Chapter 249: Chapter 249: You're Still Alive?! A Work of God

In an instant, the body that had been constantly moving forward came to a sudden stop. In this cold and terrifying dungeon, a voice suddenly echoing out was just too spine-chilling.

The creatures carrying Lu Ce froze mid-step, completely unsure of what to do next.

They had never expected that someone sent here could still speak.

"Why’d you all stop? Oh—so you’re not A.I.s. I thought you didn’t have brains."

Seeing himself slowly coming back to life, Lu Ce couldn’t help it anymore and started mocking the things that he couldn’t even identify.

Well, that’s just Lu Ce. A normal person couldn’t endure this kind of environment at all, let alone throw out taunts.

Forget everything else—even the viewers in his livestream went silent. The chat was much slower than usual.

Everyone was terrified. This wasn’t some virtual image—this was real. These scenes went beyond what could be described as hell on earth.

This was actual hell.

But now, seeing this scene, every single viewer fell silent.

This was the true level of Hell Mode. This image screamed at everyone watching: if it were you in there, you could be one of the ones hanging on the wall.

But Lu Ce didn’t feel that. To him, it just seemed like he had effortlessly broken into the enemy’s weakest lair—and he even felt like throwing in a few insults.

"Alright, you guys can go get some rest now."

"Forget it, you probably don’t understand me anyway. No point wasting my breath. Let’s skip the small talk and get straight to the point, yeah?"

With that, his barely recovered right hand suddenly darted downward!

He grabbed hold of something round and smooth—probably a head.

"Sorry, I’ll apologize first. That way you can’t blame me later, right?"

With that, he casually squeezed—and actually popped the thing. Liquid sprayed everywhere.

Lu Ce gave a lazy toss and flung the thing aside. Then he suddenly leapt up.

He could feel something strange beneath him. The creatures started squeaking like rats.

Then, blades of light flashed and shot toward him from below.

Midair, Lu Ce twisted and landed on his feet. His wounds weren’t fully healed yet, but he was already jumping into the fight.

Didn’t matter to him. Either way, it was a fight. If it got bad, he could always drink another potion.

So far, he hadn’t seen anything in here that could actually threaten him.

At least, not these little runts.

In front of him were a bunch of goblin-like creatures. Entirely green, with semi-transparent skin—you could even see things moving inside.

Their faces were monstrous, with fangs and claws. Barely a meter tall, they didn’t look like anything remotely normal.

Of course, since entering the game, his tolerance for weirdness had gone way up.

And these things reminded him of the hunters from the previous game.

"Divine creations? That possible? Want to introduce yourselves before I kill you?"

Lu Ce casually tossed away the head he’d been holding and stared down the five goblins.

The creatures waved their pointy weapons, making frantic gestures and yelling in some weird language.

Then, two of them turned and bolted, while the other three came charging straight at him.

"Can’t understand a word. Tsk. Can’t the game at least auto-translate your language too?"

"Looks like you guys aren’t just some random mobs, huh."

At that moment, Lu Ce’s abilities were usable again. He raised a hand and fired off a second-tier Hell Roar, instantly blasting the two goblins who tried to run.

He didn’t know what they were saying, but judging by the vibe, they were clearly off to sound the alarm.

He wasn’t a combat junkie. Better to finish things off now.

As for the three charging at him—it was even easier. Lu Ce didn’t even bother using a weapon. With raw strength alone, he tore them apart with his bare hands.

Green parts scattered across the ground, and the long hallway returned to silence.

Looking around, he saw the vaguely human forms hanging on either side of the corridor—some of their eyes had changed.

They were still alive!

But that was all they could do. No big movements—not even a tremble. They couldn’t open their mouths. Their chests couldn’t even rise and fall anymore.

But now, every single one of the tortured souls hanging on the walls was staring straight at him.

And he hadn’t even activated [Focus Beacon]—this was completely voluntary!

In this kind of dungeon, being stared down by these things that were neither human nor ghost was enough to send chills down anyone’s spine.

But Lu Ce, from their eyes, saw pleading.

A kind of desperate pleading born from soaking in hopelessness for who knows how long, finally seeing a sliver of hope.

"What? You wanna die? Why should I help you?"

"Wait a sec. I need to scope things out first."

With the Jealousy Mask on, any feelings like pity were completely out of the question. Lu Ce looked around, realizing there was something off about this place.

The floor and walls were slightly curved. Looking farther ahead, though the view was blocked, it felt more like a pipe than a tunnel.

Except this pipe was huge.

And the material of the floor—hard to describe. Normally, with Lu Ce’s strength, stone floors would’ve cracked from impact.

But here? No cracks. Instead, it deformed slightly like metal—and was slowly returning to shape.

"Interesting."

Thinking for a moment, he pressed down on his headset and started speaking.

"Hey, can you hear me?"

"You’re still alive?!" Xie Antong’s voice came through quickly, a mix of surprise and urgency.

"What, you thought I’d be dead already?" Lu Ce replied, confused. "Tch, disappointing you like this must really be a shame."

"Alright, guess you really are the kind of guy who can survive anything," Xie Antong joked.

"Enough small talk. What’s going on? Did you see anything? What is this feeding thing?"

"Hard to say," Lu Ce looked around at the unrecognizable humans, then back at the pipe-like tunnel. "Could be a divine creation."

"Why don’t you come see for yourself? Isn’t the headset with you?"

"Want to trade places?"

Xie Antong: ......

Xie Antong: ?