Volume 3 Chapter 26: An Old Acquaintance

Ahead were two severely injured, dying Phantom Demons of a type Qin Lun had never seen before. These Phantom Demons looked like octopuses, with big smooth oval heads and eight suction-cup-covered tentacles underneath their bodies.

One of these Phantom Demons had a huge hole in its head, with dark green blood flowing from the wound. The other one had almost all its tentacles torn off by brute force, looking utterly miserable.

Qin Lun only glanced a few times before quickly pulling his head back. The doctor sat cross-legged on the ground, his breathing so faint that he seemed to reduce his life signs as much as possible, almost like a stone statue.

Judging by their appearance, these octopus-like Phantom Demons were clearly specialized guards configured for this Skeleton Labyrinth. The labyrinth’s corridors were narrow and filled with many trap Phantom Demons. There was no need for agile types like Blade Ashigaru or Three Eyes, nor for large-bodied ones like Fuyue or Kirutosumu.

These octopus Phantom Demons had eight flexible and soft tentacles, which were more effective in such cramped spaces. Although they moved a bit slowly, they were more familiar with the terrain than their enemies and could completely surround, chase, and cut off escape routes.

To deal with the combination of these octopus Phantom Demons and trap Phantom Demons, one’s own combat power needed to be at least two levels higher than the defenders.

At first glance at the octopus Phantom Demons, Qin Lun knew he couldn’t handle them. Plus, he hadn’t encountered any other “hives” along the way. The doctor now understood that someone had passed through this corridor before him and cleared out those Phantom Demon traps.

Since the two octopus Phantom Demons weren’t dead yet, there was only one explanation…

As Qin Lun calmed his mind and held his breath, he faintly heard the sound of fighting in the distance. However, the fighting sounds lasted less than a minute before quiet returned.

At the same time, two figures suddenly appeared beside the two dying octopus Phantom Demons. One had dark skin and a burly body, looking like a big black tower. The other had ape-like arms, a wasp-like waist, a face like fine jade, and handsome features as if Pan An had been reborn.

“Hmph, the Phantom Demons are attacking Paris in force. The outer labyrinth of this base really is much weaker in defense. If the boss hadn’t been so cautious, our ‘Wind Demons’ wouldn’t be so behind on mission progress,” the big black tower said in a sonorous, powerful voice.

“Pan Hu, the boss has his reasons. We just follow orders!” the handsome young man frowned slightly and suddenly looked up toward the corridor. “Let’s go, we need to hurry!”

“Lou Ying, do these two Phantom Demons go to you, or to…” The big black tower Pan Hu looked at the two dying Phantom Demons and rubbed his hands together.

“No time to deal with them. Let’s complete the mission first!” Lou Ying said lightly. “Don’t lose the big for the small!”

“…Okay, okay! I’ll listen to you!” Pan Hu was slightly startled, then grinned and disappeared with Lou Ying at the other end of the corridor.

Their voices were clear to hear. But as they left, sweat slowly seeped from Qin Lun’s forehead, his breathing became even fainter, and he focused inwardly, almost as if stopping his heart from beating.

“Whew!” Over ten minutes later, a light breeze suddenly blew through the corridor just around the corner from Qin Lun. Lou Ying and Pan Hu reappeared beside the two octopus Phantom Demons.

“Pretty boy, was your sensing wrong?” Pan Hu said suspiciously.

“Maybe! The smell of blood is too strong here. I’m not completely sure,” Lou Ying touched his nose, then suddenly got angry. “Charcoal head, who are you calling pretty boy!”

“Haha, aren’t you fair enough?” the big black tower Pan Hu teased with a laugh.

“Whatever, I’m not fighting with you. After this mission, I’ll settle the score with you!” Lou Ying’s fair face turned bright red as he swallowed his anger. “Quickly finish off these two Phantom Demons. Let’s move to the next scene!”

“Hah, as if I’m scared of you!” Pan Hu shrugged and turned his back, muttering under his breath.

The two dying octopus Phantom Demons finally turned into two piles of ashes. Lou Ying and Pan Hu left again.

After waiting another twenty-plus minutes, Qin Lun was fairly sure they wouldn’t return, so he slowly stood up and emerged from around the corner. He went to the two ash piles and searched, finding that the Phantom Demon Pearls from the two octopus Phantom Demons had already been taken.

The doctor didn’t leave immediately. He carefully searched this corridor and, upon finding a three-way fork, his eyes lit up and he hurried in a certain direction.

After turning through several corridors and reaching a dead end, Qin Lun finally smiled. A Space-Time Portal, identical to the one he used to enter the labyrinth, appeared before him.

Qin Lun took the Time-Space Energy Collector from his Storage Space and tossed it into the spacetime vortex, then waited quietly.

Actually, when he encountered Lou Ying and Pan Hu, he knew they were either Apostles or Reincarnators—certainly not Oni Warriors from the Phantom Demon World. Although Phantom Demons didn’t leave bodies after death, the ashes remained. By observing carefully, one could follow the clues and find the Time-Space Node through which Lou Ying and Pan Hu entered the labyrinth.

If they were Reincarnators rather than Apostles, Qin Lun guessed they wouldn’t destroy the Time-Space Node, which would naturally benefit him for free.

However, from their reactions, their strength was high—they almost discovered Qin Lun’s presence. The situation just now was extremely dangerous. If the doctor had turned and run, they would have likely noticed him.

Fortunately, the two thought highly of themselves and only used Perception without personally coming to check. This allowed Qin Lun, covered in Phantom Demon flesh and blood, to narrowly escape.

“Apostle 70053, you have collected two low-quality Time-Space Cores. The current mission progress is 9/100. Apostle 70053’s contribution is 2/9. Destroyed two Time-Space Nodes in the Skeleton Labyrinth. Obtained 0.224% World Exploration Degree. Has not yet severed the spacetime connection between this Phantom Demon base and modern Paris. Conditions for improving mission evaluation not met. No other additional rewards.”

Qin Lun contentedly put away the Time-Space Energy Collector. A few minutes later, he returned to the three-way fork where he had encountered the two Reincarnators.

Remembering the two Reincarnators’ conversation, Qin Lun frowned slightly and looked in the direction they had left. After a long while, he sighed regretfully—these two were too strong. Following behind them to scavenge would be like walking a tightrope.

The risk wasn’t worth the reward. No matter how strong his curiosity, he couldn’t do something so suicidal!

Having figured this out, Qin Lun turned and ran in the direction opposite to them. However, he found it strange that no wasp Phantom Demons of the original type appeared in this direction either.

After just turning through two corridors, Qin Lun slowed his pace and became alert. It seemed someone had also cleared out the Phantom Demon traps in this direction.

Finally, after rounding another corridor, Qin Lun found a lone Phantom Demon at this three-way fork. But when he saw this Phantom Demon, a trace of surprise crossed his face.

This Phantom Demon was different from ordinary ones. Although its arms had transformed into sickle shapes and its skin showed a dry dark brown color, its head was exactly like a human’s. From its unsteady gait, it was easy to tell it had only recently become a Phantom Demon.

Most importantly, Qin Lun recognized this Phantom Demon. It wore a striking sanitation worker’s uniform. It was one of the new Reincarnators who entered the Phantom Demon World with Qin Lun—the middle-aged man in the sanitation uniform.

Qin Lun raised an eyebrow. Actually, among the three newcomers who left with Matthew and the other Veterans, he had the highest hopes for this middle-aged man. He hadn’t expected him to be the first to die here.

“Roar!” Seeing the doctor emerge from hiding, the middle-aged man transformed into a blade mantis Phantom Demon turned around and roared, charging at him. However, its ankle seemed injured; not only was its movement slow, but it even staggered as it walked.

Qin Lun didn’t kill it immediately. Instead, he circled around it, carefully examining its wounds. Once a Phantom Demon was killed and turned to ash, some clues on its body would be lost.

“The fatal wound is on the chest, and the leg injury…” Qin Lun sighed slightly. As a medical expert and Dissector, he could deduce the weapon from the wounds.

The middle-aged man’s chest had a bowl-shaped, festering wound that reminded him of the octopus Phantom Demons with circular suction cups on their tentacles. But the wound on the Phantom Demon’s ankle was different—only a small cut like a baby’s mouth.

This wound was on the heel and had damaged the tendons. However, the cut was shallow and didn’t completely sever the tendons. Clearly, the attacker wasn’t a Phantom Demon but a culprit with very little strength. This immediately made Qin Lun think of the gaudily dressed girl among the new Reincarnators.

The doctor could easily imagine the scene: Matthew’s group entered the labyrinth and encountered the octopus Phantom Demons here. Probably outnumbered, they fought while retreating, and the girl with the poorest stamina fell behind. Maybe she was even knocked to the ground by an octopus Phantom Demon.

At that point, this middle-aged man likely couldn’t bear to abandon his companion and turned back to save her. But then the girl on the ground betrayed him, stabbing his ankle to use him as a delay against the octopus Phantom Demon so she could escape.

“You abandoned Liza and her daughter for your little son, so why couldn’t you see it through to the end?” Qin Lun smiled calmly and raised his FN-500 toward the blade mantis Phantom Demon.

The blade mantis Phantom Demon’s Phantom Demon Pearl only had 3 Remnant Souls. It seemed these Phantom Demons transformed from humans were weaker than the lowest Blade Ashigaru, or perhaps they hadn’t had enough time to complete the transformation fully.

Knowing that Matthew and the others were ahead, Qin Lun felt more at ease and began searching for the Time-Space Node through which they had entered.

This time, he didn’t waste much time either. Soon, in another dead-end corridor of the labyrinth, he found the third Time-Space Node.

However, the three-way fork here was different from the previous ones. The space was much wider. On the left was a dim deep hole emitting a strong smell of blood and rot. On the right was also a dead end, with a dark red copper door at its extremity.

This was the first time Qin Lun had seen something not made of flesh and bone in the labyrinth.