Chapter 854 - 724: Thigh

The lively and catchy Indian dance music echoed endlessly in the corridor. Li Cheng nodded his head back and forth, touched the ground with the tip of his toes, raised his palm high, and inexplicably spun in place, stopping Hansel and Tombstone, "Wait, don’t chase a desperate enemy."

"That’s the vice president..." Hansel exclaimed anxiously.

"I know," Li Cheng shrugged, "Don’t forget that if you push him too hard, the mecha can still self-destruct."

The Demon City, located at the end of the Six Desires Heaven and Earth Hell, seems to have inherited the effect of inducing desires from its predecessor, mainly transforming desires such as appetite into greed.

People die for wealth, birds die for food. A group of greed-driven Level 30s is terrifying to think about—even more so since they won’t really die.

"Oh right,"

Li Cheng thought of something and asked Hansel, "Why were the others affected, but not you?"

"Well..." Hansel pointed to his head and smiled wryly, "I’ve undergone a deep genetic modification surgery within a near-future sci-fi script world to pilot the Late Bell Mecha. On a physiological level, I can’t produce various desires and need to regularly inject multiple hormones.

What about you guys..."

Gray Rain raised a hand proudly, "I’m a cyborg."

"No need to sound so proud."

Li Cheng rubbed his forehead and casually explained, "I have an item that can isolate mental interference, and with my assembly skills, I put a second layer of insurance on me and Tombstone."

The protective suit that Tombstone is currently wearing looks simple but actually has external visual, auditory, and tactile sensors,

The collected information first goes through a minor-friendly internet filter and is then fed to Tombstone Sister through the Assembly Puppet’s data lines, trying to minimize Demon City’s influence.

"Wait, can this method be applied to others?" Hansel was stunned for a moment and hurriedly said, "To free more people from its influence."

"I’m afraid not." Li Cheng shook his head, "Tombstone is a special case. She is usually very pure and has no hobbies or greed other than exercising."

"That’s actually not true." White Horse Tombstone interrupted, scratching her head a bit embarrassedly, "I like collecting Adidas stuff."

There’s a former Soviet Union proverb, "Adidas trefoil, never sprain while dancing."

She has several cabinets of Adidas sportswear and sneakers in her slum apartment, putting on the trefoil and going to the park to squat on the curb, drinking a bottle of vodka all day long, to relieve the psychological stress after completing a script task.

"Anyway, let’s explore the surroundings first."

Li Cheng launched a small reconnaissance drone, "There’s no intelligence on Demon City in the forums. Whether rescuing other players or finding the first layer of Six Desires Heaven, we need to find out ourselves."

————

At the same time, at the bottom of Netherworld Purgatory.

Unlike the oppressive and terrifying upper space, this place is serene and cool, with a stream flowing gently through a scarlet flowerbed.

The stream emits a faint green light, with each tiny glowing dot being the soul of a living creature. Birds and beasts, apes and insects. Trapped within, motionless.

Splish-splash.

At the end of the stream, gravity reverses, the water gracefully rising, forming a water ripple gate over a hundred feet tall.

"...Are we sure we must leave?"

A hoarse and raspy voice sounded. A giant crocodile, standing upright with scales engraved in a galaxy pattern, stared directly with its vertical pupils at a man with a raven’s head and human body, wearing a wool coat.

Beside the water ripple gate, dozens of figures stood indistinctly. If there were players proficient in global mysticism here, they’d surely be shocked.

The crocodile with galaxy-pattern scales is the ancestral croc from Oceanian Indigenous mythology;

The man with the raven’s head and human body is Amon, ranked seventh among Solomon’s 72 Pillar Demon Gods;

Next to them, the girl on the brown bear is the Goddess from American Indian mythology;

"My authority includes insight into the past and foresight of the future,"

Amon, with a monocle on his raven head, spoke leisurely, "The future holds tens of thousands of possibilities. In the vast majority of scenarios, the top of the Four Realms Mountain needs us more."

"Even if it means abandoning our station here?"

The ancestor croc spoke softly, "The third layer of Four Realms Mountain is a one-way passage; those Summoners can directly transit from the second layer [Netherworld Purgatory] to the fourth layer [Mirror Earth].

If we leave, it’s like allowing the Summoners to pass."

"Just a minor issue."

Amon replied coolly, "The key is always the struggle among the strongest. Besides... beneath Demon City, there’s ’that thing’."

With that, he lifted a leg and stepped through the stream’s rippling surface.

————

"Such a huge leg, such a big thigh."

Li Cheng used an outdoor barbecue tong to pick up a charred leg from the carpet, still bearing the tooth marks of a Blood Lion Roar, and commented, "Juicy, pure meat flavor, Maillard reaction just right, the cross-section of fat shows marble patterns.

This is what I call knowing how to enjoy food."

Perhaps Li Cheng’s tone was too bizarre, Hansel couldn’t help but tug at Tombstone Sister’s sleeve, "Uh, Mr. Pi Fu doesn’t plan to eat it, does he?"

"No," Tombstone Sister hesitated, her tone wavering, "He shouldn’t... right?"

Of course, Li Cheng wouldn’t continue eating,

It’s cold already, and reheating would make the meat tough.

He picked up the leg mainly to analyze its origin.

"Protein damaged by high heat, hard to read the genes, but this tattoo... there should be related records in the database."

Li Cheng mumbled to himself, as tattoos often help identify deceased soldiers on the battlefield, "Found it, it’s from [Midnight Club] guild’s... Midnight Dad?"

This fellow, he encountered in a space ship Werewolf game. But it was complete roleplay mode, and the player group was represented by their doppelgangers, theoretically not actually acquainted.

"If I remember correctly, Midnight Dad should be a Level 33 from the United States? A Haitian immigrant specializing in Voodoo witchcraft."

Tombstone Sister scratched her head, realizing, "Wait, in Netherworld Purgatory, players who die have their bodies turn to ash, then resurrect and revive in the upper layers.

This leg hasn’t disappeared, proving Midnight Dad is still alive, somewhere in Demon City."

"Correct. And he likely still retains consciousness, managed to hide despite missing a leg. Not swayed by Demon City’s influence."

As Li Cheng spoke, he took out a micro motor, artificial muscles, and an Electronic Eye, "We need to find him now."

He forcibly assembled various items on the leg, then donned the [Mercy Soul Song] gloves and slapped the leg stump, exclaiming, "Resurrect!"

Crackle—

The roasted leg, under the drive of artificial muscles and motor, suddenly bounced, standing upright.

The cutoff top rotated with two Electronic Eyes spinning around.

"WTF..." Hansel was so shocked at the bizarre scene he was dumbfounded, and Tombstone Sister couldn’t find words to comment.

"Go find your original body."

Li Cheng clapped his hands, the charred leg bent its knee, bounced twice, picked a direction, and leaped forward.