Chapter 111: The Corridor

The system could detect the location of the system fragment only within a hundred-meter radius. Was this some kind of joke?

Chen Bo had no idea how large this damned place was, but he knew it was many times larger than he had imagined. If that was the case, he began to wonder whether he could find the system fragment within the limited time available.

Forget it. There was no point worrying about that for now. He should first figure out where he was.

Chen Bo shook off the jumble of thoughts that had sprung into his mind and looked ahead.

There was no fog here at all. Everything was perfectly clear—just a little dark. Well, perhaps more than a little dark.

All right, the truth was that he could not see his own hand in front of his face. Every source of illumination on him had already run out, leaving him completely blind. He deeply regretted throwing away so many glow sticks, flashlights, and the like earlier. Now not a single one remained, and he could not see anything at all. Who knew what dangers might be lurking ahead?

Chen Bo cautiously took one step forward. When he found no danger or trap in front of him, he moved his other foot forward as well.

It seemed there was no danger. Chen Bo relaxed a little, and his original pace—barely faster than a tortoise—finally began to pick up.

But when he took his seventh step, he suddenly felt the ground give way beneath his foot. His ears caught a sharp crack.

Not good! He must have triggered some kind of trap!

The alarm bells immediately went off in Chen Bo’s mind. Without thinking, he leaped backward several steps and warily stared at the pitch-black space ahead.

Yet after waiting for more than a minute, he saw nothing unusual happen. Had he imagined it?

Just as Chen Bo was thinking this, his vision suddenly blurred. A cluster of orange-yellow flames appeared before him for no apparent reason.

Then another cluster appeared, followed by another. In an instant, everything ahead was revealed before Chen Bo’s eyes.

It turned out that the flames were oil lamps mounted along the walls.

He had no idea what had caused the lamps to ignite so suddenly. Could it have been the mechanism he had stepped on moments ago?

Chen Bo did not know, nor did he understand. More importantly, he had no desire to investigate. Sometimes thinking too much only exhausted a person.

“What the hell is this?”

Before Chen Bo stretched a long corridor. It was roughly ten meters wide and more than four meters high. Countless oil lamps lined both sides, illuminating the entire passageway brightly.

The walls on either side were covered with all kinds of murals. Unfortunately, the paintings were so abstract that no matter how Chen Bo looked at them, he could not understand what they depicted.

This time, Chen Bo did not rush forward. He had already become somewhat jumpy. Heaven only knew what other dangers might be waiting for him ahead. Better to be cautious.

The ceiling of the corridor was not covered with murals. Instead, it was filled with lines of writing that Chen Bo could not understand at all. The characters were neither from Earth nor from the Great Ning Empire. Perhaps they belonged to another world, or perhaps to one of the empires on the Savage Continent.

Sometimes being illiterate was truly frustrating. If only he could understand the densely packed characters above him, he might be able to determine whether this place held any danger.

If he were lucky, he might even discover where the system fragment was. Of course, that was nothing more than Chen Bo’s own fantasy.

“This is bad. I have a feeling that corridor in front of the streamer is definitely dangerous! Believe me, I’m absolutely right! You have to trust me!”

“How do you know the corridor is dangerous? It looks pretty safe to me. The streamer has already survived two brushes with death. According to the usual fantasy-novel formula, it should be time for him to reap some rewards.”

“You’re talking about fantasy novels. I’m talking about reality! Logically speaking, the safer a place looks, the more dangerous it actually is. The corridor appears empty, but the moment the streamer steps onto it, he might be finished.”

“But even if it is dangerous, the streamer has to grit his teeth and go in! If he can’t find the system fragment within the allotted time, the system will erase him.”

“Exactly. Rather than being killed by the system in such a pathetic way, he might as well take a gamble! Either way, he’s going to die, so he may as well give it a shot. Maybe his bicycle will turn into a motorcycle!”

“If the streamer charges in recklessly, I’m afraid his bicycle will be completely wrecked before it ever turns into a motorcycle. It’s not that I look down on him; this dungeon space is simply too despair-inducing. If I went in there, surviving five minutes would mean I’d had an affair with the Goddess of Luck in my previous life.”

“But if the streamer doesn’t take a chance, he’s still going to die! Do you have some way to stop the system from erasing him? You don’t, do you? Then stop spouting nonsense!”

“I’m right here. What are you going to do about it? I haven’t broken the rules of the livestream, insulted the streamer, badmouthed the system, offended the administrators, or even used profanity. What can you do to me?”

“With an attitude that arrogant, you definitely won’t last ten minutes. No, perhaps not even one minute. Hahahahahaha!”

“Hey, the guy above you forgot to mention something. The person you were just arguing with is one of the livestream administrators—and a veteran administrator at that!”

“Huh? Why haven’t we heard from that fellow again? Didn’t he say there was nothing anyone could do to him? Why isn’t he coming out to show off now?”

“He’s probably spending some time in the livestream’s punishment room. Why do I feel so gleeful about this? A delightful sight indeed! Celebration all around! Scatter the flowers, clap your hands! Shake it, make some noise! Boom shakalaka, boom shakalaka!”

Watching the commotion in the livestream, Chen Bo said helplessly, “Everyone, no matter what danger lies ahead, your streamer is definitely going in!”

“Since the system has already issued this mission, I have to do it—not for some lofty, grand, and prestigious ideal, but simply to save my own life!”

“Wish me luck, everyone! Don’t worry. Your streamer will definitely make it out alive! Once I obtain the system fragment, I’ll be able to unlock the monster-slaying and leveling function. That will be the moment I rise to greatness!”

“Of course, I’m not going to charge in recklessly. That would be no different from courting death, and I haven’t lived long enough yet! So I need to make a few preparations first. Heh heh!”

After saying this, Chen Bo took a basketball he had won from the lottery out of his system space and hurled it forcefully down the corridor.