Return

The drizzling rain was like freshly hatched maggots slapping against the glass before slowly wriggling down.

Inside an Asian-style Image Store plastered with all manner of bizarre posters,

despite having power, not a single light was on. Not even a candle had been lit.

There was only one clerk inside.

He was skinny, with the gaunt look of someone starving to death.

He lay completely sprawled across the counter, a pipe in his mouth. After taking a puff, he would sleep for a while.

Suddenly...

A faint sound came from underground.

The creaking hinges of the lift tore apart the silence. As the lift arrived, the entire store seemed to grow darker, as if some dangerous entity were about to enter.

The clerk, who had been idling away the day, abruptly sat up and rummaged out a candle from deep within the counter.

Holding the lit candle in his palm, he slowly approached with a hunched back.

Click!

The lift had arrived.

Endless darkness spread outward like a tide, threatening to swallow even the candlelight whole.

Just as the clerk revealed a savage expression and something unknown seemed ready to split open beneath his skin, Luo Di's gray-haired head suddenly poked out.

In his arms,

a Pig-headed Infant slept inside a sling made of rags. The darkness was emanating from this strange infant.

Black Eye Morton, who had been immensely excited to leave the dungeon, seemed to see something profound when he spotted the frail clerk before him. Frightened, he curled up.

The darkness he had released was instantly drawn back in.

The candlelight in the clerk's hand returned and spread normally once more.

It illuminated Luo Di, covered in wounds, frail and emaciated, with dead crows even hanging from some of his injuries.

"Oh? You actually came back alive.