Chapter 23: Cruelty
The young white-collar worker's cries triggered a chain reaction, and the ordinary people in the surrounding iron cages also began to cry out and beg for mercy, the scene descending into chaos.
Strangely enough, the resentful attendants in the courtyard did not seem angry; in fact, they were chatting in small groups, because not long ago, they too had been in this same weak state.
"Don't waste time. You few, drag those three out."
A resentful attendant who looked like a leader spoke with some impatience. The reason he was considered the leader was his physique, which was unusually strong compared to ordinary resentful attendants.
This guy was at least three meters tall, with muscles bulging all over his body, and his vital points like the heart and throat were covered in exoskeleton.
Several resentful attendants entered the iron cage and, with a mix of pulling and dragging, hauled the three ordinary people out of the cage.
"No, please! Help!"
"Wuu~"
"I have money! I can give you a lot of money!"
The three made their final struggles, but the resentful attendants were unmoved. They easily lifted them up and walked toward the magic circle in the center of the courtyard.
The resentful attendants roughly threw the three ordinary people into the magic circle.
Thud.
The three were thrown dizzy, stars spinning before their eyes. As they struggled to get up, the magic circle, brimming with mana, emitted a light, and they immediately collapsed weakly to the ground.
One by one, conduits made of mana emerged from within the magic circle. There were at least a hundred of these conduits.
Seeing these conduits, not only the ordinary people but even Su Xiao felt a shiver run down his spine.
These conduits were as flexible as snakes and could freely extend and retract.
Pfft.
Blood splattered as one conduit pierced into the young white-collar worker's skull. His mouth opened wide to its limit, wanting to scream but unable to make a sound.
One by one, conduits inserted into the young white-collar worker's cranium, while the remaining conduits found their own prey. In an instant, the heads of the three ordinary people were covered in conduits.
The three fell to the ground convulsing as if electrocuted. The surrounding resentful attendants were unfazed by this scene, while the ordinary people in the iron cages were so terrified they dared not make a sound.
After the three ordinary people convulsed in the magic circle for a few minutes, one of them had his eyeballs start rolling wildly in their sockets. Seeing this, several nearby resentful attendants stood up.
"A new compatriot has appeared. Take him for the ritual, quickly!"
A smile appeared on the face of the resentful attendant leader. After all, the chance of an ordinary person successfully transforming into a resentful creature was very low, only about 5%.
Two resentful attendants walked into the magic circle. First, they pulled the conduits from the young white-collar worker's head, then supported him as they walked toward the Dharma Hall at the center of Liudong Temple.
As for the other two ordinary people in the magic circle, they lay there twitching slightly. Although not dead, they were not far from it.
"Kill... kill me..."
One of the failed transformation ordinary people murmured. A resentful attendant immediately stepped forward and applied a kind of black mud to his head.
"Take him to the Eternal Pool as fertilizer."
The resentful attendant leader signaled to continue repeating the process.
Screams, a thick smell of blood, and the emotion of despair mixed together. This empty courtyard had now become a hell.
One could imagine the psychological state of the ordinary people in the iron cages. Nothing was more despairing than waiting for death or turning into a monster.
This was the Great King Hall of Liudong Temple, the closest point to the temple's mountain gate. Compared to the deeper Dharma Hall and Main Offering Hall, this place was nothing.
Su Xiao released his grip on the edge of the wall and silently dropped down. Clearly, this position was not suitable for infiltration.
Liudong Temple was not a game dungeon; the monsters inside would not wait for him to kill them batch by batch, allowing a gradual advance.
If Su Xiao engaged any resentful attendant inside Liudong Temple and could not kill them instantly, a large group of resentful creatures would be attracted within three minutes, and within five minutes, all enemies in the temple would swarm out.
Even if he fought a resentful creature, it had to be an instant kill, preventing them from making a sound.
Su Xiao continued along the wall of Liudong Temple. He planned to go directly around to the Main Offering Hall at the back of the temple, where the soul lamp required for the mission was located.
However, wishes were beautiful, and reality was cruel. After spending an hour making a full circuit around Liudong Temple, Su Xiao found that aside from the front Great King Hall wall, which had a chance for infiltration, entering the temple from the walls near the Dharma Hall or Main Offering Hall was completely impossible.
It wasn't because of any barrier blocking the way, but because there were too many rats near the walls.
The rats Su Xiao encountered were, of course, not ordinary rats. They were a type of rat resembling a hedgehog, covered in bone spikes.
According to the detected information, the life assimilation degree of these bone-spike rats was 3%.
Any creature with a life assimilation degree in its data was an ordinary creature or ordinary person transformed by that kind of magic circle.
After some observation, Su Xiao had basically figured out the transformation process of resentful creatures. First, ordinary people were thrown into that kind of magic circle for initial transformation. The specific principle was unknown to him.
The success rate of this transformation process was very low. As for the ordinary people who failed the transformation, they were sent to the Eternal Pool as fertilizer.
What the Eternal Pool was, Su Xiao did not know. But the fact that humans were used as fertilizer indicated it was by no means a friendly place.
Su Xiao crouched down, closed his eyes, and sensed his surroundings.
After some observation, Su Xiao found that even near the Great King Hall at the front of Liudong Temple, there were bone-spike rats, but in smaller numbers. This gave him a chance for a successful infiltration.
Walking a distance along the wall, Su Xiao pressed his ear against it. The other side of the wall was completely silent. He decided to infiltrate Liudong Temple here, a location near the Great King Hall and closer to the Dharma Hall.
After climbing onto the wall, he saw a quiet small courtyard on the other side. Just as Su Xiao was about to flip over and enter the courtyard, footsteps were heard.
Two resentful attendants stained with blood walked into the small courtyard. They occasionally pushed each other but made no sound.
"Hurry, take it out..."
"Don't rush, I used a seal... otherwise there would be..."
Their conversation was very quiet. Su Xiao was currently lying on the three-meter-high wall, waiting for them to leave.
Unexpectedly, the two not only did not leave but walked toward the wall where he was.
The two resentful attendants came to the base of the wall and huddled together. Just as Su Xiao suspected these sneaky guys were up to something perverted, one of them carefully pulled a plastic bag from his bosom, containing some jelly-like objects.
Gulp~
Su Xiao on the wall clearly heard the sound of swallowing saliva.
"How did it become like this? It was liquid before."
One resentful attendant rubbed the 'jelly' with his hand.
"This is water from the Eternal Pool? I've seen that water before. It's clearly a light green liquid, definitely not this jelly form!"
"How would I know the pool water turned into this?"
The two resentful attendants argued in low voices, seemingly losing interest in the 'jelly'.
"What do you mean? I did this out of goodwill..."
"Go to hell *****, give me back my ten jin of fresh human meat."
"You..."
"Give it back!"
A red light flickered in one resentful attendant's eyes, seemingly triggered by the anger of being deceived into an emotional outburst.
Although resentful attendants appeared capable of normal communication, that was not the case. Once they experienced severe emotional fluctuations, they became extremely bloodthirsty.