Mysterious Hunting Ground

Chapter 382 372. Underground Kingdom
Midian covers a large area with complex and varied terrain. Forests, valleys, streams, swamps, hot springs... marble tombstones burying nocturnal species stand everywhere.

Dean felt the endless vitality brought by the advanced iron man. He continued to lead everyone along the undulating terrain for half an hour, and gradually felt something strange.
"Is it an illusion? The energy in my body is decreasing?"

"You feel right, Master, everyone, including me, is losing energy." Qian Qian popped out a coin head from his trouser pocket, with a dozen big eyes staring at the light blue barrier in the sky, and then turned behind him. The five ignorant companions "are only to a very slight extent and will not affect daily life, so they are extremely hidden. Except for you and me who have outstanding perception, no one else noticed anything strange at all.

Dean raised his left eyebrow, "Is this some kind of mutated version of the suppression law?"

In his impression, in the real world, only supernatural beings who have reached level 6 will have their energy extracted by the will of the world and suppress their strength.

But in Midian, the group of level 3 nocturnal species behind them, including weaklings like Qiantan, have actually become targets of exploitation? That's a little too mean.

He also thought of the unnamed tombstones and countless skeletons of nocturnal species along the way, and he couldn't help but have a strange intuition in his heart. The nocturnal species living in Midian were like some kind of livestock, providing nutrition to whom?

He didn't have time to think carefully. The shadows of the trees in front of him moved slowly. Under the sunlight shining through the cracks in the forest, three human figures flew like big birds on the branches and landed among the moss on the rock wall.

The leader is a boldly dressed "woman"?
The whole body is only covered with a piece of red silk covering key parts, revealing a large area of ​​feminine curves. The thighs, waist, abdomen, and face are covered with dark brown feathers with spikes on the top. The feathers are combed back as if to wear her. Put on an original and wild coat.

Her nose was high and protruding, and her left and right nostrils were curved and branched towards her cheeks and brushed past her cheekbones. She was extremely ugly, but her light red eyes had a smile that made people feel like spring breeze, which made Dean and his group unconsciously lower their guard a little. .

Dean nodded. In the mimic state, 90% of his strength has been hidden, but it still exceeds that of most nocturnal species.

The moon-faced Montero behind him moved his slightly upturned nose, put one hand on his chest and bowed to Dean, "You have more blood than the Athabasca River. You are the destined son favored by my Lord, right? I would be honored to welcome you to the tribe.”

……

“Have other destined children entered Midian before us?”

"There are quite a few, but the high priest said that you are the last batch." Susan nodded sincerely, "The people our Lord is waiting for are all ready."

One of them had skin as red as lava, a head full of braids as thick as fingers, and a face that was cold to the core, making people think of an inhumane killer;
The other facial features are quite normal, except that the chin protrudes outwards with a small sharp corner, and the forehead is bulging like a hill. Viewed from the side, the face looks like a curved moon, with a carefully groomed mustache on the upper lip, and the whole person As funny as a circus freak.

"Wait a minute!" The snake-like slit-like vertical pupils of Ge Xiu next to him swept across Dean and his group, and then fixed on Christine's face. "I smell the scent of humans. The other sirs are either monsters or they all have dreams." , is qualified to enter the kingdom, but this little girl is a pure human being, and it is against the rules to let her in."

"Be more respectful to your future compatriots!" The hedgehog woman glanced at Gexiu displeasedly, and the spikes on her head straightened angrily. "Her fate will be decided by the high priest and the Council of Elders."

"Please come with us to the kingdom to see the high priest, and he will tell you himself."

"The moon of the tribe embraces you! Everyone, don't be nervous, we don't have any hostility. I am Susan, the one with the braided head is Ge Xiu, and the one with the moon face is Montero." Twenty meters away, the hedgehog woman and her party The man stood still and introduced himself with a voice as sweet as the sound of nature, "We represent the Midian tribe to welcome you."

Behind the hedgehog woman were two muscular men, wearing dirty clothes like shrouds and linen.

"Screw the rules. After eating meat-flavored mushrooms for so many years, I feel like vomiting. Don't you miss the smell of flesh and blood?" The snake-haired man glanced at the two companions with his bloodshot eyes and shouted hysterically, 1.8 meters tall. His body quickly expanded to two meters tall, with muscles as big as rocks bulging all over his body, "I want to drink blood! I want to eat meat! Ahhhh..."

Dean nodded and looked at the three nocturnal species with calm eyes. The lights of life were all at level 3 to 4 and did not pose a threat.

"Ms. Susan, what tribe are you talking about?"

"I've seen this hedgehog woman... in a dream." At this time, Sean and Boon in the crowd spoke up vigilantly, "She keeps calling us to come closer."

Christine tensed up after hearing this, and Monica and others naturally gathered around her in a protective posture, with fighting flames igniting in their eyes.
"This is against the rules, idiot!" Moon Face stared at Ge Xiu and asked, "Do you want to be kicked out by the high priest?"

"We are a tribe of deformed people, freaks, and monsters who have survived from various disasters under the protection of the great Baphomet."

"Okay, you'll know as soon as we come in?"

"All seven are complete? So why did you call us to join Midian in the dream?"

"Don't you understand? She is not a monster. Judging from the smell, she has not even killed anyone. She also gave me a bad feeling. She will definitely bring disaster to Midian. According to me, she is just a piece of fresh meat, not as good as Let us eat her and strangle the hidden danger...hiss..." Gexiu stuck out his forked tongue from his throat and licked his thick lips greedily. The black braid on the back of his head came alive like a snake, making it ferocious. People are frightened,

"Whenever the Mothman eggs hatch out anywhere, the tribe will have a reaction." The spikes on the hedgehog girl's face swung to both sides as she opened her mouth. "We knew that new companions would join... But I didn’t expect that a powerful night creature like you would come in.”

Amid the roar, a biting cold wind blew through the forest.

The temperature dropped sharply, as if spring had suddenly entered a minus one hundred degree winter. Everyone present was so cold that they shivered and narrowed their eyes.

In the blurred eyes, the snake-haired man turned into a human-shaped ice sculpture, shining in the sun, his stiff face still red with anger and greed.

"Okay, the noisy guy has been dealt with." Dean recalled the shadow, looked at the two nocturnal species who opened their mouths in confusion, and smiled slightly, "Can you take us into the kingdom now?"

"Gulu..." The hedgehog girl and Moon Face exchanged awe-inspiring looks. They didn't even feel what the other party was doing before their companions were subdued. They had only seen this unpredictable method from the Presbyterian Church.

"Of course, no problem, please come here, but this gentleman... Ge Xiu has some brain and genetic problems, and occasionally loses control of his emotions... In fact, he only talks about it and has never actually eaten anyone..."

"Call me Kenny... don't worry, I know he is a retarded man with no self-control, so I just let him calm down in the ice and he will recover on his own in a quarter of an hour..."

The two nocturnal species breathed a sigh of relief and turned around to lead the way.

Dean led everyone to follow, and at the same time looked at a new prompt on the panel.

"You defeated the brand new Night Walker cultivator and robbed part of his power... The posture attributes of the Night Walker were increased by 30% → 30.1%."

"Defeating a level 0.1 nocturnal species only increases %. If you kill it, will it be even more?"

But Dean had just arrived, and he neither found Lu Guangming nor Bafu Mie. It was not appropriate to make too much noise. If he defeated them, he would defeat them.

In addition, he would not kill a nocturnal species for the sake of strength, which was against the principles.

……

"Ms. Susan, I'm Peter. What did that idiot mean by eating mushrooms and vegetables just now?" Peter trotted up to the hedgehog girl and took the initiative to shake her hand. As a young vampire, he was not good at anything else, but His senses are sharp and he can sense that there is no hostility between the two nocturnal species.

He looked covertly at the tall chest that was half exposed under the red silk wrapped around his shoulders. "There are a lot of animals in the forest. Why don't you hunt them?"

The hedgehog girl noticed Peter's mischievous eyes. Instead of being angry, she straightened her chest boldly, with a strange charm on her face. "There are more than 600 nocturnal species in Midian. As supernatural creatures, they have to eat ordinary people." Several times, or even dozens of times, of food is required to meet daily consumption. If they are allowed to hunt wild animals...the surrounding forests and rivers will become a dead zone in less than a month...No matter how much they move, Midian will not be able to feed them. "How can you feed all the residents of Midian without hunting?" Monica looked confused.
"Similarly, some of our companions can use the vitality and free energy in the air and water of the earth to quickly cultivate special crops... The nutrition is far more than that of real flesh and blood, and they can easily feed all our companions... The only thing lacking is the bloody smell of real meat, which tastes bad. It’s not satisfying enough, so every once in a while, the high priest will distribute freshly hunted flesh and blood to everyone. There are not many idiots like Gexiu who are not satisfied.”

As she spoke, the hedgehog girl took out several meatball-sized, mushroom-shaped black plants from the red silk pocket of her shawl and distributed them to everyone, "Try them?"

Sean glanced at Dean asking for permission, then took the sample from him and chewed it, his eyes slowly lit up,
"Hmm... rich in juice... chicken, beef, fish... thick and elastic... more delicious than the freshly fried steaks in most restaurants, and it can also relieve the body's hunger and restlessness for flesh and blood?"

Peter smiled and rubbed his hands at the hedgehog girl, "Can I have another one?"

The hedgehog girl and Moon Face smiled at each other, and happily handed it over, "Eat whatever you want, the supply of this kind of food is basically unlimited."

Dean also nodded secretly.

The special mushroom cultivated by Nocturnal Seed is small, but its energy is no less than the "high-energy protein" developed by the Special Operations Department. No wonder it can feed such a large number of members.

……

After eating mushrooms.

The relationship between the two groups of people became a little closer, and their minds became more active. Dean asked about the whereabouts of Lu Guangming. The hedgehog girl and the moon-faced person were unclear, saying only that many nocturnal species changed their names and appearance after joining from the outside world. Big changes, a complete break with the past, and Dean can only go to the kingdom to find it on his own.

Peter and others asked why there were so many tombs in Midian. Aren't nocturnal species immortal?
"Only a handful of people are immortal. Most nocturnal species live longer than humans. Over the course of thousands of years, more people will die..."

"Why is there no epitaph on the tombstone?"

Divine golden light flashed across the faces of the two people, "Death is not the end, but they go to a higher kingdom to serve our Lord Baphomet. One day in the future, our Lord will let them return to Midian with honor and gifts, with a new The identity and appearance are reborn, so there is no need to dwell on the past.”

"Why are they called nocturnal species? Partly because many nocturnal species have a weakness...they are afraid of the sun and will be destroyed by the sun...so they can only live in houses and underground throughout their lives. Well, we are here."

The moon face points to the bluestone-carved houses not far away among the dense tree shades. They are weather-beaten, with cracked walls and covered with vines. They are very close to each other. They all have only one floor and have roofs. At the ridge of the roof, there are deep stairs leading to the underground.

From a distance, these houses do not look like homes inhabited by living people. Instead, they are dark and cold, like tombs above ground.

……

The hedgehog woman led everyone into the first house.

A delicate-looking woman wearing a gorgeous dress like a sally looked at her curiously. She held a cute little girl in her right hand and blinked her big eyes.
The two nocturnal creatures touched the little girl's head in a friendly manner, said hello to the woman, and then led Dean into the underground tunnel in the room. At the end of the tunnel, there was a dark doorway and flickering firelight.

"Who were the two people just now?" Peter asked curiously, "They don't have any monster characteristics on them, they are completely human."

The hedgehog woman walked along the tunnel, "That's Ms. Baiyan and her daughter Xiaojiujiu. They belong to a special nocturnal species. Their appearance is the same as that of humans, but they will be killed by sunlight."

Like the werewolf Albert, he also has an heir? !

Sean and Boon heard this and said nervously and expectantly, "Can nocturnal species also combine to have children?"

These two nocturnal species both have lovers, and they are obsessed with their offspring.

The moon-faced eyes shined with wisdom, and he explained in the tone of a researcher, "Nocturnal species have no problem reproducing with specific human groups, but there may be reproductive isolation between nocturnal species, making reproduction difficult. Fortunately, several of our compatriots have mastered special skills. Talent...can absorb the germ cells of any 'nocturnal species' to help create 'children'."

Uh.

This answer made everyone and even Dean look strange. Is this an alternative kind of test-tube baby or biochemical baby?
"But childbirth is not always a good thing..." Moon Face sighed, "The number of residents in Midian must be maintained at 666. If there are new babies, then someone must leave."

As soon as the words fell, everyone walked out of the end of the tunnel and entered an extraordinary and amazing space.

The light of countless braziers and torches shone through this underground kingdom, with a hollow atrium that stretched from the dark bottom to the ground above.

On both sides are circles of circular corridors from top to bottom. Countless cable bridges on the outside of the corridor are connected to the corridor on the opposite side, intertwining into a dense spiderweb-like road in mid-air.

The inside of the corridor is a thick stone wall with countless door openings.

The nocturnal species live in a series of secret rooms connected end to end behind the doorway, like ants living in a giant ant nest.

Dean opened the door curtain of the first secret room on his left. Standing next to the straw mat was a nocturnal species with naked body, layers of fat, and a body like an erect wild boar. His head strangely grew in the center of his belly instead of on his neck. , with a bright smile on his shiny face, one fat hand caressing his bald head, the other waved to Dean and the others, making a sweet voice like a little girl,
"The moon of the tribe embraces you, welcome to join, newcomers."

hiss…

Stepping forward, a cheerful, playful and slightly weird drum sound came from the second secret room. A female orc wearing a linen vest and a battle skirt, with plump and firm blue skin, and two fangs protruding from her lips, was waving the drum vigorously. The mallet seemed to be dancing in the netherworld, welcoming everyone's arrival.

In the third secret room, a little giant with a height of more than three meters and pale skin was sitting cross-legged, sucking the eighth finger of his right hand like a baby and giggling. When he noticed Dean and others looking around curiously, he immediately and enthusiastically poured out the bloody He handed it over with his fingers, as if inviting everyone, "Let's take a sip together?"

……

In countless underground secret rooms.

Some of the nocturnal species with strange and deformed appearances are sitting and thinking about unfathomable issues, some are playing with a family, some are repairing buildings with mud and blood, some are sparring and fighting, some are playing flutes and drums, and some are playing music. Those who perform acrobatics with cockroaches, mice, and scorpions are more likely to use unknown tentacles, claws, joints, fins, and various organs on their bodies to engage in confusing behaviors that are incomprehensible.

There was no pain, silence or loneliness on their faces, nor were they paying special attention to a few uninvited guests. Instead, there was only focus and joy deep in their souls, as if they were completing some great mission.

The faint jumping firelight, the indescribable complex smell, and the busy operation.

This underground kingdom is like a monster circus composed of countless half-human and half-animal creatures!
Compared to the quiet and dead house on the ground, this circus is filled with faint yellow light everywhere, exuding liveliness, vitality, warmth, and full of a weird hope.

Dean and others admired these bizarre scenery, feeling excited and trembling in their hearts.

The progress of "Bloodline" slowly increased to 98%.

(End of this chapter)