My Misfortune Crushed Instances-Chapter 233: Mission Failed?

The images flickered, sometimes appearing, sometimes disappearing, but what was certain was that ever since they entered the tunnel, their appearances lasted longer and occurred more frequently.

Li Rui didn't know what Duan Ling and the others had encountered, but judging from the outcome, their destination was the same as his own.

"Could it be that they're also here for Community Thunder..."

"Or perhaps something like the Flame Demon underground?"

Thinking this, he felt it was really possible.

Looking at the patterns on the tunnel walls, this place seemed to have been built by the Flame Spirit tribe, and maybe it even imprisoned a Flame Demon king.

"Hmm, I got it, they need a human sacrifice!"

Li Rui thought more and more that it made sense.

"There's something here that needs to be obtained through the sacrifice of living souls; it could even be the ancient Magma Ancestor. Got it! It didn't completely die back then and was buried here by the Flame Spirit. Now someone wants to revive it, so they use living humans as sacrifices. Because their souls are damaged, Duan Ling and the others couldn't wake up in reality."

Li Rui was quite excited for having analyzed a possible truth, but then suddenly felt something was wrong.

"If that's the case, then aren't they truly gone?"

"Wait, why do I keep thinking about using human sacrifices to revive something? Because I've seen it, but where have I seen it?"

"....."

He remembered, all of it.

A normal person wouldn't constantly think about human sacrifices, but Li Rui had dealt with Zuo Qiutian too much, and was very familiar with such methods.

He shook his head to dispel the thoughts.

"No, the fact that I can see their images means there's something else going on."

Li Rui continued forward along the tunnel, after an unknown amount of time, a fork in the road appeared ahead.

He stood at the crossroads, observing. In one of the deep paths, he saw images of people sneaking around, so he hurriedly followed in.

No matter what, they at least pointed him in the right direction.

The further in, the more intense the heat, to the point where even the damage caused by the Burning state increased. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

The path ahead began to have flowing magma, sometimes even spewing from the walls.

But these things posed little threat to Li Rui. He followed along, and after another long stretch of road, the path suddenly opened up.

The mountain's interior was almost entirely hollow, even more spacious than imagined.

Here, there was no need to use the Blue Silver Lamp Ring for illumination, the place was aflame all over, and the places to stand were just floating rocks, where a slight misstep could lead to falling into the magma.

At the mountain's core was a magma lake with an isolated island.

[Hidden task update: Find the origin of thunder's birth.]

It must be on the isolated island.

Li Rui looked around, found no living beings, and didn't discover more images, so he had to cross the floating rocks in the magma lake to reach the island.

The island had no burning flames, only a charred land emitting thin smoke. Everything was black-brown, as if scorched by a great fire.

At this moment, he noticed the key in his inventory was flashing. Upon taking it out, he discovered a branch, still bright green after leaving the body, floating in his hand like a compass guiding the way.

Li Rui hurried in that direction. The closer he got, the more active the branch became, clearly indicating the target was imminent.

Unexpectedly, the branch pointed to a deep pit, two or three feet in diameter, empty and void of anything.

[No target, hidden task failed.]

"....."

Li Rui squinted his eyes, staring at the deep pit.

It seemed he arrived a moment too late, and Community Thunder had been taken by someone.

No need for much deduction; it must have been done by those who had taken Duan Ling and Yu Xin into the mountain's depths.

He tightened his grip on the Vajra Umbrella, suppressing the disappointment in his heart.

"Stay calm, maybe there's still a way."

"There's still an unresolved question; why do those shadows appear?"

Though not sure if it was related to the missing Community Thunder, a query at least indicated a breakthrough, however faint the hope.

He backed up a few steps, activated the Blood Eye, and then discovered there were considerably more spatial fluctuations here than outside.

Several places on the island had similar fluctuations.

He pondered for a while, then ran towards the spot nearest to his landing position.

At a distance of ten meters from the fluctuation, it unfolded, but this time, instead of dynamic character shadows, it revealed a one-meter-wide piece of real land.

Li Rui was surprised to find that this land was not blackened but instead had a lush, vibrant lawn.

That meant on this barren island surrounded by lava, life that originally didn't exist had appeared.

Approaching the boundary between the two spaces, he reached out his left hand into the altered, vibrant space, and grabbed a handful of the grass.

He pulled it out.

Brought it back.

Li Rui looked at the grass in his hand, then at the scorched land under his feet, raising his eyebrows.

"Two different spaces entangled together?"

He ventured into this grassy space, and a new prompt appeared.

[Hidden task: Find the origin of thunder's birth.]

"Does it mean....."

Backed out.

[Hidden task failed.]

Extended out.

[Hidden task: Find the origin of thunder's birth.]

This time, he lifted his gaze, looked around, and confirmed his guess. The vibrant island belonged to another timeline, where Community Thunder hadn't been taken yet, and instead of a pit at the core, there was a withered tree. Standing by the tree were the living Yu Xin and Duan Ling, along with another familiar face.

Brother Zuo!

...

In the medical center of the Superpower Division, there were eight Life Support Pods.

According to regulations, when a Secret Realm agent is trapped inside, their life signs must be maintained for at least fifteen days, and extended based on circumstances.

If death is confirmed by witnesses, fifteen days would suffice, but without such confirmation or in other special scenarios, the period could extend significantly.

Even if consciousness is lost, sometimes it is merely due to soul impact, and after some time, there is still a chance for spontaneous awakening. Hence, even when witnessed dead within a Secret Realm, observation according to regulation is necessary.

Duan Ling, Yu Xin, and their companions belonged to the category without witnesses, as everyone was trapped, making it impossible to discern their condition.

As per higher-ups' instructions, the initial observation period was thirty days, with an observation report to be submitted daily, and on the final day, upper management would be consulted about extending the observation period.

Due to the unusual situation and the high potential of the individuals, there was constant duty in the room 24/7 to report situations at any time.

The one on duty today was an experienced middle-aged woman.

She was measuring the physiological indicators of each sleeper one by one, forming today's initial data conclusions.

"What a pity, these young people."

Seeing these promising new Secret Realm agents lying motionless here, she felt both sympathy and sadness.

But when she was about to measure Yu Xin's pulse by grabbing his wrist, her whole body suddenly froze, and her breath became heavier.

After no more than three seconds of shock, she promptly inspected the engravings on everyone, then picked up the internal line phone on the wall.

"Reporting to Cheng Wen, no, Commander Cheng, the engravings on all eight people in room 1903 have reappeared, all of them."

Within two minutes, the message reached Cheng Wen, the overall commander of the Secret Realm battlefield, who was hosting a meeting with the command echelon to choose replacement candidates.

Upon receiving the message, the meeting room immediately came to a boil.

"Could there really be a miracle...."

"How could such a thing happen?"

Even these high-level executives were astonished and bewildered by the unexpected developments.

At this moment, only one stout, ball-like figure remained silent.

Cheng Wen restrained the excitement in his heart and asked, "What's wrong?"

Kong Ji shook his head slightly, seemingly in deep thought. After a while, he solemnly said, "First, contact the Huangliang branch. As I understand, someone from over there also entered the Tomb of Lady Peach Blossom today; it's hard to say this is a coincidence."