Beating Instances through Words Left by the Dead-Chapter 538 - 264: Doomsday Prophecy (Part 3)

The High Priest has lived for so long, and the world’s will is reluctant to accept him. It’s clearly not because of disdain, but to let him continually settle, and then become greater.

When ordinary Naru people die, short-sighted ones can see certain events happening in five or ten years, while long-sighted ones can see twenty or thirty years ahead.

The High Priest’s foresight before dying, however, spans through an unknown number of years, an incomprehensibly vast time for even the High Priest.

In the foresight, he saw a giant and evil thing awaken, stirring up towering sea waves, causing all lands to sink.

It was a future filled with despair and destruction.

In the desperate future, the High Priest saw a glimmer of light and instructed his successor to record the prophecy on a stone slab and seal it away.

The instruction was to only unseal the chamber and retrieve the slab before the true arrival of the apocalypse.

The key to opening the chamber is personally kept by successive High Priests, it’s the same White Conch that appears in the nightmares of Johnson and others.

Shortly after, the Palace of Death sank beneath the sea’s surface.

The then High Priest also died in the palace, thus ending the transmission of foresight of death.

Uncovering the secret of that year made the exploration team more excited, and they crazily searched the ruins for the last High Priest’s corpse, seeking the White Conch.

When they finally found the White Conch in a chamber, an anomaly occurred at the research station.

At this point, Colonel Johnson stopped speaking.

Wu Chang urged, "And then?"

Colonel Johnson said helplessly, "That’s all."

Sword Star pressed, "What happened during the anomaly, do you not remember at all?"

Colonel Johnson shook his head and said, "I only remember that day when we took the White Conch out of the ruins, intending to further study it. That night, I was overwhelmed with strong hallucinations. When I came to again, it was when I saw you all."

Sword Star squinted slightly, shaking his head subtly, "He’s telling the truth."

Wu Chang hesitated for a moment and said, "Earlier, when I saw an inexplicable rune in the water pool entering the underground ruins, it was only after seeing that rune that I discerned the truth of the content broadcast on the TV screen."

"In your nightmares, I saw something different."

"Fujita Hideyuki, do you recall him?"

Given Sword Star was present, he specifically cut the questions into three segments.

The first two segments were related so that Director Gao and Sword Star naturally assumed that the name Fujita Hideyuki was something he saw from a nightmare.

Colonel Johnson nodded and said, "Of course I remember, Fujita Hideyuki was a legendary explorer, an all-around scholar, and the core member of our team."

"Initially, when I led the team into Night Island, there was a minor accident. Due to the strong sea winds, our ship was delayed, and we arrived at Night Island an hour and a half later than planned."

"I was eager to get going and didn’t notice that our ancient text expert Wells was missing. When I turned back to look for him, he had already vanished. The subsequent interpretations of ancient texts in the ruins were all led by Fujita Hideyuki. He was also the one who found the White Conch."

Wu Chang nodded discreetly; he knew Fujita Hideyuki was definitely up to something.

He continued to ask, "Earlier we’ve mentioned that apart from the four present, other team members of the exploration team have turned into fish-headed human-bodied monsters in that incident, hanging upside-down in the underground space."

"We don’t intentionally desecrate the dead, but are trying to uncover past truths, attempting to find clues from their beings. But the problem is, all items on them have been taken away, we couldn’t find even a scrap of paper, including the White Conch you mentioned."

"Do you two have any idea on the whereabouts of the White Conch and where the key to the door leading to the Underwater Ruins may be?"

Colonel Johnson didn’t hesitate and immediately said:

"The White Conch must be on that monster! Hidden in the darkness on the island!"

Wu Chang asked curiously, "Why are you so sure?"

Johnson said, "During the dash phase of ruins exploration, whenever a member fell into severe hallucinations or sleepwalked wanting to leave the research station, we could see the outline of that creature in the dark of night!"

"On this island, besides us, it’s the only thing that can move, it can’t be wrong!"

Johnson paused momentarily, his gaze shifting to Pei Taiheng, who was silent all along.

"Regarding the key to the door leading to the Underwater Ruins, you have to ask him."

The presence of nationality restraint made Pei Taiheng instinctively straighten his body when Johnson pointed to him, almost shouting "Present!"

Earlier when the two came to, they had a brief conversation.

During the four’s consciousness immersion in nightmares, they had different roles in reality.

For instance, Johnson would provide Deep Sea Fishman Oil to players entering the research station; the scholar in chaotic status was an archaeologist who, according to players’ requests, would instinctively draw some murals or ancient texts from the ruins;

The Naru Wizard with the beast skin would instinctively pray for the players, giving them a short-term buff status, reducing the influence of malice in the dark, and he could be asked some information about the Naru tribe.

As the research station administrator, Pei Taiheng was in charge of the entire operation and was most frequently in contact with players.

Faced with Wu Chang and others’ gazes, Pei Taiheng said:

"Initially the key to the door leading to the Underwater Ruins was still in my possession. Entering underwater requires not only a key but also a special diving suit. During the time I was trapped in a nightmare, there were seven, eight, or maybe a dozen follow-up exploration teams entering here, trying to enter the Underwater Ruins."

"The last attempt seemed to discover something upon surfacing, disregarded taking off the diving suit, and rushed out of the research station, only to die at the doorway afterward."

"I didn’t retrieve the key from him subsequently. I threw his body in the temporary morgue, maybe you can find some clues from him."