Upon realizing he had long deviated from the prescribed path to the forbidden treasure, Xu Que quietly began searching for a safer route through the complex terrain.
After more than half an hour, although he had evaded seven giant scorpions, he was still some distance from the treasure's location. Xu Que did not rush to enter the treasure site; what concerned him more was the giant scorpion guarding the forbidden treasure.
Binding pieces of beast meat together, he casually tossed a chunk out. As it landed, the two giant scorpions guarding the cave were immediately drawn out.
Xu Que, however, did not rush in. Instead, he tossed several more pieces of meat. When the scorpions were sufficiently far from the cave, he swiftly emerged from a nearby hollow and entered the cave.
Upon seeing the sign above the cave entrance, Xu Que gripped his sword and, without hesitation, leapt into the vortex-like cavern. The path within was short but exceedingly convoluted.
After tossing several pieces of meat along the various pathways, Xu Que continued to scatter more meat along the route leading to the forbidden treasure. When all was prepared, he cautiously ventured deeper into the cavern.
Upon spotting the massive, ten-meter-long black scorpion below, he couldn't help but inhale sharply. "Good heavens, this scorpion must be of S-class caliber!"
Shaking off the thought, Xu Que threw a piece of meat directly at the enormous scorpion. With a dull thud, the meat hit the ground, and the black scorpion slowly opened its eyes.
As it caught the scent of the meat, it began crawling towards the bait. Seeing the creature distracted, Xu Que quickly tossed three more pieces of meat along the planned route and then climbed to a higher ledge, waiting.
Minutes passed, and the giant black scorpion slowly made its way beneath him. When it finally moved far enough away from the entrance, Xu Que leapt down, rushing toward the heart of the forbidden treasure.
Just as he glimpsed the four pillars of the treasure, his peripheral vision caught sight of a tattered backpack. Xu Que did not hasten to retrieve it, but instead swiftly proceeded to decipher the forbidden treasure.
With each passing moment, his technique grew more refined, and Xu Que nearly considered bestowing upon himself the title of "World's Greatest Tomb Raider."
When he finally unlocked the treasure chest, the roar of the giant scorpion echoed from above.
Xu Que smiled and looked up, emptying the contents of the chest into his hands. Noticing the distance between himself and the scorpion, he leisurely made his way toward the tattered backpack.
With a swift slash of his sword, Xu Que waved at the giant scorpion, and in the blink of an eye, his figure disappeared into the anchor point space.
Upon returning to the dimensional space, Xu Que did not rush to search for Ye Gou. Instead, he opened the tattered backpack, curious as to what such an item was doing here.
As the bag opened, two diaries appeared.
[Name: The Misfortunate Joseph's Diary 1-2 (Unlocked)]
[Quality: Rough (Gray)]
[Reading Book: The Casual Diary of the Misfortunate Joseph]
Xu Que couldn't help but twitch his lips at the title. "Well, this 'misfortunate' title… does it mean this guy stumbled into the anchor point space and got eaten by the giant scorpion?"
He didn't hurry to open it but instead glanced at the second diary.
[Name: The Listener Dam's Records on the Old Gods 1-5 (Unlocked)]
[Quality: Rough (Gray)]
[Reading Book: The Listener Dam, one of the few interdimensional visitors who recorded the legends of the Old Gods, risking his life to document their lore.]
Upon seeing this book, Xu Que's expression grew solemn. He didn't immediately flip through it, instead picking up the Misfortunate Joseph diary to begin reading.
He was eager to understand why Joseph had access to the Listener Dam's records.
"Year 177856 of the Great Rift Era, I became the hero of my village. My parents were proud of me, so I decided from this day forward to record everything, to become a great hero admired by all..."
As Xu Que read, he learned a few things about the timeline. Though he couldn't yet fully grasp what the Great Rift Era meant in relation to the Old Gods or the Abyss, it was clear that in this world, interdimensional rifts had become a part of everyday life.
When he saw Joseph's rise from a mere hero to a grand hero, Xu Que understood the hierarchical system in this world. What intrigued him, though, was that becoming a grand hero was merely the beginning of a career path, and Joseph had chosen the warrior profession.
"Year 177878 of the Great Rift Era, I will forever remember this unfortunate day."
"My team and I, Sileron included, had planned to capture the Caesor Castle, but another team accidentally ignited the forge.
"Countless demons surrounded us. While we weren't afraid of these grotesque creatures, I knew that this mission had failed."
"But the worst part came with the appearance of the Demon Legion Commander, which led to the loss of our supply line!"
"That place had consumed all my resources to establish. I had hoped it would allow me to continually retrieve resources."
"Unbelievable, truly unbelievable!"
Xu Que didn't understand what "supply line" meant, but he knew that some kind of facility could rapidly generate interdimensional resources. As for the cost... it was indeed high, and such things typically became available only after the eighth year of the Abyss Era.
By then, the rifts had stabilized, and the time rules had ceased to matter. Unless closed, the rifts remained open, and the invasion of B and C-class interdimensional creatures became frequent.
In the ninth year of the Abyss, there were even calls to send humans to subdue these creatures, but by then, the number of human strongholds had dwindled to almost none, and even defending the frontlines was a difficult task.
Xu Que closed the first diary and picked up the second.
After reading the first few pages, he understood why Joseph had earned the title "Misfortunate."
This was a man whose every venture turned to ruin... everything he did seemed doomed.
Entering a rift with his team, hoping to gather resources, they instead encountered an interdimensional beast tide. His luck was truly abysmal.
Even more outrageous was that the peaceful village he once knew became the site of a rift...
"Ha, this guy could have been a protagonist if he hadn't died." Xu Que chuckled as he turned to the next page.
However, when he read the next entry, his expression turned grave.
"Year 177892 of the Great Rift Era, the rift has appeared in Redya Village for the third year."
"Today, I assembled a large team, and the wages were the entire village's savings."
"Was today an unlucky day? Or was it my lucky day?"
"Initially, the army had seized the Huqiao Watchtower, and closing the rift was within reach. But then, the Hu Man Manor erupted with an unprecedented magical curse."
Though the curse didn't immediately kill the army, it was clear to everyone that death was inevitable, just a matter of time.
"As warriors fell, we finally captured the Hu Man Manor."
"At the same time we closed the rift, I discovered several glowing books on an ancient bookshelf."
"Before leaving, I took these books with me."
"I had thought that those of us who survived would soon succumb to the death curse, but after leaving, we discovered we had been cursed with a time-based curse."
"Though we couldn't understand how the curse formed, we sought help from many bishops and priests, but none could lift the curse."