Auntie Zhang moved like a ghost, appearing beside Huo Lei in an instant. With a light wave of her hand, blood vessels sprouted across Huo Lei's body and began to bear Blood Fruits.
Old Sun took a few steps forward. Roots sprouted beside Huo Lei and burrowed into his body, drawing nourishment from him before growing into thorny vines.
Mother smiled and opened her mouth, exhaling a wisp of green smoke. It transformed in midair into several ghostly human figures, which attacked Huo Lei and burrowed straight into his mouth and nostrils.
Puffs of white smoke flickered in Huo Lei's eyes. His head began swelling rapidly like a balloon, while clusters of blood vessels and vines sprouted across his body, bearing Blood Fruits and leaves in a riot of color.
As if he hadn't expected Li Fan to strike without hesitation, Huo Lei looked confused. He said haltingly:
"Why? I know the Cleaning Association also has its eyes on Gu City!"
"The Anomaly Bureau is far stronger than it appears. They've even quietly foiled several of my moves, including one involving a powerful anomaly from the Gutuo Kingdom!"
"If I hadn't created anomalous incidents several times to distract them, this plan might already have failed."
"If we join forces, we can defeat the Anomaly Bureau once and for all! We both stand to gain!"
Clusters of Blood Fruits and sharp vines sprouted from Huo Lei. His body quickly withered and fell apart, while his ever-expanding head even tore open the face that had originally been pieced together.
Even so, he kept trying to persuade them, his words earnest and relentless.
Seeing that Li Fan remained unmoved, Huo Lei finally gave up. His swollen, distorted body threw back its head and laughed.
"Is it because you're arrogant? Pathetic. The Collector is no better! But even without you, my plan will still succeed. Thank you for giving me enough time. I've gathered enough mental power from those fools!"
Thump! Huo Lei's head, swollen to its limit, burst into a spray of blood.
His withered body did not fall. It remained standing, covered in vivid Blood Fruits and thorny vines. Flowers bloomed along the vines, and together with his headless neck, they formed a strangely beautiful, eerie sight.
The members of the Cleaning Association, however, did not let down their guard. Huo Lei was, after all, the Third Chef of the Unity Society. He couldn't have been killed so easily.
The ground shook violently. Then a wild, beastlike laugh rose from beneath it.
"Ridiculous, absurd, childish! The Collector of the Cleaning Association is no better. Thank you for giving me time to complete the final fusion!"
Suddenly, something dragged Huo Lei's headless corpse underground, and it disappeared!
In the spot where he had been standing, a hole just large enough for one person appeared.
The next instant, another violent tremor struck. Cracks spread across the ground beneath everyone's feet.
Old Sun darted to the hole and peered down. He immediately shouted:
"It's the Unity Society's Amalgam! It's down there! It's fucking huge. Everyone, keep your balance!"
No sooner had he spoken than another tremor struck. The ground beneath them cracked again, bulging in the middle as several holes opened up.
It wasn't solid earth beneath their feet, but a floor of stone bricks.
Through the holes, they could see nothing but a dark abyss below.
Fortunately, at some point, the space beneath the floor had filled with a dense tangle of plant roots. Like tempered glass, the roots remained interwoven even after the floor cracked, keeping it from breaking apart.
The Amalgam below seemed to have run out of patience. Another violent impact struck, and the entire floor of the side chamber where Li Fan and the others stood was torn loose. Then it plunged from high above!
As the floor plummeted, Gardener Old Sun immediately spread his arms and flung out vines, telling the others to grab hold.
At the same time, layers of spore-like vines unfurled behind Old Sun, forming a huge parachute that carried them gently downward.
Of course, Old Sun didn't send any vines toward the Collector.
A little fall like this wouldn't affect the Collector in the slightest. If Old Sun tried to flatter him and got it wrong, it would amount to insulting him.
Li Fan stood on the shattered floor as it plunged. Seeing Old Sun's vines, he felt a surge of delight, but then immediately noticed that everyone else had a parachute except him.
Cursing Old Sun to high heaven in his mind, Li Fan expressionlessly reached into thin air and grabbed the chain of the Tiger Pillar God, then yanked it out.
Tiger Pillar God, possess me!
The Tiger Pillar God's power surged through his body. But the ground was already rushing up from twenty or thirty meters below. There was no time to change his position, so Li Fan had no choice but to land stiff-legged.
He clenched his teeth hard.
His heels hurt like hell!
Without the Tiger Pillar God, he would probably have broken his legs.
Old Sun had just landed with his vine parachute. He couldn't help looking at Li Fan with admiration.
As expected of the Collector. He'd landed stiff as a board and looked completely unharmed. It was a good thing Old Sun hadn't gone out of his way to send him vines.
Otherwise, the Collector might have thought he was looking down on him.
"This Huo Lei is quite interesting..." Mother gazed into the darkness ahead and smiled.
Everyone looked up in the same direction.
The area beneath the original subway platform had been completely hollowed out, forming an enormous space several football fields in size!
The place where the subway platform had stood had become a high ceiling!
In the middle of this underground space stood a ruined earthen dais that resembled a palace.
The entire dais was bright red, but now it seemed to be rapidly fading upon exposure to the air, becoming mottled and eerie.
On either side of the dais stood two towering bronze altars.
One depicted a human sacrifice to a pillar. A tiger stood atop the bronze pillar, two giant pythons coiled around its shaft, and a ferocious crocodile with the paws of a bear crouched at its base.
The other bronze altar bore a statue with a snake's head and a human body.
Her body was like a snake's nest, with countless snakes slithering out of it. Below the waist, she had a mass of spider legs.
These were the Tiger Pillar God and the Snake Concubine!
The Bronze Hanging Coffin that had originally been above, along with the twisted thicket, a mountain-sized pile of black Shell Currency, and a shattered jade figure, had all fallen down. They now lay between the dais and the altars.
A powerful anomalous mental pulse radiated outward from the Bronze Hanging Coffin.
In the darkness ahead, under the dim light cast down from the ceiling, a huge, ghastly pale monster lay coiled. It was dozens of meters long and three or four meters in diameter.
Its body was made entirely of human bones fused together.
Some were fresh corpses, presumably the missing people.
Others were yellowed skeletons, seemingly fused from bones taken from the graveyard.
It was a Tai Sui, far larger and more monstrous than the one before.
Huo Lei's headless corpse was at its tail.
From beginning to end, the Huo Lei they had seen had been nothing more than part of this enormous Tai Sui's tail.
Like a fishhook's bait.
Old Sun was the most shocked of all. Staring at the vast underground space, he shouted:
"Y-you managed to solve the groundwater problem in the underground rock strata?"
The members of the Cleaning Association couldn't help glancing at Old Sun.
Wu Qian's anxious voice rang out from above:
"Fan! Where are you? Are you hurt? Were any of the subway construction workers injured?"
The people from the Dissection Department had been near the edge of the platform and hadn't fallen with the others. Now they were leaning over the edge, which had become a sheer cliff, anxiously sweeping their flashlights around in search of Li Fan.
Suddenly, the emergency lights swept across the enormous Tai Sui. A chorus of shouts immediately rang out:
"What is that thing?!"
"Tai Sui! It's a Tai Sui! Call for backup!"
"Li Fan, get up here!"
"Open fire! Cover Section Chief Li!"
Gunshots rang out in panic. Muzzle flashes lit up the dim depths, bullets flying toward the enormous Tai Sui.
The bullets sank straight into its body without eliciting any reaction.
The Tai Sui shuddered violently. Hundreds, even thousands, of legs moved at once as its immense body twisted around with unnatural agility. A face pieced together from human limbs emerged, bearing a strong resemblance to Huo Lei. It spoke in a chilling voice:
"Welcome the birth of fear."
The moment the words fell, a violent pulse of anomalous mental radiation burst from the Bronze Hanging Coffin, sweeping across the entire underground space!
Up on the platform, the people from the Dissection Department screamed. Overwhelmed by a terror welling up from deep within, they bled from their ears and noses and collapsed unconscious!
Before you continue