Light had been completely abandoned in the Lower District's fifth level.
While it could be said that Red still had a few hours of light from glowing ores on the sixth floor, the fifth floor was completely devoid of light.
Lin Jie noticed that the few people he spotted here weren't endowed with superior night vision as they didn't have eyes at all. Instead, they had long forked tongues, like those of snakes that extended and retracted quickly, as if sensing the temperature and humidity around them.
Lin Jie quickly enhanced Red's night vision and changed some of her cognitive beliefs, making her think that there wasn't any difference between the sixth floor and here. He then pointed downward, indicating for them to continue descending.
Red looked around and felt slightly at ease. Everyone said that it got scarier the deeper underground it got, but now it seemed like things were still manageable.
Red gave Lin Jie a nod, and the two of them went further down under the 'gazes' of these mutated beings on the fifth level.
As a guide, Red led the way, even having an impulse to protect Lin Jie, who found it rather amusing as he followed behind her.
"Boss Lin!" Red cried out Lin Jie's name. They had exchanged names previously, but Lin Jie had it as given 'Boss Lin' on a whim.
In Red's underground world, trades or shops didn't exist, so naturally, there was no such term as 'boss.' Thus, she had really thought that Lin Jie's real name was Boss Lin.
Lin Jie had locked away most of his power and used his ident.i.ty as 'Lin Jie,' an ordinary human, to perceive the Lower District.
He could hear the surprise in Red's tone and thus went down the vertical staircase to see the startled Red.
"Boss Lin! There's not a single person here!" Red said excitedly.
The paths and intricate tunnels were all empty, and not even the sound of breathing could be heard. Perhaps the pollution here was great which led to very few people being here.
Red could make a big profit here, so she excitedly picked up her shovel. "Let's dig quickly and bring the ore back up," said Red. For her, those sparkling red stones were her life source.
Lin Jie followed closely behind her.
While Red happily began digging, Lin Jie squatted to the side with his hands in his pockets.
Red got tired halfway through digging. As a young girl, bringing back a whole piece would already be impressive. After digging for some time, she leaned on her shovel and asked Lin Jie with a slight curiosity, "What's the world above like?"
Lin Jie rubbed his chin and replied, "Find a way to go up and see for yourself one day."
"Go up? How is that possible?" Red sat on the ore, hugged her knees, and pouted. "I could never go up in my whole life."
Tears fell down her face as she grumbled while picking up the shovel once more. Lin Jie listened silently to her softs sobs while watching Red's little body continue to dig for ore.
A crisp clink signified a piece of ore had been harvested, and Red's flowing tears finally ceased. However, the sound was way to clear—most of the time, a harvested ore had to be polished to reveal its shape before it could be considered up to standards. But this stone seemed to have already been polished.
Lin Jie frowned, and both he and Red heard a raspy voice, as if from some evil spirit—"Don't steal my ore..."
Red held onto the ore she had just harvested with a frightened look on her face. It was pitch dark all around, and even though Red had been bestowed strong night vision, all she saw was actually a colorless and fuzzy field of view, because there wasn't any light in this place.
Rumble—
Suddenly the rock layer underfoot moved.
A convoluted Lower District face emerged, or to be precise, it wasn't a single one but multiple faces as if from conjoined babies.
Red fell backward onto her b.u.t.t and realized that the fourth level wasn't devoid of people; rather, they were everywhere, just that they were like an amalgamated ma.s.s of flesh, blood, and mud.
They—or rather, it—had become another type of organism, an amalgamated body...
Red couldn't even scream out loud and only emitted frightened gasps. Lin Jie frowned. These had been freaks obsessed with mining, and the corruption on them was so severe to the point of fusing together. They lived on eating mineral ore every day and could no longer be considered human.
They were now like a layer of flesh, spread all over the fourth level. Each face on the ground began to move, as if awakening. And the scene instantly became one that was cognitively scarring.
Red was scared witless and finally let out a shrill scream.
The monster reached out a limb, intending to drag Red along and make her a part of them.
At that moment, Lin Jie instantly released his power. Since entering the Lower District, he had been firm in not using his power so as to maintain his faith as a human being in the face of the strong corruption.
But at this moment, as he unleashed his power, Lin Jie heard countless mournful cries coming from the gray fog.
As they wrapped around Lin Jie like a fog, it was as if they were praying incessantly for Lin Jie, the son of G.o.d's return.
He was G.o.d, the son of G.o.d, as well as a divine spirit.
He glanced at that unfathomable abyss-like well. Red's home was above, while Lin Jie's place of origin was below.
Red's screams grew weaker, but her cries allowed Lin Jie to come to his senses. He grabbed Red, who had already begun to merge with the flesh, and jumped into the never-ending well.
The sensation of falling didn't last long. As Lin Jie jumped into the well, the surrounding gray fog seemed to exclaim in joy. But amid these happy cheers, Lin Jie seemed to hear a faint cry for help.
This cry for help was really familiar. Lin Jie raised his hand, caught onto the stairs that led downward as they were falling, and grabbed Red by the collar as well.
Having landed safely, he breathed a sigh of relief, but in the next moment—
"You all..."
Lin Jie and Red suddenly heard someone from behind them speak. They immediately turned around, expecting to see some sort of monsters, but in fact, it was just a few Lower District denizens, who didn't seem much different from Red.
"Did you all fall from above?" the person standing at the forefront holding a pickaxe asked.
Red was still in a numb daze from having been scared out of her wits by the monster from the previous floor. Lin Jie patted her head, and expression flooded back to her face as she regained her senses.
She took big gasps of air, looking terrified.
"Oh, I got it. You two must have seen the monster on the fourth level, huh?" the robed man on the third level speculated.
Lin Jie tossed Red lightly, and she landed on the ground of the third level. Lin Jie glanced into the bottom of the well once more and hopped to the ground.
Red gulped several times and nodded her head vigorously.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I just wanted to come down for some ore." Red choked.
"Ore?" The black-cloaked man stroked his long chin tentacles and said, "Of course. We have lots of ore here. Feel free to take them."
Red's eyes lit up as if she had finally found relief. She plopped onto the ground, overjoyed, and exclaimed, "Boss Lin, did you hear that? We've finally succeeded and will have ore soon!"
Lin Jie ignored Red and instead crossed his arms. He had already used 'Enchanted Heart Alteration' to rewrite everyone's perception to make them think he was one of them, with the same chin tentacles and scaly skin from their perspective.
"Strange," Lin Jie rubbed his chin, feeling a little puzzled. "Clearly the pollution gets worse the lower underground we get, yet you guys on the third level aren't that much different from those on the sixth and seventh levels."
"Are you immune to it?" Lin Jie asked. …And isn't the third level the Church of Pestilence's turf?
"Hmph." The black-robed man mocked, "Ignorant upper floor people, you call the gray fog pollution?"
As if it was a matter of fact, he continued, "That is the gift the G.o.d bestowed upon us!"
With that, he took out a book from his bag, with the t.i.tle, Dream of Chaos written on it, identical to the books that appeared at the Village of Dark Night.