Chapter 679: Twenty-Four, Part Two

"Scare outsiders away and keep them from danger?"

Beside the reservoir, Srimanny carefully cut in.

"Jade City's public order is fairly good, and you don't look like people who would cause trouble or own much property. Er, sorry, I mean, where does the danger come from?"

The abandoned reservoir quieted down.

Vorniak snorted.

"Danger? There's too much."

Uncle Hauser sighed.

"Everything. Everything that comes from normal people is danger to us."

Srimanny was utterly confused.

"Gazes."

Hilley suddenly spoke, drawing many people's attention.

"The gazes and words of normal people, and everything they can do because their bodies are 'normal,' are all injuries to us."

"More than that. Their pity, sympathy, contempt, spitting, abuse, rejection, isolation. There is too much."

Uncle Hauser stopped the work in his hands and said with emotion,

"And we, on the surface, in their eyes, can only be half a person."

He gestured at his own height and made a mocking expression.

"Ha. It's much better down here than up there."

Vorniak crossed his arms, the large tumor on his shoulder trembling.

"I heard some people even dug up underground leach crystal veins and made a fortune..."

Srimanny raised his eyebrows.

"Then why are you still here?"

"We... someone has to give up glory and riches and stay behind to take care of everyone."

Vorniak's voice grew quieter.

Everyone burst into laughter.

"So, Twenty-Four, have you found your parents?"

Dorothy asked.

Thales frowned.

Her parents?

Hilley was startled. A few seconds later, her expression sank.

"No. I'm still looking for them."

"I advise you to give up early."

Vorniak snorted disdainfully.

"The fact that they could abandon us at birth already says plenty."

"I..."

Hilley wanted to speak, then stopped.

"Woo woo, woo woo woo."

Bobo expressed an opinion no one could understand.

"It's fine. For people like us..."

Hauser continued dismantling old goods, not seeming to care.

"Sometimes not finding them is a good thing."

Aunt Gadama jabbed Hauser with an elbow from the side and glared at everyone.

Seeing this, the people beside the reservoir quickly scattered as if nothing had happened, each returning to their own work. Even Srimanny was trembling as Bobo picked him up and carried him away.

"About this place, Ghoul Tunnel, and the people here, and your 'parents'..."

Thales lowered his voice to Hilley.

"Don't you have anything to say to me?"

Hilley turned back and smiled mysteriously.

"You only need to know that this is a place Zayen can't find. That's enough."

Thales raised his eyebrows.

"All right. Then what's the plan now? Wait here?"

"Of course not. We're here to seek help."

"Whose help?"

Before the words had fully fallen, quite a commotion rose in the tunnel.

Thales turned to look. Beneath the firelight, a short and stout man in a dark robe, carrying a large sack, appeared at the turn of the tunnel.

The clothes on him were simply decorated, but the fabric was expensive. He looked completely out of place compared with his surroundings.

In an instant, not just near this reservoir, but almost every settlement before and behind them in the tunnel stood up.

"My lord!"

"Thank you!"

"May the setting sun bless you..."

On this side, Aunt Gadama and Dorothy also stood up and urged Vorniak.

"His Reverence is here. Quickly, quickly, go bring out our gift..."

The man carrying the sack walked past one settlement after another, stopping at each place to distribute something. The people responded warmly to him as well.

"This is for you. Please accept it!"

"This way, please!"

"Eat with us!"

Thales looked at the man's figure and could not help frowning.

That person...

He looked a little familiar.

"Who is that?"

"Ah, there."

Hilley answered,

"The person we're looking for has arrived."

Before long, the short and stout robed man arrived at the reservoir. First, he smilingly accepted Dorothy and Aunt Gadama's gift, a packet of tobacco, then went straight to Hauser's workbench.

"Here, Hauser. This week's share. Take it."

Uncle Hauser accepted the sack the man handed over.

"Oh? Earned quite a bit?"

"The world has been unstable lately. Everyone wants to seek divine protection, especially the rich."

The man muttered,

"By the way, your magic props are very useful. Very realistic. Er, maybe too realistic. During prayer, one noble lady firmly believed she heard her dead daughter's voice and chased me to give me money."

Hauser's hands paused.

"What did you say?"

The short, stout man sighed. He skillfully sat by Hauser's workbench and pulled a hookah from beneath the table.

"I told her that yes, that was her dead daughter, and that she had already found peace and was no longer suffering."

Watching him pull out the hookah, Thales's mind finally stirred, and he remembered the man's identity.

"Priest Chadwi?"

Thales blurted out.

"Yes."

Before the robed man could light his smoke, he turned back and looked at the shabby, poor-looking Thales.

"Hmm, I don't think I've seen you before?"

Thales blinked and did not know how to answer.

That's right. The man before him was Priest Chadwi, the priest who had secretly smoked in the confessional at the Temple of the Setting Sun.

Hilley coughed from the side.

Priest Chadwi looked toward Hilley. A moment later, he was shocked.

"You..."

"Yes, I am Twenty-Four!"

Hilley loudly interrupted him while constantly making eye signals.

"Yes, I haven't been back for a long time. Remember?"

Chadwi froze where he stood.

"Hil... Twenty-Four, you, why are you here?"

"Yes, I'm here."

Hilley was all smiles as she displayed her twelve fingers.

"Right here, just like many years ago. Remember?"

Chadwi chuckled, looking terribly troubled.

"Oh, right, this is..."

Hilley smiled as she pulled Thales over.

"Hmm, my... friend."

"Boyfriend."

Aunt Gadama said faintly from behind her, receiving Hilley's fierce glare as expected.

Boyfriend?

Her boyfriend?

Chadwi looked puzzled, but then he seemed to remember something.

The priest examined Thales carefully for several seconds, and his face suddenly changed drastically.

"Your High..."

"Yes!"

Seeing the situation turning bad, Thales hurriedly spoke.

"I am Wya! Hilley's boy... er, friend!"

Vorniak snorted unhappily from the side.

Priest Chadwi felt dizzy listening to him. He took several deep breaths before he finally calmed down, then looked pitifully at Hilley.

"All right, I understand the logic, but why..."

Before Chadwi could finish, Hilley dragged him away to a corner and began whispering.

All right.

So that was it. Chadwi and this tunnel full of disabled people...

Thales watched from afar as Chadwi and Hilley argued quietly about something. The former was clearly weak-voiced and at a disadvantage, while the latter was righteous and held the upper hand. From time to time, she pointed toward Thales and Srimanny.

And Thales swore that even without Hell's senses, he could vaguely hear Hilley mention "you and old Mrs. Pintor" at least twice. Every time she mentioned it, Chadwi's expression turned uglier, making him look guilty.

"Wya, will you stay?"

A sweet voice sounded beside his ear.

Thales blanked for a second before realizing that "Wya" was calling him.

He quickly turned back and answered Dorothy.

"Er, yes?"

But Dorothy sighed.

"All right. I was thinking too much."

The girl shook her head. Her face was tightly covered by thick hair.

"You people, including Twenty-Four, are different. How could you possibly be willing to stay and live together with us?"

Thales was momentarily speechless.

Facing this gentle-seeming girl with such a special face, he did not know how to answer.

"You must love her very much, right?"

Thales felt another headache coming.

"What?"

"That's why she loves you so much."

Dorothy sighed.

"So much that she's even willing to bring you down here."

"No, you misunderstand."

Thales's head ached terribly.

"She and I are not..."

But Dorothy ignored his explanation.

"You know, in the past, some of us also brought lovers to the tunnel. They showed them their worst side and their worst friends."

Dorothy's eyes were clear and bright, revealed between the hair on her face as she stared straight at Thales.

"But most people basically never came back after seeing everyone in the tunnel."

Thales froze.

Dorothy carefully poked her head out, and after realizing something, carefully withdrew again so that her front face would not face him.

"So, Wya, will you... will you come back? Come back to see us?"

Thales fell silent.

He looked at this damp, dim tunnel, which still carried waves of foul stench, and at the people in each settlement whose bodies were disabled or incomplete.

Then he looked into the distance at Hilley, who was still talking with Priest Chadwi.

His heart suddenly calmed.

"I will."

Thales's voice sounded peaceful and gentle.

"I will come back, Dorothy."

He looked at Dorothy and smiled.

"This place is wonderful."

Dorothy looked back at him. A few seconds later, she shrank back to her original position and smiled as if it did not matter.

"Liar. This place isn't wonderful at all, especially for people from above. I know that."

But Thales shook his head.

"No, this place is wonderful. Truly wonderful."

Thales watched Hilley freely swinging her uncovered hands and said with feeling,

"Especially for Hil... for Twenty-Four."

Dorothy stayed silent for a long time before finally letting out a sigh.

"The books were right. You really do love her."

Books?

Thales froze, but Dorothy had already closed the romance novel in her hands and turned away.

Not long after Dorothy left, Vorniak, tumor-covered and strangely shaped, sat down beside Thales with a thump.

"Tell me. What's wrong with you?"

Thales was stunned again.

"Huh?"

"There must be something about you that's incomplete. Otherwise, you couldn't possibly take a fancy to Twenty-Four, right?"

Vorniak said gloomily to Thales.

Huh?

The corner of Thales's mouth twitched. He could only smile helplessly.

"All right. She said it. I'm brain-damaged."

"Bullshit."

Vorniak looked guiltily toward Aunt Gadama and lowered his voice.

"Twenty-Four, even among us, is the best. She wouldn't take a fancy to someone... brain-damaged."

Thales covered his forehead and sighed.

"Let me repeat. She really hasn't taken a fancy to me."

"She let you touch her hand."

"What?"

Vorniak's expression darkened.

"Back in the sewer just now, you held her hand."

Thales froze.

"What? Oh, that was an emergency..."

"Twenty-Four never lets anyone touch her hands. Anyone."

Vorniak was gloomy and unhappy, poking absentmindedly at the tumor on his shoulder.

"From the first day, from when Priest Chadwi first brought her here, she has always been like that."

Thales was left speechless.

"So there must be something defective about you, right?"

There was hope in Vorniak's words, as if this fact would help set him at ease.

"That's why you had no choice but to find Twenty-Four. To find... people like us."

Thales looked at him and did not speak for a long time.

"What?"

"Do you know, Vorniak..."

The young man sighed.

"In this world, no one is complete."

Vorniak was stunned.

"It's just that some people's defects can be seen, while others cannot."

Thales looked distracted.

"To me, those invisible defects are the more frightening ones."

Vorniak scratched his head. It seemed he did not quite understand, yet he also seemed touched.

But in the end, he took a deep breath and twisted his tumor-covered face.

"You know, Wya. After you go out, if you dare treat her badly..."

Vorniak clenched his fist and said hatefully,

"I'll... I'll..."

When the words reached his mouth, Vorniak realized he had nothing to say.

Thales could only smile politely.

"I'll go to your front door every day and wail like a mourner!"

Vorniak finally thought of an answer and said it viciously.

Huh?

Thales looked at him in confusion.

"You know, people... people like me, if I appear at your house every day..."

Vorniak stammered.

"Then people will. Will hate... anyway, after a long time, they won't want to go to your house anymore. You'll suffer. You'll be in huge trouble."

Thales looked at the sickly shaped Vorniak and froze for a moment.

"How do you know?"

"I just know."

Vorniak pouted.

In that instant, Thales fell silent.

"But at least stay here for the next few days. It's dangerous on the surface."

Thales frowned.

"What?"

"Haven't you heard? The Blood Bottle Gang and the Brotherhood have gone to war. People die every day."

"Oh."

Vorniak was very dissatisfied with his attitude.

"I'm serious! We even found bodies drifting down with the current. Their necks were all hacked apart! We, you, you and Twenty-Four, should stay here until the danger passes."

Thales frowned.

Just then...

Bang!

Bang, bang!

Bang, bang, bang!

Violent knocking rang out, echoing through Ghoul Tunnel with an ear-piercing sharpness.

For a time, everyone in the tunnel stopped what they were doing and looked in one direction.

"What's going on?"

Thales asked doubtfully.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The knocking grew more and more urgent. Clearly, the person knocking was quite impatient.

Vorniak stood crookedly and pointed at a dark opening, which was precisely the direction from which the sound came.

"It's fine. The tunnel has more than one exit, but only our own people know them."

The young man with the tumor shook his head and limped toward the opening.

"That's one of them. I'll open the door."

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

Thales frowned. Instinctively, he sensed something was wrong.

The rhythm of the knocking was...

Too urgent.

Too fierce.

It was practically like a wild beast madly smashing against the door.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

The Sin of Hell's River burned, bringing Thales into Hell's senses.

Vorniak moved with difficulty. He turned sideways and squeezed into the opening, his figure disappearing onto the steps.

At that moment, Thales sensed something.

His face changed drastically, and he abruptly stood up.

"Wait! Don't open the door!"

But it was too late.

Click.

The sound of a mechanism rang out, and the sound of the door opening came from inside the passage.

"Hmm? Who are you? Why are you holding a knife? Hey, let go of me. No, no, no... ahhhhhhh!"

Inside the passage, Vorniak's voice was first confused, then became utterly terrified.

In the end, he gave a painful, desperate cry, followed by the sound of a human body falling to the ground.

Hearing this sound, everyone in the tunnel, Hilley, Chadwi, Hauser, Srimanny, and everyone else, was stunned.

Step.

Step.

Step.

From inside the passage, footsteps rang out, echoing through the tunnel.

Closer and closer to them.

Fuck!

Thales's nerves tightened. He pushed himself up, drew JC from his body, and faced the pitch-black opening.

No!

Damn it, damn it, damn it!

Thales thought bitterly.

He should have recognized it earlier.

That's right. At the instant Vorniak opened the door, he confirmed it.

The thing that was wrong...

Was the smell.

The smell that had first seeped through the crack in the door, then surged violently in after the door opened...

Was blood.

An incomparably pungent smell of blood.

And within Hell's senses, an intense killing intent that could not be ignored.

Thales took a deep breath and stood ready.

The footsteps grew heavier and closer.

Just like the bloody smell they brought with them.

"I just killed five... no, six people, to find this godforsaken place where the sun never shines. All for the sake of finding one person. One person. To be honest, my patience is almost exhausted."

A cold voice came from inside the passage.

Step.

Step.

Step.

"Now, you'd better be sensible."

At last, amid the blood stench rushing toward them, the owner of the footsteps walked out of the opening and revealed his true face under the firelight of the tunnel.

"Don't force me to kill more."

At that moment, Thales sucked in a cold breath and widened his eyes in shock.