"Where's Anker? Where did he go? "
When Huo Fa heard someone asking him, he stopped meditating. It turned out that Aldo had woken up and was looking around by the fire.
"You're looking for him as soon as you wake up," Hoffa said sarcastically. "Do you feel safer with him than with us?"
Aldo said, "He's that kind of person. There's no other way."
"You sound like a wife who's been abused by her husband and still wants to protect him." Hoffa was even more sarcastic. He glanced at Chloe, thinking that she would laugh. But she didn't. She only looked at the two of them coldly and pointed at the extra hole in the ground. "There, your friend went in. If you want to find him, please do so."
Aldo leaned against the hole and looked inside for a long time. "Is this also my imagination? Why don't I remember seeing something like this before … "
After staring at the dark tunnel for a long time, Aldo didn't plan to go in. He straightened up and took out some beans to roast. He didn't know where the food came from. It could be military rations, or he could have conjured it out of thin air.
Only then did Huo Fa remember that he hadn't eaten or drunk anything for days. But the strange thing was that he didn't feel hungry or thirsty at all.
After roasting the beans, a faint fragrance filled the air. Aldo held the beans and turned to Chloe.
Seeing him come over, Chloe hugged her knees.
Aldo didn't do anything. Instead, he lowered his head in front of her. "When we were in that room, I really didn't think that you would help me."
His tone was sincere and apologetic.
Chloe shook her head. She didn't say anything and didn't look at him.
Aldo sighed and knelt down on one knee. He offered the beans in his hand. "I'm sorry about what happened before, Miss Lemay."
Did this guy actually have a conscience!? Hoffa was secretly shocked. No matter how he looked at Aldo's expression, it didn't seem like he was lying.
Smack!
The roasted beans were suddenly scattered by Chloe. Some of them rolled to Hoffa's feet. He secretly picked one up and threw it into his mouth. There was no smell at all, as if he had lost his sense of taste.
"Helping you is just a request from the gods for my life." Chloe said in disgust, "But from a personal point of view, I'll never forgive you for what you've done and what you've done to the Terra Abbey."
Her voice was as cold as the cold wind, and Aldo was rebuffed. He sat back down beside the fire with his tail between his legs.
Hoffa, who was chewing beans, raised his eyebrows. Even when Chloe was at his angriest, he had never used such a cold and loathsome tone. This made him curious. Before the nun knew him, there seemed to be some unbearable past.
The cave trembled slightly.
He thought that Aldo had woken up and that the monster from before had returned. He quickly stuck his ear to the rock wall behind him. However, that was not the case. The tremor was so small that it was almost undetectable. It was completely different from the monster's previous attack.
"Don't you feel that the cave has become smaller?" Chloe suddenly asked.
After the nun's reminder, Hoffa realized where the problem lay. The cave that he was hiding in had unknowingly shrunk by one-fifth. If one did not look carefully, they would not have noticed it.
"It really has become smaller." Aldo also said.
The ground trembled slightly again.
Hoffa carefully looked at the lines on the ground that were illuminated by the firelight. The lines were constantly shrinking and squirming under some kind of force. The cave was becoming smaller. It was like the walls of a creature's stomach, slowly squeezing towards the center.
At first, the signs were very weak, but after a while, the changes became more and more intense. The old train in the center of the cave creaked. It was being squeezed crazily because of the shrinking cave, like a helpless tin can.
The three people in the cave were even worse.
Aldo said in a panic, "This is not what I imagined. I swear, I've never seen anything like this in my life!"
"Shut up!"
Hoffa shouted to stop him.
His heart was beating violently. His eyes were firmly locked on the dark cave entrance.
The cave entrance did not shrink.
As expected, he thought hatefully, if there was something controlling this nightmare, it must want him to enter this narrow tunnel that leads to the unknown.
The train was squeezed to one-third of its normal size. The situation did not allow the three to hesitate. They hurriedly packed up a few torches and crawled into the tunnel.
As soon as they entered, there was a loud squeezing sound outside. Countless rusted screws and parts were scattered everywhere.
It was conceivable that if they had come in a little later, they would have been squeezed into meat paste.
"Please stop imagining. Do you think our situation is not bad enough?" The nun scolded Aldo.
Aldo quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, Miss Lemay. I'm trying not to think about it."
"Wait, are you afraid of the dark?" Hoffa asked.
"What?"
"I'm asking if you're afraid of the dark?"
"No." Aldo thought carefully, "I'm really not afraid. I think dark and narrow places give me a sense of security."
"It's not his nightmare," Hoffa said to Chloe, "It's no use blaming him. The owner of the nightmare has changed."
"Changed?"
"Yes, the content has completely changed. From the scary bugs to pure darkness. I think, among the four of us, one of us must be claustrophobic or naturally afraid of the dark. "
Chloe was speechless.
"Anker." Aldo muttered, "This is Anker's nightmare. No wonder he became so strange after entering the cave."
"Do you know him well?" Hoffa asked Aldo.
"I'd rather not know him at all." Aldo smiled bitterly, "He's used to ordering people around. He's always acting like he's invincible. But when he has magic, he's better than me. Who knew he would be afraid of the dark?"
After experiencing the nightmare, Aldo's attitude towards him had changed. Although he was not as respectful as he was towards Chloe, he was now able to talk.
Hoffa asked, "Then do you know what monsters might appear in this darkness?"
Aldo replied, "I don't think there will be monsters. Anker never reads stories."
Hoffa was speechless.
As they spoke, the space above them was completely sealed. They had no other choice but to go down.
Hoffa held the torch and walked in front. The light could not dispel the darkness and could only illuminate the small area under their feet. He could hear some kind of secret breathing, but he was sure that it was not his, Aldo's or Chloe's. It was coming from the wall, as if it was alive.
Aldo was very close to Chloe in the darkness, as if he wanted to protect her. But Chloe did not appreciate it. When Aldo walked beside her with the torch, she did not look happy at all.
She quickened her pace and walked to Hoffa's side, feeling a little safer. But the tunnel was only wide enough for one and a half people.
Hoffa said, "Don't push me."
Chloe slowed down unhappily.
After walking for thirty minutes, the tunnel showed no signs of ending. The dark environment did not change at all. It was as if they had been walking in the same place.
Hoffa, who was walking in front, stopped.
"Are any of you afraid?" he asked.
"Who? I'm not afraid," Chloe said immediately.
"What about you?" he asked Aldo.
Aldo scratched his head. "I think it's okay."
"Then it doesn't make sense. This is not a physical tunnel. Everything we've experienced is illusory, so there can't be a bottomless pit."
"But we've been walking."
Chloe said.
"It just feels like we've been walking. Hoffa said," Actually, we haven't moved an inch. Something is blinding our senses and using our emotions. In the last dream, the more intense Aldo's emotions were, the scarier the dream was. Just like the Boggart, it will look for our weaknesses and constantly change its appearance. If our minds are calm and still, the environment here will definitely change. So, some of us must be afraid. "
The two of them stopped talking. Huo Fa turned around.
He held the torch and looked at their faces. Aldo looked at him in a daze, his wide face full of confusion.
He held the torch in front of Chloe again and stared at her face.
This time, he stared at her for a much longer time than Aldo. At first, Chloe bravely raised her head and puffed out her chest to look into his eyes. But as she stared, her face turned red and her back slowly arched like a deflated balloon.
"You're afraid."
He said with certainty.
"Why do you only ask others? Why don't you say you're afraid?" Chloe shouted, unwilling to give up.
"Because I know there's nothing to be afraid of in the unknown. It's all your imagination."
"That's easy to say. Do you know what's ahead?" Chloe became agitated. "If we keep walking, we'll get further and further away from the surface. What if we can never go back? What if there's another big centipede in front … "
Hoffa: "Humans need emotional tension and catharsis to confirm their sense of existence. And the most ancient and strongest emotion is undoubtedly fear. Fear is fear, and at the same time, it's also deeply attracted to it.
It's undeniable that when you're afraid of this darkness, your heart is also full of hope that something will appear in front of you to scare you. If it doesn't, you'll even feel a faint sense of loss, disappointment … "
Chloe covered her ears. "Stop, stop, stop!"
Hoffa: "So, the way to stop fear is to stop looking forward. Don't expect this world to give you more surprises. Accept that this world is actually very boring, and you won't feel fear. "
Chloe couldn't take it anymore. She suddenly pressed Hoffa against the wall. "Don't look like you know everything, Hoffa Bach, can you!?"
As soon as she finished speaking, the walls of the tunnel began to squirm and shrink. The stone walls on both sides quickly squeezed towards the middle.
Chloe grabbed Hoffa's collar and shouted at him, "Look! Your words are working! This is worse than before! It was just dark before, but now it's deadly! "
Hoffa's expression didn't look good. He didn't expect things to change so quickly. If he really died in a nightmare, would he wake up, or would he really die?
He didn't know, and he didn't dare to take the risk.
Aldo pulled Chloe away from Hoffa. "Stop arguing, Miss Lemay. Finding the exit is more important."
Chloe shook off Aldo and ran forward as if her life depended on it. Hoffa chased after them. The tunnel became narrower and narrower, from two people wide to one person wide, and from one person wide to half a person wide.
The three of them were originally facing forward, but now they could only walk sideways. Soon, they were squeezed tightly against the inner wall of the tunnel, unable to move an inch. The cold inner wall kept squirming, giving them an incomparably oppressive and terrifying feeling of suffocation.
Hoffa was squeezed against the wall like a meat patty. His consciousness was blurry. In his daze, he suddenly thought that if he still had magic, he might be able to turn into a worm. Unfortunately …
Just as the tunnel narrowed to the limit, it suddenly opened again and returned to its original state. The three of them, who were almost suffocated, were lying on the ground, gasping for breath and coughing.
It's not time for me to die, Huo Fa thought as he stumbled forward. A ray of light appeared in front of him. The light kept changing its shape, sometimes big, sometimes small, sometimes closed, and sometimes appeared.
When he reached the light, he looked up.
In the end, he saw a row of square teeth. Each tooth was as big as his head. When he looked down, he saw a squirming red carpet under his feet.
Teeth!
Tongue!
Mouth!?
He was stunned.
Could it be that he was in the stomach of some creature!?
He didn't have time to think. Seeing that the mouth was about to close again, the three of them scrambled out, squeezing through the gap between the creature's teeth and falling to the ground.
Countless huge stone pillars were burning braziers, and the whole world was dazzling. Finally standing on solid ground, before the three of them could even sigh about their encounter, they were stunned by the scene in front of them.
Under the illumination of the soaring flames.
In front of them was a hundred-meter tall giant. He was covered in blood, had a broken arm, and was covered in wounds. But they could still make out some of his original appearance.
It was Anker.
There was a shocking reversal in the ratio between them, and they even crawled out of Anker's mouth. It turned out that the squirming ground was his intestines and throat.
At this moment, Anker was holding a severed arm and chewing on it. Seeing the three of them on the ground like ants, he threw the arm away, bent down, and looked at them with interest.
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