"Can’t we just run quickly through this Echo Corridor?"
Du Wei asked. Fresh chapters posted on novel[f]ire.net
"It’s useless." Lynn shook his head, "The faster you run, the more terrified you are, and the harder it is to keep your will strong."
"Do you see?" Lynn pressed on Du Wei’s involuntarily trembling shoulder, "This corridor is devouring our emotional fluctuations. The more panicked you are, the more it will affect your mind."
"Here, fear is the best bait."
Just as Lynn’s words fell, the Echo Corridor suddenly turned eerily silent, as if even the sound of breathing was swallowed by some invisible force.
"Haha, gold, so much gold!"
The next moment, the group continued to move forward steadily, but as they walked, Du Wei at the front suddenly went mad, shouting:
"His Highness promised me, as long as I assist in conquering the Helius Mausoleum, I will get endless wealth and a fief!"
"By then, my mother won’t have to suffer anymore. She will become the mother of a Viscount!"
Du Wei’s sudden madness indeed startled everyone, and Hillena, who was closest to him, noticed that Du Wei’s pupils suddenly expanded into a bizarre golden color, his mouth curved into an exaggerated arc, and drool dripped down his chin.
Moreover, his thick arms bulged with veins, frantically tearing at his leather armor, as if the fabric was hindering him from embracing his imagined riches.
Hillena looked at Lynn, seemingly hoping he could offer a solution.
But Lynn just shook his head and sighed softly.
"I did it... Mother..." Du Wei’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, "No one will dare to insult you anymore..."
In mere seconds, Du Wei went from a normal person to a madman, and then exploded to death.
Flesh and blood splattered on the ancient stone walls like raindrops.
Silence, deathly silence.
Yet, none of them were overly panicked.
After all, they had witnessed this scene countless times before.
But their hearts were exceptionally sad because Du Wei indeed held a different significance for their team.
"Why, when Yorick’s suicidal tendency was triggered, we stopped him and he was fine, but Du Wei just died?"
Lina looked somewhat confused.
This time, it was Hillena who provided an explanation: "His inner obsession and desire were too intense."
She knew Du Wei’s background and understood why he had such a deep-seated obsession.
"Du Wei’s background was a wound that would never heal. His mother was once a maid in the manor of a wealthy gentleman in Yorkshire. On a drunken rainy night, she was roughly pinned onto a pile of straw in the woodshed by a drunken master. Nine months later, this unwanted child was born with the disdain of the entire household."
"From a young age, Du Wei lived under malicious gazes, his siblings deliberately dumped spoiled food in front of him, even the butler’s son often mocked him as a bastard."
"At seventeen, when his mother was flogged in the yard for breaking a vase, Du Wei clutched a woodcutting knife and stood hidden all night. In the end, he let go, the blade plunged deep into the mud—he realized true revenge wasn’t killing people, but living more nobly than them."
"The grave digger business was dirty and dangerous, but with each tomb he unearthed, he got a step closer to that dream. Later, after meeting me, I promised him that as long as he could assist me in conquering the Helius Mausoleum, I would grant him a fief and reward him with endless gold, so that no one in all of Yorkshire would dare to look down on him."
"Of course, I also promised that if he died in the mausoleum, I would take care of his mother, allowing her to live with dignity."
"And also, to avenge him."
Hillena recounted calmly.
Indeed, the death of a Du Wei wasn’t heartbreaking for her at all, at most a bit of regret.
But she was not a cold-hearted person, the promises she made to Du Wei, she intended to fulfill.
But that was if she too could survive and leave here.
"I never knew Du Wei had such a past, he never mentioned it before."
Lina said mournfully.
These people lived together day and night, forming genuine bonds.
Moreover, as the leader of the Grave Digger Team, Du Wei was always considerate of them, often taking the lead in dangerous situations.
Lynn didn’t speak; sometimes, there was nothing he could do.
This corridor was materializing their fears, and more terrifyingly, they didn’t even dare to imagine what else they might encounter.
"Just follow me and try not to let your mind wander."
With one Du Wei already dead, and Yorick in a somewhat delirious state needing constant attention from Hayden.
Once they passed through the Echo Corridor, everyone let out a breath of relief, but their tension persisted, fully aware that the real test had perhaps just begun.
As Lynn predicted, after the corridor, they stepped into a grand circular atrium. The dome soared too high to see, twelve Obsidian Pillars encircled within, each carved with a different Divine figure,
much like what Lynn had seen in the Pantheon, yet with some differences.
"Why do these Divine figures feel more like guardians for humans, lacking that lofty presence, instead seeming more grounded?"