Edited by Jules
The two continued through the passage.
There were many guards along the way, and they also encountered other ‘people’.
These people looked like the pastor earlier, their bodies more or less deformed in some way.
But without exception, none of them seemed capable of thought.
It was as if everyone had become machines that didn’t know how to get tired as they patrolled this dark underground day after day.
They banished intruders as they guarded Sara’s altar.
Xiao Lan felt that it was very hard to say whether these ‘people’ could still be considered alive.
Just by looking at the appearances of those they had seen, some already didn’t have mouths or noses. If they were normal people, they would have died long ago, yet they were still able to move about; it was highly unscientific.
After long-term training and battle, Xiao Lan had already become extremely nimble in his movements. He soundlessly avoided these rather unperceptive guards, and was far away like the wind before they could even react.
Luo was just like his shadow, following silently behind Xiao Lan.
In this way, they quietly travelled through this underground passage filled with strange guards.
The two had already been walking through the passage for a good while.
The passage wound about and seemed to have been created by digging wherever felt good, which could make one almost lose their bearings.
Fortunately, the passage had been dug in a hurry and there were no side paths, so the path forward was smooth.
Soon, they came to an open area.
Xiao Lan noticed a lot of white fragments under his feet, and was just about to bend down to pick one up.
However, Luo reached out to stop him, a black shadow writing in the air: 【These are human bones.】
Xiao Lan looked at the bone fragments scattered all over the ground.
This… How many people had died here? And what happened for the bones to be shattered to this extent?
Before they could investigate more closely, there was a sluggish rustle nearby.
It sounded like the footsteps of the guards earlier. What was different, however, was that this time, there were a lot of them, overlapping one another. Combined with the way the sound echoed in the passage, it made the scalp tingle.
Seeing that things didn’t look good, the two hurriedly found a hollow in the rock wall and hid inside.
It just so happened that there was a huge boulder nearby that could block the line of sight of whatever was coming.
To avoid being discovered, Xiao Lan also turned off 【Nuclear energy flashlight】.
Without the flashlight, the place was only illuminated by the scattered light from miscellaneous plants in the tunnel, making everything look hazy and even stranger.
The space behind the rock wall wasn’t big, and Xiao Lan could only crouch down with his back pressed against Luo.
He could clearly sense the heartbeat and breathing which Luo produced to imitate a human being, as well as the heat and muscular contours of Luo’s body.
Suddenly, Xiao Lan felt one of his shoulders sag.
He turned his head slightly and saw Luo’s extremely close face.
Although the light was very weak, Luo’s face was as handsome as ever in the eyes of Xiao Lan, who had the outstanding vision of an advanced player, so much so that due to the unusual lighting, there was a mysterious air about him, like a devil emerging in the night.
Luo sensed Xiao Lan’s gaze and tilted his head to give him a smile as he mouthed: What’s wrong, sir?
Xiao Lan, who had bent down to a right angle, suddenly felt his heart speed up.
He shifted his gaze a little awkwardly. God, this guy was cheating.
However, the nonhuman who was now part of the human world and had learnt many skills did not give up just like this. He took the chance when Xiao Lan turned his head to give chase and leave a kiss on Xiao Lan’s cheek.
And was then confronted with Xiao Lan’s ‘wtf you can kiss even in a situation like this’ expression.
Luo’s lips curved up and he raised a finger to his lips for Xiao Lan to be quiet, his elegant and aloof appearance making it look like he wasn’t the one who had been messing around just now.
Sure enough, shamelessness was the only truth to run rampant in the human world.
A certain nonhuman gave humanity’s wisdom a thumbs up and felt that he still had to learn more from humans.
What a pity that footsteps were approaching to spoil the fun, interrupting the somewhat romantic air between them.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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However, these people weren’t much different from the other guards in the passage.
They also had numb expressions, and they moved stiffly and strangely. Their limbs also displayed various different disabilities or mutations.
So many people were coming over, but there wasn’t even a single whisper.
The most unique one was the person in the lead, who looked the least human. The remains of his clothes were also the most splendid, and looked like a bishop’s attire.
He still had a little awareness left, and could even command the rest.
Xiao Lan guessed that these people might have been the ones who had participated in the sacrificial offering in Mona Town that year.
Something happened during the ceremony, causing them to turn into this bizarre state and forever wander around this place as they prevented other people from entering.
Everyone gathered in this empty area. In front of them was a vacant space; there was no trace of a godly image or an altar.
Everyone stiffly raised their hands and began to mechanically prostrate themselves on the ground.
Their movements were practically synchronised and looked like a pre-established program.
Xiao Lan observed their movements.
Suddenly, he noticed that the way these people were positioned was a little strange.
They seemed to be standing according to some sort of order, but there were a few gaps among them, as if someone should have been there, but was absent.
He observed whatever was within his line of sight, and it was truly the case.
There were several gaps in this neat formation.
Where had these people gone?
Xiao Lan’s eyes couldn’t help falling on the bone fragments on the ground.
He connected it to something in the written information he had obtained – two private investigators hired by Mr. B had died through mutual slaughter.
Could it be that the bones on the ground had been caused by these people prostrating themselves?
If so, it would also explain why the bones were shattered so badly.
After these people killed a portion of their fellow compatriots, they probably frequently came here to worship, and the bones naturally couldn’t remain intact after years of trampling.
How cruel and apathetic was this?
What kind of existences had these people turned into after being affected by Sara’s Song?
Were they… truly still human?
The crowd continued to prostrate themselves.
Suddenly, the bishop at the front stood up.
He left the crowd and walked in another direction.
The monotonous sound of clothes rustling as everyone else prostrated themselves continued. They seemed long used to his actions, and didn’t react to him.
Xiao Lan and Luo got ready to follow the bishop.
Suddenly, Xiao Lan heard an almost indiscernible sound behind him.
He paused, then turned to look at Luo. Luo also nodded at him; it seemed that both of them had heard the sound.
Xiao Lan concentrated and looked at the darkness behind him.
An upside-down face slowly descended from above.
The face was wizened and withered, the deep eye sockets like black holes.
The mouth opened and a long, root-like tongue stretched out. The tongue flickered like a snake’s and looked extremely unnatural.
On the other side, it was as if his body was growing out of the wall, his lower body practically merging into the rock wall.
Who knew when he had appeared here; unexpectedly, the extremely sensitive duo hadn’t noticed any strangeness at all.
Seeing that he had been discovered, the person hanging upside down opened his mouth wide, as if wanting to cry out and alert his companions outside.
In response, Xiao Lan instantly darted forward while 【Insurgent’s Bone】appeared in his hand, and he swung it at the other party.
Before the upside-down person could utter a sound, he had already been struck in the head.
The strike from the rod was very proficient and decisive, and full of professionalism and craftsmanship. It could be said to be a perfect example in the world of rod strikes.
The upside-down person slid down from the wall, and was single-handedly caught by Luo, who had long been waiting, before he could fall to the ground.
Luo yanked on that root-like tongue with practised ease and firmly tied him up like a mummy. Even if he woke up, he wouldn’t be able to so much as twitch.
After tying him up, Luo had a black shadow soundlessly dig a hole, dump the trussed-up person inside, and fill the hole again with dirt, allowing the other party to experience a professional funerary expert’s one-stop service.
After completing everything, a thin black shadow appeared in Luo’s hand and wiped away the dirt that was on him.
The entire process took no more than a second, and thanks to their tacit cooperation, the duo even managed to keep the noise down to the absolute minimum.
They had developed a tacit understanding after cooperating for so long. They were able to coordinate perfectly without any need for prior communication.
After dealing with this sudden, minor incident, the two of them silently slipped out from behind the rock wall.
The prostrating crowd was still repeating their stiff movements and was completely unaware of what had just occurred.
The duo carefully circled around them and headed in the direction that the bishop had disappeared.
The passage the bishop passed through was narrower than the previous one, and there were slabs on the ground. It looked a little more refined.
This implied that the place which this passage was connected to should be pretty important.
After walking a short distance, they came to another open space.
This place was a little smaller than where the crowd was, and in the centre was a stone which served as an extremely simple and crude altar.
There seemed to be some unremovable black traces on the stone which also flowed down to the surrounding ground.
Although he couldn’t see clearly due to the distance, from what he had previously seen, Xiao Lan speculated that this was probably blood that had long dried.
He silently eyed the surroundings. There were a lot of blood splatters on the ground and walls; it wasn’t hard to imagine how gruesome and crazy the scene must have been back then.
This was probably the altar mentioned in the information.
The bishop was standing alone before the altar, animatedly performing a silent ceremony.
His movements looked very insane. His limbs, which looked like tree roots, and his bark-like face made him look more monster than human.
The bishop’s movements changed and his back just happened to be to the two of them.
Following his movements, the ripped cloth on his back fluttered.
It was then that Xiao Lan noticed that there was a large hole in the bishop’s back. it was completely empty inside, with no sign of any internal organs.
This guy clearly should already be dead!
It was possible that the ‘people’ outside were also the same. There was no way people could survive without food or water.
This was simply a group of living corpses.
Perhaps they had long died in the sacrificial ceremony 30 years ago, but a portion of the corpses were reanimated due to Sara’s influence. Moreover, they were just as crazy as when they had been alive, maintaining their devotion to Sara day after day.
Suddenly, Xiao Lan’s eyes were drawn to the stones below the bishop’s feet.
In this place, where there were only glimmers of light from some plants, some of the stones were pulsing with a red light, as if they were breathing. The light was very weak, but it was very conspicuous in the dim setting.
Xiao Lan was just about to gesture to Luo, when the bishop suddenly turned his head in the middle of his ceremony.
As if he had sensed something, his bark-like face turned right in Xiao Lan and Luo’s direction, his hollow eye sockets emitting a red glow.
They had been discovered.
Instantly, the thought flashed through Xiao Lan’s mind.
As the bishop raised his root-like hand, Xiao Lan’s 【Insurgent’s Bone】 turned into a blade at the same time in his hand.
Without hesitation, Xiao Lan dashed forward, the tip of the blade aimed at the bishop.
“Luo, clear the field,” Xiao Lan said softly.
“Yes, sir,” Luo replied with a smile.
At the same time, a black shadow spread out from Luo’s feet.
It instantly encompassed the space around the altar like a black cage, trapping everything within.
This was a new ability Luo obtained after absorbing even more of his main fragments; he could temporarily seal off a space so that the prey within was helpless to escape. The effects of the battle also wouldn’t spread out.
Xiao Lan’s blade was already swinging at the bishop.
The bishop’s attack wasn’t weak either. The roots that were suddenly flung out were hard like metal, and were so swift that there was a sharp whistling sound.
Xiao Lan evaded the attack and swung his blade relentlessly at the attacking roots.
Ding —
The roots and blade collided with a metallic sound.
While the roots were solid, they still couldn’t compete with the edge of 【Insurgent’s Bone】.
The roots were chopped off by the blade. The severed parts fell to the ground and instantly began to rot and emit a foul smell.
The bishop opened his mouth and roared; the sound he made was hoarse and inhuman.
But the severed parts regrew.
Provoked by the injury, he seemed angry, and even more roots suddenly began rushing towards Xiao Lan.
The attack was even fiercer, but like a phantom, Xiao Lan evaded them easily.
“Yet another regenerative type. I hate unscientific existences like you the most.” As Xiao Lan spoke, the blade in his hand moved even faster.
At the same time, he activated his skill:
【Name: Poverty is unable to limit my imagination】
【Ability: Fire manipulation】
After his skill upgraded to level 5, even the flame Xiao Lan could control was different.
Now, it was a near-white, incomparably scorching flame, and was even more threatening than the previous Dalit’s Flame.
The blade flashed with light, and a burst of flames subsequently followed.
The blazing fire paired with the incredibly sharp blade landed on the bishop once more.
The plant-like tendrils instantly started burning in the face of the fire; moreover, the fire frantically spread over the bishop’s wizened body at an incredible speed.
At the same time, Xiao Lan didn’t stop slashing as the black blade with the burning flame fell ceaselessly.
Every cut chopped off several roots and also added to the rapidly expanding fire.
Soon, the bishop had basically become a fireball.
But he still tried to drag Xiao Lan down with him.
Several burning roots suddenly shot out from his four limbs as they all aimed at Xiao Lan to wrap him up.
But Xiao Lan nimbly escaped the roots which tried to catch him. Then, with a slight shift, he stood behind the bishop and raised his blade once more.
The pitch-black blade flashed.
A burning head flew out in an arc before it slammed heavily on the ground.
Right after that, the body was swallowed up by flames and also toppled over, kicking up a storm of dust.
Very quickly, both the head and body were engulfed by the extremely hot fire and burnt up fiercely.
A system notification appeared:
“You have killed Jack Manson.”
This was probably the bishop’s name when he had been alive. What a shame it no longer had any meaning for him.
Xiao Lan put away his blade and turned off his skill.
He pointed at the burning bishop and turned to ask Luo, “Can you eat this? It’s barbecue-flavoured.”
Luo already seemed used to his boyfriend’s unconventional way of thinking. He smiled and said, “I’m a picky eater, sir.”
Thanks for the chapter ~
Thank you for the chapter!! <3
MC: Look barbeque
ML with an elegant smile : No thank you
Thx for the ch ٩( >ヮ<)۶
XL, stop trying to get your boyfriend to eat weird things 😂
Thank goodness he’s a picky eater… 🤮
That’s an insult to the barbecues.. 🤣