Deep in the Living
Chapter 313 - 301: Harvest

Chapter 313: Chapter 301: Harvest

Buzz Buzz Buzz!

A swarm of flies suddenly flew into the sewer, their buzzing mingling with the sharp sounds of metallic armor.

"The flies... have arrived?"

Agatha leaned against the wall, as the wicked draining had exhausted a great deal of her energy, and her body still bore deep lacerated wounds.

She was chewing on the crystal food given to her by Calen, rapidly regenerating her energy, and even the areas around her wounds were emitting a faint green glow, aiding in self-healing.

However, her expression was far from pleasant.

She had thought that only some tumorous soldiers were coming, not anticipating such a troublesome presence, each fly capable of taking her life.

Following the direction of the flies,

a rusty metal long boot stepped around the corner of the sewer, followed by a moldy attached armor, through the gaps of the armor were visible fly eggs and wriggling maggots.

The armor was slender and elongated in shape,

its helmet extended a long mouthpiece structure,

and the cloak on the back of the armor also presented as wing structures, as if the cloak was connected inside their bodies, a part of them.

’Plague Knight’

These were knight units of Primordial Slime, entities that had achieved Demon Ascension. They had just been stationed at Navel Port recently and quickly arrived upon seeing the crucial sewers damaged.

The leader among them even carried a Cross Greatsword, with its metallic sheath overgrown with blood vessels, weaving symbols related to the plague curse.

With the arrival of the Plague Knights,

Agatha directly displayed the Warrant,

and also pointed towards Kuleon on the ground beside her, whose body was now only one third intact.

The Plague Knights swiftly scanned with their compound eyes, and, finding no discrepancies, did not make any trouble. According to the rules of Hell, one is not held accountable for region destruction caused by battles due to a Warrant.

Moreover, provoking a Monk without reason counts among the most foolish acts in True Hell.

Just as the knights were preparing to leave and notify the repair crew,

Buzz Buzz Buzz!

A fly, scurrying about, seemed to have detected a suspicious crack in the wall and also caught a strange scent through the gap.

The Plague Knights decisively stopped in their tracks and turned towards the suspicious door crack.

Just as they were about to inspect it, two figures suddenly emerged from around the corner, and the swarm of flies approached them at once.

Calen emerged, supporting the heavily injured Luo Di.

"Uncle Salas."

The voice from underneath the Plague Knight’s helmet spoke standard Demon Language, "Calen? What are you doing here?"

"Under Lord Eyes’ arrangement, I no longer need to keep watch over the lighthouse. I now need to follow this envoy Luo Di to the Dark Side.

We just joined forces with Sister Agatha to kill a Wanted Criminal active in this area."

"Hmm?"

The leading Plague Knight no longer paid attention to the wall crack discovered by the flies, instead being captivated by the peculiar appearance and the myriad of signals radiating from Luo Di the Envoy.

"Black Spine Envoy, Hell Monk... a dual Hell Item system, and an extraterritorial life form as well.

Not only is there an escort from the nun, but Calen is also involved. There must be arrangements from higher-ups, and very high at that. However, no matter who has arranged this.

When the time comes for you to return by boat, if Calen is not on it, but only you alive, I will carry out an ultimate Infection in the name of Primordial Slime."

"Alright."

Seeing Luo Di nodding straightforwardly, the Plague Knight did not say anything further and left.

Only when the buzzing of the flies had completely disappeared did Luo Di truly relax. They had nearly discovered the secret chamber just now... had it been found, everything Luo Di had planned would have turned to naught.

"Calen, thank you."

"No worries, this is something you, Mr. Di, fought hard for and won. It wouldn’t have been appropriate to hand it over.

Also, Uncle Salas is actually a very good person. He is very strong, but because of some ideological issues, he was stationed at Navel Port."

"Hmm."

Calen continued to grow edible crystals from his palm, which Luo Di quickly took and ate, resembling the texture of chocolate. The energy immediately supplemented his spine, and his injuries began to heal faster.

If Calen had not joined the battle, the outcome would really be unpredictable.

Tap, tap, tap!

The trio stepped up the staircase and once again came to Kuleon’s underground chamber, facing the demonic apparatus constructed from dozens of insects’ skulls.

Agatha saw it for the first time and was completely shocked by such a design, also roughly guessing the special path Kuleon wanted to take.

"Kuleon wants to abandon his identity as a Spine, or rather, he wants to blaze a new trail in pursuit of brain development! Once he succeeds in Demon Ascension this way, he will become a very special Spine, similar to that "Eye" among your Spines.

Developing offshoot features related to the brain, supported by the spine.

However, such a demonic apparatus doesn’t look like something he could have made on his own.

I have never seen anything like this even in the library of the Great Monastery; someone must have told him to do it or he obtained the design from somewhere."

As Agatha was speaking, Luo Di already took out a yellowed parchment from his pocket.

The parchment recorded the exact design diagram of this skull setup.

Named ’The Path of Slaughter and Skulls’.

Not only does it depict the specific exterior of the apparatus, it also details the connection method of each skull, the manufacturing process, and explicitly mentions the need to slay insects for their fresh skulls.

On the back of the parchment is a strange mark – "Molten Gold Skull Scale"

1. Molten Skull, with eye sockets oozing liquid gold.

2. Atop the skull, a demon horn scale grows, with a scepter on the left pan and silver coins on the right.

Agatha recognized the significance of this mark at a glance, "This is... something from Hell’s Commerce! It’s an invaluable ’Gate Manuscript’; no wonder this guy could create such a thing on his own, he had the support of a manuscript.

Such manuscripts are very expensive; he shouldn’t be able to afford them, right? After all, he’s just an Exile Spine, where would he get the contributions from, wait, could it be..."

Agatha hurried to check Kuleon’s mutilated corpse, and sure enough, found the commerce group’s mark at the back of the head, previously hidden by dirty hair.

"This guy signed a debt contract with the commerce group! Once he completes the Demon Ascension, he would be forcibly sent to work off his debt for the commerce group. And such debts often take many years, even decades to repay.

Of course,

only individuals with recognized potential by the commerce can go for a [loan]; ordinary people don’t even have the qualifications to discuss terms.

This guy really is a genius, if not for our encounter, I estimate he would have completed Demon Ascension within a week, and his deeds would be left in True Hell afterwards."

Agatha’s explanation seemed to have fallen on deaf ears as far as Luo Di was concerned.

His gaze remained fixed on the design diagram.

"Just one insect’s skull short, and this apparatus would have been finally completed, what a pity."

"Luo Di, you aren’t thinking of..." Agatha smelled something unsettling.

"Of course not~ I’m not interested in this way of Demon Ascension, nor will I harm the innocent.

I’m just purely curious to see Kuleon’s Gate,

especially since he had signed the debt contract,

hidden for years in the foul-smelling sewage depths,

risked great danger to kill passing insects,

his body was already rotten before our fight, perhaps once he Ascends he would completely shake off his current body.

According to the parchment, external individuals should also be able to wear the skull and go to the [Gate] that exists between the apparatus and the Consciousness.

I plan to take a look,

if any problems arise with my body during that time, please destroy the apparatus immediately."

"Fine... Luo Di, you wanted this apparatus from the very beginning, right? That’s why you deliberately lured this guy out of the chamber and chose the sewer area for the killing."

"I want to see more, as many unique, different Gates of others as possible for inspiration."

"Hmm, go ahead. I will determine whether the apparatus needs to be destroyed based on the vibrations of the metal inside your body."

Luo Di approached the apparatus without any hesitation, while Agatha stood by, waiting silently.

As for Calen, he seemed rather sleepy, and simply fell asleep on the dirty and chaotic bed.