EDEH Chapter 147

Not knowing how long he’d been rigid in the position of holding a corpse, not knowing whether he’d experienced one or two or three or four or countless illusions… Sang Jue finally was willing to listen to sounds from the outside world.

 

“Sang Jue…”

 

“Sang Jue!”

 

Sang Jue opened his eyes, momentarily unable to distinguish whether that scene was illusion or reality that had already occurred. Clearly he was the most powerful being in the world, able to see through all falsehood to the essence.

 

But the moment he saw Huo Yanji fall, his heart still stopped, his whole being seemingly drowning in deep waters, about to suffocate, everything losing meaning.

 

Sang Jue had sweated a lot, his lips completely bloodless, appearing particularly pitiful and fragile.

 

Huo Yanji carried Sang Jue horizontally, his heavy backpack hanging on his right shoulder. His expression was grave as he searched for direction: “We need to get out quickly.”

 

Sang Jue was stunned for a moment before clearly seeing his surroundings.

 

There were no abandoned buildings he’d seen before, only endless bloated flesh rising and undulating, with blood vessels and sinews clearly visible.

 

Dense clusters of eyes grew in the flesh—above their heads, around them, beneath their feet, everywhere.

 

These eyes seemed sentient. With every step Huo Yanji took while carrying Sang Jue, their gazes followed, staring fixedly with what seemed like mockery and derision.

 

Each carried unique eerie emotions that made one’s scalp crawl.

 

Even Huo Yanji, with his strong willpower, looked terrible now, his Adam’s apple constantly rolling up and down.

 

Each of Huo Yanji’s steps was difficult because the ground beneath was also undulating flesh that kept sinking, trying to swallow them.

 

Huo Yanji suddenly threw out a spherical object while leaping up, landing on a vaguely visible wall structure to the east. With lightning speed, he caught Sang Jue with his left hand while drawing his gun with his right, aiming at the sphere about to be swallowed between the flesh masses and firing at an angle—”BOOM!!!”

 

The tremendous sound made their ears ring instantly. Fortunately, the grenade blasted open a bloody path for them—

 

A literal bloody path.

 

The ground was covered with shattered flesh and incomplete eyeballs, the air filled with an indescribable bloody stench.

 

Huo Yanji couldn’t smell it through his mask, but Sang Jue wrinkled his nose. He wanted to get down but was held even tighter by Huo Yanji.

 

“I can walk…”

 

Huo Yanji didn’t speak, just continued forward. Along the way was all this strange flesh, as if they weren’t in abandoned buildings but inside the body of a giant monster.

 

In fact, the scene before them confirmed Huo Yanji’s suspicion.

 

In the huge pool bubbling with green foam ahead were countless monster bones—some reduced to dregs, others still undigested, slowly sinking.

 

They were now in the monster’s stomach.

 

Thinking of those eyes on the flesh walls, Huo Yanji had a disturbing association.

 

The Waste Waters had developed to the situation they least wanted to see… this place had become the dwelling of a giant monster, perhaps the result of countless biological mutations and fusions.

 

Its body had formed a complete physiological cycle—not only a stomach, but even a heart.

 

The further west they went, the more obvious the “thump, thump” sounds became, as if a giant was beside them.

 

Sang Jue asked: “If we destroy its heart, will it die?”

 

“Not necessarily.” Huo Yanji finally spoke, “Many creatures’ vital spots aren’t in their hearts.”

 

Sang Jue was still being carried, his ear pressed against Huo Yanji’s chest.

 

The heartbeat there was slightly more rapid than usual, but still rhythmic.

 

Only humans would certainly die without their hearts.

 

If all this flesh really came from one entity, it was hard to imagine how large and terrifying it would be when standing.

 

Of course, it probably couldn’t stand up.

 

The flesh inside didn’t wriggle very fast, but getting out was difficult. Most buildings here were already covered by flesh, with no landmarks.

 

The waterbed-like sensation underfoot was dizzying and disorienting.

 

Who knew how many contaminated bodies… and human souls were hidden in this flesh.

 

Eyes were everywhere, scarlet pupils rolling with their movement, densely staring at them.

 

“That giant eye is following us.” Sang Jue said suddenly, arms around Huo Yanji’s neck.

 

Though there was no flashlight illumination and darkness behind them, Sang Jue still caught the dim light reflected by that huge eye. It moved unobstructed through the flesh-paved path, following all the way.

 

It seemed tireless, its eyelid never blinking from beginning to end, staring down at them directly.

 

Huo Yanji didn’t look up, closing his eyes briefly: “There must be some special gas or contamination source around here that causes people who enter to hallucinate.”

 

He kept his nerves taut—any relaxation would cause him to sink into the flesh beneath his feet.

 

Actually, only Huo Yanji had been trapped in hallucinations from the beginning.

 

Sang Jue had always known everything before his eyes was fake—he could see through to the essence. He had just willingly stayed there, unwilling to wake up.

 

He pressed against Huo Yanji’s neck, feeling human warmth through the clothing, spacing out as he said: “It’s a special contaminating substance similar to the ‘mental contamination’ discovered in the main city, mm… it might affect people’s nerves.”

 

Sang Jue knew what was happening, but didn’t know how to express it clearly in human language.

 

Sang Jue continued: “This monster is about to level up.”

 

“Level up?”

 

Sang Jue tried to explain clearly: “Like monsters in games—when they get enough experience, they level up and become like those in the rifts—”

 

He suddenly shut his mouth, the sound cutting off abruptly as he forcibly swallowed the second half: “become those ethereal existences in the rifts.”

 

Huo Yanji paused: “Like what in the rifts?”

 

Sang Jue remained stubbornly silent, his arms around Huo Yanji’s neck growing tighter.

 

After absorbing enough energy, it would become a higher-level monster.

 

—Only in human eyes was it a monster.

 

Huo Yanji’s breathing was heavy, his mask completely fogged. While dodging the writhing flesh and searching for direction, he dropped the topic and asked casually: “Was the collapse of Rift No. 2 related to you?”

 

He wouldn’t normally make this connection—after all, Sang Jue had been in the windswept wasteland at the time, thousands of kilometers from Rift No. 2. How could it be related to him?

 

Even Ling Gen had never thought this.

 

Huo Yanji didn’t press Sang Jue for an answer, but the latter’s silence seemed to explain everything.

 

Sang Jue said in a very, very quiet voice: “I didn’t mean to, I didn’t know either—”

 

A shadow suddenly fell over them. Sang Jue instinctively closed his eyes, his hands clutching Huo Yanji’s neck tightening.

 

But what came wasn’t something else, but a protective mask.

 

“Tie it on properly. The smell here shouldn’t be pleasant.”

 

“…Oh.”

 

Sang Jue didn’t know why Huo Yanji kept carrying him, but guessed it should be related to the hallucinations they’d just experienced.

 

He wanted to know but didn’t want to ask.

 

This underground area had more than one monster “digestion pool.” Green bubbles constantly churned in the huge pools, like highly corrosive sulfuric acid emitting a foul smell. They were separated from the flesh at the bottom by a white membrane. The moment Huo Yanji stopped, the strange softness underfoot would try to pull him down.

 

After Huo Yanji encountered three or four such pools in succession, he suddenly realized something was wrong: “Is this still the same stomach pool from before?”

 

Sang Jue hummed: “Yes.”

 

“…”

 

Huo Yanji looked down, meeting the gaze of Sang Jue in his arms.

 

“So we’ve been going in circles around here.”

 

“Yes…” Sang Jue’s voice grew even quieter as he mumbled.

 

“Why didn’t you remind me?”

 

After a pause, Sang Jue said quietly: “Because you haven’t held me like this for a long time.”

 

“…” If he remembered correctly, before coming to the Waste Waters, Sang Jue had been sleeping curled up in his arms.

 

As if knowing what Huo Yanji was about to say, Sang Jue said: “That was because I was going back underground, which might benefit humanity, so you satisfied my requests.”

 

“Is that so?” Huo Yanji asked blandly.

 

Sang Jue said: “Yes, so you kissed my dick—”

 

Huo Yanji’s eyelid twitched, but Sang Jue was wearing a mask so he couldn’t cover his mouth.

 

Sang Jue organized his words and said again: “So you sucked my dick, slept with me, carried me while walking, registered marriage with me, and even stopped bullying me.”

 

“…”

 

The soft flesh beneath their feet writhed faster and faster, making them shake along with it. Some exposed incomplete structures began to collapse—this giant unknown monster seemed to be awakening.

 

Sang Jue seemed oblivious to the intense devouring desire in the darkness and continued: “But you don’t know—I made four deals with Ling Gen.”

 

“Tell me.”

 

“Besides wanting to come to the Waste Waters to find the Doctor, I also wanted Ling Gen to die… he almost got you killed.”

 

“Mm, what else?”

 

“I also wanted the Doctor… and your name to be remembered…”

 

“Go down in history.”

 

“Right, go down in history, remembered forever.” Sang Jue’s idiom usage was still half-baked. He continued: “There’s one more condition you definitely don’t know.”

 

“What?”

 

“I wanted them to initiate a vote, choosing between ending contamination and you…” As Sang Jue spoke, his voice grew quieter: “If they don’t want you, I’ll devour you and take you and the Doctor back underground together.”

 

“Mm.” Huo Yanji said calmly: “I guessed as much.”

 

How could Huo Yanji not see through what Sang Jue was thinking?

 

Sang Jue’s thoughts were so easy to read, his emotions so simple—joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness were all written in his body language without reservation.

 

Sang Jue blinked slowly in the darkness, while Huo Yanji’s breathing suddenly became rapid.

 

The flashlight strapped to his arm illuminated the surging bloody matter rushing toward them like thousands of cavalry, ready to submerge everything.

 

Huo Yanji tightened his hold on Sang Jue and leaped rapidly, sprinting in the opposite direction.

 

Sang Jue instinctively clutched Huo Yanji’s collar tighter and asked breathlessly in this urgent environment: “Then—then are you willing?!”

 

Sang Jue didn’t hear an answer because the torrential blood water behind them was about to engulf them. Huo Yanji suddenly darted into a right turn, finally seeing an opening to the upper level—a collapsed corridor. Though they couldn’t run up it, there was a very thick steel beam hanging in mid-air.

 

“Hold tight!!” Huo Yanji suddenly let go and leaped forward, grabbing the middle of the steel beam, then sliding down due to inertia until he barely hooked onto the curved end.

 

Huo Yanji hung in mid-air with Sang Jue in his arms. The rolling blood water had completely submerged the ground beneath their feet—there was nowhere to stand.

 

Huo Yanji caught his breath, looked down to confirm they were temporarily safe, then hummed: “Willing.”

 

Sang Jue was stunned for a moment, realizing this was answering his previous question.

 

Through the protective mask, Huo Yanji’s voice was somewhat distorted, carrying a low magnetic quality.

 

“Climb up, I’m about to slip.”

 

“Oh.” Sang Jue momentarily didn’t know how to use his hands and feet. He hesitantly climbed halfway up Huo Yanji’s body, then looked down uncertainly and asked: “You won’t let go, will you?”

 

“…To avoid being devoured by you, I should let this big guy devour me instead?”

 

Sang Jue also thought that made no sense, so he climbed up with confidence, waiting for Huo Yanji on the edge of the broken corridor.

 

Huo Yanji’s physical condition was indeed excellent. After all this exertion, he could still climb up using pure arm strength without foot support.

 

But he was nearly at his limit. As soon as he climbed up, he sat on the ground, sweat rolling down his forehead.

 

Sang Jue crawled over, his dark eyes staring intently at him: “You’re doing this for humanity—”

 

Huo Yanji interrupted: “Not for humanity.”

 

Sang Jue froze, his heartbeat skipping: “Then it’s…”

 

Huo Yanji said: “For myself.”

 

Sang Jue pressed his lips together, somewhat unhappy, not knowing what to say.

 

Perhaps the answer he wanted to hear was “not for humanity, but for you.”

 

Through his mask, he pressed against Huo Yanji’s face. The mist from their exhaled breath made both their faces blurry. The dangerous environment and intimate behavior sent adrenaline surging.

 

The flashlight beam naturally fell to illuminate behind them, but they weren’t in the light, completely shrouded in darkness.

 

“Do you know what I saw in the hallucination?”

 

“What?”

 

“I saw the Doctor, and I saw you.” After a long while, Sang Jue quietly added: “You, dead.”

 

Only heavy breathing existed in the darkness. Neither reminded the other that their current environment wasn’t suitable, yet they continued the conversation.

 

“And then?”

 

“Everyone died, the world completely collapsed.”

 

“You were still alive.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“That’s not bad then.”

 

“That’s not good.” Sang Jue’s voice suddenly took on a crying tone—perhaps not suddenly, just sadness suppressed for a very long time. From when he kidnapped Huo Yanji but was betrayed, from seeing Evelyn die for love, from making deals with Ling Gen—

 

“I don’t like that!”

 

“Sang Jue…” Huo Yanji raised his hand, gently supporting Sang Jue’s waist. “I’ve tried hard… to keep humanity alive.”

 

“But I don’t want humanity, I only want you.” Sang Jue said.

 

“…” Huo Yanji was slightly stunned.

 

Sang Jue calmed his breathing for a moment, his voice so quiet it was barely audible: “I can’t find the Doctor… can’t smell her scent. It’s very smelly and sour here, no Doctor.”

 

Huo Yanji wanted to tell Sang Jue that human corpses could hardly be preserved for decades in such harsh environments. Not finding her likely meant she’d already been digested by monsters.

 

But feeling the trembling in his arms, he said nothing, only holding the person tighter with force heavy enough to press into bones.

 

“The blood water below is rising, we should go.”

 

Sang Jue hummed with a trembling tail note, but his arms around Huo Yanji’s shoulders remained tight, not moving for a long time.

 

“Let’s go, Sang Jue.” Huo Yanji said, turning his face to follow along Sang Jue’s ear downward, gently pecking kisses.

 

Sang Jue had no body odor—not fragrant, no sweat smell either, just like himself, having lightly visited the human world and about to leave again without leaving any traces.

 

Take something back with you.

 

Even if it’s a despicable human who would die without a heart.

 

Perhaps at some moment, Sang Jue had become his heart.

 

“Aren’t you going to devour me? Then there’s no need to go back and see the voting results.” Huo Yanji said quietly, like persuasion between lovers, yet also like temptation. “Let’s go.”

 

“You’ll die.”

 

“It doesn’t matter.”

 

…

 

“Watch out behind you—A-San!!” Qiu Yan lunged forward to knock his companion aside, but the moment he looked up, he saw another teammate pierced through by sudden thorns.

 

He rushed over with splitting rage, his beastified arm smashing the thorn roots with one punch, but his companion had long stopped breathing, eyes open as if dying with remaining grievances.

 

The dim sky reflected in his eyes when suddenly, a huge black shadow swept overhead, a low dragon roar penetrating their ears.

 

The surrounding vines instantly receded like tide. Qiu Yan, still trapped in pain over losing his companion, looked up with difficulty to see a black dragon racing eastward.

 

A shocked and uncertain question came from his companion: “Is—is there a person sitting on that dragon?!”

 

Qiu Yan: “Don’t know—”

 

Before he could fully voice those three ill-tempered words, a deafening explosion suddenly came from the western canyon: “BOOM!!!”

 

Mercenaries within ten miles couldn’t help covering their ears, looking toward the Waste Waters with alarm and uncertainty.

 

This earth-shaking explosion lasted a full two minutes before gradually fading, leaving only rolling black smoke lingering above the canyon.

 

“Roar—” The low, hoarse dragon cry sang all the way.

 

The evil dragon was still an evil dragon—loving gems, cherishing the Doctor most, wanting to devour his beloved human.

 

Yet the evil dragon was no longer the same evil dragon as before. The Doctor was dead, and aside from Yanji, no human loved him. His body had grown larger, and he could finally overcome his fear of heights to soar with his beloved human.

 

Flying toward Eye of Paradise for their final flight.

 

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