Chapter 897: Rot

Chapter 897: Rot

After a brief rest, Li Huowang lifted his helmet and began to walk again; whether it was real or not, he was already halfway there, and he had no choice but to continue.

As the sun rose, the temperature on the Gobi Desert climbed, becoming even more unbearable than the night.

Compounded by a night without sleep or food, exhaustion etched itself onto every face.

Accompanied by this weariness, Li Huowang walked on in silence until, just as the sun hung high in the sky, everyone suddenly stopped.

"Is that... Chen Hongyu?" Li Huowang stared blankly at the familiar, broad figure ahead, a flash of ecstasy crossing his face. "Does she really have a special ability? She isn't dead?"

Li Huowang rushed forward, but as he reached a point a few paces from her, he slowed to a halt.

It was indeed Chen Hongyu, but she had not come back to life; under the intense heat, she had begun to rot.

Dense swarms of large blowflies crawled in and out of her seven orifices, sucking incessantly.

After a night and a day of fermentation, the stench of her corpse was overwhelming; Li Huowang had killed many, but he had never imagined the dead could smell so foul.

It was a visceral, forceful odor, standing like a wall before him, preventing him from drawing any closer.

The stench wormed its way into his nostrils, tugging at his stomach, which churned repeatedly, threatening to force him to purge everything within.

Even with his helmet on, his eyes were so stung he could barely keep them open, tears streaming down his face; he tried to move closer, but he simply could not.

"Hey, lunatic, are you actually capable of anything, or are you just walking us in circles?" Ba Nanxu raised his pistol and fired a shot into the back of Li Huowang's head.

Stumbling forward, Li Huowang whipped around, glaring at him with the rage he had suppressed all night. "Try shooting me again, if you have the guts!"

"I asked you a question—are you useless?" Ba Nanxu fired another shot at Li Huowang's head.

"You're courting death!" As Li Huowang lunged at Ba Nanxu, the others swarmed in, pulling him away with frantic hands.

"Slap!" A crisp sound rang out as Zhao Shuangdian struck Ba Nanxu across the face. "Don't cause trouble for me."

Ba Nanxu paused, then tilted his head and let out a low chuckle. He extended his forked tongue to lick the air in front of Zhao Shuangdian's face before stepping back.

Ignoring him entirely, Zhao Shuangdian walked to Li Huowang and said, "Ignore her. I believe in you; you are always the most special one. Keep looking."

Li Huowang stood at a distance, mourning Chen Hongyu's corpse for a few seconds before preparing to bypass it, intending to leave a mark this time to avoid circling back.

But after walking for only a few seconds, he was struck by a sudden shock: if the God of Rot was dead, why had the rot not vanished?

Li Huowang froze, then turned abruptly, braving the stench to charge back toward Chen Hongyu.

As he approached, a loud buzz erupted as the flies on the corpse were startled into the air.

When Li Huowang looked up at the sky filled with black flies, he smiled. "I knew it, I knew it!"

"Li Huowang! What are you doing! Get over here!"

"Stay away from there! Breathing that air will give you a lung infection!"

Ignoring their shouts, Li Huowang focused intently on the flight pattern of the flies.

Most returned to Chen Hongyu's body, but some flew off toward the east. "Found it! Follow them! The rot hasn't disappeared yet!"

As Li Huowang gave chase, the flies accelerated.

Everyone followed him, running for a long time until, just as their stamina reached its limit, Li Huowang finally stopped.

He stood at the edge of a depression, watching the two flies crawl into a hole in the ground below.

The opening was small, just large enough for a person to crouch through. "The entrance to the inside of the Elephant has been found."

After resting to recover their strength, everyone readied their weapons and headed inside.

It was scorching outside on the Gobi, but the tunnel was cool and comfortable, with shade-loving plants and mushrooms growing in the corners.

The tunnel showed clear signs of human construction, resembling a narrow passage.

After observing the structure, Qing Wanglai remarked, "This must be an underground canal of a Karez system, collapsed from neglect, which is why the opening is exposed."

"What is the point of saying that?"

"No point, just offering some trivia about the projection of our environment. I should warn you, while these canals aren't wide, they are incredibly, incredibly long."

"If converted to a flat space, they could hold the population of several football stadiums. If there are enemies, we must be prepared."

Li Huowang paid no mind to their conversation; when he saw a gray rat scurry along the wall, he smiled to himself, his negative emotions momentarily dispelled.

But just then, a squeaking sound came from where the rat had vanished. Li Huowang's heart sank, and he lunged into the darkness. "Flare!"

As the red flare illuminated the dark canal, Li Huowang's military knife struck out at a figure within.

An umbrella swung down from the darkness, clashing against his blade and sending sparks flying.

As Li Huowang prepared to counter, a gunshot rang out, the force of the impact driving him backward.

Watching the figures emerge from the darkness, Li Huowang shouted over his shoulder, "What are you standing there for? Help me!"

"Help with what?" Qing Wanglai’s voice was laced with confusion.

"What do you think! There are so many of them, are you all blind? Can't you see them?"

"No, we don't see anything."

Li Huowang turned back, staring in utter shock at their bewildered faces. "You... you can't see them? You really can't see them? Could it be..."

As realization dawned on him, the figures in the distance gradually dissolved into the darkness.

Li Huowang paced the tunnel, his breathing ragged, occasionally clenching his fists and slamming them against his helmet.

The swarms of flies and the gray rat flashed through his mind, the weight of his suppression, sorrow, and anger crushing him.

Li Huowang stopped, looked up, and smashed his head against the wall. "Damn it! I said I couldn't do it! You insisted I could! I'm a lunatic! Why am I leading the way! Why am I leading!!"