"As long as you can bring us back to the ground, you can take anything you take from here." Chang Yin said.
Xu Xin was silent for a moment, then asked, "It's probably not easy to bring you back to the surface, right?"
"That's right," Chang Yin tapped the stone table with his index finger, "It's impossible for you to go back the same way. The way you came here has been blocked. If you want to return to the ground, you can only continue to walk deeper into the corridor."
"Oh?" Xu Xin frowned, "Didn't you block it?"
The door to the dungeon entrance suddenly closed automatically after he came in and was locked.
"Of course not us." Xue Lan said, "You are the third person to cooperate with us. The first two times, that road was always blocked."
The third time
"You said that the person you cooperated with last time... was the owner of this backpack?" Xu Xin pointed at the backpack on his back.
"Yes, he is the survivor who came here twelve years ago."
Twelve years ago... It's been twelve years again. The fruits in this backpack haven't rotted in twelve years, they are indeed blue grade fruits.
Chang Yin seemed to see the confusion in Xu Xin's heart and took the initiative to explain: "Every twelve years, a group of survivors from other worlds will come to our world. As far as I know, you are the fifth batch."
"I am from the fifth batch... What happened to the first four batches of survivors?"
"I don't know," Chang Yin shook his head to indicate that he didn't know, "I only came into contact with the survivors who came here."
"You treated the survivors who came here as experimental subjects. Now they have all become mutants, right?" Xu Xin asked Chang Yin with narrowed eyes.
Chang Yin was stunned for a moment, then shook his head.
"It's not what you think. The dozen or so mutants you saw are the first batch of survivors." Xue Lan spoke again.
Her voice always made people feel convinced, but Xu Xin didn't like the feeling of being led by the nose. He frowned and took out an orange from his backpack. Oranges can reduce the impact of the opponent on his spirit.
"Ying!" Coco, who had been lying quietly on Xu Xin's shoulder, suddenly cried out and tugged at his clothes. Xu Xin had no choice but to give one to Coco. Coco jumped onto the stone table and started eating the orange while holding it.
Changyin and Xuelan didn't care what Xu Xin ate. Xuelan continued, "They came in groups and wanted to destroy everything here. At that time, Changyin and I were not stone statues..."
"Xue Lan, there's no need to explain this to him. Xu Xin, you just need to know that we didn't kill innocent people indiscriminately." Chang Yin interrupted Xue Lan.
"How do you explain the words carved on the stone table outside?" Xu Xin asked. Words like that would only be carved in a desperate situation.
Chang Yin was silent.
The room was quiet for a while, and finally Xue Lan broke the silence. She gently held Chang Yin's hand and said, "You mean the words on the stone table outside? Those were not left by the survivors."
"What do you mean?" Xu Xin didn't understand Xue Lan's meaning for a moment.
"I carved that word." Chang Yin suddenly spoke, and a flash of red light suddenly flashed in his stone eyes, which disappeared in an instant. "How do you think we became like this now?"
Xu Xin was silent again. He didn't expect to get such an answer.
The room fell silent again.
Chang Yin suddenly slapped the table, and his palm made a crisp sound when it hit the table: "Okay, we have talked enough. Now, let's talk about cooperation. What we want you to do is very simple, that is, take us away from this place and back to the ground."
"To tell you the truth, this is difficult. The survivor from 24 years ago was torn into pieces by the machine. The survivor from 12 years ago chose to stay here after trying in vain, but he suddenly stopped breathing on the third night after he stayed. Maybe you don't believe it, but his death has nothing to do with us.
So far, none of you survivors have managed to walk out of this corridor alive. The first batch was caused by us, but we ignored the second batch and they were all wiped out anyway.
The third and fourth batches of survivors were all alone. We chose to cooperate and help them, but we all failed in the end. And you are the fifth batch of survivors who came here."
Xu Xin could probably guess how the survivor died. It was very likely that he died because the activity could not be completed.
"If that's the case, why did you choose to cooperate with me?" Xu Xin was puzzled. "Didn't you try to get out by yourself? Your bodies are much stronger than mine."
"Isn't there a mysterious voice speaking in the minds of you survivors from time to time?" Chang Yin pointed at Xu Xin's head.
“… You really understand survivors.”
"That mysterious voice will also speak to us."
Chang Yin's words made Xu Xin's eyelids jump, and he stood up: "You can hear this sound too?"
If this is true, is this voice the "god" mentioned in the altar
Chang Yin gestured for Xu Xin to sit down. After Xu Xin sat down, he said, "That's right. Twenty-four years ago, before the third batch of survivors arrived, that voice told us that only by following the survivors can we get out of this underground city."
"We also tried to go there by ourselves, but the way up is blocked, and going deeper into the corridor will be blocked by a metal door that can only be pushed open by you survivors. We couldn't open it no matter what method we used." Xue Lan said softly.
"Then why don't I help you push it away?"
"No, there are at least three doors in the passage. The survivors twelve years ago were stuck at the third door and couldn't get out. In the end, we had no choice but to return here." Xue Lan explained, "If the situation hasn't changed, we know the mechanisms of the first two doors and can leave them to us to handle, but you still have to rely on you to push the door open. We can't push it open no matter what."
Xu Xin sorted out everything they said in his mind, about this world, about the survivors. At the same time, he also knew that the voice was not only related to the survivors, but also inextricably linked to other creatures in this world.
"What are you going to do after you go up?" Xu Xin asked the question he wanted to ask most now.
"We'll talk about it after we get up there. Right now, we want to verify what that voice told us."
"What?"
"If what it says is true, you'll know it when you get to the ground."
Xu Xin did not ask any more questions. Although the two statues did not seem to be lying to him, he did not completely believe them. Some things still needed to be verified by himself.
"Okay, I agree. I will take you out, but all the supplies taken from here belong to me."
"If you can really get us out, I can make a bunch of contract cards for you, but the premise is that you can really get us out and not die on the way."
In order to prove what he said, Chang Yin took out a blank piece of paper and a special-looking pen from somewhere, and made a contract on the spot in just a few tens of seconds.
The blank paper was gradually filled with strange words under Chang Yin's pen, emitting a green glow. After the contract was completed, Chang Yin handed it to Xu Xin: "Can't you survivors see the properties of objects when you touch them?"
Xu Xin took it, and sure enough, it was a mutant beast contract. On it were some words that Xu Xin could not understand. It was a bit like the ancient writing like oracle bone inscriptions, just like the previous contract.
"… How was this made?" Xu Xin was a little puzzled. How could it be completed with just a few strokes
"Confidential. Oh, no need to return them to me. If you can lead us out, these will naturally be yours."
He didn't say a word. If they couldn't get out, these things would naturally remain in the underground city.
Xu Xin decided to go back and take a look. Chang Yin told him that the original route was closed, but he still wanted to check it out himself.
Changyin and Xuelan did not follow Xu Xin. According to them, this place must be closed, and Xu Xin was going to come back anyway, so they didn't follow him.
He opened the door and walked out, and found the stone statue of the middle-aged maid standing not far from the door. This stone statue had not appeared since the beginning, and it suddenly appeared not far from the door, which surprised Xu Xin.
"Um, hello." Xu Xin greeted the maid statue.
"Hello." The stone statue of the maid also bowed to him, looking exactly like a servant meeting a guest.
According to Chang Yin, this stone statue of a maid should have been a human being in the past.
Seeing that the maid statue did not take any further action, Xu Xin nodded to her, turned and left.
After leaving the corridor, Xu Xin brought Coco to the stone chamber at the entrance of the corridor.
The table engraved with words of resentment was still there. Xu Xin approached it again and carefully observed the words on it.
Although the handwriting was crooked and difficult to recognize, it was indeed somewhat similar to the handwriting on the mutant beast contract that Chang Yin had just made. Although it was not the same language, some of the stroke habits were exactly the same.
It seems that Chang Yin did not lie. These words should have been carved by him. After confirming this, Xu Xin felt relieved.
Although he was very curious about how Chang Yin's family turned into stone statues, Xu Xin did not have the habit of exposing people's scars, and judging from Chang Yin's attitude, he would definitely not tell Xu Xin.
He stood up and walked to the door that he had closed tightly to avoid the mutant bats, and reached out and gently opened the door.
A bat that was crushed to death by Xu Xin when he closed the door fell to the ground with a snapping sound.
The two rows of candlesticks on the walls of the staircase were still burning, illuminating the entire staircase.
"Hmm!" Coco called softly and pointed to a dense group of bats hanging upside down not far above the stairs.
Xu Xin took out the broom that could drive away wild beasts from his backpack.
The moment he took out the broom, the bats suddenly moved.