Because they needed to collect ore samples, the group's pace slowed considerably. Still, along the way, they encountered several Fallen Ones who retained a degree of human intelligence.
How should they put it?
The Fallen Ones they saw on the Fifth Layer were a hundred times more innocent than even Mithras.
They retained human intelligence, yet their forms barely resembled humans at all. Their temperaments were like those of children, but without a child's restlessness. They could even be considerate of others' feelings.
Moreover, most of these Fallen Ones had no palms or fingers on their limbs...
For example, Rabbit Girl, when she was not strengthened by the White Whistle, had round, stubby palms and tiny fingers, making her incapable of handling delicate tasks.
The Fallen Ones on this layer had even shorter fingers, if they had fingers at all. Some had only tentacles, while others used pincers in place of fingers.
They could only be said to be somewhat better off than the Fallen Ones imprisoned on the Fourth Layer.
That was likely the fundamental reason the Fallen Ones of this layer needed normal humans to mine for them.
Otherwise, given their temperaments, they would surely prefer to dig the mines themselves rather than trouble others.
On a hillside roughly five hundred meters from their destination, Zhou Qing looked down and spotted a basin surrounded by pale pink mountains.
At the entrance stood a pink, fleshy hill nearly thirty meters tall. Beneath it was a passage leading inward, though it seemed to be blocked by a transparent, glass-like substance.
At some distance below the inner sides of the surrounding peaks, there also appeared to be some kind of special transparent membrane. Within it stood all sorts of bizarre buildings. They still vaguely bore the marks of human craftsmen, though