Chapter 292: 288 Transaction

Fang Mu walked alone in the dark passage; the things around him grew increasingly bizarre and strange, yet they were filled with an indescribable aesthetic.

To keep himself from becoming addicted to those terrifying and grotesque beauties, Fang Mu chose to ignore them as much as possible.

Fang Mu did not know where this passage led, but it must be an abyss of despair.

With Xia Chen no longer muttering by his side, Fang Mu only felt a terrifying silence. Once a person feels fear, their mind begins to use a ridiculously limited perspective to imagine the face of the unknown, using the angle of conspiracy theories to wildly connect everything to his own bad luck.

Those monsters that had been chasing them—the frogmen, the strange toads, the giant flesh-toads—had now vanished without a trace as if they had never appeared. They had clearly seen him and Xia Chen rolling down the slope, yet they acted as if they were completely invisible, and they did not take the opportunity to catch up and tear them limb from limb. It was as if this were not a simple hunt, but rather a meticulously set trap.

They had driven the poor, lowly him and Xia Chen into a trap, letting two headless turtles step into this bottomless "Stone Urn."

What the purpose of this was, Fang Mu could not guess, just as he did not know why he had formed such an ill-fated connection with these filthy, twisted, dark, and degenerate abnormal creatures, from which his high-quality, ordinary, and comfortable life would never return.

But if this were true, then they had at least succeeded halfway, because Xia Chen was dead, and he too would eventually follow in his footsteps.

He had left Xia Chen's corpse in a corner; the expression at the time of death was peaceful, only the complexion was blue-purple. It was hard to say whether he died from blood loss, or if the frog eggs that greedily sucked his flesh and blood carried some unknown toxin or parasite that caused him to die an unnatural death.

As promised, Fang Mu took the necklace from Xia Chen's neck. It was a piece of polished grey-white stone, not one of the common shapes; it was as if it had just been picked up from nature and polished smooth based on its original appearance.

Perhaps the stone of the necklace held some meaning or implication, but that was unknown. He only knew it was very precious to Xia Chen, who should have died with lingering regrets, but only after hearing Fang Mu's promise was he willing to pass away peacefully.

A strange, heavy low growl sounded quietly, and as he stepped forward, it grew louder.

Fang Mu was familiar with this sound; he thought with relief that he was once again closer to that Toad God.

This sound seemed to urge him to increase his speed, yet it also seemed to be welcoming his arrival, and it somewhat resembled a warning about his life.

"I hope this time, I can die more decently," Fang Mu thought to himself. In his previous life, he had died in a stifling and painful way, his body and soul separated, watching his own body smash its own head, and his soul was cut in two by that giant mantis. He only hoped that in this life, he could have a better way to die.

The croaking sound grew closer and closer, from a distant call slowly turning into a heavy roar, like the beating of dull thunder drums, and also like the funeral bell of a fallen twilight city. The source of that sound was buried in the stone chamber a hundred paces ahead.

Before Fang Mu could react, a black, flexible, and foul-smelling sticky long object flashed and shot out, instantly crossing the hundred-pace distance. Like a cowboy's lasso, it bound Fang Mu's arm and waist. The next moment, Fang Mu felt as if his waist were about to be snapped, and his whole body was lifted off the ground, flying uncontrollably into the stone chamber.

Fang Mu, offering no resistance, was hoisted high. He looked at the giant toad figure before him, his body trembling and sweating uncontrollably, yet his eyes were calm and clear. His body was instinctively submitting to fear, but his spirit appeared light and airy.

It was as if his mortal flesh and his soul consciousness had split apart once again; Fang Mu could not say when his changes had begun.

Perhaps it was when he heard that Lin Family Village had been wiped out and no one in the village had survived, or perhaps even earlier, when he figured out the reason for the Toad Frog God's crazy "obsession" with him.

Fang Mu would still fear the Toad God's power and appearance, but Fang Mu no longer feared death.

Regardless of whether the other party could understand, Fang Mu still spoke to the toad shadow that was slowly opening its red eyes all over its body: "Master Who Transcends All Things... we... we are all under her... meticulously designed space-time cage. We can... cooperate."

Fang Mu also felt that he was probably truly insane, actually attempting to communicate with an Alien God and trying to reach a transaction with him.

"You want me to open my Seven Orifices, to be able to share senses with the Master Who Transcends All Things, and then communicate with her, right?" Fang Mu noticed the Toad God made no move, only watching him with several scarlet, glowing eyes. Those gazing lines of sight were like cold spears, constantly stabbing in and out of his body. Although he was not injured, he already felt as if he were experiencing excruciating pain. Forcing himself to endure the discomfort, he continued, "I can cooperate with you, but in exchange, you must also help me."

Fang Mu stiffly grinned, putting on a confident smile that looked like it had been molded from plaster, "Otherwise, every time I transmigrate and am reborn, I will immediately choose to commit suicide, leaving you no chance to find me. I will return to the end of the universe, letting you live in a past without a future, just like me."

"You want to control me, kill me; I can also use my own methods to fight back. Are you angry, Toad God?"

As his voice fell, Fang Mu felt the black long object wrapped around his waist slowly loosen its force, placing him gently on the ground. The toad shadow emitted a low cry, as if responding to Fang Mu.

Fang Mu felt he understood the other party's meaning. Immediately after, he heard the sound of a metal object falling and rolling in front of him. Looking down, it was that Nail Hammer.

Fang Mu picked them up. Under the gaze of those rounds of red "full moons," he aimed the Nail at his own nose and muttered to himself: "After losing normal vision and hearing, is what I'm losing this time normal smell... will I be able to smell the scent of an Alien God?"

Clang!

Outside the window, the sound of a traveling merchant shouting while striking a triangle rang out. The warm sunlight shone on Fang Mu's zombie-like pale face. Fang Mu looked at the three dishes and one soup in front of him, having no appetite.

"Eat a little, don't just starve to death like this." A beautiful figure walked into the hospital room where he was staying.

Fang Mu did not move his body, his expression did not change, only his eyes turned, like a grass carp waiting to be slaughtered in a basin. When he saw the stone necklace on An Fang's neck, he turned his gaze back to the three dishes and one soup in front of him and said softly: "Okay, but I don't have much of an appetite today either."

After saying this, he hesitated for a moment, then tremblingly picked up the spoon on the tray, scooped up a spoonful of seaweed and egg drop soup, held his breath, and put it into his mouth, as if he were drinking bitter medicine.

As if his whole body were resisting and rejecting such food from entering his body, after swallowing it forcefully, Fang Mu's eyes turned red, and he retched.

"Glucose, saline... just these nutrients won't let you hold on for too long." An Fang sighed, and she sat by Fang Mu's bed.

In a trance, Fang Mu seemed to see his wife An Qin, whom he had not yet married at the time, looking at him with such concern when he was hospitalized years ago, saying the same words: "What on earth happened to you?"