Chapter 1 Activities Near the Crater

It seemed that Hao Ren and the others' activities near the crater had attracted the attention of the native creatures here, or perhaps the crater itself was a settlement for a certain group of creatures. In any case, a large number of twisted and bizarre creatures emerged from all directions and began to advance into the crater. Hao Ren heard the unusual movements outside and peeked out, immediately getting a shock.

He saw a dark, dense mass of twisted creatures surging like a tide on the distant mountainside. Almost every one of these creatures had different mutation characteristics. They waved asymmetrical limbs, covered in strange organs and fur, constantly emitting shrill, chaotic roars as they rushed towards this side. Some of the monsters didn't even have obvious body segments; they were simply rolling across the ground like randomly grown lumps of flesh—it was a nightmare!

Lily couldn't help but shiver: "W-what are these things?!"

"This is the most common stuff in Purgatory. I told you, it's full of irrational monsters," Vivian said quickly. "No one can even classify them because these things have almost no fixed physiological characteristics. Hesperiana, if you don't get in the car, we're leaving!"

Hesperiana finally snapped out of her daze. This was the first time she had personally witnessed a monster tide in Purgatory, and even with the composure of a vampire elder, she was taken aback. Prompted by Vivian, she immediately dragged her two followers into the car and slammed the door shut: "Go! Quick!"

Hao Ren started the car's hovering function, and the seemingly unpretentious, small-displacement Big Dipper silently rose into the air. At the same time, the fastest of those twisted monsters had already rushed to within a hundred meters of the car. These grotesque, illogical meat lumps, as if born from a nightmare, jumped frantically on the ground, emitting bursts of frightening hisses and roars, desperately trying to grab the "invaders" flying in the air. Their ugly faces (some monsters didn't even have faces) were so close that Lily subconsciously moved away from the window. She watched a most hideous creature leap to a spot less than five meters away from her. The creature had several large tumor-like growths on its body, each with a blood basin-like mouth full of sharp teeth. It was more disgusting than any monster she could imagine.

"'Purgatory creatures are piles of malice, freaks that spread and grow in nightmares from flesh and blood, mold that has bred from the scraps carelessly discarded by the Creator after making this world'—that's what a demon hunter elder who explored Purgatory said, and it's quite true," Vivian said, sitting in the passenger seat, leaning over to look at the increasingly numerous monsters below. "You know, those Purgatory Rippers living in the depths of the hot springs are actually the most beautiful creatures in this world: because at least they have a fixed shape."

Nangong Wuyue's face turned blue (because she was literally blue now): "...I believe you, but please don't say anymore, I'm about to throw up."

Lily looked at her strangely: "What would a slime throw up?"

Wuyue: "Extracorporeal water circulation doesn't work, okay?"

Seeing the two of them instantly derail the topic, Hao Ren felt relieved: it seemed that the Purgatory monsters hadn't caused them too much psychological trauma.

Although there were many kinds of Purgatory creatures, strangely, none of them could fly. After the Big Dipper flew towards the vertical chasm, these monsters could only roar desperately on the ground to vent their anger, and they were obviously afraid of the bottomless black hole, even afraid of the smoke and air currents blowing out of it. Some monsters that ran too far ahead showed a very frightened posture after noticing that the abyss was only a few meters away from them. They retreated one after another, but a few unlucky ones were pushed down the chasm by their companions. They instantly disappeared into the bottomless darkness, with only bursts of miserable howls causing the other monsters to speed up their retreat.

And Hao Ren and the others watched this chaotic scene from inside the safe "flying car," beginning to descend steadily.

"That was really exciting," Duncan patted his chest. "But I don't want to do that again—it's even scarier than when the demon hunters broke into the sanctuary last time. At least the demon hunters weren't so ugly."

Cassandra nodded in agreement, then looked at the space inside the car with an incredulous expression: "So what you said earlier was true, there's so much space inside... I feel like several more people could fit in here!"

Hesperiana awkwardly glanced at Hao Ren. She had to admit that although she had tried to be strong from the beginning, the development of the situation was still beyond her control, and now the initiative was completely in the hands of this "untrustworthy" man. The reason was simple… how could this guy have so many weird things in his collection? Your imagination can't keep up with the speed at which he updates his equipment, so how are you supposed to play!

As for Hao Ren, he put the flying car on autopilot and fell into thought as he looked at the darkness outside.

Those twisted monsters… that illogical lump of flesh form, that crude physiological structure, that chaotic way of acting, these characteristics all made him feel a little familiar, but he couldn't remember where he'd seen them before.

At this moment, a cool sensation came from his arm. Nangong Wuyue touched him with an arm formed of water: "Landlord, do you think those monsters look a bit like the Terrorbeasts in the Twisted Woodlands back then? And the Fleshbeasts that rushed out when the First Born awakened later?"

A thunderclap rang in Hao Ren's mind, and everything became clear: he remembered where he had seen similar creatures!

"They do resemble those Fleshbeasts, at least in terms of illogical limbs," Hao Ren said quickly, but then he was a little puzzled. "But the monsters here are obviously weirder. The Terrorbeasts in the Twisted Woodlands at least had a uniform appearance, but these don't even have any commonality. I don't even think they're normal creatures."

Vivian interjected from the side, "The mutation on this planet is obviously more thorough."

"The Terrorbeasts are Third Sons," Hao Ren frowned. He knew that anything that came from the Plane of Dreams and had an ecosystem was mostly inseparable from the First Born, but what he least wanted was to make contact in this way. "They are pure killing biological units temporarily created from the Sourceblood after the First Born awakened in order to destroy the ecosystem. The appearance of these things means that the ecosystem reshaping process has already begun..."

"But we didn't see Sourceblood, nor did we see any civilization remains. Only those microorganisms in the atmospheric cloud top and the monsters on the surface maintain the ecological system of this world. Obviously, the 'reshaping' of this planet has been completed," the data terminal reminded. "According to the information previously obtained, 'Third Sons' are short-lived groups and can only be sustained by Sourceblood. After the ecosystem reshaping is completed, the Sourceblood will dry up and they will die quickly."

Hao Ren looked up. The entrance to the cave had become a bright spot the size of a fingernail, and the monsters above were completely invisible. "But those monsters are still alive… is it because the ecosystem reshaping hasn't been completed, or did the First Born on this planet miscalculate when executing the plan?"

Hesperiana listened to these guys talking gibberish in the back row. She realized that she had basically been in a fog since she started following these people, and now she was too lazy to even ask. Duncan next to her was still curious: "Lady, what are they talking about?"

"You're asking me, who am I supposed to ask?" Hesperiana rolled her eyes in a bad mood. "Even Vivian doesn't tell me things..."

Hao Ren heard Hesperiana's little complaint in the front. He wanted to explain it himself, but then he thought about it and poked Vivian's arm, giving her a look.

Vivian looked a little reluctant, but she turned around and looked at Hesperiana as kindly as possible: "I didn't mean to hide anything from you. After this matter is settled, we'll discuss it and see how much we can tell you. Anyway, don't worry, I'm not doing anything bad."

Hao Ren sighed slightly on the side: he was really being a responsible landlord, and he even had to worry about mediating the family relationships of his tenants...

The flying car descended steadily in the chasm, as if this tunnel leading to the depths of the earth would never end. There was basically no light here, so Hao Ren turned on the radar system to directly present the surrounding scenery on each window in the form of a holographic projection to simulate a lit environment. The data terminal kept reporting the situation inside the cave: "The walls are smooth, but there are no artificial traces. There are regular air currents, rising and falling air currents like breathing, switching every three minutes and twenty-six seconds. In addition, there is no sign of Baptiste yet. Some probes have found other Purgatory entrances and will rendezvous with us below."

Hao Ren nodded and casually asked, "How long until we hit bottom?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a faint light suddenly came from directly below.

"Oh, looks like we're here."