CHAPTER 1000: CHAPTER 193: AN UNBEARABLE LOSS

The gravel and sand scattered into the old sewer with a "crash".

The eternal night and fog tide had receded. The oppressive dark sky was far more relaxing than the cramped passageways, and only the grotesques shrank back to the intact areas not exposed to the outside world.

The skeletons that obscured the sky had left, but the residual power remained.

Yet they blocked all the routes of escape, leaving Lu Li with nowhere to run.

Taking advantage of the grotesques’ reluctance to come closer, Lu Li drew his dagger, cutting open the wound on his leg and squeezing out the pus-mixed, pale pink blood.

He treated the dense wounds spreading on both legs, as sensation and pain gradually returned. The toxin only had a paralyzing effect, not corrosive or digestive.

The numb legs needed some time before they could stand, and Lu Li’s gaze fell into the distance. The grotesques still did not dare to approach, fearing the presence that invaded the old sewer.

The contours of the Law Enforcers also did not appear.

Lu Li reached his hand into the empty pocket of his coat, scanning the ground around him. The wooden box containing the eyeball was nowhere to be seen; it was most likely scattered nearby but difficult to locate.

He observed all the surfaces around him until he noticed the corner of a wooden box half-buried at the edge of the ruins.

Lu Li steadied himself against the rock wall, stumbling with numb legs toward the wooden box.

Squeak—

The grotesque trapped under the ruins flailed its forelimbs in struggle as Lu Li approached, pleading for mercy. Unlike the usual abhorrent appearance of grotesques in the old sewer, it was merely unsightly, resembling a hairless squirrel.

Lu Li picked up the wooden box, prying open the lid to reveal the eyeball lying at the bottom, then he lifted the collapsed wall to release the grotesque trapped beneath.

A sinister tremor suddenly surfaced from deep within the earth again, and Lu Li frowned, glancing back at the sprinkled rubble and violently shaking rock walls.

Crash—

Large sections of rock fell away. A mouthpiece covered in fine teeth emerged from the rock wall.

Ophelia surfaced from within the writhing wormhole, leaping out of the worm’s mouth.

"Found... you!"

"Where is Katerina?" Lu Li frowned and asked.

Ophelia arrived too quickly...

"What? In Inns... mouth... care!"

Ophelia’s hoarse shout was cut short as the grotesque rescued by Lu Li clung to his calf, its tripartite mouth biting into him.

The moment he felt the pain, Lu Li pulled it off, and with his left hand that held the power of redemption, inflicted its punishment, making it die painfully amidst unintelligible pleas for mercy.

The problem was that the grotesque’s teeth carried venom, and strength drained from his body.

"Take the corpse..."

Lu Li whispered weakly, collapsing into unconsciousness.

...

Every time he fell unconscious, Lu Li would foresee bizarre and fantastic dreams.

This time was no exception.

In the gray mist-like chaos where time and space were indistinguishable, the sleeping Lu Li caught sight of a lighthouse in the distance. He leaned against a tree trunk shrouded in shade, his body stained with blood. A heavy, dictionary-like book lay beside him. When he tried to observe these things more closely, Lu Li fell into a deep slumber again.

Then he awoke.

The dilapidated ceiling gradually came into focus, and Puxiu, who was babbling incomprehensible words in a chaotic din, rushed out of the room.

When Ophelia entered the room, he understood the first sentence she said.

"Your kindness will eventually be the death of you."

Only now it was puzzling, as the coherent words were spoken by Ophelia.

"Mr. Luli, during your two days of high fever, Miss Ophelia kept practicing saying this," Puxiu explained in time.

"Two days..."

Lu Li’s memories were still stuck in the dream that lasted only a few seconds.

"It was just a mild toxin, normally a few hours would be enough to recover, but for a frail human like you, even the antidote acts as poison,"

An elderly woman wrapped in a faded patterned blanket, with dozens of flaxen braids, appeared, using a grotesque shinbone cane with each step clanking and jingling beneath the blanket.

"She is—"

"The Betrayer of the Great Tree, the Curse Wizard, Antilisca Michael," the old woman said, leaning her cane forward and bowing her head.

"It was Grandma Antilisca who saved you," Puxiu added as he was interrupted.

"Be polite, I’m only thirty," said the Curse Wizard, raising her cane to knock on Puxiu’s head before continuing to the bedside.

"Fortunately, you were smart enough to bring the corpse, or else the last legendary Exorcist would have died pitifully in the mouth of the weakest grotesque."

"You know me?"

Lu Li detected the mixed scent of potions on her.

"Many grotesques in the old sewer don’t care about matters above, but I am different."

Amidst the suddenly rich mixture of potion aromas, the Curse Wizard leaned close to Lu Li’s face, touching his cheek with a serpent-like, slender, moist, forked tongue before retracting it into her mouth.

"Don’t worry, wraith, the toxin in his body has weakened," the Curse Wizard said, ignoring the suddenly heating room, leaning on her cane as she walked out. "I should leave."

"Wait, Grandma Antilisca, how much is the payment?"

"Forget it, just give my regards to Dean Lawrence when you see him."

"He’s the dean of Klein Manifested University," Lu Li noted, watching the Curse Wizard’s back.

"I came from the Great Tree there, and he always regarded me as his pride before I betrayed humanity."

In her calm recounting, the clinking sounds gradually faded into the distance.

"Where are we?"

Lu Li withdrew his gaze.

"Gloxie Station, far from the Midnight City Main Station."

"The crystal... is still here," Ophelia then took out the wooden box encrusted with crystals on the surface.

This was good news; at least they still had the bargaining chip for the Eye of the Ancient God.

"Let’s replace it with a new wooden box."

"Yeah... Where is Big Sis?" Ophelia threw the wooden box to Merchant Anthony and asked.

"Taken away by its mother."

Lu Li recounted his experiences before encountering Ophelia.

"You will be... your kindness will eventually be the death of you." Ophelia repeated once more. "Believed... twice... grotesque."

Lu Li remained silent.

The little guy who was always accustomed to speaking shrilly had left them.

"We’ve lost another companion."

Puxiu’s tail drooped as it whimpered, missing Katerina.

"Can we still go find her?"

Until Puxiu couldn’t help but ask Lu Li, receiving a positive response, it was no longer sad.

Then Puxiu recounted their experiences after the separation.

Ophelia, while being chased, encountered the Steam Contour fighting with the enemy, and it waved its hand, collapsing the district behind Ophelia. Rescued, Ophelia returned to the first level, summoned a merchant to search for Lu Li and the others, and finally located Lu Li through Merchant Anthony’s perception.

The result was that of the more than thirty believers who followed, now less than half remained, and a dozen, including Bishop Jone, might be forever lost in the depths of the old sewer.

"Mr. Jone had the eyeball but did not use it," Puxiu added.

"What next... do we do?" Ophelia asked.

"Return to Luo Kou Town."

They would stay there for a few days, waiting for any surviving believers to return along the Shadow Church’s markings and for the transaction with Steam Contour.

But if not, Lu Li could only accept the failure.

This time, the commission from the Ancient God had cost them dearly.