Nightmare Light

Chapter 217 Stepping into the Shadows
"This is the entrance to the Shadow Realm."

The underground passage beneath the orphanage, on the second floor.

Lin Wang and Teacher Liu stood in the passageway, in front of a pool the size of a swimming pool. The pool was filled with a dark, viscous liquid that slowly writhed as if it were alive.

The surrounding air was filled with an astonishing amount of shadow energy, to the point that it even affected visibility—the white flame in Lin Wang's hand could only illuminate a range of two or three meters around him.

Liu Azhe was holding a large basket of tree fern fruits in her arms, and the surrounding shadows seemed to rush into the fruits.

"Lin Wang... this entrance to the Shadow Realm... what should we do next?"

Teacher Liu swallowed hard, looking nervous, her hands trembling slightly as she held the basket.

“There is only one way from the upper magic circle to here, so Vice Bishop Zhao could only escape in this direction... In other words, she could only have entered the Shadow Realm by passing through this entrance.”

Lin Wang took a step forward.

"Huh? With her strange appearance, she might be able to survive in the Shadow Realm... Should we continue chasing her?"

"Of course," Lin Wang said matter-of-factly. "Otherwise, how would we catch her? And save the other children?"

"...Don't you northerners know fear?"

"Of course I'm scared," Lin Wang said. "I've never been to such a strange place, but there's one thing I really agree with."

He summoned a ball of white fire and threw it into the pool: "Fear is a meaningless emotion."

The white flames fell onto the dark water, instantly frosting over the surface and spreading into a sheet of ice.

Lin Wang stepped onto the ice, and a dent appeared in the middle of the ice, extending downwards.

Lin Wang turned to look at A Zhe: "Teacher Liu, are you sure you still want to follow? If we go any further, we'll no longer be in this mortal world."

Liu Azhe stood there, hesitated for a few seconds, then stomped her foot heavily: "So what if I die! I'm going! I'm going to rescue the children from the orphanage myself!"

Lin Wang was taken aback: "Teacher Liu, you've gone to such lengths for the children?"

"Of course! I, Liu Azhe, am such a loving teacher!" Teacher Liu put her hands on her hips, tilted her head back, and looked proud.

Then he whispered, "I was just really curious, I couldn't resist."

"……curious?"

"Think about it! Down there is an unknown world! If I don't go down and see for myself, won't I regret it for the rest of my life?"

"...Your personality is suited to be an explorer."

Lin Wang shook his head and stepped into the passage formed by frozen ice.

Ah Zhe shuddered, but gritted his teeth and followed closely behind Lin Wang.

Then, she heard Lin Wang look at the surrounding ice walls and suddenly mutter something while stroking his chin.

"It's not very pretty..."

A-Zhe didn't hear clearly: "What did you say?"

"Oh, I was just thinking that this passage should have looked even prettier when it solidified." Lin Wang pointed to the ground. "Look, it would have looked much better if it had been made into steps..."

"It's inappropriate to worry about aesthetics at a time like this!"

The two walked into the passage, one after the other, and headed deeper into it.

Using the tree fern fruits in their baskets, they maintained a visibility of only a few meters, but that was all they could do.

Along the way, A-Zhe muttered to himself, reminiscing about the past: "I've always been very curious since I was a child. I've been to almost every place in the orphanage."

"I remember back when the old dean was alive, I climbed up to the attic on the roof. I thought it was the old dean's secret treasure room... Later, I saw a huge rat up there, and I was so scared that I rolled down from there and bumped my head and got a huge bump..."

Lin Wang said, "Oh, I remember that time. For a long time afterward, you wore a really strange hat... Hmm? Sister A-Zhe, did you notice?"

Liu Azhe was taken aback, then his expression involuntarily tensed up: "I can feel it!" Both of them could feel that the surrounding environment—or rather, some kind of "rule" of the entire world around them—was changing.

Breathing became difficult, and the voice was still effective, but light became a luxury in my vision, and everything I saw was generally pitch black, with faint outlines.

It's as if the rules of light and shadow have been completely reversed.

Only within the narrow area illuminated by the white flame did the rules of light and shadow remain normal.

Under this strange gaze, they walked out of the shadowy pool and entered a passage that looked very similar to the underground passage above.

"Lin Wang, this place looks so strange... I feel very scared."

"Then stay close... You can pull my sleeve... Hey, don't pull my clothes! Don't pinch me!"

Lin Wang held up the white flame and walked towards the front of the passage.

After turning the corner, a passageway exit appeared in front of you—inside was a staircase.

"Let's go, Vice-Bishop Zhao went up this way." Lin Wang pointed down the stairs.

"How did you know?"

"When I froze her scepter just now, I let a tiny flame touch her. When I get close to her, the flame will give me a sense of touch."

"Hmm, that sounds like something only villains would do."

"You're right, so you're the villain's main accomplice?"

"I'm an innocent bystander being coerced by the villain... Hey? Lin Wang, why does this place look so strange?"

"You noticed it too?" Lin Wang said, turning the corner and walking out of the stairwell.

Outside the stairwell was a dark storage room.

The brick gate has metal pull rings, and outside the gate are several dark storage cabinets.

All the furnishings were exactly the same as those in the orphanage, except they were completely mirrored from left to right—and the colors were reversed from black to white.

"Lin Wang, where is this place?"

A-Zhe's voice trembled slightly, and her breathing became much more rapid; she sounded very frightened.

"You're right."

Lin Wang pushed open the door to the storage room and walked into the corridor of the building—it was pitch black all around, the atmosphere was oppressive, and there was no one around.

But it is clearly a mirror image of the Qiwuyuan Orphanage.

"This is the shadow of the orphanage... the projection of the orphanage in the hidden layer."

Lin Wang's expression was a mixture of surprise and wariness as he walked through the passageway of the "reverse orphanage".

Within the limited area of ​​the white flames, the surrounding walls and ground regain the original texture of the building, while further away, the rules of light and shadow remain reversed.

The two could see that the surrounding walls were also covered with childish and quirky graffiti—small animals, fairy tale characters, and some strange little decorations.

At first, the two didn't notice the graffiti, but after walking for a while, A-Zhe suddenly let out a soft "Eh".

"Lin Wang, something's not right." She frowned.

"What's wrong?" Lin Wang stopped in his tracks.

“These graffiti…”

What's wrong with these graffiti?

“These graffiti are different from the ones painted on the walls of our orphanage.”

(End of this chapter)