Qiao Qiao took step by step, her body movements seeming somewhat stiff and her strides appearing a bit clumsy.
In fact, even her way of walking involved first lifting her left foot and then dragging her right foot along.
In the dimly lit passage, she slowly moved forward like this, her black long hair hanging on both sides of her face, and her pair of eyes, beneath her bangs, were dark and deep.
Soo Soo spotted her and exclaimed, "Sister!"
However, Qiao Qiao didn't respond. She just continued to make her effortful, almost clumsy progress.
The dark figure didn't move again; it even withdrew its hand and turned to face Qiao Qiao silently. Although its face remained a chaotic blur of darkness, seemingly devoid of the presence of eyes, it was clear that it was observing Qiao Qiao.
Finally, when Qiao Qiao stopped in front of it, the dark figure spoke in an odd tone, softly saying, "Dark...attribute?"
Qiao Qiao's lips curled, "You too."
The dark figure sighed, "You really took me by surprise."
"I'm surprised too," Qiao Qiao's tone was complex.
"What a great surprise, just waking up and having such a sumptuous feast for two," the dark figure burst into laughter.
But its laughter quickly came to a halt!
Because a dark energy slowly emanated from Qiao Qiao, swirling around her body, while Qiao Qiao's body gradually became semi-transparent.
"Antimatterization?" The tone of the dark figure carried a hint of gravity.
Qiao Qiao sighed, and when she spoke, her voice sounded strained, "I don't like small talk. The current situation boils down to a fight to the death between you and me. So... let's battle!"
"My abyss of darkness will welcome your entry," the dark figure chuckled coldly, and suddenly it twisted its body, transforming into a streak of black light and swiftly darting toward Qiao Qiao.
Qiao Qiao didn't move.
She stood in her original position, maintaining her posture. As the dark figure zipped in front of her, a beam of darkness passed directly "through" Qiao Qiao's body!
Qiao Qiao let out a painful cry, her entire body instantly tensing up.
Meanwhile, the dark figure had moved behind Qiao Qiao, and the dark energy pressed against the wall. Suddenly, it turned around, reshaping into human form. When it turned back, Qiao Qiao's lips revealed a strange smile.
The dark figure staggered, losing its voice as it shouted, "What... what is your dark attribute?"
"Yours is corrosion," Qiao Qiao pursed her lips. "I've already sensed it, and I happen to have no fear of you. So, what do you think my dark attribute is?"
The dark figure suddenly let out an angry roar, and the black wings behind it trembled violently. Especially the solid black feathers on top, vibrating rapidly. Its entire figure moved swiftly, flying towards Qiao Qiao. The palm of its hand opened, and a cloud of black energy enveloped Qiao Qiao's body.
"Join my abyss of darkness!"
The black aura carried a strong corrosive effect and began to coil around Qiao Qiao's body. Her clothes, and even the exposed surface of her skin, suddenly began to rot!
However, even though Qiao Qiao's mouth emitted a painful low cry, her black eyes grew brighter and brighter!
Qiao Qiao's body continued to rapidly become semi-transparent!
Just as the black energy swirled around Qiao Qiao's entire body, her body seemed to have turned into a shadow, untouchable.
The dark figure grumbled in frustration and suddenly opened its arms, lunging forward. This time, it directly embraced Qiao Qiao, who watched the figure approach but only sneered. She bit her lip forcefully and then twisted her body upwards!
The two of them collided head-on, but this time, Qiao Qiao's figure crossed paths with the dark figure, and there was no physical contact between them. It was as if two beams of light crossed each other, and they both "passed through" each other's bodies!
This time, both of them let out painful screams!
In the dark figure's howl, there was a hint of anger.
"You're committing suicide! The power of darkness shouldn't be in opposition to each other. We can assimilate into a shared existence..."
"Hmph, I have no interest in coexisting with something that's not even human," Qiao Qiao gritted her teeth. Although she seemed to be enduring immense pain, even her eyebrows were trembling, she forcibly endured it and lunged at the dark figure once again.
Subsequently, the two of them engaged in a fierce battle in this underground space. The pattern of this battle involved both of them slashing through the black energy, constantly colliding, intersecting, entwining, and then separating.
It was evident that with each collision and separation, Qiao Qiao's body became more transparent, while the dark figure's form became increasingly solid and clear.
After seven or eight such encounters, the dark figure's arms and even its face gradually began to show some contours, no longer the chaotic blur from before.
Meanwhile, Qiao Qiao's figure appeared dimmer and dimmer, as if the picture's color and clarity had been lowered, like a faded painting, becoming increasingly blurred.
The scene was extremely eerie.
Soo Soo exclaimed, "Sister..."
"Don't come closer!"
After another collision, Qiao Qiao stood on the ground, and she looked down at her almost entirely disappearing legs and her upper body's faint outline.
The dark figure, on the other hand, had nearly revealed its true form.
"You, you're committing a crime! The laws of darkness are above us, and the power of darkness shouldn't be used to attack each other! We should..."
Without waiting for the figure's accusation to finish, Qiao Qiao coldly chuckled and once again twisted her body to charge forward.
"Do you really want to go down with me?!"
Clearly, the dark figure had also suffered immense damage, and its substantial transformation seemed to be a terrifying ordeal for it.
"Who said I want to go down with you? I just want to kill you," Qiao Qiao's eyes suddenly radiated an unusual brilliance!
At that moment, she exuded a murderous intent!
The dark figure was startled... then it exclaimed, "You... this isn't right! Your dark attribute isn't just antimatterization! Do you have another attribute?"
"Too late," Qiao Qiao shook her head. "Your body has already solidified; now, you're no longer invincible."
With that, Qiao Qiao suddenly opened her arms, and in an instant, her figure shattered into pieces!
It turned into a mass of black light, scattering in all directions!
In Soo Soo's eyes, she saw her sister's figure suddenly disintegrate, breaking into countless streams of black light, which made her scream in terror. She leaped forward, but after just a few steps, she suddenly felt a black shadow in front of her, pushing her backward.
Soo Soo sat down on the ground but saw numerous streams of black light surrounding the dark figure!
These streams of light entered the dark figure's body, and the dark figure suddenly roared loudly.
Its figure began to twist strangely, and then its wings vibrated rapidly, shaking, and shaking again! The frequency of its vibrations grew increasingly dense, and at the same time, the black feathers on its wings seemed to forcibly struggle, attempting to detach and escape.
But just at that moment, a hand suddenly reached out, tightly gripping onto this piece of black feather, holding it firmly!
This hand, astonishingly, belonged to the dark figure itself!!
It emitted a cold laugh from its mouth, its tone extremely eerie, "Do you want to abandon this body and escape? I won't let you succeed!"
The black feather struggled vigorously, and the hand holding it immediately separated into broken bones, but even with only the shattered skeleton, it still firmly held onto the feather!
Finally, the dark figure's struggle came to a halt, and that piece of black feather, in the palm of its hand, suddenly turned into flowing light, gradually dissipating, merging... into its body.
The black monster ceased its movements, standing silently in place.
A few seconds later, its body began to change.
Its face, its figure, started to squirm, gradually revealing clear contours, becoming clearer and clearer.
On its face, slender eyebrows, black straight hair, fair skin... an elegant figure...
When its body finished its transformation, standing there was none other than...
Qiao Qiao!!
Qiao Qiao opened her eyes, and within her gaze, there was still that dark, profound depth!
However, there seemed to be some differences in certain aspects, as if things weren't quite the same as before.
"Sister, Sister?" Soo Soo stared at her with wide eyes.
Qiao Qiao managed a faint smile and looked at Soo Soo, "It's me."
"Ah!" Soo Soo jumped up in joy, about to rush over, but Qiao Qiao's expression changed suddenly. She immediately took a few steps back, keeping her distance, "Don't come closer... my current state isn't balanced yet. We can't get too close. Your light attribute conflicts with mine."
Qiao Qiao then lowered her head and extended her hand.
In the palm of her hand, a black feather gradually appeared.
This single black feather obediently rested in her hand and then, with a gentle flicker, disappeared into Qiao Qiao's hand.
"You're quite unlucky. My second ability with the dark attribute is devouring."
...
The motorcycle passed by the scene of a car accident on the road.
Beside the wreckage, Shen stopped the motorcycle.
Chen Xiaolian frowned as he looked at the damaged vehicles around him. There were signs of a battle here, with bullet holes on the ground and on the cars.
Not far away, when Chen Xiaolian saw the bus that had crashed into a tree, his expression suddenly changed!
"You seem to be in a strange mood," Shen looked at Chen Xiaolian and remarked.
Chen Xiaolian remained silent and walked over to the bus, then climbed inside.
Inside the bus, he saw remnants of belongings, two guns, and a missing dagger.
Without needing a closer look, he recognized these as belongings of his teammates.
Chen Xiaolian's heart sank heavily.
He jumped out of the bus and looked at the ground... there were some semi-dried greenish slime, but strangely, Chen Xiaolian did not see any other remains.
During the ambush when the Meteor Rock Guild encountered the zombie-like creatures here, all the bodies of those creatures had disappeared.
Although Chen Xiaolian didn't know this, he instinctively had doubts about the greenish slime. As he walked closer and was about to crouch down to examine it, a voice from behind spoke.
"If I were you, I wouldn't touch those things." It was Shen who spoke.
Chen Xiaolian frowned, stood up, and looked at Shen, "Do you know what this is?"
"It's a form of dark power, something that appears after corruption. Highly infectious." Shen's lips curled with a smile. "If you touch it, you'll probably last for about an hour, and then you'll turn into a creature covered in this green slime."
"Is it a toxin?"
"Not a toxin, but a form of corruption from dark power," Shen shook his head.
Chen Xiaolian's gaze tightened. "You seem to know quite a bit."
Shen stared at Chen Xiaolian for a few seconds. "Knowledge itself is innocent. I know these things, but it's not like I created them."
"What are you, exactly?" Chen Xiaolian furrowed his brows.
"What about you? Who are you?" Shen chuckled. "After all, we've been traveling together in the same car, and I let you sit behind me, exposing my back without any defenses to you. But now, all we know about each other is our names. You should know that in the world of Awakened, this already shows great trust, right?"
Chen Xiaolian frowned. "In the second phase, the system prohibits participants from killing each other."
Shen's expression turned serious. "That's actually the part I'm most curious about you. When we met, your attitude seemed as if you could attack me at any moment. Why? It's like you didn't even care about the system's rule against killing."
"What about you?" Chen Xiaolian sneered. "You're the same. Despite the system clearly prohibiting attacks, you were planning to forcibly intercept the car and even at that moment, I felt like you were ready to kill someone at any moment. You also displayed an attitude of disregarding the rules, didn't you?"
"..."
"..."
The two individuals looked at each other in silence. After a while, Shen suddenly smiled. "It seems like we both have our own secrets, huh?"
Chen Xiaolian took a deep breath. "I don't want to engage with you right now. If you're going to attack, then do it quickly. If you don't intend to harm me... I want to leave this place!"
"Judging by your expression just now, your teammates have been here, haven't they? Something happened to them."
Chen Xiaolian's eyes abruptly changed!
"Don't look at me like that. I have nothing to do with everything that happened here." Shen smiled and spread his hands.
Chen Xiaolian watched this guy warily and slowly moved aside.
"Hey, are you planning to abandon your fellow travelers like this?" Shen laughed heartily, but seeing Chen Xiaolian ignore him, he suddenly restrained his smile. "Do you want to know what happened here? I happen to know a little."
Chen Xiaolian immediately stopped and looked at Shen coldly.
Shaking his head, Shen sighed, "Alright, in fact, many Instances have hidden side quests. These side quests occur randomly, but Awakened never receive any prompts from the system about them. When encountering a randomly generated side quest and entering it, well... let's just say that risks and opportunities coexist. I won't talk about the consequences of failure, but once successful, the rewards are remarkable."
"Side quest?"
"Yes, in this instance, there's a hidden side quest in the second phase." Shen sighed again. "I really didn't want to share this secret with you, but... now that your team has fallen into this side quest, there's no point in continuing to hide it from you."
"What is this side quest?" Chen Xiaolian asked instinctively.
But as soon as he asked that question, Chen Xiaolian's face suddenly changed!
He immediately took a few steps back, drew the Stone Sword from its sheath with a swish, and stared at the other person seriously. "Wait! You just said that Awakened never receives prompts from the system about side quests! So... how do you know?"
Shen chuckled.
He looked at Chen Xiaolian and said slowly, word by word, "I never said I was an Awakened."