Chapter 19: Trap

This strange aura that Lin Fan felt became stronger and stronger as they came closer and closer to their destination.

When they finally arrived and the thicket in front of them cleared, they saw that there was a cave that had appeared.

The strange thing about this cave, other than its aura, was that there was a clearing all around the cave. It was a space where no trees grew at all, there was only a patch of grass that surrounded the cave.

As for the aura that came from the cave, it was an aura that Lin Fan had never felt before, but there was also a bit of familiarity that came from it.

It was almost like the feeling that he got from his system…

The system was something that he received from the God of Earth, so did that mean that there was a god hiding in this cave?

Even if Lin Fan was a reincarnator, he didn't think that he was strong enough to face a god.

Not to mention that he had already discovered the reason for the rumours.

The aura from the cave was what was driving the beasts away from the middle of the forest. This pushed them towards the human settlements which created the rumours of the influx of beasts.

It wasn't that there were more beasts, it was just that there were more beasts being driven to where humans were, which gave them this misconception.

Since he already found what he needed to turn in his mission, there was nothing else for him to do here.

Messing with a god was not on his list of things to do, so he would just leave it to the Mercenary Guild. They could explore this cave or seal it up, none of that mattered to Lin Fan.

So with these thoughts, Lin Fan turned to Xiao Yue and the male wolf to say, "Let's leave. There's nothing else we need to do here, we already have the information we need."

Both Xiao Yue and the male wolf let out a sigh of relief.

There was no need to mention why the male wolf let out a sigh, but even Xiao Yue was able to feel the strange aura that was coming from the cave. The aura that came from the cave gave her a sense of danger that she had never felt before.

Lin Fan saw that both of them agreed, so he turned to leave.

However, after taking two steps, there was a sudden "click" sound that rang out.

Lin Fan felt the ground under his right foot suddenly sink and when he looked down, he saw that there was a slit in the floor underneath his feet.

Before he could even turn back to say anything, the floor suddenly opened up underneath him.

It was two different long panels that opened up to opposite sides, creating a hole that he immediately fell into.

Xiao Yue and the male wolf hadn't been able to react in time either, so they both fell into the hole with Lin Fan.

Lin Fan didn't know what was at the bottom of the hole, but his male instincts took over at this second. Without even thinking, he jumped out at the last second towards Xiao Yue, taking her in his arms before falling into the hole.

They fell for a few seconds, but they still reached the bottom of the hole.

While they were in the air during the fall, Lin Fan had twisted his body so that he had been under Xiao Yue. So the moment that they landed, it was Lin Fan that took the main brunt of the force from the fall instead of Xiao Yue.

They only fell for a few seconds, so the distance wasn't that great and Lin Fan was a cultivator, so his body was stronger than a normal person. After hitting the ground, he wasn't seriously injured, but it did hurt.

However, none of that came to mind since there was something soft that hit his face.

Seeing what happened, Xiao Yue stood up with an awkward look on her face, but she didn't say anything.

Lin Fan just laid there in a daze at first, but then he realized what happened and immediately stood up to apologize, "I'm so-"

Before he could finish, Xiao Yue raised her hand to cut him off before saying, "It's fine, don't worry about it."

Lin Fan could feel that there was a bit of coldness in her voice, so he knew that she was mad, but then something appeared that confused him.

[Xiao Yue has been touched by your actions. Affection has increased by 5.]

Huh?

Why would her affection increase after that?

Especially with the way that she was acting?

Lin Fan really didn't understand why the system would give him this notification at all, but there was no denying it since he could see the change in her status.

On the side, the male wolf let out a pitiful moan.

He had also fallen down with them and he had been hurt by the fall, but no one cared about him. Instead, they chose to feed him with dog food…

It was a good thing that he wasn't a lonely dog and he had a loving wife, so he didn't mind it as much.

After getting over the daze of the sudden notification, Lin Fan changed his tone to ask in a concerned voice, "Are you alright?"

Xiao Yue gave a nod and said, "I'm fine, you took most of the damage from the fall for me."

Lin Fan gave a nod as he couldn't help thinking of the soft sensation that had been on his face just now. As he started thinking about them, there was a blush that came over his face.

Xiao Yue saw this and there was a blush that came over her face as well as she could tell what Lin Fan was thinking about.

After a long silence, Lin Fan gave a cough before he started looking around the area.

It seemed like they had fallen into some kind of underground tunnel. The walls of this tunnel weren't developed at all, it was a tunnel that was made from dirt being dug out.

There seemed to be two different ways that they could go, but based on the aura that he could feel from around him, it seemed like both ways led to the same ending since both ways were releasing the strange aura that they had felt earlier.

After thinking for a bit, Lin Fan said, "Xiao Bai, you can go back into the Pet Storage Space first." Then he turned to Xiao Yue and said, "You should also…"

But before he could finish, Xiao Yue shook her head and said, "I want to stay with you."

Lin Fan had already experienced how stubborn Xiao Yue could be, so he shook his head and said, "Alright, but stay close to me."

Xiao Yue gave a nod before coming up right behind him.

Just like this, the two of them continued along through the tunnel.

Lin Fan hadn't noticed it at first, but he realized afterwards that this underground tunnel was surprisingly well lit. It was so well lit that he was able to see every detail in this tunnel.

As he looked more closely, he found that it was because there was luminescent moss that lined the walls of this tunnel that created this light.

After walking for a bit, they finally reached the end of the tunnel which revealed a door.

This door was made of dark coloured wood and was very well designed, which created a stark contrast with the rest of the tunnel. Around the door, there were also stone blocks that were clearly made with care.

It was almost as if this was a completely different place compared to the rest of this tunnel.

However, what the two of them were most concerned about was not the design of this door, but rather the aura that was coming from behind it.

This was the aura that they had felt when they had approached the cave, but compared to when they were outside, the aura that they felt from behind the door was several times more concentrated.

It was clear that whatever was behind the door was the source of the aura.

This aura still caused a chill to run down their backs when they felt it and this chill was even stronger now that they were at the source.

Lin Fan couldn't help looking at Xiao Yue as he said, "You should go back into the…"

But once again, before he was able to finish his words, Xiao Yue raised her hand to cut him off as she said, "No, I already said that I want to be with you."

Then after a pause, she said in a lower voice, "If anything happens, you can use me as a shield and run."

But Lin Fan immediately knitted his brows when he heard this.

He took her hand with one hand and held her chin to lift her face up to look at him with the other before saying, "Don't ever say anything like that again."

With the firm tone of his voice, Xiao Yue's eyes couldn't help trembling when she heard this. But in the end, she still said in a low voice, "Alright."

[Xiao Yue has been shaken by your words. Affection has decreased by 5.]

Lin Fan was confused by the sudden notification that appeared, but he knew that this wasn't the time to deal with this since it was unclear if they would even be able to make it out of this place alive.

So after taking a deep breath to calm himself, he turned around to push open the door, releasing a wave of the aura that came from behind it. As the wave of pressure fell onto them, they were forced to close their eyes.

But after a few seconds, the wave of pressure weakened and they were able to open their eyes to see what was inside.

The room itself was rather empty and the only thing that was inside was an altar at the very center with what seemed to be a mirror placed atop it.

Well, the altar wasn't the only thing since at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the altar was a skeleton in clothes sitting there with a sword in their hands.

When the door was opened, the skeleton suddenly looked up at the two of them standing there and said with what seemed like a smile on its boney face, "Well, it seems like I have some guests."