Chapter 333: The Princess Consort
Yun Yao and Xu Qian exchanged glances. Something about this woman seemed strange.
Despite being rescued by the group, she showed no gratitude whatsoever.
"Let's divide the 'Dao,'" Yan Zhichun said. "One man is gone, and there are forty-eight left on the field. Each of us can get twelve."
"Alright, let's split them," Xu Qian agreed. "A bit dangerous, but the gains aren't bad."
"You two divide them first..." Chen Junnan said. "Big star, just hold onto my share for me."
With that, he dragged his nearly broken body and slowly moved to the other side.
"Where are you going?" Yun Yao asked irritably. "Do you have any idea what state you're in?"
"Little master can't fall here just yet..." Chen Junnan said weakly. "I still have people to save..."
"Save people...?" Yun Yao didn't understand what Chen Junnan meant. The only ones left alive here were them. Who else needed saving?
After taking three steps, Chen Junnan bent over to rest for a moment. He felt that his condition really warranted dying first, just to end the suffering.
But he couldn't leave this building yet. There were people trapped in danger here.
"I can barely stand..." Chen Junnan turned back to Yun Yao and Xu Qian. "Ladies, this place is holding women and children that Earth Snake captured... Since we killed him, we should set them free too."
"Is that really necessary?" Yun Yao frowned. "They'll just respawn after they die. You should know that better than I do."
"But that's not right. We're people from the real world, not ghosts wandering in the 'Land of Endings.'" Chen Junnan sighed. "If you won't do it, then I will..."
Yun Yao could only shake her head helplessly. After this encounter, she had a pretty good read on Chen Junnan's character. This man, though strong in some ways, had a glaring weakness.
She exchanged a look with Xu Qian, and the two began searching the other rooms.
Yan Zhichun put away her "Dao" and watched them with interest.
Before long, Xu Qian discovered a hidden door leading to a basement under the central podium's desk.
"Over here!" Xu Qian called out. Yun Yao and Chen Junnan both came over.
When the three of them got close to the hidden door, they realized something was wrong. A strange, foul stench was wafting out from underneath.
"Are there... people down there?" Yun Yao asked incredulously. That smell couldn't possibly be from the living.
Chen Junnan looked at the heavy iron lock on the door and tugged at it, only to realize he had no strength left. "Can you help me open it...?"
Without a word, Xu Qian immediately turned and went to Earth Snake's corpse. She rummaged through the countless body parts and found a key that had been completely snapped in half.
The key, like the corpse, had been cut into many pieces and was utterly useless.
"No need to bother." Yun Yao reached out a hand as she spoke. "This lock looks old. Most of the internal parts should be rusted out."
She grabbed the iron lock, and it instantly became covered in rust. Then, with a sharp pull, the lock crumbled like brittle charcoal, shattering into pieces with a crackling sound.
"Nice one..." Chen Junnan smiled weakly. He grabbed the hidden door and yanked it open.
An unbearable stench rushed out from the opening. Yun Yao covered her nose and mouth, turning away to retch repeatedly. Even Chen Junnan furrowed his brow.
How could this be the smell of living people?
It was only the second day. Who had Earth Snake captured? And what had he done to them?
"I'll go down and take a look." Chen Junnan pulled Yun Yao behind him and started down the stairs. His whole body trembled as some unpleasant memories surged to the surface. "Not sure what's down there. Don't come yet."
Yun Yao and Xu Qian exchanged another glance. Chen Junnan could barely stand—why was he so determined to play the hero?
"I'll go down too," Xu Qian said. "If it's about rescuing people, I can help..."
Hearing that Chen Junnan's footsteps had already faded into the depths of the stairs, Xu Qian slowly descended as well. After a moment's hesitation, Yun Yao followed them down.
Yan Zhichun, meanwhile, slowly walked to the edge of the hidden door. She neither went down nor made any other move, simply standing there, lost in thought.
The staircase seemed unusually long, nothing like a typical basement. It felt more like descending to a second underground level.
In the pitch-black darkness, the three walked downward one after another. The overwhelming stench grew thicker, making it hard for them to breathe.
They didn't move quickly. After about a minute, they finally saw a faint glimmer of light.
It seemed there were lamps or torches in this basement.
Chen Junnan was the first to reach the hidden space below. He looked around and froze on the spot.
Dark, damp, foul, bloody, grotesque.
This was hell.
Dozens of women stood along the walls on both sides, completely naked, their necks bound by iron chains. Their eyes were vacant as they stood motionless, impossible to tell if they were alive or dead.
Without exception, they were emaciated beyond recognition, their withered bodies showing every single rib.
"What the hell...?"
Chen Junnan's eyes twitched. He braved the stench and walked forward a few steps, only to find that some of the girls were already dead. Even in death, they were still strung up by their necks like mops, their rotting flesh peeling away, their bodies crawling with maggots.
"Earth Snake... you bastard..." Chen Junnan forgot the pain wracking his body and clenched his fists tightly. "What the hell were you doing...? Did you forget you were once human?"
Yun Yao and Xu Qian arrived at the room one after the other. They were so horrified that they stood frozen in place, unable to move.
The floor was covered in excrement and bones. The women didn't seem normal. They were... natives?!
Chen Junnan walked forward step by step. The girls on either side stood like statues, completely expressionless.
This rectangular room was about a dozen meters long, but with the dim lighting, Chen Junnan felt there was something at the far end.
"Chen... Chen Junnan..." Yun Yao called out softly. "Be careful..."
It seemed Chen Junnan couldn't hear anything anymore. He kept moving forward with heavy steps.
Finally, he stopped at the other end of the room.
Yun Yao and Xu Qian stared at his back from a distance, wondering what he had seen. They quietly moved forward to join him.
After ten steps, a massive throne came into view. It appeared to be made of stone but was draped in rotting, blackened human skin. The foul stench emanating from it was so strong that it was hard to take even a single step closer.
A girl with a well-proportioned figure sat on the ground next to the throne, as if waiting for someone.
Yun Yao's pupils contracted slightly as she stepped forward to examine the woman.
She didn't look thin—seemingly only recently turned into a "native"—but her body was covered in wounds, and her eyes were already glazing over.
Perched on her messy hair was a crown made of bent wire. On her chest, four blood-red characters were carved—
"My Princess Consort."
The carvings appeared to be only a few days old. The strokes were crooked, and the wounds had just begun to scab. Now, the letters were slightly swollen, clearly about to become infected.
Before Yun Yao could say anything, the girl looked up and grinned, revealing a mouth full of blood and only a few remaining teeth: "Has Master returned...?"
The sight made the hair on Yun Yao and Chen Junnan's bodies stand on end. They both cried out in unison:
"Xiao Ran...?"