Chapter 5: The Ancient Temple
Chapter 5: The Ancient Temple
A long-abandoned tunnel...
Zhang Yuanqing glanced around in a panic. Being suddenly transported to an unfamiliar place would unsettle anyone.
"A tunnel? Is this the infamous Sheling Tunnel from the ghost stories?"
As a native of Songhai City, he was well aware of the top ten urban legends, including Sheling Tunnel. When he was a child, his grandmother would use such ghost stories to scare him into behaving at night.
But urban legends were just myths, weren't they? Besides, he had passed by Sheling Tunnel only a few days ago while visiting his father's grave.
The real Sheling Tunnel was nothing like this—it wasn't this old and decrepit.
"Right… this is the Spirit Realm, not the real Sheling Tunnel."
The narrow space made him uneasy. With heightened vigilance, Zhang Yuanqing cautiously moved forward, the only sound in the eerie silence being his own footsteps.
As he walked, he tried to piece together his current situation, analyzing the information given by the mysterious voice in his head.
There was no doubt about it—he had encountered a supernatural phenomenon and was now trapped in a ghost story, forced to complete a mysterious mission.
"The voice mentioned two tasks: survive for three hours and explore the Spirit Realm. S-rank difficulty, single-player, death-type… That 'death-type' part is seriously freaking me out."
Surviving for three hours implied that extreme danger awaited him.
Exploring the Spirit Realm… likely meant investigating this tunnel. Did that mean the tunnel itself was a deadly threat?
His nerves tensed at the thought. At the same time, another question popped into his mind: What's the reward for completing the mission?
After all, missions usually come with rewards, don't they?
"Based on the attribute panel earlier, my class is 'Night Wanderer,' but my level is 0 instead of 1. Becoming a Night Wanderer is probably one of the rewards. But… what exactly is a Night Wanderer?"
"And Brother Bing was right. This black card does change your life, but I ignored the second half of what he said: 'It's hard to control.' Did he mean it's dangerous?"
As he processed these thoughts, the old xenon lamp beside him flickered, as if the electrical circuit was unstable. In the flickering light, he caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure wearing a miner's helmet standing beneath the lamp.
Shit!
His thoughts were instantly cut off as his heart nearly leaped out of his chest. Startled, he instinctively bolted forward.
When he finally stopped and turned around, the xenon lamp had stabilized, casting a steady glow once more.
The miner's shadow was gone—as if it had never been there.
Had he imagined it?
Shaken, Zhang Yuanqing no longer dared to linger in the tunnel. He quickened his pace toward the exit.
Tap, tap, tap…
His hurried footsteps echoed eerily in the silent tunnel. For five or six minutes, he walked briskly, his mind racing with thoughts.
Then, the old lamps overhead flickered again—but this time, no miner's shadow appeared.
"Not following me?"
He let out a breath of relief but still didn't dare slow down. Keeping his head down, he walked faster… until something terrifying caught his eye.
The orange glow from the xenon lamps stretched his shadow out on the ground.
And right beside his shadow—there were over a dozen other shadows following him.
They had been there all along?!
A chill surged from his feet to his head, his entire body erupting in goosebumps. His face turned pale as he broke into a full sprint.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he saw the tunnel's exit, bathed in cold moonlight.
Gasping for breath, Zhang Yuanqing burst out of the tunnel, bent over, and placed his hands on his knees, panting heavily.
Once his breathing steadied, he looked around.
The full moon hung in the sky, cold and lonely, its glow making the stars seem dim in comparison. Dense forests stretched out before him, their shadows thick under the moonlight.
He was in the middle of a remote, desolate mountain range.
Behind him, the xenon lights in the tunnel flickered a few times—then all of them went out.
The tunnel entrance was now shrouded in complete darkness, resembling the gaping maw of a beast waiting to devour its prey.
"I need to get out of here…"
His scalp tingled as he hurried up the rugged mountain path.
After taking a dozen steps, he instinctively turned back—and what he saw nearly made his heart stop.
A row of shadowy figures stood at the tunnel entrance.
Each wore an old miner's helmet, their clothes tattered and worn. Their heads were lowered, their faces obscured by darkness.
They stood motionless in the shadows, as if silently bidding him farewell.
Zhang Yuanqing stumbled back a few steps before turning and sprinting up the mountain path.
The trail was flanked by thick foliage, through which fragmented moonlight seeped down. It was just enough to illuminate his way forward.
But the silence was unsettling.
There were no chirping insects, no rustling leaves, no distant howls—nothing.
His own footsteps sounded unnaturally loud in the oppressive stillness.
"…Too quiet."
Given the season, the mountains should have been alive with the sounds of insects and nocturnal creatures.
His eyes darted around warily. The full moon cast shadows through the swaying trees, but he couldn't shake the eerie feeling that something unseen was watching him from the darkness.
He didn't know how long he walked, his body gradually warming from exertion, until he finally emerged from the dense forest.
His view opened up.
The landscape was bathed in moonlight, eerily silent. And at the end of the rugged mountain path—
stood an abandoned ancient temple.
It loomed in the darkness, quiet and foreboding.
The temple had clearly been abandoned for a long time. The once-red gate was now blackened and riddled with holes, the paint peeling away. A tattered lantern had fallen to the ground, leaving behind only its bamboo frame.
The wooden plaque above the entrance still hung there, though it was covered in thick cobwebs and tilted at an odd angle. The darkness obscured whatever words were inscribed on it.
The stone steps leading to the entrance were cracked, with wild grass sprouting from the gaps.
What was a temple doing in the middle of nowhere?
Wait… A temple?!
A chilling realization hit him like a bolt of lightning.
In his mind, the mysterious voice's warning echoed:
"Do not enter the temple. Do not enter the temple…"
But… if the tunnel was just the beginning, then my real task must be to explore this ancient temple.
Hesitating at the temple entrance for a long time, Zhang Yuanqing finally took a deep breath and stepped inside.
He crossed the crumbling threshold, his eyes scanning the vast, desolate courtyard.
The ground was overgrown with waist-high weeds. A half-rotted incense burner, nearly as tall as a person, lay toppled among the grass, long abandoned.
A stone-paved path, cracked and overtaken by nature, led straight to the main hall.
And inside that hall, a dim, flickering light shone through the wooden lattice doors.
"…A light?"
In the dead silence of this decayed temple, that faint glow didn't bring comfort.
It only made everything feel even more terrifying.