A deserted tunnel...
Noah looked around in panic, suddenly finding himself in an unfamiliar environment. Anyone would feel bewildered in such a situation.
"A tunnel? Is this the Hoosac Tunnel from the supernatural stories?"
As a native of Massachusetts , he was well aware of the Hoosac Tunnel, one of the top ten supernatural stories. When he was a child and mischievously refused to sleep at night, his grandmother used those stories to scare him.
However, setting aside the fact that supernatural stories were just imaginary tales, even talking about the Hoosac Tunnel itself, Noah had passed by it a few days ago on his way back to his hometown to visit the grave of his deceased father.
The real Hoosac Tunnel was nothing like this, so dilapidated and old.
"Right, this is the Spirit Realm, not the actual Hoosac Tunnel."
The cramped environment made him uneasy. Noah cautiously proceeded forward, with only the sound of his own footsteps echoing in his ears.
As he walked, he contemplated his situation and the information provided by the voice in his mind.
There was no doubt that he had encountered a supernatural phenomenon and had been transported into a supernatural story to fulfill a task bestowed upon him by a mysterious force.
"That voice gave me two tasks: survive for three hours and explore the Spirit Realm. It's an S-level difficulty with a single-player deadly... This 'deadly' makes me quite nervous."
Surviving for three hours meant there would be great danger.
Explore the Spirit Realm... It should refer to exploring this tunnel, which means the tunnel is very dangerous?
He tightened his nerves and, at the same time, a question flashed through his mind: What rewards would he receive upon completing the task?
Since it was a task, there must be rewards.
"Well, according to the attributes panel earlier, my profession is a Night Wanderer, but it's at level 0 instead of level 1. Becoming a Night Wanderer should be one of the rewards. But what is a Night Wanderer?"
"Aubi was right, this black card can indeed change one's life," he muttered to himself, his voice echoing through the desolate courtyard. "But I overlooked the second half of his sentence. It's difficult to control... does that refer to the level of danger?"
Noah silently analyzed the available information.
Just then, the old xenon lamp by his side flickered a few times as if its circuit was unstable. Amidst the interplay of light and darkness, Noah faintly saw a figure wearing a miner's cap standing under the light...
Damn it... He jumped in fright, his train of thought instantly disrupted. Like a startled deer, he sprinted forward for a distance.
Looking back, the xenon lamp continued to provide steady light without further flickering.
The figure wearing the miner's cap seemed like his imagination.
After this scare, Noah dared not stay in that haunted place any longer and quickly rushed towards the exit of the tunnel.
Pitter-patter... The sound of footsteps echoed in the quiet tunnel as Noah did not dare to stop even for a moment. He continued at a brisk pace for five or six minutes until the old xenon lamps on the arched ceiling flickered again. However, this time, there was no figure wearing a miner's cap.
"They didn't follow?"
He felt a slight relief but didn't dare to linger. With his head down, he walked quickly. Suddenly, his gaze fixed on a detail that made his heart stop.
The orange xenon lamp cast a long shadow, and beside his shadow, there were more than ten other shadows following.
They have been following me?!
A chill ran from his feet to his head, causing goosebumps to erupt all over his body. Noah's face turned pale.
He started to run frantically, pounding the ground with his feet.
Finally, the entrance to the tunnel appeared ahead. Beyond the tunnel was the frosty glow of the moon.
Noah rushed out of the tunnel, clutching his knees as he bent over to catch his breath.
After catching his breath, he surveyed the surroundings. The full moon hung in the night sky, its solitary radiance dimming the stars.
Lush woods bathed in the moonlight, casting large areas of dense shadows.
He found himself in a desolate mountainous area.
The xenon lamps in the tunnel flickered a few times and then went out completely. The colossal tunnel entrance was pitch-black and quiet, resembling the mouth of a beast ready to devour.
"I need to leave quickly..."
Noah felt his scalp tingling and began climbing the rugged hill along the path.
After walking for about ten steps, he turned around and saw a row of figures wearing miner's caps and ragged clothing, their heads lowered, standing at the tunnel entrance.
They stood in the shadows where the moonlight couldn't reach, silent as if bidding him farewell.
Startled, Noah took a few steps back and turned around, running uphill.
Lush branches and leaves covered both sides of the path, sprinkling fragmented moonlight. It was enough for Noah to see the road clearly.
However, the terrifying silence in the hills, devoid of insect chirping or bird calls, made Noah's footsteps sound particularly loud.
"It's too quiet. There should be insects chirping in the hills at this time of year."
He looked around; the moon hung like a plate, casting shadows among the trees. He always felt that something in the darkness was watching him.
He didn't know how long he had been walking until his body started to sweat slightly. Finally, he emerged from the dense forest, and his field of vision suddenly widened.
The moonlight was like water, the surroundings deathly silent. At the end of the rugged hill road stood an abandoned ancient temple.
It stood silently in the darkness.
This temple had been abandoned for who knows how many years. The front gate was peeling and blackened, covered in erosion and pockmarks. The lanterns hanging at the eaves had fallen to the ground, leaving only bamboo frames.
The plaque was still there, covered in spider webs, hanging askew under the eaves. However, the light was too dim to read what was written on the plaque.
The steps in front of the temple gate were cracked, and weeds grew in the crevices.
In this desolate mountainous area, with no village or shop nearby, how could there be a temple?
Wait... Temple?!
Noah suddenly realized, and in his ears, he seemed to hear the voice from the introduction of the Spirit Realm information:
"Don't go into the temple, don't go into the temple..."
"According to the peculiar voice's prompt, I should not enter the temple. No, I've already exited the tunnel, which means what I really need to explore is this dilapidated ancient temple."
He hesitated for a long time at the temple gate before cautiously taking a step forward, walking toward the ancient temple standing in the darkness, crossing the dilapidated threshold.
What came into view was a vast courtyard, overgrown with waist-high weeds. A decaying incense burner had toppled into the grass, having endured years of wind and rain.
Under his feet was a road paved with bluestones, and between the cracks of the stones, wild grass grew.
His gaze followed the undulating withered grass and looked toward the end of the bluestone road, where there was a dilapidated main hall with a high foundation and six steps. Faint yellow light seeped through the lattice door of the main hall.
"There's light?"
Surrounded by silence, desolation, and decay, the moonlight cascaded down, but in this environment, the faint glow did not bring any warmth to Noah. In fact, it made him feel even more terrified.
Crunch...
Stepping on the withered yellow grass, he remained vigilant as he walked toward the main hall. In the open surroundings, his footsteps sounded particularly clear.
Crunch, crunch... Suddenly, Noah's ears twitched, and he heard an additional sound of footsteps behind him. Something was following him.
He swiftly turned his head.
The night was like water, the grass overgrown. There was nothing behind him.
"Was it an auditory illusion?"
Noah stood still, trembling with fear, for a moment before mustering the courage to move his legs again.
Crunch, crunch, crunch...
The footsteps came again, and this time he heard it clearly. There was indeed something following behind him.
...Could it be so eerie? Just as he entered the temple, he encountered something sinister? He didn't dare look back and quickened his pace.
The footsteps behind him also accelerated.
Noah couldn't hold back anymore. As goosebumps rose all over his body, he sprinted toward the main hall.
The footsteps behind him followed closely, pursuing him.
In the chase, Noah quickly dashed out of the overgrown grass, approached the main hall, and leaped up the six steps. Finally, with a loud bang, he forced open the lattice doors of the main hall.
The footsteps behind him suddenly vanished.
"Huff, huff..."
He gasped for breath, finally daring to turn around. Moonlight spilled like water into the courtyard, the overgrown grass and bluestone road, everything eerily silent. But there was nothing there.
"Thank goodness it didn't follow me."
After catching his breath, Noah gently closed the door of the main hall, as if keeping the fear outside.
Then, he surveyed the scene inside the main hall. On the high stone pedestal stood a goddess draped in fur, adorned in magnificent attire. She had a round face, slender eyebrows and eyes, exuding a sense of benevolence.
The goddess held a duster in one hand and made a grasping gesture with the other, seemingly holding something, but it was empty at the moment.
On the left and right sides were sword-bearing boys and book-bearing maidservants.
In front of the pedestal was a dusty offering table, with candlesticks placed on it. A 20-centimeter-long candle, as thick as a baby's arm, burned quietly, dispelling the darkness.
The candlelight dissipated the darkness, seemingly dispelling the fear in Noah's heart. He felt his emotions stabilize.
On the left wall, there hung two faded and cracked wooden boards, filled with regular script characters.
Noah walked to the wall, gazing intently under the dim candlelight. These characters were written in Latin.
His Latin language skills were decent, and through half-guessing and half-reading, he gained a clear understanding of the environment he was in.
This hill was called Aventine Hill, and the deity worshipped in the temple was called Ceres.
This goddess was a prominent figure in the early Roman Empire.
She practiced on Aventine Hill in a mythical location called Eleusis, proficient in talismans and alchemy. She could pray for rain and exorcise spirits, blessing the region with favorable weather. Therefore, she was revered by the people as a deity.
After her passing, the local government built this temple on Aventine Hill, naming it the "Aventine Hill Goddess Temple." The successors of the goddess managed
the incense, serving as temple priests.
"This temple dates back to the early Roman Empire, so it's been around for about 1500 thousand years." Noah murmured to himself.
At this moment, he couldn't help but notice a chilling detail as his eyes swept across the bottom of the offering table.
A dark figure lay in the shadow at the bottom of the table.
Due to his anxious state of mind and the dim candlelight, he didn't notice it immediately.
Noah reluctantly approached, taking a closer look. It turned out to be a skeleton with only bones remaining.
In the midst of his shock, he felt a sense of relief. Compared to this eerie hill temple, the skeleton seemed less terrifying.
Taking a few steps closer, aided by the faint candlelight, he examined the clothes on the skeleton. It was a laborer's dusty protective suit.
A worker?
"Were they the construction team from back then? So, I really have entered the world of urban legends."
Just as Noah made this speculation, he thought of an even more chilling possibility. Perhaps the construction team from back then, just like him, had accidentally entered this place.
Hence, urban legends were born.
If it was the former, this so-called spiritual realm was generated based on urban legends.
And if it was the latter, it meant that the ancient temple had always existed, and both the construction team and himself were victims.
Based on the historical background of the temple, Noah leaned more toward the latter.
"An entire construction team perished in the temple, with only one survivor. People really did die here... Now that I've entered this temple, I could face unknown dangers at any moment..."
He took a sharp inhale, his emotions tensing up again, and subconsciously surveyed his surroundings.
Then, he suddenly realized a horrifying detail upon deeper contemplation.
This ancient temple belonged to the Holy Roman Empire, with a long history. How could the candle still be burning? Who was replacing the candles in the main hall?
The more he thought about it, the more horrifying it seemed. Even the sculpture of the kind-looking goddess seemed eerie and sinister in the candlelight.
The three clay statues, covered in dust, were lifelike, each detail carved with exquisite realism, especially their eyes.
They stood on the pedestal, looking down at Noah from a high vantage point in the twilight candlelight.