The room before us was littered with raised, luminous orbs—white and gleaming, their surfaces almost like glass, yet unfamiliar and organic up close. I ran my fingers over one; it pulsed with a subtle, living warmth.
They weren't like bulbs or anything artificial; the faint glow seemed natural. In this room, three stories underground, the brightness warmed us all. Alfred Fu and Adam Dale had already entered, sitting inside with smiles on their faces.
"What exactly are these things?"
I muttered, and Earthly Soul shook his head.
"When I first arrived here, I felt unsettled as well. If I had to put it into words, this should be the light of the living world."
For a moment, we all widened our eyes. John Chou crouched before one of the luminous orbs and gently tapped it with the back of his finger. The orb cracked open, spilling its light, and soon it faded to darkness.
"Such a peculiar thing."
John Chou remarked. I noticed Alfred Fu and Adam Dale also began breaking some of the luminous orbs, and soon a large part of the room dimmed.
"They'll recover after a while, won't they?"
Alfred Fu said, and Earthly Soul nodded.
"That's right. Everything in this underground base is designed to repair itself after damage. If it weren't, after all the battles I've fought here, this place would be nothing but ruins."
Earthly Soul led us onward, intending to show us more strange rooms. John Chou seemed deep in thought and hadn't spoken for a long while.
"Are you thinking of something, John Chou?"
At that moment, Alfred Fu asked, and John Chou nodded.
"Just some guesses. Let's keep looking."
Alfred Fu chuckled.
"I suspect the experiments here ended long ago. All this is just leftover waste—the core components have probably been moved."
His words seemed to wake us all up. Earthly Soul immediately spoke.
"No wonder so many rooms are empty. There should have been things in them, but they're bare now. I haven't found anything."
With a thunderous crash, black lightning from Earthly Soul's hand split the stone door open. I noticed John Chou staring intensely at the luminous orbs—he must have realized something, but perhaps because of Alfred Fu, he wouldn't say it yet. Alfred Fu, too, seemed to have caught on, striding confidently ahead with Adam Dale into the shattered doorway.
Gradually, we reached the fourth floor. Now there were several doors—five in total—lined along the curved corridor. Earthly Soul pointed to one of them.
"The other four doors lead to empty, vast spaces—there's nothing inside."
Alfred Fu looked at Earthly Soul with confusion. Earthly Soul then broke open the four doors one by one, just as he said. John Chou and I used our ghost networks to investigate, while Adam Dale sniffed around, searching every corner of the empty rooms. Alfred Fu quietly observed.
Our ghost networks detected nothing. Then Adam Dale, in the leftmost room, called out excitedly. We rushed in; he stood by a wall, pointing at it.
"There's something here, Alfred Fu."
With a whoosh, Earthly Soul flew over, raising a hand, but Alfred Fu immediately shouted.
"Your power will destroy whatever's inside—better not. Ethan Zhang, you do it."
I responded and Earthly Soul landed. Adam Dale pointed at the wall with his thick finger. I raised my hand, Deathbane Aura swirling around it, and lightly struck the wall. It cracked.
Slowly, I kept tapping and digging at the wall with Deathbane Aura. Soon, a small black box appeared. Alfred Fu walked over, yanked it out—it was made of some unknown, but clearly tough, material.
Thud, thud—Alfred Fu began pounding it with his fist, trying to open it, but the box was unusually sturdy. John Chou came over, took the box, and inspected it from all sides.
"There's no lock, but there is a gap."
I tried to force Deathbane Aura into the gap to pry open the box, but it couldn't penetrate the black material.
"Let me do it. Breaking something like this is easy for me."
Earthly Soul said, but Alfred Fu stopped him again.
"Forget it. If there's something important inside and you destroy it, we'll lose our only clue. Let's go back to the city and find a locksmith—better than brute force."
The central stone door was broken open. This time, I saw green—a patch of grass about a foot high in the room. We stepped inside, surprised.
"This is a unique place. The grass everywhere else is black, but here, it's green."
Earthly Soul had just finished speaking when Adam Dale started chomping mouthfuls of grass, chewing and swallowing.
"Sweet, Alfred Fu! This grass is real."
We didn't even need to eat it—the fragrance of the grass filled the air. John Chou pulled up a blade, roots and all, inspecting it before tossing it to me.
"Hold onto it for now, brother. When Ber Cumin wakes up, let him take a look. This grass shouldn't wither."
I nodded and put it in my pocket. Just as John Chou said, everything here was frozen—no past, no future, no growth, no change.
Having been to the Dark Forest, I knew this well. I had noticed before that nothing in the forest really changed: birds incubated eggs that were cold and lifeless, no matter how hard they tried, unable to hatch new life.
Thinking about it, people in the city were the same. Men and women could couple, but no new life could be born.
We left the grassy room and continued downward, straight to the sixth floor. The fifth floor had only one room, empty—nothing inside.
Earthly Soul broke open a room; inside, we saw white, gleaming sand. Surprised, I rushed over, scooped up some, and swallowed a mouthful. This white sand was like that found on a beach, unlike the yellow sand of a desert—fine, light, and slightly moist.
"Strange, isn't it? Everything here comes from the living world—except for what’s on the ninth floor. I have no idea what that is."
Earthly Soul led us further down. In the rooms we passed, we saw stone and iron—common in the living world, but rare here.
Finally, we reached the room outside the ninth underground floor. As Earthly Soul broke open the door, our eyes widened. Inside was a massive, amorphous black entity—not quite animal, not quite mountain, not quite tree.
A huge black mass: some parts looked like animals, others like houses, walls, cars, planes—like a fusion of things, a chaotic amalgam. The substance was hard, yet not like rock—somewhat soft, like clay, but impossible to break off by hand.
Two more floors: below are withered, bizarre black trees, and finally the place Earthly Soul said he met Luo Zhihui—the swamp pool.
"There's really nothing to figure out here. Let's go."
Alfred Fu jumped down from the massive entity, and we continued downward, arriving at the place filled with strange black trees. Adam Dale immediately tore off a branch, releasing a foul stench and black sap into the air.
We all pinched our noses. Earthly Soul looked at Adam Dale with annoyance, but what happened next nearly made me vomit: Adam Dale chewed the branch, black liquid spilling from his mouth. I turned away, clutching my chest.
"Could you not be so disgusting?"
Earthly Soul said with disgust. Alfred Fu chuckled.
"How is it, Adam Dale?"
"It's soul fragments."
His words made us all look over. He spat, black water dribbling out, then tossed the branch aside.
"It's awful—these smashed soul fragments."
"Are you sure?"
John Chou asked. Alfred Fu chuckled and said:
"Of course I'm sure. Adam Dale's special ability—I'm not telling you what it is—but you can trust what his stomach senses."
Then Adam Dale spoke up. He sensed that the sap was the feeling of shattered human souls—countless fragments, from thousands of people, all mixed together.
Normally, when a soul dies, it should vanish completely. But here, it persists in this form. Alfred Fu walked into the next room.
"Let's hurry and check what's in the swamp below."
Earthly Soul gagged.
"Brace yourselves—the stench inside is unbearable."
Bang—the door was smashed open. Instantly, John Chou and I fell back, Earthly Soul pinched his nose and floated up, but Alfred Fu and Adam Dale stood at the edge of the swamp, unaffected by the overwhelming stench. Adam Dale even scooped up some of the thick liquid and ate it.
I couldn't hold back and vomited. John Chou stood silently nearby. Alfred Fu patted Adam Dale's back as he grimaced.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Alfred Fu. As I thought, this place is made entirely of soul fragments—and even human bodies, all mixed together."