21.Hinterland

"Of course ... hey, I certainly know what I'm talking about." The human dragon slowly took a step forward and said to the crowd, "Countless individuals have walked out of this door, and I have said these words to each and every one of them."

"Countless ..."

The crowd froze, and Officer Lee said viciously, "What the hell are you guys? Just how many people have you captured?"

"'Captured'?" The human dragon tilted his head a bit, revealing a pair of dirty eyes from within the hollow of his mask, he coldly stared at Officer Li and laughed, "Could you be mistaken? Was it really us who 'captured' you?"

"Isn't it?!" Officer Lee said through clenched teeth, "Couldn't we have come here on our own?!"

Ringo sighed and said to Zixia and Officer Lee, "You both know they're crazy, so don't try to argue with them. Let's just get out."

Her words sobered up the crowd quite a bit, these people wearing animal masks were already abnormal, and the one in front of them who had sewn various animal heads together was even more insane.

If they followed the madman's train of thought, it wouldn't take long for them to go crazy themselves.

The crowd bypassed the human dragon and walked towards the exit behind him.

"Keep in mind that no one can get out without 3,600 'dao'." The human dragon finally warned in a low voice.

Qi Xia ghostly twisted his head and asked him, "How are we going to get the 「Dao」? "

"I threw, why are you ignoring him?" Qiao Jiajin pushed Qi Xia without any good humor, "You're really going to find those golden beads?"

"No matter what, I must go out." Qi Xia's eyes were permeated with a sense of perseverance, "Someone is waiting for me."

The human dragon nodded slightly and said, "It is the 'game' that you have experienced, different games can obtain different 'Dao'."

Qi Xia's face was a little hard to see as he looked down and examined the golden bead in his hand, "Are you saying ... that we have to take the initiative to participate in the game in order to obtain the 「Dao」?"

"Hehehe, that's right, take them, take them." The human dragon's dirty hands kept waving, "Make sure to get out of here."

Qi Xia looked at the beads in his hand, pondering.

The crowd didn't know how to persuade him, so they could only walk out the door one after another.

A breeze came over his face, bringing with it that heavy flavor that was hard to name.

The few people present slowly opened their eyes, but there was no joy like getting a new life.

Because in front of them was a dead city that was like a ruin.

Above the dark red sky hung a round of earth-colored sun. On the surface of the sun, there were black threads that were spreading to the interior.

Underneath this grotesque sky, what came into view was a dilapidated city.

What appeared to be a bustling area of a small city only looked like it had been bombed once and then burned to the ground.

The fires had not been put out for days and nights and ended up looking like this.

The houses were mostly damaged, their walls cracked. Countless dark red plants crawled all over the walls.

Officer Li swallowed his saliva and asked, "Hey, Human Dragon, what the hell kind of place are you bringing us to ..."

He turned his head and his words came to an abrupt end, slowly opening his mouth wide.

The crowd turned back with his voice.

There was no building behind them at all, but an empty square.

The nine people at this moment stood alone in the center of the square, as if they had fallen from the sky.

"How did we get here?"

"Where's the door we came out of? Where is the human dragon?!"

Unfortunately, there was no one here who could answer their questions.

In the very center of the plaza, there was an extraordinarily conspicuous large electronic display screen that looked like it had been used for some years, and even the edges were a bit rusty.

The screen was currently lit up with a sentence that made the crowd puzzled:

"I hear the reverberation of "Inviting Disaster"."

"Invoke disaster? What the hell?" Qiao Jiajin read the sentence twice and still didn't understand it.

Qi Xia realized that there was also a huge, mottled bronze bell standing above the electronic display.

This kind of ancient thing placed together with the electronic display looked very incongruous.

After a long time, writer Han Yimo slowly raised his head and whispered, "So we really died ... This is the netherworld, right?"

Before seeing this sight, he still had a glimmer of hope.

Maybe they weren't dead and were just caught here before dying.

But how could this obviously abnormal world be explained?

"I don't know if we're dead or not, all I know is that if I don't treat your wounds, you'll really be dead." Dr. Zhao steeled himself and set up Han Yimo's arm.

These words also slowly pulled the crowd back from their trance.

No matter what, they seemed to be 'alive' now, and since they seemed to be alive, they couldn't give up.

"There seems to be a convenience store there." Ringo reached out and pointed in the distance, "Though it looks pretty badly destroyed, I wonder if there will be needles and gauze inside?"

Without saying a word, Qiao Jiajin set up Han Yimo's other arm and said with a bitter smile:

"Let's go take a look, it would be better if there was some food."

The crowd moved forward slowly.

The scenery here revealed an odd aura all the time, making the crowd a bit distracted.

The convenience store was in the center of a road, and the glass at the entrance was completely shattered, and the signboard had collapsed in half.

When the crowd was about to walk up to the door, they slowly stopped in their tracks.

There was a restaurant on the opposite side of the convenience store, and a figure was standing in front of the store.

He was wearing a bull's head mask and a black suit, with his hands behind his back, as if he was a statue.

The crowd's mood couldn't help but be a little tense.

These people wearing animal masks were crazy.

Now that he was standing here, was he going to enact some kind of 'test' again?

The few people waited cautiously for a while and realized that the minotaur had not moved at all. Not only did he not speak, he did not even look at the several people.

It was only then that the people finally gathered their courage and moved forward a few more steps to the entrance of the convenience store.

"Is it a dummy?" Sweet asked cautiously.

Zixia took a closer look at the minotaur, the eyes under his mask were still slightly rotating, it should not be a dummy, like he was guarding the restaurant behind him.

"Whatever he is, let's just pretend he doesn't exist." Officer Lee turned around and opened the door to the dilapidated room of the convenience store.

Just as the door opened, a disgusting smell hit the room.

The smell of this city itself was already exceptionally 'heavy', and the smell of the convenience store was even worse.

Fishy, stinky, and burning smells mixed with hints of heat echoed through this room.

All of these odors smelled fresh, like they had just been emitted.

"Vomit ..."

Lawyer Zhang Chenze couldn't bear it and directly bent over to dry-heave.

Sweetness looked at her with some concern and asked, "Barrister, are you alright?"

"I'm fine ..." Zhang Chenze wiped his mouth, looked at Sweetness and said, "You don't look as if you've been affected at all ... "

Sweetie's expression was not quite natural, and she could only smile bitterly and say, "It might have something to do with my profession ... I've smelled worse."

"Don't ... stop talking ... " Zhang Chenze almost threw up again.

Qi Xia covered his mouth and nose and came indoors, where most of the shelves were collapsed on the floor, and the floor was dark and sticky, not knowing what it was.