Don't Use It!

"Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen... a total of seventeen Gold Ingot."

Inside the dimly lit and cluttered Black Shop, the Big Hand Merchant counted the coins one by one, finally looking at Luo Jun with a broad smile.

"Sir, you are truly remarkable. This is the first time in all these years that I have ever seen someone bring so many Gold Ingot."

This Big Hand Merchant's head was on his index finger. He was a Bearded Man man, and like the beautiful businesswoman before him, his face was clean, without those disgusting tumors and growths. If you ignored his body, he was quite pleasing to the eye.

"I also put in a lot of hard work." Luo Jun nodded. "Here's the deal, exchange 70,000 yuan for me, and use the remaining 10 to exchange for a Void Pass!"

"Alright!" The bearded man quickly exchanged the items for Luo Jun. Although he looked fierce, his service attitude was the best among the Big Hand Merchant Luo Jun had ever met.

After putting the items he had acquired into his Smart Equipment Pack, Luo Jun left the store and walked towards the waiting crowd outside.

"How did it go?" Sun Xiaowei asked expectantly.

Luo Jun gave an OK sign, which made everyone cheer.

More than ten days have passed since we made the enhanced version of the Monster Attracting Incense. It has to be said that the effect of this stuff is truly terrifying. Once lit, monsters that smell it will gather around no matter how far away they are. If it weren't for the fact that there are many experts in the team and their strength is too great, they probably wouldn't have been able to withstand this kind of continuous attack.

If ordinary monsters are merely attracted, then Chaos Monster are practically driven mad. Luo Jun discovered that this thing's attraction to Chaos Monster far surpasses that to ordinary monsters; it not only attracts them but also drives them into a frenzy, greatly increasing the danger. If it weren't for Old Yuan's presence, there would likely have been many more injured in the team by now.

As for Ling Jian, he remained unconscious, but judging from his physical form, more than 70% of his body had been replaced by Chaos Substance. What's even more miraculous is that despite not eating or drinking for so many days, Ling Jian had managed to survive and still maintain the most basic vital signs.

According to Old Yuan, Ling Jian must have used some special method to reduce his metabolism to an extremely low level, thus delaying the replacement process. If it were someone else, they probably wouldn't have been able to withstand being replaced for even ten days or ten hours.

"Now that we have the Void Pass, we have more than 100,000 dollars in cash. As long as we exchange it for the Exit Indicator, we can leave this hellhole!" Ma Qiao said excitedly.

"Don't be too optimistic," Mao Xintong shook her head. "Don't forget what I mentioned in my diary before: the exit can change."

"The diary says that Grandpa and the others didn't have the Void Pass, and their journey to the exit was very slow. Judging from the intervals between the exit changes, if we had the Void Pass, we might still have been able to arrive before the exit changed."

Luo Jun nodded. "There's no other way right now. Let's go to the White Shop and exchange for the Exit Indicator first."

In the past few days, in addition to luring monsters, the group has also taken the initiative to attack, and recorded the locations of several shops. During this time, the shops also provided two diary entries, but neither contained any substantial content. The only noteworthy point is that neither of these diary entries mentioned the Black Shop.

Although Zhuge Gan had visited Black Shop in his previous diary entries, and later entries indicated that he had also exchanged money Black Shop, none of his diary entries directly mentioned Black Shop.

Is it a coincidence?

Looking at Ling Jian, who had been mostly replaced, and others who would likely be replaced at any time, Luo Jun had no time to investigate the secrets behind it. He could only try all the methods he knew first.

"Sir, you've come at the perfect time. I've just found another diary." The Fat Merchant rubbed his hands together, his face beaming.

"Oh?" Luo Jun raised an eyebrow. "That's rare. It's been a week since your last diary entry. How much money do I still have with you?"

"Deduct this diary, and you'll have five thousand left." As if afraid Luo Jun Regret, he shoved the diary into his hand.

Luo Jun unfolded his diary, and everyone gathered around to read its contents.

"We encountered a troop of ethereal monsters on the march."

"This is a spectacle we've never seen before. We didn't dare approach rashly and could only quietly follow this monstrous army."

"Because we were too focused on tracking, we accidentally activated a Gargoyle when we passed an intersection. It's a very difficult monster to deal with; it's strong in melee combat and has high resistance to elemental damage. None of the people in our team are Martial Combat Faction, so dealing with this kind of monster is indeed quite tricky."

"Just as we were figuring out how to get around it, three monsters suddenly rushed out from the monster army. They gained physical form after leaving the group and charged straight at the Gargoyle."

"Although the Gargoyle was powerful, it was no match for the combined attack of three monsters. Finally, one of the monsters wielding Great Hammer smashed its head, turning it into dust."

"After killing the Gargoyle, these monsters left to catch up with the group. When we went to check, we found that the monsters they killed didn't drop any loot."

Seeing this, everyone looked at Mao Xintong, since she was the only one who had ever seen the army of Phasing Monster.

Mao Xintong nodded. "Indeed, I checked, and nothing was missing."

Everyone's eyes remained fixed on the diary.

"Out of curiosity, we continued to follow the group and discovered that whenever they encountered a monster, several members of the group would split up to kill it. The monsters they killed would then disappear without leaving any loot. Could this monster army be here to clear out the maze? If this continues, won't they wipe out all the monsters in the maze? Where will we go to make money then?"

"Just as we were figuring out how to deal with it, a Chaos Monster suddenly appeared in front of us!"

"It has no fixed form, is almost immune to physical effects, has considerable Law Technique resistance, and possesses immense strength—a monster even more troublesome than Gargoyle!"

"Just then, the monster army suddenly stirred, and dozens of monsters emerged from it, charging madly towards the Chaos Monster!"

"Although the Chaos Monster was powerful, it couldn't withstand the onslaught of so many monsters and was ultimately annihilated."

"But this time, the monster dropped Gold Ingot!"

"Moreover, one of the monsters even stepped forward and picked up the Gold Ingot!"

"Could it be that they are also collecting Gold Ingot? Just as I was wondering, Chen Jin's reaction suddenly became strange; he actually walked towards the group of monsters."

"I was about to call out to him when Chen Jin called out first, 'Brother!'"

"We were all startled. These monsters will attack at the slightest disturbance. His shout will probably attract the entire group of monsters."

"But unexpectedly, the monsters seemed not to hear him and did not react at all. Chen Jin did not give up and chased after them, shouting. Finally, one of the monsters, which was covered in flames, turned around."

"Chen Jin ran up, and the monster opened its mouth as if to say something, then suddenly launched a fireball. The explosion filled almost the entire corridor, and the heat wave pushed Chen Jin back." "When the flames subsided, the monster was gone, and so was the army of Phasing Monster. We tried to chase after them in the same direction, but we ran into Dead Alley and couldn't find any trace of them."

"I asked Chen Jin what had just happened, and Chen Jin said that the monster covered in flames was his brother."

"We were all very surprised. The monster was over two meters tall, engulfed in flames, and beneath the flames was a skeletal-like body. It didn't look human at all. But Chen Jin was certain that the monster was Chen Xiao, who disappeared during the Chaos Mission six years ago. He said he could tell from the monster's fighting habits and moves."

"We were all shocked to hear this. If the burning monster was Chen Xiao, then what about the others? Could it be that those Phasing Monster that paraded with the procession were all humans in disguise?"

"We continued to press Chen Jin about what the fire monster had said to him, and Chen Jin said he only said one sentence:"

"Don't use the Void Pass!"

"What does this mean? Isn't the Void Pass an important item for clearing the game? Why can't we use it? Could it be that there's something wrong with that Black Shop? Are the items it sells not what they're described as having?"

"If that's the case, then our chances of leaving are very slim..."

"No, we have to find a Black Shop and get to the bottom of this."

"I remember we redeemed two maps at the Black Shop last time. After discussing it, we decided to rest well today and use the maps tomorrow to try and find the Black Shop and investigate!"

The error-free version can be read at 69 Book Bar! 6=9+shuba is the first site to publish this novel.

This concludes the diary entry...

After reading it, everyone looked at each other in disbelief, their eyes filled with shock.

It turns out that those ethereal monsters were actually Cultivators had participated in the mission!

And what does it mean to prohibit the use of the Void Pass?

"Does using it turn us into those monsters?" Sun Xiaowei swallowed hard, still shaken. "Luckily, we've used it before..."

"As expected! Everything in the Black Shop is problematic!" Ma Qiao cursed. "You can't trust a businessman who's that ugly!"

"So it seems we can't trust any information from the Black Shop," Zhuge Zi frowned. "What we know now, what's true, and what's false?"

"I don't think all the information provided by the Black Shop is necessarily false..." Luo Jun offered a different opinion. "Think about it, what does the description of the Void Pass say?"

"After using it, one can enter a state of nothingness and pass through walls," Old Yuan recalled.

"That's right." Luo Jun nodded. "Even if you really turn into those monsters after using it, look at them, don't they really enter a state of nothingness and be able to pass through walls?"

"But the instructions didn't mention anything about turning into a monster!" Ma Qiao retorted.

"They didn't say it wouldn't change." Luo Jun shrugged. "So I think the information provided by the Black Shop is accurate, just incomplete; they've selectively concealed some information."

Luo Jun's judgment was not merely a guess; it was primarily based on his experience using dice to verify the reliability of the Black Shop's intelligence.

"Concealment is also terrible," Old Yuan sighed. "Sometimes, partial truth is more harmful than outright falsehood."

"It's not just the Black Shop ..." Mao Xintong said, "We can't even determine whether ' Chen Xiao ' in the diary is telling the truth."

"To be honest, I'm almost at the point of meeting the completion requirements, and now I'm being told that a crucial item can't be used. I'm a little hard to accept..."

The others nodded in agreement; despite what was written in the diary, a sliver of hope remained in their hearts.

Luo Jun looked at the Fat Merchant, who instinctively shuddered, then his eyes began to dart away... Seeing that he couldn't avoid it any longer, he could only wipe his sweat. "Honorable guest, you've already extracted enough information from me these past few days... To be honest, I'm just a tiny part of the maze's rules, and I don't know everything..."

"What is the origin of this ethereal army?"

"I really don't know..." The Fat Merchant shook his head vigorously.

"Alright..." Based on Luo Jun's understanding of this businessman, he shouldn't lie about something like this, nor would he need to use the few remaining dice.

Luo Jun took out the Void Pass and sighed, "If only I had found this page of the diary sooner, I could have saved ten gold coins and exchanged it for an extra Exit Indicator."

"What do we do now?" Sun Xiaowei, somewhat lost. "Is it really impossible for us to get out?"

"It's alright, there's still hope." Luo Jun comforted him while showing off all the valuables he had that could be exchanged for money. After the merchant's calculations and exchange, he received a total of over 90,000 yuan in Luo Jun. Adding this to his original savings, he now had over 160,000 yuan in banknotes.

After exchanging for an Exit Indicator, Luo Jun looked at the Fat Merchant and asked, "How long until we can get a new diary?"

"We've done our best," the Fat Merchant frowned, "But in such a vast maze, finding a few scraps of paper is like finding a needle in a haystack. I'm afraid..."

"I believe you still have a way..." Luo Jun said, shaking a wad of cash in his hand. "I want diaries, the more the better, the sooner the better!"

The businessman's eyes lit up. "If you provide enough funding, we might be able to use some unconventional methods..."

How much funding is needed?

The businessman swallowed hard and held up five fingers. "Fifty thousand yuan!"

"Alright!" This time, Luo Jun didn't even haggle. He simply pointed out 50,000 yuan in banknotes and slapped them on the windowsill, then flashed his watch. "Okay, tonight at 11:30, same place, I'll collect the diary."

"Well..." the merchant hesitated, "As you know, once our shop opens, it will move to another location after an hour. It's impossible for it to stay here any longer."

"Transfer?" Luo Jun sighed, then picked up the banknotes again. "Then I might not be able to find them..."

"Wait!" the merchant hurriedly interjected, "It's not that this can't be done..."

Luo Jun smiled slightly and put the banknotes back, "Then it's a deal!"

(End of this chapter)