Chapter 315: Dissolving Flesh and Devouring Bone

The moment his skin touched the stone wall, a sharp pain flared; his flesh felt as if it were being roasted, accompanied by a faint numbness.

His palms were also coated in a layer of viscous fluid.

He Lingchuan quickly retrieved medicinal powder to sprinkle over it. Only after the foam bubbled up and he rinsed his palms with a water skin did the pain subside slightly.

This viscous fluid contained acidic toxins; it was not friendly to humans.

Gloves were a mandatory item for the patrol guards when carrying out missions. Everyone put on their gloves, and once they touched the stone wall again, they were no longer harmed.

The team slid down along the stone wall for more than a zhang before discovering that beneath them was actually a massive rock cavern, with a turbid, thick pool of water at the bottom! The pool water would occasionally bubble up; one look was enough to tell it was nothing to be trifled with.

Liu Tiao suddenly said, "Look into the pool, everyone!"

She stretched her bundle of fluorescent grass as far forward as possible. As the light shone down, the group saw that the pool was not calm at all; something had been churning beneath the surface the entire time.

What kind of thing was that, white with a tinge of red? Just then, one of them flipped up, and the group was fortunate enough to get a clear look.

It was a person.

Strictly speaking, it was the upper half of a corpse, ending at the ribcage. The everted flesh hung loosely, no longer able to cover the bones.

Half of the face had melted away, while the other half still clung to the meat. The corners of the mouth were curved into a strange arc, as if smiling at them, but the eyes were gone, leaving only two large hollow sockets.

A newly recruited patrol guard let out a "Wala" sound and vomited.

The others fought back the churning in their throats, and the skinny man also covered his mouth tightly.

Severed limbs, broken arms, and flesh separated from bone littered the entire bottom of the pool!

It was clear that the humans captured by the Jin Du hatchlings were all placed here to be digested.

From their vantage point, it was grotesque and ferocious; the legendary Blood Pool Hell could be no worse than this.

Men Ban muttered, "Just how many people has this thing eaten!"

They had dealt with many man-eating monsters, but this was the only one that gorged itself so gluttonously.

The young patrol guard was still retching uncontrollably, unable to stop. Men Ban was just about to remind him not to bend his waist too low when, unexpectedly, something flashed on the stone wall behind the youth! "Careful!"

Unfortunately, his warning came too late. The companion was standing in a lower position and was shoved violently by the object, falling into the pool.

The patrol guard was quick; instinctively, he reached out and dragged the thing that had pushed him down with him.

It was the Jin Du hatchling from before.

With a splash, both fell into the water.

The splash was muffled because the pool water was somewhat viscous.

The patrol guard immediately began thrashing in the pool, wailing loudly.

He Lingchuan had only touched the rock wall with his palm and felt a stinging pain; for him to fall in entirely, that pain would be magnified at least tenfold.

When he surfaced, white smoke was rising from his head, face, and clothes.

The Jin Du hatchling had separated from the patrol guard upon hitting the water, using the commotion to sink to the bottom, vanishing in the blink of an eye. This was its territory; the acidic environment had no effect on it, instead providing nourishment.

Since the prey had fallen in, there was no need for it to tangle with them; it just had to wait for the humans to be broken down by the pool.

These people would eventually all become its succulent nutrients.

As soon as the patrol guard fell into the water, Men Ban grabbed a coil of rope and threw it down: "Grab it!"

But when the man fell, water entered his eyes, eroding them into a hazy white blur; he couldn't see where the rope was at all, and the intense pain throughout his body left him completely disoriented.

Liu Tiao frowned and simply fired a sleeve arrow.

Her aim was excellent; the arrowhead pierced the left arm of the person in the water, then popped open with a 'bang', hooking firmly.

The man cried out in pain again. Liu Tiao kept a straight face, pressed the mechanism to retract the line, and pulled the man out of the pool with force.

The rope of the hook-line was very sturdy and suffered little from the pool's acid; the arrowhead was even more impervious.

It seemed this pool couldn't dissolve metal very well.

However, just as she was bending over to pull the person up with all her might, another claw emerged from the stone wall behind her, wanting to push her down as well!

Liu Tiao was using one hand to pull the person and the other to hold onto the vine; she couldn't spare a third hand to deal with it.

But how could they fall for the same sneak attack twice? The skinny man had been prepared; the moment Liu Tiao bent over to pull the person, he slid down. Just as the claw touched Liu Tiao's shoulder, the skinny man nailed a crane-beak hoe into the back of its hand and pulled outward with force! There was no need for prior discussion; this was the tacit understanding born of long-term cooperation, and all four were prepared.

The monster's skin was not as tough as its kin's. With this hoe strike, green blood splattered, a few drops of which landed on the skinny man's face, making him wince and his eye corners twitch twice, but he didn't instinctively turn his face away. Data showed that Jin Du hatchlings each had different talents, and none could be taken lightly.

Sure enough, the Jin Du hatchling shrieked and lunged at him.

It made no difference to it which opponent it pounced on. However, at this moment, the sound of a mechanism rang out from behind, and another sleeve arrow arrived, piercing a bloody hole in its shoulder blade! He Lingchuan had made his move.

He was wealthy and generous; the special arrowheads he bought at the magic artifact shop on Yunling Island were better than Liu Tiao's, with hardness, strength, and penetration power on a completely different level. Although that profiteer Bai Guo had taken a large sum of his money, he had indeed provided quality goods. Now, the arrowhead pierced through the monster's shoulder, then exploded and hooked firmly; the trailing flying rope remained intact despite the corrosion of the creature's body acid.

Having succeeded with one strike, He Lingchuan pulled back on the hook-line. Learning from the previous lesson, he would not give the monster a second chance to escape.

Thus, the skinny man and He Lingchuan hooked the two sides of its body respectively, pulling with force in opposite directions.

The thing was effectively immobilized; although it struggled desperately, there was no hope of breaking free.

At this moment, Men Ban pointed to a large hole three zhang away: "Go there to save him!"

Strictly speaking, it wasn't a hole, just a depression, but it was more than enough to accommodate four or five people.

The patrol guard who had been rescued was emitting green smoke; although his consciousness had returned, he was shivering from the pain.

The monster the two were holding was even more so, struggling like a madman. The stone wall was already steep and difficult to stand on, and the skinny man wasn't as strong as He Lingchuan, so they were dragged several times.

At this moment, He Lingchuan missed the Binding Silk Rope in his father's possession; with that thing, it would take less than two breaths to automatically bind this creature.

Fortunately, Men Ban arrived. He was tall and sturdy, and the things he used were also heavy-duty. He pulled out two chains; one directly locked the monster's legs, and the other locked its two arms. As He Lingchuan loosened his grip, Men Ban tightened his, binding the monster's arms as well.

Then, these two pairs of chains could be interlocked, shrinking the monster's range of motion.

For catching ape-shaped monsters, this type of double-knot lock was the most effective; it seemed the same applied to dealing with Jin Du hatchlings.

Fearing it might sink into the stone wall, Men Ban simply slung it onto his back.

The monster shrieked and kicked the rock wall several times.

And then, the entire cave began to peristalt.

It was truly peristalsis, squeezing and grinding up, down, left, and right according to a strange pattern.

This place would actually coordinate with the Jin Du hatchling to attack enemies? The patrol guards were startled and ran toward the depression.

Halfway there, a patrol guard lost his footing, hit his forehead against the stone wall, and immediately fell backward.

Below was the pool.

Fortunately, He Lingchuan was nearby; with quick eyes and fast hands, he grabbed the back of the guard's collar and hoisted him up.

The patrol guard was scared pale: "Th-thank you!"

"Move!" He Lingchuan had no time for pleasantries, "Quick!"

The group jumped into the depression in a sorry state. The patrol guard was left to hold the monster while Men Ban and the skinny man carefully removed the injured man's clothes and sprinkled medicinal powder on him: "Can you still make it?"

"I can... but my eyes, my eyes can't see." The youth was shivering all over. Acidic water had also entered his mouth earlier, so his mouth was also burned, making his speech slurred.

He was only sixteen; if he were to go blind, how would he live in the future? Liu Tiao patted his shoulder, her tone firm: "You closed your eyes in time; maybe it'll be fine after using some medicine when we get out."

The youth calmed down a bit and sipped some medicinal powder to clean his mouth.

Men Ban pointed at the youth and looked at Liu Tiao with confusion, meaning, "Are you serious?"

Liu Tiao glared at him and mouthed back: "How would I know?"

If you don't encourage someone when they are surrounded by danger, should you just let them collapse or give up? He Lingchuan kept watch for them, then suddenly said: "The way we came has been sealed."

The group looked up and saw that the small path they had come through had indeed shrunk into a slit and soon disappeared.

The patrol guard holding the monster said worriedly: "I can't see the exit; I don't know how to get out."

The path back had disappeared, and below was a man-eating pool; how were they to leave this place alive?

"If this mine tunnel is a human body simulated by the Jin Du hatchling," He Lingchuan said, and no one disagreed, "then we should be inside the 'stomach'?"

"Yes." Liu Tiao was also observing the surroundings, "Then there should originally be two passages here, one at the bottom of the pool..."

Everyone looked at the pool and didn't think that would be a good way out.

"The other passage should be directly above." Liu Tiao tied a bundle of fluorescent grass to an arrow and fired it with a full draw.

The light arrow flew four zhang, and the group saw that there was no hole above the cavern, but there was a large concave fold diagonally above.

"Is that the cardia?" The checkpoint connecting the esophagus and the stomach. The skinny man sighed, "Only after it opens can we climb out, right?"

"Even if we can climb up, further up is a nearly vertical passage." Men Ban also realized the difficulty, "This 'body' has a bad temper; it won't let us go up smoothly."

The patrol guard holding the monster couldn't help but say: "Th-then what are we supposed to do?"

The group looked at each other.

Liu Tiao walked up to the monster: "Can this thing understand human speech?"

Men Ban said: "According to the data we received, some can."

"Things are getting less and less reliable in the city; what does 'some can' mean? Does it mean some can't?" Liu Tiao snapped her fingers twice in front of the Jin Du hatchling, "Can you understand me? Take us out, and you might be able to live."

The Jin Du hatchling quieted down.

A chance? Liu Tiao raised an eyebrow; it seemed her luck was not bad.

Who would have thought that in the next second, the Jin Du hatchling would spit at her with a 'pi' sound.

She dodged it instantly, and the green saliva splattered onto the stone wall.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 316 =====