Xu Yuan surveyed his surroundings warily.
Sure enough.
The Training Match had turned strange.
Beneath his feet.
The floor began to tremble.
As though something were hiding—no, the entire building seemed to have become a living Oddity!
It was hiding underground...
Xu Yuan looked around. The ceiling, walls, and floor were all trembling without pause.
That feeling that something was wrong grew stronger.
"Pause."
Xu Yuan spoke.
By rights, when a match was paused, nothing but him should move.
Yet the entire building seemed alive, rising and falling faintly like a beating heart.
"Pause" could not stop it...
An inexplicable, eerie presence welled up.
Mist appeared.
The air seemed polluted by something, blurring even Xu Yuan's vision.
He watched the floor.
It moved, stopped, then moved again.
Was this an invitation?
Or a declaration?
Xu Yuan uttered a word.
It was useless.
Everything remained frozen at this moment.
The match had not ended, he had not left, and the floor was still moving.
Xu Yuan drew the Qiong Iron Sword and pried up the floor.
The sight struck his eyes—
Dark red flesh writhed beneath the floor.
The flesh was translucent. He could see Ghost Entities crawling inside it, along with high-rises, temples, houses, and an endless stream of cars made entirely of paper. At that instant.
The Paper Strip flew out from Xu Yuan, crying out in unison with the Shrine:
"It got in!"
The Shrine hurriedly whispered in Xu Yuan's ear:
"Prepare to fight—this is your fate! Check the notifications!"
But Xu Yuan looked bewildered. He muttered under his breath:
"Looks like this is as far as I can get."
"The deeper, harder stuff is probably only accessible in Nightmare Mode."
As though he had seen nothing, he stood and tried to walk forward.
But—
In his eyes,