El decimonoveno nivel del infierno

Capítulo 17

But the only response he received was the sound of water.

A sharp voice came from the depths of the Dragon Scale Blood Pool and reached Tao Rujiu's ears, sending chills down his spine.

Wang Baihu was indeed not so easy to find. However, the sharp voice at least proved that he was not in any danger for the time being. Remembering his instructions before he left, Tao Rujiu decided to find Wang Baihu's girlfriend first. As for the awkward question of whether she was wearing clothes, he would ignore it for the time being.

He followed the stream that meandered from the hall of the ghost marriage, groping his way towards it little by little. Without the warmth of the sharp palm, all he could feel was the frantic pounding of his own heart.

"I have a talisman, I have a talisman..." he kept reassuring himself. He slowly walked out of the corridor leading to the hall of the ghost marriage. It was also a passageway heavily covered by white curtains. Lifting the last white curtain, the first thing that would come into view was the wax figure of the groom.

Although the corridor was long, it was winding and meandering, and in reality, it wasn't far from the crossroads. The dim, greenish light still managed to illuminate the blurry outlines of things. Tao Rujiu lifted the white curtain in this hazy light, and to her surprise, she was met with a black figure swaying back and forth.

The dark figure was less than ten centimeters away from Tao Rujiu, leaning forward unnaturally while swaying its body dramatically from side to side.

Tao Rujiu took a big step back and hid himself in a dark compartment in the corridor. He covered his mouth and stood quietly for a while. When he realized that the shadow behind the curtain did not make any further moves, he gradually began to recall some details from what had just happened.

First, he had put on a talisman, and according to the Qi Mao Xian, he shouldn't see any more ghosts. Second, when he bumped into the dark figure, Tao Rujiu smelled a strong odor of wax.

It was a wax figure. He told himself that. Recalling Ling Li's perilous journey through the Dragon Scale Blood Pool, Tao Rujiu knew he could not back down.

He stepped out of the hidden compartment and once again lifted the white curtain.

The dark figure remained standing there, but no longer swayed. Tao Rujiu reached out to touch it, and indeed it seemed to be cold as wax. It must be the corpse bride who had originally hung from the beam in the hall of the ghost marriage. The rope had loosened, dragging all the way to the ground, and it was being pulled by the rope, swaying back and forth around its neck until it came to a complete stop.

Tao Rujiu explained it to himself, trying not to think about why the female corpse that was hanging from the beam would suddenly run to the ground. He just gritted his teeth, pushed the wax figure aside, and walked towards the passage behind the hall of the underworld marriage with his head down.

The narrow passageway, filled with memorial tablets, had ten-centimeter-high thresholds at both ends, and was filled with river water, forming a small pond. Although Tao Rujiu had warned Ling Li not to approach these unknown waters, at this moment he had to personally cross this body of water to find the whereabouts of Wang Baihu's girlfriend.

Knowing he had no other choice, the young man took a deep breath and strode forward. The icy underground river water immediately coiled around his ankles like a python. The green light of the electronic torch had completely disappeared outside the memorial corridor. Tao Rujiu now stood alone in the narrow waterway, with only mountains of memorial tablets and incense burners within reach.

He groped his way through the entire memorial corridor, only realizing he was completely soaked when he stepped out the door. Not just from cold sweat, but also from the icy river water.

The icy water actually climbed up the surrounding walls and then fell down like rain.

In the darkness, Tao Rujiu could hear the trembling of his teeth and bones from the tension. He knew that if he continued to be tormented by imagined terrors, he would eventually go insane.

He decided to turn on the flashlight.

The dim lights came on. Tao Rujiu found himself outside the tourist area, standing in front of the passageway leading to the third underground level.

The tightly locked bronze door was less than a meter to his right. Beneath the door, the underground river, flowing from the third level of the underground palace, was gushing out.

Tao Rujiu looked around with his flashlight, but found no one. He then looked at the uphill path leading to the watermelon patch; there were no water stains or footprints.

Could it be that Wang Baihu's girlfriend didn't take this route? Or perhaps she did come here and then suddenly disappeared in some way?

Thinking of this, Tao Rujiu walked back to the bronze door.

The door was indeed locked, and in the beam of the flashlight, half of the concrete screen wall was submerged in water. Tao Rujiu couldn't see what was inside, but he could smell a slightly musty, raw water odor mixed with a chill in the air.

Is...is anyone there...?

More like to bolster his courage, he softly asked into the bronze door.

The only response he received was the endless flow of water and a faint echo.

"Nobody's here..."

The young man muttered to himself, "Wang Baihu's girlfriend doesn't seem to be nearby. So now I should go back to the platform at the crossroads or enter the Dragon Scale Blood Pool to check on Ling Li's situation."

Thinking this, Tao Rujiu was about to turn back when a sudden gust of cold wind blew up behind him. Before he could react, a huge, stiff object slammed into the bronze door from behind.

A faint smell of wax filled the air. Tao Rujiu immediately realized that the thing pressing down on him was the wax figure of the female corpse in the Hall of Ghost Marriages.

After the female corpse knocked him down, she did not immediately take any further action. Instead, she stood quietly in the water curtain behind the young man, watching him slowly slide down the bronze door, writhe in pain, and fall into the pool of water on the ground.

Tao Rujiu felt the icy river water suddenly surge from his feet to his face, wetting his hair and limbs. The soft touch felt like the tentacles of a centipede, even trying to burrow into his seven orifices. The young man struggled to his feet, but before he could stand firmly, he was slammed against the bronze door by the female corpse.

With each powerful impact from the young man's body, the bronze door groaned mournfully. Tao Rujiu suddenly realized that the female corpse wanted to throw him into the underground river on the third level of the underground palace.

The iron lock on the bronze door was rusted and already somewhat damaged when he last inspected it; it probably wouldn't withstand many more impacts. Although Tao Rujiu was somewhat delirious, he still understood that he had to escape before the bronze door was broken open, or he would be swallowed by the river and forever dissolved into the underground of Hailing City.

He was on the brink of death, all alone. Now, his only hope was to save himself.

The female corpse remained silently standing behind Tao Rujiu, though her exact location was uncertain. The young man could only slowly slide down the bronze door, carefully listening for any unusual sounds amidst the flowing water.

He waited for the female corpse to pounce on him again.

The sound of the female corpse splashing in the water grew clearer and clearer, and in the blink of an eye, she was less than a meter behind Tao Rujiu. The young man held his breath and composed himself. Just before the female corpse's body slammed into his back again, he bent over, turned around, grabbed the female corpse's legs, and slammed her forward.

The weight of the female corpse was truly beyond Tao Rujiu's expectations, but this desperate slam still managed to throw the corpse violently against the bronze door. With a crisp "click," the dilapidated bronze door and iron lock could no longer bear the weight and burst open with a gaping black maw.

The wax-coated female corpse brushed past Tao Rujiu, and the young man inadvertently caught a glimpse of its face.

This wasn't some waxen female corpse at all; it was clearly Wang Baihu wrapped in the clothes of a female corpse! Wang Baihu was almost a head taller than Tao Rujiu, and naturally, he also had a weight that Tao Rujiu could hardly bear. The man's original clothes were nowhere to be seen, and he was only clinging tightly to the bright red wedding dress on the female corpse. The female corpse was already sculpted to be small and thin, so chunks of Wang Baihu's white flesh peeked out from the seams of the clothes. Tao Rujiu only glanced at him once, but he could already clearly see that Wang Baihu's face was pale and his eyes were rolled back; he no longer looked like a living person.

The bronze gate had been smashed open, revealing a steep stone slope below. Wang Baihu tumbled down the slope, gate and all, crashing into the half-submerged screen wall. A series of cracking and crashing sounds echoed in the darkness, culminating in a massive gushing of water erupting from the gaping hole where the bronze gate had been removed.

Tao Rujiu was already crouching at the breach, and when he saw the flood rushing in, there was nowhere to retreat. He could only hurriedly move to the side to avoid it.

The icy underground river water gushed out from the gap, forming dozens of water jets less than twenty centimeters from his cheek. The second-floor corridor was instantly filled with white mist. Tao Rujiu's vision blurred, and even breathing became difficult.

He hugged his knees and curled up against the wall until he felt the mist recede a little. Then he groped to pick up the flashlight that had fallen in front of the gap. Unexpectedly, Wang Baihu, whose head had been smashed in half, suddenly poked most of his body out of the gap and grabbed his wrist with his missing little finger.

This time, the force was incredibly strong, and Tao Rujiu seemed to be sucked into a whirlpool in the deep sea, unable to move. The young man finally screamed in panic, but as soon as he opened his mouth, river water rushed in, making it impossible for him to breathe. He clung to the wall with all his might to prevent Wang Baihu from dragging him into the third level of water, but the suffocation and lack of oxygen caused his strength to drain away rapidly.

Tao Rujiu's limit was already in sight. In the last twenty seconds, if there was no turning point, he would surely die.

Nineteen seconds. Eighteen seconds... ten seconds... seven seconds.

In the fifth second before his death, a beam of white light leaped through the water curtain and appeared in front of him.

A mournful meow followed.

Qi Mao Xian has arrived.

Within the Dragon Scale Blood Pool, Ling Li was almost catching up with the white figure holding the torch. However, no matter how he tried to dissuade him, the person in front remained unresponsive.

Seeing the torch heading straight for the unlocked bronze door, in a moment of urgency, he grabbed the man's arm. His thought was to get him to safety no matter what. However, what he felt in his hand wasn't the texture of a man's muscles, but rather a cold, delicate touch—clearly a woman's arm.

She is Wang Baihu's girlfriend.

Ling Li reacted instantly, and the woman he had grabbed had also noticed his presence. Suddenly, she turned around and swung the metal electronic torch fiercely at Ling Li. Caught off guard, Ling Li heard a muffled thud as the torch struck his forehead heavily, shattering the green glass lampshade on the ground. Warm liquid, unlike rain, immediately streamed down his cheek.

Knowing he was injured, Ling Li had only one thought in his mind: Wang Baihu or Wang Baihu's girlfriend, no matter which one, absolutely must not open that bronze door and enter the third level of the underground palace.

So he gripped the woman's arm even tighter and dragged her back. Once they left the underground palace and the churning, flowing underground river, they would be far from danger.

Wang Baihu's girlfriend was, after all, a woman. Even if she was possessed, her strength was ultimately limited. With a determined heart, he quickly pulled her back four or five meters. However, although the woman was dragged back, her body remained tilted towards the bronze door, and the mist on her body never dissipated. It was as if she were being bound by the white mist and being forced into the bronze door.

Thus, the woman groaned in extreme pain as she was pulled by both the mist and the sharp force, and her arm, which was being pulled so tightly, began to spasm violently. As the distance between her and the bronze door gradually increased, the groans and spasms intensified.

Although Ling Li was determined never to let go, he had a persistent feeling that even if he rescued the woman from the underground palace, she would no longer be a whole person.

"Ugh... Ugh!!!!!!!!!!"

The pain became unbearable, and the woman suddenly screamed, hurling the broken electronic torch at the bronze door. In the darkness, the door rattled heavily, managing to open a tiny angle. A chilling draft escaped through the narrow crack.

Without any external force pushing it open, the bronze door slowly grew wider and wider. It was as if an unseen hand reached out from inside and opened the door. At the same time, Ling Li heard the sound of rushing water gathering from the depths of the earth.

Just like what Tao Rujiu had just encountered, the moment the bronze door was fully opened, the underground river water gushed out like a raging dragon.

Vision was immediately blurred by the mist, and the log bridge beneath their feet began to shake violently. Ling Li could no longer hold onto Wang Baihu's girlfriend, who, on the contrary, became more agile in the water curtain.

Amidst the chaotic and disorderly movements of the strange mechanisms around her, the woman's black, seaweed-like hair suddenly grew out of control. Half of it swam to the bronze door and clung to it, while the other half swam around Ling Li, waiting for an opportunity to wrap around the man's neck.

The situation took a sharp turn for the worse, but Ling Li still tried his best to remain calm. He grabbed the woman's hair with one hand and reached for his Swiss Army knife in his pocket with the other. However, just before Ling Li could resolve the crisis himself, a sudden gust of wind appeared out of nowhere and cleared away the abnormality.

That was almost a blade of wind, something that could not possibly appear in the enclosed space of the second level of the underground palace, and would be extremely rare even on the surface of the earth.

The sound of the wind drowned out the previously filling sound of flowing water. The water vapor that permeated the entire Dragon Scale Blood Pool was intercepted by the gale and sealed at the end of the log bridge. The woman's long hair was also cut off by the wind, turning into ashes in mid-air. Ling Li wiped the water and blood off his face and opened his eyes to see Wang Baihu's girlfriend slumped in front of him.

Something is helping and protecting him.

The razor-sharp wind whipped against his face, yet he felt no pain. Instead, it carried a warmth and comforting power. The surrounding chaos returned to normal in this magical wind. The river receded, and the bronze door closed silently and automatically.

"Sharp!"

An urgent call came from the entrance to the Dragon Scale Blood Pool.

The man turned around and saw Tao Rujiu, who was also soaking wet, rushing over without a care and hugging him tightly.

Although she had anticipated that Ling Li's situation wouldn't be any better than her own, Tao Rujiu was still stunned by the scene before her.

Ling Li was in a sorry state, with a two-centimeter-long gash on his forehead. Blood flowed down his cheek, staining his clothes a large patch of crimson. During the embrace just now, some of the blood had even gotten onto Tao Rujiu's body, seemingly transmitting the pain the man was enduring to him.

"I'm fine." Ling Li took a breath, then hugged Tao Rujiu tightly for a while before letting go. He then took off his shirt and covered the unconscious woman on the ground, turning to ask:

"Have you found Wang Baihu?"

Upon hearing this name, Tao Rujiu's mind was once again filled with the image of that bloody, mangled half-head, and he immediately showed a pained expression.

“Lingli…” he said in a low voice, “Wang Baihu has fallen into the third level of the underground palace. His head is only half left. He must be… he must be beyond saving.”

Ling Li was already somewhat prepared, but he remained silent for a long time before letting out a long sigh. He then put his arm around Tao Rujiu's shoulder again, leaned his upper body against the young man, and said with rare weariness:

“He brought this on himself. Don’t tell Master Lü when you get back; he can’t handle it.”

Tao Rujiu responded, then looked down and saw the bloody gash on Ling Li's forehead, and his heart tightened inexplicably. Just as he was about to touch it, he heard the voices of Xiao Li and Zheng Qinglong from outside the blood pool.

The events that occurred in the underground palace were classified as a secret within the park. Wang Baihu's girlfriend woke up shortly after being taken to the hospital, but remained delirious, likely suffering a lifelong disability. Wang Baihu, on the other hand, vanished completely into the depths of the underground palace. Fortunately, he was all alone and didn't yet need to consider how to appease his family or give them an immediate explanation.

Considering the potential impact, Ling Li did not go to the hospital, but instead had a doctor come to his villa to treat his wounds. Afterwards, the exhaustion from blood loss forced him to remain in bed to recover.

Still shaken, Tao Rujiu stayed in the villa. Qin Huakai also volunteered to stay and take care of Ling Li. However, the young man had been busy all night dealing with Wang Baihu's matter, and seeing him yawning while pouring water, Tao Rujiu felt a little sorry for him and forgot that she also needed plenty of rest.

After sending the boy to the guest room to catch up on his sleep, Tao Rujiu carried a bowl of seafood porridge, a special treat from the cafeteria, to the master bedroom. She saw Ling Li leaning against the bed, eyes closed, seemingly resting. He was even wearing a blue plaid pajama top. Sensing Tao Rujiu's footsteps, the man opened his eyes, smiled, and said, "This porridge smells delicious."

"Didn't you say you didn't have pajamas? What are you wearing now?"

Tao Rujiu sat on the edge of the bed with a disgruntled expression and placed the bowl of porridge on the bedside table. However, the other person indicated, half weakly and half rudely, that she had no strength to eat. Although the young man was resentful, he had no choice but to blow on the porridge spoonful by spoonful to cool it down and feed it to Ling Li's lips.

“I only have this one nightgown. It wouldn’t be fair if I let you wear it while I was naked, or if I wore it while you were naked. That’s why I said I didn’t have any.”

Ling Li swallowed the first mouthful of porridge with satisfaction, then offered this absurd explanation, paused, and asked, "Where are the flowers?"

"I saw he was tired, so I let him rest." Tao Rujiu fed him a few more mouthfuls of porridge and casually said, "Why are you so worried about Huakai?"

Ling Li chuckled twice upon hearing this, offering no direct response. Tao Rujiu, however, complained discontentedly, "Not speaking your mind? That's not very friendly."

"Friends?" Ling Li seemed to have heard a huge joke. "When did you become my friend?"

Completely unprepared for Ling Li's cold words, Tao Rujiu felt insulted. He defended himself, saying, "I just thought that after what happened in the underground palace, you shouldn't treat me as a reporter who is on the opposite side of the park anymore."

Ling Li saw Tao Rujiu's anger and embarrassment, but it only made him more calm and even gave a wicked laugh. "But your eyes tell me that you want to be my friend for ulterior motives."

"Yes!" Tao Rujiu put down his porridge bowl, unable to contain his anger any longer, and said angrily, "I want to be your friend because I want to get the secrets of Hailing City out of you, dig up your private information and make money in the newspaper. People like you only know how to use and be used, and you don't deserve to have friends at all!" Heaven knows how worried he was in the underground palace just now, and he was saddened for a while when he saw the wound on his forehead, but Ling Li still only regarded him as a reporter who came to grab a scoop on the news!

All of this caused Tao Rujiu to feel that her sincere efforts had been trampled upon, and she felt a suffocating heartache.