Chapter 900: Decay

After a brief pause, Li Huowang lifted his helmet and resumed walking. Regardless of the truth, they had already come halfway, and he had no choice but to continue.

As the sun rose, the Gobi Desert grew progressively hotter, making it even more unbearable than the night. Furthermore, after a night without sleep or food, exhaustion was evident on everyone's faces. In this state of weariness, Li Huowang walked silently forward. When the sun was directly overhead, everyone suddenly stopped.

"Is that... Chen Hongyu?" Li Huowang stared blankly at the familiar, large body ahead. A flicker of ecstasy then appeared on his face. "She really has supernatural abilities! She's not dead!"

Li Huowang quickly rushed forward, but as he approached within a few steps of Chen Hongyu, he gradually slowed to a halt. It was Chen Hongyu, alright, but she wasn't alive. Under the high temperature, she had started to decompose. Swarms of large-headed flies crawled in and out of her orifices, constantly feeding.

After a night and a day, the cadaverous odor from Chen Hongyu was intense. Li Huowang had killed many people before, but he had never imagined a dead body could smell so foul. It was a powerful smell, pushing against Li Huowang like a wall, preventing him from getting even a bit closer. The stench pierced Li Huowang's nose, causing his stomach to churn repeatedly, as if trying to make him vomit everything in his stomach. Even though Li Huowang wore a helmet, his eyes were so stung he couldn't fully open them. Tears streamed uncontrollably, and though he tried to get closer, he simply couldn't.

"Hey, maniac, are you even capable? Why did you come back after circling around?" Banan Xu directly raised the pistol in his left hand and fired a shot at the back of Li Huowang's head.

Li Huowang, stumbling a few steps forward, abruptly turned around, glaring at Banan Xu with the anger he had suppressed all night. "Try shooting me again if you dare!"

"I'm asking you a question, are you capable or not?" Banan Xu fired another shot at Li Huowang's head.

"You're asking for death!" Just as Li Huowang charged towards Banan Xu, the others immediately rushed over and pulled him away.

"Whack!" A crisp slapping sound echoed as Zhao Shuangdian slapped Banan Xu across the face. "Don't cause trouble for me."

Banan Xu paused, then tilted his head and chuckled softly. He extended his forked tongue, licking the air towards Zhao Shuangdian's face, then took half a step back.

Zhao Shuangdian completely ignored Banan Xu's actions. She walked up to Li Huowang and said, "Ignore her. I believe in you. You are always the most special one. Keep looking."

Li Huowang stood at a distance, observing Chen Hongyu's body in silent mourning for a few seconds. He was about to bypass it, intending to leave marks this time to avoid circling back again. But after only a few seconds of walking, he was startled. Rotten Commander was dead, so why hadn't the rot disappeared?

Li Huowang paused, dumbfounded. He then suddenly turned around and charged towards Chen Hongyu, enduring the stench of the corpse. As Li Huowang approached, with a buzzing sound, the flies on the corpse were instantly startled and scattered. When Li Huowang looked up at the swarms of black flies in the sky, he smiled. "I knew it! I knew it!"

"Li Huowang! What are you doing! Come back here!"

"Stay away from there! Inhaling too much of that smell will cause lung infection!"

Li Huowang completely ignored the others' shouts, focusing intently on the flight patterns of the flies above. Most of the flies burrowed back into Chen Hongyu's body, but some flew eastward. "I found it! Follow quickly! The rot hasn't disappeared yet!"

As Li Huowang chased after them, the flies flew even faster. Everyone ran along with Li Huowang. This pursuit lasted for a long time, and just as everyone's physical strength was reaching its limit, Li Huowang finally stopped. He stood at the edge of a low-lying area, watching two flies burrow into a hole in the ground below. The hole wasn't large, just big enough for a person to bend down and enter. "The entrance to the inside of the elephant has been found."

After recovering their full strength while standing still, everyone prepared their weapons and headed inside. Outside, the Gobi Desert was scorching hot, but inside the cave, it was cool and pleasant. Walking through it was very comfortable, and in some corners, shade-loving plants and mushrooms grew. There were clear signs of human activity inside the cave. It resembled a tunnel but was narrower.

After a brief observation of the cave's structure, Qing Wanglai spoke, "This should be the underground channel of a qanat, which collapsed due to disuse, creating this opening."

"What's the point of saying that?"

"No particular point, just wanted to give you some background on what the projection of our environment here is like. A heads-up: while typical qanats aren't wide, they are extremely long."

"If converted to flat space, they could accommodate people from several football fields. If there truly are enemies, we need to be prepared."

Li Huowang paid no attention to their conversation at the moment. When he saw a grey mouse scurry along the wall, he couldn't help but smile knowingly. All the negative emotions that had filled him moments ago vanished.

Just then, from the area where the mouse had disappeared, a squeaking sound suddenly emanated. Li Huowang's heart sank instantly. He forcefully pushed off with his feet and charged into the darkness. "Flare!"

As the red flare rapidly illuminated the dark underground channel, the military knife in Li Huowang's hand was already stabbing towards a figure within. In the darkness, an umbrella swiftly slammed down, striking Li Huowang's military knife and sending sparks flying. Just as Li Huowang was about to counterattack, a gunshot rang out. The powerful impact pushed him backward.

Looking at the people emerging from the darkness, Li Huowang turned his head and shouted behind him, "What are you waiting for! Help!"

"Huh? Help with what?" Qing Wanglai's voice carried a hint of confusion.

"What else could it be! So many people, are you all blind? Didn't you see them?"

"No, we didn't."

Li Huowang spun around abruptly, looking at their astonished faces in utter shock. "You... you can't see them? You really can't see them? Could it be..."

As Li Huowang suddenly understood something, the figures in the distance gradually vanished into the darkness. Li Huowang paced frantically inside the channel, breathing heavily. From time to time, he clenched his fists and repeatedly slammed them against his helmet. The swarms of flies from before, and the grey mouse, repeatedly flashed in his mind. Suppressed sorrow and anger built up inside him.

Li Huowang suddenly stopped in his tracks. He threw his head back and violently slammed it against the nearby wall. "Damn it! I told you I couldn't do it! But you insisted I could! I'm mentally ill! How can I lead? How can I lead the way?!"