invisible, the rain could reveal its location.”

A new idea suddenly occurred to Qian Cangyi, though he knew the chances were slim.

If rain really could expose the stele’s location, they would have found it while circling the clearing earlier.

The rain soaked their hair and clothes before dripping onto the ground.

Qian Cangyi forced his eyes wide, unwilling to overlook the slightest detail.

Yet apart from the places where he and Hawkeye stood, the rain showed no obvious change anywhere else.

That meant the Death Sacrifice Stele was not in the clearing.

Suddenly, Hawkeye turned and looked at Qian Cangyi. His gaze was calm, yet it made Qian Cangyi deeply uncomfortable.

It was the gaze of someone who seemed to see through everything, like a warrior who had licked blood from the edge of a blade and calmly faced his own fate.

“The duration of the special item has ended,” Hawkeye said in an even voice, without the slightest trace of panic.

Qian Cangyi lowered his head and looked at his arm. The golden traces were gone.

On their way to the clearing, no matter how heavily the rain had washed over them, the golden grains of sand had not changed at all, as though they had been stuck to his arm.

Now the golden grains had vanished, which meant the special item’s protection had disappeared as well.

Qian Cangyi slowly turned his head toward Yu Xi Village.

The view before him had not changed, yet he could sense the shadows rushing toward them.

A streak of red lightning flashed through the clouds. The rain grew heavier, and the drops struck his face like pellets, stinging painfully.

Qian Cangyi raised his left hand to his forehead and narrowed his eyes. Exhausted in both body and mind, he felt his legs trembling beneath him and had to take a step back to keep his balance.

Thunder rumbled overhead, followed by another flash of lightning.

Qian Cangyi widened his eyes.

He saw the shadows gathered together slowly moving toward them, like executioners preparing to carry out a sentence.

And Qian Cangyi and Hawkeye were the prisoners on the execution ground.

“Hawkeye, you must have a way, right?” Qian Cangyi shouted. They had already been exposed, so there was no point worrying about being discovered by the shadows.

Hawkeye said nothing and made no movement. He merely watched Qian Cangyi in silence.

“Say something! How did you survive before? Maybe we can find some clues!” Qian Cangyi shouted as he walked toward Hawkeye.

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Hawkeye finally spoke.

“It was completely different. In the previous film, there were no clues. This time, there are clues, but following them still doesn’t lead us to the source.”

“The chain has been broken in the middle. Unless we find a way to reconnect it.”

But those were not the words Qian Cangyi wanted to hear.

“What way? Do you have another special item? Just... just hold on a little longer. Maybe we can still find it.” Qian Cangyi dragged his exhausted legs forward.

“I only had one special item. I already used it.” Hawkeye still wore the same expression.

The shadows had arrived in the clearing without a sound. They spread out, surrounding the two of them.

This time, there was no special item left to save them.

“Where in the world is the Death Sacrifice Stele?” Qian Cangyi could not help raising his head and roaring.

Red lightning once again illuminated the sky and the clearing.

Figures flickered around the edge of the clearing. Judging from their clothing, they were almost certainly villagers.

The Death Sacrifice was gradually transforming them. That was why they could see the villagers of Yu Xi Village, even if only for an instant.

Qian Cangyi glanced back. The shadows were closing in.

“Stay calm. Stay calm!” Qian Cangyi began taking deep breaths.

Though panic had nearly overwhelmed him, he continued trying to convince himself to remain composed.

“How am I supposed to stay calm? I’m about to die!” Qian Cangyi ran toward the center of the clearing.

The clearing was quite large, and the center would obviously give him the greatest amount of time before the final attack reached him.

Qian Cangyi wanted to live, even if only for one more second.

The rain battered his face. The exhaustion he had accumulated surged over him like a tide, compounded by the despair he could not shake.

Qian Cangyi simply closed his eyes, allowing himself a brief rest. Even a few seconds would be enough.

He was too tired.

After only a few steps, Qian Cangyi suddenly stumbled and nearly fell to the ground.

Watching Qian Cangyi brace himself with both hands against the ground, Hawkeye said, “Falling on level ground won’t improve your character rating. If anything, it will lower it.”

Qian Cangyi dropped to one knee and looked back at the place where he had almost fallen. His left foot throbbed with pain.

The ground was perfectly flat. There was not even a small stone. Under normal circumstances, no one could have tripped there.

The strange occurrence made him forget his immediate danger, and his mind began racing.

“It felt as though my left foot struck something.”

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Qian Cangyi opened his eyes wide and reached out with his right hand, completely ignoring the approaching shadows.

“It definitely wasn’t an illusion.”

His right hand swept through the spot where he had fallen, but he touched nothing.

“There has to be something different about it. It can’t simply be invisible.”

“Could it be...”

Qian Cangyi recalled what had just happened. The overwhelming exhaustion and despair forced him to close his eyes.

Closing his eyes was fundamentally different from what he had done before.

Li Chenxi’s strange illness had also caught his attention. Whenever it flared up, she would lose her sight.

Qian Cangyi suddenly felt his heartbeat accelerate, as though his heart were about to leap out of his throat.

His right hand continued making the same motion, but this time he kept his eyes closed.

As his hand swept through the air, it struck a hard object. The impact hurt, but Qian Cangyi paid no attention and hurriedly reached out with his left hand as well.

At the same time, a description of the Death Sacrifice Stele from the diary surfaced in his mind.

A rectangular prism, roughly as tall as an ordinary chair, about as thick as the width of a thumb, with strange symbols carved into its surface.

His hands were now resting on the hard object. Its thickness and height matched the description exactly.

The thing that had tripped him was the Death Sacrifice Stele!

“I found it! You have to close your eyes to touch the Death Sacrifice Stele!” he shouted.

In Hawkeye’s eyes, Qian Cangyi was half-kneeling on the ground, groping at the empty air in front of him with both hands.

“What do you mean?” Hawkeye looked somewhat surprised.

Qian Cangyi had no intention of explaining. The moment he shouted those words, the shadows around them stopped advancing slowly and accelerated instead.

There were many hammers scattered across the clearing, but none near Qian Cangyi.

Just as he was about to run over and grab one, Hawkeye’s voice rang out.

“Catch!”

Qian Cangyi turned his head and saw a hammer land about a yard in front of him, close enough to pick up with a simple bend of his waist.

The shadows were almost upon him. In three seconds, they would reach his feet.

But Qian Cangyi needed only two.

“Ahhh!”

He gripped the hammer with both hands, closed his eyes, and summoned every ounce of his strength before bringing it crashing down upon the hidden Death Sacrifice Stele.