Arriving at this place, Lu Ren noticed that Zhang Qingya, Luo Zixuan, and the others underwent a dramatic personality change, as if they had turned into completely different people. Their actions were oddly unusual, as if possessed by spirits, becoming irritable, agitated, and easily angered, with no patience whatsoever.
This prompted Lu Ren to maintain a safe distance from them immediately, fearing that for the slightest reason they might start fighting and draw blood.
The thought of this suddenly made Lu Ren feel eerie; initially, his attention was consumed by the surrounding bizarre environment. Although he noticed the changes happening to Zhang Qingya and the others, he assumed it might be a stress reaction caused by falling into this Different Space-Time, where the survival environment drastically changed, threatening their lives.
When they reached the central black altar and discovered the anomaly, Zhang Qingya and the other two seemed entranced. Despite Lu Ren's attempts to persuade them, they insisted on ascending the altar, triggering something that led the system to summon the so-called Evil God Larna.
After taking a short break, Lu Ren rubbed his face to calm down, then tried to call out to the system in his mind.
"System? Cheat? Come out, Pikachu!"
No response?
Lu Ren pondered a bit, then instinctively followed the usual routine and spoke.
"Attribute panel?!"
As soon as the thought arose, an attribute panel surfaced in Lu Ren's mind.
"Surname: Lu Ren (Hungry, Minor injury)
Spirit: 5 (Skill Level 12/100)
Constitution: 5 (Skill Level 5/100)
Power: 5 (Skill Level 12/100)
Agility: 5 (Skill Level 6/100)
Skills: None"
Seeing this simple attribute panel appear in his mind, Lu Ren felt a wave of excitement. Despite its simplicity, Lu Ren felt that there was no need to have high expectations, as he wasn't playing an online game.
Fortunately, there wasn't any top-up channel to spend money, lacking Huaxia's pay-to-win tricks.
However, after pondering it in the car for a while, he resignedly realized that besides the attribute panel, his mind had nothing else, except for some rule-based notifications.
Kinda low…
Wasn't this supposed to be an almighty cheat for soaring to invincibility?
Really now (▼⊿▼)?
Lu Ren, barely catching his breath, suddenly heard a brief rustling in the eerily silent forest around him, then it was quiet again.
This sudden noise made his heart jolt. Since arriving at this strange place, besides the noises they made, there had been no other sounds, the trees were still, and the distant river flowed so slowly that Lu Ren once thought it was stagnant.
The silence lasted for at least three minutes, with no sign of life, utterly quiet! As if the noise was just an illusion.
Though lush with greenery, the trees had twisted, withered trunks, as if transformed from people who've suffered endless torment at death's door, a chilling sight that pierced one's heart with fear.
Lu Ren then realized these trees, seeming normal earlier, had turned into such horrors now.
Struggling for calm, Lu Ren, having adapted, suppressed his fear, observing the shadowy forest ahead. The light from the perpetually white sky was barely trickling through the dense foliage, casting shadows on the ground.
"Eh?!"
Gazing into the dark forest ahead, the sparse light filtered through.
Is there something standing inside?
Yet, he felt no curiosity, only a sense of dread. In such a strange place, curiosity could hasten death. Setting aside whether Zhang Qingya and the others were controlled, even if not, it's reckless to investigate a bizarre-looking altar in such a strange place.
That's surely courting disaster.
"Ding, Staye is quietly watching you, swiftly approaching to give you a hug."
The sudden system notification startled Lu Ren, making him instinctively shrink back and turn his head, only to see a shadow lunging toward him.
Its swiftness left him no time to react, all he could do was watch as the shadow merged into him.
It's over, is Barbie done for?!
"You are under a bizarre attack, your spirit is attacked, passive Skill Level +1"
"You are under a bizarre attack, your spirit is attacked, passive Skill Level +1"
"You are under a bizarre attack…"
Lu Ren felt a splitting headache, a terrifying chill permeating his whole body, as if his blood had frozen, rendering him powerless over his body, and his sight went dark.
His vision blurred, suffocating coldness, rigidity.
Impossible to move!
Yet, as he suffered continuous attacks from the eerie coldness, the system's notifications passively increased his Spiritual Proficiency, enhancing his Spiritual Resilience enough to maintain his consciousness.
He struggled at the brink of life and death.
Lu Ren gritted his teeth, his eyes bloodshot, veins bulging on his forehead.
He didn't want to die, especially not so inexplicably!
A minute later, Lu Ren felt the cold rigidity within him suddenly fade, warmth returned to his body, causing him to collapse to the ground, gasping for breath.
"Ding, Staye is displeased with your resistance, departing from your body and adding you to the blacklist."
With the system's notification, saliva, tears, and snot gushed out as his body returned to his conscious control in an immediate stress reaction.
After a while, Lu Ren slowly sat up straight, wiping his face with his shirt, then shakily stood using a tree trunk for support, his muscles involuntarily spasming and trembling.
Honestly, if it weren't for the system's constant notifications and the passive increase in his Spiritual Proficiency, which indirectly improved his Spiritual Resilience, he might not have gotten through it.
After everything calmed down, Lu Ren called out to the system in his mind.
"Surname: Lu Ren (Hungry, Minor injury, Spiritually Weak)
Spirit: 5 (Skill Level 18/100)
Constitution: 5 (Skill Level 5/100)
Power: 5 (Skill Level 12/100)
Agility: 5 (Skill Level 6/100)
Skills: None"
That thing from before was terrifying, the shadow completely possessed him. If the system hadn't continuously increased his proficiency, enhancing his Spiritual Resilience, barely resisting the attack from that weird entity, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Looking up at the dark forest, the deep black depths made his heart chill, what else was lurking inside?
Couldn't stay in the car any longer, needed to find a safe place. If the forest was full of such creepy things, who knew what else he would encounter.
That altar alone was horrifying enough.
With that in mind, Lu Ren decisively got out of the car, heading toward the forest's edge. The food in the car had already been scavenged empty, and was finished by yesterday.