Chapter 291: 287 No Apology

The path ahead grew increasingly dark. The candlelight could only illuminate a distance of a few steps; the darkness ahead was like a heavy yet movable wall. You never knew when the wall would stop, causing you to crash into it and end up battered and bleeding.

The anxious heartbeat was like music playing in earbuds, a rapid, rhythmic vibration that made even the brain tremble along with it.

This was how Xia Chen felt. Compared to the superhuman hearing and vision Fang Mu possessed, he lacked enhanced senses, so everything around him was unknown and filled with deadly traps. He felt terrified because of this, even though he constantly urged himself to stay calm and not lose to Fang Mu.

But at the thought of what Fang Mu had said earlier—that the path ahead might lead to the dwelling of an Alien God—let alone the dwelling of an Alien God, the flesh-and-blood giant toad that had just been born from a human body was enough to scare him out of his wits.

Fang Mu kept a constant watch on his surroundings. He did not hear the calls of those strange toads, nor did he hear the terrifying footsteps of the frog-men moving. There should have been no Abnormal creatures hiding nearby; all that existed were the sounds made by that flesh-and-blood toad, which appeared to be feeding, and its "food," which was full of hard bones.

Suddenly, Fang Mu stopped in his tracks. Xia Chen, who had unknowingly shifted from walking side-by-side to following closely behind, also hurriedly braked. He looked at Fang Mu in confusion and wanted to speak, but he saw Fang Mu widen his eyes and make a gesture for silence. The candlelight illuminated his morbidly pale face, making it look even more ghastly and terrifying.

Xia Chen's nostrils flared, and he unconsciously held his breath, following Fang Mu's lead. He stared in the direction of Fang Mu's gaze, at the cardboard box, watching intently, and vaguely saw some outline moving in the darkness ahead.

It was massive, strange, and twisted. Two scarlet lights flickered in the darkness, and a dark, low, monstrous roar erupted from ahead.

Thump, thump, thump...

His heartbeat was like a marble dropped by gravity, frantically bouncing on the ground, the frequency accelerating before slowly settling into a deathly silence.

The next second, Xia Chen only felt his wrist being grabbed. He followed Fang Mu and ran, unable to control himself. He was being pulled by Fang Mu, turning back and charging forward.

He did not know if they were truly walking in a straight line to return. Xia Chen could not see the light of the entrance they had come from; everything before his eyes was pitch black, as if he and Fang Mu were not fleeing in the right direction. Only the heavy thumping sounds coming from behind made him feel that he was running away from the danger.

But not long after, Xia Chen felt a pain in his wrist again. His body was pulled once more; Fang Mu had suddenly made a sharp turn, rushing toward another unknown direction.

Xia Chen only felt that Fang Mu was crazy. Why change direction so suddenly? Was he trying to lead him to his death?

But soon, Xia Chen heard a series of rapid, light hopping sounds. The hopping was chaotic and irregular, now in front, now behind. Under the flickering candlelight, one deformed humanoid figure after another, topped with toad heads, stared at them expressionlessly. Their massive frog eyes were filled with absolute ruthlessness and emptiness; they seemed to have no emotions, moving purely on instinct.

"Protect your head!" Staring into those eyes, Xia Chen had lost the ability to think. He didn't even hear Fang Mu's warning. He was just dazed until he rolled down a high slope twice. Only then was he jolted awake by the pain. Realizing in the high-speed tumble that he was stepping into death, he hurriedly protected his head, rolling helplessly in the darkness.

Thud!

Not until his entire back slammed into the stone wall and he heard the sound of bones cracking did he arch his back in pain and let out a miserable scream.

"Are you okay?" The candle used for lighting had been lost during the tumble down the slope. In the darkness, Xia Chen could only hear Fang Mu beside him, concernedly checking his injuries and trying to help him up.

"My back... my back..." Xia Chen repeated, unable to describe the sharp pain radiating from his back.

Fang Mu's hand swept lightly over his back. He heard Fang Mu gasp, then say calmly, "Bear with it, don't move."

Xia Chen said nothing, but he had already grabbed one of Fang Mu's ankles, his teeth biting down on his own clothes.

The pain of skin tearing was like a Nail piercing his soul. Xia Chen rolled his eyes back, feeling his consciousness slowly fading.

Fang Mu was tearing at his skin; to be precise, he was removing an unknown object stuck to the skin on his back. Like a leech but without the mercy of anesthesia, some unknown thing was clinging tightly to his skin, and the only way to detach it was destined to be cutting it off, skin and flesh together.

Rip!

As the skin on his back tore along with the tendons with a snap, the unknown object attached to his back was flung to the ground. Having lost the nutrients it was feeding on, the unknown object began to screech irritably, emitting a sound similar to a crazed rabbit.

Seeing Xia Chen pass out from the pain, Fang Mu did not dare to linger after dealing with the Abnormal object on his body. He hoisted the person onto his back and immediately began running again, his eyes vigilantly watching the egg sacs covering the walls.

There were eggs of varying sizes—some as large as yoga balls, others as small as winter jujubes—with tadpoles possessing giant eyeballs rolling inside them. These were the eggs laid by the strange toads, arranged in the corners and on the walls all around.

One could not easily touch those eggs; not even the frog-men, or even the strange toads themselves, could do so. Those eggs possessed extreme adhesiveness as well as the ability to swallow and digest.

It was both a tragedy and a blessing that Xia Chen could not see those things. It was because he couldn't see them that he failed to protect himself, allowing himself to get stuck to those terrifying things and end up so battered. But it was also fortunate that he didn't see the horrific scenes in this passage—the scenes of those creatures that had unfortunately touched the eggs being swallowed alive by the clusters of eggs, with blood and gore everywhere.

As Fang Mu ran, he felt the hot blood flowing from the wound on Xia Chen's back brush against the back of his hand, then heard the sound it made as it dripped onto the ground.

The Xia Chen on his back was twitching from time to time, his breathing erratic, now weak, now strong, his body slowly losing its warmth.

"You are going to die," Fang Mu said to the Xia Chen on his back, as if stating a fact.

He did not care whether the person on his back was conscious at this moment, just saying to himself: "I didn't intend to drag you all into this, but I couldn't foresee it."

"You will die here. Those teammates of yours, and anyone who gets involved with me and delves into my troubles, will all die soon."

"I will not apologize, because this is not my fault. I can only offer a Blessing that you don't die too miserably."

Feeling the fabric of his shoulder being gripped tightly, Fang Mu said softly: "Before you die, I will keep carrying you. Once you are dead, I will lay you on the ground. The necklace on your neck is important, right? I'll take it for you. If I happen to meet your teammates, I will give it to her for you."

"Thank you..." Fang Mu felt the taut clothes loosen.