Chapter 42: The Faction of Mysterious Combat Power
Wax dripped down within the dim, arched corridor. If not for carefully sensing the decaying man's aura, one might mistake him for a corpse.
The decaying man was so weak he could only lean against the wall. He was still alive, yet he was waiting for death, not ending himself only because of a final lingering concern.
"Impossible. Go back. I didn't even see it."
The decaying man coughed a few times, uttering ambiguous words. In truth, this implied that the decaying man had once gone to assassinate the Alien King but failed. He hadn't even laid eyes on the Alien King before his defeat.
Su Xiao didn't linger. The decaying man wouldn't die anytime soon. After all, he had ventured deep into the Alien rear lines and might have some useful intelligence.
Following the arched corridor forward, after a short distance, the path opened up ahead.
[You have arrived at a special area: Radiance Preaching Grounds (High-Risk Safe Zone).]
[Surviving humans, aliens, and beastmen within the Radiance Preaching Grounds: 6.]
[All humans within the Radiance Preaching Grounds are neutral units. Relationships will be determined based on negotiation, actions, etc.]
...
After glancing at the prompt, Su Xiao understood the situation. The Radiance Preaching Grounds had once been a small organization, but after the devastating defeat at Radiance City, the survivors had gathered here.
Those who could break through the Alien army's encirclement were undoubtedly formidable. Take the decaying man, for example—he looked pathetic, on the verge of death at any moment. But don't forget, this was a ruthless individual who had ventured deep into Alien territory to assassinate the Alien King.
The decaying man hadn't seen the Alien King, but he had gotten close enough that the Alien Commander had to personally confront him. Below the Alien King was the Commander.
At that time, the decaying man certainly wasn't fighting a one-on-one duel with a Commander. He likely faced many Fission Variants or Parasitic Variants simultaneously, even being surrounded by heavy-armor units.
Most crucially, he had survived the charge out of the Alien rear lines and returned to the Radiance Preaching Grounds.
There were six people here: humans, beastmen, and even an Alien. If a sub-beastman were added, the world's races would be complete.
Su Xiao exited the arched corridor and arrived at a preaching ground. It was about two hundred square meters in size, circular in structure, and located underground.
At the center of the preaching ground, several oddly shaped stone statues were piled haphazardly, tilted and fallen. Nearby were books and other items, all covered in dust.
Candles lined the walls, their wax flowing down the circular steps. Over the years, the steps had blackened and hardened from the wax.
A woman in a gray dress, wearing a bone helmet, crouched on the steps lighting candles. She placed each candle by the wall, carrying a basket filled with more candles.
The gray dress made her appear frail, while the bone helmet had a pair of antlers, branching out in many directions.
"You've arrived just in time for dinner, Mr. White Night."
As soon as the woman spoke, Su Xiao recognized her: Dorothy, the woman who had been trapped inside the black flesh mass earlier.
Dorothy lit the last candle and walked toward the inner side of the preaching ground, where a doorway stood.
Not just the inner side—on the surrounding walls of the preaching ground, there were ten doorways, each with a symbol above it. Some looked like the sun, others like animals.
The doorway Dorothy entered was marked with a deer, as deer antlers were often used as offerings in many rituals.
Half a minute later, Dorothy emerged carrying a round pot filled with a wild vegetable soup that had been boiled to a mush.
She approached a pitch-black doorway. From the darkness, a hand holding a clay bowl reached out. The hand had a large skeletal frame, was skin-and-bones thin, and covered in cracks and scars on its dark skin.
"Mr. Wu Zhong, how are you today?"
Dorothy asked softly while ladling the vegetable soup into the chipped bowl.
"Hmm."
The voice from the darkness was deep and muffled, revealing that this was once a robust, strong man.
Dorothy walked along the circular steps to the second doorway.
"Get lost."
The voice from within was gloomy. Dorothy paused for a moment, then silently moved on. Though her expression was hidden beneath the bone helmet, the sense of disappointment didn't need facial expressions to convey.
Dorothy arrived at the third occupied doorway. Inside, it was utterly silent, not even a breath could be heard.
"Not eating today either? I made your portion, Lord Beast King."
Dorothy waited a moment, but there was still no sound from the pitch-black doorway.
"Sigh."
"Be careful."
A hoarse yet magnetic voice came from the darkness. A pair of brownish-yellow eyes opened, fixed on Su Xiao not far away. After confirming their gazes, both were people unafraid of life or death. Su Xiao's 1 point of Charm Attribute, about to slip further, played a role surpassing 149 points of True Charm Attribute.
"It's fine. I can handle it."
"..."
The eyes in the darkness closed, and the breathing ceased.
Dorothy continued a few more meters to the last occupied doorway. Before she could speak, a small hand holding a metal helmet reached out, shaking it twice, signaling Dorothy to hurry.
This one was clearly more eager to eat. Judging by the hand's size, its height didn't exceed 1.2 meters.
Dorothy's mood improved. She ladled nearly half the soup from the pot into the helmet, murmuring something softly. Occasional giggles came from the darkness of the doorway.
Aside from Dorothy, the Radiance Preaching Grounds housed these four people: the tall but emaciated Wu Zhong, a human by his aura.
The one who told Dorothy to get lost was indistinguishable in gender or race. Its aura was extremely eerie, fluctuating between strong and weak—sometimes like an Alien, sometimes like a human, and occasionally close to a beastman. A triple hybrid.
Inside the third doorway was the Beast King, a beastman named Taierde. By his aura, he possessed combat power no less than Crimson Tasha, but he was severely injured, seemingly sustaining his life with something.
The fourth person was a lively little girl. She feared light, yet the area around her doorway was packed with candles, several times more than the others. Dorothy called her Little Beetle, the light-fearing Little Beetle.
Little Beetle was an ordinary person. One day, she had fled to the vicinity of the Radiance Preaching Grounds and was taken in by Dorothy.
Dorothy walked toward the entrance of the preaching ground, with Su Xiao following at a short distance.
Inside the arched corridor, the decaying man still hung his head. Dorothy stopped before him and placed a bowl filled with vegetable soup in front of him.
"Drink it."
Dorothy's tone was somewhat stern, quite different from how she treated others, though the sternness carried more concern.
The decaying man grabbed the chipped bowl from the ground, gulped down the soup, and gently set the empty bowl down.
Earlier, the decaying man had dared to mock even Su Xiao, but he became docile before Dorothy, as if she were his nemesis.
Was the decaying man afraid of Dorothy? Of course not. He had dared to storm the Alien stronghold; even in his current weakened state, he could kill her with ease.
Su Xiao had essentially gathered intelligence on the six people in the Radiance Preaching Grounds. Dorothy had little combat power. Though she was a hybrid of human and Alien, her reconnaissance ability was not weak—her spiritual body could detach from her physical form.
Wu Zhong had once been a human powerhouse but could no longer fight. In his own words, he was already a cripple.
The triple hybrid of Alien, beastman, and human was difficult to negotiate with, possessing the strongest combat power and bizarre abilities.
The Beast King, Taierde, was severely injured, seemingly waiting for something.
The little girl was an ordinary person, relatively healthy aside from malnutrition, but she feared light and dared not leave the darkness of her doorway.
The decaying man had lost all will to fight, merely waiting for death each day.
If the decaying man, the triple hybrid, and the Beast King Taierde could recover their condition and unite, they would form a formidable combat force.
There were two key factors: 1. Whether they were willing to fight the Aliens, and 2. Whether they rejected things like surgery or similar procedures.
Reincarnation Paradise