Crunch crunch—

Walking continuously forward in the cave, the sound of stepping on the snow was becoming more and more obvious, and Wu Liang could feel that the accumulated snow had risen from a few centimeters at the beginning to his ankles.

He had been walking in this cave for half an hour already.

According to what the exploration team had said just now, the Supernatural Object tied to his waist could extend for a kilometer, but by now, he must have walked several kilometers, right?

Whoosh whoosh—

The fierce wind howled past his ears, swirling with snowflakes like icy steel needles stabbing his face, giving Wu Liang the feeling that he was just an ordinary person climbing a snowy mountain.

Obviously, this kind of phenomenon shouldn't exist inside the cave!

It seems that the cave not only affects time but also distorts space.

"Speaking of which... why do I feel nothing wrong with my head?" Wu Liang was a bit puzzled.

He had been walking for so long without sensing the kind of mental slowness the exploration team had warned him about.

The only anomaly in his mind right now was that the Ghost Compendium was becoming more and more excited; Wu Liang even suspected that the book was about to throw a party in his head.

"Boss... but... we seem to... have some reaction..."

Nightmare's thoughts intermittently transmitted from the Ghost Compendium to Wu Liang's mind, vividly like a teammate trying to communicate over a laggy network game.

The other Fierce Ghost Minions were not even making a sound, most of them had fallen into a state of shutdown.

After all, their nature lacked the mental strength of Nightmare.

"If you're tired, just sleep. Leave it to me."

Wu Liang comforted Nightmare.

Based on the clues provided by the exploration team, this mental slowness would completely disappear after exiting the cave, so it wouldn't essentially harm his Fierce Ghost Minions.

He couldn't stop here.

His mother was still waiting in Taohua Village for him to take her away!

"Wu Liang... Wu Liang!"

Just as Wu Liang was immersed in silent contemplation, a familiar voice suddenly came from ahead, like an ethereal sensation traveling from afar, feeling surreal.

It was Yao Qingxue's voice!

Except her tone when calling his name was filled with fear and trembling, as if waking from a nightmare.

But after walking for so long and finally hearing another voice, Wu Liang got invigorated!

Amid this energy was also a bit of confusion and doubt.

His mother was clearly in Taohua Village!

How did she suddenly end up in this cave?

Straining his waist to quickly move forward, the snow had now spread to his thighs, making each step incredibly difficult.

"Xue, it's okay... it's nothing. We can soon find the miracles recorded on the stone tablet, Xiaoliang can surely be saved."

"I promise you!"

Before he could even find Yao Qingxue's whereabouts, another even more familiar voice echoed in his ears.

It was Wu Xiaoyao's voice!

"Damn it, why is Dad here too... damn! This snow is getting ridiculous," Wu Liang cursed while crawling forward.

The moment his father Wu Xiaoyao's voice appeared, the snow inexplicably rose to his chest, so fluffy it was impossible to crawl over the snowdrift.

He could only keep forcefully pushing the snow in front of him with his hands, inching forward like crawling.

He could feel that the place where the voices appeared was getting closer and closer!

Fifty meters... thirty meters... ten meters!

"Xiaoyao, my nightmares are becoming more real, this time I dreamt that Xiaoliang and I were living in an isolated village, calling his full name like I didn't know my own child."

"I'm so scared, Xiaoyao."

"My dreams never have you in them, where did you go, Xiaoyao?"

"..."

Rumble—

Yao Qingxue's voice continued with inexplicable words, as if she was having a conversation with Wu Xiaoyao from before.

But before Wu Liang could listen carefully, there was a sudden sound in his ears, followed by an earth-shattering noise.

The entire cave's snow suddenly collapsed down like the avalanche once triggered by the White-haired Fierce Ghost at Bogda Peak.

However, Wu Liang no longer possessed the strength to make Bogda Peak devoid of ice and snow with a wave of his hand now.

In just an instant, he was heavily buried by the snow, his head filled with a bizarre ringing noise.

At this critical moment of life and death, as Wu Liang was about to try to dig a passage out of the snow, the sound in his ears gradually changed from the rumble of an avalanche to a bubbling sound like being underwater.

The towering icy snow around him instantly melted into a cold and chilling Gloomy Pool.

And Wu Liang was submerged at the bottom of the pool.

Gurgle gurgle—

"Puh! Haa!"

He held his breath, focused, and swam upward, breaking through the water's surface with a heavy exhale.

Within just a few minutes after hearing Yao Qingxue's voice, so many bizarre changes had occurred, making Wu Liang immediately become vigilant and observe his surroundings as soon as he got ashore.

It was still the same dim cave.

But the space seemed larger, at a glance the stone walls on either side weren't even visible!

However, more eerie was that—there was now a spot inside the cave radiating flickering firelight.

The firelight cast two human-like shadows on the ground, they leaned on each other, filled with loneliness yet bringing an inexplicable warmth.

Following the direction of the shadows and firelight, Wu Liang's eyes were also reflecting a scene he thought he'd never see again in his life—

Wu Xiaoyao and Yao Qingxue sitting closely together on stones as seats, the campfire crackling softly as it burned wood, filling the entire cave with their mutual comforting whispers.

"Don't worry, Xue, it's just a dream, I'll always be by your side, and after we save Xiaoliang we can quit and go hide away in Wangsheng Village, how about that?"

Wu Xiaoyao's voice was full of tenderness as he spoke to the love of his life.

This tenderness felt somewhat familiar to Wu Liang, a nearness that the Bionic Man of the Promised Land could not provide.

This Wu Xiaoyao in front of him was definitely the real one!

But... he seemed somewhat younger than the Bionic Man he'd known, the traces of time on his face smoothed out, and even the few strands of gray hair were completely gone.

The familiarity he gave Wu Liang felt somewhat distant.

Just like—a Wu Xiaoyao from five years ago!

"Xiaoyao, to be honest, I still have some reservations about your disciple... he's too scheming, I'm worried he might take some other actions when we find the miracle," Yao Qingxue whispered.

Having said that, her gaze unconsciously shifted to the tent set up on the other side of the campfire.

Inside there slept Wu Xiaoyao's only disciple—Yin Qiming.

And hidden in the shadows, Wu Liang felt a tremor in his heart, realizing at once who this disciple was.

He was none other than the current Pioneer!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.