Chapter 115 – Temple of the Five Internal Organs 5

Xu RenDong couldn’t help being surprised when he heard these words.

His sense of smell was not very sensitive so he just followed Lian Qiao’s lead. Now Lian Qiao said that the smell had become heavier so he sniffed hard but he still couldn’t detect anything strange in the air.

Also, what smell was Lian Qiao referring to? The smell of mud? Or the smell of blood?

Xu RenDong couldn’t ask aloud but fortunately the gentleman said, “Indeed. The smell of blood and mud has become heavier.”

If the smell of blood alone has become heavier, it may just be that there is someone with an injury ahead. But if the smell of mud also became heavier then it’s likely that the killing vines are also nearby.

A haze rose in the hearts of the three at the same time. They originally used this breeze as a direction guide. Now that they know that there are vines ahead, should they go forward?

Lian Qiao was hesitant: “From the smell alone, you can’t determine the distance. If we want to avoid the vines, it’s best to make a big circle and avoid it completely. But..”

Xu RenDong knew that he was worried that he would not be able to persist, so he shook Lian Qiao’s hand, indicating that he was fine.

The gentleman said, “Why should we avoid it? You and I have weapons at hand. When you meet a god, you kill the god, and when you meet a Buddha, you kill the Buddha.”

This is exactly like something he would say. Xu RenDong thought to himself: No wonder in the butterfly instance, the gentleman killed Doctor Bird Beak as soon as he appeared. He really doesn’t care whether he can pass the customs or whether or not there was any danger.

Lian Qiao obviously didn’t buy into this and said rather unhappily: “This is the world of ghosts and monsters. I don’t know if the gods and Buddhas can kill me, but anyway I can’t kill ghosts.”

“This whole time we haven’t run into any danger. Don’t tell me you really think we can easily just pass the customs by avoiding the vines. This is not the first time you have come in, right? So don’t be naive, when has such a good thing happened?”

Lian Qiao: “It has.”

Gentleman: “?”

Lian Qiao : “My partner took me to lie down and win several times.” {Lie down and win is a Chinese phrase meaning your teammates/partner are so powerful that you can get carried through the game and win without doing anything.}

Gentleman: “???”

Lian Qiao: “Not only was everyone unscathed but we also cleared the level quickly. The fastest one took about an hour..”

Gentleman: “..”

Xu RenDong couldn’t help coughing awkwardly, signaling Lian Qiao to stop boasting. In fact, the gentleman was right, the instance was indeed impossible to pass easily. Lian Qiao’s injury-free clearance was based on the countless pains of RenDong.

Although Lian Qiao did not agree with the gentleman’s statement, the three of them continued to move towards the smell of bloody mud in the end. First, Xu RenDong felt that he could not escape and, secondly, he wanted to find a chance to kill the gentleman.

No matter how many puppets are hidden on him, he will kill him every time he sees him.

The three of them proceeded cautiously with their own thoughts.

The stench was getting stronger and stronger, to a disturbing level. The sound of the vine branches rubbing against each other was faintly heard in the wind. It sounded sticky, like a snail crawling through the ears and the three of them all had goosebumps.

It was unknown how far they walked before suddenly the strings in the hearts of the three people trembled violently at the same time.

In front of them – it was suddenly bright.

Xu RenDong rubbed his eyes and looked around in disbelief. From the wet and blurry vision, he saw that Lian Qiao’s eyes were wide open with a look of shock and astonishment.

The gentleman on the side squinted slightly. It seemed that his eyesight had only suddenly recovered and he had not yet adapted to the light.

It should have been gratifying to have regained a lost sight but the faces of the three of them changed and no one spoke.

Because everyone was stunned by the sight in front of them.

Blood, corpses, vines.

Blood everywhere, dead people everywhere, vines everywhere.

These people died horribly. Some had their hands and feet cut off, revealing the white bones. Some had their necks cut open, leaving only a thin layer of flesh and blood attached to their bodies and some had their eyes and internal organs gouged out.

What was even more terrifying was that countless vines were crawling and slitterring along the corpse like snakes. When they found a blood hole, they began to burrow inside and soon most of the vines forced themselves inside, almost bursting the corpse open.

The green leaves were stained with blood, bright red and dazzling. The branches twisted wildly like crazy. There is even a small mouth at the end of each branch, which is covered with fine sharp teeth. With this sharp little mouth, it’s no wonder that the vine can burrow into the flesh so quickly.

It’s not burrowing at all, it’s just gnawing all the way in.

A hellish scene suddenly appeared in front of him and although Xu RenDong had had hundred of battles, his scalp was still numb and his legs weak. Lian Qiao was so shocked that he couldn’t speak. He was like a chicken strangled by the neck, he forced a sharp and thin voice out of his throat: “Control-control-“

Xu RenDong grabbed him and moved back. However, as soon as he took a step back, it was immediately dark in front of him.

“Hey!—” Now Lian Qiao couldn’t pronounce the syllable and he was completely dumbfounded.

Xu RenDong was also shocked. But he quickly reacted and took another step forward. Sure enough, vision was restored in an instant.

He looked at the ground subconsciously, only to realize that they were standing at the junction of the forest and a bluestone floor. This bluestone slab stretches forward and it appears to be a platform. It was in the center of the bluestone platform that the killing vines had dinner together.

Xu RenDong’s undulating chest gradually subsided. He narrowed his eyes, looked over the corpses on the ground and found a bronze door standing abruptly at the end of the platform. The door was open and there was a fog behind it, and nothing could be seen. The gentleman was standing by the bronze door, reaching out to the mist.

After a while, he retracted his hand and looked at his palm thoughtfully: “It’s very hot inside.”

Xu RenDong and Lian Qiao carefully avoided the vines and came to the bronze door. The gentleman glanced back at the two of them, his expression didn’t change but Xu RenDong’s heart skipped a beat. Fortunately he had already made preparations.

Soon after the gentleman joined the team, he secretly smeared mud all over his head. At this time, the mud was dry and it was sticking dirty to his hair and clothes. Anyone who saw it would think that he had accidentally fallen in the mud.

Although his face was covered, it was better not to open your mouth to be on the safe side. So he turned to look at Lian Qiao, waiting for Lian Qiao to speak.

Lian Qiao had recovered from the shock of being blind for a while. When he saw the bronze door, his eyes lit up immediately and he began feeling it and sticking to it like an octopus.

“Wow this feeling.. it’s heavy and cool, it must be bronze!.. This pattern is so delicate, could it be some kind of spell formation.. Maybe there is a mechanism.. Hey! There is blood on it!”

He tossed his hands in the air. But after the toss was over, he continued to fumble around with his eyes shining brightly.

Lian Qiao was chattering with excitement, apparently his livestreaming attributes were awakened and he began babbling non-stop. A hint of surprise flashed in the gentleman’s eyes, while Ren Dong shook his head. He thought that since Lian Qiao hadn’t been able to live broadcast for several days, he was probably feeling very pent up.

The gentleman listened to him for a long time and finally couldn’t help but say: “Cough, friend, you..”

“Huh?” Lian Qiao ignored him at all, his eyes fixed on the bronze door, frowning, “Here, there are some characters.”

This bronze door was made up of two doors. Xu RenDong came over and studied the door carefully. He saw the complicated patterns on the bronze door which appeared dazzling. The place where Lian Qiao pointed was in the middle of the door and the carving seemed to be different from the surrounding ones.

Lian Qiao said again: “This seems to be half a character.”

A gentleman’s voice came from behind another door: “I have half a character here too.”

Lian Qiao ran over to look, not knowing what he would see. Suddenly he let out a strange cry and in a voice of great disgust said, “Why are you so disgusting!”

The gentleman shrugged. It turned out that he touched the blood on the ground with his fingers, and copied the half character onto his right palm. The blood on the ground was mixed with the sap of the vines and it was sticky and dirty. It was really unknown how he could tolerate it.

This was a cruel man. He was cruel to others and also cruel to himself.

Xu RenDong silently commented this in heart and quietly affixed a label onto him.

The gentleman smiled politely at him, then raised his head and copied the left half of the word on the bronze door, stroke by stroke. He raised his head in a very serious, even religious manner, giving people the illusion that he was an archaeologist.

Xu RenDong watched coldly from the side. Taking this opportunity, he quietly walked to Lian Qiao’s side and whispered in his ear, “This man is a pervert, be careful.”

“I know.” Lian Qiao glanced at the gentleman and said with a slight pursed lips, “I recognize him. The person with chalk dust in their fingernails.”

Xu RenDong was stunned for a moment, suddenly a little confused in his heart.

He remembered that in the Butterfly instance, he was brutally dismembered by the gentleman and then immediately killed the gentleman after being reborn. It stands to reason that Lian Qiao should not remember the gentleman, because he took off Lamia’s eyeballs before he began to abuse the gentleman.

Could it be that he mentioned the chalk dust to Lian Qiao but forgot?

There were not many strokes in that character and the gentleman quickly finished copying it. With a “tsk”, he spread his palms in front of the two of them.

In the palm of his hand, there was the word “Xia” written in blood. {夏,?means summer, could also be a name.}

“Xia?” Lian Qiao frowned and murmured, “Xia..”

The gentleman said, “I stretched out my hand into the mist just now and it was really hot inside the door, like summer.”

These words sank in.

Although they didn’t know what “Xia” meant exactly, it was clear that this instance was not finished yet. Since there was a “summer”, there at least must be an “autumn” and “winter”. And the forest they just left seemed to be “spring”.

The gentleman said: “Let’s go, we don’t have a choice anyway.”

On the bluestone floor, the vines were still twisting and turning, eating the flesh and blood of the dead. The bones were gnawed to make a disgusting sound. They wondered if the vines would attack the living again when the dead were all eaten.

None of the three wanted to stay here any longer. The gentleman stepped into the bronze gate with a calm expression and his figure was immediately engulfed by the white mist.

RenDong looked at Lian Qiao and followed.

It was wet inside the white mist and the water vapor climbed up to the skin. The clammy and cold feeling was physiologically uncomfortable. Fortunately, this feeling did not last long and soon the water vapor dissipated. The two of them suddenly found themselves in a place of light.

Then, a heat wave hit their face!

It was so hot!

There was a fire in front of them. It looks like a large shopping mall and the corridors were very spacious. There were all kinds of goods in the shops on both sides. At this time however, the entire mall was shrouded in raging flames. Black smoke billowed from the plastic shelves and the glass guardrails had almost melted. The escalator had broken down in the middle and the whole thing teetered with a disturbing creaking sound.

Lian Qiao didn’t know what to do. He took in a big mouthful of hot air and coughed desperately. Xu RenDong subconsciously wanted to speak but suddenly felt his mouth was stiff and his tongue could not move.

“Ah, ahh..” No matter how hard he tried, it was always a vague monophonic sound.

Xu RenDong was extremely surprised. Could it be that the first level is to make people blind? and this one is to make them mute?

Lian Qiao tried hard to suppress his cough and his wheezing quickly subsided. He raised his head, probably wanting to say that he was fine but when he opened his mouth, he could only call out “Aah” twice.

Lian Qiao’s face changed. Xu RenDong smiled wryly and spread his hands, indicating that it had nothing to do with him.

“Hmmm..” Not far away, the gentleman folded his arms and looked at the fire thoughtfully. Thinking about it, he couldn’t speak either, so he just snorted and motioned for them to follow.

The three covered their mouths and noses and walked towards the escape stairs. However, as soon as the fire door was opened, a thick plume of smoke rushed out, causing the three of them to cough again. There was also a faint fire in the escape stairs. It seems that the fire protection measures in this shopping mall are not in place and the fire door had not been properly sealed at all.

Helpless, the three could only find another way out.

They are now probably on the third floor of the mall. This floor was full of clothing stores. The mannequins’s hair and clothes were on fire and they are burned with crackling noises, as if they were dancing in the firelight. The clothes were all flammable, so this layer of fire was very strong. It quickly spread from the store to the corridor.

Thick smoke billowed, oxygen was burned, consumed and became suffocatingly thin. Although RenDong had the intention of murdering the gentleman, this was not the right time. Don’t talk about killing someone, he was struggling enough just trying to breathe. What’s more, the gentleman was unfathomable. Who knows what props are hidden on his body. If he was rashly killed, it would not be worth the loss.

If possible, Xu RenDong does not want to step into the dark forest again in this life.

The three of them bent down, lowered their posture as much as possible and moved forward quickly. When they came to a crossroads, Lian Qiao suddenly grabbed RenDong and pointed to the street sign and called “Aah”. RenDong looked up and saw the direction of the bathroom marked on the street sign. He immediately understood and turned decisively.

The gentleman followed suit.

When the three came to the bathroom, the first thing they did was turn on the faucet. The sound of rushing water suddenly resounded and the three of them felt at ease. They hurriedly wet their clothes with water and then covered their mouths and noses with a damp cloth.

It was unknown if the water vapor in the bathroom was too heavy or if the fire had not spread here. Compared with the fire scene outside, the bathroom was cool and comfortable, making people reluctant to leave.

All three were choked by the thick smoke and their faces were disgraced. In a pinch like this, grooming is of course secondary. But when Xu RenDong calmly glanced at the mirror, he thought: very good, now the mud is mixed with soot and the face is even more tightly obscured. Now don’t talk about the gentleman, even Lian Qiao wouldn’t recognize him.

Lian Qiao noticed this slightly smug expression on his face and saw through his thoughts magically, thinking: No no no, you are thinking too much. With your cold star and autumn water eyes, towering nose bridge, palm-sized face and model-like figure, do you think a little mud and dust can cover your handsomeness and beauty!

So Lian Qiao walked up to him without saying a word, pressed his head, patted his chest, pinched his stomach and motioned him to bow his head and hold his chest out.

Xu RenDong: “..” What are you doing?

Lian Qiao grinned, brows and eyes curved, naughty like an urchin. Suddenly, his eyes passed through Xu RenDong’s shoulders and fell into the compartment not far away. His face suddenly changed.

Xu RenDong turned back and saw a pool of blood slowly flowing out of the deepest cubicle.

The blood was still flowing, as if alive, slowly crawling over brick after brick, gradually converging into a pool of blood.

RenDong and Lian Qiao looked at each other and picked up a mop from the pool as a weapon. The gentleman had already reached the front of the cubicle.

He stood carefully by the pool of blood so that the blood would not stain his leather shoes. Then, he raised his foot and kicked the door open.

They heard a bang. The thin wooden partition almost fell down. The door opened slowly and the three walked in, frowning at the same time.

A male corpse was sitting on the toilet with a pale face facing the three of them. His chest and stomach were all torn open,and the wound was drawn from the neck to the navel. All the intestinal organs inside leaked out, exuding the unique smell of internal organs.

Looking closely, his chest was empty, as if it had been hollowed out by a wild beast. Two large pieces of pink lungs and a whole liver were all in the trash, like a sewer basket next to a chicken-killing stall. It’s just that the shape is clearly human, which made it all the more disgusting.

Previously, the three of them were choked by the thick smoke and did not smell the blood. At this time, the door was suddenly opened and the bloody smell mixed with the odor of internal organs rushed towards them, causing the three of them to cover their noses at the same time, and their brows were furrowed.

When Lian Qiao and the gentleman squatted down to study the pile of internal organs, Xu RenDong’s brows furrowed even deeper.

There was no room for so many people in the small cubicle. Xu RenDong was so dizzy that he coughed and walked out. He turned to push the doors of the other cubicles and quickly determined that this was the only one with a dead person and the other compartments were clean.

How on earth did this man die? Could it be that there are still evil spirits in this fire scene?

It didn’t take long for Lian Qiao and the gentleman to complete the autopsy. The two stood up but their expressions were very different.

Lian Qiao seemed to be thinking of something. The gentleman appeared calm but under the calm surface, there were turbulent waves. Xu RenDong keenly captured a trace of excitement in his eyes as well as the violent ups and downs of his chest.

Xu RenDong: “Ah, ah?” What did you find?

Lian Qiao opened his mouth and said “ah” but what he wanted to express was obviously inexpressible using a single syllable. So he turned on the water faucet, dipped his finger in water and wrote on the mirror:

“The heart..”

The mirror was too smooth and the water droplets quickly slipped off the mirror surface, so it was a little difficult for Lian Qiao to write. The gentleman didn’t have the patience, so he smeared blood and wrote on the mirror:

“He just died not long ago, I’m going to go chase.”

After writing, he didn’t even bother to wash his hands. He turned his head and ran out, rushing?without looking back.

Lian Qiao and RenDong was stunned.

The moment he turned around, Xu RenDong clearly saw a smile on the corner of his mouth. That smile was a mixture of excitement and ecstasy, obviously not a normal person’s reaction to seeing a corpse.

Anyway, he was originally a pervert, so it would be better if he left. Xu RenDong’s tense mood finally relaxed a little, turned his head to look in the mirror and found that Lian Qiao had finished writing the words in water.

“The heart is gone.”