The majestic skeleton of the skeleton was half-buried in the lake, and the leaking upper body poked straight into the vast green dome of the cave, and when viewed from the shore, it seemed to be a majestic mountain.

It was only then that I was able to get a glimpse of what kind of mysterious existence I had been talking to.

The wind passed by, and at the same time brought with it an extremely ancient and majestic aura, and suddenly the shock that overflowed in my heart was transformed into the most real fear.

It was a very different kind of cold from Wei Ming's disgusting and dirty appearance, because the moment I saw it, I realized that no matter how hard I and I tried, it was in vain.

Maybe this is the state of mind that ants should have.

"Luo-"

Her expression seemed to be a little stiff, and she slowly stood up while staring at the dark eye holes of the skeleton.

"-That person, is that her?"

Following Yao's gaze, I saw from a distance a vague purple figure lying motionless on the palm of the hand dangling below the skull's ribs—there was no doubt that Yao was still alive, but I didn't know why she hadn't regained consciousness yet.

I heard the soft sound of gravel falling to the bottom of my heart, and no matter what the situation was, at least the thing didn't break its promise, and I ......

Thinking about it, I tried my best to twist my neck quietly, panicked to read her true thoughts from her back, but she still maintained a sculptural posture, only clenching the hilt of the sword in her hand tighter.

"Luo?"

"Huh? How-"

I was so immersed in my thoughts that I forgot to answer my question.

However, before she could make amends, she turned around and waved her hand to cut off my words, and then looked at me with an incomparably determined look that I had never seen before, and said,

"Do you have any other options than to rush hard?"

I was half-startled by the sudden lowering of my voice, and after a long time, I laughed a few times as if self-deprecating.

Yes, she has never been the kind of person who knows how to give up, whether it is a lie she hears at the top of the sacred mountain, or a decision that is close to death right now, as long as it is precious, she can spare her life.

In a trance, I put away the comical panic and flickering messy words on my face, and shook my head faintly.

"Yes."

She sighed softly, a faint color running across her eyes. But in an instant, she suddenly raised her head and held the blood-stained blade on her shoulder, like the last survivor on the battlefield, enjoying the faint silence of victory.

The brilliant and dazzling glow around him crowded in, and the vague uneasiness that enveloped Yu immediately faded like a wind. For a moment, there seemed to be only an incomparably bright brightness left in her dark green eyes.

I stared at her with a bit of a dullness, and there was a hint of calmness in my chest, which was dry and wrinkled.

Although I still find it difficult to understand her inexplicable beliefs and unrealistic courage, one thing is right - it is better to die without regrets than to be like a coward. At least that way, I don't have to deal with the ghosts born in the depths of my conscience, and the murmurs of resentment in the shadows of the night.

Fighting my spirit, I staggered and stood up straight. Although my left arm was still bent at a strange angle, and my torn clothes were full of sickly red, compared to the previous embarrassed lying position, the expression of dying was much more natural.

I turned my head to look at the slightly worried Yu on the side, and whispered while holding back the cold air flying between my teeth,

"Let's go, what are you waiting for?"

Perhaps it was a lack of control over my expression, and every time I spit out a word, the muscles in my face would beat strangely because of the pain.

"Poof—"

Just when I was appreciating the consequences of the performance, I couldn't help but smile and asked,

"-What are you doing here?"

"Uh, I-hahaha......"

Embarrassed prevarication, I suddenly felt a little ridiculous, after all, even if I was sent to death, I guess I would have to trouble the skeleton to carry me first, or ask the skeleton to come over by itself,

"Damn."

Halfway through the dry laughter, I finally scolded helplessly.

"But ......"

Suddenly, he couldn't stop the increasingly distorted atmosphere, and looked at the machine-like weird white bones in the distance again.

“...... Thank you. ”

"Thank me? Why? ”

I was a little confused, not because I was surprised by the unusual turn of events, but because I simply couldn't find a reason for her to say this. Because after all, most of the suffering and disappointment suffered by Pyne are almost inseparable from me, let alone thank me, even if she picks up her sword and slashes me now, it is not much strange.

Unfortunately, she didn't seem to want to answer my questions, and she didn't even look back, but walked straight forward.

There was a slight ripple on the surface of the vast lake, accompanied by a cold breeze, which slowly blew away the thin beads of sweat on my forehead.

In the lifeless fluorescent light, I struggled like a walking corpse, while Pyroaki had already stopped on the shore, staring silently in the direction of the skeleton and Yao.

The blade of the sword on her shoulder had now been removed and pressed casually against her slender legs, and everything seemed so peaceful and serene, like an old photograph washed away by time, or a moss-covered sculpture in front of an ancient city.

Yet my heart could not settle down in this eerie silence, and in the darkness it seemed as if a myriad of voices were whispering to the sides of my cheeks, whispering and whispering a messy and twisted story—something seemed to me to have overlooked.

My steps slowed in hesitation, my thoughts slowed in anxiety, and before I knew it, my breathing began to become rapid, and my injured limb tingled like a pinprick.

Finally, I completely fixed myself less than two meters away, suppressed my anxiety and asked,

"What, what's wrong? What are we waiting for? Or did you think of something else—"

Suddenly! The silver light flashed, and what responded to me was the blood-stained blade in my hand!

"Why! What do you mean by this?! ”

Feeling the sharp chill on the side of the trachea, I screamed at a loss!

It was like someone kicked off a cliff, and my mind was instantly filled with crazy and noisy thoughts! And at the bottom of this tide, built of suspicion and fear, is a completely indefinite doubt. Why? Why did she do this? Could it be that her previous concerns and worries were all faked? Could it be that she saved me only to extinguish my hope with her own hands? Does she really hate me that much?

But there was no response.

The cool breeze blew, and half of the long blue-green hair with a side-like face leaked faintly, and on that cheek carved like jade, I saw a completely different picture from my imagination - it was a mixture of remorse, unwillingness, sadness, and pain...... and smiles.

It was like my soul had been drained of me, and I was dying, devouring the clammy air.

Until this moment, I suddenly remembered every word I had said to her under the ruined tower.

yes, I did tell her everything.

"Hey !!"

Suddenly, she turned her head sharply and yelled at the skull's location,

"Is the deal he made with you before still valid?!"

The penetrating sound crossed the lake, and the huge skeleton that had stood for a long time also turned to the position of the dragon, and then replied word by word,

"The forest will never be discredited."

The low hum didn't seem to come from the mouth of a skeleton, but directly from the depths of the ego's brain, with a sense of distraction and oppression.

I pressed my temple with my only movable right hand, desperate to save the situation. But the lips and teeth squirmed a few times, and those useless words held under the base of the tongue were pushed back by the boiling qi and blood pressure.

"Okay."

With my eyes closed, the voice pierced my eardrums in the darkness and slammed into my cracked heart.

I have never felt so small and incompetent, even in the end, I can only wait for everyone around me to die and sacrifice one by one! Just in exchange for that pitiful amount of time to survive! Just to make up for the mistakes I made!

No, it can't be her, the person who deserves to use his life as a bargaining chip should be me!

"Uh-"

Struggling, I struggled to open my eyelids, gritted my teeth and cried out in the sharp tinnitus, trying to pour out all the explanations, promises, and feelings that had been suppressed in my chest for a long time.

Even if you can stop her for a minute, dozens of seconds! I want to persuade her to stay, let her leave, I want to pay off the debt I owe, so that her dedication and dedication can be rewarded, or forget everything that happened, and return to the paradise on the holy mountain, not to look for any so-called benefactor, not to be used and deceived, just to live simply.

But why did she do this, is it because there is not enough suffering and suffering?

Why can't it be me?!

However, no one will answer my questions anymore.

In a trance, the skeleton had reached a position of nearly 100 meters outside the shore of the lake, and its huge pale arms slowly stretched out like in slow motion in the movie, gently placing the girl wrapped in it on the ground, and then paddling towards the girl standing beside me.

"No...... Can't ......"

I raised my right hand in vain, but I had no capital to act, and there seemed to be a strange magic in the skeletal voice, which stirred my internal organs like a scratch.

Maybe there is no need for her to coerce me with weapons.

The next picture was like a blurry and inferior film, playing intermittently in front of my eyes, and the glaze gradually rose and moved away in the miserable whiteness that filled the view.

Reality alternates with fantasy, and I even saw myself back under the boulder that lay outside the fern, with a sweet and warm smile next to me. But the next moment, this expression shrank and blistered as if it had been scorched by fire, and within the strange green flame, the scars and blood snaked up her cheeks until they fell into her abyss-like eyes, where the sadness and reluctance had long since disappeared, and all that remained was boundless hatred.

I fell to my knees like a serious illness and convulsed uncontrollably, chaotic words spurting out like a tide of retching, something that didn't belong to me, or something distant and gloomy, was gnawing at me, dissolving me, cramming the nightmares and horrors from hell into my body!

I couldn't see any color in my burning eyes, and there was ridicule and curse in my ears, and the smell of blood came from between my teeth, and even the air in my nostrils was stained with the stench of corruption.

I couldn't resist, I couldn't think, I was like an ant pinched at my fingertips, and he enjoyed the pleasure of cruelty, excited to watch my life shatter in joy and perish in terror.

What awaits me? Infected me?

I can feel the silhouette of it! I can hear it calling! There is bliss! It is the eternal Garden of Eden under God's feet!

Just one step away! I can—

Ding————

Suddenly, all the illusions disappeared in the blink of an eye, and I was lying on the cold ground, the left side of my face still feeling salivation.

"瑗...... Musty! ”

Then I jumped up and rushed to the shore and shouted,

"!!"

The hoarse and pitch-changing roar swayed on the calm surface of the lake, and there was no trace of either the huge skeleton or the familiar figure of the girl.

It's like a dream, and now I'm awake.

"No, no, no, no......"

I sat on the floor, my mind blank,

"Wait...... There seems to be something just now—"

Just as I grabbed the clue that was dormant in my memory, a loud thunderous noise suddenly appeared behind my head, and even the ground trembled!

"Damn! What's going on with this TM?! ”

I cried out, screwing my gaze to the source of the change—the nearly blocked passageway.

In the long and dark depths, behind the rocks that are gradually crumbling and collapsing, there is something that is rushing wildly with unimaginable speed and power!

In an instant, there was not even a chance to react, and the vigorous greenery exploded in the reflection of its own pupils! The swirling branches are like a flood of holes!

I couldn't rationally think about what I saw, it was like a giant tree growing horizontally, and it was like a beast made of vines and roots from the whole forest! I could feel extremely strong anger and depression! And the hatred that has precipitated hundreds of billions of years! Drain all the air like a green wildfire!

And a humble one like me would never deserve such feelings.

After just a few seconds of pause, the turbulent current, which was tens of meters in diameter, roared into the center of the White Lake! The crushed and burst gravel immediately flew down like a shower! Bury everything around you in a whirlpool of chaos and chaos!

Surrounded by fragments of bones and milky white liquid from the lake, I dodged the splintering stone and wood thorns that swept by, and stumbled towards Yao, who was unconscious not far away.

As I approached Yao, the magnitude of the ground shaking became more and more exaggerated, as if not only this place, but all the passages around the White Lake were already filled with trees like giant pythons!

"Yao! Wake up! ”

After a few difficult treks, I grabbed the girl's delicate shoulders with the palm of my hand and shouted eagerly.

However, what can be guessed is that Yao, who is still awake in this terrifying scene, will definitely not miraculously jump up because of my words.

"Damn!"

Seeing that the situation was getting more and more complicated, I felt an inexplicable anxiety in my heart, but I couldn't think of any solution to it. As far as the eye can see, all the ways out have long been destroyed, and the palace made of huge stones is slowly crumbling.

If nothing else, this huge cavern is our tomb.

For some reason, the words "no way to return to the sky" suddenly popped up in my mind, and I looked at the surface of the lake full of whirlpools and undercurrents, and the panic that was cold to the top pressed on me.

"How can this be ......"

I muttered, I can't accept this cruel status quo, does reality only want to tell me about the uselessness of effort and sacrifice? Isn't there any meaning in the end? Is this the most real world?

A quagmire of disorder and sin?

"Hehe, hehahaha-"

Suddenly, just as I was laughing strangely, a small and short tap came from my right shoulder. In an instant, I froze stiffly in place, and the chill crawled like a leech all over the back of my neck.

Because of that strength and touch, it is clearly a human finger!

Is he telling me to turn back? Or do you just want to see my stunned and frightened expression?

With my heart on the verge of sudden arrest, I shuddered and twisted my heavy head over my shoulder blades.

"It's ......"

After recognizing what kind of existence lurked behind me, I couldn't help but doubt my own eyes.

It was indeed a hand, a slender hand of branches extending from a chain-like bush, hanging like a thread beside the right side of my face, waiting quietly.

But what I can't understand the most is the familiar flavor of this strange picture.

"You! It's you!! ”

That's right, this extremely anthropomorphic action, and this vaguely rare kindness, is nothing but the tree man in that ancient city,

"But I thought, I thought you had-"

In the middle of the sentence, I suddenly closed my lips and teeth unconsciously, because in the end, my understanding of it is only speculation and some unrealistic conjectures, and it is arrogant and wrong to judge its behavior from such a narrow perspective.

And the current situation is ...... It's far beyond my common sense.

I leaned over my body, gently held the back of Yao's head with one hand, and then said to the palm of the tree hanging down like an umbilical cord,

"Hey, just think it's for you, can you do me a favor?"

Whispering a pleading, my gaze slowly swept over a few green leaves on the branches,

"Take her out."

The boulders were tumbling, the walls were toppling, and the noisy roar drowned out most of my voice, but I believed for no reason that it must have felt the eager longing in my words, and that it would be able to give Yao the same life as it had given Yao a glance.

But a few minutes later, the palm of the tree still stood one meter above the ground, and the slender five fingers shook from time to time with the twitching of the main trunk, and Yao was always lying quietly in my arms.

In the silence, my confidence was lost in the slightest, and the muscles on my cheeks were twisted and distorted under the increasing pressure. I don't understand what it's hesitating about? Could it be that my thinking was wrong from the beginning, that it had no interest in our life or death? Or is it that even with its best efforts, it won't be able to get us out of this damn place entirely?

"Hey! Answer me! I'm running out of time! ”

I couldn't hold back my anxiety anymore and almost cried out.

And the moment my words fell, the sculptural palm also moved. I saw its four fingers, made of tangled branches, slowly coming together, leaving only the slender index finger, waltering to the far middle of the lake.

At this time, the shaking of the ground had reached the most terrible level, and even if I was half-kneeling, I could only hold on. But compared to here, the condition of the White Lake can be described as terrifying.

A torrent of vine roots plunged deep into the lake from all directions, like a tight rope tied to a certain place. From time to time, the sound of paper tearing came from the bottom of the lake, and countless white bones and pus bodies were violently churning and rushing up to the dome thousands of miles away, and then splashed in all spaces like a shattered canopy.

Boom –

Suddenly, the building-thick branches began to retreat sharply! Suddenly, the water level of the White Lake began to drop rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the dense white bones at the bottom were instantly exposed to the air, and then blackened and shrunk as if oxidized.

As if nourished, the branches on the surface of each column began to grow wildly, and at the same time, the speed of pulling was getting faster and faster! Until a mountain-like skeleton was pulled up from the bottom of the lake!

"I rely on ......"

Looking at the bones covered with vine roots, the pores of my whole body were extremely uneasy,

"Huh? That's—that's?! ”

However, when I moved my eyes to observe the half-pulled skeleton, I couldn't help but gasp.

Because at the center of the skeleton's eyebrows, a discordant bright green spread like a vessel, hanging on the edge of the hollow seven orifices like a wriggling earthworm. And in the center of that weird nausea whirlpool, it was the figure of Yu!

It was too far away for me to roughly judge her identity from the style of her clothes, but as for her expression, state and other details at the moment, all became extremely blurred in the cascading mist.

I don't know if it was because of the sudden hope or the greater anxiety, I suddenly turned my head away and shouted at the palm of the tree beside me,

"What's going on?! How is she now?! Hurry ....."

Unfortunately, I was unable to express my emotions as I had hoped, and not far away, the palm of the tree was twisting in a strange and deformed position, as if it was suffering unimaginable pain.

My heart sank, and I twisted my iron-like neck to look at the skeleton hanging in the air.

At this moment, the skeleton with its head hanging down raised its head at some point, and its dark eyes stared straight at me, absorbing my soul like a deep abyss.

"You're finally here......"

The skull's jaws were closed, and the old voice seemed to come from within the cranial cavity.

"You should have chosen this path a long time ago, with everyone."

The words come straight through the incoherent words, but they are not listened to by me.

As I tried to clear my chaotic thoughts, the palm of the tree, which had been twitching before, suddenly touched my back. I looked away in silence, only to notice that there was an extra circle of vines the thickness of an adult's waist on either side of it.

Stared at by my confused eyes, the palm hanging in the air pointed at me and Yao, and then aimed at the skeleton standing still in the distance.

"You mean you want us to ...... Where to go? Is it to save you? ”

Hearing my slightly surprised inquiry, the palm of the tree only shook up and down a few times, and then the vines covered with branches and leaves spread out, and gently wrapped Yao and Yao in it like arms.

Feeling the force around my waist, my heart beat inexplicably fast, because its series of reactions didn't seem to be as simple as I thought before, after all, if I took 10,000 steps back, even if I really had the slightest possibility of helping, but what about Yao?

Although my mind was still full of unknowns and worries, time never stopped, and my feet were off the ground before I could find a convincing explanation.

Soning in the steady, gentle lift, the fishy breeze blowing through the skin of my hair, I looked up at the slowly expanding paleness in my field of vision.

There, it is the end of all journeys.