Decaying World

"Sixteen?"

Lin Hui dodged the broom, skepticism written all over his face. He scrutinized the old man before him once again.

White hair, white eyebrows, white beard, a face full of wrinkles, sagging skin, and age spots covering his face and neck.

This guy is sixteen?

"Why don't you just say you're six?" Lin Hui asked, exasperated.

"How do you know the people serving sentences in this damn place aren't six?" The old man pointed to a long-haired old woman watering a bonsai in a shop across the street. "That one turns nine this year. Believe it?"

"..." Lin Hui stared at the old man as if looking at a fool. "Do you believe that yourself?"

"Looks like you really ran in here knowing nothing..." The old man didn't get angry again; instead, he sighed and lowered the broom.

He turned back to the shop, pulled out a chair, and sat down heavily.

Inside the shop, a faint smell of tobacco lingered, and gray ash was scattered across the mahogany tabletop. The old man turned over a booklet he had been reading, placing it face down on the table, then leaned back and exhaled long and slow. "Speak. What do you want to ask? To be honest, I haven't seen a guy as odd as you in years. If you had status, you would have taken a Moth Carriage into the tower. If you were lowborn, you wouldn't be strolling around leisurely, ignoring the Void Field radiating from the tower."

"I just carry a bit of an Inner City permit on me," Lin Hui replied truthfully.

"A permit? That thing can only temporarily withstand the Void Field; it'll drain empty if you stay too long. Also, the phrasing 'Inner City'... it seems you come from the Outer City. Usually, people from other districts wouldn't say that; only those from the Outer City refer to this place as 'Inner'."

"Good deduction, very detailed. Can I ask my questions now?" Lin Hui nodded.

"Go ahead, speak."

"Is this the Deep Domain of the Core Zone? Why can you stay here indefinitely? How does one enter the Moon Tower? How do I apply?" Lin Hui fired off three questions in one breath.

"One Feather Blood per question." The old man extended his hand.

"...Fine!" Lin Hui gritted his teeth. He didn't have much Feather Blood on him, but thinking that these questions indeed needed answering, he reached into his waist pouch, took out three vials, and placed them on the table.

"First question: This is not the Deep Domain. This is just a buffer zone before entering the Deep Domain and the Moon Tower. If you want to enter the Deep Domain, you have to go down through those deep pits at the base of the Moon Tower. The underground world at the very bottom is the true Deep Domain. That place is quite large, equivalent to a collection of small towns," the old man answered.

"Second question. I am a prisoner, a convict captured by the Moon Tower, so I must stay here and cannot leave. Everyone living here shares the same status." The old man held up two fingers.

"Third, how to enter the Moon Tower and how to apply? This is actually one question. There are two ways to enter. One is an invitation from a Trueblood of the Moon Tower core. If you receive an invitation from the Truebloods, you can enter without any restrictions.

"The other way is through the Deep Domain. The Deep Domain controls the basic restrictions for lower-class people entering the Moon Tower. There is a Bliss Platform there. Go look at the instructions; if you can complete the listed tasks and rank in the top one hundred daily, you will be permitted to enter the Moon Tower for one day. Of course, the conditions are said to be very harsh and bizarre. Anyway, I haven't been there. I can't go anywhere. I heard all this from the merchant caravans that come and go," the old man explained.

"Prisoners? Why are you imprisoned here?" Lin Hui asked with a frown.

"No reason." The old man didn't ask for Feather Blood this time. Instead, his face revealed a mix of confusion, doubt, bewilderment, and hatred. "I've been here for many years and seen many people captured by the Truebloods. They had no reason. They were just inexplicably captured."

"By the way, I just met a child on the stone bridge whose eyes glowed with red light..." Lin Hui described the little girl he saw earlier. "What is that child's identity? Is she a Trueblood?"

The old man extended his hand and took the Feather Blood Lin Hui tactfully handed over.

"She is indeed a Trueblood, and one of the few who likes to enter and exit the Moon Tower from the ground. In the entire Moon Tower, there are only about a hundred Truebloods in total. She is considered a rather special one. She is very kind and has helped quite a few people who ran into trouble passing through."

"Last question." Lin Hui took out another Feather Blood. "Why have you become so old? Was that 'sixteen years old' you mentioned earlier serious?"

"Of course it's true. Being old... that's because we are prisoners. This place doesn't allow us to leave. As for the aging..." A trace of fear flashed in the old man's eyes. "That is the power of the Longevity Wheel. Our lifespan is constantly being drawn out here, gathered onto the Truebloods inside the Moon Tower."

Longevity Wheel...

It wasn't the first time Lin Hui had heard this name. He recalled hearing in the Outer City that great clans of the Inner City had fought over an Imitation Longevity Wheel, resulting in the annihilation of many Outer City households.

He didn't expect to hear this name again in the Core Zone of the Inner City after so long.

Suddenly, he thought of his eldest brother, Liu Wujun. With his brother's status and position, he may know something. He would find a chance to ask him after returning.

"Anything else to ask?" the old man said again, weighing the Feather Blood in his hand.

"One final question. I don't want to pay Feather Blood, so you can choose not to answer. What is your name?" Lin Hui asked.

"Just call me Azhe. If you have any questions in the future, you can come back here to ask me anytime. My location won't change; I'm always here. Don't forget." The old man, Azhe, laughed.

"Okay." Lin Hui nodded, turned, and walked out of the shop.

"Are you planning to go to the Deep Domain?" Old Man Azhe's voice rang out from behind.

"Yes, what about it?" Lin Hui turned back to look at him.

"Seeing that you're an honest person, I'll give you a piece of information for free. In the Deep Domain, don't eat any food anyone gives you. Don't take anything free. Remember: the free things are the most expensive," Azhe said in a deep voice.

This sentence felt like déjà vu to Lin Hui; he had heard this saying in the memories of his previous life as well.

"Many thanks." He cupped his hands toward Azhe and walked out of the shop.

This time, he didn't hesitate. He followed the main road, moving along with the flow of traffic until he reached the edge of the deep pit at the base of the Moon Tower.

Then, he traveled rapidly downward along the spiral road carved into the inner wall of the pit.

He wasn't the only one on the road this time. Large trucks, fully loaded with unknown goods covered in gray cloth, were constantly transporting things from the bottom up.

There were also vehicles transporting goods down from the surface via other spiral roads, but their numbers were far fewer than those going out.

Lin Hui noticed that the drivers and passengers in the vehicles coming out all had flushed faces, pale lips, and slightly unfocused pupils, and their bodies were abnormally hot.

Moreover, they carried a faint fragrance. This scent was very pleasant but hard to identify—not quite floral, not quite fruity.

"Little brother, are you also going to the Deep Domain? Want to go together?"

Halfway down, at the mid-section of the deep pit, a woman with a ponytail waved at Lin Hui from a white ox cart, transmitting her voice with a smile.

The side of the carriage was engraved with complex floral patterns, which wondrously arranged themselves to form the character "Li" (李)—clearly the carriage of some Inner City clan named Li.

The woman had hair draping over her shoulders and a full figure. She wore a tight, tender-green tank top that accentuated her massive curves, and her lower body was clad only in white ultra-short shorts, revealing a pair of white, round thighs.

She sat on the driver's seat, holding the white ox's reins with one hand. There was a dark red tear mole at the corner of her eye, giving her a charming and alluring appearance.

"Don't be afraid, Big Sister doesn't eat people. It's just that I happen to have a little brother about your age. Seeing you traveling alone on the road makes my heart ache a little." The woman's voice carried a specific, tingling quality.

Lin Hui glanced at the cargo cart behind her. It was piled high with items, all covered by gray cloth, concealing the contents.

He wasn't afraid.

The aura on her body had a vague sense of Internal Force, suggesting she practiced martial arts. As for whether she was a Called One, he couldn't judge.

After a moment of hesitation, he leaped up and landed lightly on the other driver's seat beside the woman.

"Many thanks, Big Sister," he said, cupping his hands.

"Thank me for what? Running alone on the road makes you a bit too conspicuous. Look front and back—who else would run around on their own two legs? Who among those capable of coming to this place doesn't dare to come only with a fine mount?" The woman smiled.

Seeing Lin Hui sit down, she naturally reached out toward his crotch.

"Come, let Big Sister check your capital. Going to the Deep Domain without some capital is..."

Swish.

Her hand grabbed empty air.

Then her vision blurred; the person who was just in the seat had vanished in an instant.

The next second, her hand was pinned down by another hand, controlled in mid-air.

Only then did she realize that Lin Hui had somehow moved to her other side.

The woman struggled a bit and found that her hand couldn't move. A trace of shock flashed across her face.

"Wait! I just wanted to have some fun with you—I didn’t mean any harm! Don’t get violent!" She immediately realized she’d run into a tough opponent and begged for mercy at once.

"I am Li Xinruan of the Middle Ring Li family. If you let me go, I will surely repay you heavily in the future!"

"Behave yourself." Lin Hui frowned and released her hand, returning to his seat. "I ask, you answer. Understood?"

"Understood!" Li Xinruan nodded repeatedly.

"What are you doing in the Deep Domain?"

"Our Li family has fixed shop properties in the Deep Domain. I came to deliver supplementary supplies and transport goods back to the clan. The resources in the Deep Domain are extremely abundant. Nourished by the Blood Creek flowing from the Moon Tower, if you scatter a handful of seeds into the soil here, countless edible fruits will grow in just a few days. So this place is the best production ground," Li Xinruan explained quickly, her voice slightly nervous.

"It's my first time in the Deep Domain. Is there anything I need to pay attention to?" Lin Hui didn't hide the fact that it was his first time. Such things were hard to hide from the eyes of veterans, so he might as well say it openly and ask for intelligence directly.

"Nothing to watch out for. The Deep Domain is a place of pleasure. As long as you have Feather Blood, you can enjoy everything here. As long as you enter this place, the longer you stay, the more sensitive your body will naturally become, and the easier it will be to feel pleasure... this can't be explained just by words; you'll understand it yourself in a while," Li Xinruan said nervously.

"Fine." Lin Hui, hidden behind his Four Faces mask, felt puzzled. He was wrapped up so tightly, yet this woman still went after him; it was exasperating.

The ox cart continued its descent. Now that he was seated on the cart, Lin Hui no longer drew attention, giving him the leisure to quietly observe his surroundings.

The Li family cart seemed to have decent status; as it moved forward, many vehicles coming from the opposite direction would actively make way.

This gave Lin Hui a rough estimate of Li Xinruan's family standing.

After about an hour, the ox cart finally reached the bottom of the deep pit.

A silver stream fell from the sky, smashing into the center of the bottom, forming a massive circular pool.

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