Jing Minghe adjusted his mood and looked towards the depths of the "Oasis." He still had a long way to go and absolutely could not stop here. Even if he couldn't find Tong Zheng and Ke Wuwen in this instance, as long as he could reach the end of the City of Death, there might still be hope for their rescue.
Jing Minghe raised his other hand, tightly gripping the pendant of Lu Fanfei that he wore on his chest. A faint blue light flashed between his fingers.
"Let's go," Jing Minghe said, and continued inward.
"Ming..."
Youmi had just opened her mouth to speak when she noticed Chi Hao's gaze. She shifted her eyes to look at him and found that Chi Hao was telling her with his eyes to remain silent.
Youmi didn't know when Jing Minghe had acquired this strange pendant. But it was clear that Chi Hao seemed to know something, and regarding this pendant, Chi Hao seemed unwilling for more people to know.
But, was that really the case?
Youmi always felt something was slightly off.
As they reached the depths of the oasis, the sky suddenly darkened, and the temperature dropped rapidly. Those who had been almost dizzy from the heat silently breathed a sigh of relief.
As they skirted the water in the center of the oasis, Jing Minghe stared intently at the surface. He was still thinking about where that previous vortex had sent Tong Zheng and Ke Wuwen. He still hoped to find Tong Zheng and Ke Wuwen before finding a way to leave.
"Minghe!"
Hearing Youmi's startled cry, Jing Minghe immediately sensed something rapidly approaching him, but when he looked around, he saw nothing moving.
"The Gate of Light has appeared!"
It was Ding Chang's voice.
The few of them looked in the direction of the sound and indeed saw a teleportation gate not far away.
Youmi looked surprised, "It's really a Gate of Light? How did it suddenly appear? Have we... cleared the instance?"
"Sister Youmi," Jing Minghe ignored the suddenly appearing Gate of Light and asked Youmi, "Why did you call me just now?"
"What?" Youmi looked clearly confused, "I didn't call you."
Youmi was bewildered. She didn't know why Jing Minghe would ask that. Although she wasn't injured, she had been parched and dizzy all along. She struggled to support the injured Ban Sheng, walking with her head down, thinking about Tong Zheng and Ke Wuwen who had been sucked away by the vortex. She only snapped back to reality when Ding Chang mentioned "Gate of Light." Without any reason, why would she have called Jing Minghe, causing him to lose focus?
Hearing Youmi's answer, Jing Minghe seemed to realize something and immediately warned everyone that the Gate of Light was not right and to stay away from it.
With that, he continued walking in the opposite direction of where the Gate of Light had appeared.
However, Ban Sheng, who was already on the verge of collapse, now saw the Gate of Light, which represented hope. He was unwilling to listen to Jing Minghe's words and instinctively moved towards it, muttering in a voice almost inaudible to the others, "Through the Gate of Light, we can leave this damn place. Why stay away? I want to live, I want to leave here."
"Ban Sheng?"
Youmi looked worriedly at Ban Sheng, who was struggling to break free from her. She didn't know why Jing Minghe said the Gate of Light was not right, but she trusted Jing Minghe's instincts and judgment.
Ding Chang, who had seen the Gate of Light first, still stood there hesitating. He naturally also wanted to clear the instance as soon as possible, but he also felt that the appearance of this Gate of Light was somewhat strange. Before being sure it was safe to pass through, he didn't want to be the test subject.
"Ban Sheng!" Jing Minghe turned back, seeing Ban Sheng's choice, and reminded him again, "I told you to stay away from that Gate of Light..."
Before Jing Minghe could finish speaking, a strange thing emerged from the Gate of Light. It was strange because it looked human but was upside down, moving with its head and hands, and at an extremely fast speed. Before anyone could react, the thing had reached Ban Sheng, who was closest to the Gate of Light.
Ban Sheng was stunned by this strange creature and froze in place.
"Run!"
Jing Minghe shouted, but it was too late. The strange creature had wrapped its limbs around Ban Sheng and, before he could resist, tore him apart, scattering blood everywhere.
The remaining four people reacted immediately upon seeing this and fled in haste.
Even if they could defeat such a monster, it was best to avoid it now. After all, after walking in the scorching desert for so long, everyone was exhausted.
But the worst part was, before Jing Minghe and the others had run a few steps, another Gate of Light suddenly appeared in their escape direction. From this newly appeared Gate of Light, a female ghost in a red dress with hair trailing to the ground emerged. One eye was covered, and the other exposed eye was so large it took up almost half her face. Her pupils were crimson, and blood dripped from the corners of her eyes, emitting a strange sound from her mouth.
Seeing this, everyone immediately changed direction.
However, as soon as they turned, another Gate of Light appeared, and a creature with a pig's head and a human's body emerged. Its mouth was wide open, large enough to accommodate a human head, and saliva dripped from its lips as it approached Jing Minghe and the others step by step.
"What do we do?" Youmi asked anxiously.
This was because she saw more and more Gates of Light appearing around them, and more and more ghosts emerging from them one after another. In just a few minutes, the few of them were already surrounded. The Door of Hope had become a Door of Despair, leaving them with no escape.
"We have to fight head-on," Jing Minghe clenched his fists. "Sister Youmi, stay close to me and Brother Hao, you must stay close."
The moment Jing Minghe moved, Chi Hao tacitly chose the same direction as Jing Minghe.
Youmi dared not hesitate and quickly followed behind Jing Minghe and Chi Hao.
Ding Chang also consciously followed beside Jing Minghe and the others.
"Seven in total."
Chi Hao said inexplicably.
Jing Minghe was entangled with a monster and didn't hear clearly. He seized an opportunity to dodge and asked Chi Hao, "Brother, what did you just say?"
"Seven Gates of Light," Chi Hao kicked away the female ghost who was trying to attack Jing Minghe from the side, repeating his words.
Hearing Chi Hao clearly, Jing Minghe immediately understood.
They were initially in the eleventh carriage, and the instance's mission was to go to the first carriage. They had successfully cleared the tenth, ninth, and eighth carriages. When they reached the seventh carriage, due to Ding Chang's "operation," the entire carriage instance's space was disrupted.
If they had completed it in the normal clearing order, they would have had seven more carriage levels.
So that was it.
Therefore, even if they could find a way to escape the attacks of the ghosts emerging from these Gates of Light, in the end, if they wanted to clear the instance, they would still have to find these seven Gates of Light and break them one by one.
However, with the space in chaos, they must no longer have their stories. So, how should they break them?
Looking at the current situation, Jing Minghe thought that since it was chaotic, the only way was to try the simplest and most brutal method: to completely defeat these ghosts, to the point where they could no longer move. Would that count as a win?