Only God
Chapter 166 - 143 Dead End

Chapter 166: Chapter 143 Dead End

Noen’s head froze in place; he dared not turn around.

Despite the fact that the voice was so familiar it could not be more so.

It was like a ghostly voice, seemingly that of his father—the old servant of the Yibia family.

But Noen remembered, the guide had told them that no matter who calls out to them, they must never look back.

Noen resisted the urge; he didn’t turn his head, grinding his teeth and continued walking straight ahead.

He reached the end only to find that it was not an exit but a corner.

Noen’s heart was in turmoil, yet he forced himself to enter the corner.

Darkness enveloped the space ahead, and in the night, another blurred exit appeared before him.

"There’s no need to be afraid, no need to be scared."

Noen muttered to himself and kept moving forward.

He crossed the dark passageway, a chilling breeze prickling his skin from behind.

The voice did not reappear for the time being, the silence around him was unsettling, with only the faint sound of the wind scraping against the walls.

Noen approached the exit ahead; before he could feel any joy, fear seized him first.

It was another corner!

Noen clenched his teeth, his legs trembling as he proceeded.

In the blink of an eye, he had passed countless corners, but the exit was nowhere to be found.

It was as if he had fallen into an immense maze.

And what horrified Noen even more was...

His eyes couldn’t adjust to the darkness in front of him.

Generally speaking, after staying in the dark for a while, one’s eyes would start to see more clearly.

But Noen felt that even after being in the dark so long, everything remained unimaginably dark.

It even felt... increasingly pitch-black.

Though his eyes were wide open, it was as if he were walking with his eyes closed.

Just as Noen gritted his teeth and moved forward.

"Noen."

Noen shuddered.

The voice that had been distant now seemed steps closer; the specter seemed to be moving forward, drawing nearer and nearer.

"My father... isn’t he dead? How could, how could this be?"

That voice mixed Noen’s current fear with past terrors, pushing him step by step towards the edge of a cliff.

Noen stood still.

He stood for a while, and the voice did not appear again.

Noen never turned around.

He tried his best to calm himself and continued walking in the darkness.

This dark passage was eerily empty, nothing but the path itself.

For some reason, Noen recalled the sinister legends of the Path of Death; he had once thought he was steadfast and not afraid of the unclean. But... in such a situation, he suddenly realized...

The will of man is far from sufficient to save oneself.

Noen kept walking forward when he suddenly felt something.

"Noen."

The voice was louder, clearer.

Moreover, it truly seemed to be getting closer and closer, as if steadily approaching.

The wind swept across the dark passage, Noen’s heart pounded fiercely, he could never calm down as a sense of powerlessness overwhelmed him.

Goosebumps rose on his skin, and Noen couldn’t push them back down.

"Oh God... save me."

Noen murmured, praying to God for protection, as he forced himself to keep walking.

He kept moving forward, and at some point, he saw a door.

A glimmer of joy flashed in Noen’s eyes, at last, at last, he could leave this place, escape this strange domain.

"Is this God’s protection?"

Noen whispered softly to himself, his heart racing with relief.

The young man reached out and pushed open the door before him.

Then he stood frozen.

Inside was a room, with corpses lying one after the other on the ground.

They had died in various states of horror in the room, their bodies sprawled haphazardly, the blood staining the floor mostly dried.

Among those faces that had not yet decayed, intense fear was still etched.

Noen was scared stiff.

What frightened the young man most was not the chilling scene in the room before him,

but that his pleas to the divine remained unanswered.

Instead, he encountered an even greater fear.

"Will God truly protect me?"

Staring at the corpses lying before him, Noen muttered with a trembling voice.

Had those people not beseeched their own gods for protection?

Noen nearly collapsed to the ground.

His hands and feet grew cold, and the ghastly wind behind him penetrated his marrow, the venomous snake of fear clinging tightly to him.

The youth suddenly felt the relentless pursuit of the ghost, drawing closer with each step.

And the scene before him seemed to say there was only the Path of Death ahead.

"Turn, turn back..."

Noen’s head was rigid,

"No, I can’t turn back!"

Noen jabbed his thigh with his fingernails and forced himself to stand up.

He had to keep moving forward!

Noen crossed the room before him and pushed open the door ahead.

Another path lay before him,

even darker than the last.

Noen didn’t know if another corner awaited him, nor if he would be able to find a way out of this place.

But he had to keep walking.

Around that corner.

"Noen!"

The voice not only drew closer but also carried a horrifying tone.

Noen heard the "tap, tap" of footsteps, as if his deceased father had truly become a vengeful ghost, chasing him from behind.

The youth’s back was soaked with cold sweat, his skin crawling non-stop, and for a moment, he genuinely considered turning around to end it all with death.

In the face of overwhelming fear, death seemed like a mercy.

Noen breathed heavily, quickening his pace.

He rounded two corners and suddenly spotted a glint of reflection ahead.

It seemed he was finally nearing the exit.

Noen dared not let his guard down, remembering the guide’s words, never looking back, never turning around.

As he hastened his steps, the reflections on the path ahead increased,

Truly... an exit...

That endpoint had to be the exit! It must be!

A wave of relief surged in Noen’s heart, believing he was finally about to leave this place.

Until he reached the end.

Noen froze.

The endpoint in front of him was as smooth as the surface of water.

It wasn’t an exit at all, but a smooth mirror!

The reflection of the exit he saw was merely starlight refracted by the mirror...

There were no other paths nearby; this was a dead end...

Noen, in astonishment, caressed the walls, their damp and cold surface pushing him toward the precipice of terror.

He thought about turning his head to leave, to find another way.

Perhaps... if he moved fast enough, he wouldn’t have to be afraid... he could find a way to live...

But as his gaze unintentionally swept across the mirror.

He froze completely.

Reflected in the mirror, a pale-faced, withered old slave stood right behind him, ghost-like in appearance.

Their distance was less than half a step.

"Noen!"

The old servant’s nearly detached, rotting lower jaw revealed a chilling grimace,

"What are you hiding from?

Why didn’t you listen to me and stop?

Do you want to escape from here? Do you want to flee from your father?"