Deep in the Living
Chapter 538 - 520: Back Mountain

Chapter 538: Chapter 520: Back Mountain

Generally speaking, the backdoor of a mansion is bound to be simpler than the front door.

But the backdoor before Luo Di was very different: larger, more intricate, and more oppressive.

Due to the dense coverage and concealment of trees, it was impossible to see clearly from upstairs before.

The entire door was cast in copper, over twenty meters high, with seemingly regular but actually asymmetrical embossed patterns that instinctively made Luo Di keep his distance, as if touching the door would have a similar effect on him.

The walls on both sides were of the same height, and the gargoyles perched on them seemed to be activated, their eyes glowing red, watching towards the direction of the back mountain.

Moreover, the housekeeper who greeted everyone at the front door during the day, the one with the pine tree-neck, was now at the backdoor, causing the surrounding trees to bend, collectively forming a part of the backdoor.

"Are you really going out this late? And taking Mr. Di with you, do you need me to conceal this matter?"

The mistress just waved her hand, "No need for that, today was too rushed, I need to gather some more ingredients from the back mountain.

Luo Di came out with me voluntarily, mainly out of concern for my son’s dietary health, right?"

"Yes." Luo Di responded decisively.

"Then please be extra careful."

With a wave of the housekeeper’s hand, all the tree branches clustered at the backdoor were moved aside.

The mistress pressed her hand against the copper door with irregular patterns, causing some kind of internal mechanism to change.

Click! The heavy door swung open, but just enough for two people to pass through.

Without any further communication, the woman walked ahead, Luo Di following in step.

The oil lamp in his hand noticeably dimmed as they passed through the copper door, its illumination restricted to within ten meters.

Not only that, but Luo Di felt his own perception was also affected, his skin involuntarily breaking out in goosebumps, as if there was something extremely dangerous or unusual deep within the back mountain.

The oil lamp in his hand was also unusual, the oil it burned might be a special fuel scraped from every creature in the family, while the oil lamp itself was constructed from Corner materials, ensuring it wouldn’t be damaged by strong impacts.

After walking a short distance, the mistress’s voice softly resonated:

"This is your first night out, your first hunt in the back mountain, stay close to me. Don’t make a move unless I tell you to.

Every action must consider the issue of sound, if you attract calamity, I won’t help you."

"Understood."

No more reminders were given as they continued deeper.

Luo Di noticed details in the environment, all the trees growing in the back mountain leaned obviously toward the mansion, crooked as if fearing something.

The deeper they went, the less the plants were under the housekeeper’s control.

Whenever they encountered extinguished oil lamps in trees, the mistress would draw near, secreting a special human oil from her fingertips to relight them.

After roughly five minutes of walking,

even though no sound was heard, the mistress suddenly halted, making a gesture to lower their voices.

Her gaze penetrated between two trees, as if something was approaching in the pitch darkness.

"Up~"

The mistress made a climbing gesture, then touched the surface of a tree trunk.

Her flesh astonishingly melded directly into it, scaling the irregular bark patterns, her red dress flashing to the top of a thick branch, lurking silently.

Luo Di then began to move,

short, dense tentacles emerged from his palm, enabling him to climb trees without making any noise, quickly reaching the highest point of the trunk.

Together they focused their gaze downstream,

it seemed some animal was approaching. As it broke through the underbrush and the oil lamp hanging on the trunk revealed its form, Luo Di on the tree was slightly startled.

"Is this... a rabbit?"

A slightly larger-sized white-haired rabbit was just below, crouched in the spot where the two had just stood, seemingly sniffing out the scent left on the ground.

At that moment,

a sense of observation was directed at him.

The mistress on the opposite branch was staring at him, pointing at the rabbit below, her eyes communicating a command to handle it.

And it had to be quick—this rabbit was about to leave.

Due to restrictions, Luo Di had to handle it silently.

"Consciousness Slash" was clearly the best choice; using the momentum of jumping down could enhance the slash’s effect.

Without hesitation, he leapt down quickly.

About five meters away, Luo Di struck ahead of time, focusing his perception on the white-haired rabbit below, decapitation!

Buzz!

A faint outline of a blade could be seen in the dark, followed by a shallow slash mark forming on the ground, Luo Di consciously controlled his strength to avoid exceeding the noise limit.

Knee bent,

landing.

Yet Luo Di didn’t look at the ground, instead swiftly scanning the surrounding pitch-black forest... because his slash had missed, the rabbit had astonishingly sensed the approach of the Consciousness Slash and dodged swiftly at the last second.

Moreover, the rabbit didn’t flee; it was currently crouched on a nearby tree trunk, glaring at Luo Di with bright red eyes.

A sense of danger struck!

The rabbit suddenly exerted force with its four limbs, launching its body like a spring, flipping in the air to reveal its belly.

A human face was suddenly embedded in the belly,

with tentacles of bloody flesh protruding from its eye sockets and mouth, swaying in the air as if trying to wrap around Luo Di’s head.

Luo Di perceived that this head was the true form of the rabbit, containing an unformed strange pituitary.

"Slash!"

Another Consciousness Slash streaked through the air.

Another bizarre event occurred,

the rabbit pouncing through the air should not have been able to change its path,

yet those fleshy tentacles performed a horizontal thrust,

surprisingly pushing against space, causing the rabbit’s body to shift several centimeters, evading the slash.

One must know that the Consciousness Slash is invisible and extremely fast, yet both had been dodged.

Splat!

The rabbit climbed onto Luo Di’s face steadily,

and the fleshy tendrils instantly sought out any available openings to penetrate inward.

The growth speed was incredibly rapid, in less than a second it almost covered Luo Di’s entire body.

As these fleshy tendrils were about to reach the brain,

splat! A sound emanated from within the body.

Those tendrils were entangled by gray tentacles that had long lain in ambush within Luo Di, unable to advance further.

Ensuring sufficient contact area, one by one Hell Iron Wires wrapped around the target.

Hell activated.

Extremely high heat permeated through the most efficient conduction methods, scorching thoroughly.

A strong aroma of roasted meat quickly spread.

Luo Di grabbed the rabbit’s ears, along with the tentacles inserted into his body, and pulled the whole thing out.

Its fur was burnt off, and the flesh was a scorched red, evidently cooked.

But its appearance was nauseating, with the human face on its belly twisted in a pained and struggling expression, and from the eye sockets and mouth dangled tentacles steaming one by one on the ground.

Whoosh!

The mistress jumped down, looked at the well-preserved rabbit, nodded in affirmation, and put it into a black bag she carried with her.

"Not bad, that’s the way. Try to maintain integrity as much as possible, don’t damage the pituitary. Getting it right the first time is truly impressive."

At this moment, Luo Di was no longer silent, curiosity driving him to ask softly, "The essence of this rabbit is a monster’s head, with a fully formed brain structure inside.

But its pituitary is no longer confined by the brain, breaking through the brain and skull, forming a structure similar to rabbit fur.

The presented ’rabbit form’ evolved from the pituitary,

its aura is unlike that of a monster,

more chaotic, more feral, with a kind of fear that differs from that in the Middle Layer, a deeper fear, though faint, but I can feel it.

This doesn’t seem like a mutation caused by a disaster but something coming from the depths of the Corner.

This rabbit is probably the simplest type of creature from the back mountain, there must be more troublesome wild animals in the depths, what exactly are these things?"

Perhaps due to Luo Di’s exceptional performance in capturing the rabbit, the mistress became slightly more congenial and explained:

"You’re very clever, worthy of someone who has encountered essence events ahead of time.

You probably have the answer in your heart, after all, your mind contains related things, take a bold guess."

"The Dungeon... the entrance is here?"

The mistress’s asymmetrical mouth revealed a symmetrical smile at this moment,

"Yes~ Otherwise, our family couldn’t afford such a large piece of land, this place is essentially a gift from the Corner to our family, with the condition that we suppress and manage the dungeon entrance.

Of course,

this is just one of the entrances."

"The rabbit earlier was a dungeon creature, accidentally escaped?"

"No... these losers who ventured deep into the dungeon, completely became slaves to the dungeon. The dungeon processes these losers based on the environment around the ’entrance,’ forming biological forms that match the environment.

Usually called ’inferior creatures.’

These inferior creatures must be periodically cleaned and controlled,

otherwise, if they run rampant, the Middle Layer will become completely chaotic, just as chaotic as when our family first arrived in the Middle Layer.

Fortunately, my husband, as long as he’s home, these things won’t be able to overrun the mansion even if we forget to handle them for a long time.

Keep going, this rabbit is not enough! We need to get at least one bigger one back."