Life has dealt a heavy hand to a weak demigod like me.

I only gave half of my heart to the other person, so it seems more reasonable for the other person to give back a small half, right?

Peroz couldn't help laughing at the thought.

"Your expression doesn't look like you don't like being with him." Hogot felt as if his mouth was filled with something.

He had a wife and even children, but Hogot had never experienced love.

After all, he married and had children mostly to enhance his reputation.

Many things are calculated.

As for feelings...

Maybe, maybe not...

Hogot knew he had lost his way in his pursuit of fame and fortune, but he didn't care.

"I'll introduce you to each other when I have time, and then you'll understand some things, teacher."

Hogot smiled, "I look forward to meeting your significant other."

"But I remember when you first mentioned him, he wasn't a transcendent yet."

"Are you sure his gift can break through this world?"

He had tried it before, and except for some Horcruxes that did not require the user to provide magic energy, all the Horcruxes here were like scrap metal.

Many things are like iron rules that cannot be overcome.

Although he had only been here for less than two days, Hogot was already feeling a little annoyed.

At the same time, he also felt some urgency and fear in his heart.

If this place is really a forbidden place as Salieri said, a place where one cannot leave, what should we do?

Do you really want to die in obscurity in a place like this?

"Of course, I believe him." Perozzi didn't explain much, but her eyes made Hogot understand something.

He didn't say anything more, then picked up his bag and said, "Let me go with you to see Salieri this time."

"Eh...but if we all go, what about Hespur? Should we go together?"

Hogot shook his head. "Hesper will stay behind to look after us. If he stays with us all the time, any ill intentions he might harbor will make him realize that even though we've only known each other for a short time, he's very important to us."

"It might be safer for him to leave him alone."

"After all, for most explorers, the friends they meet in this kind of setting are just tools for gathering intelligence; there won't be any emotional connection or further interactions."

"You may not understand this kind of thing, but Salieri or anyone else who accidentally enters here will understand it." Although he had never been to the tomb, Hogot knew the stories of many of the names on the signs on the stairs.

Their image in legends has never been positive.

"But..." Peroz was about to say something, but Hogot waved his hand and said, "I'll leave him a gun, two boxes of bullets, and a flare."

"This way, even if he gets into trouble, we can get back quickly."

"Peroz, don't treat him like a child, or someone you need to protect. Thinking like that might harm him."

"We may help them leave, we may live here forever, or we may just be passers-by in their lives."

So...

No need to be too gentle.

"Sister Perozzi, you can go with Grandpa Hogot without worry. I'm grown up now and not a child anymore."

"I can take care of myself." Hesper said seriously.

Peroz hesitated, then nodded.

Maybe it was because she and Hesper had both been alone since childhood, or maybe it was because the other person was lonelier than she was.

Peroz always wanted to take better care of him.

But this kind of concern is sometimes unnecessary...

Afterwards, Perozzi and Hogot made new arrangements outside Hesper's room and then set off together towards Salieri's house.

Thanks to Salieri's reminder, the two were very cautious along the way, fearing that they would be discovered by other foreign explorers.

After arriving at the chess and card house, Peroz did not choose to climb the stairs this time. Instead, after screening and identifying, he directly climbed over the wall and came to Salieri's house.

"You came back here so soon? Did you encounter any problems?" A voice sounded in Peroz's ears after she climbed over the wall.

Turning around, Salieri was leaning against the door of the living room.

Although the voice was familiar, Salieri's attire at that time scared Perozzi.

Unlike his previous image of a sloppy uncle, he now seemed to have undergone a major makeover.

A brand new dress, neatly combed hair, and a cane in hand.

If it wasn't for the fact that she could tell from the voice and the outline that the two people were the same person, Peroz would probably have been a little unsure whether the person in front of her was the same person she had dealt with before.

"You seem surprised by my attire?" Salieri said as he bowed slightly like a gentleman and gestured for them to enter the house.

"Indeed... After all, Mr. Salieri today is very different from you yesterday." Peroz said seriously.

"After all, I am a transcendent, so I should have nice clothes."

"Yesterday it was just because there hadn't been any outsiders here for a long time, so there was no need to dress up. But today, since we are sure that guests are coming, we have to dress up. Otherwise, it would be too rude to welcome the guests in that appearance." Salieri said politely.

"Did you know we would come to visit you today?" Hogot, who had been silent all the time, suddenly asked.

Salieri shook his head. "I didn't know you two would come today, but I'm sure Ms. Perozzi will be back after going there in the next few days."

"Because there are still too many things in this city that you want to know, things that you didn't finish asking last time."

"Do you know what I want to ask this time?" After following Salieri to the living room of his house, Peroz asked seriously while sitting on the "sofa" made of stone and green wheat.

"I can probably guess. After all, I've been here long enough and have received many outsiders."

"The question that brings us back again is nothing more than what happened here. Is it really impossible to leave here? Is there really no way to use supernatural powers here..." Salieri said as he made tea for a few people.

No, it should be said that it is the dried leaves of green wheat.

Perhaps noticing the strangeness in Hogot's expression, Salieri raised his teacup slightly. "After being here for a while, I've probably figured out all the uses of green wheat. While it's not as good as black tea or green tea outside, if you're just starting out, you might have a good experience. The flavor of green wheat is still very unique."

Hogot nodded, but did not pick up the teacup, nor did he want to experience the unique flavor he mentioned.

"To be honest, we all really want to know the questions you just raised."

"I wonder if you can answer this for us, sir."

"Of course, we will give you some compensation."

As he spoke, Hogot took out a large bottle of wine.

Peroz only has alcohol in his backpack because he doesn't like drinking. But Hogot likes to have a few drinks many times, so he puts a few bottles of his favorite drinks in his treasure bag so that he can relax after the adventure.

"As long as there's wine, I'll tell you everything I know." Salieri said with a grin as he put the bottle of wine that Hogot took out into his arms.

"First of all, it's an iron rule that you can't use supernatural powers here. Since I arrived here, no one has ever been able to violate this iron rule."

"Many people speculate that our power has been sealed or temporarily taken away. Even those who enter here are all denied our power by some conceptual force."

"Faced with this kind of power, even a demigod wouldn't be able to break free. Perhaps a higher-level sub-god would be able to break free, but in this world where sub-gods haven't appeared for thousands or tens of thousands of years, even if they could break free from the restrictions here, it would have nothing to do with us."

"Secondly, there's truly no way out of here. Aside from death, no one, whether born here or explorers from the outside world, has ever been able to escape this cage. I can be sure of that."

"I always find the bodies of those who disappear. Many people who were thought to have left here eventually prove to have simply found a relatively secret place and died quietly."

At this point, a hint of madness flashed in Salieri's eyes.

This place is hell.

Or rather, it is a place even more terrifying than hell.

Over time, this place will take away everything that belongs to the explorers.

Will, life, even soul.

"One last question, what happened here..." Salieri looked a little melancholy.

“A lot of things happened.”

"Since you've been to the mountains, you've probably seen the tower."

Peroz nodded, "Indeed, that tower is very impressive."

"That was the first self-rescue plan we came up with after we climbed up the cliff and saw the seabed from the sky."

"Using the few remaining functional extraordinary items as its foundation, a towering tower was designed after decades and centuries of modification."

"This project advanced for about a thousand years, but was ultimately defeated by the inaccessible space."

"That's when the first people who chose to commit suicide out of despair appeared."

"The second self-rescue plan is completely opposite to the first. If the first plan is called reaching the sky, then the second is digging the ground."

"Compared to building a building, digging the ground is obviously easier, of course, this is in the early stages."

"After descending a few hundred meters, we encountered a series of problems, including lack of oxygen and collapse, but they were eventually resolved."

"However, after spending thousands of years, using countless methods, and even damaging several extraordinary objects and explorers, this plan was still abandoned."

"A few thousand meters, or tens of thousands? I don't remember, but I do remember there was surging lava beneath the ground."

"An endless sea of ​​lava that can swallow people and turn them into dust."

-

Chapter 358: Hope

To extraordinary people, the lava produced in ordinary underground is nothing.

As long as one has the corresponding Horcrux, or is a transcendent of the relevant sequence, even a mid-level one can lie down and swim in it.

But for them who have lost their power, the despair brought by the lava sea may be even greater than the despair they felt when they failed to build the Tower of Babel.

At least the Tower of Babel cannot be built now, but sooner or later in the next few thousand years, new blueprints will be designed and there will be a chance to continue moving forward.

But the indestructible lava sea was an insurmountable barrier that they could not break through.

"At the beginning, we still had extraordinary items in our hands that could break through the lava sea. That person was confident that he would be the first to leave here."

"In order to prevent his body from being completely destroyed, we borrowed a Horcrux from another person."

"The function of this Horcrux is very simple. It can transport the body of a deceased person to the corresponding location."

"You can probably predict the outcome. Within three days, a nearly unidentifiable piece of charcoal appeared before us, leaving behind numerous items proving his identity."

Although the extraordinary power was sealed, the power of the high-level Horcrux itself would not be corroded by the lava. The pioneer wanted to prove to them that the world was not so hopeless, but in the end he still died in despair.

"Has the thing that was supposed to protect him from the lava been destroyed?" Peroz asked in a low voice.

"Although there are many Horcruxes in the world that can be used without any cost, this kind of no cost does not mean that there is no cost at all."

"It's just that we don't have to pay this price."

"Most low-level Horcruxes suitable for ordinary people are infused with magical energy when they are first forged. At the same time, considering the frequency of use, they are engraved with some magic arrays that can absorb free magical energy in the air."

"While there may be magical energy in Guixu, it has been almost completely consumed by the green wheat and other trees."

"Therefore, even low-level Horcruxes cannot be used all the time for us."

"Nord knew this clearly, but... perhaps it was because of greed, or perhaps it was because he didn't want to be trapped here and die. Within the specified time, instead of choosing to return, he continued to dive and eventually died there." Nord was the one who dived deep into the magma.

In Salieri's memory, he watched the other party jump into the lava sea with his own eyes, and finally buried his body in the tomb he had prepared for himself.

"We haven't just reached the sky or dug the ground. We've also been constantly moving forward, trying to find the boundaries of this world."

"It's just that this place is very strange. It should be a flat surface, but it behaves like a sphere. No matter which direction you move, you will eventually return to the starting point."

"We tried almost every method we could think of, but in the end, none of them worked."

“So, until now, almost everyone has given up hope of leaving.”

"Except for some people who are considered paranoid and mad, who are still trying to find a way out, most people have chosen to accept their fate."

Including Salieri.

It’s not that he hasn’t struggled or tried, but the final result is just as he described, which makes people see no hope.

During this period, he even tried the blood sacrifice ritual in this world, but no matter whether it was a ritual that ordinary people could use or a ritual that only high-level transcendents could use, it was all useless here.