Underworld Paradise

The sun was moving faster than they had anticipated.

The vast majority of the Sub-Street was already shrouded in shadow.

Their luck was truly poor.

On the storefront of a supermarket, its massive advertising signboard projected significantly higher than the neat facade.

It was precisely the shadow cast by this signboard onto the street that caused the tide of darkness to bulge outward!

The few who were fast had crossed this protruding shadow earlier.

But that bloated guy had only just arrived!

The two of them were already running with their eyes rolled back in their heads; how could they have noticed that the ground beneath their feet had actually been covered by the shadow of the signboard?

Thus, the moment their feet stepped in, the Water Ghosts gathered in this zone of death suddenly lunged upward, their monkey-like claws clutching the bloated man's legs with a death grip!

The bloated man was scared out of his wits, his fat body collapsing toward the ground!

This fall was not onto the concrete floor at all; it was as if he had fallen into a nest. Dozens of Shadow Evil Spirits crawled out from that shadow area the size of the signboard.

They quickly swarmed over the bloated man's entire body, tearing with claws and gnawing with fangs. Even after disemboweling him, a small, thin Shadow Evil Spirit crawled inside the bloated man's body, eating its way from the inside out!

"Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!"

The screams echoed throughout the block.

In a place like this, death was truly not the most terrifying thing.

Throughout the entire feeding process, the bloated man remained alive. These Shadow Water Ghosts were vicious and cruel; they knew exactly which parts to eat first to prevent the living creature from dying too soon, which would affect the freshness of the meal...

Yang Qin's legs went weak with fear, and she collapsed onto the ground.

If she hadn't turned back in time, she would have ended up just like the bloated man!

It was too terrifying!

This place was too terrifying!!

She didn't want to stay in a place like this at all.

"Stupid." Su Li witnessed the entire process with cold indifference.

In fact, the moment Jiang Wang and Xu Yan made that decision, Su Li already knew these people wouldn't survive.

They didn't understand the laws of the Evil Sun at all.

It was completely different from the bright daylight they had always known.

Its movement speed was actually even faster!

So it wasn't just the bloated man who couldn't escape; none of the others would be able to walk out of the Sub-Street alive either!

"Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!"

Sure enough, screams rang out once again, clearly audible even from a kilometer or two away.

It was the older man. Because his stamina had failed him, his body veered into the shadows, and then, like a piece of fatty meat dropped into a pool of piranhas, blood sprayed out, forming a striking mist!

"Faster!!"

"Go faster!!"

Jiang Wang and Xu Yan were running at the very front.

They were about to reach Main Street, which was bathed in ample sunlight.

But the shadows of the Sub-Street were like a ruthless stone gate, slowly closing shut!

Finally, when the two were less than a hundred meters from the end of the Sub-Street, the river of shadows completely engulfed the entire street surface. Hundreds of shadow Water Ghosts began to hunt them down!!

"No, no, no! No, no, no!!" Jiang Wang screamed in despair.

But the moment he opened his mouth, sharp claws were shoved inside!

It was a larger shadow Water Ghost, its claws like curved hooks.

Then, Jiang Wang was seen being hoisted up like a live fish hooked by the throat, hanging there cruelly.

Immediately after, the other shadow Water Ghosts, like diners at a hot pot restaurant, orderly and greedily sliced sashimi off Jiang Wang's body, savoring that freshness and tenderness to their heart's content!

Xu Yan's fate was no different from Jiang Wang's.

The other two running in the middle were reduced to nothing but bones in an incredibly short amount of time.

It was clearly just a shadowed street, and the sunlight had only just vanished, yet it had turned into a hellish underworld. The scene unfolding there was more than just tragic—it was inhumane!

Wu Hen stood in the distance, witnessing the entire process.

Unlike the man-eating monsters he had seen in movies and television shows, these real monsters in the Otherworld possessed their own habits, and it even seemed as though they had their own culinary culture.

It was precisely this refinement and specificity that made one feel even more fear and terror toward death.

"Let's go. The sunlight has already tilted onto the road ahead," Su Li's calm voice rang out.

Wu Hen nodded and followed closely behind Su Li.

The others were already scared out of their wits. Their greatest relief was that they had chosen to follow Su Li, so now, they wouldn't overthink things; wherever Su Li said to go, they would go.

Yang Qin collapsed to the ground, her entire body limp.

"Slap her awake," Su Li said indifferently.

Wu Hen glanced at the collapsed Yang Qin.

Youth is a wonderful thing, falling asleep the moment you hit the ground...

Wu Hen stepped forward and gave her a few "slap, slap, slap" smacks.

Yang Qin's face was red and swollen, and she quickly sobered up.

Clearly realizing that if she didn't get up and follow the group, she would definitely die here, she tearfully and weakly stood back up.

Wu Hen reached out to steady her, only to discover a wet patch where Yang Qin had been sitting...

Sigh, classmate Yang Qin, you're so old now, why are you still leaking everywhere?

Su Li clearly had a plan for the route.

Following this, the group successfully walked out of the high-rise area and arrived near the Old Train Station.

"Do we have to go inside? There are many places inside the station where the sunlight can't reach," an auntie in the group asked.

"We don't need to enter the platforms. The train is parked outside; we just need to follow the tracks," Su Li said.

"That's good, that's good!" Hearing this news, the others let out long sighs of relief.

Although the Shadow Evil Spirit wasn't strong, there were simply too many of them. If a large number of Shadow Evil Spirits were nesting inside the train station, they would still be unable to escape death.

"Climb over this wall, and the tracks are on the other side. The train is about four or five kilometers down the line. There are no building shadows or light-blocking sheds along that path," Su Li explained to the group again.

The area around the Old Train Station was filled with old, low-rise buildings. Most of these buildings were covered in moss and vines, clearly long abandoned.

The wall in front of them was a low brick wall with some old electrical wires running along it, but it wasn't difficult to climb over.

The group began to help each other, climbing over the low wall of the train station and into the open area where the tracks were located.

"Give me your hand," Wu Hen said, lying on top of the wall and reaching out to Yang Qin.

Yang Qin's face was full of pleasant surprise as she hurriedly reached out both hands.

Wu Hen pulled her up to the top of the wall and then lowered her to the other side.

There was a hint of gratitude in Yang Qin's eyes. Just as she wanted to express her thanks in a delicate, coquettish way to get closer to him, she realized Wu Hen was completely ignoring her. She had no choice but to pout and follow behind, feeling aggrieved.

Did I offend him somewhere? Why does he dislike me so much? Yang Qin felt deeply puzzled.

However, before Yang Qin could think it over, the panic and unease of the people around her made her realize that something was not right here!

The rest of the group were like startled horses, pacing back and forth restlessly. A few people even wanted to climb back over to the other side of the wall.

"No, Su Li, what is the meaning of this? Did you not see the things on the ground ahead???" the middle-aged woman in the group let out a shrill cry.

"Midnight Mass!! That is all Midnight Mass!! Su Li, did you bring us to the nest of the Midnight Mass!!"

"Let me go back, let me go back now, I don't want to stay in this hellhole!!"

The group descended into chaos; no one could remain calm.

It would have been fine if they hadn't climbed over the wall; they wouldn't have known the situation around the train station.

But once they crossed the wall, they discovered that the area inside the train station and along the tracks extending outward was densely packed with terrifying stone statues!

It was as if they had accidentally stumbled into a horrific stone carving factory.

The problem was, everyone living here knew clearly that those things, which remained motionless under the sunlight, were by no means ordinary stones. They were something even more terrifying than Dusk Night Evil Spirits and Shadow Evil Spirits—the Midnight Mass!!!

Su Li had not told everyone the truth at all.

The old train station was the nest of the Midnight Mass!!

"This is the only way to leave this Evil Soil," Su Li said calmly.

"But..."

"But what? If you haven't lost your minds yet, you should know that the Midnight Mass cannot move during the day. Even on cloudy days, they remain in a sculptural state. Right now, they are just statues!" Su Li said.

Hearing Su Li's sharp rebuke, the few of them soon stopped their restless clamoring.

Indeed, if the Midnight Mass could move, they would have been eaten down to the bone the moment they climbed over the wall!

To pass through the nest of the Midnight Mass...

The road to the Nuwa Divine Tree would no longer be far.

Their final destination was the Nuwa Divine Tree.

"There are two hours left until the sun goes down. These Midnight Mass won't attack us. Let's do as Su Li says," a Scar-faced Uncle in the group said.

"It's too late to turn back now anyway," Wu Hen added.

The four or five kilometers of tracks also lacked any cover, but the sunlight covered this entire open stretch of rail, which made the others feel slightly more at ease.

"Let's go." Su Li continued to walk at the very front of the group.

However, this time she drew her pistol, maintaining a vigilant posture.

Su Li gave Wu Hen a look, signaling that he must stay close to her side no matter what.

Wu Hen wished he could shrink down into a baby and nestle into the holster by Su Li's long legs; a big sister who was both intelligent and capable in combat was exactly what he liked best!

"These Midnight Mass, they really won't move, right?" Yang Qin asked Scar-faced Uncle in a tiny voice.

"Probably."

"Pro... probably??" Yang Qin's eyes widened, and tears of fear were about to well up again.

On both sides of the tracks, weeds grew in abundance; even with the sun shining down, it still felt as gloomy as a graveyard.

Moreover, the evil spirits standing there one by one were lifelike even in their statue state, especially their faces—they were clearly smiling in different ways, yet all of them exuded a chilling hypocrisy!

If one had to use something to describe them, they were perhaps closer to the ghost messengers in the underworld who come to greet you.

They greeted you with smiling faces, welcoming you to Underworld Paradise; on the surface, they were polite, but out of the corner of one's eye, one could always catch their little expressions and gestures, impatient to inflict torture upon you!

With a light source present, were they really not moving at all?

Yang Qin still felt that no matter where she walked, their eyes were fixed on her??