My Abyss Survival Diary

Chapter 73 Forced Landing on the Second Floor

The hem of her smock billowed upwards in the airflow, making a rustling sound. The birdcage shook violently in the side pocket of her backpack, and Brienne's screams escaped from the gaps in the cage bars.

"No! Nooooo!"

Gunshots rang out behind him, bullets fired from the barrel and passing right where he had just been standing.

The old priest's mechanical arm was still outstretched in mid-air, the five fingers of the hydraulic claws spread out, holding the piece of black cloth torn from Simon's smock.

Falling!

The wind whistled past his ears, Simon's hair stood on end, his eyes were wide open, and his eye sockets ached from the airflow.

He saw the cavernous rock walls rapidly ascending from both sides, the grayish-white mycelium, the dark green moss, and the thick vines extending from the cracks in the rocks all turning into blurry lines. Looking down, all he could see was darkness, a thick, impenetrable darkness.

He adjusted his posture, spreading his arms and legs apart. The airflow slid past his sides, trying to avoid the protruding rocks and overgrown vines. His lungs were squeezed by the wind pressure, making it hard to breathe. Every breath he took was like drinking the wind.

The enormous, hot air balloon-like gasbag rose from the darkness, the flames of the burners dancing beneath it, and orange light spreading through the darkness.

Thirty meters to go, he adjusted the angle of his arms, tilted his body to the left, and his descent began to deviate. The airflow swept past his right side, pushing him to the left. Twenty meters away, the shadow of the hot air balloon below him grew larger and larger, waiting for him.

ten meters.

Simon hurriedly hugged himself, stuffing the flesh of the incriminating evidence into his arms, crossing his arms to protect his chest, and bending his knees.

The next moment, his entire body slammed into the airbag.

*Pfft*

Simon's body sank into the grayish-white fabric, sinking at least half a meter.

But he was immediately launched into the air as if he had jumped onto a trampoline, flying diagonally towards the rock wall on the side.

The rock wall magnified before his eyes. He reacted very quickly, his gaze sweeping across the rock wall and locking onto a thick vine spreading out from a crevice in the rock.

His body slammed heavily against the rock wall, the pain excruciating. His internal organs were almost completely ruptured. He endured the pain and desperately tried to increase the friction with his hands to slow his slide down the rock wall. Finally, his fingers became embedded in the fibers of the vines, two of his fingernails snapped off, and blood flowed down from his fingertips.

Simon hung on the rock face, panting heavily, trying to calm his breathing.

The hot air balloon slowly rose, approaching his location, but could not get any closer.

The hot air balloon grew larger below him, the basket drew closer and closer, and the blurry faces began to become clear.

This was his outlandish plan: to jump down and use the airbag to propel himself onto the rock wall, and then jump again.

Gritting his teeth, Simon leaped towards the basket once again!

"Grab him!"

Klein lunged forward, grabbing Simon's forearms with both hands, while Flannery pounced from the other side, grabbing him by the back of his collar. The two of them pulled him at the same time, and Simon's ribs slid past the edge of the basket, causing him to tumble into it with difficulty.

He took the piece of meat, which was evidence of his guilt, from his bosom and stuffed the reddish-black chunks of flesh into his backpack.

Brienne's eyes widened, but she couldn't utter a sound; her consciousness seemed to still be stuck in the terrifying fall.

"Hehe, you audacious sinner, I salute you!" The silver-haired old lady's voice came from the other side of the hanging basket.

But before he could even settle in, a gunshot rang out, and a bullet shot down from the sky, hitting the airbag. The bullet suddenly tore a fist-sized hole in the fabric, and mycelium emerged from the hole, spewing out a grayish-white gas.

The hot air balloon was descending, the burner flames were at their maximum, and the orange-red flames scorched the lower edge of the airbag black, but the airbag was leaking air and the buoyancy was severely insufficient! Several more bullets fell, tearing several holes in the airbag!

The rock wall was approaching, and the airflow inside the cavity was chaotic. Hot air surged up from below, while cold air poured down from above. The two airflows fought around the airbag, pushing the hot air balloon to the left and then to the right.

The old woman kicked open the rusty iron box in the corner of the funeral basket. The lid popped open, revealing three large, wrinkled, grayish-white bags. Inside the boxes were cheap parachutes sewn from rags, patched upon patched, with seven or eight knots in the ropes. The parachute lines were just hemp rope, and the parachute fabric looked like it had been made from old tent material.

Hold on tight!

The hot air balloon crashed heavily into the rock wall.

The edge of the basket scraped against the rocks, the vines snapped, and debris flew everywhere. Klein's body suddenly tilted to one side, his hands gripping the edge of the basket tightly to avoid falling. Flannery crouched at the bottom of the basket, holding Professor Loris in her arms.

Under the old lady's control, three parachutes deployed simultaneously. The three tattered parachute fabrics floated above the hot air balloon like three mushrooms that had suddenly sprung up wildly, barely slowing down the balloon's descent.

Even so, the hot air balloon still scraped uncontrollably against the rocks, and the airbag was torn open by the sharp protruding rocks, with grayish-white gas gushing out from the crack.

The airbag deflated at a visible speed, and the grayish-white fabric collapsed from above, with wrinkles spreading outwards. The flames of the burner were still flickering, and the orange-red flames were frantically licking at the shrinking fabric.

The old lady took out a cigarette from her pocket, lit it with the orange flame on the fabric, and took a deep, enjoyable drag. The smoke billowed from her nostrils and slowly diffused in the hanging basket.

Klein crouched on the other side of the basket, his blond hair billowing backward in the airflow: "Old man, can't you do something useful for once?!"

The old lady exhaled another puff of smoke, glanced at Klein, and calmly flicked her cigarette ash: "There's nothing I can do, young man. Whether you survive or not now depends on luck."

The gondola plummeted straight down! The three parachutes closed simultaneously in the airflow, and everyone's bodies experienced weightlessness at the same time!

The wind rushed up from the bottom of the basket, making everyone's hair stand on end. Simon gripped his backpack tightly and pressed it under his chest.

Boom—

The suspended basket crashed heavily onto the ground.

Symptoms of tinnitus appeared; Simon's ears were filled with a buzzing sound, as if a swarm of bees were building a nest in his brain. When he opened his eyes, his vision was blurry, and he couldn't see anything clearly.

Not only that, the symptoms of decompression sickness reappeared, and he felt dizzy and disoriented.

Grayish-white parachutes drifted down from above and covered their heads.

Simon pinched his nose and simultaneously inhaled sharply, directing the airflow into his ears to barely relieve the symptoms of decompression sickness.

He opened his tattered parachute, only to find...

A sea of ​​flowers.

The air was filled with a sweet, cloying scent, like over-fermented honey, and countless vibrant flowers stretched out from under your feet to the horizon.

"Welcome to the second floor," Brienne said from inside the birdcage. "The Beast Hunting Garden."