It looks like their movement near the crater had caught the attention of the biota here. Perhaps the crater itself was a habitat of a particular creature. Hao Ren got the shock of his life when he saw the gnarled creatures emerging and moving towards the hole.
The gnarled creatures came from the far side of the mountain wall; almost all of them had different physical characteristics. They had asymmetrical limbs and covered with strange organs and hair. Some of the monsters had no apparent physical features; they were just like a mass of meat that rolled on the ground.
Lily was scared out of her wit. “What… what are those things?”
“They are the most common things in Inferno. As I said, they are weird monsters,” Vivian said quickly. “No one has ever classified them. They have almost no fixed physiological characteristics. Hessiana, if you still don’t get in the car, we will leave you here!”
Hessiana was rooted to the spot. She had never seen anything like that in all her life a patriarch of a Blood Clan family. She quickly jumped into the car with her two sidekicks and shut the door. “Go!”
Once Hao Ren activated the car’s levitation function, the North Stars had quietly lifted off while the gnarled monsters came within a hundred meters of it. The bizarre, illogical pieces of meat that seemed to have been born from nightmare were jumping on the ground, growling as they tried to catch the ‘invaders.’ Their ugly faces (some even without faces) were so close that Lily instinctively pulled her head away from the window: what she was looking at was a hideous creature in the world, and it was less than five meters from her. The creatures had several large tumors, and each of them had a bloody mouth full of sharp teeth. It was as disgusting as it could get.
“‘Infernal creature is a malicious stack, a freak that grows in the nightmare, a mold that grows out of the waste that the creator accidentally discarded after creating the world.’ Such is how an elder of the demon hunter who once explored Inferno described. It’s just so damn close to the truth.” Vivian sat in the front passenger seat, peering down at the monsters below. “You know, those Infernal Fleshrippers living in the deep of the hot springs are the most beautiful creatures in this world. At least they have a proper shape.”
Nangong Wuyue’s face turned blue (she is blue anyway). “I believe you, but please don’t say it, I’m going to throw up.”
Lily looked at her, feeling strange. “Could slime throw up?”
“It’s called water recirculation.”
Hearing the two bickering, Hao Ren knew he need not worry about them; the Infernal monsters had not caused severe psychological damage in them.
But it was strange that none of the creatures could fly despite their variety. As the North Stars flew toward the vertical cave, the monsters could only growl and roar in anger on the ground. They were visibly afraid of the deep, dark cave. Even the smoke and airflow that came out from the cave would frighten them. Monsters that ran too close to the cave became very frightened. They immediately retreated. But a few unlucky ones were pushed by those running behind them and fell into the cave. They screamed in fear as they dropped straight into the bottomless darkness.
Meanwhile, the car was flying steadily towards the cave as everyone on board watched what happened outside. Before long, the car was descending.
“That was exciting,” Turcan patted on the chest. “But I’m not coming back for the second time. It is a lot scarier than when the demon hunters attacked the sanctuary not long ago. At least demon hunters are not that ugly.”
Kassandra nodded, agreeing with what Turcan said. She then looked around the cabin and began to marvel. “This is true, man! It is huge inside here. I think it can fit even more people!”
Hessiana could not help but glance at Hao Ren. She had to admit that though she wanted to play hardball with him initially, it seemed that things had gone beyond her control and her life was now in the hand of this ‘untrustworthy’ man. She could not help it; this guy had too many weird gadgets at his disposal.
Hao Ren let the car descend in autopilot mode while he gazed at the darkness outside and fell into deep thought.
Those gnarled monsters, the illogical mass of meat, the bodies that born out of chaos and the frenzied movement seemed a little familiar to him. But he could not remember what it was.
At this time, a cooling touch swept up his arm. Nangong Wuyue was touching him with her hand; she was in water form. “Mr. Landlord, don’t you think the monsters look like the Dinobeasts in the Gnarled Grove and flesh beasts that came out when the First Born woke up?”
It struck Hao Ren like thunder. It all became clear to him now. He remembered where he had seen such creatures!
“They look like those flesh-and-blood beasts, at least regarding their illogical limbs,” Hao Ren said. But then he was also confused. “The monsters here are more exotic. The Dinobeasts in the Gnarled Grove were uniform in shape, but the monsters here are just random. I don’t even think they are even creatures.”
Vivian suddenly interrupted. “The mutation on this planet is more thorough.”
“Dinobeast is the Third Born.” Hao Ren’s brows knit together. He knew that most of the things that came from the Plane of Dreams had something to do with the First Born. However, the last thing he hoped for was how things transpired now. “They are purely killing creatures that were temporarily created from the lifeblood to destroy the ecosystem after the First Born wakes up. The emergence of these creatures means that the ecosystem rebooting process has started…”
“But we didn’t see lifeblood here, nor did we see the remnant of any civilizations. There are only microbes in the clouds and monsters on the surface. It is clear that the planet has finished ‘rebooting’ its ecosystem,” The MDT reminded. “According to what we know, the Third Born is a short-living race, and could only survive by feeding on lifeblood. After the ecosystem rebooting, the lifeblood would dry up, and the Third Born would quickly die.”
Hao Ren looked up. The entrance to the cave had become a nail-sized bright spot. He could not see the monsters above now. “But those monsters are still alive… because the ecosystem has not completed its reboot. Or do you think the First Born of this planet had miscalculated while it executed the plan?”
Hessiana listened to the conversation, but she was as clueless as a tub of crap on a rainy day as to what they were discussing about. But she did not even bother to ask now. But not Turcan. “Master, what are they talking about?” he asked.
“Are you asking me? Who should I ask then?” Hessiana rolled her eyes. She was in a bad mood. “Ma’am Vivian doesn’t want to talk to me anymore.”
Hao Ren heard Hessiana. He wanted to explain to her, but he changed his mind. He nudged Vivian’s arm and gave her a look.
Vivian was a little reluctant. But still, she turned around and forced a smile as she said to Hessiana. “I didn’t mean to keep you in the dark. When the dust settles, we will discuss it and see how much I can tell you. And don’t worry; I’m not doing something bad.”
Hao Ren let out a sigh. Being a landlord meant that sometimes he had to play the role as mediator too.
The car was still steadily descending into the seemingly bottomless cave. It was pitch-dark here. Hao Ren switched on the radar system, and the radar image appeared on the windows simulating the environment outside. The MDT then reported the situation. “The cave wall is smooth but looks like it’s not humanmade. There are regular ascending and descending airflows like breathing. The airflow switches direction every three minutes and twenty-six seconds. There is still no trace of Baptiste though. Some probes have found other Infernal entrances; they will join us at the bottom.”
Hao Ren nodded and asked casually, “How long does it take to reach the bottom?”
As soon as his voice trailed off, a ray of light suddenly shone from directly below.
“Oh, looks like we have reached the bottom.”