"Hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo. Every exile in this settlement wants to meet the Yingu Warlock alone. You are not the first, nor will you be the last."
The owl hidden in the darkness stepped out bit by bit. Compared with the bright, flamboyant attire of the other exiles in the settlement, this owl's feathers had clearly been deliberately decorated as well, yet they consisted of many mature shades of gray, giving off a natural, seamless beauty.
"You may call me Designer. This year's fashionable color is jujube red. If you need anything, come find me anytime. Hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo. My purpose is to add a few changes to this settlement. That deathly still Dimensional Esophagus needs more than despair—it needs a little hope too, doesn't it?"
Splash, splash!
The center of the hall was where the light was brightest.
At the center of a pool built from bluish-gray stones stood a fountain. A little moss had grown along the pool's edges and corners. In a material-energy world, it would surely have been unsightly grime ruining the view, but in the Dimensional Esophagus, it had become an exceedingly luxurious and rare adornment of life.
Several red-scaled monster fish swam in the pool.
The fish's skin and scales were translucent, making their skeletons and organs clearly visible—even the flow of blood around their hearts. These fish fed on the moss along the pool's edge, yet they seemed to be constantly calculating how quickly that moss grew. Every fish ate only its own small share each day, keeping itself in a state of perpetual semi-starvation as it prolonged its life this way.
This was the Dimensional Esophagus. Even these pets had to endlessly experience the agony of being gradually digested by the Endless World between life and death.
Around the outside of