The tiger-headed monster whose eye had been pierced quickly shriveled up, as if it had been sucked into the Bronze Key.
The Bronze Key released an invisible force, dragging Li Fan into a strange space!
Everything around him plunged into darkness in an instant, and the scenery rapidly shifted.
Darkness, gloom, an oppressive feeling welling up from deep inside, and the smell of something burning at the tip of his nose.
With one step, he had entered another world!
Li Fan opened his eyes in pitch-black darkness, so deep he couldn't see his hand in front of him.
What the hell is this place?
Where's that abnormal infected entity?
Li Fan felt his way forward through the room, bewildered.
His hand found a door.
He pushed it open gently, and a faint blood-red glow appeared.
Before him was a square hall, with a pitch-black stone stele standing inside.
Faint traces of antique elegance surrounded him: carved pillars and ornate decorations that looked like they belonged to an ancient building.
Li Fan grumbled inwardly, but felt much more at ease. He strode forward and stopped before the stele.
Whatever this place was, perhaps the stele could provide some answers.
In the faint blood-red light whose source he couldn't make out, Li Fan saw a line of large characters:
"For thirty years I cultivated the Dao. The day I emerged from seclusion, I witnessed Purgatory on earth, heaven and earth overturned, living beings ravaged, and men turned into demons. Their wrath soared to the heavens! I opened the gates of the underworld and established the Prison of Suppression to lock away the souls of wicked ghosts! The Dao is the way of man! The divine is the divinity of refinement! With all gods concealed, I shall take their place! This is the Prison of Suppression!"
Could this really be some kind of place like hell?
Weren't abnormal incidents supposed to fall under the field of psychoscience research?
This is already veering into the realm of myths and legends...
The writing on the black stone stele looked forceful and powerful. One glance was enough to feel the domineering presence behind it.
Li Fan reached out and gently touched the words on the stele, drawing in a sharp breath.
There were finger marks on it. The characters had actually been carved directly with someone's fingers!
The moment he touched the stele, a solemn voice suddenly rang out in his mind:
"The Prison of Suppression is open once more!"
At the same time, new information appeared in Li Fan's mind.
He instantly understood that this place was called the Prison of Suppression, a place where the "abnormal" things of the world were held in check!
He had now become the heir to this Prison of Suppression!
A rumbling sound followed, and even the ground began to tremble.
Wherever Li Fan looked, the places that had resembled ancient buildings all transformed into modern structures.
They became cold concrete constructions!
The shaking stopped. Everything around him had become thoroughly modern.
It looked like a real prison.
Somehow, that made it feel even more oppressive.
Li Fan was puzzled. He circled the black stone stele, then peered into the darkness at the far end of the hall.
This place was huge.
Only a faint red light shone in from somewhere outside, and it was too dim to tell just how large the place was.
Rows of rooms with closed doors lined the hall. He didn't know if there were any other people inside.
Li Fan felt around beside the stele for a while, but found only a battered windproof lighter and a pair of rusted handcuffs.
He flicked the lighter. A faint blood-red flame appeared at once. It was weak, but at least it illuminated the area a few meters around him.
Holding the lighter in one hand and the handcuffs in the other, Li Fan began exploring the rest of the hall.
The blood-red flame was strange, but it gave off enough light to see clearly.
Li Fan came to a room.
The door was made of metal, with a small peephole that could be opened from the outside. It was shut tight.
It was a standard prison cell!
He pushed the door, but it was firmly locked and wouldn't budge.
Then Li Fan opened the peephole and shone the lighter inside. All he could make out was a dark, gloomy room about ten square meters in size, with a pile of ashes on the floor.
It really was a prison cell!
Li Fan held up the lighter and continued to the next room. Its door wouldn't open either. Through the peephole, he saw a pile of yellowed bones scattered across the floor!
His heart tightened. He continued to the next room, this time without trying the door.
According to the stele, this place was called the "Prison of Suppression." If one of the rooms really held some vicious and evil creature, pushing its door open wouldn't exactly be a good idea.
As he passed the rooms one by one, Li Fan realized the place was astonishingly large. He had already walked past at least a hundred cells and still hadn't reached the end of this side.
Most of the rooms he peered into through the peepholes were empty, though now and then he saw things like dried bones or piles of ash.
The farther Li Fan went, the stronger the feeling became.
He was the master here!
Every plant, every brick and tile belonged to him!
It was as if this enormous prison were alive and breathing, resonating with him.
Suddenly, a rustling sound came from the darkness, startlingly loud in the silence.
Someone!
Li Fan immediately followed the sound to a cell. Then he cautiously opened the peephole and looked inside by the light of the lighter.
Whatever was inside seemed to sense his arrival and looked back at him.
It was the tiger-headed monster!
Li Fan jerked backward, ready for it to lunge at him. But when the tiger-headed monster saw him, it let out a frightened growl and shrank into a corner, trembling all over.
A series of clear clinks came from the chains.
Only then did Li Fan notice the metal chains extending from the floor. They held the tiger-headed monster fast, piercing right through its body and even becoming part of it.
Its body was now horribly battered. It was easy to imagine how cruelly it had been punished.
There was a round hole in the cell door, with a metal chain poking through it and drooping down to the floor.
He had brought this monster into the Prison of Suppression.
Li Fan gave the chain a light shake. The tiger-headed monster immediately put on a fawning expression, no longer fierce like before.
Li Fan instantly learned its name.
Tiger Pillar God!
He had complete control over the monster's life and death, and could also borrow its power.
I'll put aside the question of how all this supernatural stuff exists in the world. At least I have some means of protecting myself now.
"Didn't I warn you? Still feeling cocky?" Li Fan gave the chain a sharp yank, dragging Tiger Pillar God straight into the door. It grimaced in pain, its ferocious tiger face full of terror and fear.
"Lie down!"
Like some strange cat, Tiger Pillar God sprawled on the ground. The two giant serpents that made up its arms were just as obedient.
"Crouch!"
Tiger Pillar God immediately got up from its belly and crouched down.
"Shake!"
One of the giant serpents that served as its arm reached out, swaying gently in a fawning manner.
Li Fan nodded in satisfaction.
Why didn't you behave earlier?
Suddenly, another sound came from a cell not far away.
Were there other prisoners?
Leaving Tiger Pillar God where it was, Li Fan went over to the cell and opened the peephole.
Eighteen eyes stared at one another.
The hairs all over Li Fan's body stood on end. A chill shot from his tailbone straight up to the back of his head. He sprang backward and couldn't help shouting:
"Holy shit!"
Inside the cell was a monster that looked as if it had been pieced together!
Eight heads, like the petals of a flower, clustered around a single neck. Its body was human-shaped, but beneath it were more than a dozen strange, twisted limbs. It had no arms, only a dozen or so writhing tentacle-like appendages!
The monster let out a shrill scream when it saw Li Fan, then darted straight into the corner.
The lighter slipped in his hand and suddenly went out. Li Fan quickly relit it, then slapped himself to steady his nerves.
He cautiously looked through the peephole again, making sure the monster hadn't charged out.
Then Li Fan noticed it was huddled in the corner, trembling all over. All eight heads, arranged like a wheel, faced the wall. It didn't dare move at all.
Could it be... even more scared than I am?
Suppressing his physical revulsion, he closed the peephole and looked at the countless cells still ahead of him. He couldn't help sighing.
What the hell kind of prison is this? Is it holding a bunch of demons and monsters?
Besides, the sunflower-headed monster inside wasn't bound by chains. It seemed he couldn't control it for now.
Just then, a heavy crash came from the next cell!
The cell door shuddered from the impact, and thick black fog poured through the cracks. It seemed something inside was about to break out!
Li Fan could even hear a series of shrill wails, as if hundreds of men and women were screaming together. It sent a chill through him!
He quickly backed away. Is some evil ghost about to get out?
I'm going back. I'll stop inspecting this prison for now. I'll go have some tea first!
Li Fan pulled out the Bronze Key and frantically slashed at the air, but it didn't seem to do anything.
In desperation, he shoved it into the door of an empty cell and yanked it open.
The next instant, he was standing outside the duty room. The door he had just opened had turned into the duty room door!
He was back!
"Bang!"
The Psychic Radiation Counter he was wearing suddenly shattered.
Before you continue