Shufff—
Shufff—
A heavy, dragging sound echoed across the floor of the teorite crater.
A demon was dragging Lu Li.
It was far thinner than the first demon, its lead-gray belly clinging to its spine.
A pair of slightly developed breasts hinted at its gender—or rather, the gender it had possessed when it was human.
The consciousness of the lowest demons—those who dwell at the very bottom of hell, too weak to overco even a fresh soul—had long been scoured away by the infernal heat, leaving most with nothing but instinct.
They typically beco food for higher-ranking demons. If they're lucky enough to find their own kind, they might survive until the day they are devoured by their kin. Or until even their instincts fade into nothing.
The blazing inferno of hell and its devils had always been a subject spoken of in terrified whispers.
But this emaciated demon, seemingly on the verge of starving to death, didn't stop to savor the delicious soul. It didn't even spare a glance for the chunks of flesh scattered around it.
It simply strained with all its might to drag Lu Li sowhere, anywhere.
The steep rim of the crater, however, proved too difficult for the demon. After stumbling and tumbling back down several tis with a dust-covered Lu Li in tow, it abandoned the idea of escaping and, with a kind of dumb persistence, hauled him back toward the massive boulder at the center of the crater.
The creature dropped to all fours and circled the great stone several tis. Finding no threats, it returned to Lu Li's side and thrust its head into a nearby mound of earth, pulling out Richard's remains.
Ignoring the filth, it opened a maw that took up half its face, lowered its head, and began to tear into the flesh.
Its sharp teeth ripped easily through the gray skin, tearing off chunks of equally gray flesh which it swallowed whole. Yet though the demon ate ravenously, its stomach remained flat against its spine, never swelling in the slightest.
A few minutes later, most of the corpse was gone. The demon showed no signs of stopping, continuing its feast as if driven by a hunger that could never be sated. It was as if this al were just an appetizer, and the unconscious Lu Li, lying just feet away, would be next.
Soon, the demon swallowed the corpse's last leg. It threw back its head, and the distinct outline of a foot bulged beneath the gray skin of its throat before sliding down into its chest cavity.
An entire corpse had not caused the demon's belly to swell in the slightest. Its attention then shifted to the pile of shredded flesh several dozen ters away.
The demon's head swiveled toward Lu Li, as if to check that he was still safe, before it began to crawl toward the pile of flesh.
As it moved away, Lu Li's eyelashes fluttered.
The sensation was indescribable.
It was as if a spoon had been shoved into his brain and stirred vigorously, turning it to mush. Everything was fractured, spinning, distorted.
Lu Li hadn't been attacked. He had rely strayed into the domain of so ineffable being and brushed against the faintest trace of its aura, which saturated the area.
The contact had shattered his consciousness, driving him to the brink of madness.
He was like a small wooden boat caught in a tempest, battered and broken by the waves. The storm had no quarrel with the boat, no malice directed toward it; the vessel was simply unlucky enough to be there.
It was a chance encounter: the entity was simply there, and Lu Li had stumbled upon it.
His return to consciousness brought with it a host of debilitating side effects, chief among them an unbearable nausea.
He slowly opened his eyes. His dark brown irises, once sharp and clear, now resembled a parched desert.
His vision gradually sharpened from a blur, and the first thing he saw was the demon on all fours nearby, emitting guttural growls like a hyena.
Or perhaps not.
A pair of leather boots stopped just inches from his head. A low, mocking whisper followed. "How lovely to find you in such a pathetic state the mont I arrive."
She was sentient.
She recognized .
And she sounded like an enemy.
Still reeling from the aftereffects, Lu Li couldn't place the voice. He turned his head, his now-clearer vision settling on a woman in a long coat. She wore a blindfold, and her expression was one of grim determination.
She looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't recall her na.
"Who are you?"
Lu Li asked, his brow furrowed against a wave of pain and dizziness.
"You don't rember ?!"
Her voice was sharp with anger and disbelief. Annoyed, she raised her boot to kick Lu Li in the stomach—
Suddenly, countless spectral hands erupted from the void and seized her.
The mont she saw them, her face contorted in fear and alarm. "Wait!" she shrieked. "I'm one of you! I'm here to help Lu Li!"
The words saved her life. The spectral hands vanished once more, resuming their invisible vigil over Lu Li.
"You're a lucky one. Seems you've saved quite a few people," the woman muttered.
"Now, can you answer my question?" Lu Li asked, raising a hand as he slowly regained control of his body.
"Is that any way to talk to the first person who ca to save you?" The woman lifted her chin, a smirk playing on her lips. "It's Ruth. The poor girl you shot."
Lu Li hadn't interacted with that many people he could na, but it still took him a few long seconds to place her—long enough for the woman's irritation to mount—before he finally dredged up her identity from the depths of his mory. It felt like a lifeti ago, even if it had only been a few months in his own experience.
Madam Anlei's art gallery. The eyeless ghost who had "died" after confessing to him.
Lu Li had put an end to her himself and had assud she would beco an enemy.
"You were already dead back then," Lu Li corrected her, glancing at the demon nearby. "He was the first to arrive."
It was because the demon had been dragging him that he'd been able to regain consciousness so quickly.
"Just a starving demon running on instinct," Ruth said contemptuously.
Lu Li countered, "Is he, like you, soone I helped once?"
Ruth seed extrely impatient with Lu Li, but she answered nonetheless. "It's the only explanation I have for why they aren't attacking us."
Lu Li gazed at the demon in silence, completely unable to recognize who it might have been.
His thoughts returned to the spectral hands that had stopped the demon from getting too close, the sa hands that had nearly attacked Ruth for her show of hostility. "And those hands?"
"Incomplete, shattered souls. The remnants of those who have died," Ruth said, her gaze turning to the snarling demon nearby, a flicker of pity in her expression. "This one is starving to death. If it dies, it will beco another one of your loyal watchdogs."
"So, how did you die?"
"I'm not dead," Lu Li replied calmly.
"You're not dead?"
"I used spiritualism to enter hell."
"No wonder you don't look scared." Ruth looked Lu Li up and down with an expression of disgust. "Then what are you doing in this godforsaken place? Get out of here."
"I can't," Lu Li said, shaking his head slightly. "So entity is blocking the path out. I trespassed into its domain, lost consciousness, and fell back here. I don't know if it's still there."
In his current state, another attempt was out of the question.
"Sounds like you're stuck here?"
Ruth let out a low whistle, looking pleased. She extended a leather-gloved hand to Lu Li.
"Then welco to hell."
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