EDEH Chapter 88.2

His brain gradually became blank from lack of oxygen. Just when he thought he was going to die, his neck suddenly loosened and air rushed in.

 

Hao Hui fell to the ground, covering his neck and breathing heavily: “Cough cough—”

 

Huo Yanji didn’t even look at him, saying coldly: “Continue forward!”

 

Hao Hui didn’t think twice before getting up and following Huo Yanji’s team. He was just an ordinary person with no combat experience – if left alone, he would surely die.

 

The group rested in the shallow cave for a night, roasting some food to recover their strength.

 

The air was extremely cold and damp, the red firelight flickering on and off, the surrounding shadows stretched and distorted, like elusive ghostly figures.

 

Hao Hui asked: “Are we just going to hide here forever?”

 

Huo Yanji didn’t even look at him.

 

Saiya kindly answered: “After resting, we’ll look for other exits. We can’t stay here long.”

 

That’s what he said, but Hao Hui couldn’t sleep at all.

 

He couldn’t help but mutter: “I have a wife and children. My youngest child is only three years old. If I die here, they won’t have a father…”

 

“If they don’t have a father, they can still live well,” Huo Yanji said coldly.

 

He had already taken off his gloves, his arms resting on his knees, warming himself by the fire.

 

Hao Hui’s expression stiffened: “Having a father is definitely better.”

 

Saiya said: “Now over ninety-five percent of people don’t have fathers, let alone mothers. After receiving collective education in the underground city and coming to the surface, only a small portion of children have the chance to be adopted. The rest all enter collective schools until they reach adulthood and begin living independently.”

 

Hao Hui: “…”

 

Saiya continued: “And almost everyone who chooses to come to the surface essentially loses the right to become fathers or mothers.”

 

Surface radiation could no longer threaten adults, but that didn’t mean it had disappeared.

 

Children born on the surface had a high probability of congenital defects or weakness, and the mother’s body was extremely dangerous.

 

Of course, Hao Hui, who lived in the underground city and seemed to live a normal life, would probably find it hard to empathize.

 

Hao Hui smiled stiffly: “Then if I die, there won’t even be anyone to say my last words to.”

 

Saiya: “…”

 

This idiot really knew how to talk.

 

Hao Hui’s nerves were extremely tense. The flickering firelight appeared and disappeared, his back was ice-cold, and he kept looking back uneasily, feeling that monsters would suddenly appear.

 

Hao Hui asked: “Don’t you have anyone you can’t bear to leave behind?”

 

Saiya said stiffly: “No.”

 

He only had friends and comrades, nothing he couldn’t bear to leave. He had liked quite a few people before, but never took the initiative.

 

First, he was afraid he might suddenly die someday, and second, he was afraid the other person might suddenly die someday.

 

Life and death separation was the most common and easily caused tragedy of this era.

 

Hao Hui tentatively looked at Huo Yanji: “Does the general also have no one to worry about?”

 

Huo Yanji turned his hand over, his eyes calm, saying nothing.

 

The campfire light passed through his skin, his palm glowing red. Several days ago, he had used these hands at the training ground to gently stroke a certain tail, comforting a certain little evil dragon who didn’t want to separate.

 

Just when Hao Hui thought Huo Yanji wouldn’t answer, he suddenly heard a cold “Yes.”

 

“That’s nice,” Hao Hui murmured. “Having someone to worry about makes you want to do everything possible to get home.”

 

Of course.

 

Huo Yanji had to go home, otherwise a certain little evil dragon would probably keep his promise and go on a killing spree.

 

The thing Huo Yanji regretted most in his life, and possibly the only thing he regretted, was provoking a little monster. Knowing he shouldn’t have, he still coaxed the creature to his side, like boiling a frog in warm water, developing it into an improper relationship.

 

Having provoked it, he should take responsibility to the end.

 

One night passed.

 

The deviant who went to scout returned, reporting in a low voice: “Sir, about five meters further down from ground level, the oxygen concentration hasn’t decreased either.”

 

Saiya immediately said: “The cave very likely has other exits.”

 

This news wasn’t necessarily good. Even if they avoided the worm swarm and found other exits, that side would still be in the mountain fire, unless this cave was several square kilometers large and the exit on the other side had a chance of being safe.

 

But they had to move. The smoke under the flashlight’s white light had thickened another degree. It was only a matter of time before it filled the cave. As long as the mountain fire didn’t stop, the air would eventually be exhausted.

 

After walking for twenty minutes, everyone encountered two fork paths. The soldier leading couldn’t decide and asked: “Sir, which way?”

 

Huo Yanji raised his hand, signaling for quiet.

 

He listened carefully for a while, then took off his gloves and grabbed a handful of air, rubbing his fingertips. With this level of humidity, there was likely a dark pool below.

 

Yesterday’s cave entrance was blocked by the toad and giant snake, and the possibility of escaping from under their noses wasn’t high. There were probably many other contaminants lurking around, watching them.

 

A better outcome would be if they all died from the smoke, but without gas masks or oxygen tanks, going out would only kill them faster.

 

The cave’s dark pool might be one of their few ways to survive.

 

Huo Yanji chose the path with higher humidity and made a gesture to continue downward.

 

The non-military Hao Hui couldn’t understand, but he didn’t hold them back either. When others moved forward, he moved forward; when others lightened their breathing, he lightened his breathing too. His learning ability was strong.

 

Huo Yanji’s judgment wasn’t wrong – this was indeed a worm burrow.

 

Hao Hui accidentally glimpsed a thick, long monster coiled on distant stalagmites out of the corner of his eye, nearly scaring his soul away. Fortunately, Saiya had been watching him and covered his mouth in time, forcibly suppressing his heavy breathing.

 

The further they went, the more worms there were.

 

Some coiled on stalagmites, others hung from the stone walls overhead. They had no eyes and were almost the same thickness throughout their bodies. The largest could reach over ten meters in length, with mouths circling their heads that contracted and opened with their sleeping rhythm.

 

Surrounded by darkness, the group shuttled through the spacious rock cave, surrounded by dense worms like ancient monsters that could awaken at any moment and make them their meal.

 

Hao Hui followed behind in terror, each step extraordinarily cautious, afraid of stepping on small stones. Especially when brushing past worms, he didn’t dare even breathe.

 

“Drop…”

 

A liquid fell on the ground in front of Hao Hui. He slowly looked up, and the moment he saw the object clearly, his pupils dilated instantly—

 

A huge worm was hanging right above his head, less than a meter away!!

 

The worm’s mouth was large enough to swallow an adult man whole, with dense sharp teeth around the rim, covered in filth. Something that could be saliva or mucus gathered at the bottom of the teeth due to gravity, dripping onto the ground.

 

Hao Hui couldn’t control himself and let out a weak cry of alarm.

 

Huo Yanji stopped, his face stern. He made a charging gesture, and the others understood instantly. Saiya grabbed Hao Hui, who was still in shock, and rushed toward Huo Yanji’s direction.

 

“Crack.” The surrounding worms awakened one after another, making hoarse buzzing sounds: “Huh… huh…”

 

Even though he had never been here before, Huo Yanji easily determined the direction of the cave’s dark pool. His steps were swift, and he didn’t panic, instead calmly ordering: “Drop unnecessary weight, jump directly into the dark pool, swim toward light or ripples! Worms are good underwater, everyone must be fast!!”

 

“Yes!!”

 

Rumbling sounds were already coming from behind—Hao Hui said frantically: “Couldn’t we just stay quiet?”

 

“You’re really stupid!” Saiya couldn’t help cursing while running and looking back to check the situation: “Some old worms might have slept for decades, their bodies almost grown into the stone walls. Once they wake up, it basically means the cave is going to collapse!!”

 

Some worms were already chasing from behind, rolling toward them with great momentum. The stone walls overhead began to shake, with rocks constantly falling.

 

Huo Yanji shouted sternly: “Against the walls!!”

 

Once hit by the sharp stalactites overhead, there was only death.

 

The cold pool was just over ten meters ahead. The soldiers tacitly divided tasks—two jumped into the dark pool to scout the way, three slowed their pace to cover the rear and protect Huo Yanji’s safety.

 

Saiya grabbed Hao Hui and pushed him into the water.

 

Huo Yanji grabbed a soldier covering the rear with one hand, saying coldly: “Jump! Don’t waste time!”

 

“—Yes!”

 

With five or six consecutive “splash” sounds, everyone held their breath and swam underwater, moving their limbs extremely fast. Behind them was a rumbling sound that seemed especially muffled underwater.

 

Immediately after, black-purple worms leaped into the water, their mouthparts closed to the minimum, like enlarged ‘chrysanthemums.’

 

They swam much faster than humans. They could only dodge the giant rocks constantly falling into the water to avoid the worms’ pursuit.

 

In the distance, the water’s color was much lighter, as if there was some dim light.

 

Huo Yanji swam over without hesitation, lips tightly pressed, maintaining his swimming posture while taking off his soaked and drag-creating jacket underwater.

 

The fabric floated backward, precisely covering the head of a pursuing worm, saving a lagging soldier’s life.

 

The exit was right in front of them—but everyone was about to run out of air, especially Hao Hui who had barely swum before. His limbs were already weakening, his face red from holding his breath.

 

Saiya, following the military duty to protect and save civilians, swam over to pull him toward the exit.

 

“Glub glub…”

 

It was taking too long. The exit looked close but they couldn’t seem to reach it.

 

The worms behind them followed one after another, pressing closer. Who knows how much time passed—three minutes, five minutes? Or longer. Their brains went blank, limbs gradually losing strength, mouths and noses beginning to take in water.

 

Saiya was confused for a moment, released his grip on Hao Hui, desperately swam behind Huo Yanji, and used his last strength to push him forward.

 

Everyone could die, but not the superior.

 

“Glub… glub.”

 

…

 

His long black eyelashes moved, and Huo Yanji slowly opened his eyes. Everything was dark before him, not a trace of light, as if he had gone blind.

 

“Cough cough—”

 

His breathing was slightly labored. After a pause, he realized he wasn’t blind, but that a pair of dark round eyes were staring at him. Because they were very close, occupying his entire field of vision, they appeared very black.

 

Seeing he was awake, the owner of the dark eyes nuzzled his face and lowered their head, warm breath puffing against his neck.

 

“…”

 

Huo Yanji’s eyes moved, raising his hand to touch the long horns.

 

The evil dragon was reluctantly satisfied – his human understood dragon nature well.

 

The dragon’s mouth suddenly opened, as if about to swallow the person whole.

 

Huo Yanji didn’t dodge… resulting in getting licked across the face with dragon saliva.

 

“…Sang Jue.”

 

The little evil dragon let out a huff from his nasal cavity, unhappily bumping into Huo Yanji’s embrace, extremely displeased with the human’s unauthorized venture into danger and nearly not making it home.

 

Huo Yanji sat up, peripherally seeing five or six figures lying on the ground, all still unconscious, some face down, some on their backs, scattered about. Obviously Sang Jue had carried them up one by one and dumped them on the ground like trash.

 

Beside them was a small wild pond, probably the exit from the underground dark pool.

 

The fire was gradually spreading around them, but far less intense than at the other end of the cave. The air quality was barely sufficient for survival.

 

The dim firelight illuminated the pond surface, revealing some horrifying scenes—

 

The pond surface, which should have been calm, was now floating with countless worm corpses, densely packed and uncountable. The air, besides the smell of burning, was filled with a nauseating bloody stench.

 

“You killed them?”

 

The dragon head nodded perfunctorily and rested against the human’s neck.

 

Huo Yanji pushed at him: “Get up, you’re too big, I can’t hold you.”

 

“…” The little evil dragon got even angrier.

 

He refused to move, forcefully pushing his huge dragon body into Huo Yanji’s embrace, his long tail tightly binding the human’s body, staring at Huo Yanji with pitch-black dragon eyes.

 

This scene that should have been terrifying instead made Huo Yanji’s tone soften: “Let go first, let me see if you’re injured.”

 

The evil dragon stiffened, his tail binding even tighter, nuzzling in what seemed like either acting spoiled or trying to please.

 

Of his entire body, only that tail was familiar to Huo Yanji.

 

He gently stroked it, silently soothing the unhappy dragon, a flash of something strange in his eyes: “Two?”

 

The dragon eyes blinked twice, lifting his dragon head: “Roar~”

 

**

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