Deep in the Living
Chapter 392 - 380 Flower

Chapter 392: Chapter 380 Flower

The engine rumbled with an asthmatic growl beneath the chassis, propelling the tin can-like bus forward.

Sitting in the last row, Luo Di recalled the scene he had selectively forgotten, when he was just a fifteen-year-old boy, still an ordinary person.

Faced with the monster slaughtering his community and killing his family,

faced with this clown that exuded Fear all over,

fifteen-year-old Luo Di was not scared, not controlled by Fear. A primal anger, rooted deep within his soul, instantly filled his mind, veins crawling over his eyes.

This intense will was evidently received by the clown, who feigned surprise and even pretended to be afraid.

But when Luo Di wanted to step through the door, the clown made a goodbye gesture.

In an instant, the spot where the clown was standing became a red balloon,

and in the next second, footsteps echoed from the stairwell as numerous investigators flooded in, shielding Luo Di behind them.

...

"Because I said I would kill you, is that why you’re so anxious? Afraid that I’ll succeed in reaching the Exploration Bureau Headquarters, completing the pituitary’s structural sprouting, breaking through to the next stage, and then becoming a threat to you.

That’s why you have to preemptively snuff me out.

Turns out you’re this cowardly, this useless."

Luo Di employed the acting skills and verbal prowess he had honed from the Evil Play, trying to disturb and provoke the other with words.

However,

the clown sitting next to him remained in the same posture, maintaining the same stretched smile without any emotional fluctuation, and did not make a move to kill Luo Di.

Seeing the unresponsive clown, Luo Di felt reassured instead.

Such a powerful and never-exposed monster should have such emotional control. If a few words could provoke it, it would have long died in the Human World, or perished in the Corner Depths.

Or perhaps,

Luo Di’s speculation was entirely wrong,

This mysterious clown seemed only to want to take Luo Di to the "residential," with a seemingly completely different purpose, one that Luo Di couldn’t fathom.

Since verbal taunts were ineffective, Luo Di stopped speaking and quietly took the ride.

Feeling the bus delve deeper, he was not too nervous himself, as if he too wanted to take this opportunity to see further into the depths.

Even if the depths this bus was headed to were deeper than the Exploration Bureau Headquarters, even if it was in the heart of monster activity.

Thus,

inside the bus, a peculiar balance was maintained.

The two "people" pressed their bodies together, sitting in the last row of the bus for this unique journey.

Luo Di’s eyes remained closed, relying only on the Crow in his mouth to provide a special ashen vision. More than an hour passed, and the outside darkness gradually lightened.

The depths had been reached, and the scene began to appear.

Luo Di had expected to appear in a dense residential area or a street full of skyscrapers, but what appeared was instead a country road.

The dirt road was just wide enough for the bus to drive on, transmitting a strong sense of bumpiness through the seat.

No buildings could be seen, not even rural bungalows.

On either side of the road were either tall weeds or ponds choked with water plants, pure wilderness.

Pitter-patter~

Outside, rain fell neither too hard nor too soft,

the sky was thick with clouds, obscuring stars and the moon, uncertain if such things even existed there.

The clown who had been sitting closely beside Luo Di stood up and left.

Wearing round-toed shoes, he walked straight to the front of the bus, taking the driver’s seat and personally driving. The upcoming path seemed to require a route change, heading to a completely secret area.

Luo Di still did not make any move; he was waiting, seemingly for the right moment.

Suddenly,

the clown sharply turned the steering wheel, and the bus veered into the thick grass on the side, the intense bumping nearly sending Luo Di flying into the ceiling.

The grass was taller than the vehicle itself, blocking all the windows,

Swish swish swish ~

Among the grass brushing the windows, Luo Di glimpsed bizarre shapes.

There seemed to be other things entwined in the tall grass, like human fingers, extremely elongated fingers, or severed strips of flesh.

After driving for over ten minutes, they finally broke through the tall grass.

There was still no sign of a city,

but in front of the bus, a building appeared,

like an amusement park long abandoned and falling into disrepair.

Upon seeing such a structure, Luo Di didn’t need to sense it himself; his tongue thrashed violently, the sound of tongue clicks stifled by his clamped mouth.

’Is this the clown’s "residential"? Located in the wild, not in the urban area?

This must be a special kind of residential. Entering it would mean certain death.

It’s time...’

Sitting in the last row, Luo Di stood up, his size forty-five shoes stepping near the driver’s seat, his right hand on the knife handle.

The clown driving seemed completely unaware, still focused on the road.

The chainsaw blade, raised high, was poised above his head.

[Slash]

The instant the blade fell,

Luo Di’s consciousness suddenly trembled, as if performing a magic trick... Buzz! Crow Colt’s vision was forcibly shut, turning into the most ordinary eyeball vision.

His eyes opened at an unknown time,

And instead of holding a handle, he found himself gripping a steering wheel tightly.

Indeed... A ’replacement phenomenon’ similar to the one on the train happened again.

But this time, it wasn’t just a head switch; it was a whole-body exchange.

Luo Di became the clown in the driver’s seat,

He tried to move his hands away but found his palms were stuck tightly to the steering wheel, and when he tried to activate Old Spine and the pituitary, he realized these things weren’t on his body at all.

Through the rearview mirror,

"Himself" was standing in the back, with the handle placed back at the waist.

Although Old Spine had slight movement, it was completely suppressed by a bunch of balloon strings.

’Another consciousness exchange.

This time I didn’t even look directly at the clown, yet it still happened. My consciousness was transferred into his body, and the clown occupied mine.

As expected.

Observation isn’t the only trigger for the clown’s calamity. Physical contact from before in the back seat also counts, or maybe an undetected part of the calamity remains in my body, ready for a consciousness swap at any time.

This ability is currently unsolvable for me. To kill this guy, at the very least, I have to wait until the door opens. However...’

Luo Di remained unflustered; he first tried to shift the steering wheel, finding it locked, with the vehicle driving straight toward the abandoned amusement park.

With less than a kilometer distance, entering the opponent’s residence would be truly troublesome.

At this moment, the clown was controlling Luo Di’s body, hands pressed on the seat back, maintaining a smile.

He seemed to be admiring Luo Di’s driving skills,

Imagining what to do with Luo Di after taking him back,

Appearing expectant of Luo Di’s extreme display of fear,

However.

At this moment, Luo Di in the driver’s seat gradually closed his eyes,

Though his body was taken, with actions deprived and restricted,

His mind remained free...

He began to seriously recollect, to ponder, to long for someone.

This longing became clearer in the current Corner Depths, closer, within reach.

Luo Di could clearly feel something approaching.

"Mr. Di..."

A voice like flower nectar stained Luo Di’s thoughts.

The next second.

The clown felt something strange,

The Luo Di body he occupied seemed to become itchy, as if something were welling up and growing deep within the flesh.

Raising his hand to look.

The pores on the arm appeared to be enlarging, becoming the size of beans.

Not just the arm,

The body, legs, and even the face were the same.

And under these dense holes, it seemed something was growing,

A meat-colored plant,

The stalk carrying the budding flowers slowly rose between pores,

So numerous, so dense, so strange.

A sense of foreboding, a powerful sense of crisis was perceived by the clown. He resolutely abandoned control of Luo Di’s body, once again switching their consciousnesses through some trick.

Unwilling to bear any unknown risks, he chose to jump from the car upon returning to the driver’s seat.

Landing stably on the ground led by balloons, his vision remained fixed on the bus driver’s seat, watching Luo Di blooming inside.

The clown tilted his head, unable to comprehend this transformation.

He could feel Luo Di being killed, with every nutrient in his flesh being drained and exhausted.

This pain was probably unbearable for an ordinary human, even slightly more brutal than the methods he envisaged for killing Luo Di.

However,

Looking through the car window,

Luo Di, covered with flowers, waved at him, even with a similar smile, a murderous smile.

In the next second,

The uncontrolled bus crashed toward the abandoned amusement park,

Without exploding,

Soon after the crash, beautiful flowers of various colors burgeoned inside the bus, breaking through windows, adorning the entire bus.

Such a flowered vehicle was so beautiful in the rainy night, as if it had become a part of the amusement park.

Moreover,

These flowers, after sipping the rainwater, continued to spread, as if they were about to invade this amusement park.

The clown didn’t hurry to clear the flowers but reopened the driver’s door to check the situation. Inside, there was no trace of Luo Di, only a thoroughly perforated, completely drained Skin.