Basement 35

  If Euronymous could manifest physically, his complexion would be as ugly as Pelle's.

  Pale forehead, dripping sweat beads, one by one on the metal floor, a blank mind.

  Not just the two of them, but also the other three souls hidden in the ether plane, retreated with Penny into the Valley of Wei.

  Calm down.

  Panni took two deep breaths, calmed down, picked up a pile of scrolls from the ground, all of which were powerful spells in the third and fourth circles of Arcana. He carefully approached the hidden door, where a transparent spiral staircase led to an unknown depth underground, with a faint white glow emanating from the end, caused by magic. He took another deep breath, and stepped down quietly.

  The hidden door automatically opened, indicating that he had been exposed. Escaping was not a reliable behavior, and it was also a matter of luck. Penny was more inclined to turn back and see what was under the hidden door.

  If it's a lucky break below, everything will be fine and there's no need to think about anything else. If not, maybe there will be a turning point.

  As soon as his body had just entered the dark door, there was a faint sound on top of Penny's head, and the light that had been cast down disappeared. The dark door closed automatically.

  The road behind us has disappeared.

  Pan Ni's heart calmed down completely, and the feeling of risking his life was just like that, it wasn't as if he hadn't died before.

  As soon as they entered the underground, a dazzling scene suddenly appeared before Penny's eyes, and she was stunned for a moment.

  Before one's eyes is a vast expanse, completely unlike what should be a narrow underground room.

  The spiral staircase has disappeared behind me. Looking up, I see the vast sky; looking down, I see the vast land stretching out to the horizon.

  Nearby, a magnificent high-rise building, a large ring-shaped magical text floating in the air, shining with seven colors, constantly rotating, a vast sense of beauty filled Penny's heart, his eyes wandered before this steel and magic symbol forest, gradually dazed.

  A magnificent city woven from steel and magic.

  Whoosh——

  A strange spaceship flew over Penny's head, and the sound of cheering crowds entered her ears. She looked down to see countless people dressed in somewhat out-of-place attire walking back and forth on the streets. Suddenly, Penny found herself standing among the bustling streets, taking in the vibrant scene.

  Penny stretched out one hand and passed it through the body of someone walking towards her, while the people around her seemed to be completely oblivious, the mage's eyebrows furrowed.

  "Although resplendent and magnificent, it is ultimately just an illusion and a memory."

  This sentence full of sighs is neither Panny's soliloquy nor Ocrus' soul language, but a somewhat dry voice.

  The crowd gradually faded away, and a 'person' appeared about ten feet in front of Penny. I say 'person' with quotation marks because this talking guy didn't look like a normal living person no matter how you looked at him.

  That withered body, like a mummy's, seemed to belong to a dead man, as if it were an incarnation of the Buddha worshipped in some temple in another world. However, the pair of eyes negated Penny's judgment, and the two beams of light shot out from them, calmly yet firmly locked onto Penny's body, with a hint of scrutiny and interest.

  Penny psyched herself up, what she had just seen was all an illusion, but this person who looked a bit like a zombie was the first real thing she could feel in this basement.

  "Who are you?"

  Pan Ni didn't know how to greet him, so he started with this sentence.

  "This question should be asked by me instead." The mummy smiled, and the skeletal face made this smile look quite terrifying: "Not many people can come here, are you that guy's new assistant?"

  "Whatever." Penny sighed: "And who are you? His test subject?"

  There was no hint of respect for Qijiashi in the tone of the mummy, and Penny vaguely felt that she didn't need to worry about anything anymore.

  However, after asking this sentence, the mummy fell silent for a moment before saying in a hoarse voice: "Well...I suppose so."

  "Is it?" Panni's expression became somewhat strange.

  "He created me with some things he threw away and then put me in this place," said the mummy.

  "Hmm...so he's your creator, but from the way you talk about him, it sounds like you don't have much respect for him." Penny scratched her head.

  At this moment, he didn't receive any message from Eurukrus. Although it was a bit strange, the person in front of him didn't seem to have any hostile intentions, so he decided to talk for a while and maybe get some useful information.

  "How can you have respect for someone who wants to kill you every moment?" The mummy smiled, with a somewhat sarcastic tone: "You should know that with his personality, he might kill you at any time just because you got a decimal point wrong in an experiment. Not to mention he hates me to the bone and wishes I would disappear immediately."

  "Are you saying he... wants to kill you?" Penny furrowed her brow, taking in the surreal surroundings: "But this is his turf, if I'm being blunt, it doesn't seem like it'd be hard for him to kill you. Or do you have some way of making it so he can't kill you?"

  "Of course not... but..." The mummy's voice dropped down, and he chuckled again: "Have you ever heard that there are people who can continue to live on after killing themselves?"

  Pang Ni was taken aback for a moment, then looked into the mummy's eyes, his heart racing violently several times, and an answer was about to emerge.

  "Although I haven't seen you before, it doesn't stop you from getting to know me again." The mummy raised its head, and the withered neck bones made a cracking sound: "You should know that the emptiness produced by thousands of years of loneliness, along with some inexplicable emotions, is enough to drive any reasonably intelligent person mad. So he created me, or rather, I used these 'emotions' and 'bodies' that I thought were unnecessary to create myself."

  "I think I understand." Panni smiled wryly: "Mr. Sagarpa Pasqua."

  "Of course, you can call me that." The mummy version of Sagopa nodded: "Don't worry, I don't have a good impression of the one in the magic mirror either. Because I am something he doesn't need, or rather, something 'he' doesn't need. If you're willing, keep me company for a bit and I'll show you the way out. You should know that the loneliness of having no one to talk to is hard to bear..."

  "Really?" Penny's heart skipped another beat, then shook her head: "But I still have some companions who were turned into stone by that demon statue, I need to restore them..."

  "Undo Eternal Petrification, you want to kill 'me'?" The mummy asked suddenly after a moment of silence.

  Penny remained silent.

  "Life is precious, so many people pray for eternity." The mummy said faintly: "If I were you, after hearing what I just said, I would choose to leave here alone."

  "Life is indeed precious." Driven by some sort of emotion, Penny began to speak her mind: "Although my relationship with those few companions hasn't reached the point where we'd die together, I once promised not to abandon them. I think abandoning one's companions is a very shameful thing. I find it hard to accept living with such shame."

  "Foolish." Sagopa Kajmer shook his head disapprovingly: "Sometimes, enduring shame is also a kind of courage."

  "I think I lack that kind of courage." Penny rubbed her nose.

  Sa Ge paused for a moment, then laughed again: "You have the guts to face a quasi-legendary spellcaster who has existed for four thousand years, but you admit that you lack courage because of your unwillingness to destroy that tiny bit of insignificant principle?"

  "For me, sticking to principles is more important than life." Penny raised her head: "As for danger, do everything that can be done, and then leave it to fate."

  "Fate..." Panni saw the mummy's bright eyes and was taken aback for a moment: "So, you have enough courage to choose your fate?"

  Pan Ni remained silent, realizing that this mummy version of the ancient Qigong master was not only talkative but also abnormally sensitive, seemingly easily led into a special emotional state by certain topics.

  "Look, how's the scenery I've set up?" Another silence, and Sagopa Kajmer suddenly raised one hand, pointing to the magnificent view around.

  "Is this the Empire of Imasca?" Penny raised her head and carefully observed these scenes again.

  "It's my memories..." The mummy sighed: "These years, the memories that have been lingering around me, my motherland, my hometown where I was born, that small town filled with the scent of hay, my growth, Luo Yin's imperial heart, every night lighting up and diving into piles of books on magic and machinery, my mentor, my colleagues at the Royal Academy of Ingenious Engineers... my love for her, they were once everything in my life."

  "But everything was destroyed." The voice of the mechanic turned low and his body sank visibly, the surrounding illusion also changed: the cloud layer turned deep red, meteor showers fell from the sky, billions of wolf-headed human-bodied soldiers entered the city under the guidance of more than a dozen magnificent human-shaped light groups, the magnificent city became ruins in an instant...

  This is a scene of Mulholland gods attacking Luoyang.

  Witnessing this collapse of civilization, Penny's mood also unconsciously sank.

  "It's all ruined..." Sagopa Kajmer sighed and repeated, "And I'm still here, constantly thinking about these... three thousand eight hundred fifty-four years."

  "There is no dynasty that will never end." After a moment of silence, Panni said.

  "You're absolutely right, the metabolism of all things, the rise and fall of dynasties, this is very normal." The Qixing master sitting on the ruins of the fantasy scene nodded calmly, supporting his chin with his hand: "So I've been searching for the existence of 'eternity' all these years, hoping to give my long life a little meaning, but I seem to have fallen into confusion..."

  "Young man, can you tell me what your ideal of eternity is like?" asked Chi Hsien suddenly.

  "I haven't thought about that yet..." Panni thought for a moment, and then said with a bitter smile: "But I think what's called eternity is to exist forever without changing one's essence, however the world is always changing, so..."

  He said up to here, suddenly stopped, because he saw the eyes of the mechanic become like a wild beast's red color, his heart chilled, and hastily shut his mouth.

  "Change? Change?"

  The Qigong master muttered to himself for a while, then suddenly burst into uncontrollable laughter. The mummy's body was dry and withered, constantly shedding its white outer skin. Pan Ni's heart sank: "So that's how it is? Everything I've held onto, believed in, and considered the meaning of my existence has been gone for thousands of years. In the end, only a shadow remains, and even I have become this distorted form, unable to maintain my essence, not even a complete being. What's the point of eternal struggle, just trying to escape reality? How pitiful! How pitiful!"

  After laughing maniacally for a while, Sagopa Kajmer lowered his head in silence for a moment, then looked up and stared at Panni: "So, if you insist on going to face another 'me', even if it's helping me out, end this deformed life."

  Ben was taken aback.

  &&&&&&&

  I was a bit hesitant when writing this chapter, and I guess many friends won't find this way of writing refreshing either.

  But some fish still hope to be responsible for their own roles, even if it's a villainous boss destined for the tea table, they can't take it lightly.

  Maybe it's a bad habit too.

  Continue to ask for recommendation votes, new people on the homepage are in the top ten now, it's really not easy.

  Tomorrow is going to be a wild boss battle, I've been thinking about this plot for a long time~~