Absolute Death Game

"How are you guys doing? Everything okay?"

"Still not dead yet!" He Suoju shouted urgently, but Du Yibo spoke at a leisurely pace, "I've dug down to the underground; it's very safe here."

Xiao Buli breathed a sigh of relief; he definitely did not hope for anyone to die while raiding the dungeon with him.

What should he do next? Wait indefinitely until this battle among the deities was over? As he pondered, he surveyed his surroundings, and a strange huge rock suddenly caught his attention.

The boulder was as big as a house, extremely smooth, embedded in the ground, and covered with a lot of volcanic ash. However, areas that were exposed looked somewhat translucent and were strikingly different from the black volcanic rocks around. He moved closer and peered through the translucent part of the boulder, vaguely making out a pitch-dark object inside.

Could it be some sort of treasure? Should he smash it open to find out? Xiao Buli thought to himself while unleashing a Mysterious Ice Slash.

The snow-white Sword Qi exploded upon the boulder, shattering into specks of light, yet not leaving a single mark on the rock. Instead, it caused much of the volcanic ash on the surface to shake off.

Xiao Buli couldn't help but be astonished, thinking how hard this stone must be to withstand such blows, knowing that Mysterious Ice Slash could even cut through steel.

Without warning, a line of text popped up on the screen.

"Who are you?" Xiao Buli's screen suddenly had a line of text.

"And who are you?" Xiao Buli asked in surprise, responding to the message.

"I don't know who I am either. I have been here since the very beginning of heaven and earth."

Xiao Buli looked around, seeing nothing out of the ordinary, then gazed back at the enormous rock. From its semi-translucent top, a face vaguely resembling that of a human emerged.

Xiao Buli was surprised, "Are you an Ancient God too?"

"Ancient God? What is that?"

(Seems that it's not one), Xiao Buli thought to himself, "If you're not an Ancient God, then what are you? A Stone Monster? A Stone Elemental?"

"Stone Monster? Stone Elemental? What are those?"

Xiao Buli was full of doubts and curiosity, wondering what exactly this entity was. However, since it was a being from the same era as Gonggong and Zhurong, it mustn't be ordinary. Nonetheless, from the way it spoke, it seemed to lack experience.

For some reason, Xiao Buli felt as if he had heard about this entity somewhere before.

As he was contemplating how to extract some information from this individual inside the rock, the ground suddenly shook violently. The strife between Zhurong and Gonggong escalated, even faintly affecting their location. Suddenly, with a crack, a vast fissure abruptly tore open the earth, and Xiao Buli quickly jumped aside. The boulder got wedged within the crack and sank as it further split apart.

(Damn, what unlucky timing!), Xiao Buli thought to himself while typing, "Are you still there?"

But there was no more response from the individual inside the rock; it seemed to have been cut off.

Suddenly, laughter came through the voice chat.
Your journey continues with My Virtual Library Empire

"Hahaha, I've dug up so many treasures!" Du Yibo shouted excitedly in the voice chat.

"Treasures? How did you dig them up?"

"Right in the dirt, you can see them when you use the Earth Escape Skills, there are so many, practically countless," Du Yibo's voice was thick with excitement and euphoria, making Xiao Buli itch with anticipation as well.

He hesitated for a moment, but decided to dig for some treasures first and quickly used his Earth Escape Skills, submerging into the ground below, and indeed, everywhere underground, one could see various colored ores, shining in the darkness like candlelight. He approached a stone emitting golden light and clicked to pick it up.

System Notification: You have obtained Huijin Stone.

Huijin Stone? That must be something valuable, he thought. Looking around, there were many more stones emitting light, and he wondered why they were so densely packed. Perhaps it was because no one in this era had mined these things before.

Besides the stones, there was magma of a deep red color. Xiao Buli carefully avoided the areas where the magma flowed, picking up as many gemstones as possible into his bag.

System Notification: You have obtained Moon Spirit Stone.

System Notification: You have obtained Earth Core Crystal.

System Notification: You have obtained Magic Crystal Stone.

Such notifications appeared a dozen times in succession, and Xiao Buli successfully packed a dozen different gemstones into his backpack. However, the more he filled it, the more it felt off to him. Given that the equipment and skills taken out had turned from Divine Artifacts to trash, these items would most likely end up the same, perhaps turning into normal stones.

But with such good stuff right in front of him, it was practically impossible for him not to pick them up, so he kept stuffing his bag until it was full, and only then did Xiao Buli stop, "He Suoju, you're not dead, are you?"

"Don't worry, I can't die!" He Suoju's curses came through the voice chat, "But it's close, damn, when is this fight going to end?"

Hearing his tone, Xiao Buli knew that things above ground must be quite chaotic. He couldn't help but feel somewhat fortunate; it was thanks to his Earth Escape Skills and Cloud Thunder Leap that he could withstand such attacks.

Xiao Buli waited patiently for a while longer, but then He Suoju started shouting again in the voice chat.

"Eh, it seems like it's ending. Those black fogs—" He Suoju's words grabbed Xiao Buli's attention. He looked around and indeed, black fog was rising from below, surrounding and closing in on him...

As the black fog gradually dispersed, the environment of the library finally once again came into view for the three of them, yet it was very different from before. What looked like walls were actually the wide entrances to corridors.

The black fog had completely disappeared, and a few rays of sunlight came through the basement windows, dimly lighting the library's basement and making the atmosphere feel much lighter.

That's it? Xiao Buli was somewhat puzzled. This part of his experience with the Ancient Gods' Chronicles felt anticlimactic. Could it be due to an insufficient amount of black fog? But where did that black fog come from in the first place?

That question might never be answered, and the three were not inclined to stay longer. Xiao Buli packed the "Ancient Gods' Chronicles: Zhurong volume" and the "Penglai Secret Chronicles: Xuantian Palace Incident" into his bag, and the trio headed outside.

These two books, like the Journey to the West: Demon Subduing Record, were readable, and Xiao Buli felt there was a good chance of getting some information from them. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast recommendation votes, monthly passes; your support is my greatest motivation.)