Deep in the Living
Chapter 106 - 100 Torture Device

Chapter 106: Chapter 100 Torture Device

"Luo Di, do you need my help? I can also kill from a distance."

Standing on the main road, Anna witnessed the scene that had just unfolded and also noticed the strange gas that emerged from within the dead cat’s body, roughly understanding the characteristics of these stray cats and dogs.

As she was about to step forward to help, Luo Di raised his hand signaling her to continue waiting.

Luo Di seemed to have a special idea in mind; he targeted a larger dead dog next. With the contact he had just made, he had roughly figured out the "habits" of these stray cats and dogs.

These almost unconscious mutant products were considered to be very good experimental materials; he could use them to test the new ability he had just acquired from Hell’s Torture Room.

This time,

Luo Di stopped approximately three meters away, a distance that would not activate the corpse.

He bent his knees and crouched down.

As he squatted, his left hand fully extended its fingers, allowing the palm to stay about five centimeters above the ground.

Anna, not far away, watched curiously, having no idea what Luo Di was about to do.

Soon Anna saw a very strange phenomenon.

"What is that?"

Although the street lights here weren’t very bright, the burning bus added quite a bit of light.

This allowed Anna to clearly see that something resembling thin strips was wriggling under the skin of the so-called "Bionic Arm."

Now, the object inside was slowly emerging,

"Iron wire!?"

Anna thought she had seen it wrong and rubbed her eyes hard to look again; indeed, strands of barbed iron wire were emerging from between the skin, and the mere sight of it looked painful.

More and more iron wires drilled out, gradually entwining around the entire left arm.

These iron wires finally converged around the palm area, integrating with the core wire that was emerging from the palm.

Lengthen, weave, construct...

As a burst of scorching and turbid mist dispersed,

Anna’s eyes widened; something incomprehensible to her had been created.

"Animal trap"

An old-fashioned animal trap, covered with scorch marks and entwined with barbed iron wire, was placed steadily on the ground.

"Is this Luo Di’s ability as a Connector? Creating some kind of trap?"

Anna’s gaze followed the iron wire-covered arm upwards, and when she looked at Luo Di’s face again, she was startled enough to take a step back.

His face, lit up by the firelight, was abrim with a slightly perverse smile; despite the rest of his facial features not changing, it felt utterly alien to Anna.

Luo Di paid no attention to the look Anna gave him; he was unusually excited.

This was the first time he had utilized this Hell ability residing in his left arm, acquired from the Torture Room,

Named "Torture Device Construction."

Although this ability was still in the early stages of development and could not construct too many, too complex torture devices, such an animal trap was more than enough for B-movie aficionado Luo Di, even far exceeding his expectations.

Looking at the sharp teeth structure between the trap’s jaws, looking at the barbed iron wires twined around the animal trap,

Luo Di’s whole body was trembling with anticipation, eager for the prey to step into it.

The trap was set,

Luo Di got up and approached the dead dog in front of him,

As expected, the behavior pattern displayed by this unconscious dead thing was all the same, lunging forward suddenly when it got within 1.5 meters, its body surface growing dense, elongated blood vessels.

The dead dog was about to pounce on Luo Di’s face,

Seizing the moment, he dodged to the side.

The dead dog, missing its target, drew a perfect parabola in the air, landing precisely on the animal trap.

Clack!

The trap was triggered,

The serrated edges penetrated through the dog’s body in an instant, pinning it firmly in place.

Not only that, the sharp spikes of iron wire wrapped around the animal trap also cut through the skin and pierced into the undead dog’s body,

although such undead dogs no longer possess any sense of pain, having long been dead.

Yet the animal trap still managed to convey suffering into it, causing the undead dog to struggle in agony so severely that its eyeballs almost popped out from their sockets, and its tongue was bitten off by its teeth.

Luo Di, while sensing the transfer of pain, lies down and brings his body as close as possible to observe this living corpse creature, examining the tiny blood vessels emerging from beneath the skin.

"The creator of the retirement home also possesses the ability to induce ’aging’ and ’corpse transformation’... Even the bodies of animals can be utilized, and it probably would be more dangerous with humans.

The previous driver was presumably a defective product, hence covered in bandages and assigned to drive."

Anna also cautiously approaches to observe and offers her opinion:

"Perhaps aging and corpse transformation are abilities in their own right? Once people in the retirement home die of old age, they turn into these zombie-like creatures, a type of Derivative.

Those who have disappeared may have already undergone transformation within the retirement home, likely possessing strength comparable to immature Pseudo-Persons.

Moreover, these creatures also harbor a force within them... For simplicity’s sake, let’s call it ’Death Energy’. If inhaled, we too could age rapidly."

After a brief observation and analysis, the two get up and distance themselves from the animal-trapped undead dog.

Just as Anna was about to suggest if they should handle the undead dog with a long-distance throw,

Luo Di’s left hand clenches forcefully, his fingers manipulating the animal trap five meters away... Snap! An even greater clamping force instantly crushes the undead dog into a mass of mangled flesh.

Throughout the process, he did not turn back or stop; to Luo Di, these stray cats and dogs posed neither a threat nor value.

"Let’s go. We’ll enter the retirement home and keep a distance of more than 1.5 meters from these corpses. If we can’t avoid them, we shall kill them from a distance."

"Mhm."

As they made their way to the retirement home building, Luo Di was also troubled.

According to the information gathered so far, these living corpses all contained a gas that could potentially cause aging, severely limiting Luo Di’s "slaughtering" capabilities, preventing him from engaging in his preferred close-quarters combat.

He must figure out a solution quickly, or the subsequent investigation of the retirement home will become exceedingly perilous.

While clicking his tongue and entering a state of deep thought, Luo Di passed by a streetlamp. Under the light, Anna caught sight of something that unnerved her.

"Luo Di, wait!"

She grasps Luo Di’s shoulder and gives it a tug!

Two strands of white hair connected together were pulled out.

Luo Di also turned to look at the white hair that couldn’t possibly belong on his head,

and as he frowned slightly, Anna noticed a faint crow’s feet at the corner of Luo Di’s eye.

"Luo Di, you seem to be aging..."

Luo Di also noticed two white hairs hidden among Anna’s blonde ones, less obvious due to the surrounding gold.

"Are we accelerating in aging just by stepping into this Corner-like Space, even without inhaling Death Energy from the living corpses?"

"A space and curse type Pseudo-Person!"

Anna came to a rather unpleasant conclusion.

"It seems we need to accelerate our pace."

...

As they formally entered the retirement home building,

in a pitch-black region of the front courtyard’s wall where no light reached, a familiar cloth shoe stepped out.

Yu Ze, yawning and moving slowly, emerged, showing not a hint of urgency on his face. He felt the warmth lingering in the air and arrived at the trap’s location.

The trap created would not last forever; it was currently fading fast, but a portion remained.

Yu Ze crouched down,

completely ignoring the crushed dead dog, and reached out to touch the surface of the animal trap.

Despite the spikes not piercing his skin, he still felt a sudden intense pain, which made him jerk his hand back.

"Why does the sulfur smell here differ from Hell as described in books? What’s with this pain? Is the world this guy is connected to really Hell?

Or is it some more distant, more primal world akin to Hell?

It’s a deeply layered world... deeper than I anticipated, and the nature of the world is even more dreadful than expected.

My fellow countryman, can you maintain your self in the face of this world’s influence? Don’t fall, for it’s rare to encounter such a formidable and young compatriot like you, and I really don’t want to kill you with my own hands."