The mushroom-like beings in the flames were no longer quietly hiding in the ground, pretending to be handsome. Now, with their feet on the ground, they hopped and scurried away, looking more like strangely shaped fleas.
Wu Tianzhen felt a smile tugging at his lips watching them hop as if their feet were burning, but the thought that these creatures survived by eating meat and sucking blood suppressed the smile, replaced by a greater sense of dread.
"Are we there yet!" Fatty was exhausted from running, and he was forced to recall the feeling of his backside being scalded by the invisible man in the palace.
"We've almost run a full circle around this place. Even roast meat wouldn't need such even heating!"
The moment Fatty finished speaking, Hei Yanzing, who was leading the way, suddenly stopped!
"Holy crap!" Wu Tianzhen almost crashed into his back, but he managed to hold himself up with his strong will (absolutely not getting close to Hei Yanzing).
"We're here, right? We're—" Fatty excitedly rushed forward, about to look for an exit to dive into, only to find nothing in front of him except a massive stone sculpture.
Flames licked the surface of the sculpture, making it glow red. Combined with its original dark appearance, it looked like some Asura descending upon the world.
"Well," Fatty sat down on the ground, only to jump up again, scalded, "Now it's perfect. We've found the hot plate for roasting meat~"
"I'll roast the fatty pork, Tianzhen can roast the lean meat, and you two gods can do as you please!"
"Yaba—"
"What?" Fatty didn't react immediately, still immersed in his future fantasies of the barbecue business. "You're roasting Yaba?!"
"Good heavens, you're truly not afraid of—" (death)
Before Fatty could finish, a roar erupted in his ears!
He squinted and, through the distortion of the air caused by the intense heat, faintly saw Zhang Qiling, who had somehow appeared in front of the sculpture.
Little Zhang was fierce and spoke little. With his Black Gold Ancient Blade in hand, he directly smashed the head off the sculpture!
It was impossible to tell what kind of creature the sculpture depicted. Now, with its head on the ground, the two round holes resembling eyes stared intently at Fatty.
Fatty: (instantly shut up)
Zhang Qiling's strike was full of force. The sculpture began to crack from its severed neck, with cracks of varying thickness spreading rapidly and firmly like rooting plants. In no time, they covered the entire sculpture like a spiderweb.
Sheathing his blade, Zhang Qiling's expression was calm.
Hei Yanzing stepped up and kicked the already shattered sculpture to the ground.
As the debris scattered, the countless mushroom-like beings surrounding them instantly emitted the sound of a rubber ducky ocean, jumping down like dumplings into boiling water.
...At the base of the sculpture, there was a deep, dark entrance!
Wu Tianzhen finally realized that the thin gap where the sculpture met the ground was the escape route the mushroom-like beings intended to use.
...It was terrifying that Hei Yanzing could discover the secret of this thin gap in such a short time.
Just as Wu Tianzhen thought this, he saw Zhang Qiling turn and glance at him. Before he could react, he was jumped into the entrance of unknown danger!
"Hey, Xiao—"
His body was suspended in mid-air.
Wu Tianzhen: ???
"Hey Yanzing, why are you lifting me?!" Wu Tianzhen was utterly furious.
He wasn't someone who could just be picked up by anyone!
"Oh, this has nothing to do with Brother Hei," Hei Yanzing said with a grin. "I'm helping Yaba~"
As soon as Hei Yanzing finished speaking, Wu Tianzhen's vision blurred. He felt a gust of wind hitting his face—
He had been carelessly thrown into the hole by Hei Yanzing.
"Holy crap—!!!"
Xiao Wu's voice echoed through the long hole. The reverberations traveled up, clearly heard by Fatty waiting at the entrance. He couldn't help but shed a tear of sorrow for him in his heart.
Then, he turned his head and met the eager eyes of Hei Yanzing.
Fatty: ...
"Don't, you rest. I'll go myself!"
Fatty didn't dare to pause at all. He plummeted down like a shot put, leaving Hei Yanzing shaking his head with feigned regret before finally following them in.
—
Wu Tianzhen was caught by Zhang Qiling, who had been waiting below.
The hole was long, with subtle changes in angle within. Wu Tianzhen bumped around in the darkness for a while before a flash of white light appeared before his eyes.
When he was lifted and set down, he realized the light came from the flashlight Zhang Qiling had clipped to his clothes.
The sound of rushing water came from beneath his feet. As he was lowered, his calves were instantly soaked, and the water crept up his clothes.
...The exit was actually in the water?!
Before he could ponder further, he heard a yelp—
Zhang Qiling had been waiting to catch Fatty, but seeing Fatty charging towards him headfirst like a cannonball, a sense of crisis made him instinctively step aside to dodge.
If Little Zhang hadn't reacted quickly and reached out to help, Fatty would have likely repeated his previous experience of falling out of an air vent and rolling on the ground.
After catching Fatty and Wu Tianzhen, Zhang Qiling moved away from his spot, leaving a landing area for Hei Yanzing.
Hei Yanzing, unlike Fatty's loud screams announcing his arrival, made almost no sound. The few people saw a flash of black before their eyes, and he had landed in the water, his posture even graceful as he fell.
...Where did this seemingly flamboyant guy get such a commitment to elegance.
Wu Tianzhen muttered to himself a few times, then quickly turned to examine the new space.
Now that they were all gathered, they shone their flashlights together—
The water, reaching their calves, was vast and boundless. Under the light, it was murky, emitting a dark hue, appearing like a mysterious sea within the whale!
And that wasn't the most terrifying part.
As the flashlight beams pointed upwards, they saw countless metal chains hanging from the stone ceiling above. And at the bottom of these chains, were countless cocoon-like human figures!
Those things hung right in front of them. Wu Tianzhen could even see the tightly wrapped hands and feet on the abdomen of a nearby cocoon.
These human figures were curled up like infants still in the womb, but their raised heads revealed the deep contours of adults.
However, their features were crude, suggesting the creator's lack of skill, unable to better shape their forms with these strange gray mud-like materials.
"Are these... sculptures?" Wu Tianzhen asked in surprise. "Why hang sculptures in the sky?!"
Just as he was wondering, a "splash" suddenly came from behind—
For some reason, a chain on a sculpture suddenly broke. The human cocoon fell into the water, disappearing beneath the dark surface, as if it had vanished.