At this moment, a thin, white mist began to rise all around us. It was slightly cold. I had no idea where they were heading, and as for what Old Ray meant by "work," I still didn't know what exactly we were supposed to do.
Speaking of Taotie, I remember back in school, our textbooks described it as a legendary beast of insatiable hunger. It seems the Five Oddballs of the Forest of Desire only use these as nicknames; as for their real names, I doubt they're actually these.
And that woman called Taotie really lives up to her name. But just thinking about how she tossed the chicken bone she’d finished gnawing on to me makes me angry. According to Old Ray, I’ve only been in here for a single day.
I looked around. Just one day, and I’m already this exhausted—nearly died several times. My right leg is injured, making it hard to walk. Besides Old Ray, whose figure I could still see, the other four had already disappeared without a trace.
I quickened my pace a little.
“Don’t rush, Ethan, or you’ll end up with more trouble than you can handle if desire gets loose—especially in a place like this. It’s dangerous, but we have no choice but to go.”
I gave a soft reply and tried to relax my nerves, which had been on edge. I could only limp along, dragging my right foot across the ground—moving was incredibly difficult.
“By the way, Old Ray, what exactly is this work we’re supposed to do?”
Old Ray stopped, turned his head, and glanced at me.
“You’ll know when we get there. It might be tough at first.”
I responded with a quiet "oh," but suddenly, a deafening roar came from ahead, shaking the earth and making the trees tremble so hard that leaves fell all around. I stared in shock at my surroundings.
Finally, we passed through the mist, and I was stunned to see piles of rocks—mountain-sized boulders everywhere. The four others were lifting stones one by one, tossing them into a bottomless, pitch-black pit, repeating the process over and over.
“Get moving, Ethan,” Old Ray said, hurrying over and grabbing some small stones in his mouth before running up to the pit and tossing them in.
“What are you all doing?” I asked in surprise. Mr. Blackmask was lifting a boulder three or four meters in diameter. I stared in disbelief as he effortlessly carried such a massive stone to the edge of the pit and tossed it inside.
“Hurry up and get to work! What are you standing there for?”
The next moment, I nearly collapsed in fright. I saw Vincent Swallow lifting a stone the size of a small mountain with both hands—the ground shook with every step as he carried it to the pit and threw it in with a single motion.
Old Eccentric carried two large stones in one hand, shuffling along slowly, while Oddball Moe hugged a boulder about two meters wide, moving toward the pit.
I limped over, bent down, and picked up a stone about the size of a brick. As I tried to lift it, I was shocked—it was unbelievably heavy, and I couldn’t even get it off the ground.
I tried again—sure enough, it was so heavy. I barely managed to lift it a little; it had to weigh at least sixty or seventy kilograms. I stared in astonishment as everyone else handled the stones with ease.
“Ethan, at first you’ll only be able to lift the small ones.”
I grunted, grabbed a stone about the size of my fist with one hand—it was still incredibly heavy. Even such a small stone must have weighed over thirty kilos. I hurriedly dragged it with both hands, limping toward the pit.
When I reached the edge of the pit, I looked down—it was bottomless, nothing visible below, just darkness. I didn’t even hear the stone hit the ground.
“Hey, don’t stare at it, Ethan Zhang. That’s a bottomless pit—be careful. If you fall in, it’s almost impossible to climb back out. Vincent Swallow fell in once before; it took him half a month to get out.”
Old Eccentric said this, and I gasped, turning to look at Vincent Swallow. He was still carrying a massive, mountain-like stone, heading our way.
“Move aside, Ethan Zhang.”
I quickly stepped aside, watching everyone else work seriously, hauling stones. I didn’t understand what the point of all this was. After carrying just one stone, I already felt miserable—especially with my leg making movement so difficult.
We spent the whole morning moving stones. There were still so many left—an endless field of boulders. I only managed to move a little over twenty before collapsing onto the ground, exhausted. The others had stopped too.
“Hey, look at you all—after a whole morning, this is all you managed to do? Pathetic. Go back and get ready for lunch. I already ate breakfast and lunch together earlier, so I’ll handle the rest. Honestly, you’re all useless.”
Tammy Blade strolled over, looking lazy, while the others headed into the woods.
I watched in surprise as Old Ray muttered to himself nearby.
"That woman is really something. Actually, everyone here is."
Before I could finish my sentence, I saw Tammy Blade dash up to two small hills of stones. She lifted both with ease, ran to the edge of the pit, and tossed them in.
Then, she clapped her hands and ran off again, repeating the process at a rapid pace.
My stomach growled loudly.
"Let’s go eat," Old Ray said. I mumbled a reply and headed into the woods. The others were already gone.
Old Ray and I walked side by side, and I started asking questions.
"Old Ray, what exactly is that thing?"
"I heard from Vincent Swallow that a lot of people used to come here, and quite a few survived. If you want the details, ask Vincent Swallow—it's a long story, and anyway, I’m starving."
I mumbled a response. Old Ray suddenly took off running, glancing back at me.
"You take your time—I’m too hungry to wait."
Watching Old Ray disappear into the distance, I glared at my stone-like right leg in frustration—it felt so heavy. I had no idea what could possibly help me recover.
(Irrelevant line about chapter navigation, skipping translation.)
As I walked, I started to feel tired. But then I realized desire was creeping in again, so I gritted my teeth and kept moving forward.
Soon, I saw the five huts in the woods. I walked toward the one on the left.
Sure enough, in no time I found the place to eat. The other four had already finished their meal and were chatting contentedly about the things I’d told them last night about modern society.
I walked over—Old Ray was already lying on the ground, looking completely satisfied.
"Finally, I get to eat meat. Heh, Ethan." Old Ray said, licking his lips. I let out a sound, and as soon as I approached the stone table, it was suddenly covered with a feast of delicacies. I swallowed hard. Even though I wanted to eat, I knew clearly that what I saw was just my own desire—I had to control myself.
But I still couldn’t help swallowing several times.
"Hey, Ethan Zhang, if you keep half-assing it like this, things are only going to get more dangerous." Vincent Swallow said. I mumbled a reply, closed my eyes, and tried hard to remember what that bowl of plain rice had meant to me.
"Alright, you can eat now, Ethan."
I opened my eyes. On the stone table was a steaming bowl of rice. I picked it up and noticed the bowl was a bit bigger than before, with more rice in it. I quickly grabbed some and began to eat.
After eating, I felt a little thirsty. At that moment, I saw Vincent Swallow get up, heading for the river. I hurried after him.
"Wait up, Vincent Swallow! I want to go too."
Vincent Swallow turned and glanced at me, then gave a small laugh.
When we reached the riverbank, I drank a little water to soothe my throat and felt much better. Vincent Swallow stood beside me, grinning, licking his chapped lips.
"Why aren’t you drinking?"
"I’ll wait until you’re done. Then I’ll drink my fill."
I made a sound of acknowledgment and watched Vincent Swallow. He seemed friendly enough, though he reeked of alcohol. He always carried that wine gourd, drinking constantly, but now I noticed it was hanging upside down and the cap was missing.
It must be empty, right? But then I wondered—where did his wine come from? I took another sip of water, then stood up and moved aside. I watched as Vincent Swallow approached the river, took off his wine gourd, and tossed it into the air.
Suddenly, I saw a drop of crystal-clear liquid fall from the gourd into the river. Instantly, the scent of wine filled the air. I stared in disbelief—the whole river seemed to change color, turning yellowish and giving off a strong smell of alcohol. The scent was overwhelming, and I started to feel dizzy, almost drunk.
I quickly covered my nose.
"You’d better head back, Ethan Zhang. Stay any longer and you’ll pass out drunk."
Vincent Swallow said, then suddenly shouted, opening his mouth wide. The river, now turned to wine, began to swirl and stream directly into his mouth.
My eyes started to sting, and my head was spinning. I quickly turned and stumbled away. Looking back, I saw Vincent Swallow still drinking endlessly from the river, as if his stomach was a bottomless pit.
"So refreshing... so satisfying..."
After a few steps, I felt like I was about to collapse. My eyes grew heavy—just from smelling the wine, I was already drunk. Even after walking ten meters away, I could still clearly smell it.
Just as I was about to collapse, a gray shadow flashed by. A hand caught me—it was Mr. Blackmask.
"Hey, I see your leg’s not doing so well. Come on, I’ll help you over."
I looked up and thanked him. Even as I watched Mr. Blackmask, I still felt a lingering sense of hostility toward him.
"What’s really going on here?"
"Power. It’s all about power. Heh, the power of immortality exists right here. Too bad, though—we’ve all achieved immortality, but we can never leave."
Mr. Blackmask said, a smile in his eyes.