Hell?

Ming Lunyu woke amid a pile of corpses.

He was cradled protectively in a thick arm.

Turning his head, he saw Ma Hongjun protected by the other arm, still unconscious.

All around them was a hellish scene—white bones and mangled flesh piled into mountains, horrifying to behold.

"Bleurgh!"

Ming Lunyu dry-heaved.

His heart filled with unease.

Where was this? What had happened?

Only after a long, long while did he barely adapt to the sight around him and manage to think calmly.

I remember that Inverse Yin Yang's power affected that man when it erupted, causing him to lose control.

Then, while shouting something about the 'City of Slaughter,' he abducted Xiaojun and me...

Could this be the City of Slaughter?

The City of Slaughter... what kind of place is it?

And he seems to have died while fighting these people...

Good riddance! It's just a shame I couldn't kill him myself to avenge Grandpa and everyone else.

But why did he protect us?

Right. He was out of his mind, obsessed with the City of Slaughter and eating us. He protected us because he was afraid someone else would take us away...

Ming Lunyu gave a self-mocking smile. "So, should I thank you...?"

Feeling a little strength return to his body, Ming Lunyu braced his hands against something and struggled free from the mound of bodies.

Then he pulled Ma Hongjun out as well.

"My Soul Power... can't be used?" Ming Lunyu sensed that something was wrong.

"Is it because of this strange place?"

Looking at the blood-red sky, Ming Lunyu became even more certain that the so-called City of Slaughter was another space.

"Brother Yu..."

Ma Hongjun's eyelashes trembled twice before she slowly woke.

"Wh-where is this?!"

Ma Hongjun was instantly terrified by the purgatory-like scene around them.

Ming Lunyu hurriedly soothed her in a gentle voice.

Fortunately, Ma Hongjun was not someone weak of heart. After her brief terror passed, she barely managed to steady herself.

Ming Lunyu told Ma Hongjun what he had discovered. She fell silent for a moment, then looked at the man's corpse with a complicated expression.

"What should we do?"

Ma Hongjun was asking Ming Lunyu, but she was also asking herself.

In just a few short days, she had already suffered too many drastic changes. She was nearly numb by now. Had she been an ordinary six-year-old child, she would have broken down long ago.

Ming Lunyu took a deep breath, knowing that he had to stay calm now. He absolutely could not panic.

Only if he remained calm could Xiaojun feel at ease.

So even if he had no idea what to do, he had to force himself to step up!

Suppressing his nausea, Ming Lunyu searched the surrounding area for two short swords and handed one to Ma Hongjun.

"Xiaojun, hold on to this."

Ma Hongjun took the short sword and gripped it tightly in her palm.

"And this."

Ming Lunyu handed her a black token engraved with a number: 8545.

"This may be some kind of proof of identity. Look, every corpse has one."

Ming Lunyu took one for himself, engraved with 8621.

"Let's go. There must be other people in this place, but we need to be careful. This is definitely a dangerous place."

They stripped two black robes from the corpses and tore them up a little to make them barely fit, then put them on over Ming Lunyu and Ma Hongjun.

It was necessary camouflage. It was far from perfect, but it was still much better than wandering around openly with their faces exposed.

The two slowly and cautiously made their way toward the dark cluster of buildings in the distance. At the slightest rustle, they would stop warily and observe their surroundings.

Finally, after walking for about two hours, they reached the edge of the black town.

Taking advantage of their small size, they hid behind a low house and, luckily, attracted no one's attention.

After telling Ma Hongjun to watch their surroundings, Ming Lunyu carefully poked half his head out and secretly observed the nearby area.

He discovered that most of the people nearby looked vicious, yet their bodies were thin and gaunt, as though they had suffered from malnutrition for a long time.

Moreover, although everyone looked at others with vigilance and greed in their eyes, not a single person dared to make a move.

Beyond that, the entire place gave Ming Lunyu a feeling of despair and numbness.

Many people here had no life in their eyes. They were like soulless walking corpses. Though they all had adult bodies, Ming Lunyu felt that they were not even his match.

His eyes flickered as Ming Lunyu came to a decision.

"Xiaojun, let's go out."

Before Ma Hongjun could question him, Ming Lunyu explained.

"We can't keep hiding here. We need to gather more information about this place. Look at those people. Some are at each other's throats, while others are full of greed and malice, yet none of them have done anything."

"I have a guess: there must be some kind of rule here restraining them, making them afraid to act."

"So if we go out directly, there's a good chance we won't be attacked. What do you think? Shall we gamble on it?"

Ming Lunyu pressed his lips together and looked at Ma Hongjun seriously as he quietly waited for her answer.

Ma Hongjun did not say much. She merely nodded firmly.

Just as Ming Lunyu had said, there was no solution in continuing to hide here. If they wanted to break the deadlock, they could only brave it.

The two adjusted their black robes and stepped out.

Ming Lunyu took Ma Hongjun's hand and moved silently through the area.

No matter what the people around them said, they ignored it all.

Sure enough, even with such blatantly disrespectful behavior, not one person came forward to cause trouble.

Ming Lunyu did not believe that these vicious-looking people were harmless.

So his earlier guess had indeed been right. This place did not allow people to attack others.

Having confirmed this, Ming Lunyu relaxed a little and became bolder in observing his surroundings.

"Children? How could children appear here?"

Similar cries of surprise came from time to time, but Ming Lunyu ignored them completely and kept walking.

At the same time, he listened intently to the conversations around him, gathering every useful piece of information he could.

"This is..."

Ming Lunyu hid behind a building and secretly watched the scene not far away.

"What is that?" Ma Hongjun looked with him.

A group of people stood in line before a table. Each held a cup of red liquid, which they handed over one by one to a black-clothed man seated behind the table.

After receiving a cup, the black-clothed man poured its contents into a large vat beside him.

"What do I do? My body can barely hold on anymore! If I give any more blood... But the Inner City... I'll die!"

From around a corner in the wall, Ming Lunyu heard someone muttering like this. His pupils shrank. Looking again at the red liquid in those people's cups, he suddenly understood.

"So that's how it is..."

He understood.

It was probably like this: to survive here, one had to regularly hand over a cup of blood. In return, they could live in a relatively safe environment.

As for the Inner City that person mentioned... Ming Lunyu guessed that it might be the opposite of this place.

Perhaps one did not need to hand over blood in exchange for the right to live there, but it was extremely dangerous.

It was highly likely that slaughter and fighting were unrestricted there.

"What a... cruel world!"

Ming Lunyu withdrew his gaze and sighed.

After leaving that place, Ming Lunyu quietly shared his speculation with Ma Hongjun.

"Brother Yu, look over there. It seems blood is the currency here."

Ma Hongjun pointed at the food shop ahead.

From time to time, people entered carrying cups to exchange them for food.

Ming Lunyu noticed that the shopkeepers were also dressed in black.

"Who are they? Could they be this place's official organization?"

After wandering around for another while, Ming Lunyu learned another piece of information: the houses here could be occupied freely. As long as a house was empty, anyone could use it.

As long as one entered a house and hung their identity token outside, it counted as claiming the house.

However, identity tokens were needed for other purposes at any time, so they had to be carried when going out.

That meant the house one had claimed could be taken by someone else. Therefore, the owners of houses here were never fixed.