Chapter 163 Into The Phoenix Chamber Part 43

"It's been two years and you're still sleeping. Yesterday I went shopping and saw your mother." Hajime heard Kenji chuckle. 

'Beep... Beep... Beep...' 

"Don't worry... I didn't quarrel with her. I have tried my best in the past two years to continue fighting for you, but legally in the eyes of the law, I have no relation to you." 

'Beep... Beep... Beep...' 

"You were once important to me," Hajime said. "But right now, I'm not sure what you are to me. We're not friends, and we're not lovers. So... stop trying to wake me up." 

'Beep... Beep... Beep...' 

"The court ruled on your mother's favor to keep you on life support for another year." Hajime heard Kenji's voice. "After that... they'll take you off life support." 

'Beep... Beep... Beep...' 

"Life should not be decided by anyone but God... do you agree?" 

'Beep... Beep... Beep...' 

"I agree." Hajime replied. "Although life is unfair, no one has the right to take away another person's life and happiness. Only God has this right." 

"It's your birthday next month. I heard people say miracles usually happen when you least expect it. I ordered a cake in advance and prepared a gift for you, so you have to get up and make a wish and blow out the candles." 

'Beep... Beep... Beep...' 

"I don't need to wake up," Hajime said. "I have an obligation to complete the tasks given to me, so I never want to wake up." 

Hajime felt a warm kiss on his forehead. "They say your brain dead now, but I don't believe it. Wake up quickly and let's start over." 

"No, I don't want to," Hajime said angrily. "I don't want to. I found where I belong, so stop trying to wake me up." He felt a sudden anger rising in his heart, and his heart was beating fast. "Don't wake me up!" 

'Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.' 

"You can hear me, right? I know you can hear me..." 

Hajime found himself in a dark space. He has been here before, and he knows that this must be the time and space gap between the previous world and the new world. He still recognizes Kenji's voice, but he doesn't seem to remember Kenji's face. He thought that maybe if he took a step toward Kenji's voice, he might be able to recall Kenji's face, but he hesitated to walk through the darkness just to get another look at Kenji's face, because now he wasn't sure if it was what he really wanted. He retracted his left foot and heard Michio's voice calling his name. 

Michio's voice suddenly made Hajime realize that his friends and his loved ones were still trying to escape Scattered Forest. 

Hajime turned around and shouted, "Michio! Where are you?" The moment he turned back to search for Michio's voice. He felt the darkness beneath his feet collapse, and he felt as if he had fallen into an endless black hole. 

"Hajime!" Michio shouted and slapped Hajime twice on the face. "Come back to us! Hajime!" 

Hajime slowly opened his eyes. Although Michio's face was a little blurry, he smiled and muttered, "Michio..." He found that he was holding his three wooden figures tightly in his left hand and a golden baton in his right hand. 

"Oh... thank heaven," Michio helped Hajime up. "I thought you were gone." 

Hajime smiled and said, "Have you forgotten... I can't die." 

"I almost forgot," Michio said, scratching his bald head. 

Hajime muttered, "It would be nice if I didn't feel the pain. It's so unfair." He looked around. "Where is Yul and Abrafo?" 

Michio said, "Abrafo went back to rescue Prince Bong, and Yul had followed him. We were supposed to head to the exit of the Scattered Forest, but you suddenly stopped breathing, so I had to stop and evaluate you." 

Hajime took his arm out of Michio's grasp and tried to stand up on his own, reassuring Michio that he can stand up on his own, so Michio doesn't have to worry about him. "I think I'm okay now," he said. He looked around. "Michio, this is where we started a few days ago. Are there any dead?" 

Michio said, "We've been here for almost an hour, and I haven't seen any dead man." 

Hajime said, "This means we don't have enough time to get through Scattered Forest and exit safely before the poisonous mist affects us." 

Michio looked at Hajime, he understood that time was against them, and now they had to face the reality that they might die here. He nodded. "Yes, our other option is to fight the dead, then return to the bottom of the mountain and enter the real Phoenix Chamber, but now it is full of dead men. If we run straight from here to the exit of Scattered Forest without encountering any dead men, we might get there before we get poisoned, but that's probably a one-in-a-thousand chance." 

Hajime reached into his cross bag to see if his belongings were missing, because he had been in the water for a long time. His hand touched the ten peacock feathers gathered in the true Phoenix Chamber. 

Hajime smiled at U-ri and said, "Michio..." Hajime took out ten blue peacock feathers from the cross bag. "With these, it's possible." 

Michio asked excitedly, "Are you sure you can summon them?" 

Hajime said, "We need to test and see." 

Hajime put the three wooden figures and the remaining blue feathers into the cross bag. He threw the five blue feathers in his hand on the ground using his remaining strength. Five large peacocks flapped their wings and stood in front of Hajime and Michio. 

As Yul cut off the head of the dead man who charged at them, he noticed five large blue creatures standing beside the large rock in front of them. 

Yul turned back and said, "Abrafo, there are creatures in front of us." 

"We're not going to make it out of Scattered Forest alive, are we? If my calculations are correct, we have about an hour before we become one of those dead men," Bong said, feeling pain in his shoulder and his pain started to get more intense. "I think I'll be a dead man soon." 

Abrafo said angrily, "I didn't risk my life to save you so that you could become a dead man." 

"I got bitten by one," Bong said sadly. "So, sooner or later I'm probably going to be one of those dead people who eats human flesh." 

Yul said, "Whatever it is, it's just poison. If you do die, you'll become one of them, but if you're not dead yet, U-ri should be able to help you." 

Bong said, "If I die, you'd better not let me become one of those ugly dead people. I refuse to eat human flesh." 

As Yul came closer, he realized that the creatures standing before them was none other than the blue peacocks Hajime had once summoned. He suddenly felt a sense of happiness well up in his heart, and he knew that since the peacocks had been summoned, Hajime was probably awake and in good condition. He continued to run faster, and it was difficult for Abrafo to catch up with him. 

"You're too fat. When you get back, you need to be more active and stop being the lazy old prince you were before," Abrafo said, panting as he tried his best to catch up with Yul. 

Bong grabbed Abrafo's right ear and twisted it. "I'm not fat... I'm a man with a perfect figure," he said through gritted teeth. "Say it!" He twisted Abrafo's ear even more aggressively. 

Abrafo grunted from pain in his right ear and tired legs. "You are perfect...beautiful perfect muscular body. Now let go of my ear," Abrafo said, trying to turn his head to the left. 

Bong demand with a smile. "You're not being sincere when you say that," Bong said teasing Abrafo while still clutching Abrafo's ear. 

Abrafo pleaded, "My ancestor, you are perfect. When we leave here, I will hold a handful of incenses and kowtow to you. Now let go of my ears. If you don't let go of my ear."

Bong challenged, "If I don't let go of your ear then what?"

Abrafo said, "If you don't let go of my ear, I will leave you behind to be food for those hungry dead men who are chasing us." Abrafo loosened his hands to scare Bong and Bong quickly let go of Abrafo's ear.

When Abrafo and Bong approached the three Tanzanies, Bong suddenly realized that when someone holds incense and kowtows and worships others, it is only for the deceased. 

Bong violently grabbed onto Abrafo's ear and shouted angrily, "How dare you curse me!" 

Abrafo quickly threw Bong to the ground due to pain in his right ear. Bong fell on his butt. Bong quickly stood up and punched Abrafo in the face, but Abrafo grabbed his hand. 

"Stop, your ugly voice is attracting the dead," Abrafo said, looking over Bong's shoulder to see a group of dead men rushing toward them. "Hajime! It's time to go!" He picked up Bong from the ground and led Bong towards the two blue peacocks closest to them. 

After Lixin and others had rested enough, many participants walked out of Scattered Forest alive, including Meng and Shik. 

Meng looked around and saw U-ri and Gang sitting a few feet away from him. He grabbed Shik's arm. "They are over there." He pointed at U-ri and Gang. He continued to walk to U-ri. "Sir U-ri, your friends, they are coming, and they want you to wait for them in Stone Valley." 

U-ri sighed happily. "So, are they still alive?" U-ri asked. 

Meng said, "The last time I saw them, they were still alive. I also promise your friends that I will stay with you until you are reunited with them." 

"We have no reason to stay here anymore," one participant said. 

Another said, "This was an eye-opener and I never want to come back here. Not for any title or amount of money." 

Jin who stood beside Lixin and asked, "My lord, should we set camp here or by the water holes?" 

Lixin turned to look at his men and asked, "Can you still walk?" 

Lixin's men nodded. 

Lixin said, "Then we set camp at the water holes, replenished water, had a good night's rest, and then returned to Stone Valley." 

As Lixin and his men began to leave, so did the surviving participants. 

Shik walked to U-ri and asked, "Sir, are you leaving with the others? It will get dark soon?" 

U-ri said, "I'm not leaving yet. I'm still waiting for my friends." 

Meng said, "But they asked me to take you back to Stone Valley and wait for them there." 

U-ri said, "I refuse to leave without knowing the fate of my friends. You can go." 

The pain in Gang's newly sprained ankle became even worse, and he knew he couldn't walk to the water holes now. He looked at Shik and said, "We will wait with Sir U-ri." 

Shik looked at Gang and asked, "But Your Highness..." 

Gang said, "I can't even stand up. If we want to leave, you must carry me. You can't carry me all the way back to Stone Valley by yourself. So, it's better to stay here with Sir U-ri and rest before continuing." 

U-ri turned to Gang and said, "Thank you." He turned and looked at the dark forest in front of him. "They're going to make it. They always have." 

Over Scattered Forest, the sun began to set, and the forest below became pitch black with thick shadows. The four Tanzanies and Bong saw the surviving participants rushing towards the exit of Scattered Forest. As they fly past participants, they are unable to help the remaining participants below. 

"Don't think too much," Abrafo said, looking at Michio. "You alone can't help everyone in need." 

"I just wonder if there was something we could have done differently," Michio said. 

Yul said, "We did the best we could, so don't blame yourself." 

Hajime looked at Michio and said, "We can intervene in a situation, but we can't interfere in a person's fate. When it is their time to go, there is nothing we could do." 

Yul looked at Hajime's face and noticed that Hajime's face had become paler since they left the entrance to the Phoenix Chamber. "Hajime, take us over the tree line and see if U-ri is still waiting for us," Yul said. "Knowing U-ri, he probably won't leave without knowing our outcome." 

Hajime said, "Should we continue towards the water holes?" 

Yul said, "Getting us over the tree line will be enough. Your complex doesn't look good, and so does Prince Bong, who needs U-ri's medical expertise." 

Abrafo turned back and looked at Bong, and he also noticed that Bong's turned pale. He wasn't too worried about Hajime because he knew that if Hajime died, he would be resurrected, but Bong didn't have the ability to heal himself or resurrect himself like Hajime. 

"Why are you looking at me? Aren't you afraid that I'll dig out your eyes?" Bong said angrily to Abrafo when noticed that Abrafo staring at him. 

Abrafo scoffed and said, "I was wondering when you would faint and fall to your death." 

Bong glared at Abrafo angrily, then turned his head in the other direction, not looking at Abrafo. 

Abrafo sighed heavily and looked at Bong's pale face and bleeding shoulders, he suddenly felt deeply worried.  Worried the two bite wounds on Bong's arm and shoulder could kill him.