My Abyss Survival Diary

Chapter 44 The Boundary Between Life and Death

Brock hoisted his canvas bag and headed towards the woods to the east, with Pike following behind, a pigeon coop slung over his shoulder. The strange bird inside cooed a few times before he held it down.

The two figures were quickly swallowed by the mist, leaving only the sound of footsteps coming from afar, growing fainter and fainter.

Elphis squatted on the ground and picked up a tin box.

The box wasn't big, about a size larger than a shoebox, with its corners covered in sheet metal and its buckles made of brass, polished to a shine.

He unlocked the latch, lifted the lid, and inside lay two glass jars filled with a dark red liquid. The jars had a double-layered structure, with white granules sealed in the middle layer.

"This is for testing." Elphis took out the smaller can, closed the box, and fastened the latch. "It's half the power of the official one, but the principle is the same."

Flani squatted down beside her, her hands supporting her chin, her braids hanging over her shoulders, tilting her head to look at the box.

She suddenly turned her head and stared at the birdcage Simon was hanging on the side pocket of his backpack.

"Hey, Simon." She poked the wire in the birdcage with her finger. "Can I play with that head of his?"

Simon glanced tentatively at Brienne in the birdcage, only to be met with a fierce glare.

Without hesitation, he took the birdcage off his backpack and intended to hand it to Flannery.

"then."

"No way! I'm not a toy!" Brienne shouted.

Flani's hand froze in mid-air, her head tilted as she stared at the head in the cage.

"But you're very beautiful," Flora said earnestly, so earnestly it didn't sound like a compliment. "I just want to take a look."

"No—no!" Brienne said, each word seemingly squeezed out from between her teeth.

"Forget it, she looks too fierce." Flannery lost interest.

"Look how scared you've made the kid," Simon joked, hanging the birdcage back on the side pocket of his backpack.

"I really want to bite you!" Brienne gritted her teeth in anger.

Elphis stood up, tucked the tin box under his arm, and walked into the woods.

"Keep up!"

The three of them walked through a patch of low bushes, and the soil under their feet became softer and softer, feeling like walking on a water-soaked sponge.

"Franny, please find a hunting den..." Elphis said as he walked. "We need a live animal to test the bone jars."

Flani stopped, tilted her head back, and twitched her nose a few times. Her nostrils flared slightly, like a rabbit identifying scents in the wind.

"Three o'clock," her tightly furrowed brows suddenly relaxed, she raised her hand and pointed in a direction, "There's a strong smell of blood, and quite a few corpses."

Elphis didn't speak, but simply nodded and walked in that direction.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, the bushes ahead suddenly broke off.

What came into view was a huge mound of earth, surrounded by blackened bits of flesh and bone.

In the center of the ground was a sunken pit, with the remains of the hunted beast scattered around its edges: grayish-white skin, broken bone spurs, and several pools of congealed dark purple blood.

Several predatory beasts were gnawing on the carcass of a prey, the sound of their teeth crunching bones crisp and clear.

"Let's use them for experiments." Elphis squatted down, placed the tin box on the ground, unlocked it, and took out the glass jar.

The dark red liquid sloshed around in the jar, and the white particles inside also trembled slightly.

He handed the jar to Simon: "Here you go."

Simon took the jar; the glass was cool, but the warmth of the liquid seeped through the jar walls into his palm.

The liquid inside is very heavy, like a very viscous liquid, and has obvious inertia when shaken.

"This contains the remains of a spirit summoner. The red liquid is juice extracted from a flower from the abyss. That flower grows at the entrance to the lair of abyssal creatures and is nourished by rotting flesh and blood. Its juice can block the perception of psychic energy."

Simon looked down at the grayish-white particles inside the jar.

Someone's ashes, soaked in the sap of flowers, are sealed in a glass jar, like a beautiful specimen.

"Opening the jar is like flipping a grenade; your psionic energy will instantly sense the outside world." Elphis pulled a pocket watch from his pocket. "I don't know how much time it will give us, so I'll keep track of it. Once you open the jar, throw it away immediately."

"Understood."

"I'll go lure them out," Flani said, turning to go inside.

"There's no need for that," Simon casually stopped her. "I'll just throw the jar in."

He held the jar and came to a spot about twenty meters from the den. The soil under his feet was soft, and he sank in when he stepped on it. The prey in the pit was still gnawing, its grayish-white back facing him, and the bone spurs on its back swayed gently with its chewing motion.

He took a deep breath, held the jar with his left hand, and unscrewed the copper lid with his right. The lid was very tight, the threads were firmly engaged, and it took two turns to loosen it.

The moment it was opened, something unseen surged out of the jar...

It's not smell, not temperature, not anything that any of the senses can detect.

But it was there, like a hand reaching out of the jar, plunging into Simon's chest, and gripping his heart!

A heart-wrenching pain, a pain that had been imprisoned for decades, seeping from the very marrow of one's bones.

There were no roars, no howls, only silent, persistent anger, like a stone pressing on one's heart.

Simon's vision began to blur.

There were no tears in his eyes, but his vision was blurry. The emotion was so intense that it almost squeezed his consciousness out of his body!

He felt his consciousness plummeting! Like falling into a deep well, bobbing in the icy water.

"Simon!" Brienne's voice came from the birdcage, sharp and piercing like a needle. "Throw that damned thing out!"

Simon's eyes suddenly focused.

The prey in the pit had turned its head, its mouth wide open, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth.

He used all his strength to throw the jar away.

The glass jar traced an arc in the air before disappearing silently, leaving only a blinding blue light.

Annihilation...

There was no explosion, no fire, and no smoke.

Suddenly, a spherical hole appeared there, about two meters in radius, with edges as smooth as tofu cut with a knife.

The center of the pit disappeared, the prey disappeared, and the carcass it was munching on also disappeared.

The ground sank down, like an ice cream ball that had been scooped out with a spoon. All the soil, gravel, fungal carpet, blood, and bone fragments within the sphere's area disappeared!

There were no remnants, no fragments, no ashes, only fresh soil exposed at the cut, the cross-section smooth, as if it had been bitten off by some indescribable thing.

Flannery opened her mouth, but was too shocked to utter a sound.

Elphes crouched there, his iron mask facing the spherical hole, and silently stopped the pocket watch from ticking.

Simon stood there, still holding the open copper lid in his hand.

His hands were trembling; his body hadn't fully recovered from being overwhelmed by emotions that weren't his own.

He still felt that sensation in his chest—a painful aftershock, an angry echo, a desperate final note.

Breanne's head let out a long sigh of relief inside the birdcage.

"Three seconds." There was no joy in Elphis's voice. "From the moment the can was thrown to its annihilation, there were only three seconds."

Too little time...

For Simon, those three seconds were the line between life and death.

From the moment he reached the hungry angel to the moment he threw the jar and fled... only three seconds passed.