Apprentice Warden An Ziqi, the Underground Floors, the City of Dis!

"How many people are imprisoned on this floor?" An Ziqi asked instinctively.

"I don't know." An Guangling shook his head. "The entire underground level is a special building of the Angel Building, where the Sinful Souls will refresh periodically."

"So they are all souls?" An Ziqi asked in surprise.

"Think clearly. You should have learned this basic knowledge," An Guangling said, frowning.

"Oh, right!" An Ziqi quickly replied.

At the end of the corridor is an archway, behind which is a bright, almost white light, revealing the main setting of the Greed Vault.

The impact sound came from behind the arch.

An Ziqi stood by the archway and looked inside. Behind the archway was a huge circular area with black stone on the ground, polished to a shine.

The ground here is not flat; it is high in the middle and low on both sides. There is a gentle but long slope on each side from the ridge in the middle.

On each of the two slopes, a group of people were pushing stones.

The group of people on the left stood at the bottom of the slope, facing the top, pushing the stones up with their shoulders. The stones were generally half a person's height, and their surfaces were worn smooth as if they had a layer of oil.

The man pushing the stone was shirtless, his shoulders pressed against the stone surface, his toes digging into the cracks in the slabs, moving upwards step by step, his back arched, his vertebrae protruding one by one, his skin covered in sweat.

With each step upwards, the stone would slide backwards a little, as if it were all in vain.

The group on the right stood at the top of the slope, facing the bottom, pushing the rocks down with their chests.

A stone ridge runs along the edge of the slope, separating the two areas on the left and right.

The people at the top of the slope push the stone down, but the stone slides to the bottom, hits the stone wall, bounces back, and the people at the top catch it again and push it down again!

People at the bottom of the slope push the stone uphill. The stone slides to the top of the slope, hits the ridge, bounces back, and is caught by the people at the bottom, who then push it up again!

Two groups of people were pushing stones back and forth on the same slope, pushing them uphill on the left and downhill on the right. The stones rolled back and forth on the slope, and sometimes the stones from both sides rolled to the middle of the slope at the same time, collided, and made a muffled sound.

Suddenly, An Ziqi felt a chill run down his spine.

Because he clearly saw the expressions on those sinful souls' faces... they were still alive!!!

The expressions were incredibly vivid, yet utterly lifeless. Every face was etched with extreme pain, as if someone was exhausted to the point of collapse but could not stop and could not see the end!

What immense suffering this must be!

I used to be half-dead from working overtime, but these people have to keep working overtime forever!

This is hell on earth, right? That's terrifying!

"The fifth level, the Wrath Prison!"

After descending twenty stone steps, the corridor ahead suddenly opened up.

An Ziqi stood on the last step of the stone steps, looked up at what was ahead, and then stopped.

A huge swamp lay before them, the stone steps sinking into a gray-black mud that stretched into the distance, seemingly without end.

Bubbles rose from the surface of the water, and when the bubbles burst, a murky smell wafted out, like rust soaking in acidic water, with a slightly pungent sulfurous odor.

The swamp is teeming with people, living souls speaking of sin!

An Ziqi didn't recognize them as people at first. They were covered in mud, shirtless, with mud smeared up to their necks, making their faces unrecognizable except for their bright red eyes.

There are two types of people living in the swamp.

A group of people were fighting each other on the water, punching, headbutting, and biting.

Someone was pushed into the water, bubbling and gurgling, before struggling to float to the surface. Their face was covered in mud, and two dark red streaks were running from under their noses; it was impossible to tell whether they were blood or muddy water.

After he surfaced, he immediately turned back to find the person who had held him down. Once he found him, he pounced on him, and the two of them rolled around in the water again.

Another type of person is underwater.

An Ziqi actually watched for a while before noticing the movement beneath the water's surface.

Every now and then a bubble rises on the surface of the swamp, and when it bursts, it makes a muffled groan, as if it's being squeezed out from a very deep place, muffled in the mud, so it's hard to hear clearly.

"This floor is divided into two groups." An Guangling stopped on the stone steps, placed the bronze lamp at his feet, and bent down to take off his boots.

"I've learned that; there are two kinds of anger!" An Ziqi quickly replied.

An Guangling smiled and said:

"Those on the water are enraged, ready to explode at any moment, and they act faster than they think... If you're lucky, you might even see Zhang Fei here, hahaha!"

"Those creatures beneath the surface are simmering with anger, unable to vent their rage, keeping it bottled up inside until they suffocate themselves beneath the mud... Let me think about who in history was the most patient, someone who died from suffocation..."

An Ziqi laughed awkwardly, "Boss, you must be joking!"

Seeing those figures filled him with dread.

"I'm not joking," An Guangling said, taking off his shoes. "The sinful souls that automatically spawn here come from all the heavens and myriad worlds, including past eras!"

An Ziqi suddenly felt like playing with political themes, but he quickly thought of something that really excited him.

"Are you saying that we might see the sinners from Mythic here?!"

"Can."

An Ziqi was deeply shocked.

He hadn't forgotten that the warden possessed one ability: the ability to extract the souls of the guilty!

Grass!

Could we possibly encounter Xingtian or Satan here?

Thinking about this, he felt a surge of excitement!

The warden's abilities come from all the realms of the universe!

"What are you standing there for? Take off your shoes!"

"Oh oh!"

After An Ziqi took off his boots, An Guangling continued, "There are things in the water that might pull you. Wearing boots makes it easy to slip on the water, while being barefoot makes you more stable, but it hurts when you get pulled barefoot. You decide for yourself. Anyway, once you get used to the evil spirits here, they're relatively easy to bully, haha!"

No wonder An Guangling wasn't as depressed as before; it turns out he's most skilled at navigating this level.

An Ziqi held the boots in his hand and tested the temperature of the muddy water on the last step of the stone steps.

It's cool, not icy, but sticky; if you stick your toes in and pull them out, they'll come out with a string of muddy strands.

"I've studied this; we're going to run there, right?"

"Yes, run on the mud clumps that rise up on the water's surface. The clumps will wobble, so be careful... Remember, just like before, don't stop!"

An Ziqi glanced into the swamp and noticed that there were indeed some raised mud mounds on the surface of the water, varying in size and spacing, like a string of stones scattered by the water.

The nearest mud mound was about three steps away from the stone steps, just enough to barely step on.

An Guangling took the bronze lamp in his hand, took a step forward, and stepped barefoot onto the mud mound, which immediately sank an inch. He glanced back at An Ziqi: "Keep up close. When you run, don't look down at your feet, look ahead."

As an intern warden, An Ziqi had not learned any Transcendent skills and was quite ordinary.

Those Transcendent are not from Purgatory will be devoured by Purgatory itself, which is why no outsider has ever come to the lower levels of Angel Building.

The undercover investigator, die!

Without exception!

An Ziqi a deep breath and stepped onto the first muddy mound.

His foot slipped, the mud mound wobbled, but he quickly steadied himself and took a second step forward.

An Guangling ran very fast ahead, taking small but frequent steps, like lightly touching the surface of water.

When An Ziqi reached the fifth mud mound, he heard a gurgling sound behind him and instinctively turned around to look.

A bubble appeared next to the mud mound beside the stone steps. The bubble burst, and a muddy hand reached out, its five fingers spread, and grabbed at his ankle.

He was startled and instinctively quickened his pace.

The hand grasped at empty air and withdrew back into the mud.

"Fool, don't turn around! Turning around is a big no-no in the underground level!" An Guangling shouted sternly.

An Ziqi immediately gritted his teeth, not daring to look back.

Halfway there, the enraged people on the water noticed them.

The burly man who was closest to the other man lifted his head out of the muddy water, released the person he had been choking, and waded towards them. His movements stirred up the muddy water, revealing a pair of bloodshot eyes.

"There are people over there!" the burly man shouted, his voice hoarse as if squeezed from the mud.

Several people nearby also looked up, and a few followed the burly man as he lay down in this direction.

An Guangling glanced at them sideways and said, "Ignore them, they can't catch up."

An Ziqi gritted his teeth and continued running forward, feeling somewhat dazed.

In Egyptian Mythic, the god-king Ra would change into a special sun boat at dusk, wading through the waters of Duat, the underworld at night. This night voyage required passing through twelve regions, corresponding to the twelve hours of the night, defeating Apophis, and finally arriving in the east at dawn to be reborn.

He now has a sense of déjà vu, as if he were reenacting Mythic, although the two have very little in common.

But overall, it's all pretty hopeless!

The mud mounds moved backward under my feet one by one, and I slipped on each one.

The enraged men slowed down after taking a few steps back. One of them was even grabbed by the ankle by the person underwater, and he bent down to pull at that hand, fighting with the person underwater.

Finally, An Ziqi reached the stone steps on the other side and successfully crossed the river!

He knelt on the stone steps, panting. His feet burned with pain. He looked down and saw a cut on the sole of his left foot, from which blood was flowing. The cut was covered with a layer of grayish-black mud, making it impossible to tell what it looked like.

An Guangling was already on the stone steps. Seeing his leisurely appearance, An Ziqi gritted his teeth.

I'm just a newbie!

An Guangling smiled and tossed down a pair of boots, "Put them on. You did a pretty good job."

An Ziqi nodded and put on his boots.

He glanced back at the swamp; the burly man was still standing in the mud, looking in their direction from afar, his large, red eyes standing out starkly against the gray-black swamp.

Just then, An Guangling made his move. A dark green chain appeared out of thin air, hooked onto the burly man's chest, and pulled out a crimson object from it.

"Blood Empire Saber Technique? Seems pretty good quality..." An Guangling swallowed the crimson ball of light whole, chewing it as if he were tasting a dessert.

Under An Ziqi's watchful gaze, the burly man collapsed into the swamp, his fate unknown.

"What's wrong with him?" An Ziqi asked.

"Not yet, its power has just been weakened."

"Can we just do this?"

"I can't right now, and you can't right now either."

"Will it be okay later?"

"Pfft~ That's probably true!"

An Guangling glanced at An Ziqi with amusement and said:

"The mud piled up thicker and thicker, and the water level rose higher and higher. When it reached the stone steps, we had to send people down to clear the mud."

"When clearing the mud, you have to tie ropes around your neck, and the people below pull harder than usual."

"Once, four men from the mud-clearing team came down, but only three returned. Unfortunately, all of them were trainee wardens."

An Ziqi exclaimed in surprise, "Is this floor so dangerous?"

"It's alright, it's alright," An Guangling said dismissively.

This time, he only brought An Ziqi here to familiarize him with the work environment. He will teach him real survival skills later.

"Finally, and this is the deepest level that even our warden can reach."

"The sixth level, City of Dis, is the true depths of Purgatory, a completely different realm from the previous five levels!"

"Furthermore, there is a Fallen Angel here, which should meet your expectations of a ' Mythic figure'!"

After descending a dozen or so stone steps, a wave of heat surged up from below, and the smell of rust and sulfur mingled together, causing An Ziqi to cough.

He raised his sleeve to cover his mouth and nose, and followed An Guangling down the street, feeling uncomfortable all over.

The further down you go, the denser the runes become on the walls of the stone steps, and the dark red light turns the entire stone staircase into a blood-red corridor.

The stone steps beneath my feet turned from gray to black, burning hot underfoot. The heat seeped from the stone surface into the soles of my boots, as if I were about to enter a giant steamer.

At the end of the stone steps was an archway, so high it seemed impossible for something underground to exist. A line of characters was carved on the lintel, blurred by the smoke of the flames; An Ziqi only recognized two of them when he got closer—"Dis."

This is a script from another civilization, which An Ziqi learned during his training.

The light shining through the archway cast a large, dark red patch on the ground. Something was moving within the patch; upon closer inspection, it turned out to be heat rising from inside the archway, distorting the edges of the patch.

An Guangling stopped in front of the archway, put away the bronze lamp, and glanced back at An Ziqi: "Don't walk close to the wall after you go in; the runes on the wall will burn you."

The two stopped in their tracks the instant they stepped through the archway.

The City of Dis unfolds beneath my feet!!!

Beneath my feet was a stone platform that extended outward from the archway for a dozen steps before abruptly ending, below which lay the city—a city that seemed to exist only in the paintings of a mad medieval artist!

The City of Dis is situated in a huge underground dome, with an unbelievably high ceiling. The dark red rock strata resemble an inverted giant bowl, the walls of which are covered with densely packed runes. Dark red light flows from the grooves of the runes, and billions of points of red light flicker simultaneously, enveloping the entire city in a thick red glow.

There is a crack in the very center of the dome, which extends more than ten kilometers to both sides. What seeps out of the crack is not magma, but a dark golden light. The light falls from the dome and is directed at the largest tower in the center of the city!

That colossal tower was incredibly majestic and tall, reaching straight to the sky, a hundred times more magnificent than the so-called Tower of Babel that An Ziqi remembered!

Let alone in reality, even in games, fantasy works, or dreams, An Ziqi had never seen such a tower or such a city!

To say that this is the center of the world is a derogatory term.

This is the center of the universe, the place where all sin and punishment converge!