Chapter 964: Under the Ruins

By: Sanyin YinyuWord Count: 1214

This was a natural disaster, a painful event forever etched in history.

Even Fang Liangye had read about this rare earthquake in history books. Now, witnessing the disaster unfold before his eyes, seeing the city instantly torn into ruins, an unspeakable horror rose within him.

Chen Ling was no stranger to living hells, having witnessed the cold disaster in the Aurora Realm and the wars in the Mortal Realm. Yet, those catastrophes always had precursors; they didn't erupt without warning. This place was different. One moment, it was peaceful and serene: children laughed and played at school, the elderly dozed at home, and young people toiled for their future.

The next, tens of millions of lives lay buried beneath the rubble.

Piercing alarms still echoed through the ruins. Chen Ling only snapped back to reality much later. He instinctively wanted to do something, but his form merely floated through everything, like a ghost existing outside this moment in time.

"Damn it..." Chen Ling murmured.

He had entered the past of that Nuo mask, able to move only within its vicinity. The grand red opera robe descended step by step towards the ruins. As he drew closer, a pained groan echoed from within the debris.

"So much pain..."

It was Shen Nan's voice.

Heavy floor slabs and wall fragments were haphazardly piled, each weighing hundreds of pounds, resembling dark, oppressive tombs. At the very bottom of the wreckage, a figure was jammed in a crevice, a portion of his body crushed by fallen stones, reduced to a bloody pulp.

Shen Nan could barely feel that crushed half of his body. Only an unprecedented, agonizing pain seared his scalp. He struggled to push away the massive stone, but no matter how hard he tried, it wouldn't budge.

Darkness, confinement. The dust saturating the air irritated Shen Nan's nasal passages, making him cough violently. He didn't know where he was, nor which direction offered escape. Unknown fear and the mutilation of his body left him terrified and helpless.

"Dad..." Shen Nan rasped, like a drowning man desperately calling out for his last hope.

"Dad... Is that you? Are you there?"

In the suffocating darkness, there was deadly silence.

Shen Nan saw nothing. But from Chen Ling's perspective, slightly above Shen Nan, a figure lay impaled through the lungs by jagged rebar. The man desperately tried to breathe, but could only gasp, his throat continuously gurgling crimson blood.

He heard Shen Nan's cry for help from beneath him, but despite using all his strength, he couldn't respond.

Even so, the faint, struggling sounds were remarkably clear in the dead silence. Shen Nan heard movement from above and, as he spoke, struggled to reach out.

"Dad... Are you okay?"

He groped his surroundings with his fingertips, but sharp fragments gashed his arm. He let out a small cry as trickling blood flowed in the darkness.

Shen Nan gritted his teeth and pulled back one of the fragments, discovering it wasn't glass, but a piece of a Nuo mask.

The earthquake had not only collapsed the house but also pulverized his father's workshop. Hundreds of Nuo masks, whether finished or incomplete, had been reduced to countless fragments, now buried amidst the wreckage.

"Dad... Just hold on. Someone will come to rescue us soon." The crushed half of Shen Nan's body was completely numb. Slowly, his vision began to dim.

He knew it was almost impossible to escape on his own; he could only try to breathe as deeply as possible.

"Dad... Our teacher told us not to be afraid during an earthquake... We should try to make noise. If anyone is nearby, they'll come to rescue us immediately."

Shen Nan reached for a Nuo mask fragment, gritted his teeth, and repeatedly struck it against the nearby boulder, producing muffled thuds that echoed through the ruins.

Thump—thump—thump...

No one passed by, no one responded. The entire city had become a wasteland; who could possibly come to rescue them immediately?

But Shen Nan didn't give up. He continued to tap, tap, tap. Blood bloomed beneath him, and his arm grew heavier and heavier, as if his entire being was drifting into unconsciousness.

"Dad... Just hold on a little longer... When I get out, I have something amazing to show you..."

"I'll definitely... make it..."

Shen Nan's face grew increasingly pale. From massive blood loss, his consciousness gradually blurred, and he finally lost all awareness.

In the darkness, the only sound was the steady drip of blood.

Chen Ling watched everything with a frown. He was merely a "spectator," unable to intervene, but from the grim situation, it was clear that Shen Nan and his father were doomed.

Just as Chen Ling wondered where any glimmer of hope could be found, he seemed to sense something, and suddenly looked up at the sky.

A purple star slowly lit up.

"The Divine Path Star of the Witch God Dao... Is it here for Shen Nan?" Chen Ling murmured. "No, that's not right..."

Shen Nan already possessed a Divine Path of Opera. Even with greater Witch Dao talent, he wouldn't receive the favor of another Divine Path. So, the target of this Divine Path Star was...

Chen Ling's gaze fell on the man impaled through the lungs.

At the same time, the man also seemed to sense something. His dying eyes lifted slightly, and even though he was crushed beneath the heavy debris, he seemed to perceive the star approaching him.

Countless fragments of Nuo masks lay scattered around him like thorns. A faint purple light, like a divine aura from the heavens, enveloped him and the masks, imbuing them with a touch of divinity.

The man's gaze shifted from surprise to bitterness, and finally to deep helplessness. He did not accept the favor of the Witch God Dao. Instead, he struggled to turn his head and look down at Shen Nan, whose body was half-crushed beneath him.

Shen Nan's breathing grew progressively weaker; his life, like a candle in the wind, seemed about to flicker out.

The man's lips were tightly pressed. He looked back at the star, his gaze filled with pleading.

He trembled as he stretched out his hand, pointing at Shen Nan.

He did not speak, nor did he make a sound, but his eyes and trembling finger clearly conveyed his wish: he wanted to pass the Witch God Dao to his son.

However, a Divine Path was not a casual gift, and it would not change its target because of his plea. Ultimately, the Divine Path still chose the man, and faint purple light continuously flowed into his body.

"He now possessed the Opera God Dao and the Witch God Dao..." Chen Ling narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. "So, what happens next is crucial..."

The next moment, to Chen Ling's stunned gaze, the man who had just received the Witch God Dao, without hesitation, slit his own wrist.

Blood flowed down his arm as he struggled to move, letting the jagged rebar tear into his internal organs. His fingertips painstakingly reached towards a corner of the ruins...

There, a grotesque Nuo mask lay silently amidst the dust.