Zhong Yi—or rather—Yin Ren had rarely had such a moment of concentration.
He was ashamed to say, but Lord Ghost King didn’t like to use his brain. He had wandered around in the wilderness before and didn’t have the habit of thinking deeply. After entering the world, his opponents were nothing more than humans. Relying on hundreds of years of experience in communicating with humans, Yin Ren was able to deal with things freely.
As for using strategy to fight for power and profit, similar ideas never entered his mind.
After all, there was nothing more relaxing in the world than “lying on the sofa and not wanting anything”. If there was, then the first part of that sentence would be changed to “lying on Zhong Chengshuo”, and the second half would remain resolutely unchanged.
Now that Zhong Chengshuo knew his identity, everything was subtly relaxed.
Yin Ren was even a little thankful for Sunken Society that allowed his identity to be exposed. Otherwise, if they were walking down the street one day while chewing on some popsicles and he suddenly said, “Actually, I’m the Great Celestial Master Zhong Yi”, it was hard to tell how Zhong Chengshuo would react.
His Comrade Xiao Zhong was a genuine science post.
Even if Zhong Chengshuo was blinded by his feelings and was willing to believe him without any evidence, for a good young man with strong roots, the so-called “Celestial Master Zhong Yi” was far less impactful than a “humanoid Evil Spirit”.
Then Zhong Chengshuo may just have the same surname, which might not be much different from “A dog biting Lu Dongbin*”…
*(被狗咬的吕洞宾) Originally meaning that two people don’t know each other’s thoughts so they misunderstand. Now used to refer to someone who doesn’t know good from bad.
Yin Ren had paid attention. The “Zhong Yi” of this era was just a statue of a deity, a wall painting in a cultivator’s home, or a few pages of legend in a library; closer to a symbol.
The place where he had the strongest sense of existence was nothing less than a summary from the 100-year work report… Ah, no, <The Book of Exorcism>.
Those reports had been edited and sorted by the relevant personnel of Huajisi, and many people had compiled other discoveries in later generations. They gave the author’s name to Yin Ren and let it pass through prosperous and troubled times, continuing to this day.
But that was about it.
Previously, Huajisi said that they made a statue of him and placed it in the most conspicuous position in their lobby as a sign of respect. Today, there were only large electronic screens showing various information and news in the hall of Shian.
…Well, he was thinking too far.
It was imperative to get out first and uncover the evil thing behind the scenes.
Yin Ren suppressed his aura well. He met his 1,000-year-old cushion, but it didn’t seem to recognize him. That thing swelled itself and was chasing after them plaintively. The “eyeball” was covered with purple and black flakes that looked like silk ribbons.
Yin Ren knew Yellow Millet better than anyone else. That thing’s intelligence was flimsier than a dog’s, and it was lazy as hell.
Right now, Yellow Millet was instigated by the evil thing behind the scenes and was chasing them like a dog. However, it didn’t use any spells because it was 100% lazy. If it couldn’t catch up for a while, it would use all of its strength, which would make the situation more difficult.
Yin Ren thought humorously about how many times in one’s life one would get the chance to be chased by a sofa cushion.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t share this humor with the two ministers.
The architecture of the Ant Nest gradually became newer. The murals were so dense that they made them feel uncomfortable. The dry corpses were gathered in piles like trash, with dry filaments stuck between them. The lights of the everlasting lanterns were dazzling, and the interior of the rooms was full of a strange “popularity”, as if a researcher would turn in from outside the door in the next moment.
They were close to the edge of the Ant Nest, and the gap between the buildings was much larger than the previous tight seams.
More evil things gathered in the shadows and joined the killing team led by Yellow Millet. Odd figures popped out of the gap, surrounded by strong evil qi, and rushed towards the five of them with a murderous aura.
Fu Xingchuan controlled his levitation spell with one hand while quickly switching between attack and defense with the other. The attacking evil beings were swept away by waves like rainwater encountering windshield wipers.
Under high-speed travel, ordinary people would have to concentrate entirely just to identify their environment. This man was in his forties, yet his dynamic vision was simply terrifying.
This made Yin Ren even more relaxed.
They were quite close to the surface. With the strength of Fu Xingchuan, it wasn’t difficult to break through the ground. The hard part was to confirm whether there were residential buildings above them.
In the event of a residential building collapse, the two ministers wouldn’t have to worry about assigning execution missions any longer. Everyone would just pack up and leave Shian together.
Having said that, it was good that Fu Xingchuan was so preoccupied like this. He could take the opportunity to drop out and probe using his hair.
As long as Zhong Chengshuo was willing to cooperate with his act…
Yin Ren subconsciously moved his wrist.
Zhong Chengshuo held Yin Ren tightly, as if he were afraid he would suddenly evaporate at any moment. If the man hadn’t hugged the sampling backpack on his chest with so much force that he could strangle it, Yin Ren would actually have been moved.
He looked at Zhong Chengshuo for about half a second. The latter suddenly turned his head and stared at Yin Ren for a moment, then shook his head gently.
“Now’s not the time.” Zhong Chengshuo mouthed.
“Be careful of surveillance from Sunken Society.”
Sure enough, compared with before, Zhong Chengshuo’s attitude toward him hadn’t changed much.
After this person cautiously instructed Yin Ren, he turned his head calmly. His soft bangs were blown about by the wind, and the flames from the everlasting lanterns danced around his lenses.
They happened to be leaping over a rugged, narrow path. An evil thing was cut in half by Fu Xingchuan. Ghost blood splashed on Zhong Chengshuo’s face like ink. Like water droplets touching a lotus leaf, those dark blood beads rolled off the skin and fell into the darkness.
Just when Yin Ren thought Zhong Chengshuo was going to stay put, the man opened his mouth and was unusually solemn…
“Minister Li, we can blow up the building.”
This person had a gentle and harmless appearance, but he spoke more ruthlessly than anyone else. Wasn’t the Archive already such a big explosion? Zhong Chengshuo’s macroscopic view was too large!
Fu Xingchuan, Li Nian: “…?”
Hearing such treacherous remarks, Fu Xingchuan’s movements stagnated for a second. The direction of the levitation spell changed slightly as the five of them passed under the low eaves, almost becoming a bunch of radishes strung out to dry under the eaves.
Unexpectedly, not long after Li Radish, who was named, responded, “It’s a way.”
Fu Xingchuan seemed to want to cover his face. Since his hands were still frantically performing spells, he simply endured. “Okay, Xiao Zhong. Let’s hear it.”
Zhong Chengshuo: “The above ground group will create huge shocks in no man’s land so we can immediately determine the direction and forcefully break through.”
“Yes, there are many abandoned buildings in the center of the mountain town. They just need to disperse the townsfolk,” Li Nian added with a frown.
Fu Xingchuan’s expression was complicated. He glanced at Zhong Chengshuo from the corner of his eye.
There was nothing wrong with the logic of Zhong Chengshuo’s idea, but being able to come up with this type of solution in the first place was certainly a problem in and of itself.
There was something missing in his tone, as if he wasn’t talking about a real mountain town but a level that needed to be knocked out in a game. The nature of Shian’s personnel’s instinct for maintaining order was deeply engraved in their bones, so it was truly difficult to think of… an action with such destructive tendencies.
This kid…
Fu Xingchuan muttered in his heart but didn’t waste even half a second.
“Xiang Jiang, come in. Where are you?”
……
On the surface, three Shian personnel plus a panting Mayor Ren were shuttling back and forth among the ruins of buildings.
The residents of the town seemed to have been possessed. It was obviously a working day, but the men, women, and children in the town seemed to have nothing to do. They kept gathering at the center of the town with all kinds of objects that could be considered weapons in their hands.
Some people still wore their indoor slippers and had uncleared foam on their hair as they joined the army that was chasing them.
Every time the four of them moved a little, those heads would follow their movements in a neat manner. A thousand pairs of eyes stared at their group.
One person’s pursuit could be called “intentional killing”, while a group of people’s pursuit was considered “hunting”. From Ge Tingting’s point of view, the current scene was already in the realm of a “siege”.
Before receiving Fu Xingchuan’s communication, Shian’s “ground team” was parked on the top of an abandoned office building.
The building was eight stories high and was inlaid with expensive glass curtain walls. It had been abandoned for some time, as climbing vines had drilled in and out of the windows and the old air-conditioner had merged with a bird’s nest. It had long since become a paradise for animals and plants. The chains locking the doors couldn’t prevent the townspeople from breaking in.
Even though the elevator no longer worked, the group of townsfolk ran up the stairs tirelessly.
Ge Tingting listened nervously to the faint sounds of their footsteps. No one spoke in the corridor; only the sounds of weapons colliding and panting could be heard. The townspeople approached them mechanically, reminding her of a movie showing a zombie siege she had just watched a while ago.
It was truly worthy of being a site of Sunken Society, as it accurately hit Shian’s weakness. The townspeople wanted to tear them to pieces, while the staff of Shian weren’t allowed to hurt them and could only flee in panic.
In the previous escape, every time the townspeople rushed to the rooftop, Xiang Jiang would pop out a spirit weapon and swing them to the nearest roof of the next building. The townspeople began to catch on and would squat on nearby rooftops.
Finally, they couldn’t escape.
Before they knew it, they were forced into the very center of the mountain town. The circular line rumbled around them; the sound and mist intertwined to form a heavy cage.
Those mostly aging figures stood on the rooftops of nearby buildings, all facing the direction of the office building. They either had their heads raised or lowered, and their eyes were tightly tied to the four of them as if they were bound by invisible ropes.
The mist at the bottom of the building shook like waves.
No matter how strong a person was, as long as they were mortal, their strength would be limited. This group of people wanted to grind them to death—they had been at the bottom of society for too long that even Ge Tingting and Huang Jin had reacted quickly to their malice.
Just like that, they had stopped on the eight floors of the office building for a few minutes. Before they could even catch their breath, the door of the rooftop creaked. Xiang Jiang didn’t turn his head back and arranged his spirit weapon again with a blank face.
Ge Tingting pursed her lips tightly and looked over worriedly, but she only saw the man frowning tightly. The expression on his face was more one of disgust, like he was looking at dirty things rather than exhaustion.
The disgust disappeared quickly. When Ge Tingting wiped the sweat from her eyes with her sleeve, Xiang Jiang’s face returned to blankness again.
A dark red rope as thick as a thumb popped towards a nearby rooftop. Xiang Jiang quietly performed a levitating spell.
It was unknown whether he had consumed too much mental energy leading the townspeople across the mountain town, but the red rope swayed weakly a few times, but failed to latch onto the adjacent building and softly fell between the gap.
Xiang Jiang retracted the rope with a sullen face and turned around.
Seeing that the situation wasn’t good, Huang Jin gritted his teeth and took out a picture of a crimson paper cutout. The paper cutout twisted and unfolded itself, turning into a circle of small people holding hands in a circle. It trembled and slowly rotated as it surrounded the four people in the middle.
On the roof, to the right of them, were about six town residents waiting in a line, which was the “breakthrough” with the fewest people.
The father and daughter who sold them the donuts were among them; their greasy aprons was particularly conspicuous.
The father wielded a wide-back cleaver used for mincing meat, while the daughter held two long chopsticks with sharpened ends. At first, the expressions on their faces were slightly different. The father’s face was full of pleasure, while the daughter showed some resistance.
But after a while, only the same dazed state remained on their faces. Ge Tingting raised her eyes and looked again. Around them, everyone showed exactly the same emotions. It wasn’t hatred but was closer to despair and sorrow.
The townspeople who besieged them were men, women, and children; old and young, with different heights and weights. The different facial features of the people blurred and gradually changed into one appearance. It was like copying the same expression and forcibly pasting it onto all the townspeople’s faces.
The residents struggled to get closer, but their bodies were stopped by the red paper circles. However, they seemed to be tireless and felt no pain, and they continued to squeeze persistently through the barrier.
Ren Jiying wasn’t affected, but she was terrified. Along the way, she couldn’t even muster up any questions to ask, probably because she was putting all her courage into running.
At this moment, the headsets of several people trembled.
“Blow up a ruined building.” Fu Xingchuan paused. “Show us a way.”
“This place has a lot of problems. If it continues to drag on, something will definitely happen.”
Zhong Chengshuo closed his eyes and continued to think amidst the strong winds.
Yin Ren, originally a human evil being, had the ability to drive many evil things.
From ancient times to the present, people would do whatever it took to pursue power. With such an attractive case in front of them, Sunken Society was naturally willing to study it for thousands of years. This, Zhong Chengshuo could fully understand.
Now it seemed that Sunken Society may have successfully created an imitation.
The imitation’s intelligence was quite high, commanded many evil beings, and expelled possible threats. It felt like there was a faint sense of déjà vu.
In the alternation of lights and shadows, Zhong Chengshuo opened his eyes again. The eyes behind the lens didn’t have a semi-gloss.
Alone, spirits and monsters were always with you. As you walked in the world, the gods would appear and disappear like ghosts, ensuring safety in all directions.
…Zhong Yi.
During the Gong Dynasty, the Great Celestial Master Zhong Yi pacified the six Evil Spirits alone. As long as anyone knew something about the metaphysical world, they wouldn’t be able to avoid the legend of the Great Celestial Master.
As “King Yama” of the Nightwalkers, Zhong Chengshuo was even more familiar with these legends.
The Evil Spirits couldn’t be looked at directly, so no one had witnessed the scene back then. Not even Zhong Yi’s own information was handed down to future generations.
Just like all strange people, Zhong Yi’s life could only be described with a few words…
He was born in a remote mountain village with divine power. He exorcized evil spirits and demons all year round and was invincible in battle. He was known as a “Stranger”. After serving in Huajisi, the emperor bestowed him the surname “Zhong” and he was called Zhong Yi ever since.
There weren’t any records that contained his real name. As for Zhong Yi’s appearance, it was circulated by numerous statues and paintings that there were countless iterations of him.
There wasn’t much serious information about this person, but there were many legends and anecdotes. Because of his wild appearance and fierce deeds, except for the metaphysical circle, most folks use his stories to scare children.
It was a closed mountain village that first spread the legend of Zhong Yi.
It was said that not long after Zhong Yi’s mother was pregnant, she ran into an evil spirit in the mountains and became crazy. The villagers tried to take care of her, but the lunatic ran away. Eventually, the woman disappeared into the mountain forest, where evil things were rampant, and no one had seen her alive since then.
Until one day, a woodcutter heard a toddler crying in the mountains. He followed the sound and found a broken female corpse that was shrunken around a baby. When the baby was found by the woodcutter, he saw that there were remnants of evil claws left on the baby’s mouth.
The woodcutter was so scared that he fled. When he returned home, he became seriously ill and died within a few days.
Unfortunately, the story didn’t continue further. People would only say that after Zhong Yi grew up, he often missed his hometown, and every year he would return to the mountain village and slay demons there.
Most of the descendants regarded this as a routine story to show a great man’s morality and simply laughed it off.
But was it really just a story?
In the Ant Den, many evil things chased after them among the carved columns and murals that spanned time. The pale, cold mist surged around, and the illusion of the ancient village in the Archive returned…
At the forefront of countless evil things, a red figure staggered forward, with bells ringing on its ankles. The evil things bowed their bodies respectfully, following the muddy path through the mountain village.
That figure would stop at the door and bang slowly on it, as if knocking.
[When the red light is on and the green light is burning, every household closes their door.]
[At midnight, when the fruit ripens, be careful what you say with your back to the door.]
[Pray for tranquility, wish for good fortune, and shut your eyes so you can’t see.]
[The rooster crows, with footsteps far away, that comes back next year to report the peace.]
Comes back next year to report the peace…
In the illusion, there was only the wreckage of the mountain village. According to the ballad at the time, before the destruction of that small mountain village, he would visit it every year.
Once a year, the villagers would offer fruits and vegetables and make a wish for him.
It was like a transaction.
“Red light barters; green light dispels evil”, “Separated by the threshold, they don’t see each other”… To this day, the story of that year was swallowed by history, yet similar customs were still preserved in the world.
Exaggerated portraits, lost information, and an illusory folk legend that villains continue to chase for thousands of years.
Zhong Chengshuo raised his head and looked at the seemingly endless doors and windows of the Ant Nest again.
Although there were still countless puzzles scattered outside, those that he knew were gradually completed, spelling out a crimson, inhuman eye.
The most powerful legend of mankind, the amazingly talented Grand Celestial Master, may not have been human before he became the “Great Celestial Master”.
The situation was almost clear. At this moment, Zhong Chengshuo only had one thing left to determine…
After all, the answers to his puzzles were all within reach. It was the first time he had been able to get personal confirmation from his “research subject”.
Zhong Chengshuo moved his fingers slightly, pressing them against the palm of Yin Ren’s warm skin.
“Yin Ren.”
“Hmm?” Yin Ren was drowsy from the wind. He squinted his eyes, and there was a bit of a nasal sound in his response.
“Is that you?” Since there was someone at his side, Zhong Chengshuo asked vaguely.
“What is…”
Yin Ren swallowed two sips of wind and became instantly sober. His partner knew that he was the “figure in red”, but Zhong Chengshuo still asked.
Is that you?
Sure enough, this kid noticed something.
Yin Ren turned his head. In the faint light that ran through thousands of years, he put an index finger on his upper lip and gently pressed it there.
“Shh—”
Zhong Chengshuo had never looked at him so seriously. In the warm light, there was no arrogance or solemnity of being a legendary powerhouse in those eyes; only a little cunningness as if he had achieved something in his mischief.
It is you.
He couldn’t help but tighten his fingers. The swelling excitement almost made his heart burst.
Yin Ren sighed. Zhong Chengshuo held his hand so hard that he almost broke the skin. In the next instant, Zhong Chengshuo seemed to be aware of something and quickly let go of his strength.
Yin Ren had a subtle illusion—it seemed that it wasn’t his fingers that Zhong Chengshuo loosened just now but his fangs that were about to bite down.
……
Not long ago, in Haigu, underground of a certain company.
The entrance of the entire underground was hung with a sign labeled: [Second to Fifth Department of Technology] and a sign of [R&D Center, authorized personnel only] posted under the first sign.
Countless rooms were neatly stacked underground, surrounded by air, water, and electricity as if they were blood vessels. The indicator lights on the machinery were obviously extinguished, and invisible data flowed in the air.
Behind the door with the sign [Technology Department II-B2219] incandescent lights illuminated the room. One wall was embedded with gleaming machinery, which was similar to the style of the rear commander of Shian.
Unlike Shian, there were five to six people sitting in front of the machine.
They all had cigarettes in their mouths, and the collars under their shirts hung from their necks like wilted leaves. These people had different expressions, but there was a numb look hidden in their eyes.
The room had no windows and relied on the air conditioner for ventilation. Accompanied by tapping keyboard sounds, the smell of smoke, sweat, and coffee mixed together, and the cold air from the air conditioner that stirred up and down, it all formed a subtle atmosphere of an internet café.
The entire surveillance wall flickered continuously, and the images on the screen were images from all corners of Gengsheng Town.
The townspeople had taken to the streets, moving staggeringly. The screen appeared to be affected by electromagnetic interference. The fog originally flowed around the mountain town, but this time it poured into the town like a milky white ocean.
On the next wall, the values on the big screen kept rising. Huge skeletons straightened their bodies; their thin, giant figures shook violently, like grass in the wind. Floating cloud-like evil objects crashed into abandoned buildings.
It wasn’t dark yet, but the commotion of evil things in the town was surging.
There weren’t many cameras underground, and many detection devices that had been installed had been rendered useless. Gengsheng Town seemed to have been thrown into a frying pan. No matter whether it was above or underground, all the values fluctuated wildly like a roller coaster.
“The ‘Guardian’ of Gengsheng Town is angered.” A middle-aged man with a combover coughed twice.
“What’s going on? These readings underground are too outrageous. Didn’t the top tell us to mess with the two newcomers? Why are we following this kind of master?”
In front of the underground data monitoring screen, a young man with blonde hair bit his fingers hard. He only had four fingers in each hand and nubs on his remaining ones, which looked like they had been chopped off by a knife.
“The newcomer’s execution mission is matched with three people from the Emergency Department. This is too insane… It was originally supposed to be dealing with Snake Swallowing, but now it has dragged on to an Ant Nest where we can’t even take a piss.”
As the surveillance department of Sunken Society, their job was clear.
The two targets were sent into the depths of the cave, and Shian would inevitably send “undercover” veterans to rescue them. As long as the veterans were killed and the two targets were unharmed—with this alone, no matter whether Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo had secrets or not, their path to “promotion” would be cut off.
They only needed to monitor and report the latest situation in a timely manner, and someone would cast doubt on the two newcomers. There was no need to worry about whether they would recognize the truth, as Shian would most likely kick them out.
When the members of Sunken Society discovered that Qi Xin, an innocent clerk, was also involved, they almost opened champagne to celebrate. Involving the lives of innocent people was Shian’s bottom line.
As a result, this group of people were like cockroaches. Yellow Millet had been chasing them for so long yet there was no flaw in the front line.
“Minister Zou?” Another young man with a horse face asked.
“Minister Zou is on a business trip.”
Horse face: “Then who can make a decision on this matter? The ‘Guardian’ won’t listen to our orders, and if things get too serious, everything will be over.”
“Haa…” This time it was a haggard woman who sighed.
“What the hell is that evil thing called the ‘Guardian’?” The woman drooped her brows. “Except for our group, there must be thousands of people in charge of upgrading the town, right? It’s been so long, and batch after batch of experimental subjects have been tested, but the ‘finished product’ is hidden and not shown. Now it seems to be going out of control, and we don’t know anything and can’t do anything.”
“Don’t ask things you shouldn’t.”
The combover man put out his cigarette butt and exhaled a large cloud of green smoke.
“If you want to keep your life, it’s better to know less. The higher-ups have tacitly agreed to escalate the chaos to this point, so they must have their own plans.”
……
“Do you have any comments on my proposal just now?”
At the Haigu branch of Sunken Society, Wei Huaqian checked the report with interest and casually said into the phone.
“…Fu Xingchuan and Li Nian appeared in Gengsheng Town so you want to trade the Gengsheng Town project for their lives.” Minister Zou, who was currently on a “business trip”, was sitting in a speeding car with his ears glued to his phone.
“Yes. Those two are willing to execute the newcomers, so why shouldn’t I take advantage of it?” Wei Huaqian’s voice came from the speaker. “Besides, there’s something wrong with Gengsheng Town. This is a good deal… After all, that thing is just an imitation, and it has long lost its sanity.”
“…..”
“Distressed?”
“The project of Gengsheng Town has been intermittent for thousands of years. This year is my tenth year in charge. It would be a lie to say I don’t care about it,” Minister Zou said. “But the state of the ‘Guardian’ is indeed unstable, and it’ll cause trouble sooner or later, so fair enough.”
“Nn.”
“However,” Minister Zou changed the subject, “in order to take care of the ‘Guardian’, our department has invested tens of millions. Since your Haigu branch wants to give up in advance, you have to take out some bargaining chips.”
Wei Huaqian snorted without surprise.
“Your requests?”
“I want to go through the ‘original’ records of your Haigu branch.” Minister Zou stood in front of a barren, wild mountain. “The text and materials of the Ant Nest in Gengsheng Town are all kept by you, and they are not in our database.”
“I have been guarding the imitation product in Gengsheng Town for a decade. I want to see the real product.”
“Yes, but they are stored in the mountain area west of the city, so you have to go see them alone.” Wei Huaqian laughed.
Minister Zou also laughed back. “Sometimes I envy Shian. They share information so happily.”
“In this case, we also have the spirit of sharing,” Wei Huaqian said slowly. “It’s just that for extremely sensitive information, Shian also has their own confidentiality level.”
“The information you want to see are records of ‘limit of power’ in human history, one of our ultimate goals. They all say that there are gods standing above our heads, so it’s better to respect them.”
Wei Huaqian took a sip of tea and gently placed the teacup on the wooden table. Through the glass filled with tea, the original dark red wooden table looked a bit brighter.
Unfortunately, it was far from the red he had seen at first.
After a few casual instructions, Wei Huaqian hung up. The order to fully activate Gengsheng Town had been issued, and the ‘Evil Guardian’ had gone crazy. Within two hours, he would be able to see the ugliness of the two masters of Shian.
There was a saying referring to raising soldiers for thousands of days and only use them for a while*; raising an “Evil Spirit” was roughly the same. Even if “that thing” in Gengsheng Town was a failure, it wasn’t something normal humans like Fu Xingchuan could handle.
*(养兵千日，用兵一时) Idiom referring to saving strength at ordinary times and using it when necessary.
Wei Huaqian relaxed his nerves a little and lay on the sofa next to the wooden table.
He bit his finger, drew a blood symbol on his brows, and began to remember the shocking records again.
Unlike Shian, who had lost their data, there were images of the figure in red left in the Ant Nest. The murals were just “photos” for reference. The more important information had been carefully transferred to other places after being sunk…
It was a dialogue with the “figure in red” that had been going on for hundreds of years.
As the manager of Sunken Society of the Haigu branch, Wei Huaqian watched the record for the first time.
……
More than 1,300 years ago, in the middle of summer, the wasteland.
There was a large Yellow Millet slumped between the branches, looking like a colorful cushion. A man was reclining on Yellow Millet, holding a half-eaten watermelon tightly in his arms and trying to read scripts through his eyehole.
The man had a mask full of runes on his face, and two layers of red cloth wrapped around his body with weird seals hung around them, barely shaping a human form. Even so, the compelling Evil Spirit still infected a coldness all around.
It was summer, but the branches and leaves of the tree had withered, and there was a thin layer of frost that appeared on the surface of the leaves.
Groups of fat, evil things lay under the trees. If they were swapped for animals, the scene might be a bit more gratifying. However, since it was those hideous creatures, it only added more horror to the picture. About three to four children wearing doll hoods hid behind the tree; their huge hoods were mainly exposed, and their exaggerated smiling faces were covered with dust.
An envoy of Sunken Society kneeled respectfully under the tree.
“…Master Zhong Yi,” the man called cautiously.
“Master Zhong Yi, Master Zhong Yi.” The man on the tree didn’t respond for a long time, and there was a bit of suppressed irritability in the voice of the envoy of Sunken Society.
“Master Zhong Yi—”
“Oh, you called me.” The man on the tree suddenly became aware and put down his notebook and watermelon. “…Wow, an actual living person!”
The envoy of Sunken Society: “……”
Zhong Yi gestured, and Yellow Millet slid down from the tree, spreading itself into a soft ball. Then Zhong Yi rolled his body carelessly and fell on Yellow Millet’s body in all directions.
Wrapped in layers of seals, he stood up with some difficulty and approached the envoy of Sunken Society.
“Aren’t you uncomfortable getting close to me like this?” he asked beamingly. “Could it be that my newly thought seal worked… Wait.”
In Zhong Yi’s voice, the original high mood dropped. He leaned down and observed carefully for a moment. “What, a spell to stop disasters and transfer all bad luck from encountering evil beings to others… How boring. You can leave.”
The envoy of Sunken Society: “…Master Zhong Yi, I haven’t said anything yet.”
“Then say it.” The red figure sat on Yellow Millet, which made a soft puff. “Get down to business then.”
“My lord, I’m a priest of Sunken Society and have admired you for a long time. Your Lordship has been abandoned by the world and cannot fully enjoy the world of mortals. We are willing to share the worries of Your Lordship…”
“What? What abandonment?”
Zhong Yi’s tone was surprised.
“You brought your own disaster-proof talisman just to tell me this… Most people who run into me will soon meet King Yama. Isn’t it normal to hide from me? What, are you guys the type who, ‘although people may die, you’ll rush to do business anyway’?”
It may be that because he hadn’t seen anyone for so long, Zhong Yi couldn’t stop grumbling. The content included but wasn’t limited to “I don’t want to destroy it myself” and “Peace is precious, don’t you get it?” and the like, but there was also a bit of earnestness in them.
There was a layer of sweat on the envoy of Sunken Society—Yellow Millet alone was enough to cause a great catastrophe, yet it turned out that it was being used as a chair cushion for the person in front of him, and very happily at that.
“My Lord, doesn’t know…” The envoy quickly changed the subject. “The current emperor is stupid, the people are miserable, and Huajisi has done nothing. If Your Lordship is willing to come back with us…”
“Hey, Huajisi is not responsible for that kind of thing.” Zhong Yi shook his head. “Since you can’t stand it anymore, you should recruit talents and form a rebellion. It’s none of my business if the Emperor is stupid.”
“The people are suffering—”
“If I personally intervene, they’ll suffer ten times more,” Zhong Yi said sincerely.
The envoy frantically wiped his sweat with his sleeve and changed the subject again. “The legality of the gods is still there. Your Lordship suffers from corrosion by Evil Force every day. We have done a lot of research on this and can help you out of this sea of suffering…”
This time, his statement was quite practical.
Wei Huaqian clearly knew that Evil Force was like arsenic. If exposed to a huge amount over a short period of time, the body would quickly collapse.
If people wanted to survive, they could slowly “pickle” themselves with the environment and gradually allow themselves to adapt. The so-called Divine Descent was nothing more than an excellent “pickling environment” formed by natural disasters.
But there were also side effects—short-term exposure to a lot of Evil Force could cause the body to become disordered and collapse. The brain would not be able to respond in time, causing paralyzing effects. To coexist with the invading Evil Force for a long time, it was necessary to endure the suffering of the heart daily.
Zhong Yi wasn’t as relaxed as he had shown.
However, the so-called “Great Celestial Master” didn’t buy this spiel, and it was obvious he was irritated by having it mentioned.
The momentum around Zhong Yi’s body changed.
Although it was only a video recording, the overwhelming momentum was still shocking—with Zhong Yi as the center, the surrounding grass and trees quickly withered and decayed. The reptiles on the ground turned over, and the birds dropped one by one from the sky. The former turned into empty husks blown away by the wind, while the latter’s white bones were slanted on the ground.
“You have quite the tongue, daring to treat me like a three-year-old child.”
Zhong Yi’s voice sank.
“Huajisi heals evil spirits that invade the body and comes up with hundreds of medical records to help the common people. What about you? You only know how to experiment with the living and call it ‘thorough research’. I’m not interested. Leave.”
Yellow Millet was discerning. It crawled back to the tree and stretched itself into a cushion. Zhong Yi returned to the dead tree using a levitating spell and continued to read his script.
“I thought you wanted to meet me at the expense of your life so you could bring some news about ghosts and evil spirits and perhaps have a meal together.” Zhong Yi sighed softly. “What a pity… If you don’t leave, those terrible things by my side will fuck you up.”
……
More than 1,200 years ago, in autumn, deep in the mountains.
The red cloth on Zhong Yi’s body was more than a dozen layers thicker. He had wrapped himself in a dark red cocoon, completely devoid of human form.
When the envoy of Sunken Society found him, he was putting his exposed feet into a stream. The clear stream rushed past his feet as the legendary Great Celestial Master lay on his back by the riverbank like a loveless red bean worm.
There was a lot of special ink and white paper scattered around him. A wooden bird, which was used to send messages, was pressed on the paper, and there was a large ink stain on its wings. Yellow Millet blocked the wind on the side of the white paper, so that the paper wouldn’t be blown away by the mountain wind.
Evil things stood in a row farther away, trying to stretch their bodies and showing details of their appearances.
There were vivid stick figures drawn on the rice paper under their feet, but it was a pity that they were accompanied by more than a dozen lines of bad characters that looked like dogs crawling. From this distance, the envoy could see a little more clearly. The brief introductions and weaknesses of various evil things were written on them in extremely large white characters.
In many places, he didn’t seem good at writing, so he had to use specious small images instead.
“Great Celestial Master.”
The envoy’s voice was calm and humble.
“You guys again.” Zhong Yi snorted. “How many lives did you take on this trip to stop the disaster?”
Compared with before, there was a slight weakness in his voice.
“We have detected signs of an Evil Spirit along the coast,” the envoy said. “I came to ask the Great Celestial Master to help pacify the disaster and return the land to peace.”
“You…” Zhong Yi paused strangely before he finished speaking. He thought for a moment and cleared his throat. “Easy for you to say. First help me write fifteen pages; then I’ll be willing to talk to you in detail.”
Envoy: “?”
“Huajisi’s records on evil beings have to be handed in every half a month,” Zhong Yi said deeply. “Today’s the deadline.”
Envoy: “…?” Half a month, fifteen pages… You haven’t written a single page, have you?
However, the envoys who came to see the Great Celestial Master were all carefully selected. The envoy patiently wrote on the pieces of paper following Zhong Yi’s narration.
Seeing that the envoy was silent, several children with big-headed doll hoods came running over and crowded together to watch.
“Go back!” Zhong Yi gestured them away.
The envoy humbly asked, “What evil things are they?”
“Just homeless children.” Zhong Yi’s attitude improved quite a bit after seeing the envoy’s hard work. “Their minds aren’t open yet, so they are affected less. I’ve put layers of seals on their hoods and clothing, so it’s not a problem.”
“But according to our estimation, even children can’t spend more than 91 days with Your Lordship. Otherwise, they will likely die,” the messenger said tentatively.
Zhong Yi became solemn. “Do you know what this means?”
“I hope the Great Celestial Master will enlighten me.”
“This means that we can walk together for eighty days, nearly three months.” Zhong Yi sounded happy.
“I teach them some spells, and they teach me things about the outside world. It’s quite interesting.”
The envoy paused and didn’t speak again.
Half an hour passed. The envoy from Sunken Society finished writing the fifteen-page report on evil things. Celestial Master Zhong said “Ah!”, and responded to the news of the Evil Spirit on the coast. Huajisi had just sent a letter this morning. In view of worldly customs that dictated “first come, first served”, he could only refuse the meeting with Sunken Society.
“However, you have memorized the characteristics and solution of these fifteen evil things, so it wasn’t a loss.”
Zhong Yi laid back on the riverbank and immersed his feet in water again, splashing it around.
The messenger nodded gently as he signaled with his hand hidden in his sleeve. The sky suddenly darkened, and a giant evil thing suddenly descended from behind the clouds and went straight towards the children.
Who would have thought that Zhong Yi didn’t panic at all? He maintained his lying positions and yelled at the group of evil things.
“Dinner!” he said happily.
Immediately afterwards, he kicked the water with his left foot, and several ice arrows shot out, landing right into the hand of the envoy who was holding a talisman.
“You can also eat this one here.” Zhong Yi tilted his head toward the envoy with difficulty as he happily added.
Countless evil things rose into the sky and swirled out of the vortex. The giant evil thing that Sunken Society had nurtured was torn apart, leaving behind a dark rain of blood that fell from the sky. Under the blood rain, Zhong Yi straightened his body freely; the crimson fabric around him wasn’t stained with a single drop of ghost blood.
Invisible evil spirits raged everywhere, causing the stream to splash up waves more than three meters high. The dead leaves in the late autumn shot wildly like hidden weapons, hitting against trunks with loud cracks. Several fragile trees broke off and turned a corrupt brown-black color.
The envoy was held in place and couldn’t move as several zombies rushed forward enthusiastically. The picture ended with a mouthful of withered yellow teeth.
……
More than 1,100 years ago, in midwinter, on a rocky beach.
The seal around Zhong Yi’s body was like annual rings, covering him to a height of more than three meters.
There were no longer children around him; only groups of evil things. Zhong Yi sat on the soft Yellow Millet and flew slowly against the ground as the evil procession slowly walked through the thick ice surface. Looking from a distance, it looked like a long strip of colorful flags.
That person had become stronger.
The mist slid against the ice surface, and a trace of blood rolled out from time to time. Just looking at Zhong Yi from a distance, a kind of destructive fear would penetrate the bones in an instant.
Even a spectator like Wei Huaqian, who had traveled for thousands of years, would be infected by that weird fear and forget to breathe for a while.
It wasn’t an envoy that Sunken Society had sent this time.
They held a grand blood-sacrifice ceremony in the center of the glacier.
One hundred and eight men and women were naked with runes painted on their skin. They walked on stilts made of locust wood; their lower bodies were surrounded by fresh internal organs from nowhere; their legs were deeply cut; and the soles of their feet were pierced by wooden nails on the stilts. Steaming blood flowed down from the stilts, covering the thick ice with black and red blood.
They formed a circle, and in the center, where the blood was densest, was an extremely neat tower of human corpses. Despite the description, the corpses were immaculately clean and were frozen into a blueish white by the cold wind and were scored out of order. At a glance, it looked like a smooth stone.
Zhong Yi’s evil procession stopped before the blood sacrifice.
Facing those fanatical men and women, he clicked his tongue loudly.
“Specially making a blood sacrifice that summons an Evil Spirit? I thought everyone would have something to eat again,” Zhong Yi said sadly. “There’s obviously no Evil Spirit nearby… or do you suspect that I’m the Evil Spirit?”
The people of Sunken Society ignored him as they continued to sing their mantras frantically.
Zhong Yi swayed in place. He seemed to want to dig out his ears, but he couldn’t reach out.
“Forget it. I know my body well. I’m still half a living person.” His voice was mixed with fatigue and a smile. “Some time ago, I even predicted the date of my death—I can only live for six months, but an Evil Spirit wouldn’t be so short-lived.”
The members of Sunken Society were still singing madly.
“It’s a pity you didn’t use the disaster prevention technique this time. How unfortunate. Since you have seen me with your own eyes, you only have a few days left of your lives… hack, hack!”
At the end, he suppressed his cough.
“A monster like you…”
The man in the lead stopped singing and looked at Zhong Yi.
“A monster like you will only become a more dangerous monster after death. Huajisi must be crazy to have kept you until now.”
“Maybe it’s because Huajisi has a brain and knows what mutual benefit is, unlike you guys who are overly obsessive.”
Facing the blood and corpse tower, Zhong Yi was chatting calmly.
“As for after I die… becoming a fierce ghost is unlikely. People have to be obsessed to become ghosts, and I have already lived a very happy life.”
“As an Evil Spirit, well, that’s more terrifying. At that time, I’ll find a secluded place and die peacefully, leaving only a skeleton.”
“…Unlike you. You have nothing left.”
After he finished speaking, Zhong Yi added this in a hoarse voice.
“You wasted these hundreds of lives just to make this stupid test… It’s a pity that you’ll die here as well.”
Ring, ring, ring.
He jumped off Yellow Millet and stepped on the ice with his bare feet. The silver bell vibrated frantically on his ankle.
“Dinner,” Zhong Yi said with a smile.
As soon as his voice fell, a few circles of air blasts swept out in all directions, with Zhong Yi at the center. The mist on the ice was blown into circles, swaying like milky white flames. Behind Zhong Yi, Yellow Millet swelled into a round sphere, and its pupil suddenly dilated.
Around that person, some kind of invisible net seemed to be rising.
“But you have reminded me.”
In the murderous aura that was soaring, Zhong Yi murmured softly.
“I have to get myself a tombstone when I have time. And then I’ll write my own name—”
Before his sentence was finished, the recording was cut.
Like a tsunami of fear crashing down, before the evil things could touch the 108 people, they all fell straight onto the ice, breathless. They fell extremely neatly, adding a fence of locust wood made of human flesh around the corpse tower.
After the record was played, Wei Huaqian took a deep breath. He slowly opened his eyes and wiped off the blood mark on his forehead.
It was perfect. This was simply a human body that reproduces power comparable to the gods.
As for the pain corroded by the Evil Force, they now had many means to pass it on. Objectively speaking, the corrosion caused by the Evil Force allowed Zhong Yi to live without aging for more than three hundred years, far exceeding that of normal humans.
The Divine Descent thousands of years ago created a Zhong Yi. The Divine Descent twenty-eight years ago created their research result.
In contrast, the latter was inferior to Zhong Yi.
Their research had to continue.
Unfortunately, Zhong Yi was dead. He didn’t know how their creation would last against Zhong Yi when he was at his peak.
The author has something to say:
The ideal Great Celestial Master: Fighting evil for the safety of one side.
The real Great Celestial Master: It’s dinner time, everyone! Woohoo!
Kinky Thoughts:
So this is why Yin Ren likes the sofa so much. I didn’t expect Zhong Yi to be Yin Ren… which begs the question of the name…
The moment the vine broke, Zhong Chengshuo’s pupils shrank as if a string in his head seemed to snap.
The contemplative Li Nian, Fu Xingchuan’s shouting, and the motionless Qi Xin figures were all blurred in his vision, leaving only hazy shadows.
The dim research hall gradually turned into an equally dim underground research room.
The walls were full of the same information, except the murals on his walls weren’t murals but countless newspaper clippings, photos, and notes.
And among them, there was a corner that belonged to Yin Ren alone.
[…Yin Ren’s hair composition is exactly the same as human hair. Liang Shan didn’t distinguish the difference between them…]
[…As an evil being, Yin Ren has above-average human morality. He learns human culture and customs extremely quickly, is full of interest in the world, and isn’t averse to considering humans as sexual objects…]
[…In summary, Yin Ren must have, or have had, a part that belonged to humans.]
The square, horizontal grid paper was full of sharp pen characters.
When a person turned into an Evil Spirit, there had to be a complex internal situation. That was his most beautiful and complex puzzle. Zhong Chengshuo had thought about it in countless ways and wanted to stay with it as long as possible.
Miraculously, it was willing to stay for him.
So Zhong Chengshuo embraced supreme patience and pressed all his curiosity to the bottom of his heart. He was afraid that he might accidentally go too far and scare the puzzle away.
And now, his puzzle was like a bud, gently blooming a gap.
“It seems to be me.”
Not long ago, facing the “figure in red” surrounded by evil things in the mural, Yin Ren said this.
“It’s more reasonable to gather thousands of evil spirits to deal with an Evil Spirit together… I’m a bit confused. Which side is the ‘Ghost King’ who summons evil spirits really on?”
Facing Shian, who had no clue, Yin Ren was dropping hints again.
This line alone didn’t have much meaning, but if “It seems to be me”, referring to the figure in red, was added…
It seemed that Yin Ren had a deep relationship with the Great Celestial Master, who sealed the Six Evil Spirits back then.
Thousands of years ago, Yin Ren was an evil being that collaborated with the Great Celestial Master Zhong Yi?
Or was it that the Great Celestial Master Zhong Yi, whose reputation had lasted for thousands of years and who was close to “god”, was an evil being that was transformed from a human from the start?
The mummified corpses were approaching on the other side of the vine net. They rushed through the hole in the net with their mouths wide open. Zhong Chengshuo drew Yin Ren closer with one hand while covering his mouth with the other, hiding the excited corners of his mouth.
This was really… interesting.
Yin Ren gave enough hints, so the rest would depend on Shian’s reaction speed.
“Take action?” Fu Xingchuan didn’t pay attention to the three young people behind him as he asked Professor Li loudly.
Professor Li thought for a while. The zombies were about to scratch their faces. These were high-quality zombies that had been marinated in evil qi for hundreds of years. Who knew what the aftereffects would be if they were injured by them?
Even if they ignored the evil qi, bacterial infection was enough to make them go belly up.
Li Nian was buckling up the headset, completely ignoring him. Fu Xingchuan clicked his tongue and floated into the air. His gown was fluttering in the hot wind.
His hair tie was burned away by the flames, and his half-length hair was tumbling around. The scarlet flames quickly rotated and formed beside him, turning into a pair of huge qilin*.
*Also known as kirin, it is a legendary hooved chimerical creature that appears in Chinese mythology and is said to appear with the imminent arrival or passing of a sage or illustrious ruler. Qilin are a specific type of the lin mythological family of one-horned beasts.
The qilins’ feet were golden, and the end of the dragon’s tail was dyed with brilliant red flames. The two flame beasts bared their sharp claws, and their eyes flashed dazzling white light. They raised their heads and let out a loud roar.
The fire tore through the darkness, illuminating the research hall like day. Seeing that his hint had failed, Yin Ren was about to sigh—
The green willow branches on his wrist whizzed away.
Professor Li held the whip in both hands, and the wicker shot out. The verdant branch bound the qilins’ neck tightly, wrapping it around more than a dozen times.
The two flame qilins lowered their bodies and were about to pounce forward when their collars were pulled back. They howled as their claws scraped the ground in dissatisfaction.
Fu Xingchuan staggered with the pair of qilins, almost throwing himself at the evil things. He opened his mouth and hands to make a string of spells and said in shock, “Fuck me, Lao Li. Are you the mole?!”
Professor Li: “Shut up.”
Immediately afterwards, he took a deep breath. “Fu Xingchuan, if you hold on for another 15 minutes, I have an idea.”
“Are you sure?” Fu Xingchuan’s voice sank.
Zhong Chengshuo knew what he was asking.
If Li Nian misjudged, then Fu Xingchuan would consume his strength in vain while waiting. The situation was becoming more serious. If he and Yin Ren were just ordinary people, then the five of them might be buried in darkness because of his mistake.
“I believe in my judgment,” Li Nian replied.
He opened his backpack and quickly assembled rows of equipment, moving so fast that it was hard to see. The zombies roared and rushed towards him; their sharp nails almost scratched Li Nian’s eyes, but he didn’t blink.
“Zhong Chengshuo, why are you standing around in a daze?” Professor Li spoke sharply. “Help!”
He raised his hand and threw a bunch of detectors over. Zhong Chengshuo looked at them for two seconds to analyze what they were—a very basic module. For science posts, this belonged to physical work that wouldn’t make any mistakes as long as the brain wasn’t fried.
“This is?” Zhong Chengshuo cautiously tried to confirm.
“If these evil things are really being controlled, and it’s not a super-sized creature like an Evil Spirit that is controlling them… then the controller’s methods are definitely traceable.”
Li Nian’s hands were as steady as the machines. He even had time to answer Zhong Chengshuo’s inquiry, although his tone was impatient and there was even a hint of murderous intent.
“Fu Xingchuan didn’t find any clues, indicating the controller isn’t using conventional metaphysical methods. In this case, only data will not lie… Such a uniformed and desperate offensive method can’t be negotiated with evil things.”
And finding the control method, whether it was to cut it off or locate the source, would give them a direction.
Their hands were like spiders weaving a web. Ten minutes passed, and a simple detection wall was added in front of the mural. The folding instruments in the package were formed into a mesh, covering most of the mural. The ground lines were intertwined, and the power supply at the end was blinking between red and green.
Li Nian didn’t make the slightest mistake throughout the entire process. His movements seemed to be twice as fast. His fingertips were scratched by hard parts, and there were mottled bloodstains on the cold metal.
Fu Xingchuan’s fire qilins barely held their ground. Their position was compressed to a quarter of the hall, but none of the evil creatures crossed Fu Xingchuan’s line of defense.
“Are you ready? Remember to treat me to dinner when we return,” Minister Fu muttered.
Li Nian hummed perfunctorily and pushed the switch with his bloody fingertips.
“Hao Wenzhe, 60 seconds, analyze the data!” he ordered sharply.
……
Haigu, Shian Campus.
Lu Xiaohe was sweating profusely to the point where her blood almost coagulated.
She had no time to take care of the underground for the time being—there were two top Shian experts, as well as Hao Wenzhe addressing that. Since Xiang Jiang’s call, her attention had turned to the members of Unit 9 above ground.
The reference data from the underground was still jumping on the screen, and the continuous loud noises coming from the other side of the headset were as clear as ever in her ear.
Not long ago, she heard the story from Mayor Ren.
After the Divine Descent 28 years ago, the town lost its mine and declined rapidly. The previous mayor tried his best but failed to improve the town’s economy.
However, the decline of Gengsheng Town was relatively slow.
Ren Jiying said that this had something to do with the almost crazy xenophobia in the town—in such an atmosphere, the elderly were unwilling to leave even if they died. Most of the young people had to come back to provide for their loved ones, while a small number “betrayed” their hometown and never set foot back again.
There was no fresh blood pouring in, but not much was lost, so they just lived, while decaying slowly.
And the story stopped at the word “decaying”.
The sound of broken glass drowned out the rest of Ren Jiying’s words.
A wine bottle filled with lime smashed the window of the homestay and exploded in front of the four of them. Ren Jiying was almost smothered by the glass ballast. Fortunately, Xiang Jiang’s reaction was quick, and he was able to perform a protective spell.
“Heh,” Huang Jin gave a wry, feeble smile and retracted his head from the window. “It’s just the living.”
At some point, Ren Jiying’s homestay was crowded with residents of Gengsheng Town; most of them looked like the elderly.
“She let bad things in.” An old man’s voice, who was holding a shovel covered with sand, was blown into the glass hole by the wind.
“Yes, she brought bad people in.” An old lady who was holding a kitchen knife in her hand had an extremely exaggerated smile on her face.
“Sure enough, that bitch is no good.” A middle-aged man with a hammer tied around his back stroked his gray hair.
“A whore who’s blinded by money.” A woman holding a child had a sharp screwdriver in her pocket.
More and more townspeople gathered around the homestay. Several of them brought ladders from their homes to help others climb over the wall and enter the yard. Just looking at the scene outside the wall, these people could even be considered harmonious and friendly.
However, members of Unit 9 didn’t like this murderous “harmony and friendship”.
Ge Tingting imitated Huang Jin and stretched her head back and forth as sweat broke out on her brow. “Should we call the police?”
“It’s useless.” Ren Jiying was hiding in a gap against the wall between two windows. She had a wry smile on her round face. “If they dared come here, then the public security bureau had already been blocked. Believe me, it’s all old people in their seventies and eighties who are looking for death. It’s not easy to handle.”
Huang Jin’s eyes straightened. “But we can’t handle it either.”
Harming the masses was forbidden by Shian. To attack people, they had to have sufficient reasons—the so-called sufficient reasons were nothing more than extremely limited situations, such as “being possessed or controlled” or “becoming ill due to drugs or mental reasons”.
The people outside were behaving excessively, but there were signs that their sanity was blurred, so they couldn’t make a move.
“Lu Xiaohe, arrange an escape route.”
As soon as Xiang Jiang started the call, another wine bottle flew in. This time, the bottle smelled of smoke and gasoline.
Ren Jiying grabbed the flowerpot beside her and quickly poured the dirt onto the bottle. The flame was quickly extinguished, but the smoke in the house became heavier, triggering the smoke alarm.
“The crowd is on the opposite side. We must abandon this stronghold. There are two metaphysical posts and one science post here. We can’t walk on the ground as there may be evil creatures squatting outside ready to attack.”
Lu Xiaohe: “…Why is it so serious all of a sudden!”
Her colleagues underground were being besieged by evil things while her colleagues above ground were being besieged by the living. Her brain was almost divided in half.
“I don’t know,” Xiang Jiang said. “Perhaps Fu Xingchuan disturbed something, but we certainly didn’t trigger anything.”
Lu Xiaohe took two deep breaths as she pulled up the local satellite map. “First, use elevation to reach the tree canopy in the courtyard. Then go to the roof of the yellow building on the northwest side. After that, I’ll show you the way to the center of the town—there are many abandoned buildings over there, which can easily hide you.”
“Don’t use your technique too obviously. Be careful that someone might shoot you,” she added.
Unknown whether it was due to impatience or ridicule, but Xiang Jiang snorted and hung up.
On Lu Xiaohe’s screen, a few dots leaped out of the shady window on the second floor and moved to the canopy of the big tree. The floating mist around finally became useful. Everyone made their way to the roof of the next building. The entire process went smoothly.
“Lu Xiaohe. Sixty seconds. Help process the data!” Hao Wenzhe’s voice came from behind her.
“On it!” Lu Xiaohe shuddered as she answered with a bitter face.
Not far behind her, Hao Wenzhe was pounding on the keyboard so loudly that even Lu Xiaohe’s ears kept buzzing.
The wall in front of him was full of mechanical indicators. Countless waveforms and charts filled the screen. Lu Xiaohe was reading various indices; occasionally she would be distracted and look at the satellite thumbnail. Her temples were throbbing.
The group is moving. Safe route… What did this auxiliary reading represent? There seemed to be no trace of manipulation…. Dizzy. I want to throw up…
There were thirty seconds left.
Lu Xiaohe slapped her face hard, forcing herself to scan the data in the corners.
Her eyes jumped between the flashing numbers on the screen. The habits from the Archive hadn’t been eliminated. Her eyes would subconsciously gaze past the tables showing various emotional indices.
“Fear” and “Satisfaction”, as well as the four categories of “Evil”, “Sorrow”, “Joy”, and “Love”.
Her gaze froze.
Twenty seconds.
“The emotional readings of the hordes of evil things are highly abnormal!”
“The same on your side? Very good. It doesn’t seem to be a reading error.”
Ten seconds.
Lu Xiaohe frantically calculated the set of data as Hao Wenzhe’s screen flickered as if something had malfunctioned, but it was obviously still ruling out other possibilities.
Zero.
“Grief.”
Hao Wenzhe pressed enter, giving the answer as the rear commander.
“Traces of a control spell is zero. The possibility of violent coercion is extremely low. All the data is normal. Only the emotional value of the evil things has greatly deviated.”
“Depressed, dazed, sadness, hopelessness… all the emotions of ‘Grief’ seriously exceed the standard. They are driven by the same broad category of emotions and seem to regard you as the source of pain.”
Hao Wenzhe took a sip of wolfberry-soaked water and scratched his thinning hair. His fair facial features, thick eyebrows, and round eyes with slightly fat cheeks gave him a slight temperament like that of an unhappy flat-faced cat.
“There has never been such a control method in the information base… Unfortunately, the value of those living people can’t be measured here. Otherwise, I’m curious about the emotional index of the townspeople.”
“To break the situation, you need a special ability user of the emotional ‘resonance’ branch. As long as you can disturb the emotions of these things, they will wake up and disperse according to their nature.”
Li Nian: “We don’t have such a person.”
Fu Xingchuan was the strongest combat power in Haigu, while he was pure, natural, and corruption-free with no special abilities.
Hao Wenzhe: “I’m just saying it. It’s suffocating if I don’t tell you a solution. Oh, also, this kind of thing is not something a user of the ‘resonance’ branch can do. There are too many targets that a human brain simply can’t withstand that kind of level of calculation.”
“Deeply corrupted by Evil Force?”
“As long as you’re still ‘human’, you can’t do it. I can only say that there is indeed ‘something’ behind Gengsheng Town that is controlling the evil things. Catch the king first to get rid of the pawns*. You won’t be able to outlast just by dealing with the evil things.”
*(擒贼先擒王) Metaphor referring to grasping the key points in doing things. || In this case, it’s literally catching the mastermind behind who’s controlling the evil beings.
“You should give us a proper solution,” Fu Xingchuan interjected.
“They say that an oppressed army fighting with desperate courage is sure to win*. This kind of enemy is tricky. You two need to think of a way,” Hao Wenzhe said mercilessly. “I’m just an ignorant programmer.”
*(哀兵必胜) Idiom referring to when two sides fight, the sadder side, who is bullied, will rise up and resist and will surely win (AKA the underdog comes out on top).
“Compared to this, you’d better hurry up. Xiang Jiang and the others are surrounded by the living and urgently need more manpower.”
Fu Xingchuan: “…Tsk!”
Underground, he angrily retracted his hand. “At least we gain a bit. If we can’t fight these things, then we must put all our strength into escaping.”
“Hao Wenzhe, Lu Xiaohe, continue to check and try to locate the controller.” At any rate, the previous cultural relics had been preserved. Li Nian breathed a sigh of relief.
After figuring out the enemy’s tactics, they could at least find a suitable countermeasure against them. Next, they could see their tricks.
……
Ten seconds later, Zhong Chengshuo was once again wrapped in a levitation spell as he shot out of a window like a cannonball.
This time, Fu Xingchuan rushed to the front. After deciding on the tactics, he resolutely defended with all his strength, completely ignoring the evil environment. Li Nian quickly discerned the architectural style in the afterimage as the group sprinted in the order of old to new.
Yellow Millet wrapped up the flightless corpses and bit tightly behind the five of them. It changed its shape as it squeezed through the gaps of buildings, like a liquid. The sense of oppression was close to that of an asteroid.
Zhong Chengshuo clenched Yin Ren’s wrist tightly. Countless murals quickly regressed in his field of vision. The wind was sharp in his ears, and the damp air was blowing on his face, but he was calm like never before.
He could hear his heart beating quickly.
No matter how outrageous the evil thing was, as long as it was done step by step, slowly collecting clues, he would gradually determine its habits and characteristics.
…At first, the mist formed and just trapped them here, but didn’t make any movements.
What followed was the gaze and deterrence from evil things, and the hatred and interference from the townspeople. They were like subjects in a petri dish, reacting to various deliberate stimuli.
As a result, everyone in Shian didn’t try to leave the town but instead conducted further investigations.
At the beginning, the evil things didn’t actively gather. Most likely because they realized that their opponents hadn’t flinched until they were faced with Yellow Millet. Then, the evil beings decisively move, preparing to strangle them in a mountain of mist as quickly as possible.
The thinking was correct, but this wasn’t the style of Sunken Society.
If this was a plan from Sunken Society, there was no need to attack the shrimps above ground together. Focusing on eating Fu Xingchuan and Li Nian was a victory enough that would be recorded in the annals of Sunken Society. Inciting ordinary people to do it would instead arouse strong attention from non-metaphysical institutions.
So why exactly was whoever behind this doing this?
The above ground and underground were integrated, frantically expelling outsiders who might pose a threat. It was like…
At the entrance of the circular research building, flames burst out.
This time, they weren’t woven into fire dragons but turned into thousands of filaments. The flame filaments were intertwined, forming a fishing net-like structure that blocked the entrance tightly. The eye of Yellow Millet had just squeezed halfway in, but shrank back due to the fire net. Its pupil dilated and shrank in dissatisfaction.
As the huge eyeball receded, the dense light spots lit up in the darkness of the door frame. Without the “plug” of Yellow Millet, thousands of evil spirits poured down like a flood, cascading frantically towards the small research hall.
For a while, the detection machinery of the two science posts made a sharp warning sound.
Li Nian inserted the green willow whip into the ground, and countless root-like structures suddenly appeared in the grip. They clung to the stone crevices and tied Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo firmly nearby.
Immediately after, he took out some sticky notes that looked like talismans, walked along the edge of the hall, and stuck a piece on each of the mummified corpses. The horrific faces of the dead bodies were covered with a brand new talisman, creating an atmosphere that was unknown as to whether it was comical or spooky.
After the last talisman was glued, the hall abruptly shook.
Countless green vines sprang out from the talismans, adding a vine net to the fire net. The vines were like jade, verdant and lush, exuding a unique fragrance of plants.
The cold evil spirits and thick mist were all blocked from the outside by the vine net. The piercing alarm sound from their detectors finally stopped.
This peace lasted for about thirty seconds.
After a brief stalemate, hundreds of small, evil creatures rushed forward. They slammed into the fire net like moths to a flame, frantically aiming in the same position, trying to use their flesh as firewood to consume a breakthrough point.
Fu Xingchuan’s fingers flew like butterflies, as if he were forming a spell seal to cover the gap. The covering emitted layers of brilliance, as if there was a small sun at the entrance.
As the saying went, beat the master to death with your fist*. No matter how powerful Fu Xingchuan’s abilities were, he couldn’t hold back hordes of evil things that weren’t afraid of death. Considering he had to save some strength to escape, the flame net gradually dimmed.
*A colloquialism that refers to not following the rules and doing things on a whim. || In this context, it refers to these evil spirits have no fear of death, so they are not “following common sense” and will eventually overwhelm Fu Xingchuan through sheer chaos.
At the same time, Li Nian cracked his shoulders and neck and calmly gave instructions. “Analyze the readings and also sort out and retrieve legends regarding the figure in red from the Gong Dynasty period and send them all to me.”
He said all this into the headset.
Another swarm of evil things rushed up. This time, they crashed into the vine net. More newborn vines shot out from the gap in the net instantly, binding the evil spirits. Unfortunately, the vines were soft. The evil things behind used those in the front as a meat shield and continued to squeeze desperately in.
In less than five minutes, they had lost half the research hall.
Yin Ren protected Zhong Chengshuo and Qi Xin—they were standing at the farthest point from the evil things. Those twisted hands, feet, and limbs were clearly reflected in his red eyes.
Zhong Chengshuo couldn’t see too many evil things, but he could see a twisted net.
Judging from the law of physics, there had to be at least 500 evil creatures in front of them.
Not far behind the door, “Yellow Millet” stared fixedly with multiple circles of eyeballs.
Without only one eyeball, Zhong Chengshuo couldn’t distinguish any emotions. All the everlasting lights around it were extinguished, and its entire body was filled with thick darkness, leaving only the dim brilliance of the eyeball itself. The doorway was too narrow for it. The huge sphere tilted toward them, and its pupils passed through the small doorway, locking onto the five people tightly.
The colorful light oscillated in circles, flickering as if it were breathing in the dark, making it seem like an ominous creature under the deep sea.
The chains of corpses near the entrance snapped and were squeezed down by the wall of evil creatures. They weren’t sure if it was because of the residual influence of evil qi, but the corpses quickly “woke up”, turned into zombies, and joined the team of evil things that were trying to squeeze into the hall.
The corpses opened their mouths wide and moved their limbs jerkily, like stiff marionettes.
Something gushed from their eyeholes and kept dripping to the ground.
Evil things with entities were particularly difficult to deal with. Just after the zombies joined, the green vines were suddenly stretched half thin and gaps started forming as the vines were pulled and deformed. The withered fingers of the corpses frantically tore at the vines, and there was a strange noise coming from their mouths.
Zhong Chengshuo could imagine that in the vine net gaps, there were all kinds of strange limbs stretching out from there, constantly scratching.
The ground was trembling as evil spirits continued to rush in. They were trapped in a deep underground ruin, surrounded by evil things that were eyeing them. The two ministers looked calm, and there was no panic in their movements, as if everything was under control.
However, Zhong Chengshuo knew that they couldn’t possibly know more about the current situation than he did.
In other words, they were all confused.
Zhong Chengshuo looked at Yin Ren again.
Yin Ren was standing in front of a mural. He wore his favorite black shirt, and his hair was tied up into a neat ponytail. He stood still, as if he were part of the darkness.
…As if he would merge into the mural and disappear at any moment.
Zhong Chengshuo thought for a few seconds, then moved his hand that was resting on the sample box and used it to hold Yin Ren’s hand. The presence of the willow branches was especially noticeable when skin to skin contact was made.
The firelight hit the shadow of the vine on Yin Ren’s face. The soft lines of his face remained the same, but there was a subtle sense of vicissitudes between his brows, compared to Yin Ren’s previous heartless appearance.
The frontline was tense, but Yin Ren quietly turned his head and examined the mural from the corner of his eyes.
His expression was focused. The content of the mural was similar to the previous rooms—while the style changed with each dynasty change, the content underwent no substantial changes.
Zhong Chengshuo: “You’re not looking at the entrance?’
Yin Ren stared at the red dots all over the walls. “Whether I see them or not, they’ll still be there.”
A glance at the scene beyond the entrance was enough for him.
The evil things in Gengsheng Town seemed to be gathering here. With Yellow Millet as the core, their aura was extremely vivid. Adding a touch of red on the outside, it was like a reproduction of the mural scene.
The aura was aggressive, and the hostility was deep.
…and it was extremely familiar.
Yin Ren could hear the clicking footsteps of zombies among the evil creatures as well as hoarse whispers coming from their throats. They must have carried countless pains and despairs in their lifetime. Their bones were soaked in evil qi, so they all turned into evil things without exception.
It turned out that Sunken Society was several times more annoying than he imagined.
“The number of evil things near you has reached more than 600, and it keeps increasing.” Lu Xiaohe’s voice spoke quickly in their headset.
“The situation isn’t right. There’s an internal food chain among evil things. There aren’t so many evil things that value territory… Except for fleeing or being driven away, it’s impossible for them to act in such a unified manner.”
“But…” She stopped talking and swallowed her words.
Yin Ren could guess the content behind the “but”.
No one could drive evil beings like this. Even a ghost master could only use a single classification of “spirits”.
As far as Yin Ren knew, there was indeed no “person” who could do it. A skilled cultivator might be able to tame one or two evil creatures, but they wouldn’t be able to reach such a large number.
A dozen steps away, Li Nian didn’t get any effective feedback.
Hao Wenzhe quickly sent back the news that there was no information about the “figure in red” on the murals.
During the Gong Dynasty, there were no records of the “figure in red”. Whether it was <The Book of Exorcism> or the remaining official records, whether it was the unofficial history or information seized from Sunken Society, everything was clean without any trace.
The murals that had increased year by year in this Ant Nest seemed to be just a huge dream.
“It’s impossible, Lao Li. Under such a situation, this pile of cultural relics can’t be preserved.” Fu Xingchuan grimaced. “Human life is more important than preserving clues.”
Li Nian took a deep breath.
Murals, corpses, empty altars.
And the source of corruption that seemed to be everywhere but was nowhere to be found.
The characters on the murals gave no clues, the corpses needed time to be tested, there was nothing left on the altars, and the location of the source of corruption was a mystery.
Sunken Society had taken away all the key documents and items. If they relied on these things to guess what research was being conducted for the last thousand years, it wasn’t much different than just making up stories on the spot.
But if they only defend without attacking, their front line wouldn’t last. Not to mention there was Qi Xin, who had no combat power, that they had to protect. Faced with such a situation, Fu Xingchuan couldn’t spare enough energy to care about other things.
But if this place were destroyed, all clues would completely disappear into the darkness.
He had to quickly figure out a better way.
After all, this was a clue that Sunken Society owned, but Shian had no other clues…
“Xiaohe Jie.”
In the direction of the mural, a voice interrupted Professor Li’s thoughts.
Yin Ren grabbed Zhong Chengshuo with one hand and pressed on his headset with the other. There was just the right amount of trepidation in his voice. “The mist started as soon as we came here, and now it’s still chasing us, as well as evil things that are attacking us in droves. Could it be ‘someone’ is commanding them?”
However, there was no response for Lu Xiaohe.
“Xiaohe Jie?”
“She may be answering a call from Xiang Jiang.” Fu Xingchuan responded on behalf of Lu Xiaohe as he kept casting defensive spells. “It’s impossible for anyone to command so many evil things. Not even if it’s a group of people. If we can really do this, there won’t be much difference between ‘man’ and ‘god’.”
Yin Ren raised his hand and tucked a strand of hair behind his ear.
“What about an evil thing?”
Zhong Chengshuo suddenly gave Yin Ren a sideways glance—Yin Ren was asking solemnly and purely, as if he didn’t have a clue.
“Can there be evil things that control other evil things?”
Yin Ren’s voice echoed in the wide research hall.
“I’ve always wanted to ask before… Since Evil Spirits don’t have the ability to think and are monsters that only know how to destroy, why is there a title of “Ghost King” in our information?”
This was recorded in black and white in <The Book of Exorcism>.
Professor Li wanted to respond but felt his answer wasn’t convincing enough.
In regard to evidence, this was different from the “figure in red”. There were many records in official and unofficial history…
The Great Celestial Master Zhong Yi sealed the six Evil Spirits, but no one had seen the battle. They only knew the Evil Spirits were going crazy and that thousands of evil beings had gathered. The evil things around the battlefield were so overwhelming that they forced all living things to retreat, leaving only a scene of hell.
…Just like the murals.
Thinking of this, Li Nian subconsciously looked at Fu Xingchuan, who was also looking back with a frown.
That red figure—could it be that it’s an Evil Spirit in human form?
But as they all knew, mortals couldn’t look at an Evil Spirit directly with their naked eye. In those times, “Science Posts” were rare, and Sunken Society was more of a cult in the style of “ascension to immortality”. It was difficult to attract non-believers, and it was even more unlikely that they would leave such thorough records that lasted thousands of years.
What was more, Evil Spirits were tantamount to natural disasters that walk on earth. Once born, they couldn’t hide from people’s eyes and ears. All metaphysical disasters in history had corresponding Evil Spirits. Six Evil Spirits were sealed one by one, without any mistakes or omissions.
“The Evil Spirits were attacked, so ten thousand ghosts came to their rescue.” Professor Li squeezed his brows hard and answered Yin Ren’s question in a low voice. “Ten thousand ghosts came…”
“Really?”
Yin Ren let go of Zhong Chengshuo’s hand.
He turned his back to the mural, and his eyes showed a hint of red in the shadows, which complemented the red brush strokes behind him.
“One person against a giant Evil Spirit, plus ten thousand evil things? Isn’t that Celestial Master too ridiculously strong?”
In the corner, where the two ministers had no time to pay attention, a pair of red eyes were slightly bent.
“It’s more reasonable to gather thousands of evil spirits to deal with an Evil Spirit together.”
“I’m a bit confused. Which side is the ‘Ghost King’ who summons evil spirits really on?”
Click.
The first vine net snapped.
The author has something to say:
Yesterday, I saw people leaving a lot of speculations! In fact, some are quite close to the truth~ Why do I feel like your brains are bigger than mine (?
As for any contradictions, even in the writing (?) All will be explained later!
Kinky Thoughts:
I have my own speculations, given this chapter, but to avoid any potential spoilers, I’ll say them when the mystery is revealed. You’re welcome to join my Discord server to discuss.
But here’s a potential clue: The Zhong in Zhong Yi and Zhong Chengshuo are the same character. (But keep in mind that Zhong Chengshuo is adopted and took on his adopted father’s last name, Zhong Youde).
Yin Ren shrank to Zhong Chengshuo’s side. His voice was so soft that it was almost inaudible. His breath sprayed on Zhong Chengshuo’s ear, giving him an itchy and warm feeling.
Li Nian walked to Fu Xingchuan, who was busy with his things, and whispered something. The green willow branches that locked the two of them gained a bit more strength and became tighter.
Zhong Chengshuo looked at the weird murals covering the walls, then turned to look at Yin Ren, then turned back to the murals. He really couldn’t match the figure in the murals that looks like the Ghost King to Yin Ren—the Yin Ren he saw most often only had two modes: “lying on the sofa” and “lying on the sofa”.
…But he had indeed seen a similar scene.
In the Archive, when Yin Ren went out of control, Zhong Chengshuo saw a “person” covered with red seals.
The three-meter-high, blood-red thing staggered in front of many evil things. The evil things behind it, no matter how big or small, all bowed their heads and walked in a regular manner, like loyal soldiers. But the thing moved very casually. A pair of pale barefoot feet stepped into the mud, lining the skin with its dark brown stains, almost turning it black.
It walked in the long-destroyed past, and there were soft sounds of fragmentary collisions on its body.
Embroidery, shackles, wooden talismans, and pieces of jade, together with the bell on the thing’s feet, intertwined into an ominous symphony. The red cloth and yellow talisman on its body were similar to Yin Ren’s “Evil Spirit” form.
What was hidden under those layers of seals?
If that was Yin Ren from thousands of years ago…
The red figure gradually shrank and blurred, completely overlapping with the person on the mural. Yin Ren, who was standing next to him, had a smile in his eyes. Behind him was layer after layer of hallucinatory research buildings.
Zhong Chengshuo held his breath for a while. Instead of speaking directly, he held Yin Ren’s hand and wrote quickly on his palm.
[Why do you say “it seems”?]
Yin Ren also took advantage of the situation and changed to written communication: [I haven’t been here before, so I can’t be sure. Sunken Society was very annoying before. When they came to me, I would hide if I could and beat them up if I couldn’t.]
Zhong Chengshuo was speechless. He conservatively estimated that the Yin Ren “before” was likely to have existed around the Gong Dynasty.
[But at that time, I was mixed with messy evil things, but it’s only me who’s covered in red.] Yin Ren’s strokes became heavier than before, as if there was confidence in his movements.
Zhong Chengshuo’s fingertips paused on Yin Ren’s skin. Yin Ren admitted too readily, so he was unable to ask.
What was he going to ask?
Why did Sunken Society focus on you?
Why were you involved with evil things?
…Why does it sound like when you refer to those groups of “evil things”, you seem detached from them as if they have nothing to do with you?
But Zhong Chengshuo also understood that no matter what the issue was, it certainly couldn’t be made clear with just a few words, let alone a detailed discussion right here and now. Yin Ren probably also knew this. They were always patient, so they could wait.
Zhong Chengshuo manicured and rounded nails pressed on the palm of Yin Ren’s hand, forming a little depression on the warm skin.
He knew in his heart the “correct” way to deal with it, but he always felt that he should ask something—anything at all…
“Does this red color have any special meaning?”
A few steps away, a voice suddenly sounded. Yin Ren’s hand instantly froze. For a moment, Lord Ghost King thought his “whispers” with Zhong Chengshuo had been discovered.
The person who asked the question was Qi Xin.
It could be considered that she was quite brave considering she was an ordinary person who was swept up in this nightmarish place and was “still able to take care of herself”. Qi Xin could be described as a fierce warrior among fierce warriors. With a pale face, she still managed to squeeze out some spare energy to ask questions.
She observed the murals calmly, without the curiosity that Zhong Chengshuo had. She just looked at them and asked her question casually with a flat tone, as if she were asking, “Why do you put bean paste in this dish?”
Qi Xin stretched out her hand. Her fingertips stopped a few centimeters away from touching the redness. Her pair of plain shoes stepped on a corpse’s feet, and next to the deformed monster’s feet there was an artificial leather surface that gave off a dim light.
Even Professor Li glanced at her quite unexpectedly.
“You guys are talking about your own things. I just want to try and help,” she continued. “And this minister is also wearing red clothes. Isn’t this a symbol?”
Before her words fell, Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo turned their heads to look at Fu Xingchuan.
“It’s festive,” Fu Xingchuan said. “And don’t people say that ghosts like to wear red? In case I die, I can become the fiercest ghost in Haigu.”
Li Nian couldn’t stand it. They could hear his teeth grinding in his voice. “Look at our situation. Be serious.”
“…How to put this… This custom was started in the Gong Dynasty.” Fu Xingchuan coughed twice and put away his joking expression. “The research department at that time found that evil things may not be able to remember human faces, but they were particularly sensitive to ‘red’ and ‘weird attire’. I’m not helping my opponents remember me.”
Qi Xin slowly turned her head. “If I understand correctly, as long as you stick to this outfit, once we encounter danger, you’ll be treated as the first target?”
“It’s a bit pretentious if I say that myself.” Fu Xingchuan scratched his head. “Anyway, it’s hard to say whether this person in the mural is a cultivator wearing red or a naturally red-clothed evil spirit.”
“Doesn’t your department specialize in dealing with these things?” Qi Xin turned her head again.
Fu Xingchuan was about to laugh when Professor Li interrupted, “The world was in chaos in the last years of the Gong Dynasty. At that time, many research information was lost in the flames of war, so our records have gaps.”
During a century of troubled times, papers and texts disappeared. Only the murals deep underground slept quietly, and only specious legends had been passed down for thousands of years.
‘That’s it,’ Yin Ren thought.
Huajisi was extremely concerned about the preservation of their archives, but he didn’t see any relevant records of the late Gong Dynasty in Shian’s library.
Mortals were always so fragile and short-lived.
Even though they were deep underground, the eternal light of Sunken Society was still on. Compared to that, the amount of people in Huajisi that sacrificed their lives left behind only an <Encyclopedia of Metaphysics>, which was now known as <The Book of Exorcism>, was such an understatement.
An encyclopedia existed, yet why weren’t the most important truths recorded?
Yin Ren lowered his head and looked at the muddy ground. In the darkness, a gauze-like mist quietly diffused out of the stone crevices.
…Light mist?
Yin Ren grasped Zhong Chengshuo’s wrist and rushed straight to Fu Xingchuan. The latter was taken aback, and the ponytail behind his head almost exploded. Minister Fu instantly assumed a defensive posture when he heard his subordinate yell—
“There’s a ghost!” Lord Ghost King shouted hoarsely.
Fu Xingchuan: “……”
Whether Yin Ren was a mole for someone else or not, he truly wanted to beat this kid up.
The moment he realized that the mist had filled the air, he used a levitating technique to lift everyone up.
Surrounded by the fire dragons, everyone rushed out of one of the large windows and flew straight towards the buildings above. The buildings and their gaps were filled with milky white mist, and they rose and fell like the tide, as if they were a living thing that was breathing.
The mist was cold, with a biting malice that rejected everything.
It spread out of the crevices of the stones, flowing out of the mouths and noses of the strange corpses. It gnawed at their toes, trying to crawl up their feet and legs, with a touch that was close to a cold leech.
Fu Xingchuan stabbed more than a dozen golden needles into the floor, and at the end of the golden needles, flames erupted. The surrounding fire dragons suddenly became five to six times thicker, causing the mist to instantly dissipate.
Everyone swayed through the doors and windows like pinholes, passing exaggerated corpses. Each room they passed had a round crimson altar in the middle, and the style of the murals would change, yet only the dazzling red was vaguely the same.
Oddly, they were sprinting upwards, but the rooms were endless, as if they were constantly copied and pasted.
As the room looked newer, the withered corpses became more human-like, and the red figures on the murals were getting denser. The spacious research hall was like a dismemberment scene, with every corner splattered with dense “bloodstains” of human figures.
The fire dragons were still moving forward.
“Fuck, is it human? A giant ghost wall can be so fast?” Fu Xingchuan, who was leading, cursed.
This was inherently difficult for people to move, not to mention the strangeness in the mist. Even if it was just a simple mist, it still greatly enhanced the difficulty of them finding a way out.
Seeing the mist coming from all directions from the west, Fu Xingchuan made a quick decision and stopped in one of the most structurally complete research halls.
“This is a good place to defend. Lao Li, arrange defensive measures. I’ll try to find a breakpoint.”
The tried and tested Minister Fu didn’t seem anxious, but it was false to say he wasn’t worried.
If the mist and maze were really manipulated by humans, that person’s strength was certainly above him, but as for the evil things… 1,000-year-old evil things wouldn’t play these kinds of tricks and prefer a direct confrontation.
For example—
“Minister, there’s a big eyeball over there,” Zhong Chengshuo pointed out. “I can see there is a physical evil thing there.”
However, Yin Ren didn’t turn his head. He turned his back to the direction Zhong Chengshuo was pointing and looked at the crimson dots under the everlasting lamps.
They were standing in a research hall two hundred years ago. The hall was circular, with a large door opening on one side.
On the other side of the doorway, there was a huge, strange eye. That eye was like a child’s inferior toy, with a myriad of colors encircling it. If it weren’t for the round pupils of the five people flying around, causing it to zoom in and out, no one would be able to judge that it was an “eyeball” from a glance.
It squeezed hard into the hallway. Its edges deformed softly, and it made a wet and piercing squeak, like some kind of inflatable toy.
Fu Xingchuan glanced at it.
He almost had to show some kind of respect for Unit 9. After working with this unlucky group for so long, he witnessed all kinds of strange things. No wonder no one could escape here alive. Even if there was no mist, this wasn’t something that could be dealt with by just fighting it.
Phenomenon A-A682, Yellow Millet.
One of the extremely dangerous and extremely rare physical evil things that feeds on the corpses of other evil things. Yellow Millet can turn its body into a liquid or gaseous state. Although it doesn’t eat humans, it has no feelings towards them either, making it difficult to deal with.
…Rumors had it that the Great Celestial Master, Zhong Yi, who sealed the six Evil Spirits, rode on Yellow Millet.
Headed by Xiang Jiang, who “survived the disaster”, the other three from Shian left the mines early and returned to town.
At this time, most of the townspeople were active outside. Looking at them from a hundred meters away, the town showed an idyllic scene, if they were to ignore the numerous dots of evil beings floating among the flow of people. Whether it was terrifying aliens that were particularly prominent in the crowd or the weird mist looming around them, it didn’t seem to bother the townspeople at all.
Based on how everyone was living, Ge Tingting was a little suspicious. Even if an evil spirit fell from the sky here, this group of people would probably carry their basket and simply step over it to buy vegetables.
And once the three members of Shian approached, the townspeople became like frightened herd animals. The laughter and chatter instantly died, and the townspeople quickly stopped their work. Dozens of eyes followed the three of them.
If it weren’t for those people who were still talking and living normally in the previous second, Ge Tingting would have thought that this place was a field of human sunflowers. The malicious gaze stung her as she took two steps forward and walked side by side with Xiang Jiang.
Just as Xiang Jiang hung up on a call, he unscrewed the cap of a mineral water bottle and took a few sips, ignoring Ge Tingting’s gesture. “We’ll go find the mayor later.”
Behind the two of them, Huang Jin frowned.
Despite being the mayor for many years, Ren Jiying wasn’t popular with the locals and had no prestige. To investigate the town’s past, it was better to use spirit weapons to disguise their identities and get close to the townspeople. These were all bad tricks used by the Nightwalkers, and there was no reason Shian wouldn’t know about them.
Did something bad happen? But seeing Xiang Jiang’s stinky face, Huang Jin couldn’t really ask this.
In his view, the only major event that could happen now was “the identity of Yin Ren’s being an evil being is exposed and King Yama and Shian tearing their faces apart”. He didn’t know who the hapless Shian forces meeting those two monsters underground were but Huang Jin sincerely wished them good health, both physically and mentally.
When Ren Jiying was called out from the town government office by Xiang Jiang, she was in a daze. However, compared to the stern-faced staff around her, she had a ruddy complexion and bright eyes, looking like a living person.
“Something happened,” Xiang Jiang bluntly stated. “The mine collapsed, and our people and Qi Xin fell into the depths.”
Ren Jiying’s face turned pale. “How did this happen?”
“There’s a high probability that it was a man-made attack. Everyone is fine for the time being. We need to thoroughly investigate the recent activities in the town, and we need your cooperation—it has nothing to do with the previous cases in town, and we don’t plan to go to the police.”
Mayor Ren rubbed her temples vigorously and looked around wearily. “Okay, I know. Don’t talk here. Go to my place first.”
After arriving home, Ren Jiying carefully locked her anti-theft door and checked it several times.
The homestay was no better than an ordinary residence. For someone like Ge Tingting, who was used to sleeping in abandoned buildings, no matter how well guarded this place was, there were always thousands of weak points for people to slip in. Mayor Ren’s behavior was more like giving herself psychological comfort than being cautious.
Zhong Chengshuo and Yin Ren’s luggage was still in its old position. Yin Ren’s suitcase was even opened carelessly. They leaned together, full of life, like their owners, who may come back at any moment.
Ge Tingting’s chest sank inexplicably. She looked away, sat obediently at the table, and waited.
Ren Jiying was preparing freshly blended honey water and well-packaged food for them as usual.
“Tell us everything about that mine.” Xiang Jiang got straight to the point.
“It’s a long story.” Ren Jiying took a sip of honey water and laughed dryly. “You must all know the development of this town. In those years, the media reported on it overwhelmingly… Everyone likes to watch glamorous legends, so I’ll just get to the chicken feathers* afterwards.”
*Term used to describe a mess of things. || In this context, she’s saying, I’ll just get to the part where things became a mess.
“This matter started 28 years ago.”
She lowered her gaze.
“28 years ago, there was a ‘landslide’ here. Soon after that, everyone was… Well, everyone was abnormal, including my parents. They began to exclude outsiders for no reason, while turning a blind eye to some strange things in town.”
Ren Jiying shook her head helplessly.
“Now I’m pretty sure that it’s that point in time—I once checked the economic information of the town. Since that year, there have been no foreign projects here.”
……
“28 years ago, there was a metaphysical natural disaster in and around Haigu, and Gengsheng Town was within the scope of being affected.”
Directly below the homestay, a few hundred meters underground.
While Fu Xingchuan was planning the route of the building, Professor Li used special equipment to take pictures of the murals while talking.
Zhong Chengshuo was still meticulously slicing and collecting samples, but Yin Ren could see that this guy’s ears moved, and he was listening intently.
The two science posts were well versed in their skills of being focused while multitasking. The research recordings seemed to be some kind of muscle memory for them, so they didn’t need to use their brains at all.
After all, these were the two top people in Shian that were on full alert, so he didn’t dare stretch the tips of his hair too long. He couldn’t even scratch Zhong Chengshuo.
…And he really didn’t know what a metaphysical natural disaster was. 28 years ago, Yin Ren was still rolling wantonly around on a pile of bones, keeping his thousands of ears deaf, and was in a deep beauty sleep.
“This should be information that can only be accessed by B-level or above, but the experience of you two is comparable to that of an ordinary B-level, so it’s fine for you to know.”
Professor Li’s tone sounded like he was lecturing, but it was more inexplicably sarcastic than a lecture.
“That year, there was a ‘Divine Descent’ in Haigu—you can think of it as a large-scale eruption of unexplained Evil Force. After that, the mines in Gengsheng Town severely collapsed, resulting in a sharp decline in mineable reserves. Of course, this is just what it says on paper.”
After Li Nian finished taking pictures of the murals, he looked at the windows and door. They were stacked endlessly, but the corpses in them were different.
It was like a weird kaleidoscope.
“Generally speaking, after a Divine Descent, Shian will immediately dispose of the main sources of corruption, and the remaining corruption will naturally dissipate due to the flow of air and population.”
“But Gengsheng Town isn’t a plain city. The terrain here is special, and the population flow is very small. Under the deliberate interference of some people, the Evil Force here lingered for a long time, and it still retained the environmental characteristics of the ‘Divine Descent’ period.”
The air, the soil, and the flowing water were full of a faint Evil Force and corruption was everywhere.
Yin Ren lowered the corner of his mouth and looked at the dirty stone floor under his feet. Perhaps it was because he entered a familiar environment that he was suddenly blessed and could comprehend the source of that previous feeling of familiarity.
…It was the environment itself.
This mountain town was marinated in the aura of the Evil Force.
And this kind of environment, where every corner was filled with Evil Force, was similar to the era in which he lived. However, compared to the world in Yin Ren’s memory, the concentration of Evil Force in Gengsheng Town wasn’t that high.
Maybe it was because of this that he didn’t react the first time…?
Yin Ren bit his thumb unconsciously. The firelight bounced in the eye sockets of the strange corpse on both sides of him.
No. Something is missing. A certain key aura. A key taste. This kind of anxiety that he couldn’t remember was comparable to scratching an itch. Yin Ren hid a few strands of hair in his jacket and shook them with irritability.
A few steps away, Zhong Chengshuo stuffed a specimen into a box with a straightforward satisfaction on his face. He carefully put the box in his backpack and then stuck to Yin Ren’s back as he patted his shoulder.
With his lover close, those strands of hair had a target and quickly wrapped around Zhong Chengshuo’s little finger.
“The environmental characteristics of the ‘Divine Descent’ period? …What characteristic?” Zhong Chengshuo took the initiative to ask.
“The Evil Force continues to be active, which will give birth to evil creatures and wake up dangerous sleeping evil creatures. Of course, these changes aren’t obvious to us but are relatively intuitive to the metaphysic posts.”
Professor Li’s eyes were still locked on the mural, and he hadn’t noticed the weird intimacy between the two of them.
“According to our experience, if Sunken Society abandoned this undiscovered ‘Ant Nest’, it could only mean it’s highly corrupted or the evil things got out of control… There’s no trace of a strong concentration of corruption here. 28 years ago, something probably woke up here, and its activity has resulted in the destruction of the mineral deposits.”
As he spoke, Li Nian fell into contemplation at the murals.
Zhong Chengshuo also turned his gaze to the murals.
Given Sunken Society’s style, these murals wouldn’t exist only as decorations, but they didn’t intend to draw something that was too easy to understand. Looking at the murals in dim light, they could vaguely distinguish a “person” who was entangled with evil things.
The murals were mottled, and the paint had faded, leaving only the person as bright as ever.
In the picture, the limbs of the person were distorted, and the brushstrokes were abstract. The entire figure was painted red. He or she sometimes would stand on top of a giant, and sometimes they were surrounded by countless evil things. Each picture was interlocking; they were big or small and were put together in an irregular form. At first glance, it looked a bit like the stained glass of a religious building.
Under the brush of the painter of Sunken Society, the scarlet figure had a weird, evil nature that gave people faint chills.
In smaller patterns, the figure was simply reduced to a touch of red, like a few drops of blood splashed on the ancient mural.
As King Yama of the Nightwalkers, Zhong Chengshuo had indeed come into contact with the ruins of the Ant Nest. Murals were a common way of recording for Sunken Society, and the content was inseparable from the theme of the Ant Nest’s research. The latecomers of Sunken Society could take away the spirit weapons and recorded documents, but not the murals themselves.
This was a great starting point.
But Zhong Chengshuo had never seen Sunken Society distinguish between coloring pigments.
Thousands of years had passed, yet the figure was so distinct that it was hard to say what kind of emotions they had put in it.
He didn’t specialize in the art field, while Li Nian specialized in fields related to history and folklore. Zhong Chengshuo failed to come up with an answer and decisively turned his attention to Professor Li. “This is…”
Li Nian shook his head solemnly. He glanced at Fu Xingchuan, who was busy not far away, and for the first time, there was a feeling of worry in his eyes.
At the same time, Yin Ren gently tugged on Zhong Chengshuo’s ears.
Fu Xingchuan, who was running, made a gesture, and the heavy stone gate opened in response. There was a faint light shining inside the door as the cold wind blew out.
Fu Xingchuan’s scarlet flames enveloped the five people as he took the lead and rushed into the stone gate. Li Nian followed closely behind. When he passed the door frame, he retracted the green willow whips in his hand. The scalps of Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo narrowly brushed against the ceiling of the cave, and they managed to escape the fate of bumping their heads against the threshold.
The sound of cracking and things breaking sounded behind them as the stalagmites bit into each other, blocking the stone gate tightly.
Fu Xingchuan breathed a sigh of relief as he stopped and put Qi Xin down. “Miss Qi, are you alright?”
Ordinary people probably wouldn’t see such a special effect-like scene in their entire lives. Qi Xin’s face was pale, and her neat hair was loose. The ends of her eyes became redder, and a few strands of hair were stuck to her cheeks with sweat. It wasn’t surprising if she cried in the next second.
Fortunately, she was barely conscious.
“I’m fine,” Qi Xin said stiffly.
After saying this, she didn’t say anything else, as usual. Qi Xin just glanced at Fu Xingchuan with her slender eyes, as if trying to remember his appearance.
Fu Xingchuan was a little surprised to see such a calm crowd. Instead of breaking the subject, he walked back to the entrance of the stone gate. A round ball of fire ignited in his palm and illuminated the gate.
The appearance of those “stalagmites” was also revealed in front of them. They were yellow and white, with thick and dark dirt on them. The dirt was brownish red to almost black, exuding a faint fishy smell.
They clenched tightly, blocking the stone gate door.
They looked like teeth.
Fu Xingchuan let out a long sigh. The fireball in his hand jumped twice. “The mechanism here is interesting.”
He snapped his fingers with his free hand, causing Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo, who were floating, to suddenly fall. Zhong Chengshuo knelt on the ground decently, but his clothes weren’t as neat—as a science post, Zhong Chengshuo was invulnerable to ghosts and spirits, but his clothes weren’t immune to the levitation spells. He was basically carried around by his clothes, which were affected by the spell, so his shirt was a mess and a section around his waist was missing.
Yin Ren played stupid to the end and fell on his ass on the stone floor.
It had to be said that Lord Ghost King’s appearance was quite advantageous. Yin Ren’s movements were quite embarrassing; his face was lined with black hair, which made the entire picture quite pleasing to the eye.
Unfortunately, except for Zhong Chengshuo, who was seriously watching, the others weren’t the least bit fooled.
The stalagmite teeth didn’t grow beyond the stone door, so they were barely safe. Professor Li didn’t let go of the green willow whips. They were still wrapped around Zhong Chengshuo’s and Yin Ren’s wrists, tightening like shackles. The scene looked like they were prisoners being escorted, or as if they were being walked like dogs.
With one hand tied to the wicker whip, it wasn’t convenient for them to move freely. This caused Zhong Chengshuo’s brows to curl a bit.
Yin Ren expressed dissatisfaction across his entire face. Perhaps because his gaze was too direct, Professor Li casually said, “I don’t know how to perform spells, so I can drag you over at any time. This makes it more convenient to protect you.”
‘Rather, putting it another way, this was more so to prevent us from stabbing you in the back,’ Yin Ren muttered in his heart.
But they really didn’t take advantage of the situation—this unfortunate accident was really triggered by them. Yin Ren was in a daze for a while. Since entering Shian, he hadn’t encountered a “smooth” case.
Could it be that the 1,000-year-old Evil Spirit’s peach blossoms* have all withered and he has overdrawn his last remaining luck?
*Peach blossoms are often associated with love and luck.
He glanced at Zhong Chengshuo from the corner of his eyes. His gaze was colliding with Zhong Chengshuo’s gaze. In the dim stone cave, those black eyes didn’t have any trace of luster. The man was tidying his clothes as his gaze floated over after a while, making Yin Ren’s cheeks itch.
Yin Ren scratched the side of his face in satisfaction.
Seeing that Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo had calmed down, Fu Xingchuan bluntly instructed, “If you have nothing to do, go inside first. There’s wind here, so there must be a way out. As long as I can find a crack, I can blow it up.”
“Lao Li, look at the environmental indicators. Don’t let our people administer mold or poison gas. Miss Qi, please follow me and let me know if you are tired.”
Qi Xin nodded.
The passage behind the stone gate wasn’t long, and the firelight at the end was even a normal, warm color, with a faint smell of human smoke.
Fu Xingchuan walked in front as usual. The flame shield turned into two thick fire dragons. They bent their long bodies to protect the group of people. In the firelight, the scales of the little dragons were clear, and the dragon’s eyes would turn around cautiously, as if they were alive.
Zhong Chengshuo stretched out his hand to touch it, but the dragon bent its body skillfully and avoided his finger. He watched it go around regretfully and then stared at Yin Ren’s hair.
This time, Yin Ren failed to look at him with “a tacit understanding”.
…Yin Ren smelled the stench of corpses.
Very many, very old corpses. They were lying at the end of the tunnel, waiting for them quietly. The faint scent was sent out by the wind, wrapping them like corpse gauze.
There was no problem with the corpses themselves. Many ancient burial pits would have the smell of old corpses—the problem was, those corpses were mixed with strong and weak Evil Force. It mixed in with the smell, which made the faint stench of the corpses icy cold.
What was worse, the Evil Force didn’t originate from the same Evil Spirit.
Fu Xingchuan probably also realized something was wrong as he walked slower.
The appearance of this bigshot from Shian hadn’t changed, but Yin Ren could feel the churning of that person’s power—like a beast hiding behind the bushes, Fu Xingchuan was ready to throw a fatal blow at any moment.
The stone tunnel wasn’t long, but Yin Ren felt they had been in it for 10,000 years.
Finally, they stepped into the light at the end of the tunnel.
They were in the interior of a building that looked extremely old. It had everlasting lights burning on the wall. The lights shook gently with the wind, illuminating the surrounding scene…
Qi Xin took two steps back and covered her mouth and nose. She froze in place blankly, showing a look of not knowing if she should vomit.
The building was spacious and gorgeous, with a mottled mural. The style of the painting was typical in the Gong Dynasty. Most of the murals were hidden in the shadows, and the parts that were illuminated by the fire could only vaguely show figures of people and evil things. They didn’t know what the ingredients of the vermillion pigments were, but thousands of years later, it was still so bright that it was dazzling.
There was an empty altar in the center of the room. It was painted with the same red color as the murals and was so bright that it seemed out of place. They could see that something had been originally placed on it but was later removed.
But there were still many “things” that hadn’t been removed.
For example, those extremely distorted and deformed mummified corpses that were bound in chains and charms on the wall. They were chained to the wall and almost blended in with the distorted murals.
Yin Ren knew that the corpses belonged to people, but he only judged by the smell.
Looking at the appearance of those things, it was difficult to classify them into the category of “people”.
The nearest body to them was more than two meters high. The corpse’s shoulders were bent and folded, so that the person’s armpits were almost flush with the hip bone. His arms and legs were the same length, folding into a shape like a comb with only four teeth.
The man’s head was embedded in the middle of his arched upper body, and his mouth was abnormally enlarged, almost piercing into his chest. Above the huge mouth, there were only two erect human eyes. They were so shrunk that they were only the size of a thumbnail and were hard to spot unless they examined them carefully.
His—or her—withered arms stretched out of the altar, and his deformed mouth was open wide, revealing teeth the size of a child’s fist. They didn’t know whether he was screaming or cursing.
And this was just the most “normal” one among them.
Beside it, another corpse had a head as big as a torso. Its facial features were all over its head. A little further away, the skin of the corpses was extremely proliferated, as if the person in the center was wrapped in layers, like a withered fresh flower.
Their appearance was too bizarre. When ordinary people saw it, it would take them a while to “figure out what this is” before realizing that “it’s a corpse”.
Everyone in Shian was silent for a moment.
Half a minute later, Zhong Chengshuo took out his phone and backpack and coughed lightly. “Can I take pictures and take samples?”
Yin Ren could hear that he tried extremely hard to suppress the expectation in his voice, but unfortunately, he wasn’t very successful.
To Zhong Chengshuo, this wasn’t like entering an underground monument full of strange corpses but rather like a five-year-old child wandering around a candy store.
Fu Xingchuan looked at Zhong Chengshuo speechlessly. “…You can take pictures.”
“Don’t touch anything besides the corpses,” before Fu Xingchuan finished speaking, Li Nian added. “This building was left over from the Gong Dynasty, and it’s well preserved. The murals and stone carvings are important cultural relics.”
Fu Xingchuan glanced at his partner even more inexplicably. He exhaled slowly and summoned more than a dozen fire dragons.
“I’ll look around,” he said casually.
Minister Fu’s tone was understated. The scene in the area was huge…
More than a dozen fire dragons with elongated bodies were drilled out along the doors and windows of the area. They circled and shuttled around the space with their flame, which was blazing like the scorching sun, illuminating the dark underground into a bloody dusk.
At the same time, Fu Xingchuan crossed his hands. A water curtain appeared under the dome of the building, suddenly creating a miniature mirage.
The scenes around the fire dragons were shrunk one by one on the water curtain.
Looking out from the huge doors and windows of the area, the door leading outside was still a door, and the windows were still windows. Buildings of different dynasties were stacked and overlapped, making this place look like a mix-and-match insect nest.
The air around the fire dragon was a little warmer, and under the toasting of their heat, the smell of corpses came from all directions.
The scene on the water curtain Fu Xingchuan made was silent for a while before he activated his headset.
“Lu Xiaohe, go get Hao Wenzhe,” he said.
“Things are getting a bit exciting. We found the biggest ‘Ant Nest’ so far.”
Lu Xiaohe: “……”
Lu Xiaohe: “…Ant Nest?”
Including the Snake Swallowing, the development of this execution mission was simply getting more outrageous.
“That kid Xiang Jiang can’t even do a good job investigating. Sunken Society is using the mines to raise evil things? …We thought this was a dog cage of Sunken Society, but it turns out that was just the guard dog. The specialty dishes are behind it.”
A fire dragon circled Fu Xingchuan, reflecting the color of his red tunic so brightly that it almost burned. Li Nian clicked his tongue loudly and tightened the willow whips in his hand. Zhong Chengshuo was solemnly slicing the corpse when he was dragged by the long willow whip and almost scratched his hand.
“What is the ‘Ant Nest’?” Yin Ren asked knowingly.
“Sunken Society is a very old organization. You must have learned about it.”
Fu Xingchuan scratched the stubble on his chin.
“They also have their own research division. Previously, Huajisi, uh, Shian’s predecessor, closely tracked them but could only find a limited number of hidden places. In addition, some ‘research materials’ are difficult to transfer. After a research building is scrapped, they will build a new one near the original site… They call this complex of research buildings the ‘Ant Nest’.”
Above the water curtains, layers of buildings blend with each other, which was countless times more “prosperous” than the mountain town above ground. It had been abandoned for thousands of years, but the everlasting lights in the building hadn’t been extinguished for a long time. In the chaotic darkness, it was like a behemoth with countless open eyes.
Yin Ren nodded. “Since this is an abandoned test site from Sunken Society, shouldn’t they protect it properly?”
However at Fu Xingchuan’s level, there was a high probability that he didn’t need to be induced.
Sure enough, Fu Xingchuan gave him a meaningful look. “The experimental buildings aren’t easy to build. They must have abandoned it because there’s some kind of ‘danger’ here. As for what that danger is, it depends on the research topic of this damn place.”
Sunken Society didn’t deliberately hide this Ant Nest. Since the beginning of the Gong Dynasty, this Ant Nest hadn’t been discovered by Huajisi for thousands of years.
This only represented one thing—no one from the “right side” who had seen this Ant Nest had lived to tell the tale.
The breath came quickly and stopped not far from them. It was well hidden in the dark. If its opponent weren’t a 1,000-year-old Evil Spirit, no one would have noticed that something was wrong.
The thing that was approaching was alive.
Not only was it a living entity, but its breath was also a little familiar. Yin Ren twitched his nose slightly.
In the slightly fishy vapors, he smelled a mixture of tobacco and coffee from Fu Xingchuan, as well as the cologne that Professor Li often used. As a powerful science post, Professor Li’s life response wouldn’t be any different from that of other animals, so naturally his aura was hidden.
Shian attached great importance to their execution mission, and the one who came to the bottom was actually its top combat power. Since Fu Xingchuan didn’t approach immediately, it seemed that their execution mission had to continue.
They were simply pushing the boat along the water. Did they want to see how they would “deal” with the hot potato named Qi Xin?
…There was still such a margin. It seemed that even Fu Xingchuan and Professor Li hadn’t noticed that something was wrong here. Yin Ren squeezed Dog Thing, who was continuing to play dead, speechlessly.
This thing stubbornly refused to pay attention to him, and its battery was at 43%, as if it really was powered by an actual battery.
Even though Dog Thing didn’t speak human words and its brain wasn’t very good, it was still good at predicting unexpected crises—especially those that were inexplicable—and its predictions were usually accurate.
He didn’t know what kind of “powerhouse” they encountered this time. Yin Ren tried to feel out the evil qi, but the underground evil qi was mixed. The aura of various sources was boiling like a pot of laba congee, and he couldn’t find any obviously suspicious taste.
Unfortunately, in front of outsiders, he couldn’t test it with his hair. Sunken Society had lasted for thousands of years and could live under Shian’s eyes for so long, which meant they must have some hidden ability.
Time passed with the sound of the water droplets. The three of them were sitting quietly around the fire at the center of the stone slate, giving off a posture as if they had been squatting there forever.
A few minutes passed.
“Strange.” Lu Xiaohe’s voice bounced in their ears. “There’s something wrong with the topographic map nearby… Yin Ren, please describe the surrounding situation again.”
Yin Ren: “Deep underground. It’s very dark, there are many stalagmites, and the water just past the instep has accumulated. We are resting on a stone slab right now and haven’t noticed any abnormal evil spirits for the time being.”
“Zhong Chengshuo, what do you see?”
“I can’t feel any evil spirits, and the other scenes are similar to what Yin Ren just described.”
Lu Xiaohe was silent for a while.
“…But there’s obviously no water there, and it’s not a cave landscape,” she said. “According to the topographical map, there’s not even space underground at that location.”
“Where on earth are you?”
Zhong Chengshuo held the rehydration solution he had prepared and fell into a state of confusion visible to the naked eye.
“But my inference can’t be wrong,” he murmured.
Yin Ren poked a strand of hair into the water. The groundwater wasn’t as cold as he imagined. He tasted the unique salty taste of turbid water, which was too real to be denied.
Could it be that Zhong Chengshuo got the coordinates wrong?
No… No. Zhong Chengshuo was the kind of person who wouldn’t speak too much if he was even a bit uncertain. As the strongest Nightwalker, he wouldn’t have made such an outrageous mistake.
Beside him, the tips of Zhong Chengshuo’s hair drooped a bit. He held the rehydration fluid with both hands, still immersed in the wonder and shock that “he may have miscalculated”.
Yin Ren had a general guess, but he didn’t like it very much.
Lord Ghost King thought for a moment, then took a deep breath. “Xiaohe Jie, since we don’t know where we are now, we’ll stay put and let the rescuers find us using GPS.”
The surrounding situation was unknown, but the environment was fairly stable. It would be foolish for them to wander around.
Moreover, Tweedle Fu and Tweedle Li* were by their side, so Lu Xiaohe would definitely report this abnormal situation quickly. Yin Ren didn’t have the heart to fight against the unknown, so he simply dragged out an inflatable cushion from his backpack and cheered up.
*Clarity: He’s referring to them as (大傻)and (二傻) which mean big fool and even bigger fool. You can think of it as him giving them nicknames, so I used a Tweedledum and Tweedledee reference.
When the cushion swept into Qi Xin’s gaze, for the first time, it brought on a “speechless” emotion on her face.
……
Not far away, among the stalagmites.
“According to the coordinates given by Zhong Chengshuo, this should be solid land?” Fu Xingchuan leaned on the stalagmite while licking the coffee candy in his mouth. “Lao Li, do you think that kid miscalculated?”
Li Nian bent down to scoop up a handful of water, letting the underground water slip through his fingers.
“Sunken Society’s evil thing. Describe it again,” Li Nian said in a deep voice.
“Snake Swallowing. A Class A-B abnormal phenomenon. It mainly induces greed and jealousy in living people, leaving behind rampant disasters wherever it goes… Professor Li should remember these basic information better than me.”
After Xian Jiang reported the discovery of the Snake Swallowing, Fu Xingchuan directly chose it as the “examination question” for the execution mission.
Snake Swallowing was a rare and powerful evil. Wherever this thing went, the living would plummet into chaos, leaving behind decay in the aftermath. That was to say, the Snake Swallowing was sealed in the mine. Otherwise, the situation in Gengsheng Town would have been much worse.
Not to mention the human chaos it caused, Snake Swallowing itself was really strong. If Unit 9 could work together and escape the Snake Swallowing, then their strength would be at least an A-level, and they might even be comparable to the Emergency Management Department.
Whether it could induce greed in people’s hearts or a baby egg raised by Sunken Society, there was no better suitable test than this. Seeing their perfect execution mission disrupted, Fu Xingchuan was heartbroken.
“I do remember the basic information.” Professor Li was noncommittal about this “perfect topic”. “What I want to ask is, can Snake Swallowing develop the ability to create environmental illusions?”
Fu Xingchuan snorted. “How is that possible? You science posts are difficult to deal with. Didn’t you guys specifically calculate before? To really create an illusion that covers the environment, it must be a monster older than a thousand years. To raise that kind of thing, it would take…”
Minister Fu’s snort got stuck in his throat, and he almost choked on the coffee candy.
“It would have to require a very large space.” Li Nian ignored his partner, who was coughing in the dark. “For example, underneath a mountain town.”
“Of course, I’m just suggesting a possibility,” he added slowly and methodically.
Fu Xingchuan took a breath, snapped the coffee candy, and the smile on his face completely disappeared. “I don’t feel a special aura. Assuming what you said is true, the monster must have been passed down from the ancestors of Sunken Society.”
“A 1,000-year-old monster; an ancient stronghold. Lao Li, you know what this represents.”
Professor Li sighed in the dark.
“This represents the ‘execution mission’ of Unit 9 is perhaps the most exaggerated one in the history of Shian… No, in the entire history before even Shian,” he said calmly. “Of course, it may just be that Zhong Chengshuo miscalculated the coordinates.”
Fu Xingchuan let out a long sigh.
He grabbed his slightly messy hair, and the next moment, he ignited a crimson light.
“Lu Xiaohe, inform Unit 9 that we’ll rendezvous with them immediately.”
“Minister Fu?! The execution mission…”
“It won’t work this time, but there’ll be a next time.” Fu Xingchuan raised his head toward the light of the fire ignited by the talisman. “The situation has become complicated. There are innocent people over there, so we can’t afford to bet.”
……
Yin Ren had finished inflating his cushion. The bouncy air cushion rested on the stone slab as he sorted out his mood for a while, ready to carry out his duty as a salted fish to the end.
While Qi Xin wasn’t paying attention, he separated a strand of hair and poked Zhong Chengshuo, who was still racking his brain calculating his error, and affectionately displayed his full cushion.
First, he attracted the tangled Zhong Chengshuo to take a break, and then he leaned over without a trace. According to Lord Ghost King’s experience, two people leaning next to each other would definitely speed up this long, boring time.
“Don’t think about it. Just lean over and rest—”
Boom!
Yin Ren’s courtship cushion suddenly exploded.
A stalagmite pierced through the stone platform and rose from the ground. It pierced the air cushion directly and grazed Yin Ren’s temples. The black hair poking Zhong Chengshuo was stunned stiff, while the latter was stung by steel needle-like hair, causing him to jump up.
In the frantically wavering fire, the ground shook with weird waves. The stone platform cracked open, and more stalagmites protruded from the water droplets. Yin Ren’s pupils shrank as he suddenly extinguished the flames. The moment the darkness fell, he stretched out one hand and grabbed Qi Xin. A few hair strands wrapped around Zhong Chengshuo’s feet, ready to go…
At this moment, another flash of fire cut through the darkness.
In the light of the fire, Fu Xingchuan’s red tunic was quite conspicuous. He rushed straight at Qi Xin as hundreds of flames intertwined, forming a spherical shield. The stalagmites poking out were instantly burned to dust. Yin Ren retracted his hair in an instant and froze his movements as he took advantage of the situation.
Behind Fu Xingchuan, Li Nian was like a shadow. He looked thin, but his movements were quite powerful. He threw out two black wooden poles with both hands, and amidst the strong evil qi, two flexible willow branches sprang out from the wooden poles, forming two green willow whips.
The willow branches unceremoniously wrapped around Yin Ren’s and Zhong Chengshuo’s waists and rolled them towards Li Nian’s feet.
Stalagmites were still growing tirelessly. Fu Xingchuan clicked his tongue, and as he threw out several floating charms, he picked up the dumbfounded Qi Xin with one hand. Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo were instantly transformed into human balloons and were dragged up and down in the air by Li Nian.
Behind them, stalagmites grew wildly from the top and bottom of the caves. They were like the sharp teeth of a beast, biting aggressively, and one almost gnawed off Yin Ren’s shoes.
Fu Xingchuan and Li Nian’s shoes were definitely high-grade spirit weapons—the two avoided the crazy growth of stalagmites and tried to run in the direction where the evil qi was weakest at a speed comparable to that of a small car. Under the illumination of the flame, the scenery on both sides quickly retreated, and Yin Ren’s face was almost blown out of shape.
“Minister Fu, ahem. Why are you here?” Amidst the wind, Yin Ren asked firmly.
Minister Fu hurriedly kicked the back of his head with his feet. “Just passing by!”
Yin Ren: “…..”
Yin Ren: “Minister Fu…”
“Don’t ask questions now!” Fu Xingchuan yelled as he frantically threw spells one after another behind him. The red flames were accompanied by the sound of explosions that made their ears ring.
“No.”
Yin Ren pointed forward.
“There’s a door—!”
The stagnant water underground had disappeared at some point, and there was no longer darkness in front of them, but a blueish-white flame. Two groups of will-o’-the-wisps floated on an old stone seat, faintly illuminating a stone gate.
It was a very weak door.
Facing the crazy pouring stalagmites, they had no choice.
“All ready!”
Fu Xingchuan’s side was surrounded by fire.
“Lao Li, let’s go in—!”
The author has something to say:
Xiao Yin bitterly lost his courtship cushion, so next time, he might as well conjure up a body cushion instead (?
From discovering the vision to inferring the current situation, Yin Ren’s head only turned for a moment.
He didn’t have time to confirm with Zhong Chengshuo and activated Coffin Nails immediately. The ghost contract was activated to its maximum extent. Hu Tao and Grandpa Lu appeared at the same time—they didn’t have time to figure out the situation and just grabbed the two unconscious girls under the coercion of the contract and dragged them up with force.
Hu Tao carried Ge Tingting like a chicken, while Grandpa Lu went to catch Qi Xin. Two fierce ghosts rushed like a hurricane towards the light at the end of the tunnel, but as soon as Lu Tanfei was about two steps away, he looked at his hands suspiciously.
The blue and white withered hands were empty, and he failed to catch Qi Xin.
Qi Xin lived in a closed town where evil things were rampant, but it turned out she was a weak science post.
Yin Ren made a quick decision and made a gesture. Grandpa Lu helped Hu Tao carry Ge Tingting, and with the blessings of two ghosts, Ge Tingting was ejected towards the entrance of the cave like a cannonball. The little girl didn’t care about her inability to speak and let out a series of screams of unknown ravings.
Qi Xin heard the sound and left the single room. She held onto the wall of the cave with a face full of doubts.
It was hard to say whether her decision was right or wrong.
Because in the next moment, when Ge Tingting rushed towards the light, the scenery in front of everyone suddenly changed. The deformed tunnel tilted over and transformed from a tunnel into a bottomless, giant well. A strong evil qi blew wildly from the bottom up. While the summer heat hadn’t dissipated, the cave turned into an icy tunnel as if it were winter, making people unable to straighten their knuckles.
Lighting completely disappeared, and everything was so dark that they couldn’t even see their five fingers.
The moment the light disappeared, Zhong Chengshuo drew his knife in an instant and pierced the nearest rock crevice. He stepped on the raised stone and was able to maintain his balance in less than a second.
Yin Ren stepped into the air and floated in mid-air. He had just stabilized himself when he heard the sound of the earth rumbling from behind…
Qi Xin was wearing a professional uniform that made it inconvenient for her to move. She didn’t even have a pen on her, so she could only fall down the cave in a daze. Yin Ren hurriedly stretched out his hand and grabbed onto Qi Xin’s wrist to catch her.
Immediately afterwards, Yin Ren turned around and sent himself into Zhong Chengshuo’s arms.
“Hold my waist,” he said in a deep voice. “This matter isn’t over yet.”
Zhong Chengshuo hugged Yin Ren’s waist silently—Mr. Ghost King’s waist was strong and thin, which allowed him to hold it firmly.
Everything happened within a blink of an eye.
In the dense darkness, the three of them were suspended in midair. The mine was still twisting and wriggling like crazy. They were like flying insects trapped inside an empty Rubik’s cube, and they could only watch the world twist into a ball in vain.
Outside the cave.
Ge Tingting was almost shot out of the hole as if she were an intercontinental missile. Fortunately, the two ghosts were conscious enough and remembered to slow her descent near the end. After she finally stopped, Ge Tingting could hardly breathe. She could only pant, letting out sharp whistling from her breath.
But this didn’t affect her AI voice transmission. “Something happened inside. There was a magic attack, and Qi Xin didn’t run out.”
Xiang Jiang’s voice came from a few steps away. “Understood.”
Ge Tingting wiped the cold sweat off her face and looked in Xiang Jiang’s direction. Seeing this, she almost choked to death on her own breath.
The Xiang Jiang in front of her had no eyeballs, and there was only thick darkness in its place.
Xiang Jiang’s face was frighteningly pale, and the blood vessels under his skin were showing a strange, purple-black color, like a poisonous root system. With a distorted expression on his face, he twisted his head at an angle that no living person could and “looked” up and down.
Ge Tingting tensed her body vigilantly and rubbed her eyes hard—this Xiang Jiang wasn’t right. He was too tall, and there was something beside him.
Looking intently again, her heartbeat didn’t know whether to stabilize or speed up.
…There were two Xiang Jiang in front of her.
One of the Xiang Jiang had a human face. He held a yellow talisman between his fingers and looked solemnly into the cave. The one without eyes was floating behind him and was currently bending over with his lips close to the real Xiang Jiang’s ears. He covered his right hand with his sharp nails as the eyeless “Xiang Jiang” hissed and whispered.
It was a ghost that looked exactly like Xiang Jiang.
The ghostly presence was so thick that it was like a substance, making people seem as if they were submerged in icy water from head to toe. Hu Tao and Lu Tanfei took two steps back uncontrollably and then disappeared in place.
Ge Tingting swallowed. She subconsciously wanted to step forward but was pulled back by Huang Jin.
“Don’t go over there.” Huang Jin had an ugly expression on his face.
Before his voice fell, the ghost “Xiang Jiang” noticed Ge Tingting’s movements. He once again turned his head at a terrifying angle, and his jaw opened abnormally wide, letting out a low, threatening howl.
Countless evil qi condensed into invisible needles, and all of them pierced Ge Tingting’s eyes in an instant. Ge Tingting was so shocked that her scalp went numb, and her legs were so soft she couldn’t move.
“Xiang Hai,” Xiang Jiang warned.
Only then did the malicious, fierce ghost named “Xiang Hai” turn his head around again.
“Yin Ren and the others encountered something.” Ge Tingting barely regained her strength to control her limbs as she played out the AI voice.
Xiang Jiang ignored her as he quickly dialed a number. “Enemy attack, enemy unknown. Unit 9 partners and an unrelated citizen are missing.”
A vague reply came from the other end of the line. Xiang Jiang pursed his lips, threw out an “Okay”, and hung up the call.
“Continue to investigate the evil things in the cave. Before the situation is clarified, the three of us will turn to investigate external factors.”
Ge Tingting’s face stiffened. “What about those three people?”
“Oh, there are colleagues from the Emergency Management Department in the cave. They are performing other tasks and can take over rescuing them,” Xiang Jiang said. “Before the situation is clarified, you don’t need to rush over. It’ll just delay things.”
After he finished speaking, he clapped his hands and the fierce ghost Xiang Hai dispersed in response.
Ge Tingting and Huang Jin: “……”
Given Xiang Jiang’s tone, there didn’t seem to be any room for them to refute.
“Let’s go. Find out the true body of the evil thing faster, and you can also help those two people.” Huang Jin patted Ge Tingting on the shoulder.
Xiang Jiang’s cloudy eyes paused for a moment on Huang Jin’s face.
“Interesting. You don’t seem worried about them at all,” he said, seemingly unintentionally.
Huang Jin: “You have read my profile. We criminals are heavy-hearted.”
Xiang Jiang snorted meaningfully, turned around, and walked out of the cave.
“Stay away from Xiang Jiang’s ghost.” After confirming that Xiang Jiang had gone far enough, Huang Jin turned to Ge Tingting. “That ghost is very bad. That kind of resentment is rare among Nightwalkers.. If it weren’t for knowing Shian’s style, I would have suspected this person was poached from Sunken Society.”
Ge Tingting rubbed the goosebumps on her arms. “I think it’s okay.”
“Because that thing kept its hands away from you.” Huang Jin raised his hand, and there was a conspicuous black corrosion wound on his lower arm. “Look at this… When it first came out, I just leaned over and took a look.”
Ge Tingting was speechless.
She learned a lot of basic knowledge in Shian, which naturally included the basics on ghost masters.
Corpse servants and ghost masters were very similar in one point—the stronger the “karma” between the corpses and ghosts they used and themselves, the greater the ability they could exert.
In order to pursue power, some evil cultivators even intentionally mutilate their relatives and friends, turning them into power weapons.
The ability of a ghost master was largely determined by the quality of the ghost. Xiang Jiang had such a fierce ghost, so it wasn’t surprising he could become the “#1 ghost master in Haigu”.
“Sister, are you there?” After a while, Ge Tingting tapped on her headset. “Are Yin Ge and Zhong Ge okay?”
“I just contacted them. They are fine. You two listen to Xiang Jiang’s command first.” There was an inexplicable sense of exhaustion in Lu Xiaohe’s voice. “Waiting on you guys… Well, when you all come back, I’ll definitely file an application for a salary adjustment.”
Ge Tingting: “……”
Lu Xiaohe still had the energy to joke, so it seemed like the situation should be fine over there.
……
In fact, technically speaking, the three people in the cave weren’t considered fine.
The twisting performance of the mine lasted for more than ten minutes, forcing Yin Ren to fly left and right. After the rock wall stopped squirming, Comrade Xiao Zhong brought heavy news…
“We are deep underground.” He turned on the light he was carrying and spoke with great certainty.
Zhong Chengshuo put a bundle of lighting lamps on his head like a miner’s lamp and tapped on his headset to clearly report their coordinates.
At first, the communication on Lu Xiaohe’s side was staticky, but she quickly adjusted the channel.
“Copy that.”
Lu Xiaohe’s voice was clear. In the face of pure evil qi, Shian’s communication equipment finally came into play.
“I found the place. The underground structure there is very complicated. Take care of Qi Xin and don’t wander around.”
After experiencing the storms and waves in the Archive, their rear commander sounded a bit contradictory, as if she wanted to be nervous but couldn’t get nervous.
“I suggest you find a dry place to camp. Zhong Chengshuo, pay attention to the toxic gasses and oxygen content in the air—I’m analyzing the nearby topographic map. The results will be available in four minutes. There are senior employees of Shian nearby. They will come to rescue you soon.” Lu Xiaohe arranged things in an orderly manner.
Zhong Chengshuo: “The attacker?”
“Unknown,” Lu Xiaohe sighed. “If you didn’t notice someone or an evil thing approaching, then it was probably a trigger for some magic mechanism from Sunken Society. But I’m just guessing. There’s no evidence to make a conclusion.”
Zhong Chengshuo nodded. The light on his head rose and fell with his movements. Qi Xin was still quiet. She let Yin Ren hold her arms without complaining.
‘Quite a good mechanism,’ Yin Ren thought.
The question was “who” arranged it and “when” the mechanism was deployed. For the mine, the location of the so-called mechanism was too shallow, and the strength was too strong. When the accident happened, there was no fluctuation in spells when the mechanism triggered.
This incident was too weird. Shian was probably more surprised than they were.
Unfortunately, he had to do a full manual guidance task. Yin Ren sighed inwardly as he carefully landed on the “ground”.
This place was no better than a dry mine. There was stagnant underground water that was four fingers deep, and around them were snake-teeth like stalagmites. The stagnant water looked like ink under the dim lighting, black and lusterless.
There was a weak life reaction underwater, though ghost knew what was inside.
There was a raised stone platform not far away. It was about the size of a double bed. It wasn’t dry, but at least it was far away from the water. The three of them climbed to the top of the stone platform and began to wring out the water from their shoes and socks.
Yin Ren ignited a fire in the center of the slate, and they surrounded it with their shoes and socks to let it dry. Zhong Chengshuo took out a bunch of items from his backpack and began testing things.
Qi Xin sat honestly in place, like a planter that had been accidentally implicated. Her hair was wet from sweat. She brushed it back behind her ear, revealing a conspicuous stitching scar at the corner of her forehead.
As the fire crackled, the shadow of the protruding scar shook, as if it had life.
Noticing Zhong Chengshuo’s unveiled gaze, Qi Xin straightened her hair again to cover up her scar.
“Car accident,” she explained briefly.
Zhong Chengshuo: “Oh.”
He turned his back and tinkered for a long time, then took out three cups full of clear water. “I mixed in some rehydration fluids.”
“You can’t drink the water here.” Qi Xin frowned.
“I filtered it carefully,” Zhong Chengshuo said sincerely.
Yin Ren tugged at the corner of Zhong Chengshuo’s clothes and leaned his head over. “It’s better not to drink. This place is full of evil qi, so there may be evil insects in the water. It’s useless to boil it. People will get sick even if they drink it.”
Not to mention that everything happened too suddenly, and they didn’t get the chance to bring utensils to boil water.
“I’ve really dealt with it,” Zhong Chengshuo muttered while still maintaining his turned-back posture as he lifted his trousers up a bit.
Yin Ren: “?”
This guy actually brought the Evil Fruit with him. This was good news, but did that have anything to do with whether or not the water could be drunk?
“I stirred each cup thoroughly with the blade,” Zhong Chengshuo whispered solemnly, avoiding Qi Xin. “This is a top-notch cursed spirit weapon. Any microorganisms and evil things inside will be completely annihilated.”
Yin Ren: “……”
How good. This was the first time he had seen someone ruining a top-level cursed spirit weapon… Is this how this knife is supposed to be used? It doesn’t seem like it! For a moment, he seemed as if he could hear the wailing of the Evil Fruit.
Boss Yin couldn’t help but pull out Dog Thing, making it realize how generously it was being treated as an employee.
Dog Thing was lying obediently in its phone case. The screen was pitch black. The hamster pendant on the case dangled from it, casting a shaking shadow in the fire.
[Did you notice anything just now?] As soon as it showed up, it was put to work. Boss Yin typed this to it.
[Siren: I don’t seem to understand. If there’s anything else I can help you with, please let me know.]
[What are you talking about?]
[Siren: I didn’t get that. Please try asking me again.]
Yin Ren choked.
Dog Thing didn’t respond to his question, as if it had turned into a real AI.
The firelight illuminated the small stone platform as darkness wrapped around them in layers. The sound of water was endless, and the thick evil qi surged like mist.
The originally quiet scene suddenly felt a little more dangerous.
And in the depths of the darkness, less than two kilometers away from them, there was a breath approaching fast.
The author has something to say:
Xiao Zhong: Subjectively and deliberately sterilize the water.
<<Shocking, King Yama killed tens of millions of lives in three minutes!>>
The life of microorganisms is also life.jpg
Kinky Thoughts:
The title is referring to how Dog Thing has now become (whether it’s pretending or not) an actual smartphone, so in a sense, like a dog, it’s “playing dead”.
The interior of the mine was dry, and there weren’t many weeds growing. The entrance to the mine was relatively spacious. Sunlight would trickle down from above, illuminating the wooden beams embedded in the cave. The gray wooden beams were covered with a layer of brilliant gold, and the lights and shadows mixed perfectly, lined with fine golden dust at the entrance and exit.
Ignoring the fountain of evil qi coming from the depths of the mine, the scenery at the entrance of the cave had a bit of sacredness.
Xiang Jiang, having the feelings of a thousand-year-old monster, didn’t seem to think so. He made a gesture and signaled the group to enter the cave quickly and get to work.
In the mine, there were still aging wires and lighting that hung on the walls of the cave. The wires had long since dried up and were peeling, and their red and blue colors had turned into muddy brown and gray. However, apart from the cave, neither the clean cave wall nor the flat gravel layer under their feet showed the traces of the years.
As long as the old lights on both sides were replaced, Yin Ren believed that someone would be coming down here to work tomorrow.
Qi Xin was wearing a simple, dark gray office suit. She stood at the entrance of the mine, out of place with the surrounding scenery. The woman spoke little, except when necessary. The cold wind blowing out of the cave stirred her hair. Yin Ren couldn’t detect the slightest breath of a cultivator from her. Whether she was partial to a science post or a metaphysical post, it was impossible to judge based on how much she believed.
They had arrived at their destination. Qi Xin watched as everyone in Unit 9 took out a mess of spirit weapons and started busying themselves without asking a word.
She just stood silently, like a robot who had come to show them the way.
Compared with this office worker, Huang Jin seemed even more worried. “Since we know that there are high-risk evil things that will rise, why do we need to collect data? Aren’t the B-level groups available?”
“So we should just let B-level groups handle things when it’s a little dangerous? What do you want to do? Check on trivial things every day in the city? I remember your information. You weren’t such a pain in the ass when you started working.”
As Xiang Jiang spoke, he bent down and inserted two pieces of wood into a hole.
Using a piece of wood as the center, he started nailing the wood chips one by one. The small nubs of the wooden nails were thick and dull in color. They exuded a strong fishy smell, and fine runes could vaguely be seen on them.
Huang Jin looked at the circle of top-notch wooden nails on the ground and didn’t know how to respond—brother, you just inserted a large-scale anti-evil spirit suppression barrier at the entrance of the cave, yet you don’t want us to ask more questions?
The spirit-suppression nail was an excellent spirit weapon for dealing with large evil spirits. The raw materials used came from coffins that were more than hundreds of years old. Occasionally, a few Nightwalkers would stumble upon a nail, which would fetch a price of over six figures for them.
Shian sure did have deep pockets, as just one array required dozens of pieces.
As for the piece of wood in the center of the formation, Huang Jin didn’t recognize it. He could only see that it was an ancient prop, which meant it was probably quite expensive.
The balance of his bank card flashed through his mind, causing Huang Jin’s heart to ache. He decided to think in a different direction, such as concentrating and looking at Xiang Jiang himself.
Unfortunately, Xiang Jiang’s thoughts were hard to read—”hard” in the literal sense.
This person’s mind was like a sea urchin. It had sharp thorns erected in all directions. Xiang Jiang’s mental state didn’t seem very good. The text all over his body seemed to be twisted and deformed as if it were liquidated, making it difficult for Huang Jin to read.
Soon, Xiang Jiang finished nailing all the spirit-suppression nails. There was now a hole with a piece of wood in the center and six circles made of wooden nails around it. They were close to each other, looking a bit like teeth that were ready to choose someone to eat.
The spirit-suppression nails formed an array. The cold pressure overwhelmed the evil qi at the entrance of the cave, which made people feel quite safe. Of course, it would have been better if the six of them weren’t at the entrance of the cave in the first place.
At this point, Huang Jin gave up on the idea of questioning work. He accepted his fate and continued to ask, “What evil things are there? Is there any information?”
“Let’s review the preliminaries.” Seeing that Xiang Jiang was about to stare daggers at him, he quickly amended.
After setting up the spirit-suppression array, Xiang Jiang leaned against the rock wall to rest. The sunlight shot in slanting from the cave, and he happened to be standing in the shadows. The tip of his shoe just stepped on the dividing line between light and shadow.
Perhaps Huang Jin’s search for compensation worked. Xiang Jiang retracted his gaze and looked down at the ground, which was full of gravel and sand. His messy bangs hung down, a little dirty, just enough to cover his eyes.
“I briefly investigated, and at present I can only determine the quantity and danger,” Xiang Jiang said. “Sunken Society is secretly raising evil beings here. This isn’t some kind of zoo. The situation in the mines is complicated. Do you think Shian can just visit by buying a ticket?”
“The type of evil creatures, their abilities, their specific location… None of those have been determined. You need to go step by step and collect clues bit by bit to gradually determine their habits and characteristics.”
Yin Ren didn’t stop his movements while arranging his spirit weapon.
Xiang Jiang was absolutely lying. Even if the specific type of evil things wasn’t determined, Shian at least would know their general abilities and location. Otherwise, if they couldn’t find any evil things and instead found a mass of evil spirits with no combat abilities, it would surely be an embarrassing situation for Shian.
Now that someone had arranged their journey, he just needed to lie down. The task was fully automatically guided. Who wouldn’t like a task where they didn’t need to use their brain at all?
Zhong Chengshuo’s attention was completely captured. He looked at Xiang Jiang without blinking, listened very solemnly, and froze into a humanoid sculpture on the spot.
“It’s actually similar to methods used to investigate new species.”
Seeing that Xiang Jiang hadn’t continued after a long period of time, Lu Xiaohe picked up the conversation.
“You should be studying a new kind of evil spirit—find more clues and judge its habits. The more data we have, the more we will know about it. In this way, even if you encounter it, you’ll be prepared.”
“Then I think it’s better not to meet,” Huang Jin muttered.
Ge Tingting nodded halfway but felt something was wrong and firmly blocked her neck.
Normally, Lu Xiaohe would probably say something like, “Oh, just scoff it off. I’m sure you’ll be fine” to lighten the mood, but this time, she just laughed dryly and continued.
“Don’t be impatient with the data collection. Everyone should be cautious! It’s not easy for a drone to enter the mines. I’ll try my best to provide you with intelligence support. Even when you encounter uncertain clues, you can report them to me at any time.”
“There’s no need to put too much pressure on yourself. Today is just mapping out the layout of the base. Let’s consolidate the road near the exit first. With Ms. Qi here, we don’t need to go deeper for the time being.”
Zhong Chengshuo instantly showed an expression on his face as if he had been splashed by cold rain. Then he reacted slowly, and under the premise of “worrying about his lover”, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Like a person who had never danced in his life and wanted to move his limbs in harmony with the music, as a result, Zhong Chengshuo’s “thinking limbs” almost stumbled and fell to the ground.
Yin Ren almost wickedly laughed out loud, but he managed to hold back.
His lover looked more vivid and clumsier than ever.
In the end, Yin Ren couldn’t hold back the itching in his hands. He pressed his hand on the back of Zhong Chengshuo’s head and rubbed it soothingly.
It was warm, and the black hair was smooth and soft. Zhong Chengshuo’s hair was slightly long and the ends of his hair were softly attached to the back of his neck. They seemed to have devoured the sun and were glowing as dark as a crow’s feather.
Yin Ren subconsciously thought how they would look if they were white, and his original comfortable mood disappeared.
He didn’t know why he thought of this out of nowhere. Was it because there were too many old people here?
Yin Ren rubbed his temples and adjusted his breathing for a while. Well, these things can be pushed off until later. First, it was imperative to get through this level.
……
Around two in the afternoon, the base was set up.
The waterproof blanket and sleeping bags were properly arranged, and a lightweight alloy kettle was placed next to the water condensation spirit weapon. Xiang Jiang had set up a stove on the spot and boiled some water. He poured out six bowls of instant seaweed egg drop soup. The pancakes were greasy after it cooled down. The crispy shell became soggy, and its flakiness was now soft. It wasn’t as amazing as when it was freshly fried, but with the hot soup, it gave it a special taste.
“Why does Gengsheng Town hate outsiders so much?”
Zhong Chengshuo glanced at the pancake in Yin Ren’s hand as he asked Qi Xin.
Qi Xin looked up at him. Her eyes were blank like a piece of paper with no emotional color. “I don’t want to talk about things other than work.”
Yin Ren: “…..”
These two were really like a white knife going in and coming out red*. Their questions and answers were too direct.
*(白刀子进，红刀子出) Idiom referring to killing people to see blood, to fight desperately. || Basically, Yin Ren is saying they have such similar personalities that they are clashing.
“I have an element of curiosity, but this is related to our investigation.” Zhong Chengshuo was unphased. “Raising special creatures also depends on the environment. The more special the creatures are, the more demanding the environment—understanding the characteristics of the environment will allow us to know more about the characteristics of the creature itself.”
No matter how emotionally dull Zhong Chengshuo was, even he could see the abnormality of Gengsheng Town.
The hatred of the locals towards outsiders had reached the point of distortion. To say that this was purely spontaneous behavior, no ghost would believe it.
And his ghost also provided information. There were a hundred times more evil things in this place than in the outside world, so there must be a reason why Sunken Society would choose to keep high-risk evil beings here.
Not far away, Yin Ren went along and struck while the iron was hot. “Qi Jie, something is wrong with this mountain town. That’s why we’re here. There are some things that only local people know, so please tell us more about it.”
Qi Xin sat on the mat in an orderly manner. She took a sip of the soup and thought for a while.
“All right,” she said.
Now, it wasn’t just the few people that were present; even Lu Xiaohe held her breath.
“When I was young, Gengsheng Town didn’t have such an atmosphere.” Qi Xin put down her soup and wiped her mouth with a napkin. “I heard from my mother in those early years, Gengsheng people were actually very hospitable.”
“This was a mountain village at first. Later, the mines were discovered. The village chief at the time had a good head and took the opportunity to develop the town. The next mayor was even more powerful, turning it into a well-known, rich town in one fell swoop. In those decades, everyone’s life seemed to be going up.”
All these things were actually mentioned in the work materials.
More than 20 years ago, this place was affected by a certain natural disaster, and nearly a hundred people died. There was also a problem with the mineral-rich mountains, so the production of rare minerals declined.
Gengsheng Town only had a single industry. With the collapse of the mineral-related industry, most people lost their jobs. The investors shook their heads, collaborators turned around, and the labor force that came here gradually left, leaving only a gorgeous mess. Not to mention outsiders, even the local children showed signs of fleeing.
“I saw him set up the magnificent pavilion, seeing him entertain them there.*” The mountain village grew into a mountain town, and the mountain town became a prosperous and famous town.
*This is an excerpt from The Peach Blossom Fan by Kong Shangren. The full quote is [I saw him… seeing him entertain them there and watched the pavilion collapse]. This is an allusion to the vicissitudes of the ever-changing world. With the passage of time, prosperity and wealth, and the emotion and feeling of fame and fortune, are just fleeting.
Then it rapidly “aged”.
The people weren’t ready for it, whether it was waving goodbye to the glory and wealth of the past or sending loved ones away who never wanted to return.
Then, people started to come—only it wasn’t for investment or tourism, but to talk about “the merger of neighboring mountain towns” and “the transformation and reconstruction of the town”.
The town was aging, and they had come to bury it.
“If we don’t mention her background, Ren Jiying is a typical ‘outsider’. In fact, she’s very capable. If she wasn’t stuck here, she could climb much higher.”
Qi Xin commented lightly.
“Ren Jiying originally planned to dismantle the loop line and re-plan to vacate the area—such as creating a more reasonable layout and building a few roads leading to the proverbial towns.”
“But the townspeople didn’t allow her and threatened that she would be courting death if she touched it. The number of elderly people over 70 years old here is several times that of other places. They all would lay on the ground collectively, and there’s nothing the police can do about it when they come.”
Ge Tingting was a little dumbfounded. “I can understand people in Gengsheng Town don’t like outsiders, but the current level of malice…”
“I don’t know any more. I also left halfway for more than ten years before coming back. If you want to know more, you can only ask the local elderly.”
The corner of Qi Xin’s mouth twitched.
Yin Ren knew what she wanted to laugh at—the old people in town couldn’t wait to rush over and try to scam them from a distance of 800 meters, so it was impossible they would tell them what happened back then.
However, he was indeed very interested in the “natural disaster” that caused the town to change more than 20 years ago.
Moreover, there was a sense of familiarity in the town that kept lingering, like a piece of dirt stuck to his phone screen and was always attracting his attention from time to time.
“I’m going to the bathroom.” After Qi Xin finished talking about the town’s history, she stood up and wanted to go deeper into the mine.”
Xiang Jiang: “Go outside.”
“I saw it just now. There’s a single room dug inside. It’s too bright and open outside.” Qi Xin didn’t stop walking.
“Ge Tingting, Yin Ren, Zhong Chengshuo, you three go with her. Huang Jin and I will stay here.” Xiang Jiang didn’t continue to argue with her. “Go quick and come back. Don’t wander around.”
The single room wasn’t far away—no more than a distance of ten steps. It was estimated that the space that was accidentally discovered had been transformed into a restroom or storage room. After they placed lighting in the cave, it was quite conspicuous.
Under the light, the low doorway became deeper. Qi Xin was quite courageous.
Qi Xin was going to the bathroom, followed by a group of people, showing the grandeur of an emperor visiting his harem. In the thick shadows, her shoes still stepped on the ground rhythmically, without any disorder.
She and Ge Tingting entered the private room, while Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo stood guard outside the doorway, turning into a toilet door guard.
The harsh reality was telling Yin Ren that the Ghost King couldn’t be the “god” of scammers, but instead the god of doors. He had just taken up his post with honor for three seconds…
The large area of light at the entrance of the cave shrank into a point in an instant.
The originally straight road suddenly turned into sheep intestines, and the walls were wriggling, as if they had just been swallowed by something.
Yin Ren’s face sank.
Qi Xin was still nearby. No matter how outrageous Shian’s execution mission was, it wouldn’t involve innocent people.
…This was definitely not Shian who was attacking them.
Kinky Translations 