Chapter 171 The Door of Nothingness

Chapter 171 The Door of Nothingness

Charles tucked his hands into his armpits, hoping this might bring some relief, but every part of his body was cold—not just cold, but ice-cold.

As time passed, Charles felt his facial skin tightening considerably. He clenched his jaw hard, yet couldn't resist the heaviness of his eyelids.

A few seconds later, his head lolled to the side, and he passed out completely.

The white mist immediately converged, enveloping the unconscious Charles, completely submerging him in the void.

Charles felt his body floating, as if falling, yet also rising.

He wanted to open his eyes, but even using all his strength couldn't move his eyelids. They were stuck tight, as if someone had sealed them with industrial-strength glue.

In a daze, he heard Abigail's voice.

"Charles, who is that woman?"

"You brought her to our home! What excuse could you possibly have?"

"Charles, this is too much. I'm breaking up with you!"

A barrage of angry accusations came, churning Charles's emotions into turmoil.

He gritted his teeth and shook his head from side to side, wanting to explain but unable to open his mouth.

Footsteps already sounded in his ears. She seemed truly about to leave.

The thought of Abigail leaving him made Charles's breathing grow rapid. As he struggled continuously, just seconds later, his eyes snapped open!

The moment his eyes opened, Charles stared blankly at the white mist overhead for a moment, until the footsteps sounded again. Then he suddenly rolled over and sat up, looking toward where the sound came from.

In the endless white void, Abigail stood not far ahead.

She looked exactly as she had a week ago, wearing an apron dusted with white flour. Her beautiful face was streaked with tears. After finishing those words, she immediately turned to leave.

Charles scrambled up from the ground, stumbling as he chased after her. "Abby!"

But she walked quickly. Charles couldn't catch up to her at all. He even had the illusion that the faster he chased, the faster she ran.

Charles quickly realized something was wrong.

Even if she were angry, Abigail wouldn't ignore his pleas and just keep walking forward. Besides, though Abigail's stamina was good, it wasn't good enough to leave him this far behind.

Realizing something was off, Charles immediately stopped. He raised his head, looking at the surrounding void. Memories of his recent confrontation with Nyarlathotep instantly flooded his mind.

The flood of memories made Charles's head throb slightly, but immediately afterward, he regained his senses.

He took a deep breath, knees slightly bent, hands raised—taking a defensive stance as he watched his surroundings warily.

"Nyarlathotep!"

He shouted its name.

But in the boundless space, no one responded.

After waiting a while longer with nothing appearing around him, Charles gradually dropped his defensive stance. Everything around was void. At this point, the question became which direction to go.

Charles looked toward the direction "Abigail" had left, contemplation in his eyes.

Though the Abigail just now was definitely fake, someone must have conjured her up. The following might reveal what was really going on.

Having made up his mind, Charles walked in the direction "Abigail" had departed.

Everything around was white—even the robe Charles wore was white.

If not for his hair and skin being different colors, he would have truly melded into this void.

After walking for nearly ten minutes, Charles finally saw something besides white in the distance ahead.

It was a door shimmering with blue-violet radiance.

It sat alone in this desolate expanse.

As Charles approached, the blue-violet radiance on the door seemed to come alive, moving around and gradually forming a vortex pattern.

It looked like a gateway to another world.

Charles was wary.

He circled the door, examining it, but never reached out to touch it.

"Mary."

Charles gripped the recorder in his pocket, calling the name in a steady voice.

A harsh burst of static erupted.

Charles immediately frowned and instinctively held the recorder away from himself.

"Bzzt—Charles, you're—in deep trouble—crackle!"

Mary's voice came through the recorder in broken fragments, though the random static made her difficult to understand.

Charles could only make out something about being in trouble.

Was he in trouble?

Charles frowned, skeptical of that statement. What trouble could be worse than that previous curse?

He scoffed at the comparison yet remained alert at the same time. Could she be talking about this door?

But now, besides this door, Charles didn't know where else to go.

He looked around and walked into the distance.

Before long, he came back.

There was nothing in the distance—just endless void again.

Though walking another ten or twenty minutes might reveal a new door or something else, Charles had always been intensely curious.

He really wanted to know what secrets lay behind this door shimmering with blue-violet radiance.

As for Mary saying he was in trouble...

Charles didn't care. She only said trouble, not death, which meant this thing wasn't dangerous.

His internal deliberation concluded, Charles stood before the door, slowly extending his hand into this strange gateway. The first sensation was ice-cold, just like touching that white void earlier.

At this moment, the recorder in his pocket emitted a sharp burst of static.

Charles immediately frowned, about to look at it, when a chill from his arm drew his gaze back. The blue-violet radiance from the door was climbing up his arm.

When he looked closer, he realized this thing wasn't some mystical radiance at all—but insects! Their carapaces shimmered iridescently like radiance itself.

The ice-cold, tingling sensation as the insects crawled across his skin made Charles immediately grimace.

He could even hear the sounds those little bugs made.

Unclear whether it was their carapaces scraping or them gnawing at his clothes, but Charles knew these things definitely weren't anything good!

"Shit!"

He cursed under his breath, immediately starting to shake his hand. And at this moment, he finally understood what Mary meant by being in deep trouble.

But the insects didn't leave despite his shaking. Instead, they climbed higher and higher, gradually engulfing Charles's entire head!