Chapter 55
It was a rather tall boy with short black hair and red eyes, with a scrawny face.
There was a hint of coldness in his face as he surveyed the place, a surprise flickering in his eyes when it landed upon him and he couldn’t contain it:
“How are you faster than me?”
Chun Ma shrugged with nonchalance.
The boy walked up to him, much taller than him, with a ferocious expression, clutching the sword in his arms.
“Sword, huh.”
Chun Ma thought as he remained calm and withdrew his gaze as the boy’s shadow cast a loom over him.
“Hello, it’s a surprise you managed to come out faster than me,” he said with a friendly smile as he extended his hand for a handshake.
“I see.” Chun Ma stood up casually and took his hand, his hand bloody and disfigured.
Even with regeneration, his wounds were healing at a frustratingly slow pace.
The boy flinched slightly at the sight of Chun Ma’s bloody hands, but his smile only widened.
“You’ve got great willpower. It’ll be fun to compete with you.”
He tightened his grip.
Chun Ma’s hands were already burning, and now they felt like they were disappearing entirely. The pain was no joke. Yet, amidst the agony…
A strange clarity emerged. Chun Ma’s eyes sharpened, and he gripped back with a little bit of his strength.
The two stood like sportsmen exchanging a respectful handshake, but there was an underlying hidden tension cooking.
Crack!
A crisp sound of breaking echoed in the surrounding. The short black-haired boy knelt on the ground on his knees, crying in pain with tears and snots all over his face.
“Ahh, let me gooo…” he cried.
Chun Ma didn’t relent; he still firmly held the boy’s hand:
“Weren’t you strong just now? Where did your bravado go?”
His cold voice was like the devil’s whisper to the body as bone-cracking crisp sounds continuously resounded.
Until it felt like the entire hand’s bone was completely broken.
Only then did he let go of the hand. Chun Ma sat on the ground again with calmness and coldness.
The boy lay on the ground with a broken expression and widened eyes.
The bearded man at the center only snickered when he saw the scene.
Soon, the third figure broke the wall. This time, it was a girl with blue hair and a purple dress. She looked at the two who were already there with puzzled eyes before a hint of a mysterious smirk appeared. She tiptoed her way to Chun Ma and extended her hand:
“Hello, my name is Rim Soo-Yun.”
Chun Ma took her hand curiously and shook it. Unlike that little twerp, she didn’t have any negative intention; she just shook and withdrew:
“You seem so strong, which clan are you from?”
“None,” Chun Ma spoke in a cold tone.
“Huh?” Rim Soo-Yun tilted her head, rubbed her ears to clean all the earwax. “Say that again, please?”
“None.”
Chun Ma said again.
The little twerp on the ground looked at Chun Ma with his pupils dilated. It was as quiet as ever, but Chun Ma felt a strange tension lingering in the air.
“Haha, you are quite interesting indeed,” she amusingly chuckled:
“Do you know about the eight gates?”
“No.”
“This is the first gate, called the Willpower Gate. For this, you will have to have the will of a titan to remain in that cramped space with no sound, no food, and only the light from the candle to still maintain your sanity.”
“I see. What about the other gates?” Chun Ma asked curiously.
“Well, it’s always random and something that has never happened before. Only this first gate is the easiest and the same as well, you can consider it a free pass.”
Chun Ma looked at his hand, filled with callouses and injuries that hadn’t healed yet:
“It is definitely a free pass.”
“Anyway, good luck. Hope you make it till the end.” Rim Soo-Yun waved her bye and sat a little further away.
Soon, five more appeared, breaking the walls. But unlike the two, they didn’t talk to him—just found a corner and sat there with closed eyes.
“Haha, looks like the end of all those who broke.”
The bearded man waved his hand, and a group of servants appeared, holding cold, hard bread in their hands:
“This is your food. Go on, take it.”
“Huh.” The little twerp stood up and frowned while yelling, “Our reward should have been a sumptuous meal, not this thing!”
“The rewards have been equalized from now on. There is no bonus for getting out of the wall.”
The bearded man snickered in disdain.
Chun Ma quietly took the cold bread and munched on it. Well, the texture was, as expected, cold and hard, like he was biting stone instead of food.
Still, your body needs energy to function, and this cold bread provides a surprising amount of energy for what it’s worth.
Everyone ate silently. After some time, some people in black started to bring the terrified children into the room. There were children varying from the age of ten to twelve; however, there was one thing common in them all, and that was the fear written over their faces.
Soon, they settled down and were given cold, hard bread to eat, and after they ate it all—
The old man clapped his hands to draw everyone’s attention while raising his finger upward:
“Since you have all done eating, it will be time for you to eat poison and increase your resistance as much as possible. Since you are all young and talented, then you should be able to handle it.”
One of the children raised his hand amidst all the gazes:
“What if you fail?”
“There is no failure in the Demonic Cave.”
The bearded man pointed at the child. “From now on, until you are in the Demonic Cave, whether you are dead or alive, you will be called by your numbers and you shall be number 1.”
Chun Ma’s turn quickly came, and he was assigned number 47 among the 60 children present.
After that, they were handed eerie black pills…