Lin Yuanmu watched Ni Ji leave.
The sky in the distance brightened again, and tiny sparks of fire flew up from there.
Is this camp really that big? The battle seems so far away.
There were explosions in the distance.
Lin Yuan felt the floor beneath her feet move slightly. She seemed to hear a heartbeat, and the sound seemed to be right under her feet.
It seemed that deep under the soles of my feet, there was a huge heart beating.
Not long after, the rude knock on the door that sounded yesterday was heard again.
"Open the door. Ask Xunhua to come out and keep me company."
The man knocked on the door loudly, and a drunken shadow appeared on the paper grid of the window.
Lin Yuan released the mind control of expulsion, just like she did last night.
The person outside the door screamed, and the knocking stopped soon. But the person did not leave like he did last night.
He refused to leave, as if extremely unwilling, and paced back and forth outside, making rapid wheezing sounds in his throat.
The voice did not sound like that of a human, and Lin Yuan could no longer understand what was said.
But that thick desire and twisted malice seeped into the house through the gaps in the doors and windows like a cold wave.
The silhouette projected on the window paper was distorted and deformed, becoming burly and strong, and even grew sharp horns like a devil.
"Who is this person?" Lin Yuan stared at the swaying ghost.
Windsor took two steps back, one hand on her chest, the other hand rubbed it, and touched a knife on the table for peeling fruit. She held the knife in her hand with trembling fingers.
"That man used to be Xiaoxun's subordinate." Windsor's face turned pale. He hid the small knife behind him and his body was shaking. "Now he is a demon."
Xunhua used to be a very powerful warrior. He was aloof and untainted, which inevitably offended many people.
"These people always come here every now and then to torture people." Windsor bit his lip and didn't say anything else.
"Why would Xunhua enter such a place?"
Windsor's eyelashes drooped, and she said, "One winter..."
One winter, the weather was very cold and there was heavy snow. Monsters attacked the town several times and many families could not survive.
But the taxes collected by the empire were still so heavy and could not be reduced at all. There were many orphans in the city, and many children and the elderly starved to death, including Windsor's younger brother and a very young sister.
Xunhua used her power to embezzle part of the grain used to pay taxes and distributed it to orphans in the city who had difficulty surviving the winter.
Later, when winter was over, he was reported and convicted of a serious crime.
The empire's property is more important than anything else, and misappropriation is the most serious crime.
From then on, the moon fell into the ditch and was trampled underfoot.
"So I said he is the moon. No matter where he falls." Windsor's soft fingers pinched a stone pendant hanging on his chest.
It was a relic left to her by her mother. Although it was not worth much, she had kept it in her arms since she was a child. Whenever she made an important decision, she could not help but pinch the small stone back and forth.
It seems that the inconspicuous stone pendant contains the belief that supports me.
She stopped shaking, gritted her teeth, and gripped the knife handle tightly.
Lin Yuan stretched out her hand to her, and the two girls held hands together.
At the moment of shaking hands, their skin touched each other, and Lin Yuan clearly felt Windsor's emotions.
There was intense pain and indelible fear, as well as the courage that allowed her to hold the knife handle tightly even in such fear.
"Don't be afraid." Lin Yuan said.
She wanted to say, don't be afraid, I will protect you. But she suddenly realized that she could not protect Windsor or help her.
This is a friend who died three or four hundred years ago.
Something made Lin Yuan feel a sour nose and something blocking her chest, making her want to bite her fingers.
The yellow paper pasted on the window was licked by something, and a long, non-human tongue stretched out from the hole, licking around in the room, trying to hook the door latch.
Lin Yuan stared at that place, holding Windsor's hand with one hand and stretching the other hand far away in that direction.
The tongue twitched and then retracted. Screams of pain and violent rolling sounds came from outside the door.
Soon, there was a cry for mercy, "No, it's too painful, let me go."
Lin Yuan stared at the licked paper window expressionlessly, and his five fingers slowly tightened.
The wailing became more intense, and the voice rolled all the way down the stairs, tumbled and struggled on the street on the first floor for a while, then gradually became weaker and could no longer be heard.
"Yuanyuan, what did you do to him?" Windsor breathed a sigh of relief and ran to the window to peek.
"I just condensed the emotions I felt from you and stuffed them into his brain in one go."
Lin Yuan stood with her by the window, and through the torn window paper, they saw an ugly body lying on the ground.
The seemingly strong piece of meat twitched slightly there, and finally stopped moving.
"Some people may seem powerful," Lin Yuan tapped his head with his finger, "but in fact, he is pitifully weak. He enjoys torturing others, but if those cruel things happened to him, he simply couldn't bear it."
There was a sudden flash of fire in the sky and the sound of explosions could be heard in the distance.
"What's going on?" Windsor said. "What's burning?"
Lin Yuan walked out of the door and looked into the distance in the corridor. The red flames in the sky flickered, as if a fierce battle was going on.
Ni Ji hasn't come back yet, so I don't know what the situation is over there.
But here, the lights on the street are still on, the noise is still there, and people coming and going have smiles on their faces, as if they are oblivious to the bright and dark red flames.
Lin Yuan seemed to hear again that strange heartbeat coming from the ground.
It was as if there was some huge will hidden underground, with golden roots spreading like a huge net, controlling the emotions of all living beings in this world.
She didn't hear any such sound last night because she fell asleep.
Lin Yuan remembered that last night, at about this time, she fell asleep for no apparent reason.
At that time, she fell into a deep sleep in this strange world. When she opened her eyes again, it was already dawn. Windsor, Xunhua and everyone in the Rose Camp had disappeared.
Knock knock.
Knock knock.
The powerful pulsating sound became distinct, as if it could forcefully envelop everyone in its emotional world.
Lin Yuan turned back immediately.
She had only taken one or two steps out of the door, but for some reason, at this moment, she found that the distance between her and the lighted door had become very far.
Even Windsor in the light became blurry.
The floor beneath my feet became soft and began to float and twist, making it difficult to stand steadily.
The world fell into darkness, only the door and the small room behind me were still brightly lit.
Countless blurry black shadows climbed up from the stairs, walked from the other end of the corridor, and crawled towards the small door with bright light on.
The door of the room was open, and only the sick Xunhua and the unarmed Windsor were in the room.
Lin Yuan ran towards the door.
The long corridor was twisting and shaking. The more he ran, the farther away the door with the light was.
It felt like his feet were stepping on soft meat, with nowhere to put his strength, and Lin Yuan fell down.
She saw Windsor stand up, holding the small knife in her hand. She stood in front of the bed and stabbed the black monsters' heads with the knife used to peel fruits.
Lin Yuan realized that this was not reality, but something that happened here four hundred years ago.
But at that moment, Lin Yuan stared at Windsor in the light, not even willing to blink.
She is so brave. With such a weak and powerless body, she dares to resist such a powerful monster.
She was so beautiful. She was so dazzling that she almost glowed when she bit her hair and stabbed the monster with the knife in both hands.
I really can't bear to leave her, I really want to take her away from here, Lin Yuan thought.
When you blink again.
The space was distorted and all the black monsters disappeared.
The scene of the girl biting her long hair and fighting the monster disappeared.
The world seemed to have returned to peace, Lin Yuan fell at the door, and in the room, Windsor lay beside the small wooden bed with his eyes closed, as if he was asleep.
Xunhua sat up on the bed, stretched out her hand that was so white that it didn't look like a human's, and gently touched the girl's hair.
The thin quilt slipped off him.
Lin Yuan discovered that at some point, countless golden branches had grown on the ground.
Those thin and flexible golden branches penetrated the floor and the bed, pierced into Xunhua's body, and almost merged with his lower body.
The man, half of his body dyed golden and the other half skinny, glanced at Lin Yuan who came in, bent down and picked up the fruit knife that fell on the bed.
He weighed the knife, then cut off one of his fingers without any expression, removing a bloody piece of bone.
The pale bone fell onto the handkerchief and soon turned into a piece of golden bone.
"Take it. Leave here." Xunhua, who was gradually wrapped in golden branches, handed the handkerchief holding a piece of bone to Lin Yuan.
This is the key. The key to open the Golden Tree Contaminated Area.
Lin Yuan didn't understand for a moment. Countless soldiers gathered in the distance where flames were rising into the sky to fight, so how did the key to open the contaminated area suddenly appear in front of him
It turns out that Xunhua, who has always been in front of him, is the real golden tree.
The most powerful mutant in Contaminated Area 77, the pillar of the entire contaminated area.
The golden trees gradually spread out their branches and roots. Xunhua's body was slowly eroded by the golden branches. His hands were hung up and his back was absorbing the elements. His face was calm, as if he had long been accustomed to everything.
Windsor lay on the golden tree roots with protruding knots, quietly as if he was sleeping.
"This is the first time I've taken the initiative to give a key to a human being." Xunhua looked down at the girl sleeping on the tree root, "Thank you for telling her that the moon also likes mice."
The ground of the house began to shake, the floor cracked, and there, a bloody crack appeared.
The inner wall of the crack was covered with red blood vessels that were wriggling like living things.
The bed, the floor, the table, the sofa, and all the messy things in the room began to slide into the cracks.
The golden tree was slowly sinking. It seemed as if there was some terrifying force pulling it down from the bloody ground, dragging the golden tree all the way into the bloody, dark, bottomless abyss.
"Leave. Don't dream about things that you can't get." Xunhua's body sank along with the golden tree. His voice was calm, without any pain, but with a little advice, "After a while, even I won't be able to let you leave."
"Wait a minute," Lin Yuan tried his best to keep his body steady as the ground shook, and stretched out his hand to Xun Hua who was sinking, "Do you, do you want to go out with me?"
The man whose body was slowly being eroded by the golden branches raised his eyes and looked at her.
"Leave here, take Windsor with you." Lin Yuan grabbed the door frame and shouted at him, "After you get out, you can live in my house. There is another mutant like you living in my house, and she is living well there."
Xunhua, who was trapped in the tree, looked up at her, her cold face revealing a hint of surprise.
Lin Yuan felt that he had never tried so hard to persuade others in his life and said so many words in one breath.
"Really," she kept stretching her hands forward and kept saying, "My yard is very big and can accommodate many people. It's still short of a gardener. You can move in and bring Windsor with you."
The golden branches covered his short silver hair, and the crisscrossed golden roots covered his forehead, covering his eyebrows and eyes, and finally only half of his human face was left.
The pale human lips moved, bringing a bitter smile.
"Windsor is gone. If you leave here, she will disappear."
"but me… "
Lin Yuan didn't hear his last words.
The golden tree rumbled down and fell into a bottomless crack.
Lin Yuan leaned on the edge of the cave entrance. The golden leaves on the branches collided with each other, making a crisp sound, like someone singing, which came all the way up from far away.
Lin Yuan clenched the handkerchief wrapped around the bone in his hand. This was the key to open the door.
Although she didn't find what she wanted, at least she could leave here alive.
Many people trapped inside, those who have not died and are still holding on, have been given the chance to leave alive.
Lin Yuan gritted his teeth and started running outside.
Outside the window, the waning moon in the night sky became very dim, as if daybreak would soon arrive.
The flames and explosions continued in the distance.
Behind her, the terrifying crack began to swallow everything.
Rooms, corridors and streets were collapsing into it, and the entire Rose Camp was slowly being swallowed up by it.
While running, Lin Yuan heard the heartbeat underground again.
This time, she heard it clearly.
She also heard the pain, struggle, resentment and cries of many people.
Deep underground, there is a giant creature, like a god.
As a guide, Lin Yuan felt its presence.
The powerful heartbeat throbbed, swallowing up the pain of so many people and swallowing it into its spiritual world.
It is a huge creature that has survived countless long years. It is also very cruel, feeding on the painful emotions of countless people and unwilling to let anyone leave alive.
Lin Yuan soon met Ni Ji who had come back to find her.
From a distance, a sentry in black shouted at her, "Run! This place is going to collapse."
The fire burned behind him and he ran towards himself.
For a moment, Lin Yuan also imagined running towards him just like he was running towards her.
Hold his hand, take the key, and leave here with him.
Get away from this twisted and perverted place full of monsters and fire.
The outside world is quiet and beautiful. Hiding in the holy light of the White Tower, alcohol and delicious food can heal everything.
Let her forget the screams and pain that echoed in her mind, and forget the girl who sang to her. Lin Yuan took out the handkerchief wrapped with the golden bone from her arms and threw it to Ni Ji from a distance.
A tentacle emerged from the ground in the distance, caught the handkerchief and threw it forward, and another tentacle emerged to catch it.
By the time the last tentacle rolled up a small handkerchief and stuffed it into Ni Ji's arms, Lin Yuan had already turned around and ran back to the cave filled with pain, screams, and the sound of heartbeats.
"Go open the door first." She waved her hand, her fingers making this gesture firmly.
He didn't even glance at the sentry behind him.
(End of this chapter)