Chapter 162: Strange Coldness, Something Behind the Wooden Door

Under the bright lights, the silver corridor gave off a cold, eerie feeling.

It was cold, and heavy.

Luke sighed and slowly said to Aiden, "Hmm, I guess there’s no way for you to go in."

"When I first came here, it took me two whole weeks to get back to normal."

"He’s right. You’re still too young. You haven’t seen much. You might break easily."

"Let’s go back."

After saying that, Luke’s eyes showed pain. He clenched his fist without thinking, and his breathing grew heavier.

Aiden noticed Luke’s change. His curiosity grew even stronger.

What was inside that mysterious silver corridor? Why did it make Luke act like he had a psychological wound?

"Go back, kid," the old voice said again.

But Aiden didn’t turn around. He didn’t move back. He just stood still.

"Okay," the voice said. "If you really don’t want to leave and want to go in, that’s fine."

"But if I see you’re not doing well, I’ll step in. It might hurt you a little."

From inside the silver corridor, a man with a walking stick slowly appeared. He was bent over, and his skin was full of wrinkles. His hair was gray and dry, and his head was completely bald. He looked like an ordinary old man.

But when Luke saw the old man, he immediately bowed deeply and said, "Hello, Arthur."

Aiden’s eyes widened. He felt nothing from the old man.

It was like the person in front of him wasn’t a human at all, but an inanimate object.

"Luke, it’s been a while. Your soul state is getting worse. If you keep going like this, you won’t live long," Arthur said, his cloudy eyes looking at Luke carefully.

Luke looked at Aiden for a moment, then answered, "Don’t worry, I’ve gotten enough Soul Essence. Once the potion is ready, my soul will be back to normal."

Arthur looked from Luke to Aiden. He tapped his walking stick and said to Aiden, "Do you really want to go in?"

"I remember when Luke was twenty-five, he only stayed for a minute and then completely broke down. He was confused for two weeks after that."

"The best one was James. He only took a few days to get back to normal."

Aiden couldn’t help but ask, "What’s inside?"

Arthur and Luke looked at each other. Both sighed at the same time.

"It’s a human hell. It came from the greed and evil of some Reclasers," Arthur said. His bent body slowly straightened.

He held his walking stick tightly. His eyes showed anger, and his voice became loud and firm. He continued,

"Kid, if you go in and survive the breakdown, it will make your mind stronger."

"Of course, if you can’t take it, the worst case is that you’ll never be the same again."

"Are you really sure you want to go in?"

Aiden nodded. He wanted to know more about Soul Strength and the secret behind that silver corridor.

Arthur looked seriously at Aiden’s eyes for a long time. Then he finally nodded.

"Okay, come with me."

Arthur returned to his bent shape, holding his walking stick. He walked into the silver corridor.

Thud, thud, thud...

The heavy sound of the walking stick kept going.

Aiden had only walked about a hundred meters in the silver corridor when he felt the temperature drop a lot. His body started to shiver without control.

That was strange. According to his current four attributes, even if he stood in the snow without clothes, he wouldn’t shiver from the cold.

This cold was not normal.

Aiden opened his mouth and softly blew out a breath.

Normally, in such cold air, his breath would turn into white mist. But his breath stayed the same.

"Good, you noticed something wrong," Arthur stopped and said. "James walked more than a hundred meters before he realized it."

He continued, "If you had a thermometer, you’d see the temperature here is not low at all. It’s almost the same as outside."

"But you feel cold because your soul is being affected. That’s why your body feels cold."

"Keep going," Arthur said, then started walking again.

Aiden looked surprised. He had never felt this before—feeling very cold, but the actual temperature was normal?

After walking about two hundred meters, Aiden’s body began to shake constantly.

Cold!

It felt like his blood was freezing and his bones were turning to ice.

In addition to the cold, Aiden felt dizzy and sick. He wanted to leave as fast as possible and get back outside.

"Wow, your soul strength is stronger than most Reclasers at your level," Arthur said. "James couldn’t even stand when he got this far."

Arthur was really surprised by Aiden’s performance.

Even James, a battle god of the Great Shaw Empire at Venerable level, had done worse when he first came here.

Aiden was only eighteen now, much younger than James was back then.

"I remember James came in when he was twenty-two," Arthur thought to himself.

He looked at Aiden with a little hesitation in his eyes.

If this place hurt Aiden’s mind, it would be a big problem.

Arthur thought for a moment, then said, "Right now, your body is reacting because your soul feels a big danger. It’s like when a normal person smells a dead body — it’s a warning that something bad is ahead."

"You can still turn back. Even if I help, it might still leave you with some bad feelings."

Aiden shook his head. He already had some ideas in his mind.

Luke’s words, actions, and expressions before, plus Arthur’s explanation now, made Aiden realize that something very tough might be waiting for him ahead.

"Even if I turn back now, I already know that soul strength is much more valuable than charm power."

"But giving up now would be a waste," Aiden thought in his heart.

He didn’t back down. He kept walking with Arthur.

Soon, a big white wooden door appeared in front of Aiden.

At this moment, Aiden felt his body almost out of control. His heart beat fast, and everything around him slowed down.

Creak.

As the white door slowly opened, Aiden took a deep breath and finally controlled his body to step inside.

Arthur and Luke stood at the door and looked at each other.

"Do you think he can last long? Will he break down?" Arthur suddenly asked.

Luke shook his head. "I don’t know. Aiden is better than me. He might last a few minutes. After all, he’s only eighteen. He’s still very young."

Arthur sighed and raised his walking stick, ready to pull Aiden out at any moment.

Behind the white wooden door.

A big, dark space appeared in front of Aiden.

At first, he noticed a statue nearby. It was a little blurry, but he could tell it looked strange—like a flat, standing cardboard cutout of a person.

He took a few steps toward it, almost on instinct.

When Aiden finally saw the statue clearly, he froze in place. His pupils shrank, and he seemed to stop breathing.

This wasn’t a statue. It was a child’s body!

No, more accurately, it was a compressed child’s body!

Aiden took two more steps forward. He stared, eyes wide, trying to understand what he was seeing.

It was a girl around eight years old, wearing a red dress. Her face had flattened. Her skin, flesh, and bones had all been crushed together.

Her body didn’t show any other injuries, but her hands were damaged. The flesh on her fingers was gone, and white bones showed through.

Aiden kept walking toward the girl’s body. When he reached it, he saw more and more sad, terrible bodies in the distance.

There was a boy with his stomach cut open, his organs pulled out and arranged in a strange way.

There was a body with all the skin removed, leaving only muscle and bones.

...

Aiden even saw a girl whose mouth had been sewn shut, whose eyes had been taken out, and whose nose and ears had been cut off. Her hands were tied tightly behind her back.

Boom, boom, boom...

Light appeared in the dark space, lighting it up.

When Aiden saw what was in front of him, he gasped and took two steps back.

Because in front of him, there were thousands of bodies lying on the ground, like a huge forest.

All of them were children. There were at least tens of thousands of them!

Then Aiden saw thin, gray-white smoke rising from the children’s bodies, moving together to one place.

Even the nearest girl’s body was sending out a small thread of gray smoke.

But this one was moving toward Aiden—fast!