Chapter 852 - 722: The Thigh

Tombstone White Horse had no reaction at all to the noise outside, probably because she was wearing noise-canceling earplugs.

Li Cheng didn’t rush over. He chose instead to take the Skull Shattering Power Hammer from Gray Rain, and from a short distance away started pounding the crispy ground, sending out a regular pattern of vibration waves.

Tombstone White Horse wasn’t one of those Nine Dragons Pulling Coffin, steroid-up-the-brain, IQ-equals-border-collie Close Combat Transcendents,

she could at least read Morse code, that kind of basic skill, so she slowly came to a halt.

Seeing this, Li Cheng immediately rummaged through the Three-dimensional Warehouse and pulled out standard containers, soundproofing panels, fresh air units and other items,

and in no time at all used a container to set up a temporary little room on the spot that could block outside sound/smell.

"Phew, good thing I ran into you two."

Tombstone Sister yanked off the sack. Sure enough, she had an eye mask and earplugs on, with an oxygen bottle mouthpiece clamped between her teeth. She herself was basically fine, only her eyes were faintly bloodshot.

"What happened?"

Tombstone Sister wasn’t like a Joker, that kind of existence everyone hates and dogs avoid. Fans from the killing field were spread across every guild; plenty of people wanted to party up with her temporarily.

"Don’t mention it, we capsized in the gutter."

Tombstone White Horse let out a sigh and gave a concise rundown.

Any Player who could fight their way out of the Broken Land was no newbie, and they’d be especially cautious when picking temporary teammates. So in Tombstone Sister’s team there was a healer, a Mage, a shooter, a support, all high-level pros around Level 30.

On paper they shouldn’t have been able to fail, and they breezed through Inverted Hell and Killing Sin Hell.

But when they went down to the third floor, things went south fast.

The temptation effect of Six Desires Heaven and Earth Hell hits from all directions; even cutting off all senses barely holds it back.

People started taking off their masks one after another, leaving the team, hugging tree bark and going to town on it.

Tombstone White Horse had no choice but to step in herself, knocking them out and hauling them along.

The team kept losing people without any actual fighting, and in the end they muddled their way into a Demon City.

"Wait, you mean a Demon City?"

Li Cheng and Gray Rain exchanged a look. Aside from the native flora and fauna, this damned place actually had buildings?

"Yeah."

Tombstone White Horse unclipped a sports camera from her collar and tossed it over, her expression odd. "It really feels like... a trap tailored for Players."

The sports camera had built-in 3D projection. She hit replay, and immediately a grand castle appeared, wedged between cliffs and stretching endlessly into the distance.

————

Something was wrong, seriously wrong.

Hansel from the Mechanical War Thunder guild was gliding down a wide corridor in a two-meter-tall Power Exoskeleton, the helmet filled with the sound of her own heavy breathing.

The checkerboard black-and-white marble floor was smooth as a mirror, reflecting the iron chandeliers and candelabras burning with candlelight,

the corridor twisting and complex. Through the stained-glass windows she could see soaring spires outside and half-arched flying buttresses; the whole castle seemed to extend to infinity.

And that was basically the truth. The castle sat right on the edge of Six Desires Heaven and Earth Hell, with cliffs of food on both sides that looked like they should be entrances to the next floor of Hell.

"President, Grant... respond if you hear this, respond if you hear this, OVER."

The red-haired girl called softly, but the comms channel held nothing but the static of electromagnetic interference.

Tap tap tap.

A jumble of footsteps sounded at a bend in the corridor. Hansel looked around. There were humanoid suits of Armor in the corners serving as decorations, but wearing a Power Exoskeleton she definitely couldn’t hide inside them,

so she could only sneak along the ornate reliefs, climb up a pillar, press herself flat against the ceiling, and thumb a button at her waist.

The Power Exoskeleton activated Optical Camouflage, blending her into the murals.

"Grab it!"

"Don’t let it run!"

Three Players with bloodshot eyes laughed as they slammed a fleeing skeleton monster to the ground and smashed its bones.

Clang.

The skeleton dissolved into ash, and three round clay pots sealed with leather dropped on the spot.

[Item Name: Corruption Element Pot *3]

[Type: Consumable Items (single use only)]

[Quality: Perfect]

[Special Effect: Corruption Bloom. Shatters automatically upon being thrown, infecting all nearby targets with a corruption plague that continuously reduces physical/magic/Spiritual Energy resistance, temporarily deducting maximum Spiritual Power Value and Sanity Value (exact amount depends on target Life Strength)]

[Consumption: 9 Physical Value]

[Cooling Time: None]

[Note: Shit?!]

Ignoring the meaningless Note, this Corruption Element Pot did live up to the effects a Perfect quality consumption item should have. Even a Level 40 powerhouse who accidentally got a tiny bit on them would have their max Spiritual Power and Sanity cut.

Three clay pots—one for each of them, just right.

The three stowed the Elemental Pots in their Backpack and continued down the corridor. The atmosphere between them seemed friendly enough, but their formation and posture made it obvious they were all guarding against each other, ready for a backstab.

The footsteps grew distant, then faded away completely. Only then did Hansel let out a long breath, cancel her Optical Camouflage, slowly climb down from the ceiling, and start talking into the recorder to herself,

"Time 19:36. I still haven’t re-established contact with the vice-president or the others. This Demon City at the very end of Six Desires Heaven and Earth Hell is endless, full of all kinds of monsters inside, with Challenge Levels ranging from Level 5 to Level 30.

If you kill them, you can get items and Equipment: Ordinary, Rare, Fine, and even Perfect and Epic.

I personally saw a Level 31 monk from GOC brutally slaughter several Players who wanted a cut, claiming that loot should be shared—

The gains in Demon City are richer than the rewards for S-Class high-difficulty missions,

and the Netherworld Purgatory setting where you resurrect after death magnifies the greed in human nature. After all, murdering people here doesn’t come with any consequences.

All that crap people were spouting on the surface about sincere cooperation and coexistence turned out to be nothing but bullshit."

Hansel paused, then lowered her voice. "I have serious reason to suspect that Demon City is very likely the Fourth Floor of Hell itself, inheriting the Six Desire Heavens’ amplification of the senses and using greed to lure Players into staying.

As time goes on, their mental state deteriorates faster and faster..."

Beep, beep.

Just as she was speaking, the radar pinged the coordinates of a teammate, displaying them as a red dot on the map in her AR glasses.

Hansel was overjoyed, hugging the floor as she glided forward, and arrived at a circular hall.

The ceiling there was incredibly high. The Infinite Justice Mecha was crouching on the ground, and Blood Lion Roar was sitting on the mecha’s head, chewing on something with noisy bites.

"Oh, Hansel, you’re here."

Using his AR glasses as well, Blood Lion Roar spotted his teammate approaching. He tilted his head slightly, the mirror of his shades reflecting the red-haired girl’s hesitant steps.

"Vice-president, where’s my brother and the others?"

Hansel asked in a low voice.

"Let me think... they should’ve, gotten separated."

Blood Lion Roar turned around and held out the food in his hand. The angle of his sunglasses shifted, revealing his blood-red eyes. "Want something to eat?"

Hansel’s pupils shrank sharply. What he was holding was clearly a leg.

A roasted leg, with tattoos still on it.