It grew heavier and heavier, so heavy it nearly crushed his shoulders. There were only two steps left, yet he could not move his legs at all.
That was only at first. As time passed, it actually loosened slightly... only slightly.
But even that slight change was enough for Ji Li to catch. The weight of four people had originally been resting on one person's shoulders; compounded by his physical condition and the disorder in the rules, even those two steps were exceedingly difficult for him.
Then, at that moment, the rope over his shoulder trembled. The difference was extremely obvious.
But this was definitely not a good sign. It meant that something inside the coffin had changed.
Ji Li did not dare look back. He feared that an erroneous result would affect his judgment. So far, he could only serve as the defender of the rules, restoring order to chaos.
Yet the stone brick two steps away—the one marking the restart of the cycle—seemed terribly distant.
The coffin behind him had already changed. Though he did not know why its weight had lessened, it was still difficult to move unless the thing inside formally broke free and let him restart the cycle while carrying an empty coffin.
But that would be meaningless.
The question was, how could he ensure that he would not be affected by a false result while still dragging the coffin, along with the thing inside it, to the stone-brick node?
Ji Li's expression kept shifting. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a shadow—a blurry, slender shadow...
That black shadow was like some terrifying thing breeding in the darkness. Though it had not revealed its full form or given off any presence, it was unusually close to Ji Li and still gradually approaching.