NOVGO.NET Chapter 546 - 401: Do Not Make Direct Contact, or You Will Be Unconsciously Assimilated
The dim, yellow light flickered in the night wind, casting indistinct shadows over everything around the pit.
It was as if countless eyes, hidden in the darkness, were spying on their every move.
Inside the pit, two humanoid monsters that looked as if they had been flayed alive stood rigidly still.
Their bodies were stiff and twisted,
like fiends that had crawled up from the depths of Hell,
forcibly bound to this small patch of ground by some evil and mysterious power.
Their chins were raised, their hollow eye sockets like two bottomless black holes,
exuding a bone-chilling, deathly silence.
Blood oozed from within their sockets, trickling slowly down their ghastly cheeks.
It pooled on the ground in a dark red puddle, filling the air with a nauseating, metallic stench.
They just stared intently at the people standing at the edge of the pit,
their vacant gazes carrying a kind of invisible Curse that made one shudder uncontrollably.
Merely being watched by them gave one the disorienting feeling that their soul was being dragged into an endless, dark abyss.
Zheng Bolan, Zheng Xuezhen, Zheng Qifeng, and Xiang Xiufang—the family of four—stood at the edge of the pit.
Witnessing this utterly horrifying scene, they felt a bone-deep chill shoot up from the soles of their feet to the crowns of their heads.
It was as if they had been violently thrown from the sweltering heat of summer into the freezing depths of a polar wasteland.
Even the night wind now felt as cruel and unforgiving as a blade of ice,
cutting at their faces and bodies and making them tremble uncontrollably.
Even Zheng Xuezhen, who was usually timid and afraid of ghosts,
was so terrified by the horrific scene that all color drained from her face, her lips turning deathly pale.
Her throat felt as if it were being squeezed by an invisible hand, and she was too frightened to even scream.
She could only stare wide-eyed in terror at the sight before her, her expression filled with despair and helplessness.
"The soil here... it wasn’t like this a moment ago..."
The foreman in charge of supervising the construction site was trembling so violently he sounded as if he’d been scared out of his wits by the eerie atmosphere.
His face was ashen, and large beads of sweat rolled down his forehead,
splattering on the ground at his feet and kicking up tiny bursts of mud.
His body instinctively recoiled a few steps in fear,
trying to distance himself from the terrifying pit, but his legs felt as heavy as lead.
Every step was an immense struggle.
"Just now, the soil here was just a little strange. No matter how much we dug, we couldn’t get any deeper.
And even when we piled the excavated soil to the side, the ground level never seemed to get any lower.
But now, after just a short while, how did it end up looking like it’s been soaked in blood?
And how did it get so damned weird?"
His eyes were filled with terror and confusion, and his voice held the hint of a sob.
Goto Taiji stood to the side, his expression dangerously grim.
His gaze slowly swept over the group of Samurai and Ninja standing beside him, a hint of authority and coldness in his eyes.
"What do you make of this?"
His voice echoed in the silent night air, carrying an intangible pressure.
"There must be a great deal of terrifying and Mysterious Power lying dormant beneath this area."
A tall, stern-faced Samurai stepped forward, clasped his fists, and spoke respectfully.
His eyes betrayed a sense of gravity and vigilance;
he could already feel the evil aura hidden deep underground.
"However, this also proves our survey was heading in the right direction.
The thing we’re looking for is right under this land.
But right now, our immediate priority is to resolve this bizarre situation
so the workers can resume their jobs."
"And those two? Can they be saved?"
Goto Taiji’s brow furrowed slightly. He narrowed his eyes behind his fine glasses,
his gaze fixed on his two subordinates, who had become utterly grotesque and hair-raising figures in the pit.
His eyes held not a trace of pity or sympathy,
only a calm, cold assessment, as if he were evaluating the value and usability of an object.
"Looking at them... I’d say they’re done for,"
a Ninja said softly, already accustomed to such horrific scenes. "We can’t sense any life fluctuations from them,
only a Mysterious Power that is constantly growing and spreading.
Moreover, the Mysterious Power on their bodies is gradually becoming more concentrated.
They’ve been completely eroded and controlled by that evil force."
"Then take them out."
Goto Taiji’s expression was as cold as winter ice,
showing no pain at the thought of his companions having turned into such bizarre monstrosities,
or that they would now have to be eliminated by their own side.
In his eyes, everything was merely a pawn to be sacrificed for the sake of achieving his goal.
"Consider them casualties in the line of duty.
We’ll send a generous compensation package to their families."
His tone was detached and final, radiating a profound, ruthless chill.
The moment Goto Taiji finished speaking, several Samurai and Ninja leaped into the pit without hesitation.
The Samurai were agile and nimble.
They swiftly drew their gleaming Samurai Swords,
the blades glinting coldly in the dim light.
They swung and slashed at the air a few times,
as if trying to dispel their own fear and the eerie presence that permeated the air.