Underworld

Chapter 16

Tears welled up inside.

※※※※※

Wang Mu took off running, utterly horrified: My God! These people have eaten people! The memory of their ferocious, almost predatory gaze filled him with even greater terror. He ran with everything he could, his mind completely blank.

It was a circular road, a mixture of dirt and rocks, yet remarkably clean and smooth. He ran, without a specific destination, just as when he encountered the wrecked car on his way home and knew that running was the only way to avoid danger. As he ran, he heard Wang Jia calling after him, but he paid no heed, shouting as he ran, "Hurry! Run!"

Suddenly, a wall rose up in front of him. He hurriedly stopped, but he was running too fast and crashed into it. It felt as if he had crashed into a quilt, and his speed slowed down. "Screech!" After a tearing sound, his running speed suddenly resumed, and when he looked again, the wall was gone.

The wall is behind me.

He actually passed through the wall!

Stopping and turning around, Wang Mu faced the "wall" that had passed through him and tentatively reached out to touch it. He patted it again. It was the sound of granite. Upon closer inspection, it was indeed granite.

"Wang Jia!" he called out.

No one answered. He called twice more, still no answer. He surveyed his surroundings. Under the bright, pale green light, the overhead lights still shone as if deliberately placed. Below was a slope, and at the junction of the slope's arc and inner edge, where an unseen stream flowed, wisps of hot mist rose. On the opposite inner rock wall, numerous caves of varying sizes were hidden in the darkness, clearly paths leading there. Beside him were steep, columnar outer walls, also made of granite, and the circular path beneath his feet curved around a bend not far away.

---Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [54]: He left the wall and tentatively walked forward.

He looked around and suddenly noticed something unusual about the rock wall near the pillar not far ahead. After walking a few steps, he saw a one-meter-deep and two-meter-high opening in the steep rock wall, with a width of only half a meter. He squeezed in and looked inside.

Abundant purple light. The purple light was shooting out from a small hole. He squeezed his head in as far as he could, peering through the hole. Inside the hole was a space filled with purple light and mist.

The purple light shifted rapidly, and patterns unfolded like a movie. The patterns converged into beams of light that shot out, and images of animated mechanical monsters flashed before my eyes, quickly imprinting themselves deep into my mind, flashing and exploding endlessly in the depths of my thoughts.

A piercing pain shot through his mind. He felt as if his head had split into hundreds of pieces!

A scream. Amidst the scream, he used all his strength to retreat.

thump!

Look up, with your gaze directed upwards.

There are also patterns on it.

—A man with a long beard was holding two almost identical knives with a refined air.

—He was cutting and eating something very politely, as if he were eating an Italian steak, using a knife and fork to cut and eat it.

But what exactly is it?

"You mean, there weren't any walls on the ring road to begin with?"

The eldest brother's expression turned serious. He carefully examined the granite wall, then gently knocked on it. A hollow sound came from within, as if another world existed inside.

“Life has just begun to emerge, there shouldn’t be any mechanisms appearing… Could it be…” he murmured, then suddenly looked at Wang Jia: “Excuse me: on the map, does this pillar represent a city?”

Wang Jia gave a wry smile. "This map can only be understood when my brother and I use it together. However, based on past experience, these pillars are definitely not cities; they are merely representations of streams. Many times, I've even wondered: is the city, the exit, still descending? Does it—only represent final death?!"

Xiao Chan said, “According to the common practice of setting up mechanisms, important places are always equipped with traps, intelligence devices, and ambushes. Therefore, the presence of these things indicates that there is a secret there. The more important the place, the more traps there are. The more secretive the ambushes and the more dangerous the intelligence.” He stroked his pitifully small nose, “—Could there be a secret inside this pillar?”

The leader stared intently at the circular passage, then looked at the "wall" for a moment before shaking his head. "The circular passage is ordinary. The secret must be inside the pillar." He reached out and gently tapped the pillar, listening to its sound and discerning its texture, before saying in a deep voice, "It's hollow inside!"

“About twenty meters.” Wang Jia couldn’t help but worry. “It’s over twenty meters high and about twenty meters in radius. It can certainly hide many terrifying things inside. This ring road is nearly thirty meters wide. Is it too hasty to conclude that there are no traps after only examining one area?”

"No," the leader said calmly. "What I mean is: there are many mechanisms on the ring road, and there are also mechanisms inside the pillars. But the secret is not on the ring road, but inside the pillars."

"Then... Amu... he'll be alright, won't he?"

The eldest brother paused for a moment, then looked back. "It's hard to say right now. We can only keep moving forward and see if we encounter another wall at the corresponding spot. If we do, he'll be fine. If not, then I'm afraid..." Wang Jia had already dashed off.

The eldest brother and the youngest brother followed closely behind. After running for a while, they indeed saw another wall standing proudly. Wang Jia exclaimed with delight, "It's right where it is! Yes! There is a wall!"

But the eldest brother's face showed no joy whatsoever; instead, it was even more somber.

"We must leave this place first! Otherwise, it will only be an endless crisis! Keep us busy dealing with it!"

“This is an ominous star!” he added, his gaze turning sharp and cold once more.

Wang Jia's expression hardened. For some reason, he suddenly thought of Wang Mu. A sense of unease, unlike anything he had ever felt before, welled up in his heart regarding his younger brother.

※※※※※

His head throbbed. His heart ached. Wang Mu stood up in terror and ran away.

This is a world where people eat people, and cannibalism can be discovered at any time. He has seen what people look like after they have eaten them, and he has also seen what it is like when people are eating them.

He could never believe that a person could be so elegant and refined, so composed and graceful, while devouring another. Yet, it was precisely this elegance that made the "human" appear all the more ruthless and terrifying. Surely, other cannibals also possessed the same gentlemanly manners while eating? Or perhaps they all had the refined taste of ladies?

He could no longer imagine how many people were cannibals. But he knew he must never associate with cannibals!

Absolutely not! Traveling with cannibals means only two paths: cannibalism or being cannibalized! If you neither want to eat nor be eaten, the only thing you can do is flee as quickly as possible! The farther the better!

---Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [55]: We must escape!

We absolutely must!

Not only must she escape, but she must also tell her brother quickly!

But he had only run a short distance along the loop when he encountered another high wall blocking his path. It was still granite, and still had a small, recessed hole emitting a purple glow. But he dared not look again. He stopped, recalling: —From the summit, the loop was a clear, unobstructed path, but now, it was obvious that two high walls had divided it into two separate worlds.

—It seems that the only way to see my brother is to run off the ring road and take this detour.

—Or perhaps, one can actually pass through walls?

He slammed his head against the wall.

Venus was appearing randomly.

After resting for a while, he stood up unsteadily and began to stagger down the circular track.

The terrain sloped downwards with a steep incline. In a semi-conscious state, his pace quickened, and after walking along the slightly sunken slope for a short while, the slope seemed to become the lower half of a giant sphere, and his speed became that of running.

In a state of semi-consciousness and confusion, he knew he absolutely could not stop, so he ran downhill in one breath and soon reached the middle of the slope.

He saw people.

In the stream, which resembled a hot spring, bursts of steam rose, turning into mist. Within the thick mist, nine people were soaking, bathing, playing, having fun, and making love in the stream.

—Seven women and two men.

Those people also saw him, seemingly growing from the "diameter of a sphere" in mid-air. All nine of them looked up, hesitated briefly, then stopped, stepped forward, and gazed upwards. The water vapor rose, but Wang Mu only saw those faintly visible yet even more breathtakingly alluring naked bodies, only those seven celestial faces. Then, two of them exchanged glances and whispered something. The nine of them murmured amongst themselves, and the Seven Fairies of Yaochi took several steps upwards together, bowing gracefully.

Seven pairs of devout eyes.

There is another posture.

--please.

Please

Down

water.

I. The murderer shall die.

"A life for a life, an eternal truth."

"Zhu Qian killed someone. Therefore, she must pay with her life. She must die."

"That's right. We are cannibals. But there are priorities. What we eat are corpses, not the living. And what about Zhu Qian? She is as beautiful as a flower, but as venomous as a snake! While killing people, she even bit the artery of the dead and drank the blood to quench her thirst. After that, she did not hesitate to assassinate her comrades in order to take the food of some groups for herself. She was a woman who was both admirable and tragic, even we have to admit."

"If we're talking about ruthlessness, who can compare to her?"

"Her death is not to vent personal grievances, but because—if Zhu Qian is not killed, even with the map in hand, there is no chance of survival!"

"In the darkness, there exist some mysterious things. Whether you believe it or not is entirely up to you, but belief or not cannot make it not exist. As tomb raiders, centuries of blood and tears have made some things into irrefutable truths that our profession follows! Besides, even in real society, it is only right that a life should be paid for a life!"

"If killing many people is to save one, the saved person must be a saint; if killing one person can save many, the killer is also a saint! Killing her can save the lives of many, and morally speaking, it is by no means evil. Therefore, no one can accuse us of being cruel!"

“We are gentlemen. When gentlemen act, they focus on their inner character; whether their actions are wicked or not is up to public opinion. If we are petty men, why bother saying anything?”

“Your younger brother has been misled by them. The reason I am explaining this to you is that I do not want you to leave as well, and I do not want you to misunderstand our character…” The eldest brother calmed down and looked at Wang Jia.

The king's armor, resembling a skull.

“You don’t need to say anything more,” Wang Jia said calmly. “What we face is a common problem of survival. Without you, we can hardly get out. But without a map and someone to read it, you can’t get out either. Whether you’re a gentleman or a villain, kinship and enmity are inseparable from interests. Faced with common interests, I would never be foolish enough to lose an opportunity for the sake of ridiculous so-called justice. We are all the same kind of people. You are their leader, and I am the head of my family. The leader always has to shoulder some responsibilities. I think you understand what I mean.”

Wang Jia also calmed down and looked at his boss.

The naked boss.

The two looked at each other. They nodded.

※※※※※

A roar like thunder. Er Gou and Xiao Dao, who had been reveling, lost all interest. They pushed the woman away from their arms, their cold eyes simultaneously sweeping over Chen Xing.

Chen Xing, however, seemed to have already gotten into the swing of things and didn't even glance at the two of them.

He was still yelling.

"Your voice sounds really loud?" Er Gou caught sight of Wei Yiyi, half in the water and half on the stream bank, her jade-like back visible but her face hidden. An indescribable heartache suddenly welled up inside him.

—This woman is mine, and damn it, she's pregnant with my child!

—Damn it, someone actually dared to hit her!

—Fuck you! Even if she's not pregnant and it's not my child, you still can't hit her!

—Fuck you, I haven't even hit you yet, what right do you have to hit me!

Anger simmered within him, but Er Gou didn't shout it out. He stared coldly at Chen Xing, who, seemingly oblivious to the tension in his words, rolled his eyes and roared again.

"Try yelling again," Er Gou said calmly, though his anger was barely contained. Xiao Dao grinned and moved to Chen Xing's side.

Their postures clearly indicated they intended to teach Chen Xing a lesson. It would be difficult to gain the respect of this spineless "one of their own," a man who had betrayed them upon first meeting.

But Chen Xing's voice was also filled with disdain. "Want to make a move?"

"You're not going to yell anymore?" Er Gou asked. He really wanted to punch Chen Xing's nose out of shape, but he also knew that Chen Xing was now "one of his own." If he wanted to teach him a lesson, he had to find a reason, and the best reason was of course to provoke Chen Xing and force him to make the first move!

"Kid, don't think I'll spare your life just because we're on the same side. Shout one more word, and I'll treat you like a woman, rape you, kill you, and then eat you!" Little Knife grinned sinisterly, slowly approaching. Er Gou chuckled, pointing at himself, "And me! We'll make you taste what it's like to be run over by a car wheel: Heh heh, that's called rape, you son of a bitch, you know that?!"

---Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [56]: "Just you guys?" Chen Xing was actually smiling sinisterly.

But the laughter had barely left his lips when he roared. And with that roar, he suddenly attacked!

—Wouldn't any normal man be unable to tolerate such an insult?