Gamers Are Fierce-Chapter 673 - 671: The Door

HUFF—

The breath he exhaled quickly turned into white mist in the cold wind, adding a blur to the arched lenses of his gold-rimmed glasses.

This was a peak in the Kunlun Mountain range, where the mountaintop was shrouded in snow and perpetually frozen. The clouds and mist winding through the mountains created the illusion of a fairyland.

Bai Haozheng, an Intelligence Analyst from the Special Affairs Bureau, walked at a leisurely pace on the broad path paved with black slabs. He wore only a thin suit, seemingly unaffected by the biting cold, his eyes fixed solely on the metallic gate that merged with the mountain at the end of the road.

The path, its flagstones intricately inscribed with Talismans, was strictly guarded. Every three steps stood a sentinel and every five a post, all fully armed and unswervingly vigilant.

In the sky above, hundreds of drones circled on patrol. One could vaguely see a low-lying base nearby, along with armored vehicles, flying crafts, and stationed personnel within it.

This was one of the entrances to the Demon Prison in the real world.

The closer he got to the metal gate, the sparser the sentinels became. Bai Haozheng was well aware of the reason—each step he took forward intensified the strange noise in his ears.

With the disappearance of the last sentry, the noise in his ears transformed into millions of roars and mournful wails, as if countless demons from the depths of hell were shouting in unison.

This was not an ordinary sonic attack. There was no vibration in the air, and recording devices could not detect any sound wave fluctuations.

The sourceless demonic sound acted directly upon the soul, or perhaps something even more fundamental. It was like a type of nuclear radiation that could affect anything: machines malfunctioned, genes collapsed, Arrays dissipated, and no man-made object could withstand the demonic sound for three days without disintegrating.

This path of black slabs had been personally laid by cultivators from the Heterodox Academy, intended to mitigate the wailing effect. Even so, the short journey had already eroded nearly three hundred points from Bai Haozheng's Sanity Value.

Had it been an ordinary person, or even some common players, they would undoubtedly have collapsed by now—convulsing, losing their will, or even undergoing horrific mutations.

Step, step, step.

This was a dip in the mountains where the wind grew weaker and footsteps became louder. The path of black slabs came to a halt before the metallic gate.

Bai Haozheng stopped to catch his breath. He took out his ID from his pocket, showing it to the two ancient Stone Statues guarding the entrance. These statues, treasures of the Heterodox Academy, were nearly three meters tall, their features blurred, indistinguishable as man or beast.

The ancient Stone Statues, their intelligence questionable, lumbered into motion. They pushed open the metal gate, revealing the pitch-black cave within the mountain.

HUFF.

The piercing, frost-laden wind lifted a corner of his suit as it surged into the pitch-black cave. Being so close to the Demon Prison's entrance, no man-made objects could function; thus, there was no light inside.

Bai Haozheng stepped through the doorway, letting the two Stone Statues close the gate behind him, leaving his heartbeat and breathing as the only sounds in the massive cave.

"..."

The Intelligence Analyst pushed his glasses up with one hand, and their lenses immediately lit up, illuminating the entire cave like a military searchlight.

This pair of Distant Light Glasses had a Special Effect described as: 'When worn, emits two beams strong enough to blind.' It could indeed do just that—at the cost of severely damaging the wearer.

No matter how many times, I always want to say, the design of these glasses is just too stupid... Bai Haozheng muttered, stepping forward. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

In the depths of the cave lay a chain of unknown material. One end was nailed to the ground, while the other extended out, plummeting into the ten-thousand-fathom Abyss.

As Bai Haozheng slid down the chain, demonic voices constantly changed in his ears, sometimes seductive and charming, sometimes rough and wild, creating illusions before his eyes.

The black mist pervading the Abyss rushed towards Bai Haozheng, whose eyes were literally gleaming, like piranhas that had smelled blood.

Sigh... I'm just an Intelligence Analyst... Bai Haozheng sighed, grasping the chain with one hand, while in his other hand he held a rapier as slender as an embroidery needle and made entirely of light. He waved it casually a few times, easily shredding the black smoke, which was comparable to Level Thirteen Spiritual Bodies.

SNAP.

His feet touched solid ground. The chain reached its end, swaying and rubbing against the cliff walls, producing a long, tinkling sound.

"You've arrived..."

A hoarse voice, like scraping iron, came from the darkness. A strange creature—with the body of a horse, trunk of an elephant, face of a lion, brow of a rhinoceros, tail of an ox, and feet of a tiger—stepped into the beam of the Distant Light Glasses.

It was the Dream-eating Tapir, the very one that had once lured the Special Affairs Bureau into artificially developing urban legends.

"Why the change of person?" The Dream-eating Tapir stood on all fours, its body enveloped in a faint black mist. Its lion-like face clearly showed a "frown" expression. "Where's the contact person from before?"

"He had an urgent matter to attend to, so I'm here instead," Bai Haozheng spoke indifferently. He naturally wouldn't reveal that the Special Affairs Bureau was severely understaffed, or that the Heterodox Academy member previously responsible for communicating with the Dream-eating Tapir had been reassigned to Yin City to suppress the restless King of Shengnan.

Bai Haozheng was among those authorized to communicate with the Dream-eating Tapir. He was the one best able to withstand the assault of its demonic voices. Furthermore, among those resilient to the demonic voices, he possessed the most authority and combat capability. This was why he had been urgently dispatched to Kunlun Mountain.

The Dream-eating Tapir before him had vanished after its last attempt to induce the Special Affairs Bureau into developing artificial urban legends. Subsequently, the King of Shengnan incident erupted in the real world. Within the Special Affairs Bureau, some believed the King of Shengnan might be connected to the Dream-eating Tapir, thinking Meng Si was the mastermind.

To their surprise, after Scholar Zhu and others removed the King of Shengnan from the real world and preserved him under a Seal, Meng Si appeared once more in the Demon Prison. Its explanation for its disappearance was that it had sensed the presence of a Jumper and, out of fear, had hidden deep within the Demon Prison.

As for what a Jumper was, or when and where one had appeared, the Dream-eating Tapir simply responded with a strange "HEH HEH HEH" laugh.

Thinking of this, Bai Haozheng couldn't help but purse his lips. The secretive Dream-eating Tapir was certainly not to be fully trusted, yet this ancient beast, having lived for a thousand years, indeed knew many ancient secrets.

Meng Si swung its trunk and said languidly, "This time, what do you want to know?"

Bai Haozheng adjusted his glasses and said indifferently, "I don't know if you've heard of the 'Doorway Struggle'."

"Doorway?" Meng Si narrowed its eyes, its tiger claws scratching several marks into the ground. "Are you sure you're not talking about 'Life Gate' or 'Gate of All Marvels'?"

Bai Haozheng's brow furrowed, and just as he was about to speak, he saw Meng Si shaking its head and muttering, "Ah, I almost forgot. That might be your term for it in this cycle. Hmm..."

Meng Si pondered for a moment, then lowered its head to look at Bai Haozheng, a hint of a smile flashing in its eyes. "Cave Heaven, Blessed Land, Fairy World, God Realm, Heavenly Palace, Otherworldly. The so-called 'Doorway' leads to places like those."