Chapter 316: Breaking Out of the Bag

Liu Tiao was furious and reached out to slap it twice—of course, while wearing gloves. The Jin Du hatchling screamed and made a scene; how could Liu Tiao be polite? She beat it until its nose and mouth bled and its face swelled up like a bee sting.

While she was teaching the little monster a lesson, He Lingchuan said to Men Ban: "I chopped off half of its leg earlier; it's only been a short while, and it has already grown back."

And there wasn't even a scar.

"This underground palace's healing ability for it is too strong." Men Ban also said, "Better to kill it, lest things drag on and lead to trouble."

"Don't you feel that the peristalsis of this stomach has accelerated?" He Lingchuan pointed at the ghost hatchling, "The louder this thing cries, the more irritable the cave... no, the 'mother' becomes."

"You mean, this underground palace has emotions?" Men Ban was dumbfounded, "This mission is too difficult; it shouldn't have been assigned to us patrol guards." Unless they paid more.

The patrol guards' usual missions were just fighting monsters and patrolling the plateau; this was his first time encountering such a bizarre underground palace.

He Lingchuan hesitated to speak, then changed his tone: "Perhaps there are two ways: first, kill the most powerful Jin Du hatchling, and when its magic power vanishes, the underground palace might disappear too; second, make this 'stomach' vomit us out."

Everyone couldn't help but shiver, and Liu Tiao pointed at the wounded man and shouted: "Vomit us out? Even if it works, will we end up like this guy?"

Everyone here had the experience of squatting by a wall after getting drunk and knew well that what was vomited out wasn't just food, but also stomach acid and bile.

If they used this method to get out, wouldn't they be covered in it?

He Lingchuan spread his hands. What was he afraid of? He was a person who had died four or five times; was he afraid of a little acid? Yes, he was just such an irresponsible captain.

Of course, no one would choose this path before despair set in. Men Ban coughed: "I wonder how the other two teams are doing."

"At least one team hasn't completed the mission; the strongest hatchling is still alive." This underground palace might very well be its masterpiece. He Lingchuan said, "Its ability will be a cut above the other premature ones; we must be prepared." Having said that, he walked over and swung his blade, slicing the monster into three large pieces from head to tail.

The blade light of the Floating Life Blade was not obvious, but the cutting was already done, startling the patrol guard who was holding the little ghost.

He Lingchuan had already seen the varied transformations of these ghost hatchlings and feared they might survive even after losing their heads, so he simply chopped it into more pieces, completely extinguishing its vitality.

Since they had to prepare to deal with the final BOSS, keeping this obstructive fellow was useless.

The blade moved with agility; before the green blood could overflow from the wound after the blade was sheathed, He Lingchuan kicked it over lightly.

The group saw the opportunity and dodged, only to see the fallen flesh and blood slowly wither away, soon revealing white bones.

After another ten breaths, the white bones also vanished, leaving not a single scrap of residue.

If not for the wounded man still being there, it was as if this ghost hatchling had never existed.

Even the skinny man felt this place was disgusting: "Was it absorbed?"

Liu Tiao muttered: "This is the stomach, after all."

The ghost hatchling was already dead and was absorbed back by the mother.

From where it came, to where it returned, completing a cycle.

He Lingchuan and the others, however, knew the danger contained within. To absorb even the last drop of nutrition from its own kind, how could this final BOSS be anything but ferocious?

Seizing the limited time, Liu Tiao bandaged the wounded man's hands and shoved a weapon into his hand:

"Success or failure depends on this battle." Otherwise, no one would be able to get out.

At this point, counting on the other teams was definitely not an option. He Lingchuan and the others made some preparations, then took a deep breath and said to Men Ban: "Do it!"

Men Ban nodded, walked to the edge of the depression, and raised his large axe to hack at the stone wall with all his might.

One strike, two strikes, three strikes...

The entire cave trembled violently again, pained and angry, yet helpless against these parasitic little humans.

Vines and stone walls were smashed, and blood flowed like a fountain, rushing toward the pool below.

The two types of liquid mixed, making sizzling sounds, stirring up bursts of white mist, and a foul odor immediately assailed their nostrils.

Men Ban didn't stop, continuing his heavy-handed hacking.

He was determined to punch a hole in the stomach.

This underground palace was the lair of the Jin Du hatchlings and was connected to them by blood; therefore, making the palace bleed and suffer injury was, to a large extent, weakening the ghost hatchlings, causing their power to flow away continuously.

If this monster was truly as ferocious as they imagined, it could never tolerate this.

The acid mist grew thicker and thicker. He Lingchuan and the others covered their mouths and noses with face towels, also feeling a stinging pain in their eyes.

By now, Men Ban had struck fifty or sixty times, and the axe blade was covered in fragments. The underground palace was bleeding like a river and in extreme pain; the stomach contracted violently, but unfortunately, it could do nothing about the humans in this ulcer.

Men Ban suddenly said: "I think I'm about to break through the stomach wall."

The group immediately perked up: "Can you break through?"

"There's light coming through." Men Ban was also excited; after all, a third option seemed to have appeared, "Let me try again."

He Lingchuan's heart stirred: Light?

How could there be light on the other side of the stomach wall? Liu Tiao also felt pleasantly surprised: "Could it be the other teams?"

Men Ban struck his final blow and wiped his face: "Broken through! I'll open the hole a bit wider."

He chopped vertically and horizontally, truly opening a large hole. Once the blood drained, they would be able to pass through.

Outside the hole, it seemed to be another passage.

Liu Tiao asked in a low voice: "Who goes first?"

The skinny man said loudly: "I'll go!"

He approached the hole but didn't crawl in; instead, he took a hazelnut from his bosom and threw it out tentatively.

The hazelnut rolled onto the ground and suddenly turned into the skinny man.

Strictly speaking, it turned into his illusion, but it was vivid in the somewhat dim environment.

It walked out of the hole and paced twice before disappearing.

This thing had no attack power; it only confused the eyes. If there were monsters ambushing on the other side of the hole, they would likely strike.

Men Ban immediately grabbed his shield to hold in front of him and strode toward the outside of the hole.

Then, his voice came through: "It's fine, come on."

The skinny man jumped over immediately, followed by Liu Tiao, the new team member, and He Lingchuan. The last few accelerated their speed because the hole Men Ban had opened was healing rapidly! By the time He Lingchuan passed through, one of his feet almost got stuck in the wall.

They found a bundle of fluorescent grass on the ground.

The light Men Ban had seen earlier came from here.

It was clear that the other two teams had been here before, and not knowing what accident they encountered, they had dropped the fluorescent grass bundle.

But regardless, leaving the stomach that dissolved flesh and bone was always a pleasant thing, even if they didn't know where this path led.

Just as Liu Tiao picked up the fluorescent grass bundle, light flashed ahead, and several figures rushed over.

*Clang, clang*, weapons were drawn, and both sides set up their stances.

Men Ban breathed a sigh of relief: "So it's you guys."

The other side was another patrol guard team, led by Xu Chun.

He Lingchuan swept his gaze behind them: "Where are the rest of you?"

Including Xu Chun, there were four people in total.

When he arrived, they were at full strength, ten people in total.

Xu Chun shook his head and said in a deep voice: "They're all gone."

He Lingchuan saw the other three shifting their gazes, frequently looking around like frightened birds: "What are the characteristics of the Jin Du hatchlings you encountered?"

"It has an army of bone puppets."

The skinny man thought he had misheard: "What did you say?"

Xu Chun said: "They are monsters made of white bones and rock soil, seemingly infinite in number, and there are even long-range soldiers. When they fight, they swarm in, which is very advantageous in narrow passages."

"You only walked through such passages and didn't enter any other places?"

"We entered a stone cave, which was much more spacious than here, symmetrical in shape, and had a winding passage on both the left and right." Another team member said, "The bone puppets emerged from there. We killed batch after batch, but there was truly no end to them, so we could only retreat. We lost four people in the process, and then the monster made a move itself, killing two of us."

That process was like a nightmare; the four of them still had lingering fears.

"What is the talent of this ghost hatchling itself?"

All four were silent, and Xu Chun gave a bitter smile: "We don't know either."

Liu Tiao was blunt: "You lost six people and didn't even see its movements clearly?"

"It was too fast." Xu Chun knew he had failed in his duty this time, "I only know that the bone puppets would attach themselves to it, forming an exceptionally sturdy armor that I couldn't cut through. We injured it twice, but the bone puppets would fill into its wounds, as if it couldn't be killed."

He watched helplessly as the monster dragged his team members into the darkness, but he was powerless to do anything; the feeling was too unbearable.

He Lingchuan said: "Since it had the upper hand, why did it abandon you and leave?"

"We were almost forced into a desperate situation when the ghost hatchling suddenly stopped attacking and turned to slip away, and those bone puppets followed it." They came like a tide and retreated like a tide. "We don't know why either."

Then, they walked here and met He Lingchuan and the others.

"I'm afraid we have to kill all the hatchlings to get out." The skinny man shared their speculation. When Xu Chun heard the words that this underground palace might be a "simulated body," his face also showed an indescribable expression.

Liu Tiao suddenly threw a few tiny mustard seeds onto the four of them and observed for a few breaths before saying: "No color change."

These seeds were called 'thief mustard' and would change color when encountering demonic energy or curses. Liu Tiao used this to test if they had been controlled by evil magic.

This was one of the standard methods for patrol guards, and Xu Chun and the others let her do it. Only then did he rub his wrists and say: "Let's go. I see your team is still complete?" And only one person was injured.

"We were lucky and didn't encounter any too difficult opponents. These hatchlings don't seem to gather together, each choosing a location as their home base. Judging from the battle location you described, your team should have encountered the most powerful Jin Du hatchling, the youngest one, which is too difficult to conquer." He Lingchuan pointed at the healed stone wall, "Behind this mountain wall is the stomach, and the acid pool inside dissolves flesh and bone; it's the Jin Du hatchling's main battlefield. That thing spits acid, and its wounds heal at an astonishing speed, but unfortunately, it's not very smart. It wanted to kick us down but failed and was killed by us instead."

Both sides exchanged information, checked their weapons and supplies, held the fluorescent grass bundles, and walked forward, hoping to rendezvous with the third team.

However, the first people they met were not their own.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 317 =====