"Wait a minute, is this the beginning?!"

As the voice faded, Ivan could vaguely feel that some invisible protective barrier was rapidly moving away from him, so he felt an inexplicable unease.

Rumble——!

Before he could think about it, the ground shook violently, and the endless stretch of the road was like a ribbon of force, twisting and turning and rising high, and then rising and falling like an electrocardiogram.

"What's going on!?"

In the process, Ivan flew up like a cloud, his body fluttering lightly without a trace of weight, and constantly climbing upwards like a feather. There are angels with white wings floating in the air, but their laughter is too terrifying, even hideous and fierce, that people can't connect with angels.

Phew——!

After climbing to the top, his body began to become heavy, and in the blink of an eye, he fell to the ground at great speed, and the terrifying air flow rushed towards his face like countless blades, and the sharp pain instantly spread to his whole body.

"If you fall to your death here, you will die in reality!?"

Thinking of this layer, Ivan quickly twisted his waist and hips to adjust his body, find the center of gravity, and then spread his limbs like a cat falling from a high altitude and fell steadily to the ground.

Bang——!

He fell to the road in a position of four limbs, and rolled twice in an instant to relieve his strength—his back was against the edge of the road, and he was almost thrown off the border.

"I'm sure it's not a dream......"

Ivan resisted the pain and rolled over, took a step forward and ran forward, then realized that the heaviness had not gone away with it—it was close to the feeling of ten times the gravity of the body, but there was an essential difference, more like mental pressure.

Suddenly, a deep voice seemed to come from behind him.

Ding Ding ...... Ding Ding ......

It's like the sound of someone shaking a bell.

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew from behind him, and the air flow was mixed with a faint smell of mildew and blood, and Evan suddenly felt nauseous, feeling that a large slaughterhouse had landed behind him.

"Hey, look back at me!"

Just as he was feeling sick, an old voice suddenly came from behind him, sounding like a dry accordion.

"Look at your mother!"

When Evan heard it say this, he naturally refused to look back, resisting the heavy mental power, maintaining his balance while struggling forward on this road that was constantly bumping up and down.

"Look back at me!"

The voice was more stern this time, faintly closer, like a harsh winter wind, icy and biting.

"Don't look!"

Evan didn't hesitate to go back, his heart was also furious, and his entire back and neck were covered with goosebumps, as if something was mixed in the wind to lick himself - it was this feeling that made him want to look back, but the fear of the unknown effectively curbed his curiosity.

"You're the so-called nightmare, aren't you? Are you trying to trick me into turning back, and then scare me with your ugly face? Don't dream, I'm tired on the runway today, breaking my legs, and I'm not going to look back!"

He yelled at himself and despised what was chasing after him, his legs speeding up again. In addition to exhaustion, there is also a headache, like a pump connected to your brain, which is unbearable.

......

At the end of the road, the town of Flying Squirrels is still quietly located in the distance, the right side of the road is now sunny, and the left side is as dark as night. The air behind him was getting colder and colder, and he shivered from the cold, and his spirit became weaker and weaker.

"Whew...... Call...... Whew......"

On the bumpy road, Evan felt like a hamster in a running wheel, constantly rushing forward, but there was no end to the road ahead.

"Am I being plotted?"

As the headache worsened, he began to question what he was seeing, his movements becoming sluggish, and the cold chill eroded into his body little by little—the more he did this, the less confident he was to look back.

"No, no...... The voice said that there was a reward for destroying the Nightmare. But I'm running as hard as I can, and I don't even have the conditions to make a detour...... How do you kill it?"

Ivan struggled to keep his composure, keeping a clear eye from the intense pain, and his gaze swept to the flying squirrel town, which had always been far away from him: "Moreover, the road is long and endless...... I'm going to be drained if I go on like this...... Even if you don't get killed by the nightmare, you'll die of exhaustion. ”

"Look back at me!"

At this moment, the haunting voice of the nightmare struck again, like a cold and sticky reptile, clinging to Ivan's tail vertebrae, and gliding lightly all the way to his chest, making his whole body shiver, and his running speed dropped again.

Look at it! The dreadful beast that Lao Tzu killed can circle around the space city, and will he be afraid of your evil pen?

Evan knew that going on like this would be a dead end, so he immediately relented and decided to go back and fight with it.

"Whew!"

He exhaled violently, stepped on the ground with his right foot, and his whole body spun in an instant with his right leg as a support point, twisting his body while sending out the mental shock and fist together.

However, the strength of this strong man broke his wrist...... But it was empty.

In front of it was a dark night, and the whole world was obliterated by darkness, as if it was the darkest time before dawn, without a little starlight, and there was a faint eerie feeling. The space was very, quiet, so quiet that you could only hear your own rapid breathing, and the so-called nightmare was gone.

“......”

In Ivan's astonished gaze, beams of light crept down and pierced the dark night, as if the sun was breaking, driving away the dark clouds and mist, and plading the bumpy road with a golden coat. At this moment, the heaviness that had been suppressing himself suddenly disappeared, and the symptoms of headache disappeared at the same time, and the whole person was indescribably relaxed.

"When you learn to face fear, fear may not be as strong as you think, congratulations to you No. 54413 qualified, you have passed the first stage of the trial, and your rating is excellent, please rush to Flying Squirrel Town as soon as possible to archive. ”

The voice, which was like a narrator and couldn't distinguish gender, reappeared and coldly blessed him.

"You mean to say...... If I turn around as soon as I start, I'll be able to clear the level directly!?" Ivan was dumbfounded.

"Suspicion gives rise to dark ghosts, invisible fears are more terrible than visible demons, and the weaker they are, the thinner the courage to face them. It's an objective fact that half of the eligible people were eliminated in the first round - and under the swallowing of fear, many more chose to run for no point and end up dying of exhaustion. ”

After saying this, the voice disappeared suddenly, and the bumpy and shaking road calmed down. Bathed in a pale golden light, he turned around and prepared to run again, only to find that the Flying Squirrel Town, which had been out of reach, was already within reach.

......

After entering the confines of Flying Squirrel Town, Evan found that his code name "54413" had turned into a halo, hovering over his head, and glowing with gold, and he was almost close to the 'Angel' with a pair of bird wings stuck behind his back.

"Am I going to heaven......

He laughed at himself and walked along the wide stone path.

Ahead, it is a large, tall and thin post station, lonely in the soft skylight, the soft waves of the river reflecting the reflection of the buildings, and the sound of the murmuring water extending into the depths of the town. There is a gray-white rock path at the entrance of the inn, and the road looks old, and the stone surface has been polished by the years.

On the left side of the road is an endless clearing with a dense mass of tombstones, glowing ghostly in the bright sunlight.

Curious, Evan walked over and approached the first row of stone tablets, only to find a terrifying fact - these stone tablets were rooted in the backs of humans.

These people who did not know whether they were alive or died lay on the ground, half of their bodies without signs of decay sank into the ground, and the tombstones grew on their backs like the carapace of turtles.

"These are losers, they can neither leave nor die, they are here forever. The hoarse voice of the old woman came from the front of the inn.

Suspiciously, he followed the voice, and found a rickety figure in the shadow of the inn—it was a mother-in-law who was too old to tell her age, and her face was covered with ravines, like a withered old bark.

For some reason, Evan had a strange feeling, as if she was just a corpse and not a living person.

"Is this guy a neutral NPC?"

With this in mind, he walked over quickly, and when he looked closer, he found that she also had a halo on her head, but the color was so light that it was almost invisible. Just like her energy, it has long been a candle in the wind, and it may be extinguished at any time.

"This inn is the only safe place in Flying Squirrel Town, and I've been here for thirty years. She muttered as she saw Evan follow, her old face flushed with vitality.

"Can you stay so long? doesn't it mean that if you can't complete the mission, you'll die?" asked Ivan in surprise.

"Because I didn't take the task...... Over the years, countless people have tried to clear this trial, but they ended up lying in the cemetery you just met. The old man replied in a deceptively calm tone.

Evan couldn't see any hope in her eyes, like a dead late autumn, gray and lifeless.

"So...... I have to go through the level all the way to leave?" he felt powerless.

"After each stage, you will be able to wake up and wait for the countdown to disappear before entering the second stage of the trial. At that point, you can choose to continue playing, or stay here like I did. ”

She raised her lifeless eyes, glanced at him lightly, and stepped into the post station with difficulty: "Come in, this is the archive point, once you step into the range of the post station, you can wake up from reality." ”