The four stared in shock ahead at the corpses hanging in mid-air, blood dripping onto the ground.
These people had clearly only been dead for a short time; their blood had not yet clotted.
Their heads had all been cut off and were neatly laid out on the ground.
The bloody and horrific scene made everyone feel uncomfortable.
"How... how could this be? How could they die here?"
Looking at the corpses in front of them, the same thought simultaneously crossed the minds of all four.
They weren't actually worried about the deaths of these complete strangers; it was just that it was so abnormal.
They held the key to this place; they were the first to enter. How could someone have been there before them?
And these people died here.
Who killed him?
But no one, no matter who it was, had any reason to hang these corpses here, as if they were being deliberately shown to them.
"Damn it, what's going on?" Huo Jun couldn't help but curse, using his anger to mask his unease.
This is all too bizarre; clearly, something unknown to them is hidden within this Instance.
An evil, cruel entity was watching them from behind.
The four felt a chill run down their spines.
"Let's put all that aside for now, completing our mission is the most important thing," Qiu Ming said after a moment's thought.
"Let's move forward. I need to become Contractor first, and then we'll destroy the Home of Evil Ghosts."
As for other matters, they are none of our concern.
We'll leave immediately once we've completed our mission.
"Okay, that's all we can do for now."
Wu Yong held Fang Jing's hand, and Fang Jing's face was full of fear.
She understood; clearly, something unexpected had happened in this Instance, making it much more difficult to clear.
She's just here to gain experience; apparently, the Instance walkthrough is already complete and easy to clear, otherwise she would never have come here.
I never expected something like this to happen.
This is an SS-level Instance! If anything goes wrong, these three men will probably be in trouble, let alone her.
She looked again at the doll following behind her, and seeing the doll gave her a strange sense of peace.
This made her like the doll even more.
The four of them walked carefully forward, avoiding the corpses as they passed by.
The underground space was very spacious, but dimly lit, making it impossible to see the specifics.
The surroundings were very quiet, with only the sound of their footsteps echoing in the silent space.
After walking a little further, Qiu Ming seemed to sense something, stopped, his expression very serious, and felt somewhat uneasy.
"What's wrong?" Wu Yong sensed something was wrong and asked hurriedly.
"That's strange, it doesn't seem so cold and damp here anymore."
"What do you mean?" Wu Yong asked, puzzled.
"When we first came in, we felt a very cold aura. This was because a transcendent being was imprisoned below, but..."
But now, that chilling atmosphere has vanished.
Logically, as we get closer to that extraordinary being, this aura should become even more pronounced.
"Yes, I was wondering why something felt off," Wu Yong said suddenly.
"Did we go to the wrong place?" Huo Jun asked.
"It's too dark here; we could very well have gone the wrong way."
"Impossible," Qiu Ming said, shaking his head. "I didn't just wander around aimlessly."
"Besides, the road only widens after I come out of that passage. I haven't even gone very far yet, it can't be like this."
"What happened?" Huo Jun shook his head and said, "It couldn't have suddenly died, could it?"
"That's even more impossible," Qiu Ming said, shaking his head.
How could such an extraordinary being, imprisoned by the Lord of the Netherworld for so long without any problems, suddenly die?
Wu Yong also said, "I think it might be that it doesn't want us to find it; no extraordinary being is willing to become Contractor for humanity."
Qiu Ming nodded; this reason was indeed plausible.
Once he understood this, his unease lessened considerably.
Although there were some unexpected things that happened, overall things proceeded according to their plan.
However, there is still a rather troublesome matter.
Unable to sense the location of that extraordinary being, they didn't know which way to go.
Just as Qiu Ming was hesitating, the doll suddenly broke free from Fang Jing's hand and walked to the front.
"Hey, where are you going?" Fang Jing called out hurriedly.
The puppet stopped in front of them, looked back at them, and then continued walking forward.
Qiu Ming immediately said, "It seems to be leading the way for us."
The group felt a strange trust in the puppet, and even if Qiu Ming hadn't said so, they would have followed it to see for themselves.
The crowd rushed forward and followed behind the puppet.
Led by the doll, they walked for another ten minutes or so, and then they saw some strange pipes. These pipes were very complicated and led in this direction.
"What are these things?" Wu Yong asked, looking at the pipes.
"These are facilities for transmitting energy," Qiu Ming recognized them and said.
"The energy used by humans in the Netherworld comes from those extraordinary beings, such as those who call themselves gods, or the evil spirits imprisoned here."
The Lord of the Netherworld imprisoned them and continually drew power from them, which He then gave to humanity.
And the people here have used these energy sources to develop brilliant technologies.
"Really? Is this even possible?" This was the first time Wu Yong had ever heard of such a thing; it was beyond his comprehension.
Doesn't this mean that those Demigods who could threaten the human world were actually used as fuel by the Lord of the Netherworld?
"It's true. It's said that there was nothing in this world at the beginning, and it was the Lord of the Netherworld who created everything."
To improve the environment and make it possible for humanity to survive, He imprisoned all the extraordinary beings who refused to submit and extracted their power to change the world.
"So, this Lord of the Netherworld is a very good god," Wu Yong couldn't help but say.
"Perhaps so. I don't know much about the history of the Netherworld, only a general outline."
However, to the Lord of the Netherworld's enemies, He is indeed the embodiment of evil and cruelty.
As they talked, the group followed the puppet forward, their tension gradually easing.
At this point, they discovered that the pipes ahead had become denser, and that all of them led to the same location.
"It seems we're almost there," Qiu Ming said. "If we keep going, we'll see the core of the Home of Evil Ghosts."
Destroy the energy facilities here, and the Home of Evil Ghosts will be reduced to ashes.
"Thanks to this puppet."
Wu Yong said, "Yes, we originally thought this doll was just cute, but we didn't expect it could help us."
Hearing their words, the doll turned around with a smile on its face, seemingly pleased by their praise.
The puppet continued to lead the way, and the four of them followed behind with great excitement. They were about to clear the Instance, so how could they not be happy?
After walking for a while, the puppets stopped; they had finally reached their destination.
The pipes led to a huge oval crystal, which was over ten meters tall and contained immense energy.
Upon seeing the crystal, everyone felt a sense of oppression.
A hint of excitement flickered in Qiu Ming's eyes. "This is the core of the Home of Evil Ghosts. The Home of Evil Ghosts exists because of it. As long as we destroy it, we can complete our mission."
"Shall we make our move now?" Huo Jun rubbed his hands together, eager to destroy the crystal.
"No!" Qiu Ming hurriedly stopped him, "The power inside is too great; it could kill us all in an instant."
"Let me become Contractor and then I'll handle it."
Qiu Ming looked ahead again and said, "Now that we've found this core, it means the sealed evil spirit isn't far from us."
As soon as he finished speaking, the puppet hopped and skipped forward, stopping a dozen meters away from them.
"Look over there, what's that?" Wu Yong said, pointing to the side of the puppet.
Qiu Ming shone the torch over, and everyone could see the situation there.
After seeing it clearly, Qiu Ming was utterly shocked and murmured in disbelief,
"This... how is this possible!"