At the same time, I traveled through time and space, I dominated the heavens and the worlds

Papillon originally wanted to tease this group of people, since this could be considered their territory, and these outsiders would have to obey.

But Lin Bei had just demonstrated his superb "hypnosis" skills to control six policemen, and now he was saying such uncertain things, which made Papillon feel a chill.

Papillon subconsciously looked at Lin Bei, and his eyes met Lin Bei's smiling gaze.

Papillon felt a chill run down his spine. He didn't dare to think any further and turned his head to obediently lead the way.

The group walked through a dark and long passage, and in the light of the torches, they could see large patches of graffiti left on the walls.

Sosi noticed their gazes and turned to look at them, his face full of nostalgia: "Those were all Lato's masterpieces. He was a... clever and very talented person."

The graffiti on the wall is full of artistry, giving it an eerie beauty in this dark passage.

Scarlett rubbed her arms, feeling a little uneasy: "Let's hurry up and not waste time."

For some reason, Scarlett suddenly felt uneasy. She had a feeling that something out of control would happen when she came down to the underground tomb.

She dared not think further, because she had to carry out this trip.

This is her ideal, the path her father once walked, and the belief she has held onto to this day.

And she had a premonition that the Philosopher's Stone was here.

Urged on by Scarlett, the group quickened their pace, and soon two forks in the road appeared ahead.

One of the passages was filled with skeletons, leaving only a narrow gap for one person.

Papillon, Sosi, and Zod all looked rather grim. Zod pointed to the crack and whispered, "Lato went in through there and never came out again. We're too afraid to go in and look for him; nobody knows what will happen if we go in."

Papillon took a deep breath, turned around and waved to everyone, his gaze falling on Scarlett: "Alright, listen to me, this passage is forbidden to enter. We will only go in through the left passage from now on. Don't worry, there are deeper parts of the left passage that even we haven't been to. Only Lato... but Lato has disappeared. So when we reach a new stage, I will inform you in advance and let you prepare. After all, this underground is not safe everywhere."

No one objected. George and Benji didn't want to risk their lives. Scarlett, however, kept glancing at the forbidden passage, wanting to say something, opening her mouth but ultimately saying nothing.

No one spoke. Papillon continued to lead the way, while Lin Bei, with his hands behind his back, trailed at the back of the group, smiling as he looked at Constantine beside him: "Want to make a bet?"

Constantine raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised: "What are you betting on?"

A dark glint flashed in Lin Bei's eyes: "Let's bet... we'll circle back to where we started later."

Constantine looked skeptical: "Really? You and I are here, and that Baal dares to play tricks on us? He should be in his lair preparing for battle right now."

Lin Bei shook his head slightly: "You can underestimate Baal, but you can't underestimate this place. The upper level of the catacombs is entirely constructed from human bones, meaning it leads directly to Hell. Even without Baal, this is the closest place to Hell. Moreover, there's a treasure here, and its inherent magic power further amplifies the effect. With so many layers of buffs, do you think... it's reasonable for nothing to go wrong?"

After Lin Bei explained it to him, Constantine finally understood a little.

He stroked his chin, understanding the situation, but still believing that with Lin Bei around, such an absurd thing as going back to where he started wouldn't happen, so he gladly accepted Lin Bei's bet.

Lin Bei looked at Constantine with the eyes of someone looking at an idiot, and said generously, "Alright, then I'll bet that I'll go back to where I started. If you lose, you'll be my slave."

Constantine curled his lip and gave Lin Bei the middle finger: "If you lose, you'll be my slave, and you can't use your power to interfere with this bet, like deliberately making us go back to square one."

Lin Bei nodded in agreement; of course, he wouldn't interfere.

Because it will inevitably return to the starting point.

The road to hell is the forbidden road.

Lin Bei and his companion's conversation went unnoticed by anyone, but the camera had actually recorded the whispers.

You can hear it if you listen carefully when you play it back.

The group followed Papillon silently into the left passage. The visibility was poor, and Scarlett kept studying the walls made of bones around them.

When the stone wall appeared ahead, Papillon breathed a slight sigh of relief: "We're about to enter a new area. Neither Sosi, Zod, nor I have ever been there before, only Lato... Everyone, be careful."

Scarlett and the other two nodded quickly, and Benji even pointed the camera forward, hoping to capture something.

As the group entered the stone passageway, the further they went, the colder and more gloomy it became.

Gradually, Scarlett was the first to notice that something was wrong.

"and many more!"

She stopped the group, patted Benji on the shoulder to signal him to turn on the camera's built-in light, and then pointed the camera at the stone wall.

Scarlett swallowed hard, then hesitated before asking, "Papillon, have you ever encountered something like this?"

Under the light, the familiar graffiti on the stone wall came into view.

Scarlett's question echoed in the stone wall, and everyone fell silent as they looked at the graffiti they had just seen.

Lin Bei chuckled: "So, I won the bet, didn't I?"

Constantine remained calm, and he clicked his tongue impatiently: "Fine, fine, you win... But I don't feel anything, that shouldn't be the case."

Lin Bei explained in a low voice, "It's not that you didn't feel anything, but from the moment we stepped into the underground tomb, we were enveloped by a strange feeling. You instinctively got used to this change, so you didn't notice it."

Just as the two of them were whispering to each other, Papillon came to his senses and looked at everyone with some unease. He noticed that Lin Bei and Constantine were acting strangely, so he shouted, "Hey you two, do you know something? What are you whispering about?"

Lin Bei ignored Papillon and lazily said to Constantine, "My slave, get to work."

Having lost the bet, Constantine was even stripped of his right to give the middle finger. He patiently said, "What else can I say? It's just that the current situation is a bit strange. What are your plans now? Return to the exit or continue deeper?"

Papillon choked, and was about to suggest going back to the entrance to take a look.

Scarlett anticipated his thoughts and pointed the camera on Benji's shoulder at Lin Bei and Constantine's back. She slowly said in a dry voice, "I think the entrance might have been sealed off. I remember when we came in, we could see the light from the entrance from under this graffiti, but look, there's nothing there now."

Everyone looked over and saw that it was indeed as Scarlett had said.

Zod was a little nervous and didn't believe Scarlett's words.

He rushed forward, trying to find the gap he had come from, but then a dull thud came from the darkness, followed by Zod's disappointed, muffled voice: "Oh God, the entrance is really gone..."

When Zod returned to the group, covering his nose, Sosi turned to Papillon and asked, "What do we do now?"

Papillon's face was grim. He was silent for a moment before slowly saying, "Then we can only..." What Papillon meant was that there was an inconspicuous fork in the passage on the left that led to the visitor's passage, but if they went this way, they would be arrested immediately.

Before Papillon could speak, Scarlett interrupted him, pointing excitedly into the darkness ahead: "Since the entrance is blocked, why don't we try the passage on the right? Your friend is still inside, isn't he? Maybe if we risk going in, we can find him!"

Sossie glared at Scarlett: "Didn't we already say that everyone who went in has disappeared? Do you know what that means? Are you really not afraid of dying?!"

Scarlett seemed to have made up her mind. She took a deep breath, glanced at everyone, and her gaze settled on Papillon. "I won't say much more. You all came down here for treasure, didn't you? Such obvious signs mean the treasure is real. Let me be honest with you, I didn't come for the treasure, I came for the magic stone that can turn stones into gold and bring the dead back to life. Now the gods are guiding us. Are you really not willing to take this brave step?"

Scarlett's passionate voice echoed through the eerie passageway.

Constantine clapped his hands in support of Scarlett with a grin, then leaned close to Lin Bei and whispered, "Seriously, if Scarlett weren't an academic, she could become a missionary. Just look at her charisma."

Scarlett was indeed eloquent; she pinpointed the true intentions of several people. Their visit to Rato was merely a side trip; what they really wanted was the legendary treasure.

Scarlett's simple words shook their hearts, which were already filled with fear, and amplified their desires.

Yes.

The appearance of unusual phenomena indicates an increased likelihood of the existence of the rumored treasure. If you miss this opportunity, you may never have another chance.

Rather than letting the treasure slip through our fingers, we might as well... take a gamble.

Sosi and Zod were undecided and instinctively looked at Papillon.

Benji and George were already prepared to go deep underground, so they made no comment.

The treasure was just a side benefit for them; getting a share of it would be a bonus.

As for Lin Bei and Constantine, they were not even on their radar.

Lin Bei's gaze fell on Scarlett, and he understood somewhat why she ultimately became the Philosopher's Stone in the original story.

Because of her resilience, composure, and the courage to confront her own sins.

Lin Bei rarely acknowledged someone. He slightly curled his lips and, seeing that no one spoke, gave them a push: "Let's go in. Maybe we'll see Lato."

These words seemed to offer Papillon and his companions a way out. Papillon gritted his teeth, nodded, and agreed to enter the forbidden path.

He led the group to the fork in the road, stood at the entrance to the forbidden path, and placed his hand on the pile of skulls.

A chill crept up his palm and spread throughout Papiron's body. Papiron shivered involuntarily, then spoke in a hoarse voice.

"We can go in, but only the three of us can go in after we find the treasure. Otherwise, we won't go in."

It's uncertain how much treasure there is, or whether it can be moved out. George and his companions weren't so greedy as to be blinded by greed, and nodded in agreement with Papillon's words.

The moment they nodded, the skull wall that Papillon was supporting suddenly began to tremble. Then, to everyone's astonishment, the skull wall collapsed with a crash, revealing a dark passage.

Papillon was stunned for a moment, but with Lin Bei's low urging, he mustered his courage and went in first.

One by one, everyone entered the forbidden path.

When Lin Bei stepped onto this dark road, he could clearly feel that the surrounding temperature had dropped significantly.

They continued forward, but the scenario they had imagined—returning to the graffiti-covered stone wall—did not materialize. However, another obstacle appeared in front of them.

The forbidden path leads further in, its only passage filled with broken skeletons.

The only passage is a narrow gap where the pile of skulls meets the stone wall above, just wide enough for one person to crawl through.

This time, the pile of skulls did not collapse, as if it was quietly waiting for them to pass through one by one.

The group looked at each other, and no one moved. Constantine urged, "There's only one road, so hurry up and climb."

Scarlett gritted her teeth and went first. She was slender and it wasn't difficult for her to squeeze through the gap.

After she went over and confirmed it was safe, everyone climbed over there one by one.

Only Lin Bei and Constantine stood still.

Papillon was somewhat afraid of Lin Bei, but he also disliked Lin Bei.

Seeing that they weren't moving, Papillon urged Constantine, "Hey, why don't you come and crawl over there? What are you waiting for?"

Constantine, a shrewd man, stood with his arms crossed next to Lin Bei, lazily dismissing him: "Everyone has to pass, can't I pass last? Hurry up."

Papillon snorted, but before he could speak, Benjika screamed in terror from the gap.

Papillon had to help push Benji over, and had no time to care about Linbei and Constantine.

Constantine watched them struggle through the narrow gap, then grinned at Lin Bei: "My dear master, you probably don't want to crawl through like them, do you? Help me, so I can get through."

Lin Bei was very satisfied with Constantine's willingness to accept defeat. He figured that since they were already in Baal's territory, there was no point in hiding their strength.

Once everyone in front had passed, Scarlett urged Lin Bei and his companion to hurry up. Lin Bei responded indifferently but made no attempt to climb.

He snapped his fingers, activating the power of the Shadow King.

Black liquid poured out from beneath Lin Bei's feet, rapidly flowing towards the pile of bones in front of him.

As the black liquid covered the skeletons, amidst Scarlett and the others' terrified screams, the solid wall of bones was instantly swallowed by the black liquid and disappeared from everyone's sight.

After Lin Bei walked through the passage with Constantine, his hands behind his back, Scarlett and the others were still in shock.

Especially Papillon and his two companions, who were holding their heads in horror, completely unable to comprehend what had happened.

Lin Bei snapped his fingers and said calmly, "What are you daydreaming about? Keep moving forward. That was my ability, not the demon Satan you're imagining."

After Lin Bei said that, everyone belatedly realized what was happening.

Scarlett looked at Lin Bei in shock: "You, what exactly are you...?"

Constantine quickly stepped in to smooth things over: "Alright, alright, we're already here. Haven't we all been frank about how things are now? We admit we had ulterior motives for coming down here, but don't worry, we won't touch the Philosopher's Stone or the treasure. Please don't ask any more questions, okay?" (End of Chapter)