Chapter 00032: Advancing Side by Side
# Advancing Side by Side
Chapter 32
Novel: AFK Game: Portal to Another World
Chapter 32: Advancing Side by Side
“God told me this.”
That alone was almost an unanswerable reason.
After all, who could tell if it was true or not?
And Zola’s trust in the Demon God had already reached a blind level.
The moment the barrier dissipated, she immediately led the group inside.
“Let me say this first, I don’t mean any offense.”
Zhuoya, who followed close behind, asked:
“Aren’t you afraid the Demon God might be wrong? You’d dare to directly touch a magical barrier?”
There are many kinds of barriers—some just block entry, others strike back.
“I am bathed in the glory of the Lord and carry Her Highness’s trust and hopes. The only thing I fear... is losing those.”
Zhuoya understood now.
Zola was the same kind of person as the Tree Elves.
The Tree Elves' extreme xenophobia was actually a form of self-protection, and along with that was their unwavering trust in their tribesmen and clansfolk.
Zola’s faith in the Demon God, her loyalty to Princess Viola, these gave her spirit an anchor.
In essence, she was just like a Tree Elf.
Thinking of that, Tree Elf Zhuoya, who was normally wary of everyone outside her homeland, suddenly found Zola a lot more likable.
The group passed through the doorway, and what first came into view was a dark corridor.
The staircase beneath their feet was in disrepair and covered in moss.
It turned left at a ninety-degree angle, leading them deeper within.
In this place, the signs of manmade structures were even more apparent than in the cave they had entered earlier.
As they followed the stairs around a bend, a cool breeze brushed softly across their cheeks, and a massive underground void appeared before their eyes.
Its height was likely close to thirty meters.
On the damp ceiling above, glowing moss grew densely, a glance making it feel like stars twinkled in a night sky overhead.
And beneath the starry moss ceiling lay a town built from stone bricks.
Each house looked randomly constructed, all bunched together in a haphazard fashion, forming a tight layout that gave off the illusion they were huddling together for warmth.
Some giant glowing fungi had grown nearly to the top of the cavern, dotted here and there among the ruins like street lamps, casting a faint purple glow.
All five of them opened their mouths in awe.
Whether it was the Tree Elves who had never left their forest, or the Royal Guards who followed Princess Viola, none had ever seen such a fantastical and beautiful sight.
Druid Al unconsciously reached out his hand toward the town, as if attempting to touch the scene ahead.
“By all the gods! Is that... a town from the Mythic Era?”
“Gan!”
Zhuoya asked curiously:
“What does ‘Gan!’ mean?”
“It’s a prayer phrase to the Lord Demon God,”
Zola casually explained as she led the three Royal Guards a few steps forward.
Not far ahead, a rushing river barred their way.
The riverbed seemed to glow faintly on its own, making the water shimmer with a soft blue light.
Zola dipped her finger in the water, touched it to her mouth:
“Saltwater. This place must be connected to the coast.”
It was possible that, during the town’s construction, there was a massive hole at the shore that connected this place to outside.
But after centuries of change, it had been submerged below sea level.
“What are we waiting for? A relic from the Mythic Era is right in front of us!”
Druid Al was clearly excited.
He pointed to the stone bridge crossing the river not far away:
“Let’s go, quickly!”
“No. We’ll wait here for now.”
“Why?”
Zola explained:
“The Lord just said to pause here before proceeding. He didn’t say why, but our wise Lord must have His reason.”
Again, that same line: “God told me.” That was reason enough, end of discussion.
——–‐‐——
On the other side, Li Chengxi looked at his computer screen.
While what Zola and the others saw might be shockingly beautiful to them, to Li Chengxi it only brought on visual fatigue.
An underground city? A common setting in RPGs.
He’d long grown used to it.
The only thing that stood out were the massive mushrooms.
But in games, anything could happen.
Not just pigs flying, but elephants and whales flying in the sky would still be considered perfectly normal.
Li Chengxi had told Zola to pause not just on a whim—his perspective was completely different from theirs.
By moving the mouse, he could see the town’s rearmost part, the highest point, where a building sat embedded into the cliffside.
At a glance, he could tell it was filled with gold and treasure covering the floor.
The problem was... getting there wouldn’t be easy.
The pixel-style roads inside the town were a massive labyrinth.
Some were dead ends.
Some were collapsed, totally impassable.
Even with a 45° overhead view, it was still hard for Li Chengxi to find a good route through.
And what really made him spit out a curse was that, as he instinctively pressed the Alt key to highlight items, words like “Trap,” “Mechanism,” and “Launcher” began to appear on several pathways.
“I remember a certain punk who once peeked at girls bathing by a pond…”
A lot of older games loved massive mazes.
Even with this entire map revealed, it brought back certain unpleasant memories for Li Chengxi.
To handle situations like this, it was time to use old-school methods.
He casually rummaged through the desk under the cash register and fished out a battered old notebook.
Then grabbing the price sign marker, he started mapping from the goal back toward the start, marking the position of traps and mechanisms along the way.
It was far too vast and complicated—definitely not something you could solve just by looking a couple times.
Li Chengxi was going to need some time.
“Viola should be doing fine on her side... right?”
Focusing on Zola’s treasure-hunting team left him with no time to check in on Viola.
——–‐‐——
Demon Lord Calendar, Year 648.
April 11th, morning.
In the prison beneath the city walls, flickering torchlight cast swaying shadows.
The crazed voice of Lord Leon echoed down the stone staircase.
“I’ve made my decision! This needs to be dealt with now!”
“But, My Lord, this course of action…”
“You swore loyalty to me! That means doing things my way!”
The butler’s helpless voice mingled with the lord’s shouting.
In the end, the butler bowed with a sigh.
“As you command, My Lord.”
“Hmph!”
Lord Leon’s footsteps pounded heavily against the floor, the cold prison echoing with a dull hum.
After sending away the guards, the butler led the way with the torch, and the two of them proceeded to the deepest part of the jail.
The torchlight illuminated a prisoner within the iron bars.
His arms and legs were shackled tightly, the chain anchored to the wall behind him.
The length of the chain was made just long enough to be slightly restrictive, forcing the man to sit on the floor in a highly awkward M-legged position.
Highly embarrassing.
“This is him? The bandit leader named Roy?”
According to the laws of the Avarus Demon Kingdom, bandits were to be executed by hanging, with even the refugees who joined them for survival being sentenced to forced labor.
But Roy carried many secrets.
Before figuring out his identity and motives, they had chosen to keep him locked away.
As for placing him in such a shamefully humiliating pose... it wasn’t solely to prevent escape.
Some of his injuries were rather private, and the doctor had said that if they weren’t kept aired out, they might fester and get infected...
(End of Chapter)