CHAPTER 67: CHAPTER 67: THE LIVING SEWER

"What does that mean?"

Liu Zheng had a vague understanding.

"You humans have an immune system, you know?"

"I know."

He looked somewhat baffled.

Today, two weird residents were giving him a biology lesson, as if being uneducated meant he couldn’t get through the instance.

"We, who aren’t original residents of the sewer, are like foreign viruses or bacteria to it."

"Once we enter the sewer, it triggers its immune response, and the stronger we are, the more intense the response."

"So although I can cover you, I might not always be on time."

French Plane Tree explained.

"So that’s how it is..."

Liu Zheng fell into thought.

Clearly, Niu Ma’s plan had a flaw.

But it probably wasn’t intentional.

Currently, it seemed that both his and French Plane Tree’s information had blind spots and needed to be considered together.

"Having some protection is better than none, I still need to go down and try."

Soon, he made a decision.

Every time Liu Zheng had entered the instance, hadn’t it always been a venture filled with danger amid opportunity?

"Alright then. Take this."

The French Plane Tree’s two arms detached automatically and were presented to him by the roots.

"Each arm can help you once, after that you’re on your own."

French Plane Tree said.

"Okay. By the way, do you accept this?"

Liu Zheng took out a Chaos Club membership card.

"Bien! How did you get this thing?"

French Plane Tree exclaimed.

"It must have been Ghost Hand who gave it to me."

"Chaos Club..."

French Plane Tree looked at the membership card, his expression complex.

The roots stroked the air but dared not actually touch it.

"I’ve never actually seen what Chaos Club looks like, but from as far back as I can remember, that unique scent has always lingered."

"To some extent, Chaos Club is like my hometown."

"Even the genius-like intelligence I possess might be related to Chaos Club."

French Plane Tree was unusually sentimental.

"However, precisely because of this, I can feel the terror of Chaos Club even more."

"That scent seems like it’s one, yet also several. One of them is particularly frightening, as if it could completely erase my existence, whether it’s my body or soul, even my past and future."

French Plane Tree retracted his roots as if electrocuted.

"I won’t take this thing, and I advise you not to use it either."

After a moment of silence, he said.

"Some things are not for me to decide."

Liu Zheng shrugged his shoulders.

What if he received a job from Chaos Club one day?

He had always been the type to assume the worst intentions of the world.

"Just make sure you stay far away from me before you get yourself killed, so you don’t get blood on me."

French Plane Tree said.

"Don’t you ever want to go back home and see?"

"I remember in your human language, going back to one’s hometown also means going to Hell."

French Plane Tree let out a cold laugh.

"You’re a tree, why do you need such a high level of education, planning to go to grad school?"

Liu Zheng grabbed the two arms and fastened them onto his shoulders.

"Where’s the entrance?"

He asked.

"Over there."

French Plane Tree pointed to a manhole cover not far away.

He walked over to the manhole cover and lifted it.

A disgusting smell hit Liu Zheng and momentarily took his breath away.

Interestingly, it wasn’t the kind of odor that results from a mix of hydrogen sulfide, methyl mercaptan, methanol, amines, and other compounds.

Instead, it was that of bad breath combined with the reflux of stomach acid.

He held his breath and descended the ladder.

The shaft was long, and it took him several minutes to reach the ground.

Darkness enveloped him, just like inside the delivery channel.

Liu Zheng deliberately stomped his feet, noting the ground was soft and somewhat springy.

Four tentacles reached out, quickly feeling around until they found the walls.

Damp and warm, the texture was like inserting a hemorrhoid suppository.

It inevitably reminded him of the delivery channel—could the two actually be the same?

But on closer thought, they weren’t quite the same.

In the delivery channel, darkness eventually brought a sense of stability and calm.

The darkness in the sewer wasn’t as intense, but it carried a faint malice that made him somewhat restless and uneasy.

Regardless, Liu Zheng continued to move forward.

He sidled along, sticking closely to the wall.

With each step, he would only shift his weight forward after making sure his front foot was firmly placed.

This method might look silly, but it was necessary.

In this bizarre world, he had to do everything possible to increase his chances of survival.

No one knew which moment of carelessness could be the last straw that broke the camel’s back.

After taking five hundred seventy-six steps, there was finally light ahead.

It came from clusters of luminescent moss growing on the wall, casting a faint dark red glow.

Unlike typical moss with its stem-and-leaf appearance, these looked more like rotting bananas, or rather.

Well, let’s not mince words—they looked like feces, particularly like those of severe constipation.

Liu Zheng recalled the ingredient list of "Ascendancy Mao Tai" moss. Could this moss be the same stuff?

After such speculation, even with all the horrors he had seen in this world, he couldn’t help but retch a few times.

Wiping his mouth, Liu Zheng moved on.

The further he went, the more vigorously the fecal moss seemed to grow.

And the more he could see of his surroundings, including the so-called "walls."

The cyan-black surface was covered with circular ridges, each groove filled with dense wrinkles.

Liu Zheng didn’t know whether he was inside the sewer’s intestines or its brain.

"Rationality drop exemption successful."

The system’s prompt sounded.

Indeed, exploring while the Legendary Armor was activated was the right choice.

He steadied himself and continued to move forward.

Eventually, he heard the sound of water.

Not the clear rushing of water, but more like the fizzing sound when a cola is opened.

Liu Zheng cautiously leaned against the wall and peered ahead, the view suddenly broadening.

A dirty river about three meters wide flowed before him, its origin and destination both obscured from view.

The water was a deep brown-black but also streaked with red, green, yellow, and a layer of white foam on the surface.

Meanwhile, bubbles continually rose in the river, bursting upon reaching the surface and releasing a brownish-red gas.

What gas is brownish-red again?

Liu Zheng had forgotten.

But he remembered it was supposed to be toxic.

However, with his current constitution, ordinary toxic gases posed no real threat; at most, they’d cause some discomfort.

After observing for a while and sensing no danger, Liu Zheng exited through the channel.

As he approached the river, the smell of bad breath mixed with stomach acid reflux grew even stronger.

"Even if it’s not a person, you’d think it would brush its teeth more often."

He couldn’t help saying.

The sewer did not respond to him.

Of course, that was probably a good thing.

After watching the bubbles for a while longer, Liu Zheng decided to try fishing here first.

If he didn’t catch any fish, he’d move further on.

After all, being closer to the exit would make it easier to run if needed.

Decision made, he consumed two attractants and then dipped his tentacles into the dirty river.