The job change is a bizarre and calamity; the nation begs me to tone it down.

At that moment, everyone in the temporary base witnessed this scene.

The blood-red wedding dress of the Bride of the Dead, the putrid smoke of the source of the plague, the purple nebula of the Eye of the Ancients, the silent sarcophagus of the gravedigger, and the million crows of the Announcing the Dead.

Five distinct forms of terror appeared simultaneously behind one person.

The soldiers stared wide-eyed; some swallowed hard, while others took a half-step back.

Some people clenched their fists, their eyes gleaming.

Jiang Shu sat on the ground, forgetting to pick up her tablet, looking up at the screen with her mouth agape in an "O" shape.

Su Qiong stood there, watching Gu Xu's back as he was surrounded by five servants of calamity.

Suddenly, I feel like every time this guy appears, it's like he's in a movie.

Moreover, it's the kind of movie where the special effects budget is seriously over budget.

Gu Xu turned around and waved to Su Qiong.

The gesture was casual, like the casual way someone would greet their wife when going out to buy a pack of cigarettes.

"Wait for my good news."

After saying that, he turned and strode into the rift in the secret realm, leading the five servants of calamity.

The black fog closed in.

The crack closed.

Gu Xu's figure disappeared from everyone's sight.

……

The moment the rift in the secret realm closed, Gu Xu knew this job was different.

First and foremost is the field of vision.

Or rather, there is no perspective.

In front of him, behind him, to his left, to his right, and even above his head, there was a thick layer of yellow mist, as thick as tofu pudding.

That fog wasn't ordinary fog. Ordinary fog might at most make you unable to see the road, but this stuff directly compressed your visibility to within three meters.

three meters.

In real life, this is the distance from your living room sofa to the TV.

Beyond this area, everything appears as blurry yellow patches.

It's similar to someone with 800 degrees of myopia taking off their glasses to see the world.

Then there's the taste.

As soon as that smell entered his nose, Gu Xu's face scrunched up.

How to describe it?

It's basically like stuffing a salted fish that's been dead for three days into a stinky tofu jar, pouring in half a bottle of expired fish sauce, and finally sprinkling on a handful of moldy dried shrimp.

Stir well, seal and ferment. The moment you open the lid, that's probably the taste.

"Cough cough..."

Gu Xu gagged, covering his mouth and nose with his sleeve: "Damn it, do these guys in the secret realm have no sense of hygiene?"

Tucci, standing next to him, looked completely relaxed.

This guy took a deep breath, the green fluid on the abscess bubbled up, and he squeaked twice. Leaning on his bone cane, his expression was practically saying "It smells so good!"

"...Stop smoking there."

Gu Xu glanced at it with disdain.

Looking down, I saw a pool of murky yellow water at my feet, about ankle-deep.

The water looked like it was coming out of a burst sewer pipe, with a greasy sheen on the surface and occasionally bubbling up.

The smell that came out after the bubble burst made Gu Xu gag again.

"What kind of place is this? The sewage treatment plant on Huangquan Road?"

He looked up, squinting as he looked ahead.

Although the fog was thick, Gu Xu had the eyes of his past.

The enormous single eye hovered in mid-air, with purple nebulae slowly swirling within its socket. With its enhanced perception, a layer of yellow mist was forcibly peeled away.

As the field of vision widened, the scene before me gradually became clearer.

The yellow water stretched to the farthest point, with scattered gray-black stones on its surface.

The stones varied in size, some only showing their tops, others as tall as half a person, and were spaced apart, as if someone had casually tossed a handful of chess pieces into the water.

These stones form a crooked path.

And at the end of this road—

A torii gate.

It's a standard Japanese torii gate, but most of the vermilion paint has peeled off, revealing the blackened wood underneath.

Two pillars were stuck in the yellow puddles, the crossbeams above them were bent, and several shimenawa ropes that had rotted so badly that their original color was no longer recognizable were hanging from them.

There is a stone statue squatting on each side of the torii gate.

The stone statues were not the usual komainu (guardian dog), but rather two human-shaped sculptures.

The design is very abstract—the body is human, but there is a ring of something on the head that is hard to tell if it is horns or a tumor. The mouth is stretched to the ears, and every tooth is clearly carved. The expression is somewhere between hysterical laughter and crying.

The statue's eyes are hollow, but for some reason, as you look at them, you feel like something is looking out from those two holes.

Gu Xu stared at the two stone statues for two seconds and commented, "This level of aesthetics is comparable to that door god portrait in the Beichuan Secret Realm last time. They must have graduated from the same art academy, right? The kind that failed their courses."

His gaze passed over the torii gate, penetrating the deeper yellow mist through the perception of his old eyes.

Behind the torii gate, there is a "person".

Many "people".

They were wearing all sorts of kimonos, some gorgeous, some simple, and some tattered.

Without exception, every single "person's" face looked a little off.

Those faces are not human faces.

It's more like someone made a mask out of human skin and then forcibly put it on the face of a demon.

The outline beneath the mask was larger than the mask itself, stretching the human skin out of shape.

The eyes were misaligned, the nose was crooked to one side, and the gap in the mouth revealed the real mouth beneath the mask—a black mouth full of fangs.

They stood there motionless in the yellow mist behind the torii gate, as if waiting for something.

It also seems like they're guarding something.

"OK."

Gu Xu nodded and stepped onto the first stone in the water.

puff-

The sound of military boots stepping on the stone surface was exceptionally clear in the silent space.

Then, it was like someone pressed a switch.

The "people" behind the torii gate moved.

They didn't walk over; they pounced on us.

Dozens of demon-faced monsters dressed in kimonos erupted simultaneously, their figures turning into afterimages in the yellow mist as they surged madly toward Gu Xu's location.

They waded across the water, splashing yellow droplets that drew murky arcs in the mist.

The speed is ridiculously fast.

At the same time, rows of blood-red data panels popped up in front of Gu Xu's eyes.

[Monster Name: Yomi Masked Demon - Kimono Attendant]

[Level: 80 (Elite)]

[HP: 8,750,000/8,750,000]

[Introduction: The permanent guardians of the Izumo Secret Realm, the Land of the Dead, were once sacrificed priestesses and clergy. After death, they were twisted and reshaped by the power of the secret realm's core, becoming loyal watchdogs. That human skin mask is their last vestige of "decency"; their true faces after the mask is torn off... it's not recommended to see. (Note: Welcome! Have you made a reservation?)]

Level 80.

Elite monster.

Nearly nine million HP.

Gu Xu's lips twitched after he looked at the panel.

Last time, the White Sail Corpse Fiend in the Beichuan Secret Realm was only level 50, and he thought it was a bit much that "a casual little monster is level 50".

it's good now.

Level 80.

Is this secret realm experiencing inflation or something? The level is increasing like it's free!