Chapter 26 The Tunnel

Chapter 26: The Tunnel

“Fang Ran, we’ll meet you at the camp later.”

Zhong Wan waved at Fang Ran, then pulled Lu Wenchuan closer. The two of them, riding a tandem electric vehicle, sped into the archway.

Beneath the arch, a massive energy ripple materialized out of thin air, instantly "swallowing" them both.

The scene was quite magical, captivating Fang Ran.

“Ready?”

The Sentinel’s deep voice brought him back to attention.

Fu Changzhou, now in a form-fitting protective suit, drove an electric vehicle up beside him.

Unlike the others, he hadn’t donned a black overcoat, leaving his well-defined, muscular upper body fully exposed.

Fang Ran couldn’t help but steal a few more glances.

Crazy as he might be, his looks and physique were truly top-tier.

Suddenly, Fu Changzhou took Fang Ran’s hand and pressed it against his own abs.

Fang Ran: ?

“Want to touch?”

Fang Ran’s face flushed, and he immediately pulled his hand back.

“Can you act normal?”

“What’s the big deal?” Fu Changzhou leaned back in the seat, laughing unreservedly. “Don’t you like it?”

“Let’s go.”

With more and more eyes turning their way, Fang Ran began to feel uneasy.

“Alright,” the Sentinel winked at him.

“Hold on tight.”

...

The moment they plunged into the barrier, a heart-stopping sense of suffocation washed over him.

Fang Ran now understood why a Sentinel was needed to enter.

Inside, the tunnel was dark and damp, yet the light wasn’t dim.

Countless blue-glowing particles drifted about, and a thin mist permeated everything, shrouding it all in an unfathomable dread.

The agitation in Fang Ran’s heart surged again.

Almost simultaneously, he lost his sense of direction and even struggled to breathe.

This shouldn’t be happening.

He grew puzzled.

Even a B-rank Sentinel could bring people in, and Fu Changzhou was 3S-rank; his psychic defense should be far more robust than anyone else’s.

Unless...

“Fu Changzhou, where’s your psychic shield?”

The Sentinel ahead didn’t answer directly, merely letting out a muffled chuckle.

The electric vehicle sped over a wet patch, jerking violently.

Fang Ran’s entire body lurched backward, and he instinctively clutched Fu Changzhou’s clothes.

Lunatic!

Fang Ran had ignored the earlier “hold on tight,” maintaining his distance,

but given Fu Changzhou’s nonchalant attitude, he had probably been banking on this very moment.

Circumstances dictated.

Fang Ran wasn’t one to be overly delicate; a hug was no big deal. So, he proactively wrapped his arms around the Sentinel’s waist.

“Satisfied?”

The Sentinel didn’t speak, but Fang Ran could see the curve of a smirk at the corner of his mouth.

“Hold on tight.”

In an instant, the suffocating sensation on him vanished completely.

The electric vehicle accelerated, hurtling through the pitch-black tunnel.

Fang Ran leaned against Fu Changzhou’s back.

Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump...

The Sentinel’s strong, powerful heartbeat amplified infinitely.

A gradually expanding pinpoint of light appeared simultaneously in the darkness.

Was it the tunnel’s exit?

Fang Ran’s consciousness felt like it was treading on soggy, muddy ground, growing increasingly blurred.

The light point slowly expanded into a vast glow—more than half the energy in his spiritual sea had already drained away.

Something’s wrong...

Could it be that lunatic Fu Changzhou was holding back again?

But before Fang Ran could voice the question, the electric vehicle burst out of the darkness the very next moment.

He completely lost consciousness.

...

Fang Ran found himself standing on a black desert.

His head felt foggy and disoriented as he scanned his surroundings.

Had he been here before?

Aside from a small patch of green beneath his feet, everything around was gray and shrouded in white mist—devoid of life.

Fang Ran spun in place.

Apart from the endless sea of sand, only a black rose swayed gently not far away.

A flower in the desert?

That was rather eerie.

Yet, as his gaze fell upon it, Fang Ran’s legs seemed to move on their own toward the rose.

Black, thorny, as if imbued with magic.

The closer Fang Ran got, the more he felt the rose was unnervingly alluring.

Beneath the flower, which stood almost as tall as he was, a small figure gradually emerged.

A child?

Fang Ran took a few more steps closer.

A boy, seven or eight years old, was curled up, hugging his knees, beneath the rose.

“You...” Fang Ran instinctively reached out to him.

The boy slowly lifted his head, his pale face framed by large, empty eyes.

“Fang Ran.” He actually spoke Fang Ran’s name.

“It hurts so bad.”

Fang Ran’s hand began to tremble.

“Fu Changzhou?”