Chapter 211: The Fourth-Floor Tragedy
Two veins bulged at Mo Xian’s temples, his face filled with frustration.
Why was Shen Yu able to live so comfortably off everyone else’s help?
What exactly was he missing?
"Interesting."
Wen Lan calmly waved her hand, her expression unreadable.
"Looks like we need to head toward the lower floors too."
Yan Cheng stiffly raised his head.
"I... I said..."
"The beasts in the darkness can’t move."
**Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!**
The moment the Word Spirit took effect, more than a dozen black-spined wild boars froze completely in front of the elevator.
Mo Xian slowly walked toward the elevator and pressed the button for the lower floor.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
At the same time, inside the elevator that was traveling upward, the button for the fourth floor suddenly lit up.
The elevator doors opened.
Once again, more than a dozen black-spined wild boars stood outside.
Their blood-red eyes stared into the elevator, confused and dazed.
"Ha?"
Unable to detect any scent, some of the wild boars simply wagged their tails and walked back toward the pigpens.
The bizarre yet strangely peaceful scene caused the barrage to explode again.
"Are these pigs blind?"
"From so far away, yet they still can’t see what’s right in front of them?"
"Let me share some cold knowledge."
"A pig’s sense of smell is dozens of times more sensitive than a dog’s."
"So relying on their sense of smell isn’t completely unreasonable."
Ding dong!
Seeing that none of the black-spined wild boars had entered the elevator, the doors began closing again.
Yanning and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief.
They were ready to head directly to the sixth floor.
But then—
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Shen Yu looked toward the dark pigpen on the fourth floor.
Then, to everyone’s surprise, he stepped out of the elevator.
He walked toward the dark area where the black-spined wild boars were gathered.
---
"Hey, Shen Yu!"
"What are you doing?"
"Aren’t you going back to the sixth floor?"
Yanning grabbed Shen Yu’s arm.
But he decisively shook her off.
His expression darkened as he stared into the distant darkness.
"Yang Hua didn’t come today, right?"
"Ah?"
"What’s wrong?"
"If she really died in the real world, there might be clues here in the corresponding beast world."
"But she might not be dead."
"Stop talking."
"I’ll search by myself."
"The black liquid has covered our scent, so these pigs won’t attack me."
"You go to the sixth floor and look for Yang Hua."
"If you don’t find her..."
Before Shen Yu could finish speaking, his figure had already disappeared into the darkness.
Chu Chang’an and the others watched him leave.
After a moment, they silently pressed the elevator’s door-close button.
Their expressions were grim as they looked toward the sixth floor.
Yang Hua was someone the Jochi team had to save.
She had helped them avoid pollution two or three times.
More importantly, she had no malicious intentions.
If they couldn’t save someone like her, how heartless would they have to be?
Yanning turned toward Chu Chang’an.
"What do you think the vice captain will do if he discovers the truth?"
Chu Chang’an leaned against the corner of the elevator and adjusted his glasses.
His words already sounded as though he had guessed the outcome.
"I don’t know."
"Maybe he’ll avenge Yang Hua."
"Or maybe Yang Hua’s death will help him uncover even more information about Evolution Food Company."
"Either way, don’t underestimate him."
"He’s strange."
"But when it comes to women..."
Yanning paused.
"He’d probably risk his life."
Her gaze lingered on the elevator doors.
"What an interesting vice captain."
"Too bad he’s also a cross-dressing pervert."
"What a pity."
---
While the two were discussing Shen Yu, Ning Su, who had remained silent the entire time, suddenly touched his temple.
He felt somewhat dazed.
His pulse was throbbing beneath his fingers.
It felt as though something was about to grow out of his head.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Meanwhile, muddy water splashed beneath Shen Yu’s feet as he walked through the dark, swampy grass.
He passed one pigpen after another.
Each enclosure was different in size.
"Who... who... who..."
Under the darkness of night, black-spined wild boars with scarlet eyes crowded around the feeding troughs.
Their heads were almost completely buried inside the bowls as they devoured the meat.
"Who... who..."
Their speed of eating was terrifying.
The sounds of gnashing teeth and chewing flesh made one’s skin crawl.
Yet even under the gaze of dozens of pairs of blood-red eyes, Shen Yu calmly walked past more than ten pigpens.
Finally, he stopped at the innermost enclosure.
This was a piglet pen.
Inside were tender pink piglets whose black spikes had not yet fully grown.
But their small size was deceptive.
Their feeding troughs were also filled with bloody pieces of flesh.
Intestines.
Hearts.
Livers.
All of them had been crushed together inside the bowls.
The piglets happily rolled around in the bloody mixture, their faces flushed from eating.
"Damn..."
"Damn it!"
Shen Yu stood outside the feeding trough.
Only a thin wall separated him from the piglets.
His eyes fixed on the minced meat.
His fists slowly tightened.
Because buried inside the rotten meat paste were several clumps of wool stained with fresh blood.
"Eat."
"Keep eating, you beasts!"
Bang!
Shen Yu kicked one of the piglets lying beside the feeding trough.
Its snout was smashed against the ground, and blood immediately seeped from its nose.
The piglet staggered backward several steps.
Its blood-red eyes looked around suspiciously.
Yet Shen Yu was standing directly in front of it.
The piglet simply ignored him.
Its collapsed nose twitched.
Then it turned around and returned to the feeding trough as if nothing had happened.
"Keep eating."
"Beast."
"Get out of my way!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Shen Yu kicked several more pigs aside.
Then he quickly reached into the bloody meat slurry.
His hand searched through the mixture.
Suddenly—
He touched something hard.
Cold.
Metallic.
His expression changed instantly.
Clang!
Shen Yu pulled a silver medallion out of the meat.
A clear image of a sheep was engraved on its surface.
"This..."
"This is Yang Hua’s."
A chill sank into his heart.
That night, Shen Yu had clearly seen Yang Hua wearing this medallion around her neck.
That meant—
While Shen Yu and the others were working overtime, Yang Hua had indeed come looking for him.
Perhaps she had been killed on the way.
Or perhaps Zhu Weiman had murdered her during the day on the fourth floor.
Dismembered.
Fed to the piglets.
Her flesh possibly becoming part of the company’s food supply.
"Damn it!"
"Damn it!"
"They’re eating people!"
Shen Yu tightened his grip around the sheep medallion.
His gaze shifted toward the Perfect Timeline ability in his peripheral vision.
He had considered using it to return to the previous night.
But after taking several deep breaths, he temporarily suppressed his anger with reason.
Perfect Timeline could indeed allow him to return to the past and save Yang Hua.
But using it now would waste the ability’s upper limit.
There were still things he could investigate.
If he reached a point where nothing could progress, then he could use it to return to the past.
"Yang Hua..."
"Don’t worry."
"I won’t let you die."
"Absolutely not."
"Good people shouldn’t die."
Buzz!
The sheep medallion in his hand suddenly vibrated.
A solemn voice he hadn’t heard for a long time echoed in his mind.
[Congratulations, Dungeon Participant Shen Yu!]
[You have discovered the Totem of the Evolved Creature — Sheep.]
[Evolved Creature: Sheep]
[Ability: Scapegoat]
[The sheep can transfer mutations from other creatures onto itself and store them.]
[As mutations accumulate, the sheep’s transformation will gradually worsen.]
[Current Mutation Storage Level of the Scapegoat Medallion: 0%.]
"What?"
"Evolved creature?"
"Scapegoat?"
Shen Yu was stunned by the sudden dungeon notification.
What exactly was an evolved creature?
But what shocked him most was the ability of Scapegoat.
His hand, which was gripping the medallion, began trembling.
He seemed to have suddenly realized something.
That night, when he and Ning Su had gone to the physical examination machine, his value had dropped to 0%, while Ning Su’s had risen to 10%.
Logically, after a full day’s work, Ning Su’s mutation value had increased.
So why had Shen Yu’s decreased?
The answer was simple.
"Yang Hua..."
His gaze dropped to the sheep medallion.
The medallion suddenly felt even hotter in his palm.
For the first time, Shen Yu felt as though an NPC had genuinely cared about him.
Whether Yang Hua had been trying to repay the favor he had shown her, or whether his Succubus Physique had influenced her feelings—
She should not die for nothing.
"Wait for me, Yang Hua."
"I’ll come for you."
"Right now."
Shen Yu put away the Scapegoat Medallion.
His eyes turned cold as he looked toward the pigpen.
He reached down and picked up one of the piglets still buried in the meat.
Then he headed toward the elevator.
His expression was resolute.
It was obvious that he already had a plan.
The piglet in his arms continued gnawing on a piece of white bone.
Its blood-red eyes blinked innocently, seemingly unaware that it had been carried away.
Throughout the vast fourth floor, black-spined wild boars continued feasting on flesh.
Yet none of them paid any attention to the person carrying one of their own away.
Ding dong!
The elevator doors opened again.
Still carrying the piglet, Shen Yu pressed the button for the fifth floor.
--
The live-stream barrage exploded the moment viewers saw Shen Yu walk out of the elevator carrying a piglet.
"Wait!"
"Shen Yu just walked out carrying a pig like that?"
"And nobody stopped him?"
"That twelve-nosed ball really is impressive."
"It completely removed his scent."
"The pigs really are acting like they’re blind."
"Thunder Battle Machine: I think I understand something."
"Working at this company causes you to gradually change as time passes."
"Once you turn into an animal, you’ll eventually be eaten by another animal."
"Has Yang Hua already died?"
"Northeast Rainbow: So the purpose of this company hiring people is actually to eat them?"
"That’s terrifying when you think about it."
"They hire people to work."
"The workers transform into animals."
"And then they’re eventually eaten."
"No."
"But this is only a dungeon."
"I feel reality isn’t that different."
"If that’s really how this works, then the Feiha team is finished."
"Look at them."
"Most of them are already starting to develop cow or horse characteristics."
"Aren’t they practically waiting to be eaten?"
Under Shen Yu’s live-stream perspective, the clump of wool in the feeding trough was still visible.
The entire live-stream room erupted.
"Looking at this from another angle..."
"The sheep was eaten by the pigs and eventually became part of the cafeteria food."
"Then perhaps Evolution Food Company’s so-called beef and horse meat aren’t ordinary food at all."
"They may actually be the employees."
"The salespeople might not even be selling food."
"They could be selling themselves to be eaten by clients."
"Hiss."
"Interesting."
"So even evolved creatures can eventually be eaten."
"Just like Shen Yu called that human-headed snake this morning."
"Maybe it also wanted to eat the pig."
"What kind of animal world is this?"
---
At the same time, inside the Jochi City Defense Department—
Zhao Kuo slowly shook his head.
He had already developed a rough understanding of the dungeon.
"Captain Zhao."
"Do you think the core of this company is really just eating people?"
Ho Yong still felt that something was missing.
Zhao Kuo tapped the back of his hand thoughtfully.
"The basic logic is simple."
"The company hires people."
"They come here to work."
"They gradually transform into cows, horses, and other animals."
"And the company sells beef, horse meat, and other animal products."
"So the products being sold are probably made from employees who have transformed and been killed."
"Those products are then sent to the clients on the various floors."
"And those clients all seem to possess medallions."
"They’re probably evolved creatures."
"The entire company appears to operate according to a system of serving these evolved creatures."
"This should be the core structure of the dungeon."
"But there’s one thing I still don’t understand."
"What?"
Zhao Kuo looked at him suspiciously.
Ho Yong stared at the screen.
"If Evolution Food Company operates according to this system..."
"Then what do the top-level directors eat?"
"After the cows and horses mutate, do the directors eat them first and then distribute the rest to the evolved creatures?"
"This..."
Ho Yong rubbed his chin.
"Also, if my analysis is correct, Shen Yu should have already realized this."
"So why hasn’t one of the three completion conditions appeared?"
"Investigate the truth of the company."
"Maybe there’s still information inside the company that we haven’t uncovered."
Zhao Kuo pursed his lips.
His eyes remained fixed on Shen Yu’s live-stream.
"Wait."
"This guy is probably going to verify something."
---
Ding dong!
The elevator moving upward opened again.
The fifth floor had arrived.
Shen Yu quietly looked at the world beyond the elevator doors.
From an animal’s perspective, the fifth floor, which had originally been a residential area, had transformed into a vast forest swamp.
Dead trees without branches stood densely packed together.
Their twisted trunks and tangled branches blocked out the sky.
Some enormous trunks had giant bird nests built directly into them.
The sky was chaotic.
The ground was even worse.
Exposed tree roots twisted across the earth like enormous snakes, forming layers of deep trenches.
Shen Yu stood at the entrance of the elevator, holding the piglet in his arms.
His eyes slowly narrowed.
Whatever was waiting on the fifth floor—
He was about to find out.