Chapter 857: The Golden Staircase

857. The Golden Staircase

"Could that be the exit?"

Von suddenly pointed into the distance and asked.

"That's right! That must be the exit!"

Rex said excitedly as well.

Lin Ye glanced in that direction. There, a golden staircase suspended in midair stretched toward the sky, radiating a sacred aura.

Von and Rex had seen the same sight, and they seemed convinced they could leave this place by ascending that staircase.

Lin Ye checked and confirmed that his mental barrier was functioning properly.

The passengers on the ship acted as if they couldn't see the staircase at all, not a single one of them approaching it.

Yet right beside them, a massive rotting corpse had already drawn the attention of one passenger.

"That staircase leads to the deepest part of the Abyss. I'd advise you not to go near it, you know what's waiting over there."

Little Red appeared behind Lin Ye, lounging on a white lounge chair with a colorful parasol propped up beside her.

"You can come here?"

Seeing Little Red, Lin Ye relaxed a bit.

"This Plane is in the process of merging with the Abyss. This area is part of the fusion zone, not yet fully absorbed into the Abyss. Otherwise, I wouldn't have come."

Little Red picked up the cup beside her and took a sip of the red iced drink inside, looking like a tourist on vacation.

"Won't It come looking for us?"

Lin Ye didn't think he was in any position to face a deity head-on. If the system hadn't sent him here, he would have run long ago.

"You're carrying out a system mission. It won't act recklessly."

Little Red's words put Lin Ye somewhat at ease.

"But system missions have time limits. If you can't leave this place within the allotted time, then nothing will be able to stop It.

In a place like this, even I can't do anything."

Little Red added with a more serious tone.

"Then I'm as good as dead. This is Its territory, would it really be that hard for It to stop me from leaving?"

Lin Ye felt like a red 'danger' symbol had appeared over his head.

"That's exactly why I came. You can escape from here by using that staircase, and once you reach its highest point, you jump off. Falling will let you leave this place."

Little Red didn't waste words, she directly told Lin Ye the method of escape.

"That simple?"

Lin Ye looked at the golden staircase stretching toward the horizon. He didn't believe he could leave this place through such a simple method.

"Of course not. Climbing that staircase won't be easy. It only looks close, but in reality, it isn't here at all. As for where it actually is, that's something you'll have to find on your own. I can't tell you its location."

Little Red said with a helpless tone.

"I'll find that staircase as soon as possible."

Lin Ye planned to first deal with the trouble on Little Guardian's end, then go search for the staircase.

"Let's hurry over there!"

Von's voice rang out beside Lin Ye's ear. Little Red had already vanished, and Von and Rex were still discussing how to climb that staircase.

"That staircase isn't actually there. We need to find where it truly is before we can leave."

Lin Ye casually remarked.

The ship continued along its route, and those strange things on the surface didn't appear in the ship's path.

Lin Ye didn't rush to act. He could sense that Little Guardian's location was near the ship's route.

There weren't many passengers left on board. Several Controllers emerged from the ship interior, and one of them walked over to Lin Ye.

"Hello, things are looking pretty dire right now. We've decided to team up and get out of here. Would you like to join us?"

The Controller looked at Lin Ye, unsure of his strength. An ordinary Controller wouldn't be able to protect a normal person in a place like this.

"The ship will take us back. I don't want to go wandering out there. You'd better not attack the captain's cabin, or you'll face the consequences."

Lin Ye had no intention of leaving the ship, at least not while the route was clear of those abominations.

"You can rest assured about that. There are plenty of other ships nearby. We're planning to invite Controllers from other vessels to join forces."

The Controller replied with a smile.

"But we need some spiritual energy users to scout ahead, and you guys will do nicely!"

Another Controller suddenly appeared behind Lin Ye, swinging a fist at his head.

Spiritual Energy Vibration. The punch carried immense power, and before it even made contact, it crushed Lin Ye's head into pulp.

Lin Ye's headless corpse collapsed onto the Deck, dead without question.

"That's it? He's dead? I thought he was hiding his strength. If I'd known he was this weak, I would've just crippled him."

The Controller who had ambushed Lin Ye reached toward the corpse, intending to search Lin Ye's spatial item.

"Careful! That normal guy is still alive!"

Another Controller warned.

Rex was completely dumbfounded. Everything had happened too fast, he still hadn't figured out what was going on.

Von had a slightly better grasp of the situation, but his strength was mediocre, and he couldn't intervene at all.

"What's going on? Why isn't that normal guy dead yet? Destroy that corpse!"

Another Controller spoke up.

Lin Ye's body had been ground into paste, yet he still didn't reappear, as if he had truly died.

"Why isn't his body undergoing Alienation! Can any of you tell why?"

One Controller casually crushed Rex's body, but almost immediately, Rex's body reformed from the ashes.

"Let's get out of here first. I feel like something's off about this place."

One of the Controllers left the ship, and the others, sensing the anomaly as well, followed him off the vessel.

"Finally gone."

Lin Ye stepped out from the World of Ashes.

"Milord, are you alright?"

Rex asked excitedly.

"Of course."

If he hadn't needed these Controllers to scout the outside, Lin Ye would have dealt with them long ago.

These people were all hidden parasitic nodes of the Parasitism Network. The network had developed a small problem, so rather than activating these nodes right now, it was better to let them scout ahead and see what happened.

If these people could rally even more Controllers to their side, that would be even better.

Lin Ye hoped they would prove useful.

The ship continued forward. After the Controllers left, only Lin Ye's group of three and a few passengers who seemed off remained on board.

Von and Rex kept searching for the location of the staircase, while Lin Ye occasionally cast a line into the sea, pulling up strange things.

The strange things near the route were increasing in number. Every so often, Lin Ye would reinforce Von and Rex with a fresh mental barrier, otherwise, the two of them would have already jumped into the sea.

"There's a ship over there. Looks like it's also an expedition ship for the Sea of Death, but it doesn't seem to have any passengers on board."

Von stared at the ship approaching them. Here, Spiritual Perception wasn't reliable, sometimes the eyes were more useful than the mind.

"No! That ship's model is wrong! That's one of the ships from the last expedition to the Sea of Death!"

Rex suddenly cried out in shock.