The Second Trial

The blinding white light vanished abruptly. Chen Chuan staggered before finally managing to steady himself.

He found himself standing in a vast square, so empty it made his heart pound.

The ground was made of black stone, smooth as a mirror, reflecting the sky overhead, where there was neither sun nor moon.

Beneath a sky of nothing but murky gray, it was like a giant slab of black jade, reflecting countless panic-stricken faces.

Around him, some fifty people looked about in confusion, just as he did, their gazes wary and uneasy as they glanced at one another.

A cold smell of dust and metal filled the air, invading his nostrils and making it hard to breathe.

The silence was terrifying. Only heavy breaths rose and fell, echoing through the empty space like an ominous drumbeat.

"Welcome to the second trial."

An old, emotionless voice pierced directly into everyone's mind like an icy steel needle.

"Your objective is to survive."

Chen Chuan looked toward the source of the voice. A massive statue stood at the very center of the square.

It was a giant serpent coiled upward, its body thick enough for several people to walk abreast.

Its scales were carved so lifelike that they gleamed with a cold, metallic sheen in the dim daylight.

Its head rose high, two enormous red gemstones set in its eye sockets, gazing down over everything in the square.

Flames seemed to flicker within those "eyes," sending a chill down his spine.

As soon as the voice fell silent, Chen Chuan sensed something was wrong.

An invisible force spread from the serpent statue like ripples in water, gently permeating every corner.

Several people beside him began to tense unnaturally, fine beads of sweat appearing on their foreheads.

A chubby young man in fine clothes swallowed, staring greedily at the luxury watch on his wrist that he had long since lost during his transmigration.

He clicked his tongue in regret, as though the watch were right before his eyes, gleaming brilliantly.

A haggard-looking girl clutched her head in both hands, trembling all over.

She muttered, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," clearly buried deep in some kind of guilt and unable to pull herself free.

Chen Chuan felt the impact of that force as well.

He saw his mother's kind smile, heard his father's stern lectures, and felt his classmates' complicated gazes...

Those feelings should have been warm and nostalgic, but magnified by that force, they all took on a suffocating weight, like a thousand-pound boulder pressing on his heart.

He frowned deeply, trying to suppress those feelings.

Strangely, the force was like a punch hitting cotton. Though he could sense its presence, it could never truly penetrate his soul.

—Clear Mind: immune to all negative mental effects.

Just as everyone's expressions were changing and their breathing growing ragged under the torment of their emotions, a sudden change occurred!

Rumble!

Several enormous breaches exploded open at once in the towering stone walls surrounding the square.

Dozens of pitch-black figures shot through the breaches like arrows loosed from their bows, lunging straight at the crowd in the center of the square with a pungent, fishy gust!

The monsters were humanoid in shape, but their bodies were covered in pitch-black scales, and bone spurs protruded from their joints.

Most bizarrely, they had no eyes, only two clusters of flickering scarlet flames in their eye sockets.

They moved as swiftly as lightning, making strange hissing sounds and exuding a primal bloodlust, as though they meant to tear everything apart.

"Aah—!"

"Monsters! They're monsters!"

"Run!"

In an instant, the square erupted into chaos. The people who had been struggling with their inner turmoil a moment ago were instantly overtaken by the fear of death.

Sobs, screams, and frantic footsteps mingled as the crowd scattered like a startled flock of sheep, shoving one another. Some even tripped and were immediately swallowed up by the dark figures.

The black-scaled monsters pursued them without mercy, moving so fast that they easily caught up with those fleeing in panic.

A monster caught up with a frail youth before he could even scream.

A pitch-black claw pierced his chest, and his body turned into specks of black light in midair, vanishing without a trace as though he had never existed.

"Everyone, come together! We'll fight the monsters!" A young man dressed in fine clothes.

Though he was in a sorry state himself, his eyes showed a composure utterly out of place amid the chaos, giving him an extraordinary bearing.

He picked up a broken stone pillar from the ground and raised it high, his voice booming like a bell. "There are plenty of us! As long as we stick together, we can use these things to smash them to death! Follow me and break out!"

His spirits were high, and several people, encouraged by his words, gathered around him.

They picked up stones and wooden clubs from the ground and took up formation. Though fear still showed in their eyes, they could at least put up a fight, standing back-to-back and supporting one another.

Elsewhere, a burly, bald man with bulging muscles suddenly stepped forward.

His upper body was bare, and his bronze skin was covered in scars. One look was enough to tell he had fought in countless battles.

He sneered, glanced at the "rabble," and said disdainfully, "Bunch of trash. What are you organizing for? Watch me!"

He casually picked up a sharp wooden stick and, with a low growl, charged at a monster lunging toward him, fierce as a tiger.

Chen Chuan stood at the edge of the square, joining neither side.

His gaze was sharp as an eagle's, fixed on the black-scaled monsters.

A bold thought arose in his mind.

These monsters... something's not right.

Their attacks looked fierce, but their movements seemed to lack some kind of "soul."

They were more like preset programs, acting strictly according to certain instructions.

Moreover, whenever they were struck, their bodies flickered, as though their physical forms were breaking apart.

They're fake, some kind of illusion, Chen Chuan concluded.

Just then, a black-scaled monster noticed this "anomaly."

It abandoned its pursuit of a girl and lunged at Chen Chuan with a roar, its pitch-black claws tearing through the air with a shrill whistle.

Chen Chuan, however, did not move.

He stood where he was, neither dodging nor resisting, simply watching the monster in silence.

There was no blood, no pain, only a faint sensation of resistance, like passing through mist.

Chen Chuan could sense that, at the moment the monster passed through his body, the red light of the serpent statue in the center of the square flickered ever so slightly. It was faint, but it had definitely happened.

"Congratulations." The old voice sounded for the third time, carrying a barely perceptible note of approval. "You saw through this trial, maintained absolute clarity, and passed the test."

As the voice spoke, a ring of soft white light lit up beneath Chen Chuan's feet, enveloping him. His body began to turn transparent, then vanished from the spot entirely.

Amid the melee, only a few people noticed what had just happened, including the burly man and the young man in fine clothes.

Most people were still fighting the monsters, affected by the statue and the pressure of death.