My palms and the backs of my hands are slick with sweat. Tiny beads have gathered across my forehead. I swallow hard, staring at the red membrane. I still don’t know if I can get out. By now, it’s been at least ten hours since the Flying Revenant left. Exhausted, I finally managed to build this staircase out of dead men’s bones.
Now, as time drags on, the whole thing is shaking even more violently.
I tore the sheets and bedding from the bed into strips and used them to tie down parts of the structure. Luckily, I spent years as a janitor, so I know how to rig things like this. Our company was stingy—when cleaning tools broke, I’d fix them myself, using wire, cloth strips, glue, whatever I could find.
I took a closer look at the red membrane. It might be some kind of spell. I’d tried tossing bones through it before, and they made it outside just fine.
After a few more tries, I found that bones could always pass through. The jump itself was less than two meters—not hard, as long as I didn’t fall into the pit. The mud walls, though, were especially dangerous.
I glanced around, took a deep breath, and crouched low. The bone pile beneath my feet started to creak and rattle under the strain—it was on the verge of collapsing.
I watched quietly, calculating the distance. Suddenly, with a loud crash, the bones gave way. At that moment, I pushed off with both feet, sprinting and leaping toward the opposite ledge. The bone pile scattered, falling apart beneath me.
Eyes shut, I felt my feet hit solid ground. When I opened them, I couldn’t help but feel a surge of joy—I’d escaped. Across from the mound lay a vast green lake. A few White Revenants wandered the shore like zombies, aimless and slow. Without hesitation, I turned, skirted the pit, and headed toward the three mountains.
I had no idea what Lance Quinn was up to. I’d been caught, and he hadn’t come to help. I still only half understood the whole revenant business. I saw a few zombies hopping or shuffling among the rocks and slowed my pace, inching forward bit by bit.
A Purple Revenant appeared ahead, hopping in place with its back to me, stuck in front of a rock. It kept jumping, slamming into the stone, then jumping and crashing again—mindless, almost comical.
I couldn’t help but laugh, covering my mouth as I crept closer. When I was less than five meters away, I stopped, searching for a path through. But the Purple Revenant didn’t seem to notice me, so I edged even closer.
I got right up behind the Purple Revenant—close enough to reach out and tap it. It didn’t react at all. Relieved, I broke into a run.
I ran into a few more Purple and White Revenants, but none of them noticed me. I didn’t know why, but there was only one explanation: I’d been bitten by the Flying Revenant.
Thinking about it made my neck itch again, and soon my whole body started to itch.
Suddenly, I dropped flat to the ground. Overhead, the Flying Revenant swooped by, arms loaded with all sorts of things, flying straight over me toward the small hill.
I didn’t think twice. As soon as I got up, I started running. I hadn’t gone far when I heard the Flying Revenant’s beastlike roar behind me.
I ran for my life, pushing myself harder and harder. My stamina was surprisingly good; even after running for ages, I wasn’t out of breath. But now that I thought about it, this felt just like back in the asylum, when someone drove that thing called the Earthfang into my chest and left me completely powerless.
I ducked behind another rock—the Flying Revenant was right on my tail. This time, it was darting through the air, scanning the rocky ground below, searching for me.
I had no choice but to curl up and start scraping dirt over myself, trying to cover my body.
I racked my brain, trying to figure out how to regain my strength. Last time, I’d managed to pull the Earthfang from my chest and recover because I was furious—enraged at the ghost who’d driven Susan Li insane.
I tried to summon up some anger, but nothing came. All I could do was keep scraping dirt over myself, hiding as best I could.
The Flying Revenant landed among the rocks, then, in a frenzy, stretched out its hands and pointed. Instantly, the stones exploded, making my heart race.
But it was still far from me—at least sixty or seventy meters away. Covered in mud, I decided it was time to move. Crouching low, I crept toward the spot where I’d entered, using the rocks for cover.
Progress was slow, but while the Flying Revenant raged, I managed to put some distance between us. Suddenly, I ducked behind another rock, as the Flying Revenant took to the air again, right in the middle of the rubble.
I didn’t dare make a move, so I waited. If it couldn’t find me, it would probably search elsewhere.
Suddenly, I felt a force lift me off the ground. Panicking, I grabbed a rock, only for it to lift off too. I clung to it as we both floated upward.
The situation was absurd—all the stones in the rubble were rising, bit by bit. I stared in shock, and at that moment, the Flying Revenant spotted me.
"What the hell?" I blurted out. Instantly, the Flying Revenant grabbed me by the neck, clearly agitated, and dragged me back to the Great Chasm. Once inside, it didn’t hurt me—just hauled me over to a table, as if calling me to eat.
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Once again, the table was piled high with food and wine. My stomach rumbled, and I didn’t bother with politeness—I started eating.
After eating, I sat back with a fatalistic attitude, legs crossed, staring at the Flying Revenant. In a flash, it drifted right up to me, staring blankly.
"What do you want? What the hell do you want from me?"
I had no idea what the Flying Revenant was after. Suddenly, it grabbed my neck with one hand and opened its mouth. In that instant, every memory since it first caught me flashed through my mind like a slideshow.
"So you want to fatten me up like a pig and keep me penned in. Damn it."
Just as I cursed, a sharp pain shot through the right side of my neck—the Flying Revenant’s teeth broke my skin again, sinking in as it gulped down my blood.
A few minutes later, my limbs went limp and my whole body turned cold. The Flying Revenant dropped me on the bed, looking satisfied. Then, with a wave of its hand, all the bones shot into the mud wall one by one, leaving nothing but the Great Chasm.
I caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye and thought, That’s it. There were still bones below, but they were twenty or thirty meters away. There was no way I could pile up enough bones to reach that distance in such a short time.
I watched the Flying Revenant disappear into the distance. A wave of nausea washed over me, and I curled up on the bed, shivering. It took several hours before the needle-like pain finally faded.
But then I noticed all my fingernails had fallen off and turned black. My mouth itched, and when I touched it, I found two new teeth growing in. I stared at my own transformation in shock.
Scabs peeled off both sides of my neck. My hands and feet felt icy, and my body was starting to stiffen.
"I’m... really turning into a revenant..."
Even my speech was starting to slur. The worsening state of my body made me panic.
First, I lost all sense of temperature. I wasn’t afraid of cold or heat anymore—I couldn’t feel anything at all.
Lance Quinn had told me before: once you become a revenant, all sensation disappears. You turn into a walking corpse, feeling nothing. The more I thought about it, the more terrified I became. But I was so exhausted, I didn’t dare sleep.
But after more than ten hours of piling bones and running for my life, my eyelids kept drooping. Eventually, I passed out.
Slowly, I sank into a dream.
"Wake up, disciple. Wake up."
Suddenly, I jolted awake. The moment I opened my eyes, I saw Nolan, Susie, bright sunshine, green mountains and clear water, and lots of Dreamborn and Dream Wraiths playing together. I stared in disbelief at it all.
"Disciple, look at you—you’ve turned into a revenant."
I let out a wail, staring at my long fingernails and stiff body—I looked just like a revenant. I turned to the mirror Nolan gave me.
"What is all this?"
"Disciple, this is a dream. But we came to you in your dream because my father said you were in danger."
I looked gratefully at Nolan. Just then, a burly man walked over—Big Mountain, Nolan’s father. He wore animal skins and a crown woven from grass and flowers. I stared at him in amazement.
"Thank you for what you did before, Ethan Zhang. Now it’s our turn to help you."
It was the first time I’d heard Big Mountain’s voice—steady and gentle. I reached out and shook his hand.
"Ethan Zhang, hmph, I warned you before to be careful. I can’t believe you got mixed up in Yuna Ji’s mess again."
A voice, neither male nor female, called out. I turned and saw Mona Ouyang, who walked toward me slowly.