Chapter 9: The Mysterious Face

  Imagine a scenario where there is a pool of fresh blood, or rather a blood pond. The top layer of it has formed a scab-like medium that floats on the surface due to the temperature and humidity of the ground beneath. It has accumulated dust over time and now looks no different from ordinary soil, even the smell has been blocked by this "blood scab".

  It was precisely because of this that Xiao Xuan and the others rushed in here in a fluster, the weight of their bodies and the constant trampling of their feet causing the layer of "blood scab" on the surface of the blood pool to crack, directly sending Xiao Xuan and the other three tumbling into the blood pool. Previously, Xiao Xuan had been deliberately keeping an eye on the location of the blood pool because he had always been thinking about that ring emitting magical aura in his heart, but he hadn't expected that he would find the blood pool in such a sudden way.

  The smell of blood, so thick and intense that it drives people mad, making them want to vomit out all their bile. But here, you can't even throw up, because the moment you open your mouth, countless filthy blood will pour in. This isn't water, but a sea of blood. Here, you can't even keep your eyes open, because the visibility is extremely low, and the murky, dark blood almost blocks out all light. And this blood has an extremely strong irritating effect, if you expose your eyes to it for too long, it could make you go blind!

  Xiao Xuan's body felt extremely uncomfortable. The blood pool wasn't very deep, only about four or five meters, but because everyone fell in suddenly and the stench and sticky feeling in the blood pool made people extremely uncomfortable, so despite its shallow depth, the danger level was really extremely high. This had nothing to do with whether one could swim or not.

  Fortunately, Xiao Xuan forcibly controlled his mind and temporarily forgot that he was in a bloody pool. He began to stretch out his body, allowing himself to quickly float up to the surface and regain freshness. Xiao Xuan almost greedily opened his mouth to breathe, then opened his eyes. His vision was still red with blood, but he saw someone else floating on the surface next to him, also covered in blood. Since both of them were bloody, Xiao Xuan couldn't immediately tell who it was until the other person turned around and looked at him.

  "Xuan, is that you?"

  "This is Sarah's voice, and it was actually Sarah who managed to float out of the bloody surface with her own ability."

  Xiao Xuan let out a long sigh of relief in his heart. If Sara had encountered any accidents or was still in the midst of bloodshed, then the fate awaiting him would also be extremely miserable.

  "Sara, follow me, let's swim ashore first."

  Xiao Xuan shouted to Sarah, and then he swam in the opposite direction of the exit of the aqueduct. Because there were many man-eating monsters outside the aqueduct, the safest way was to try to swim to the edge of the blood pool inside the aqueduct. As for Ruo Nu and Su Mo Ran's current situation, Xiao Xuan didn't have time to guess now. At worst, after completing this mainline task, he would be the only one to survive again, just like last time. Xiao Xuan was indifferent about it anyway.

  The blood pool wasn't deep, nor was it particularly large. After swimming for about three to five minutes, Xiao Xuan felt that his feet could already touch something hard. However, this didn't feel like the feeling of stepping on solid ground, because the sensation coming from the soles of his shoes was uneven and had some sharp points. At this time, the blood surface had already dropped to Xiao Xuan's neck. Xiao Xuan held his breath, bent down, and dove under the blood surface, stretching out his hand to grab something from the ground before standing up again. He pulled out what he was holding in his hand from the blood surface, and what Xiao Xuan saw was a bone. Indeed, beneath the blood pool was a burial site!

  At this time, Xiao Xuan recalled the scene he saw in the main god space before. In a pool of blood, there was a mysterious ring on a phalange bone. However, now his feet were all bones and they were all under the bloody water. How could he find that one phalange bone? How could he find that one ring?

  "Xuan, why did you stop?" Sarah had come to Xiao Xuan's side and asked out loud when she saw him halt his steps.

  "Oh, nothing, let's hurry ashore." Xiao Xuan stretched out his hand and took hold of Sara's hand, the two people walked together over this bumpy white bone road, finally, they walked out of the blood pool and arrived at the real rocky ground.

  "Huff...huff...huff..." Sarah sat directly on the ground, panting heavily. Whether it was the previous fright or the strenuous process of swimming out of the bloody water, both had consumed a lot of her physical and mental strength.

  "Xuan, I'm so tired, I can't move anymore. Is there an exit ahead? I don't feel any light."

  Sarah asked in a tone that was almost despairing, first her friends Zhao Jian and Beth died one after another, then she encountered the terrifying unknown underground creatures, and then she almost drowned in this disgusting bloody pool. Sarah, who had just suffered the pain of losing her father and daughter, could still hold on without collapsing, which was already a testament to her incredibly strong willpower.

  "Don't give up hope, absolutely don't give up hope. You rest here for a while, I'll go ahead and take a look to see if there's a way out."

  Xiao Xuan originally intended to take out a gun from the spatial ring for Sarah, but he eventually gave up on this idea. Because Sarah is now obviously somewhat dazed and confused, if she had a gun in her hand at this time, it's possible that she might directly commit suicide or even shoot herself, after all, people with disordered mental states can do anything. There is a blood pool separating them here, and the man-eating demons outside the tunnel shouldn't come over, so safety-wise there should be some guarantee.

  Xiao Xuan continued to think and walked for about ten minutes into the depths of the Yun Dao, where he saw a wall that looked like a beehive, with holes inside, some of which contained white cocoon-like objects. The cocoons were roughly the size of an ostrich egg and bulged as if there was a living creature incubating inside.

  "There's no need for this."

  Xiao Xuan shook his head, still somewhat unwilling to give up, and found one of the cocoon-like objects. He directly stepped on it with one foot, crushing the cocoon, and a placenta-like thing flowed out from inside. Judging from its shape, it should be an unsuccessful incubation of a man-eating demon. Moreover, looking at the number of cocoons in the holes on the wall, there were at least five or six hundred man-eating demons being incubated, making one's scalp feel numb.

  I thought this was the exit, but who knew that after walking to the deepest part, it turned out to be the lair of a man-eating monster, and there was no possibility of escape at all. Xiao Xuan couldn't help but feel a sense of powerlessness, he felt very desperate, extremely desperate, thinking that he would definitely not make it, he would definitely die here, he would definitely not find a way out, he would definitely fail to complete the main quest, he would definitely not return to the main god space, he would definitely be erased by the main god, everything was over, all was lost!

  His mind was filled with such thoughts, and Xiao Xuan's eyes began to fill with a thread of blood, as if he had already entered a state of madness. At this time, he pulled out his gun and slowly aimed it at his own forehead.

  "Pull the trigger once, all troubles are over. Pull the trigger once, all troubles disappear..."

  "Boom!"

  Xiao Xuan suddenly knelt down on the ground, closed his eyes and prepared to take his own life.

  At this moment, in a very inconspicuous cocoon-like object, a "hissing" sound began to emerge, like the excited laughter of a victor. At this moment, Xiao Xuan, who had originally made a gesture to shoot himself, suddenly opened his eyes again. His eyes no longer had any of the previous madness, only a terrifying calmness remained.

  "Haha, I knew why there were so many negative emotions suddenly appearing in my mind. It turns out that something was really messing with me. You're not an ordinary man-eating demon, let me take a look, what kind of thing are you?!"

  Xiao Xuan raised his pistol, aiming at the cocoon-like object that had made the noise earlier. He fired a shot, but the cocoon suddenly burst open, and a creature covered in black fur, resembling an adult monkey, jumped out. It walked on the rock wall as if it were flat ground. Xiao Xuan continuously pulled the trigger, but he didn't hit it. The magazine was empty, and Xiao Xuan instinctively prepared to change it. However, the creature seemed to sense Xiao Xuan's emotional fluctuations and stopped escaping. Instead, it pushed off from the rock wall with one leg and pounced towards Xiao Xuan.

  At this moment, Xiao Xuan finally took a closer look at the face of this thing. It was a creature with wings and four limbs. The most distinctive feature of this creature was its "face", which was highly anthropomorphic, like a stretched-out human face, eerie and ominous!