What exactly was the line of life and death?
Sometimes, the line of life and death tended to express itself brazenly.
Move forward to survive; stop and death will catch up.
Unless in between the merciless life and death, a line called hope was mixed in between, it would then become the one true line between life and death.
Tang Ling did not have a choice. Every step he took was towards the passage of survival.
Even though the Spider Queen’s appendage attacked him, cutting through his skin and flesh and even damaging his bones, leaving a painful scar, despite the tentacles clinging onto him like the tightest rope and slowing him down, Tang Ling pressed on forward!
There was still a line of hope in this life and death situation!
What was hope to him in such a situation?
The hope was victory, the right to survive, and the reward for surviving.
He was a moment away from victory.
Two seconds? Or Three seconds?
Tang Ling suffered a dozen bloody holes on his back as the tentacles constricted him, binding him down tightly.
“F*ck this sh*t!” Tang Ling cursed through gnashing teeth, but he did not give up.
The cathedral of the Fallen Star Church was less than 10 meters from him. If he could break away from the bindings and have another second, he could ram the door down and run inside.
He might not be the spider lady’s match, but he was fortunate enough, was he not?
Due to all the spoils that he had collected, his heavy backpack mitigated a great portion of the damage.
The sharp Blood Bulrush Sword allowed him to cut the tentacles from the spider lady.
The most fortunate thing was that the spider lady seemed confident enough. All she did was attack Tang Ling from where she stood. She did not move to chase him.
After all, Tang Ling was running towards the cathedral and nowhere else. In the spider lady’s opinion, running into the cathedral was suicidal because Tang Ling could never escape if he trapped himself inside the cathedral.
Holding the Blood Bulrush Sword tightly, Tang Ling cut off all the tentacles from the spider lady once more and even used the sword intent. Otherwise, given how fast the tentacles regenerated, he could not have easily cut them all at once.
Right after that, he mustered all his strength and dashed forward. He rammed the door down when he arrived at the entrance and raced inside.
At that moment, Tang Ling saw the familiar door again.
New messages came into his mind again.
‘Endless pursuit mission completes. Completion rate 95%, SS rating. Reward 15 Dream coins.
‘You have obviously done something beyond your capabilities. You have always done so from the start until the end. The Dream Domain is fair and won’t forget that you were just a helpless little farm kid at the start. In the end, you finally faced the unbeatable Spider Queen, but was it really unbeatable? Who knows? If you can defeat her somehow, you will achieve great heights and might even get an SSS rating.
‘Now then, do you want to exit the dream? Yes or no?’
Tang Ling responded strangely. There seemed to be a number of illogical things about the Dream Domain this time when he approached the end.
Was the Spider Queen really unbeatable? Of course!
Otherwise, the Dream Domain would not have put her in front of the Fallen Star Church cathedral which was the exit of the dream. The cathedral was the only hope to survive!
Tang Ling very well imagined that if he did not run towards the cathedral but toward another alleyway, with her eight legs, the Spider Queen could easily catch up to him, kill him or take him as captive.
The Dream Domain obviously and somewhat intentionally provided him with a chance to escape. As for the last part of the message, rather than viewing it as a temptation, it was more like a threat or a warning.
It was trying to tell Tang Ling to stop doing all the crazy stuff because one day, he might not be so lucky anymore and he might lose the only chance to escape with his life, just like how he decided to head to the Fallen Star Church headquarters all of a sudden.
In short, it seemed like the Dream Domain forgave his bold acts this time, but would Tang Ling submit to the threats or warnings? He would never! He would continue to be this crazy in the next dream. He was also trying to test the limits of the Dream Domain because getting familiar with the entire Dream Domain was more important than anything else.
Tang Ling answered ‘yes’ without a second thought.
…
“So, this is your threat to the kid? I don’t think he took it seriously. It seemed like he was grateful for the Dream Domain accepting his crazy actions in the end and it had to provide him with the one last line of hope like ending the pursuit mission abruptly at the headquarters of the Fallen Star.” Ya sneered after he saw Tang Ling’s final decision.
Of course, he was not insulting Tang Ling’s craziness. He said it just to piss Kun off.
Kun pouted and did not say anything.
As though it raised his interest, Ya continued, “No matter how I look at it, it feels like the Dream Domain is trying to persuade this kid to come out. What a funny scene! Haha! Winning an endless pursuit mission? Kun, aren’t you being sloppy with your work here?”
Kun squinted while danger flashed across his eyes in anger.
Ya said, “Well then, the kid’s entry made my day. Thank you for the show. I’ll mind my own business.” After that, his projection disappeared from Kun’s garden.
Kun responded strangely after Ya went off. He seemed angry and happy at the same time, so no one knew what he was thinking.
Then, Shorty Twenty said with all smiles and flattery, “Master, Tang Ling is back. Aren’t you going to see him?”
Kun said with a twitch, “I’ll just let him wait.”
However, Shorty Twenty was talkative, so as Kun continued lying down on the couch lazily, he asked again, “Master, I don’t think the final settings you made to the Dream Domain matches your wisdom and grandness.”
“Oh?” Kun raised a curious brow, covering his true emotions.
“I mean in the end, it feels like the Dream Domain compromised with Tang Ling’s crazy actions. It just lacked a phrase like ‘Please, my dear lord, please leave the Dream Domain’. I don’t think that kid is frightened at all.” Short Twenty was unhappy with Tang Ling’s response.
“Why isn’t he frightened then?” Kun plucked a grape and gently put it into his mouth.
“In my opinion, that Spider Queen might be terrifying, and according to Tang Ling’s personality, he would have fought her despite the desperate situation. At least, he would still get the chance to think of a way to escape. He must be laughing in his heart. The Dream Domain is anxious and dared not put him in a difficult situation.
“But, Master, are you afraid of trouble? You should be smarter than Tang Ling, aren’t you? It’s like you intentionally spared Tang Ling this time. Do you have other concerns? You might have deceived Ya but definitely not me.” Shorty Twenty looked like a busybody, trying to get ahold of some top-secret gossip.
He could not help it either. Shorty Twenty was set as such. He would reveal his thoughts in his expression and it was impossible for him to conceal it. Because of his straightforward personality, he always shed tears and wished he could become a mysterious figure.
Kun slowly munched on the grape.
Did he get sloppy this time? In Ya’s opinion, Kun was just trying to cover up the losses, but Ya did not know Kun as much as Shorty Twenty did.
Kun had purposely done a sloppy job because he was worried about something on another level. However, those concerns were not something Shorty Twenty could understand or even hear.
“Shut up.” Kun slapped Shorty Twenty into a pancake and tossed him out.
…
Lying on the ground, Tang Ling had seen better days. He was in no better shape than his previous exit from the Dream Domain.
The Spider Queen’s attacks had been brutal. Aside from the appendages puncturing holes on his body, every single tentacle that bound him had hooks on it.
It might seem like Tang Ling got into the cathedral easily but as a matter of fact, he was severely damaged by the attacks that lasted for less than 10 seconds.
He found himself in that familiar Mysterious Store.
Unfortunately, the owner was absent. The store was dark and it increased the temptation to peek into the drawers behind the counter.
Tang Ling really wanted to get up and have a look at the contents inside the drawers. He dared not steal from Kun though unless he had a death wish.
This time, he earned himself quite a number of Dream Coins, and if he could get a look at the drawers before purchasing, would it give him a better hint on what to get?
However, the thought was obviously wishful thinking. Aside from the severe damage, he was actually in a weakened state after the transformation duration ended.
While waiting for Kun, the Mysterious Store seemed to have a strange force binding him down and stopping him from wandering around.
“That sleazy Kun!” Tang Ling commented and lay straight on the floor, refusing to move a muscle anymore.
Actually, was it Kun or Tang Ling who was sleazy? It was a difficult question to answer.
Seconds turned into minutes, and Kun remained absent. Tang Ling felt like he was losing blood at an exponential rate and his body started to get cold.
What now? Is Kun trying to let me rot here? Just because I called him sleazy?
Tang Ling got nervous. What was going on? How long had he been here? 20 minutes? Half an hour? It did not make sense!
Was this place an illusion? Had he really got out of the dream? As he related to the illogical options at the end of the dream, a scary thought popped up in Tang Ling’s mind.
He was not to blame for his own messy thoughts though since everything reeked of a mysterious strangeness. This particular thought frightened Tang Ling. Anything could happen in the dream.
However, even if he was nervous and scared, he still could not do anything. Even his severely injured body could not move either.
20 more minutes flew by.
Tang Ling’s injuries robbed most of his consciousness to the point that his sight started to turn blurry.
Am I going to wait for my end? No, no way!
Tang Ling struggled and tried to get up and it was then that footsteps sounded from within the spacious and mysterious Mysterious Store.
An insulting voice that sounded resentful in Tang Ling’s ears echoed, “My my, why do you have to appear like a dead fish at my place every time?”
