Chapter Fifty-Seven: The Mysterious Woman

“Look at you, scared out of your wits! See? Nothing actually happened,” Zhao Bai said from nearby as he handed the twisted candlestick back to Xiao Zhang.

“Huh?” Xiao Zhang frowned as he took the candlestick. “How is that possible?”

“Ah, damn it! Zhao Bai, you bastard!”

Suddenly, the ground beneath them split open, and both of them plummeted down.

As soon as they fell, the ground closed up again, returning to normal. Aside from the missing candlestick, nothing else had changed.

“Aaaah!” Xiao Zhang tried desperately to land safely, but his face still ended up making intimate contact with the ground.

Zhao Bai used a skill to slow his fall, but after holding on for over ten seconds, he finally gave in.

“Xiao Zhang, catch me!” Those were the last words Zhao Bai shouted before he hit the ground.

Hearing him, Xiao Zhang spread his arms, ready to catch Zhao Bai.

But Zhao Bai landed with a smack right in front of Xiao Zhang, howling in pain.

After all, Zhao Bai’s body only had B-level strength—unlike Xiao Zhang, who was a real freak. The impact made Zhao Bai cough up blood, and he felt like his internal organs were about to spill out.

Xiao Zhang looked at Zhao Bai, who was now a wreck, and tried hard to suppress his laughter. “How are you holding up?”

With Xiao Zhang’s help, Zhao Bai struggled to his feet. “You son of—” He didn’t finish before coughing up another mouthful of blood.

This startled Xiao Zhang, who quickly forced a healing potion down Zhao Bai’s throat—the last one he had.

Then Xiao Zhang looked around. It seemed they were on a bridge about two meters wide.

At last, Zhao Bai managed to catch his breath and turned on his headlamp to check the edges of the bridge.

But underneath the bridge on both sides, there was only emptiness.

“Has the river dried up?” Zhao Bai leaned over the edge for a look.

“No, it’s just a layer of stone,” Xiao Zhang’s face suddenly fell. “Is that magma down there?”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Zhao Bai obviously didn’t believe it. How could there be magma here? If there were, wouldn’t they be roasted alive by now?

Xiao Zhang had used too much mental energy to examine what lay beneath the stone crust, so feeling a bit dizzy, he stopped using his ability and also switched on his headlamp.

With the headlamp on, Xiao Zhang looked around. The underground space was truly vast—it must have been the size of a football field!

But what really made him suck in a sharp breath was the height above. The place where they’d fallen from was at least a hundred meters up. No wonder Zhao Bai had almost died.

The ground below was as large as a football field, but it was crisscrossed by countless broken bridges. If Xiao Zhang hadn’t known better, he’d probably be taking a dip in the magma by now.

He heard the sound of liquid flowing. Zhao Bai had clearly noticed something before Xiao Zhang did. Not far away, molten metal was slowly trickling down the wall. “Xiao Zhang, come take a look!”

Xiao Zhang hurried over, shining his light in the same direction, and what he saw stunned him.

It wasn’t just that wall—molten iron was flowing down every wall, though the ground beneath the bridges looked unchanged.

Ahead, Xiao Zhang shone his headlamp further and suddenly saw, some tens of meters away in the very center of the cavern, a platform. There seemed to be a figure on it!

A person! She was dressed in a black night suit, and judging by her long hair, she was a woman. If the light hadn’t fallen on her, her outfit would have made her all but invisible in the darkness.

The woman in black sat cross-legged, her long hair cascading down her back. In front of her, two swords were stuck in the ground. She sat there, completely motionless.

“Xiao Zhang, do you see her?” Zhao Bai tugged at Xiao Zhang, pointing at the woman.

“I’m not blind,” Xiao Zhang replied, taking a deep breath and calling out loudly, “Hey!”

The woman seemed to lift her head slightly. It was too far away to make out her face, but Xiao Zhang felt as though a sharp gaze had landed on him.

“Could she be the boss?” Xiao Zhang’s heart sank. He glanced at Zhao Bai, who shook his head. “No, she’s not the boss; she’s a green marker.”

“Not the boss?” Xiao Zhang paused. “Is she an Awakened or a player?”

The woman only lifted her head for a moment, then bowed it again, ignoring the two of them.

Zhao Bai shrugged, indicating he didn’t know.

Xiao Zhang felt an oddness about the whole place and gave up on shouting further. He carefully observed his surroundings and stood at the edge of a broken bridge for a while.

He realized these broken bridges seemed to lead to the platform.

Then, his expression suddenly changed. Crack! The sound of stone breaking.

Xiao Zhang spun around and saw that the other end of the bridge where he and Zhao Bai were standing had begun to collapse—the collapse spreading rapidly toward them.

“Run!” Xiao Zhang’s heart plummeted. He grabbed Zhao Bai and dashed to the other side of the bridge. Sizing up the distance, he leapt.

A four-meter jump was nothing for Xiao Zhang. He landed easily, then called out to Zhao Bai, who hesitated. “Jump! I’ll catch you!”

Zhao Bai took a deep breath and leapt. Maybe it was nerves, but if Xiao Zhang hadn’t grabbed him, he would have fallen.

Behind them, the broken bridge where they had landed collapsed completely! Dust billowed as it fell into the magma lake below. The stone crust in that area cracked open, revealing the seething lava.

“Damn it!”

Xiao Zhang’s heart pounded wildly, his mouth suddenly dry.

At that moment, he heard a voice.

The woman in black on the central platform spoke.

“If you don’t want to die, get over here—now!”

Xiao Zhang forced a wry smile. Move fast? Zhao Bai could barely manage a jump.

As the bridge beneath them began to crumble, Xiao Zhang drew a deep breath, hefted Zhao Bai onto his shoulders, and charged toward another bridge.

After several leaps, Zhao Bai threw up.

Now, there was only one bridge left between them and the platform. This time, Xiao Zhang simply threw Zhao Bai across.

Then he leapt himself, landing on the central platform, standing before the woman in black.

At last, the woman looked up at him. Her gaze was not only cold and displeased, but there was also a hint of something more complicated.

She wore a veil, so Xiao Zhang couldn’t see her face, but her icy eyes told him enough.

She glanced at Xiao Zhang, then immediately lowered her gaze, staring at the ground once more.

“An Awakened?” Xiao Zhang tried, but the woman ignored him completely.

Only then did Xiao Zhang notice that she was sitting cross-legged, and in front of her on the platform lay something like a treasure map.