An Ke gave no answer, simply pointing her right hand at the bodies piled behind the door.
"If what you said is right, why didn't they go looking for 'God'? Why did they try to escape instead?"
"So I'm more inclined to think 'God' left something behind that could help us fight the monsters."
With that, An Ke said nothing more. She quietly stepped aside and helped Lin Ya up.
No one could refute her. Looking at the piled bodies, Ye Lin's eyes also flickered with thought.
She was right. Logically speaking, An Ke's theory made more sense, especially given one detail he had noticed: the sulfuric acid earlier had all been heated.
Hot sulfuric acid was more corrosive, but using it against humans would have been overkill.
Thinking it through, it could only have been intended for the Species.
By the same logic, whoever had set up these defenses had not expected "God" to deal with the Species either.
But...
Why were all these bodies... completely naked?
Pushing his doubts aside, Ye Lin wasted no more time. He stood and looked toward the descending stairs nearby.
Like the space beyond the door, the underground staircase was a full ten meters wide, with no end in sight. Two hours was not exactly a short time, but judging by the layout, the entire underground complex had to be staggeringly large.
"In that case, we'll look for anything that might be connected to God."
"Zhang Tie, bring up the rear. An Ke and Lin Ya, stay in the middle and watch both sides. As for He Zheng..."
Before Ye Lin could hesitate over how to persuade He Zheng to take the lead, He Zheng stood up on his own and swayed over to him.
"All right, I know you're going to make me take point."
With a derisive snort, He Zheng clapped him on the shoulder, volunteering the suggestion himself.
Seeing Ye Lin look at him with some surprise, he sneered and turned his head away.
"What are you staring at? I'm the strongest here. With this bunch of scrubs, who's going to do it if I don't?"
"But let's get one thing straight. If there's real danger, don't expect me to bother saving you."
As He Zheng strode ahead, Ye Lin fell silent for a moment, then quietly revised his opinion of him upward.
He had a gun, but in this environment, only He Zheng could handle a sudden emergency. Though he did not know what the Species were, whoever walked at the front undoubtedly faced the greatest risk.
Footsteps echoed through the darkness, mingling with uneasy heartbeats.
Walking at the front with the axe over his shoulder, He Zheng clenched its handle tightly where no one could see. His grip was so fierce that his fingertips had gone pale.
Looking at the seemingly bottomless stairs beneath his feet, his breathing grew heavy too.
In stark contrast to his earlier arrogance, he was actually beginning to regret it.
Having gone through several exams, he knew all too well how terrifying the monsters in them could be. And this was the fucking second round!
Fuck... I never should've tried to act so tough...!
He did not know why he had agreed. Perhaps it was his dignity as a "veteran," perhaps he had wanted to save face, but he had actually said yes.
Heaven help me!
Please! Please!
Fifteen minutes later.
"Drip-drip."
The sound of water echoed.
In the darkness, Ye Lin looked up toward the dripping sound, unable to tell where it came from. A hint of puzzlement flashed in his eyes.
The air here is really stale... and the water's dripping very slowly... is it seepage?
The air gradually grew damp, carrying a faint smell of rust.
On the dim staircase, He Zheng suddenly tensed at the front and waved for everyone to stop.
He slowly lowered the Fire Axe from his shoulder, then gripped it in both hands and held it across his chest.
"Wait... there seems to be light ahead..."
His voice was as low as it could go. Looking at the dim yellow light spilling around the distant corner, his breathing began to quicken.
Nothing unusual had happened along the way, but that only made him more uneasy.
The staircase beyond the third basement level had been far longer than he had expected. So when he finally saw its end, his nerves grew even more taut.
Given how twisted the Death Exam is, this is exactly where people are most likely to die!
"Everyone, stay alert."
Without another unnecessary word, Ye Lin followed close behind with his gun, advancing slowly. The others also lightened their steps, afraid to make even the slightest sound.
An unknown amount of time passed-perhaps one minute, perhaps two. After following the wall down to the corner, He Zheng took a deep breath and gave Ye Lin a quiet warning.
"If anything shows up, don't shoot right away. If I can't beat it and run back, then help me hold it off! Don't miss the monster and shoot me instead!"
With that, He Zheng steeled himself, spun around, and darted out like a hawk.
But the monster he had imagined did not appear.
Instead, right before his eyes was a stretch of murals a full hundred meters long.
Like moss growing out of the concrete, their surfaces were uneven. At first glance, they looked like flesh-colored dough.
The murals were tall, nearly five meters high, reaching all the way to the ceiling.
Standing before the vast murals and gazing upward, they felt as though they had entered a steepled church, reduced to insignificance.
Whatever material had been used to make them, the murals were extraordinarily vivid, yet gave off a strange smell.
"What the hell... are these supposed to be?"
Moving closer to the murals, Zhang Tie stared upward blankly, looking from side to side.
In the first mural, he saw a blond man spreading his arms, an enormous halo behind his head.
The man's left hand was loosely curled, while his right held a book. He gazed downward with pity.
Unable to understand what the image was meant to convey, Zhang Tie found it utterly baffling.
He barely managed to recognize the figure in the second mural, however. It seemed to be a monk walking on water.
"These seem to show Christ and Buddha?"
Lin Ya spoke softly, uncertainty written on her face.
She instinctively reached out to touch Christ in the mural, but as soon as she extended her hand, Ye Lin stopped her with a low warning.
"Don't touch it."
When Lin Ya turned toward him in confusion, he exhaled softly and motioned for everyone to move away from the murals.
"Ye Lin, what's wrong? Is there something wrong with these paintings?"
It was the first time He Zheng had seen such an ugly expression on Ye Lin's face, and he could not help feeling surprised.
A moment later, Ye Lin's next words nearly made him throw up.
"These paintings are all made from people."
He Zheng was shocked. His eyes widened as though he could not believe it.
Following the direction of Ye Lin's finger, his face turned ashen a few seconds later, and his stomach churned violently.
Ye Lin was pointing at a set of teeth in the mural. He Zheng had thought the murals were so lifelike that even details like the teeth had been rendered in relief.
Only after looking closely did he realize those teeth were not patches of color at all. They were real teeth, embedded one by one in flesh.
"Urgh...!"
Hu Jia doubled over and vomited. Just moments ago, he had secretly grabbed some of the hair on the mural.
Thinking back now, that slick texture had clearly been hair soaked in fluids from a corpse, stuck there in a slimy mass.
"Lin Ya, do you recognize these paintings?"
Suppressing his nausea, Ye Lin asked Lin Ya directly.
"I... I don't recognize all of them. I just studied a little before."
Lacking confidence, Lin Ya waved her hands in a fluster when Ye Lin addressed her, terrified she might say something wrong.
"I studied a little art. I think the first painting is called Christ Pantocrator... and the second is a Japanese Descent of Amida or something..."
"As for the third..."
Before you continue