Deep in the Living
Chapter 391 - 379: Deep Dive

Chapter 391: Chapter 379: Deep Dive

[Time rewinds to one hour ago]

The team was still exploring the last street.

Upon seeing the streetlight with a broken bulb, unable to illuminate,

Gah!

The Crow Colt cawed,

Luo Di immediately inserted his tentacles into the Crow Colt’s body to share its vision,

What he saw was unknown until the moment,

the most unique presence among the Seven Demon Kings as the Spine User, the Eye of Hell, the eye given by Oculus, exceeded imagination in its effects.

This visual effect was not found in the Corner, it was a special perspective unique to Hell.

The vision presented a dull gray color, with ashes falling within the field of view.

All hidden materials would manifest under the ashes,

including the hidden paper at the sewer entrance, the red blood-written words within the paper, and the existence associated with this redness.

The clown had arrived... just hiding somewhere here, waiting to act.

When Luo Di was about to share this important piece of information, his peripheral vision caught something, and he moved his eyes towards a nearby building.

Ashes drifted with the vision, floating into the building through the window cracks, letting Luo Di glimpse a harelip boy drawing with chalk on the ground.

’Unexpectedly hiding two monsters here... Does the clown know that we are under heavy surveillance by the General Administration, and thus call for help?

He must have full confidence to risk coming over to target me, the specific reason is unknown, but no need to involve Yu Ze and Miss Youzhen.

Just one monster, the clown, could kill the three of us, let alone with another monster joining, surviving until support arrives is impossible.

This is the only way... believe Yu Ze with Miss Youzhen will surely survive.

As for my own matters, I’ll handle them myself.’

Luo Di quickly made a decision,

when Yu Ze asked if the Crow Colt saw the clown, he did not verbally answer, just gestured that there was no danger, and actively bypassed Yu Ze, the "captain," to retrieve the paper at the sewer entrance alone.

This reckless behavior was naturally observed by Yu Ze, and he made plans in his mind.

...

The event inside Regent Hotel ended,

Luo Di, unlike Yu Ze, wasn’t trapped in the guest room, locked in a monster-made inherent space, but easily twisted open the door lock and returned to the hotel lobby.

Yet, the previously standing boss at the counter was nowhere to be seen, the entire floor appeared lifeless,

Not only that,

even Yu Ze and Youzhen following behind Luo Di appeared lifeless, walking without a hint of liveliness.

As Luo Di stepped down the hotel stairs,

The "teammates" did not follow down,

They merely waved goodbye mechanically at the stair’s edge.

When Luo Di turned and looked again past the staircase, the teammates were gone, only two red balloons floating in their place.

Whew...

A deep breath.

Luo Di already closed his eyes, the surface of his eyelids crawling with various tentacles, his vision blocked and filtered, no longer influenced by the thoughts of the red balloons.

The Crow Colt not standing directly on his shoulder, now swallowed by Luo Di, lips slightly parted, vaguely visible the pitch-black beak and a dark eyeball.

Walking down the stairs, leaving the building.

Returning to the original broken streetlight below.

Buzz!

The sound of the ballast came from above, the originally broken streetlight surprisingly repaired.

But the light cast was red, brighter red than other streetlights.

The red light illuminated not only the present, but also an additional street,

a street facing Regent Hotel, a street previously unexplored - "Fifth Street," a street glowing with crimson light.

Facing the suddenly appearing deep red street, any fool could see the problem, see the extra space created by the clown’s ability.

Once stepping inside, one might completely lose themselves, possibly leaving the current corner region, even Exploration Bureau’s support arriving might not find Luo Di.

But right now, it seems this is the only street left to choose.

Because the streets on either side of Luo Di were already blocked, the previous wandering pedestrians gathered, forming a human wall structure, forcing Luo Di to choose the red street ahead.

Their faces, covered with black hair, faintly emitted red light, vaguely visible the face of a balloon.

Luo Di didn’t opt for a massacre to carve a bloody path.

Nor did he attempt to speedily breach the human wall, escape from here.

He just calmly walked forward, moved toward the newly emerged red street.

Or perhaps, he had other ideas.

The street suffused by red light did not differ much from before,

except all pedestrians here held a balloon, every streetlight draped over with a balloon, every shop interior floated a balloon.

The only place on this street devoid of balloon elements was - [Bus Stop]

The old-fashioned bus stop sign stood there, painted with white paint displaying the station name and the bus numbers that would pass by.

Of course, both the name and numbers were scrambled, unclear.

Luo Di’s purpose was clear, he arrived before the sign, paused slightly.

Sure enough, not long waited before an old-fashioned bus crept in, its open front door facing Luo Di.

Stepping upon the steps into the cold bus compartment, as if stepping into a separately opened iron casket for Luo Di.

Inside the bus lit by incandescent lamps,

No ticket collector,

No passengers,

Not even a driver,

No red-related elements temporarily,

Luo Di boarded the bus, as usual sitting by the window at the rear seat.

The vehicle quickly started, carrying Luo Di the passenger towards the depths of the street. Passing through the street, Luo Di had the exact same feeling as when leaving the train station earlier.

The bus had left the current corner region, heading inward.

The outside scene became completely pitch-black, seemingly horizontally but actually vertically moving deeper. The bus would reach the very depth of the corner, even deeper than Exploration Bureau Headquarters.

When Luo Di’s gaze shifted from the window back to the compartment.

A passenger had appeared on the row of seats across.

Mushroom head, white shirt, familiar suspenders, and round-headed leather shoes grounded.

Seeing the clown, Luo Di rather felt relieved.

At least the clown’s diversion meant Yu Ze and others only needed to deal with one monster, only needed to hold long enough until help arrived.

Luo Di took the initiative to start a conversation:

"You clearly know our corner exploration is under the watch of the Exploration Bureau? You could completely wait until my regular exploration later on to come trouble.

Why so persistent, why so urgent?"

As Luo Di asked this, the clown sitting in front had vanished, simultaneously a strange sensation came from beside.

Someone sat beside him, arm tightly pressed.

Only the sensation passed from the arm was strange, lacking that soft-hard balance of human flesh, but like pressed on a taut cold balloon surface.

Furthermore,

Their head was rotating steadily.

Like wound up, gradually rotating, turning 90° and staring at Luo Di.

A face painted in red and white,

Smile stretched to utmost extent,

Facial muscles kept tight.

Just stared at Luo Di at such close range, without verbal expression, only staring like this.

Though Luo Di blocked his vision, filtered red, he clearly felt this discordant smile, sensed this intensely familiar smile buried deep within his memories.

In an instant,

A deeply buried memory surged, seemingly returning to fifteen, back to that summer day.

Luo Di, then an ordinary person, stood at the doorway, looked at the blood-red interior of the house, looked at the similarly smiling clown,

He was not afraid,

Instead, glaring with Red Vein Through the Eye pupils, fiercely looking at the opponent, transmitting an extremely intense obsession from every part of his body.

[I will definitely kill you!]