Germany, deep within the vast Black Forest.
A majestic, mysterious Gothic structure stood tall amid the boundless snowfields, like a castle from a fairy tale.
Yet beneath the ground blanketed in pristine snow lay bottomless darkness.
Within the deep cavern, murky droplets dripped from the bizarre stalactites hanging from the ceiling.
However, within this oppressive, dim underground space glimmered an extraordinary, gorgeous light.
It was an underground lake located at the center of the cavern.
A mercury-colored lake.
Its rippling surface shimmered like starlight flickering beneath the night sky, quietly illuminating this profound darkness.
Bang!
However, after an unknown amount of time, a dull thud of something heavy hitting the ground sent silver lakewater splashing high into the air.
Beneath the spreading ripples, a frail body whose abdomen had been torn open by beasts, its organs exposed, bobbed in the water. Its lifeless eyes stared hollowly at the opening above, which had opened at some point and revealed a small patch of starry sky.
But in an instant, the only faint light was filled with densely packed black dots.
Bang bang bang bang!
Dull splashes rang out one after another as broken humanoid figures—some with twisted limbs, some with deformed heads and necks, some missing half their bodies—were poured from the opening into the underground lake like heaps of garbage.
Soon, the ruined dolls floating on the lake's surface were washed by the water like defective products submerged in a vat of sulfuric acid. Their pale flesh peeled away piece by piece, while their hard bones dissolved inch by inch.
In the end, their only remaining traces turned into streaks of silver and merged into the lake, making its spreading ripples even brighter and more dazzling.
After this brief process, everything seemed to vanish without a trace, returning to stillness