Sanctuary Paradise

Chapter 858 The Temperors (Part 2)

Anomaly Characteristics: 8 hours, 43 minutes, and 12 seconds after the outbreak.

Reef No. 57, underground.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

A violent coughing sound emanated from the secluded underground space. On the hospital bed filled with the smell of medicine, a cloaked young man with a gloomy expression opened his eyes and wiped the black blood from the corner of his mouth.

"Awake?" A middle-aged man, leaning on a cane and looking rather unsteady on his feet, sat in the corner and looked at Mingyu, who had just woken up, and asked.

"I guess you could say that; at least the curse problem is temporarily solved."

As Mingyu spoke, he casually burned the handkerchief in his hand to ashes. After glancing at the no longer spreading black markings on his body, he pulled up his hood, hiding his face in the shadows, and asked the old man with rheumatism beside him:
"How are the others?"

"Not good." Upon hearing this, the old man with rheumatism narrowed his eyes slightly, his expression grave as he spoke:

"Old Mo, Black Knife, and Little Ao couldn't hold on. They're only hanging on by the wind thanks to Twilight's abilities, but they probably won't last the night."

"And so are Guilong and Xie Kuang. Although they can still hold on, if this continues, by tomorrow morning at the latest, they will probably end up like Lao Mo and the others."

"As for the top echelon, most of those cursed ones have passed away while you were unconscious. Those still holding on are only..."

"Old Han, that Plague Hand guy is almost dead too. He asked me to call you over... Hmm, Brother Mingyu, you're finally awake?"

Before Old Man with Cold Legs could finish speaking, the melancholy young man in a tattered coat suddenly lifted the curtain and addressed Old Man with Cold Legs. He only noticed the gloomy young man in the cloak who habitually concealed his aura halfway through his speech.

"Just woke up." Mingyu answered calmly, glanced at the two of them, and then stood up and said, "Let's go, I'll go with you to take a look."

Are you alright?

"I transferred the curse to a sacrificial corpse specifically designed to counter the corruption of the abyss. For at least ten days, I don't need to worry about it affecting me."

Mingyu answered, enveloping himself in death energy, and followed the melancholy youth out of the underground room that had been dug separately for him. They crossed the barrier and took in the entire scene outside:
"Cough cough, cough cough...!" "Hehe, it's over, it's all over..."

"Glug glug~! Whew, come on, let's keep going. We're going to die soon anyway, might as well get drunk and have a good time first!"

Weak coughs, dejected murmurs, unrestrained shouts... In an instant, all sorts of noises, along with the actions of the contractors gathered in the vast underground space, reached the ears of the Underworld.

He looked at the top-tier contractors, whose reactions, though seemingly insignificant, could not conceal the dejection and fear in their eyes and expressions. He said nothing more, but simply strode through the specially reserved passageway and, led by the melancholy youth, arrived at an area filled with the strong smell of disinfectant and a faint stench of decay.

"Plague Hand, Old Man with Cold Legs is here, and Netherworld is here too. If you have anything to say, hurry up... um?"

In an area furnished like a hospital ward with rows of beds, the melancholy young man strode to a bedside, pulled back the curtain, and was about to remind the other person to hurry up when he suddenly froze upon seeing the scene inside.

"That Plague Hand guy just left. He said he wanted me to give these to you."

A slightly weary voice rang out, and a pale-faced woman with smoky makeup stood in the corridor. She glanced at Mingyu and the others who had rushed over, then casually tossed out a large storage box, causing the group to fall silent.

Did he say anything else?

"That's all."

"..."

The brief exchange passed through the eerily quiet ward area. Mingyu gazed at the rows of hospital beds, all covered with white sheets, his eyes slightly lowered. After a long silence, he finally spoke:

How many people are left now?

"If we're talking about those who're still hanging on by a thread, there are 107 in the top tier and 8 in the super top tier. Of course, I don't know how many of them are still capable of action, since you've seen the situation outside. Right now, everyone's basically resigned to waiting to die."

The sickly-looking woman with smoky makeup shrugged and casually replied. Upon hearing this, Mingyu lowered his eyes slightly, paused for a moment, and then continued:

"I'll go check on Xie Kuang and the others."

"Whatever. Oh, and remember not to touch those in the coffins. I'm already exhausted just keeping them alive. If you touch them a couple more times, I'm afraid you'll send them to their deaths."

A tired voice yawned. Upon hearing this, Mingyu nodded slightly to indicate that he had heard it, and then silently walked through the corridor to the barrier of the adjacent area, taking a step forward.

"Pair of 3s!" "Pair of 8s!"

"A royal flush! Haha, sorry, looks like this bottle is mine too!!"

As soon as you step inside, a completely different atmosphere from the outside hits you. A shirtless, burly man with a dragon tattoo sits astride a bench, grins, and then snatches a bottle of wine bearing the Void Tree emblem from the table without any hesitation. He smashes the bottle and gulps it down.

"Phew! That was fun! Now, what's next? Roll the dice or play Three of a Kind?"

"Tsk, let's play two more rounds of Landlord first. I refuse to believe that the three of us can't beat a brute!"

Sitting opposite the tattooed giant, the blood-haired youth with half his body wrapped in bandages stared at the wine that the other man had finished in a few gulps, clicked his tongue in displeasure, and spoke.

“I said, you guys…” The melancholy young man standing at the door looked at this scene, hesitant to speak.

"Hmm? Old Ming, you're finally awake? Come on, help me take over... Uh, never mind, with your luck, if you really took over, the cards would probably be completely ruined."

"..." The arrogant, blood-haired youth muttered. Upon hearing this, Mingyu remained silent for a moment before looking at the four people entertaining themselves around the table and speaking:

"The curse on you is troublesome. It's best not to move around recklessly until a solution is found."

"Tsk, why are you being so fussy, you cloaked fellow? It's just a curse, the worst that can happen is you kick the bucket!" Upon hearing this, the tattooed burly man beside him waved his hand impatiently, then looked at the mahjong table in front of him, grinned, and laughed loudly:
"Alright, let's continue..."

Boom——! !

Before the tattooed burly man could finish speaking, a giant ghostly hand formed from death energy suddenly appeared and slammed heavily onto the mahjong table, interrupting his conversation with the other three.

“I’m not joking.” A cold, low voice finished speaking. The gloomy necromancer, his face mostly shrouded in shadow, stepped forward, looking down at the group with an unfriendly expression, and said:

“Ghost Dragon, I don’t care how you would normally handle this situation, but right now, every minute and every second is precious, so I’m not in the mood to play these boring games with you.”

"You son of a bitch... tsk, fine, I'll let it slide this time since I owe you a few lives. So, tell me, what are you planning to do?"

Faced with the unfriendly expression of Mingyu, Guilong instinctively wanted to lash out, but then, as if he had thought of something, he clicked his tongue and fell silent with a displeased look.

Not only him, but also the masked man and the bespectacled man sitting next to him, all merely lowered their eyes and did not utter a word to refute Mingyu's claims. They had pre-determined the location of the elemental-rich zone, proactively shut down an abyss suppression device and stored it in their storage space, and disregarded everyone's objections by immediately setting the fortress to a defensive state…

Although they were initially quite annoyed by this perpetually gloomy guy, just as Guilong said, if it weren't for the arrangements he made, they would probably have perished on the ground when the disaster first broke out, and would never have had the chance to gather here like this, barely clinging to life.

"It's not confirmed yet, but I need information about that guy."

"You said before that you had a head-on collision with that overlord-level abyssal creature and even killed it, right?"

"Mingyu said, gazing at the tattooed, muscular man before him.

"Tsk, didn't I already tell them all this? Why don't you just ask those two?"

“Because what I’m asking isn’t those general questions, but more specific ones.” Facing the tattooed, burly man’s displeasure, Mingyu calmly stated his position, then glanced at the masked youth and the bespectacled man beside him, and said:

"Including the two of you, I'd like to know, when you were fighting that overlord-level abyssal unit, did you sense anything amiss?"

Something wrong?

Upon hearing this, both the masked youth and the bespectacled man's eyes flickered, and they frowned in thought. They clearly understood that the other person wouldn't ask such a question without a reason.

"Heh, it's just a rather powerful beast, what could be wrong with it... Hmm? Wait, now that you mention it, something does feel off?"

Upon hearing this, Guilong chuckled and habitually retorted with the first half of his statement. Then, he twisted the fat on his face, stroked his chin, and muttered something under his breath.

"Let me think... Ha! I've got it! I knew something was off. That beast was being way too clever!"

clever?

As soon as the words were spoken, the masked youth and the bespectacled man seemed to suddenly remember something, abruptly raising their heads and speaking one after the other:

“Indeed, that abyssal creature's behavior was rather strange. Compared to other abyssal creatures, it seemed to know our combat methods far too well, and…”

"Moreover, now that I think about it, when that guy first appeared, he seemed completely uninterested in the Abyss Suppression and was coming straight for us. It wasn't until he was blocked by Ghost Dragon that he seemed to realize something and suddenly ran to destroy the Abyss Suppression device."

Completely ignoring the Abyss Suppression Device, they went straight for the Contractors?!

"Damn it, so that's how it is..."

Upon hearing this, Mingyu's expression changed drastically. He abruptly stood up and shouted sharply at the old man with cold legs and the melancholy demon behind him:
"You two, go find the others right now and tell them they must be moved from here immediately!"

"Hey, so what exactly did you find, you cloaked fellow?"

"Fool! Don't you understand?! That thing isn't some abyssal beast that acts on instinct, but a clearly intelligent overlord-level abyssal unit!"

As the urgent, low shout subsided, Mingyu, his expression incredibly grim, roared, using his death energy to sweep up the coffins placed in the room and the abyss suppression device that provided shelter for the entire underground space. He then shouted at Xie Kuang beside him:

"Evil Madness, activate the teleportation array immediately."

"Now? Wait, are you sure? In their current state, if they were to be teleported..."

"I can't worry about that now. If I'm not mistaken, that thing isn't some abyssal creature at all, but...!"

"They are descendants of the Abyss, right~?"

"!!!"

Before Mingyu could finish speaking, a sinister voice suddenly rang out, causing the pupils of everyone present to shrink and turn sharply in the direction of the voice. They then discovered that a bewitching female face, radiating astonishing charm, had appeared on the wall above them at some point, looking down at them with a smile as if she were looking at prey.

Undetectable.

No, that's not right. This feeling isn't that it's unperceptible, but rather...

"Charm...?!"

A strained sound, as if clenching teeth, came from the cloaked youth. He pressed his forehead tightly, staring at the alluring figure that had emerged from the intense sense of unreality on the ceiling. In a mere instant, he discerned the truth.

Damn it, when did this happen...?

Was it while he was unconscious? Or on his way here?

No, that's not right. This feeling of incongruity... it's exactly the same as when they encountered that overlord-level abyssal unit!

Damn it, I should have noticed it sooner...

He was saying why they were able to escape so easily back then, and that ever since he arrived here, he'd had this lingering sense of unease...

Inside the underground space, Mingyu stared intently at the alluring figure before him, activating his mental protection equipment and protective spells in his mental space without hesitation, but without causing any change to the scene before him.

So, it's true that simple spells and dispelling equipment can't be used to deal with it?
Indeed, the allure that even the melancholy demon man, a LV.20 master of spirit, and the evil madman, a LV.20 master of swordsmanship, couldn't detect couldn't be broken with such a simple method.

And this situation... was it intentionally left so that only he could move around?
After scanning the group of people around him with his spiritual senses, who seemed to have suddenly frozen in place, Mingyu stared at the alluring woman in front of him, his expression slightly grim.

too big.

The gap in strength between the two sides is already too huge.

The fact that he had silently charmed everyone, and that it took him several hours to belatedly realize something was amiss, meant that the opponent's strength was incomparable to theirs.

External level.

Without a doubt, this is an enemy that only the Extraordinary Elite is qualified to deal with, and it may even require an Extraordinary Elite of the level of a certain humanoid black-haired monster to fight against.

They're only alive now because of the other person's interests—no, it should be said, their twisted sense of humor!
"Human, you're quite amusing. I've dealt with those guys from several worlds around you, and you're the first one to react so quickly!"

The seductive voice, capable of easily arousing desire, fell, causing Mingyu's breathing to become uncontrollably heavy, and a streaks of blood began to spread in his pupils. However, he still tried his best to control his thoughts, calmly speaking through his mental power:

"You want me to become your kin?"

……

(End of this chapter)