Forge a path to success.

Chapter 174 Chasing Shadows and Slaying Beasts (3)

"Shrink up quickly!" "What's going on with you?!"

Miss Heartbreaker gave anxious instructions, while the assassin stared in disbelief. Both were bewildered by the sudden turn of events.

After leaping out of the picture frame, Chu Hengkong finally returned to the three-dimensional space. However, this place was surprisingly small. The square space was probably not much larger than a tatami mat, and the overall height was less than a meter. An adult male like him would almost have to fold his body in half to barely fit into the square.

The extremely cramped space now contained two people, like a washing machine crammed with too many dirty clothes. The two were so squeezed that they couldn't even tell each other apart, and cracking sounds came from the walls as they struggled to keep up with the weight. Qingye held on tightly to the ceiling with her hands.

"Mr. Chu! If this continues, it will find us!" Qingye screamed through her throat.

Chu Hengkong exhaled deeply, as if trying to expel all the air from his body, making himself feel completely withered. His muscles contracted, and his torso strangely flattened—the result of his arduous yoga and contortion training on Earth. Then, he crouched low against the wall, spreading his arms along the top edge of the cubicle space to maximize room for the other person. About a third of the tatami mat's width of foothold was squeezed out as if from a toothpaste tube.

Qingye finally had a little room to move. She squatted down, supporting her body only on her toes, her upper body folded down, leaving less than an inch of space. Her hands were still using this pitiful gap to support her against the ceiling, not daring to relax for a moment. In this way, although the posture was extremely awkward—as if Chu Hengkong was embracing the curled-up Qingye—the two of them could at least catch their breath for a while.

As their vision gradually adjusted to the darkness, they gazed at each other in this strange setting.

"...A very novel outfit." Chu Hengkong cleared his throat, trying his best not to look at the face that was about to cry.

Miss Qingye's outfit was very trendy. For some reason, she had changed out of her usual combat attire, leaving only a yellow scarf and a black bodysuit that resembled a school swimsuit. This new outfit was so sexy it could grace the front page of a magazine, perfectly accentuating her figure. Normally, he would at most glance at her a couple of times without saying anything.

However, due to the close proximity and the martial artist's exceptionally keen observation skills, even with the best efforts to ignore it, some details would inevitably be noticed. For example, the flexibility of the bodysuit seemed excessively good. For example, the black curves seemed a bit too delicate.

All these wonderful details combined make the other person's attire look as if...

It looks the same as the drawing.

"Please don't look!" Qingye's voice was almost breaking with tears. "And please don't misunderstand!! This was created using shadow lines!!"

Chu Hengkong tried hard to look away, but the girl was squatting in front of him with her palms pressed against the ceiling. Even in her usual clothes, there was nowhere to look at her in this position, let alone in her Shadow Combat Suit.

He simply closed his eyes and tightened his stomach to avoid touching the other person: "What's going on?"

"If you stay in a painting for too long, your belongings will become flat," Qingye said pitifully. "My clothes turned into a painting in just one day, and the other supplies... I don't know when they'll be my turn."

Chu Hengkong immediately realized the purpose of this mechanism. Depriving someone of clothing is a common method in torture and imprisonment because, for people living in modern society, clothing is the most direct representation of security and their last line of defense. The human mind is not as resilient as depicted in works of art; if imprisoned naked, most people would soon be on the verge of collapse.

Then, his past experiences in the underworld led him to even worse associations. "What else did it do to you?" "It just locked me up here and then ignored me..." Qingye said with a mournful face.

Chu Hengkong breathed a sigh of relief; even if Qingye lied, she couldn't fool him. "Let's change positions."

Qingye shook her head desperately: "No, if you let go, you'll be crushed to death!"

"I'll hold on," Chu Hengkong said with his eyes closed. "Let go."

He nodded to Qingye. The girl carefully released her hands, ready to prop herself up again at any moment. The instant his fingertips left the ceiling, Chu Heng felt a sinking feeling in his heart. An extremely heavy weight suddenly pressed down on his arms; if he hadn't been prepared, even he might have lost his balance. But compared to the physical weight, the mental pressure was far more terrifying.

He sensed countless hearts, each huddled in a dark, sunless square, struggling against the pressure with all their might. Each square was a pebble, and when many pebbles were piled together, they formed that eerie execution platform. Their fear and cries echoed like gentle waves, the prisoners' screams spreading and intensifying, making one's very soul tremble.

Then he understood the monsters of the valley. They were tormented by nightmares day and night, but compared to this torture, those nightmares were like caresses. There was no such thing as sleep here; you had to exhaust your life force just to prolong the torment for a few seconds.

Has Qingye managed to survive in this environment until now?
"As expected, Mr. Chu is stronger." Qingye chuckled softly. "Thanks... I'll slack off a little..."

“…Thank you for your hard work,” Chu Hengkong said.

Qingye tried to stretch her arms, but her muscles were stiff. She barely managed to hug her knees, sitting on the ground for the first time in three days. "It's not that tiring, actually. After mastering the knack, it's not as tiring as I imagined. It's just that you have to be careful not to make a sound. If you beg for mercy or break down, Vakuro will grab you and execute you... Ugh... So when you ask for help, you have to be quiet... Psychologically... it's actually more..."

The words stopped abruptly, leaving only trembling sobs. Qingye tried to wipe her tears with the back of her hand, but couldn't get them away; the tears fell onto Chu Hengkong's legs.

"I'm sorry... I should have been more resolute..." Qingye said haltingly, "I was so scared... I... I'm sorry..."

Chu Hengkong braced himself against the ceiling with his prosthetic arm, gently patting the girl's back with his human right hand, letting her lean on his shoulder. Qingye was on the verge of collapse; she needed security more than ever. At this moment, what did distance matter? She had lost even the basic empathy of a human being.

“It’s alright,” he said firmly. “Huisou and Van der are here too. We’ll kill it.”

"Yes." Qingye nodded vigorously. "I still have strength. I'll fight too!"

·
"That's strange~ Where could it be hidden~?"

Wacro looked the mural up and down, sighing at its own stupidity. It had never been a clever messenger; even after rising to the level of a Void Angel, it hadn't even earned a Rainbow Demon degree. That's why the Nightmare King gave it the paintbrush—if it didn't have some powerful methods, its prey would easily escape. The assassin must not be dead, because his shadow was still in the painting. Wacro beckoned with its finger, and several other murals in the arena were dragged in by shadows, splicing together with "The Horrible Execution," forming a closed circular scroll.

In this way, the person in the painting would have no way to escape. Vacklo took some blue paint and painted an unusually robust figure.

“The enemy is probably hiding in the rocks,” Vacklo said lightly. “Please, Mr. Cold Gorilla!”

"Aa ...

The gorilla-like monster pounded its chest and leaped onto the execution platform with the same agility it had displayed in life. Seconds later, the two people trapped in the pebbles felt the space tremble, and a series of landslide-like sounds echoed.

"This is bad..." Qingye looked up, "Is it trying to sabotage us?"

"I would have done the same if I were in your shoes." Chu Hengkong tried slamming his back against the wall. "Have you ever tried breaking through the wall?"

"I actually wouldn't dare to try it!"

Thump! Thump! The frantic sound of pile drivers rang out nearby, and the howling outside the two rocks suddenly ceased, replaced by the breathing of wild beasts. "Now," Qingye's face turned pale, "we might as well give it a try!"

"pay close attention!"

Without a word, Qingye tightly hugged Chu Hengkong's neck. Chu Hengkong suddenly let go, and the ceiling slammed down like a guillotine. He used the space he had gained to stretch his arms, which snapped back like rubber bands, and delivered a double elbow strike behind his back.

The square prison was shattered by brute force, and Chu Hengkong and Qingye rolled into the next square. The ceiling of the previous square fell down, revealing a blue face that was right in front of them. It was the true form of the monster that kept pulling out squares from the outside, the ice behemoth "Frost Ape" with a ghostly and terrifying face.

"Awooo!" The gorilla roared excitedly upon spotting its target.

"Ughhhhh!" Qingye screamed instinctively when she was discovered.

"What should we do now, Mr. Chu?!"

"Delay as much time as possible and hide."

Chu Hengkong wielded his prosthetic arm like a whip, the outstretched silver arm shattering the ceiling and all the adjacent walls, causing the native inhabitants within the cells to dance wildly in jubilation. "Kill me!" the other prisoners roared. "Step aside!" Chu Hengkong concentrated his energy on his body, creating a protective armor on his back. Then, amidst Qingye's screams, he sprinted backward, smashing through cell walls with his body harder than diamond! He traversed 15 cells in a single second!
"Aaaaaah!" The sapling-like fingers of the cold ape plunged into the stones, its fingertips barely brushing against Qingye's scarf. It wasn't fast enough. The cold ape angrily withdrew its fingers and began pulling out stones one by one, dismantling the execution platform. Chu Hengkong, running backwards, sensed something was wrong.

Why doesn't it use a paintbrush?

“Because Wacro can’t see it!” Qingye replied quickly. “We’re inside the building now, so we can’t see the execution platform from outside the screen… Next block, turn right! Then two more, turn left!”

Qingye provided clear guidance. During her torture within the stones, she deduced the structure of the execution platform from the screams of the other prisoners. This grotesque execution device contained an area without cells. Chu Hengkong smashed through seven more blocks, his vision suddenly opening up and the oppressive feeling from the environment easing. They arrived at a luxurious space large enough to fit two beds side by side, with even a samurai sword on the floor! Why would there be such a pointless place inside the execution platform?
The answer lay right above them. A chibi-style portrait of Vansalar was painted on the ceiling, its long claws clutching an open scroll of calligraphy: "Escapee's Restroom!"
"The people who built this place must be crazy!" Qingye shouted in despair. "Why would there be a prison that provides rooms specifically for escapees?!"

"Because the evil god is insane, right?" Chu Hengkong said. "Is that your sword?"

In a corner of the lounge stood a black knife, the long one of Qingye's usual twin swords. Qingye picked it up like a precious treasure. "This is wonderful... This is an ancestral heirloom I stole when I ran away from home. If I lose it, I'll have to kill myself..."

"Does stealing someone's belongings mean you don't have to commit suicide?"

"It's my skill to steal it, so I don't need to."

Qingye tried to tuck the longsword into her waistband, but failed because her clothing lacked a three-dimensional structure. A series of booming sounds echoed from their path as the Cold Ape cleared away pebbles, creating a passage large enough to accommodate its massive arm. It made a crying face and clenched its enormous fist.

The giant fist pierced into the rest room like a battering ram, and the assassin and the crippled man jumped to avoid it at the same time.

"Shall we fight?" Qingye asked.

"Okay." Chu Hengkong nodded. "It's about time."

·
In the real world, Vacklo eagerly peered at the mural. "The intensity seems a little lacking. Let's bring out the decaying dust and false light too..." It made a couple of strokes, then turned and bowed.

"A new guest has arrived?"

A fully armed knight emerged from the mist, her longsword shining brighter than the torchlight.

"My name is Ji Huaisu, a Disciplined Knight." Ji Huaisu held his sword in both hands. "I'm here to kill you!"

(End of this chapter)