Deep in the Living
Chapter 307 - 295 Encounter

Chapter 307: Chapter 295 Encounter

Caw!

Crows gathered outside the city walls, forming a black steed that no longer wore a Jaw Splitter and had no metal fittings associated with any order on its body.

It resembled the native crow colt initially sent to the Chaos Nest City, more like a mount for an Evil Play.

A figure entirely shrouded in a long black robe approached beside the Crow Colt,

His hand held a hefty bag of goods whose faint green glow and crystal-like protrusions could be dimly seen through the skin bag.

Caw caw~

Not only did the Crow Colt cry out like a crow, but there were also faint crow calls coming from beneath the man’s hood.

Although a human face was hidden underneath the hood, the eye sockets did not contain eyeballs but were instead replaced with crow heads.

There is no doubt.

Be it the Crow Colt from Hell’s Dark Side or this person’s appearance and the emanating aura, they all pointed towards a power known as Evil Play.

After hanging the weighty crystal cargo on the side of the steed,

The person mounted it, grabbing the reins that resembled rat tails, and quickly headed inland.

The direction of his advance would take him through a unique swampy area.

...

[Five minutes earlier, in a hotel suite]

When Luo Di activated the Disguise trait left in his brain by his squad leader, a scent associated with Insects immediately spread, causing the Crow Colt to begin cawing loudly as if it could no longer recognize its master.

Both Agatha and the newly joined Calen showed vigilant expressions.

"Is this... Play?

It’s not an Illusion Technique, but your body has truly undergone a change. Luo Di, is this your Corner Disguise ability from your story?"

In response to Agatha’s question, Luo Di, whose eyeballs had been replaced with crow heads, nodded.

"It was taught to me by a friend, ’Disguise.’ As long as it’s an individual I have come into direct contact with, I can roughly disguise myself as them. Of course, it’s just a superficial disguise, far from being as good as my friend’s.

The current image is inspired by a Demon Slave I killed at the Spine Recruiting Ground. It matches well with the Crow Colt; it should be fine, right?"

Agatha directly reached out, gently touching Luo Di’s face and the crow head in his eye socket.

"I was almost tricked at first glance, not to mention people who have never seen you before.

Though there are flaws upon closer inspection, coupled with the Crow Colt, a creature from Hell’s Dark Side, anyone meeting you for the first time would definitely take you for an Insect of Evil Play, which might actually lure out Kuleon.

Can this level of disguise transformation be taught? Who is so capable, your teacher among humans?"

"She just left something inside of me."

"She? Don’t tell me it’s... the squad leader! Am I right, the squad leader must be very adept at disguise!"

"We’ll talk about it later."

"Okay!"

Agatha’s anticipation for the story had surpassed her duties as a nun and she had even started to imagine the rest of the content.

"By the way~ If I wait in the city, what about Calen?"

"He doesn’t need to disguise himself, or rather, he is already a very good disguise.

Coming by sea, Insects carry certain things, right? So me carrying a large bag of magical and life-essence-filled crystals should make sense."

...

[Deep Swamp]

Turbid puddles interlaced with black sludge, the water surface blanketed by a dense green mat woven from dead leaves and algae, with iron-rust colored ripples from the sediment of organic matter.

Beneath the seemingly solid meadows might be hidden pitfalls, a wrong step might mean being swallowed up instantly.

To go from the port to the Burning Earth Plain in the shortest distance, one must pass through this swamp. For this reason, the port’s tumor-dwellers have long ago paved a way here.

It wasn’t a particularly troublesome project; they simply threw the overgrown large hard tumors and refuse congealed from purifying marine pollution directly into the swamp.

Throw some trash daily, and over time a path was created.

Luo Di’s destination was here; this swamp was where the crimes targeted the most, with eight Insects having been attacked and gone missing.

The Crow Colt slowed its pace upon stepping into the swamp.

Luo Di, due to the need for disguise, couldn’t wear a Jaw Splitter and had to reduce his breathing frequency as much as possible to avoid inhaling pathogenic spores.

After moving through the swamp for a full ten minutes without noticing any anomalies, Luo Di’s tongue didn’t show any inclination to tap.

Ahead now lay the deeper parts of the swamp,

Where the available paths became fewer and eventually narrowed down to a single one.

The Crow Colt’s black hooves finally came to a halt, not because of danger, but because the only path ahead had come to an end.

"A dead end?"

It seemed as if he had arrived at the center of a certain lake, devoid of any vegetation, just pitch-black swamp muck exuding a foul stench.

His only choice now was to turn back, to return to the previous fork in the road and choose another path.

Just as Luo Di was turning his horse around,

the spine connected to the tongue was softly moving in his mouth, as if ready to strike.

Unknowingly,

a thick fog, not originating from fungi, rose among the swamp, restricting visibility to within a twenty-meter range.

Luo Di could have activated the camera mode within his coat, but the coat, modified by the Monastery, would sprout a metal structure from around the eyes once activated, easily exposing the identity of the Monk.

He could only rely on normal human vision, then pressing his palm against the back of the Crow Colt’s skull.

Ga ji ga ji~

Some sort of grey tentacles inserted themselves, and the Crow Colt spit out a somewhat different crow from within its body, its feathers partly dyed grey, quickly flying into the dense fog ahead.

Who would have known that just after it flew into the mist, the Crow Colt shivered and let out a soft whinny, indicating that the crow had been killed.

And the grey mark that Luo Di buried in the crow’s body didn’t tag any entity, as if it was directly sliced in half by some unrelated remote weapon.

At the same time,

a humanoid silhouette appeared in the midst of the fog, blocking the only path.

"Is it coming?"

While inwardly delighted, Luo Di was also somewhat nervous.

Even though he couldn’t clearly see the other’s appearance or perceive its specific traits, Luo Di’s intuition had already labeled the entity.

’Extremely dangerous’

Luo Di’s hand glided over the coat, aiming to reach for the metal club, but hesitated and stopped when reaching the pocket.

He hadn’t yet ascertained the true identity of the other party, and without any direct contact or marking, should he sound the metallic alarm related to the Monastery, there was a high likelihood that the other party would abandon the hunt and flee.

Sigh...

In the end, Luo Di did not sound the metal but continued the Disguise.

He dismounted from the horseback, let the Crow Colt revert to a crow’s original form, pocketed it within his coat, and even buried it between the flesh.

The journey of more than ten days made Luo Di regard the Crow Colt as an important partner, one that needed to be brought back to Earth.

As for the bag of larger crystals, he slung it over his shoulder like a backpack using the strap.

Thrust!

The Pig Slaughter Knife was in hand, its handle decorated with crow feathers.

The crow’s head between Luo Di’s eyes kept screeching, taking the initiative to move towards the dark shadow in the fog, while the other party also approached him at the same speed.

A voice tinged with the rasp of a crow’s throat came from Luo Di’s mouth:

"I’ve heard of you... an Exile Spine who specializes in killing those who play Evil Plays. I didn’t expect to encounter you here. Even a being like me who rides a Crow Colt, do you dare to hunt?"

Who knew, just as his words ended.

The tongue which had been only lightly moving within the mouth suddenly struck hard,

Luo Di even envisioned the scene of his own decapitation in an instant, feeling a chill on his neck, and although his head hadn’t fallen yet, his consciousness believed it was about to.

"What!"

Luo Di’s hidden spine activated instinctively, spurring his arm into action, and he immediately brought out the Pig Slaughter Knife in front of his neck.

Ding!

A loud metallic clang spread out, and huge ripples emanated through the swamp mud.

At the same time, mixed with faint pig-like screams fading rapidly.

The already cracked Pig Slaughter Knife broke completely due to the collision, the pituitary fused within and the blade itself were utterly shattered, beyond repair.

Even so, it didn’t completely block the other’s slash, Luo Di’s neck was partially cut, almost reaching his windpipe.

His body was flung back from the impact, flying more than twenty meters before falling into the swamp.

Splat! Thick fungal mud splashed everywhere.

The Deep Swamp, as if possessing a life of its own, immediately began to engulf the living creature that had fallen into it, attempting to completely envelop Luo Di, with the plague invading, digesting him internally to become nutrition for the swamp.

However, Luo Di made no effort to struggle, but instead willingly sank further down.

If he tried to escape from the swamp mud now, he would be killed even more quickly by the other party.

Better to let himself sink into the mud. With the lung capacity of Luo Di’s Mature Body, he should be able to hold his breath for approximately ten minutes, and his clothing provides certain protection against the invasion of the plague.

The special features of the clothing were also activated,

A metallic camera eye structure sprouted directly from around Luo Di’s eye sockets, covering both eyeballs and immune to the mud’s influence, allowing him to clearly see the situation within the swamp mud.

As his body sank deeper, Luo Di faintly saw that there seemed to be something at the bottom of the mud.