Chapter 8: Hope II (Thanks to Yi Xi Cheng Dao as the League Lord)
Watching the car gradually move away, Li Chengyi stood still. He wanted to follow, but the meaning revealed in the other’s words similarly cooled his heart.
The friend and son of that person seemed to have died in a Dead Ends.
The world seemed peaceful, but dangers like Dead Endss seemed to be everywhere.
What did the person’s last sentence mean?
Why would calling the police lose the last bit of hope?
Li Chengyi’s mind was filled with thoughts, but he had no clue.
He picked up his phone, constantly searching for information related to Dead Endss.
As the sky gradually darkened, the streetlights along the roadside slowly lit up with a yellow glow.
Some students, with their hands in their pockets, began to stroll around in pairs or groups.
The shops on both sides of the street lit up one after another, casting various halos of light that brightly illuminated the area.
Li Chengyi stood motionless, frantically searching for information related to Dead Endss.
But there was nothing.
All information seemed to have been censored and deleted, leaving only a few simple missing cases circulating online.
Disappointed, he put down his phone and looked up at the sky.
In the sky, a moon the size of a washbasin quietly hung in the center, silent and tranquil.
‘There must be a way.’
Li Chengyi turned to look at the café, choosing not to go back in, and instead, put away his phone and walked towards the bus stop.
As his pant leg neared the green belt between the roadway and sidewalk, a line of clear black text once again emerged from the back of his right hand.
Li Chengyi didn’t notice and wasn’t able to see it; his mind was filled with thoughts of that bizarre underground garage and the strange, huge human face.
The intense pressure and panic filled every part of him; if he hadn’t forcefully controlled his body, he might already have started trembling with fear.
Continuing along the green belt forward.
Li Chengyi’s mind raced with various methods, any possibilities that could allow him to escape from the Dead Ends.
He was now ready to go back and prepare various weapons, knives, alcohol for lighting fires, strong pepper spray, which after all were better than nothing.
Everything, anything that could be helpful, should be utilized.
Food and drinks should also be prepared; in case he escaped the monstrous face but remained trapped in the Dead Ends, he would still need sustenance.
And a tape player; he might have entered the Dead Ends through playing music with that player before.
So, the first thing to do after going back was to secure it.
Additionally,
‘Right!’ Suddenly, a spark of thought flashed through his mind.
‘The tattoo on the back of my hand! That mysterious tattoo might be able to help me!’
A glimmer of hope rapidly rose in Li Chengyi’s mind.
He raised his hand, but saw nothing on the back of it; the tattoo needed reflection in a mirror to be clearly seen.
He quickly walked to a clothing store display window, using the window’s reflection to look at the back of his hand.
By now, the text had disappeared, returning to the previous black tattoo.
‘So, how should this thing be used? What’s its use?’
Looking at the black tattoo on the back of his hand, Li Chengyi came up with a method. He turned on the camera on his phone and aimed it at the back of his hand.
Indeed, on the phone screen, he clearly saw the black tattoo on the back of his hand.
It was a pattern of black flowers composed of small black blossoms.
They seemed to sway with the wind, the overall posture slightly tilted. They also resembled black flames burning, dancing and profound.
‘Maybe there’s some trick to it?’ Li Chengyi looked at the black tattoo, reaching out to carefully touch it, but his fingertips couldn’t feel anything tangible as if the tattoo didn’t exist.
‘Can’t wait any longer, the more time drags on, the less time I have. I need to prepare other things first!’
Without any clue about the tattoo’s use, Li Chengyi quickly turned around and ran towards the bus stop.
He needed to prepare all sorts of necessary things at the fastest speed.
Even though that middle-aged man said that weapons were useless, that was just a stranger speaking; his words couldn’t be completely trusted.
Without any delay, he boarded the bus, this time without any mishaps; before the sky turned completely dark, he returned to the entrance of his happy community.
Instead of going back home, he walked along the suburban road to a chain supermarket and began to purchase long shelf-life foods in large quantities.
Compressed biscuits, jerky, bottled water, he bought a full large bag.
Additionally, he bought a folding fruit knife, a sharp meat cleaver, several windproof lighters, filtration masks, etc.
Under the threat to his life, Li Chengyi exhibited 1000% execution power and completed all preparations in just half an hour.
Then he started checking his phone for anything he missed.
In the end, he added a small first-aid kit, bought from a small pharmacy beside the supermarket.
Everything was ready.
The time also came to 7:40 in the evening.
Carrying bags large and small, Li Chengyi entered the community, glanced at his family’s 5th-floor window without lights, and then quickly entered the building and pressed the elevator button to go upstairs.
While waiting for the elevator to arrive, he pondered, the black tattoo on the back of his right hand, what exactly was its use?
‘If such ordinary and simple preparations could help survive the Dead Ends, then those people online wouldn’t be so pessimistic. So.’
Li Chengyi had a feeling that the real possibility of survival might lie in the tattoo on the back of his hand.
But how to unearth the tattoo’s function, he was completely clueless.
Ding.
The elevator reached the first floor.
The doors slowly parted, revealing a slightly dim and old interior.
Li Chengyi was about to enter when suddenly the faint dim light made his footsteps falter; his heart inexplicably grew timid.
He paused for a while, eventually retracting his foot and turning to carry the items up the stairs instead.
After rushing up four floors non-stop, thankfully he often ran and exercised, otherwise, carrying over ten kilograms of stuff at such a rapid pace to the fourth floor would have made it hard for most people to catch their breath.
Unlocking the door, no one was home in the three-bedroom living room, bathed in darkness, only the living room window letting in a bit of moonlight and light from the opposite house.
Huh.
Li Chengyi took a deep breath, placed the big bag with items on the living room floor, changed shoes, and entered.
Just entering, he noticed the floor had indistinct dirty footprints.
Clearly, someone had entered home without changing shoes.
‘Was it Li Chengjiu’s guest?’ He speculated.
Finding a place to sit down, he took a sip of water, then picked up his phone again, using the camera function to study the tattoo on the back of his right hand carefully.
‘Maybe it needs some spell?’
He started trying all sorts of bizarre chants towards the tattoo.
All sorts of spells like “Open Sesame,” utterly random, with such a wide spectrum, there was no reaction.
‘Perhaps it requires blood to recognize the owner?’ The various novel ideas from his past life again influenced Li Chengyi’s thoughts.
Biting his teeth, he took a small knife from the kitchen, lightly pricked a fingertip, and dripped a drop of blood onto the black tattoo.
Unfortunately, it was still useless.
‘Could it be necessary to trace it out with a pen and draw?’ He had another sudden idea.
He began searching for a piece of paper, meticulously started to trace the tattoo with a pencil.
Unfortunately, his drawing skills were too poor, and after a long time, he only managed to sketch a child-like muddly drawing.
Still no reaction.
After busying himself for a while, the time gradually approached 8:30.
A wave of slight drowsiness began to creep over Li Chengyi.
He immediately became alert.
Both previous times, before he entered the Dead Ends, he first felt a wave of drowsiness, and now it was coming again, perhaps indicating the third time was imminent?
His heart tensed, he forcibly maintained his spirits, grabbing the large bag, fearing that once it left his side, he might not be able to bring it with him.
‘If I die, could I traverse again?’ A strange thought emerged at this moment.
‘Those black flowers, I really don’t know where they came from, to be capable of such incredible things.’
Li Chengyi sighed in his heart, on the brink of time, he strangely became less nervous than before.
It was a very peculiar feeling, as if his mind suddenly emptied, becoming much clearer, and his thoughts also rapidly clarified.
Wait!!
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck his mind.
‘The tattoo appeared because of that patch of black flowers, and my traversal was also because I came into contact with that patch of black flowers.
The major studied by my predecessor was also related to plant cultivation. All these connections led back to plants.
So, could this tattoo also be related to plants?’
This thought, once connected, swiftly occupied all of Li Chengyi’s thoughts.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt it was highly likely.
“Let’s give it a try!”
He looked around, and there wasn’t a single plant in the house.
Thus, taking the bag, he changed shoes swiftly and rushed out the door, charging down the stairwell, rushing to the space between the community buildings in one breath.
These spaces were built with simple elliptical green belts.
Inside were small trees, green grass, and flowers.
Fenced off simply on the outside, there was a sign hanging warning to be careful not to trample the flowers and grass.
But Li Chengyi couldn’t care less about being careful now; he climbed over the fence, and as soon as his feet touched the green belt’s lawn, his body reacted immediately.
The black tattoo on the back of his right hand quickly twisted, squirmed, turning into a line of clear text.
‘Please continue touching for ten seconds to initiate start-up.’
Li Chengyi brought up his phone camera, looking at the back of his right hand; this time, he clearly saw this line of text.
It was in the most commonly used characters from his previous life!
‘Indeed!! It’s correct!!’ A surge of electric-shock-like numbness flashed across his scalp.
The countdown also began to emerge constantly on the back of his hand.
‘Six.’
‘Five.’
‘Four.’
‘Three.’
‘Two.’
‘One.’
Whoosh.
Instantly, all the text disappeared. The back of the hand’s black color returned to the original black tattoo pattern.
And a myriad of intangible information, through another mysterious method, instantaneously transmitted into Li Chengyi’s mind.
‘Activation successful.’
Hum!!
In an instant, a deep and dense dark fog emerged out of thin air from all directions.
The fog enveloped and swallowed Li Chengyi’s entire body.
Surroundings turned into pitch black.
‘What is this!?’
He stood somewhat helplessly rooted to the spot, not daring to move.
Ding.
A clear and melodious sound echoed as if jade was striking a bell or qin, indistinguishable in its source.
In the darkness, far away.
A tiny speck of purple light slowly emerged, brightened, and drew closer.
(End of Chapter)