Bai Feifei thought she had misheard.
Or rather, she hoped she had misheard.
“What... did you say?” She crouched on the soft ground, instinctively reaching out to touch it. It felt warm and slightly damp.
It felt like the inner lining of something.
“I said, we might be inside the body of an Evil God of the Old Days right now.”
Xu Mo repeated himself, his tone as casual as if he were commenting on the weather. “Of course, I could be wrong. I’ll need to observe a bit more.”
Bai Feifei’s hand froze.
She slowly stood up and looked around.
This place didn’t look like a mine. There were no jagged rocks or protruding rebar. Everything around her was a dark, murky red, possessing an indescribable fleshy texture.
The walls had patterns on them, resembling veins or muscle fibers, all intricately interwoven.
The ground sank slightly when she stepped on it and then sprang back. It truly felt like she was standing on a living creature.
She took a deep breath and realized the air was thick with a sweet, metallic scent. It wasn't overpowering, but it was persistent, as if someone had smeared a thin layer of blood inside her nostrils.
“This...” She opened her mouth, her voice dry. “This is the body of... an Evil God?”
“Yep,” Xu Mo said. “I suspect it’s the Evil God of the Old Days known as the ‘Real World.’”
“Real World?” Bai Feifei had clearly never heard of it.
“Yeah, I haven’t seen it either; I just know such a thing exists. It has no true form—or rather, the entire world is its body.”
Xu Mo paused. “As long as it wishes, it can turn any space it occupies into its own body!”
Bai Feifei looked down at the fleshy ground beneath her feet, then at the vein-like patterns surrounding them.
“So... this place wasn’t always like this?”
“Do you really think a coal mine is supposed to look like this?” Xu Mo chuckled.
“This isn't a meat processing plant. The fact that it looks like this now means the process of converting this place into its body has already begun.”
“Though, after all this time, it’s only converted this much? You’re really falling off, Real World.”
Bai Feifei fell silent.
She remembered the earthquakes they had experienced on the surface, the mass grave, and the aberration potion.
Was the source of everything... an Evil God?!
“Then what state is it in now?” she asked.
“Hard to say.” Xu Mo uncharacteristically dropped his playful tone.
“A thing like the ‘Real World’ is essentially ‘existence’ itself. You could say it’s dead, yet it’s still here. You could say it’s alive, yet it hasn’t really done anything.”
“However, I’m leaning toward it being dead. It’s just a washed-up relic.”
Bai Feifei bit her lip.
She couldn't discuss an Evil God as casually as Xu Mo did.
An Evil God of the Old Days was right beneath her feet, right beside her, and could wake up at any moment.
It could potentially turn the entire world into a part of its body!
It was terrifying...
However, since she already had such a terrifying existence living in her head, she had become somewhat desensitized. A normal person would have probably been driven insane by fear by now.
“Then what should we do?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
Bai Feifei: ?
“You... don’t know?”
“I told you, I’ve never met it. It wasn’t even that impressive among the Evil Gods of the Old Days,” Xu Mo said defensively.
“Back in the day, it wasn't even qualified to meet me. If the walls out there hadn't started turning into flesh, I wouldn't have even made the connection.”
Bai Feifei felt a bit dazed.
If the Evil God didn't know what to do, was she supposed to figure it out?
“Let’s scout ahead first,” Xu Mo said.
“Don’t worry about the people up there for now. Our descent disrupted the Real World’s assimilation rhythm, causing its ‘body’ to seal up temporarily. Li Gui won’t be getting any stronger for a while.”
“Hong Jiu isn't a total waste of space; he won't be killed that easily.”
Bai Feifei breathed a small sigh of relief.
Just then, she suddenly felt her finger grow hot.
She looked down at the ring on her finger—the one she had taken from Huang Jiahao.
Ever since it had come into her possession, it had been nothing more than an ordinary storage tool. But now, the patterns on its surface were beginning to glow.
It wasn't the reflection of metal, but an inky green light emanating from within.
It felt as if something were pulsing inside it.
“What’s... happening?” Bai Feifei asked nervously.
Xu Mo was also taken aback, but then he seemed to realize something and spoke with interest.
“Remember who you took that ring from?”
“Huang Jiahao.”
“Huang Jiahao had a jade pendant on him. When you killed him, I had you put that pendant into the ring as well,” Xu Mo said.
“There’s something wrong with that jade pendant. There’s a soul inside it. Because of your level, I told you to ignore it for now. But it seems it’s connected to the things down here.”
“Holy crap, the plot lines are actually connecting!”
Xu Mo marveled as he noticed the storyline completion on his game panel jump by another five percent.
Bai Feifei reached out and pulled the jade pendant from the ring.
The pendant wasn't large—about the size of a palm—and was entirely inky green. Its surface was so smooth it didn't look man-made.
She hadn't looked at it closely before, but now that she held it, she saw dense patterns on it that truly resembled blood vessels.
And these patterns were currently glowing.
It was the same inky green light as the ring.
It felt as if something were flowing inside it.
“Is it... showing the way?” Bai Feifei tried turning the jade pendant and found that the intensity of the light changed with the direction.
“Go take a look, quickly.” Xu Mo’s voice held a rare note of anticipation.
Bai Feifei took a deep breath, gripped the jade pendant tightly, and began to walk forward.
The surrounding “walls” closed in, forming a long, narrow passage. As Bai Feifei walked, the fleshy ground beneath her feet trembled slightly, as if something were breathing just an inch below her soles.
It was incredibly eerie.
She couldn't help but quicken her pace.
There was no sound of wind, no sound of water—no sound at all. Only the sound of her own footsteps and heartbeat, infinitely amplified in this enclosed space.
After walking for about ten minutes, the passage began to widen.
More patterns began to appear on the surrounding fleshy walls, becoming increasingly dense and complex.
Bai Feifei’s heart beat faster and faster, as if it were about to jump out of her throat.
She silently repeated the mantra, “There’s also an Evil God in my head,” forcing herself to stay calm.
Finally, after many twists and turns, the passage came to an end.
Bai Feifei stood at the exit, completely frozen.
It was a massive space, so large that the light from her floodlight couldn't even reach the boundaries.
And in the center of this space hung a heart.
It was enormous.
It was so large that Bai Feifei had to tilt her head back just to see the top of it.
It was a dark, murky red, its surface covered in hideous blood vessels. These vessels extended outward, connecting to the surrounding fleshy walls and suspending the entire heart in mid-air.
It was beating.
Thump—thump—thump—
It was slow. Given its size, it was more of a rhythmic shudder.
But even so, the entire space trembled along with it!
She looked down and pointed her floodlight at the ground, only to realize that the fleshy wall she was standing on also had vessels connecting to that heart.
She wasn't standing on the ground.
She was standing on an extension of the heart.
“Whoa!” Xu Mo’s voice rang out in her mind. “Incredible! So that’s how it is?”
Bai Feifei’s throat felt tight, and her voice trembled:
“This... this shouldn't be anything normal, right?”
“What do you think?” Xu Mo smiled meaningfully.
“Congratulations. You might be the first person to ever see right through the ‘Real World’s’ underpants!”
Rate on N.U.
