Chapter 220: In the Dark
In the Darkness
After dealing with the Bloody Maw's corpse, Lin Ye continued forward along the tunnel.
The maw's speed wasn't as exaggerated as the eyeballs'. Previously caught off guard, Lin Ye had been bitten by the maw, but as long as he carefully observed the ground vibrations beneath his feet, he could dodge the maw's attacks in advance.
Afterward, Lin Ye triggered several more maw traps, but he avoided all of them ahead of time, and the severed maws provided him with some high-quality spiritual energy materials.
Lin Ye walked along the tunnel for half an hour, and a new abandoned platform appeared at the end of his flashlight beam.
The new platform looked no different from the previous one, but Lin Ye could faintly hear soft laughter coming from within the platform.
Lin Ye cautiously approached the platform. Just as he was observing it, the ground beneath his feet suddenly shook and cracked open. A maw emerged from underground, biting toward Lin Ye's lower body.
Before being bitten, Lin Ye skillfully sidestepped to the side, then just as skillfully chopped off the maw's upper portion.
But as Lin Ye looked down, he failed to notice several yellow-green roots slowly approaching his head from above.
Only when the roots came extremely close did Lin Ye catch a whiff of a refreshing bloody scent. This odor was very strange, like soaking large amounts of grass in bloody water. Without even thinking, Lin Ye immediately activated all the runes on his body. Whatever that scent originated from, it had already reached an extremely dangerous distance.
Those roots stabbed violently toward Lin Ye's head like pythons discovering prey. The hastily activated spiritual energy shield shattered instantly, but Lin Ye had already charged onto the platform with the enhancement of various runes. The roots only pierced through his afterimage.
Jumping onto the platform, Lin Ye broke out in a cold sweat. If his reaction had been even a fraction slower just now, the life-saving item he always carried would have been consumed here.
Those yellow-green roots didn't pursue him but retracted into the tunnel ceiling.
"Hehehe..."
Strange laughter sounded from behind. Lin Ye first set up his spiritual energy shield before checking his surroundings.
The staircase leading upward was blocked by rubble. Among that rubble, Lin Ye discovered some yellow-green roots.
Behind Lin Ye, in a dark corner of the platform, crouched a thin, small figure wrapped in a dark robe, looking filthy.
Lin Ye shone his flashlight near the figure, the reflected light illuminating the area where the figure was located.
It was an abnormally emaciated child. His face was covered in grime, and his light brown hair, left unkempt for a long time, had tangled together.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?"
Lin Ye didn't let his guard down just because the other appeared weak. Almost no one who could survive here would be weak.
"Hehehe... hehe..."
The other didn't answer Lin Ye's question. His face displayed a vacant smile, continuously emitting laughter that seemed disconnected from any brain function.
"Alright, as long as you're happy..."
Lin Ye used his mental wave perception technique to sense his surroundings and discovered that the other's body was filled with blood-red eyeballs.
With just a few glances, Lin Ye largely guessed the other's origins.
'She was probably an ordinary person brought in by explorers in the past to scout the path. Ordinary people aren't affected by the eyeballs, which is why she didn't die in the tunnel. Those maws and roots likely don't attack ordinary people. She doesn't qualify as food, so she managed to survive here until now... But why do those eyeballs remain inside her body?'
'Wait, are there really only eyeballs inside her?'
Actually, by killing the girl and cutting open her emaciated body, Lin Ye could discover what was hidden inside her, but he wouldn't do that.
It had nothing to do with emotions like justice, mercy, or goodwill. He only did what he wanted to do.
Lin Ye began inscribing Berserk runes on the girl. It wasn't that he suddenly wanted to conduct strange experiments on her, but because the girl's mind had completely shattered. He wasn't a psychiatrist and couldn't treat her, so he could only use Berserk runes to forcibly awaken her consciousness.
Even becoming crazy was better than having a shattered mind.
The runes worked remarkably well. In less than a minute, the girl stopped laughing.
"Are you feeling better? What's your name?"
Lin Ye took out an energy bar and a can of energy drink, placing them in front of the girl.
"I'm just a nameless slave. You can call me Number 43... I feel terrible, like something is moving around in my stomach."
Number 43 lay down on the filthy ground, rubbing her stomach.
"You seem quite normal, Number 43. I'm Lin Ye."
Lin Ye sat opposite the girl. The Berserk runes' effect was surprisingly good; he had thought he would be dealing with a little madwoman.
"No, I'm already crazy. If I were normal, I wouldn't dare speak to a great spiritual energy user like you."
Number 43 took the energy drink but tried several times without managing to open the lid.
"Alright, let's not talk about that. I have a question for you. You'd better answer seriously, because I'll only ask once."
Lin Ye helped Number 43 open the energy drink lid and also tore open the energy bar wrapper for her.
"Ask away, great master."
Number 43 shifted to a more comfortable position and took a sip of the energy drink... then choked nearly to death.
"I'm leaving this place. Do you want to come with me?"
Lin Ye didn't want to leave a child like this in such a place, but if the other wasn't willing to go with him, he wouldn't force her to leave. He would give her a choice.
"Are you going to use me to scout the path? Why are you asking me?"
Number 43 was seeing such a strange spiritual energy user for the first time.
"I never use others to scout paths, because few people can walk ahead of me."
Lin Ye stood up and walked toward the tunnel. Before leaving the platform, he turned back and said:
"Life is a continuation of choices. You might not have had choices before, but now you can choose. Will you stay here, or follow behind me?"
Lin Ye didn't wait long, pausing only briefly before continuing forward.
Number 43 watched Lin Ye's back as he was about to disappear into the darkness. Suddenly grabbing the energy bar and energy drink, she quickly ran to the platform edge, then without hesitation jumped into that darkness.
She didn't even know where she found the strength.
Lin Ye casually caught Number 43's clothes and placed her behind him.
"Keep up. Although your condition is poor, those things inside your body have strengthened it. You're far from as weak as you appear."
Lin Ye cleared the path ahead while simultaneously searching for places with the most eyeballs to dig out the Waste Stones inside.