Unique Legend Volume 9 Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Advancing into the Drainage Channel

Atlantis  5:30 PM

I had a dream.

A dream that should be a continuation to the previous one but also like a dream that had just begun.

In my dream, I was surrounded by darkness. I could only vaguely sense that this was a black path, and I seemed to hear some things whispering from all around the path. Then, they wanted me to move forward, and ahead was a speck of light.

That path wasn't too long, and I was able to walk out in just a short while. The light before my eyes expanded, and then after I stepped into the light, I saw a person standing there.

A person that couldn't be any more familiar to me.

I saw Senior standing in the light. That sight and that feeling were very familiar, as if I had once seen this scene before. However, this time there are some differences: His loose hair scattered in the air was silver, completely silver hair, and even his eyes were a breathtaking silver. Looks like this is once again different from the Senior in my memory.

The surroundings brightened, though this time nothing flew out. Little by little, the surrounding scene emerged before my eyes. It was an enormous natural cave, with a faint gurgling sound of flowing water that spread icy mist everywhere.

This is the Ghost King's Tomb.

It's the second time that I've dreamed of this taboo place.

Senior slowly raised his head, and our eyes met. It was only then that I realized that this time he wasn't standing beside me. Instead, he was standing inside that piece of ice. The surrounding mist almost covered his whole body, and the silvery-white seemed to blend with the water.

There was a moment when I thought I was actually seeing an ice sculpture, instead of a living person.

He just stood there, without saying a word.

And then, I was woken up.

"Yang Yang?"

The second I opened my eyes, I saw a face directly enlarging in front of me. "Are you awake?"

After seeing that I was awake, Chifuyu moved back. I blinked, still a bit hazy. The entire room was slightly dim, and below the drawn curtains was a weak dark-blue light.

There were still a few people lying nearby. The most obvious was Yado who squeezed himself in beside me yesterday. He looked like he was in a deep sleep. I didn't dare to wake him up, so I carefully moved a little, and in a low voice, I asked Chifuyu, "What's wrong?"

Chifuyu shook his head, "You were sleep-talking."

"Me?"

He nodded again.

Strange, why didn't I know that I have the habit of talking in my sleep?

Oh no, I didn't wake up the others, right?

I secretly glanced around. A few of them were probably missing, leaving only the twins still asleep.

"Shh, they went to prepare breakfast. Let's go outside to talk." Chifuyu likewise answered me in a low voice before gingerly climbing off the bed. I also followed him and made the same action, and then we slipped out of the room together.

The corridor outside was dimly lit too, but all the curtains in the corridor had been drawn back. The early morning light slowly pa.s.sed through, instantly giving one a refreshed feeling.

"What did I say in my dream?" As soon as we came out of the room, I immediately grabbed Chifuyu and asked.

It can't be that I had unconsciously revealed where I hid my secret stash of money and all the stupid things that I'd done before, right? Oh my G.o.d! If that was the case, then just how many people heard it?

"Since the volume was too low, I almost didn't hear anything, except for a few fragmented sentences. I think it was something about a black path or so." Chifuyu shrugged, showing that he was also unsure of what I said. "Do you have any impression of what you dreamed of?"

I uncertainly tilted my head and thought for a moment.

That's weird, it seemed so clear when I was dreaming just now, but after I woke up, I forgot everything. I couldn't even remember what I saw in my dream. "Nope, I have no impression at all."

This indicates one thing: turns out I've already become senile ahead of time.

"There's nothing we can do if you forgot it. Do you want to go back to sleep? Yesterday the last ones standing guard were Leido and Yado. And since it didn't seem to be so peaceful last night, they're still a little tired, so we've decided to set out a bit later."

Not peaceful?

That's right, during senior Gasai's s.h.i.+ft, there seemed to be a bit of trouble too. Looks like the one who slept the most last night was probably me.

To be honest, I felt a little ashamed.

"That, I don't need to sleep anymore. Is there anything I could help with?" I patted my face to wake myself up, and then stretched my arms and legs.

"There shouldn't be. If you're awake, then you can go freshen up and head downstairs to eat first." With a "pa," Chifuyu poked my forehead. "We still have some time to relax today, so eat as much as you can, got it?"

"Okay~"

Then I quietly walked back to the room, took my backpack, and darted into the bathroom to freshen up. When I came out, I saw that those twins were still sound asleep. I didn't dare to wake them up for no reason, and just quietly walked out again.

Chifuyu, who was originally outside, had already gone somewhere else. I suppose he probably went downstairs and the like. Since he's not me, there's no need to worry too much about him.

As soon as I got to the staircase, before I even stepped down, a certain fragrance had already floated up toward the stairs.

Softly, the scent of freshly baked bread.

Seriously? Those two people actually still had the mood to bake bread!?

I ran down in three or two steps and rushed toward the hall. The fragrance was even thicker downstairs. And then I saw a certain someone, who should have been separated from us, appear inside the hall.

"Good morning, Yang Yang." Probably wasn't here in the hostel last night and yet appeared in the hostel today, senior Geng raised a hand and greeted me.

The world really is enigmatic…

"Good morning, senior." I was totally unable to understand how she had appeared in this place.

"Don't mind me so much. I was just pa.s.sing by here when I coincidentally b.u.mped into Yido outside, and he invited me in." The way Geng said it felt exactly like someone who was strolling around early in the morning and got invited into the house to eat breakfast.

"…Senior Randall wasn't with you?" And I thought that these two people would more or less meet up with each other, since they are, after all, in the same team.

Geng very elegantly picked up the cup on the table and sniffed the aroma (it can be seen that she's been sitting here for quite a while now), "We were together yesterday, but later we split up to look for clues. We arranged to meet up today at noon at the main square." She sipped her drink, smiling as she told me this, "Just now I heard about the situation from Gasai and the others. We won't be following you guys down into the drainage channel. You guys can go underground, and we'll gather information above to find a way to break the huge barrier. It'd be faster if both sides work together."

She briefly finished telling me everything.

I fully understand her meaning. In short, we're going to split up into two groups. "Nn, ah! Senior, have you seen Ryan or Ziray?" Besides the players from the other schools, as of now, the two of them still haven't been found yet. It can't be that they simply evaporated upon our arrival here, right?

Geng shook her head, "Don't worry. Even though those two numbskulls are numbskulls, they're still pretty sharp if something really does happen, so you don't have to worry too much about them." The way she said it was like we could just leave them be outside, and they would still be able to survive perfectly fine.

"I'm more concerned about the whole town getting eradicated…" Not to mention Ryan, the five-colored rooster head, as soon as that guy starts attacking, everything within that area gets destroyed. I wonder if breaking things here would cause us to have our money deducted too.

A thick aroma suddenly drifted over, "What are you two chatting about?" One of the two-people kitchen group, who actually had the mood to knead dough and bake bread so early in the morning, was holding a big baking tray, with a couple of freshly-baked big loaves of bread on it. The steaming hot air and aroma filled up the entire room.

"Nothing, just some idle chitchat." Geng waved her hand and didn't continue the topic.

The bread was on the table, and for a second, my saliva almost dripped down. Now I suddenly don't feel that they were too bored, instead I had a very grateful feeling. Being able to smell this fragrant aroma early in the morning really is a great enjoyment…

Yido made a pot of tea, before taking out a few small plates and putting them on the table, followed by some freshly-made jam on a plate.

Wait a minute, freshly-made jam?

Where did you guys go to get something as random as freshly-made jam!?

"This was made by Leido and Yado yesterday. I heard that when it was their time to stand guard, because their s.h.i.+fts began in succession, they decided to simply stand guard together. Afterwards, since standing guard was too boring, they found a couple of oranges and whatnot, and made a few hours' worth of jam." Yido saw the doubt on my face, and explained in great detail the origin of that inexplicable thing. "Gasai and I saw this in the early morning, so we decided to knead dough on the spur of the moment."

…Since standing guard was too boring, you had to go make jam, right…

Turns out that their so-called "not peaceful" was due to their own itchy hands that it became not peaceful!

I suddenly had the feeling that it was superfluous for me to be ashamed just now.

It was about half past six when those twins woke up.

After senior Geng ate her full, she hurriedly left. We could totally feel that she really did come here just to rest and eat, a very dedicated pa.s.serby.

"You guys wouldn't have used up the hostel's entire reserve of flour to make these breads, right?" Arriving a little later, Chifuyu looked at the table full of bread, and issued the question above.

In fact, I was also thinking about this question.

Because starting from just now, everyone had already eaten one round, and yet the table was still so full. In between that, there were also a few people going back and forth for refills, causing me to suspect with absolute certainty that they made enough for a few hundred people.

"The extras can be brought along as emergency rations. We made these according to the elven recipe, so if you don't deliberately break them, they can last for quite a long time."

For some reason, senior Gasai's words sounded very familiar. It can't be that next, he'll say these breads are actually the same kinds as the famous elven specialty, lemXas, in a certain movie franchise, right?

I was really afraid that he would say it.

However, senior Gasai didn't say that, "We'll set out at seven sharp. After you finish eating, pack your stuff and gather at the big entrance."

"Alright."

At this time I suddenly realized that Senior and senior Gasai, as well as Yido, all belong in the leaders.h.i.+p group. For some reason, everyone just obediently obeys them, and even obeys them in such a natural way.

While staying here, I didn't bring a lot of things, just the backpack I have on me and nothing more, so after organizing everything, I was the first one to come downstairs.

Clearly leaving the job of cleaning to his brothers, Yido took out a couple of paper bags from the kitchen. He put the breads into the bags, one by one, and distributed them, dividing them evenly for just the right amount of people. Xiao Ting was just at the side scurrying around.

"Yang Yang, this is yours." Seeing that I had come downstairs, Yido picked up one of the bags and gave it to me.

Just now it looked like there were so much bread, but after dividing it up, it wasn't actually that much. It's about the size of a packaged bag of toast sold in a typical convenience store.

I cleared away a s.p.a.ce in my backpack, just enough to stuff it in.

One after another, the other people also came downstairs. After receiving their breads, they went to wait by the big entrance. "Yang Yang, this is for you." The last to come down, Chifuyu tossed a blue orb to me.

"What is this?" I lifted that orb that looked a lot like a large gla.s.s bead up to the light and looked at it. The inside was very clear and had nothing in it, so I have no idea how the color was able to enter it.

"That's a simple map of the surroundings. It could be considered to be a little toy, but when you're lost, it can display about a fifty meter radius of the roads. And it will automatically detect it without having to use any spells. I guess this should be useful to you."

It's not useful, it's extremely useful.

"Are you sure you can give this to me?" It seems very expensive!

"I've already said that it's a toy. And in this huge place, this object doesn't have that much use, so you should just accept it." Chifuyu waved his hands and said, "When I was organizing my things just now, I found out that it was accidentally brought along, so I'll just give it to you."

I looked at the blue, round orb, and carefully put it away.

I kept feeling that there might be a day when this would come in handy. Anyway, for someone like me who's at such a low level and doesn't know any tracking techniques at all, bringing along a little something would be more appropriate.

After arriving at the big entrance, I found out that pretty much everyone were already there, with just the two of us left.

The water probably just receded this morning, since there were still puddles remaining on the whole avenue as if it just rained. As soon as the sun came out and s.h.i.+ned down, water vapor vaguely floated up from the puddles, and the surroundings flashed with light. It gave one a feeling of being dazzled, after just coming out in the morning,

Other than that, it was pretty much the same as when we arrived yesterday.

"Over here!"

Leido and the others were waving to me not too far away.

"So we just search for a random drainage channel and then go down?" I looked at the drainage channel that was encircled by them. I felt like we didn't see this one yesterday, but it is the nearest one to the hostel.

"Yeah, since logically speaking, the drainage channels are all interlinked, so all we have to do is find a random one and then go down. Otherwise, do you still want to carefully choose a location?" Leido "hei hei" laughed a few times.

To be honest, I really did think about this issue.

It would be best to find a pa.s.sage with less obstacles. Based on my past experience, if we go down into the drainage channel, we'll definitely encounter something. So, I suggest that we choose the most auspicious hour and the best direction before going down, so as to not regret it for life.

However, obviously my companions here are all absolute go-with-the-flow kind of people, who would rather go down, encounter a problem, and then start thinking about it.

The drainage channel, like all sewers, was covered with a lid. At the side, Yado crouched down, and after doing something on top of it, less than two seconds later, the lid just magically came off on its own. "There's still some water that haven't receded below."

As soon as the lid was removed, thick moisture immediately spread out.

I heard some kind of water sound from below.

Uh…Are you really sure that you don't want to let the sun evaporate all the water before going down?

"Lord of fire, descend." Gasai took out a white square paper with a flame-like totem on it. He pressed the flame totem, then released his fingers, and the white square paper immediately floated down.

In just a few seconds, I suddenly felt some kind of hot air surging up from below—

"Yang Yang, move aside!"

A force suddenly grabbed my collar, and I was dragged back.

An intense gust of white smoke rushed out from the drainage channel, mixed with a high-temperature hot air.

"Guāng jié yuán, guāngyǔyǐng jiāozhī qǐ, sì zhī liè guāng dùn." Gasai reacted very quickly. Apparently he had already known about the reaction that occurs when an intense heat hits the water.

[T/N: Light bound in a circle, light and shadow intertwined, an unrestrained strong light s.h.i.+eld.]

A large amount of steam shot up for a second, and then it sprayed out from the side. The surroundings were instantly filled with a slightly warm mist that dispersed after a long while.

I turned around. The person who dragged me back was Yado.

"There's no problem now." Looking at the drainage channel that was dried completely, Gasai turned around. "I'll go down first, and you guys can follow behind." Saying that, he jumped straight down.

A faint sound came after a few seconds.

"Yang Yang, it's our turn." After Yido jumped down, Chifuyu grabbed my arm, and then before I could even agree or disagree, he jumped down pulling me with him.

I found out that in fact, I have my opinion ignored very often.

For an instant, it was pitch-black before my eyes. I didn't even have time to blink when my feet was already touching the ground after being in midair.

The whole bottom was brightly lit up. Clearly someone used the Light Shadow Village's free energy.

Contrary to what I expected, I thought that the bottom of the drainage channel might be very narrow, but it was actually similar to the sewers from my childhood cartoon—Ninja Turtles. However, the difference is that the sewers have a ditch in the middle, and pathways on both sides of it. This underground channel definitely doesn't have a ditch. It's just a flat road, one that's so s.p.a.cious that I suspect you could even a drive a car in here and the like.

Two "dong dong" sounds came from behind. Reaching the bottom, the twins had followed us down at almost the same time that we landed.

"Lake Town's drainage channels are all interlinked, so we should be able to meet up with Icy Flame from here." Gasai peered at that endlessly long path that sank into darkness, and said that with a certainty that made me wonder where he got this kind of confidence from.

I had a feeling that maybe we'll find underground monsters.

A roaring wind sound came out from that dark end, followed by gooseb.u.mps popping up on my skin. There really are monsters, right, there really are monsters, right!?

How could you guys be so expressionless, not nervous, and completely indifferent!?

I know!

Your facial nerves are paralyzed, right!?

"Yang Yang, hurry up!"

Having already walked a distance away at some point, someone within the group threw this sentence over.

I found out that without Senior, making sarcastic remarks became rather boring…

I'm finished! I actually started thinking of being abused!

See, I've already said that getting hit on the back of the head so many times would definitely cause a problem one day. See, see! When I get back, I'll definitely go to look for the a.s.sistant to see if my skull has deformed—

Just as I lifted my foot and was about to walk, a s.h.i.+ny thing caught my attention.

A green crystal.

Not a very strange object, and I also know that it belongs to Yido and the others, because they've been crazily throwing green crystals into the drainage channel since yesterday, throwing one every time they see one; I have no idea what their purpose is though.

But wouldn't throwing it in such an obvious place cause it to be taken?

I glanced around, and then I picked up the crystal, quickly went to a corner, and put it down.

This spot should be better, right? At least it wouldn't be washed away when it starts flooding.

At the same time that I put the crystal down, something bizarre happened.

Right when that crystal left my hand, it suddenly sprouted four green, oily feelers, before turning around. An enigmatic eye opened up in the middle of the crystal, and then its feelers directly drilled into the ground, firmly attaching itself.

I heard a suspiciously disdainful snort from the crystal.

Fine! Fine! I should mind my own business, is that it!?

Hateful, you're just a crystal, what are you being arrogant for? You think you're great just because you have an eye!?

I directly raised my foot and was getting ready to give it a sole attack.

The second my shoe lowered, that crystal suddenly turned around again. Then its four feelers moved up, and with a "ding" sound, it emitted a s.h.i.+ny, sharp light.

It's not that I don't want to bother with him. It's simply that sometimes one should be more magnanimous, so I gently moved my foot away, and mercifully decided not to step on it.

"Yang Yang~hurry up! Or else we'll leave you behind!"

Leido's voice sounded from far away.

"Okay~~!"