Chapter 79

Chapter 79

"Flesh draped over the knight's armor,

"His color is the same as the mountain of corpses and the sea of bodies.

"The fallen corpses with open eyes shed tears,

"Their color is the same as the mole at the corner of a woman's eye."

In the dim cave lit only by a small cold light, Liang Zhang Butterly softly recited a poem and then closed his notebook.

He asked the two children sitting on the damp ground, "So, which words in what I just said did you not understand?"

One child, about six or seven years old, had faint scales visible on his head and body. His eyes were noticeably different sizes, the larger one filled with bloodshot veins, almost bulging to the point of bursting.

This was a genetic disease causing developmental deformities, similar symptoms also evident in another teenager, who had only one ear, leaving an empty hole on the left side, sparsely covered by hair.

The child with mismatched eyes mumbled for a while, and the boy with the missing ear took some time to think before he could answer, "From the first word of the first line."

"'Flesh,' is it?" Liang Zhang nodded, "Then today we'll start with this word."

The elderly merman, who had been reciting and writing down the poem, flipped open his notebook again and gently tapped the first word of the first line with his fountain pen.

Swish—

Glowing magic traced through the air, replicating Liang Zhang's handwriting, spelling out the word "flesh."

"Over the past few days, you've learned the alphabet," the elderly merman asked kindly, "Who can spell out the letters of this word from beginning to end?"

The boy with the missing ear immediately raised his hand, and seeing him do so, the child with mismatched eyes followed suit, though his dazed expression suggested he didn't quite understand why he was raising his hand.

"Then, Missing Ear, you read it first, and then Mismatched Eyes will read it too," Liang Zhang said, "What's the first letter?"

More than half an hour later, the reading lesson, which had made little progress, came to an end.

As soon as Liang Zhang announced the end of class, the child with mismatched eyes, who had seemed to be in a trance throughout the lesson, immediately stood up and pulled Missing Ear's hand, shouting, "Let's go see the mushroom fields!"

Missing Ear, who had tried to study seriously but struggled to memorize even one word during the lesson, stumbled and gave Liang Zhang an apologetic look, politely saying goodbye to the teacher. His slow speech caused him to stumble again as he was pulled along by Mismatched Eyes.

Their footsteps faded away, and the small cave within the large cave finally fell silent.

Or rather, it didn't fall silent; the tiny but clear tapping sound of ants the size of arms walking emerged, and a fungus person appeared from the dark corners where the light did not reach.

As soon as it appeared, it accused Liang Zhang, "What private goods are you smuggling here, Mr. Liang Zhang? Teaching children forbidden history in class?"

"What forbidden history?" Liang Zhang carefully put away his fountain pen; he had little ink left and clearly no way to get more, "I don't understand what you're talking about. I saw this poem in an old book at the public library. The compiler didn't include it in the forbidden book collection."

"But you know what this poem is alluding to, right?" the fungus person walked up to him, "All historical records before the New Era are forbidden, isn't that the view of your Bellringing Frost Crow Church?"

"I really don't understand what you're saying," Liang Zhang stared at the poem in his notebook, pretending to examine it closely, "Oh my, isn't this a story poem about a knight rescuing a lady? Could there be any other meaning?"

"Hey!" the fungus person complained, "We're all on the same side, so don't pretend to be ignorant, okay?"

The elderly merman paused in his pretense of scanning the poem, then sighed after a moment, "Even though we've cooperated for a long time, we can never really be considered comrades, can we?"

"You weren't acting like this when you were prying into forbidden history from me!" the fungus person fumed, its mycelium trembling, "I just want to remind you not to recite those lines in front of others next time. Ordinary people shouldn't come into contact with certain truths, even if they might never understand the true meaning of those lines in their entire lives."

Liang Zhang was finally surprised.

"When I first saw this poem without a beginning or an end at the public library, I guessed it might be hinting at something, but I didn't know what... Is it referring to some important event?"

The archaeologist's hand holding the notebook trembled slightly, his eyes full of curiosity and thirst for knowledge, yet his training as a church member prevented him from saying, "Please tell me."

The fungus person chuckled.

"Important? Of course it's important," it said, "The alliance of the Six Pillar Gods began with the cooperation between the Contradictory Twins and the Mother of Sourceblood. Although to the other gods at the time, it was just a madman and another madman joining forces. If you want to know more specifically—"

"Wait! Stop!"

Liang Zhang not only shouted to stop but also threw away his notebook and covered his ears, the force so great that he nearly tore off the scales on his ear fins.

He drew a sharp breath but didn't dare to let go until he was sure that the opening in the fungus person's cap-like mycelium had stopped moving, then slowly released his grip.

Hearing no further words, he loosened his grip a bit more.

The fungus person was speechless, "What's wrong, Mr. Liang Zhang? Will the Bellringing Frost Crow flap you into His ice plains with one wing after hearing what I said?"

"The Lord may not personally flap me," Liang Zhang put his hand over his chest, "But I might have a heart attack and end up in the ice plains on my own."

While death is inevitable, and believers of the Bellringing Frost Crow do not fear death, Liang Zhang did not want to die here.

Dying here would cause trouble for the escaped slaves hiding in the caves.

Yes, the escaped slaves.

Liang Zhang had heard of the Dark Sea Cave but had never known that, besides cultists, there were slaves in the Dark Sea Cave.

What use were slaves? For tedious tasks that required no magic or spells, professionals wouldn't waste their time, and there were ordinary people among the cultists who could do such work. What could be so important that it required depriving a group of people of their freedom and forcing them to do it?

As someone who had lived in the city for a long time, Liang Zhang found the word "slave" unfamiliar. This led to several days ago, when their ship was forcibly dragged into the Dark Harbor, and they timidly stepped out to communicate with the "kidnappers." As the representative for communication, Liang Zhang spent considerable effort understanding that the "kidnappers" were not cultists.

Once the slaves realized they were not support officers, the atmosphere in the Dark Harbor became bleak.

Liang Zhang explained that he was a church member, and among the slaves, only two or three understood what the church was and recognized the Bellringing Frost Crow as one of the Pillar Gods.

Apart from those two or three, the rest of the slaves couldn't even grasp the meaning of the statement, "Many church members hold positions in the courts, but not all church members serve in the courts."

Lack of education and poor nutrition impaired their ability to concentrate and think clearly.

Liang Zhang felt that entrusting such people with work was irresponsible.

"But if it's just about putting in the effort to earn our meals, we're doing quite well," the leader of the slaves said, "like farming. How could those professionals possibly take the time to farm slowly? They pursue more lethal, more sinister plants, not ones for food production. But the Dark Sea Cavern can't build a starch synthesis factory either, because even if they smuggled in all the equipment, they lack the engineers to keep the factory running... Developing a few engineer cultists doesn't help much, so besides farming, there's no other way."

"Farming..." Liang Zhang, like a journalist, recorded the leader's words with his fountain pen, "It sounds truly sinister, this large-scale cultivation of plants."

"Yes," the leader said, "When I was first captured and brought to the Dark Sea Cavern, seeing vast fields made me tremble so much I couldn't move, and then I was whipped twenty times. The green plants were neatly arranged on the ground, making me imagine an ancient graveyard where cultists would hold evil rituals. When I discovered that the food came from the roots of these plants, which were buried in the soil and resembled human heads, I vomited again. You probably haven't seen it, Priest, the rugged shapes of those roots, some of which even resemble human faces."

Liang Zhang imagined it, feeling quite uncomfortable as he crossed his hands over his chest, flapping his palms like wings, praying to the Bellringing Frost Crow.

The leader also followed this prayer gesture.

Liang Zhang picked up his pen again to record, and after writing down this part, he suddenly became curious.

"So..." he asked softly, "How does this root taste?"

"Very good," the leader whispered back, "Especially when fried in oil and sprinkled with a little salt."

"...That is precisely its evil."

"You're right."

The leader of this group of escaped slaves was named Tadansha. He did not mention his surname, but it was clear he was a birdman. He could converse fluently with Liang Zhang and the others because he was not born a slave in the Dark Sea Cavern but was captured and enslaved later.

Slaves in the Dark Sea Cavern were consumed quickly; their actual role was not to farm but to serve as sacrificial offerings in bloody rituals. Death from illness, injury, or being selected by cultist professionals for experiments was as common as dying as a sacrifice. It was rare to see anyone over forty among the slaves, as they would die before aging.

For this reason, to replenish the lost labor force, a significant portion of the human trafficking network operated by several major cults flowed into the Dark Sea Cavern.

Liang Zhang had never encountered such people before. He thought that those who, due to the city's inability to provide enough jobs, had to live in slums and barely survive on charity and crime, were already pitiful enough. Even if they temporarily turned to dark gods, Liang Zhang could still feel sympathy for them.

But in front of Tadansha and this group of slaves who had escaped such tragic circumstances, he felt his sympathy was too superficial.

"Please don't think that way, Mr. Liang Zhang," Tadansha said, "I want to lead my fellow beings back to the realm of civilization, but as you can see, we have no weapons, no food, nothing at all. Your sympathy can become our strength, our weapon. We won't be picky; we'll accept whatever you give us."

"What a capable leader, I hope everything goes smoothly." Liang Zhang, recalling this, said to the mushroom person, "How are your mushroom fields coming along?"

"Do you know who I am? I taught them to spray diluted fecal water onto the beds. As long as there's enough oxygen and moisture, the mushrooms will grow tall and fat very quickly."

"Wait?" Liang Zhang was surprised, "Fecal water?"

"Yes, fecal water," the mushroom person said, "It's excellent fertilizer. Honestly, the Six Pillar Gods have made you humans lose touch with basic knowledge, don't you think?"

"What kind of basic knowledge do you mean...?"

Liang Zhang asked, thinking for a moment but still failing to understand the mushroom person's words.

Seeing that the mushroom person didn't intend to explain, Liang Zhang changed the subject, "What is fertilizer? Sounds like something the Hammer of Gold believers would study. I thought the secret to growing tall and fat mushrooms was praising the Mushroom King."

"Oh," the mushroom person said, "I did have them praise him."

"..." Liang Zhang was silent for a moment, "Mr. Mushroom..."

"I told you, not 'Mr.'!"

"Mr. Mushroom, these people have just escaped from the control of the cult," Liang Zhang ignored the mushroom person's objection and advised, "Why must you lead them astray again?"

"What? Stop growing mushrooms and curse the Mushroom King?"

"That's not what I meant..."

"These slaves will surely convert to the Six Pillar Gods after they're rescued. Before they convert, why shouldn't I get a little benefit for my king?"

"But didn't you say faith is a serious matter?" Liang Zhang said loudly.

The mushroom person, who had used this phrase to trick Liang Zhang before, fell silent.

"Or," after a long pause, the mushroom person finally spoke, "do you want to snatch this deal for the Dream Lord?"

"Huh? Don't be ridiculous! I won't change my faith. How did you contact—"

Just as the two were about to fall into another argument, Snow Claws rushed over in a panic.

"Bad news!" she shouted, "Tadansha has fainted from lack of oxygen. We used the last oxygen candle, but he hasn't woken up—"