Chapter 333 + 334: The Princess

Yun Yao and Xu Qian exchanged glances. This woman seemed a bit strange.

Even though everyone had saved her, she showed no sign of gratitude.

"Let's divide the 'Dao'," Yan Zhi Chun said. "One man has left, so there are still forty-eight left on the field. Each of us can get twelve."

"Alright, let's divide them," Xu Qian said. "It's a bit dangerous, but the rewards are decent."

"You all go ahead and divide them…" Chen Jun Nan said, "Big star, you hold onto my share for me first."

With that, he moved his nearly wrecked body and slowly headed toward the other side.

"Where are you going?" Yun Yao asked irritably. "Don't you know what shape you're in?"

"I can't just collapse here yet…" Chen Jun Nan said weakly, "I still need to save people…"

"Save people…?" Yun Yao didn't understand what Chen Jun Nan meant. The only survivors here were them—who else needed saving?

After taking three steps, Chen Jun Nan bent over on the spot to rest. He felt that his condition was so bad he might as well die once to end the suffering.

But he couldn't leave this building yet. There were people in danger here.

"I'm about to collapse…" Chen Jun Nan turned back and said to Yun Yao and Xu Qian, "You two ladies, there are women and children imprisoned by Di She here… Since we've killed Di She, let's free them too."

"Is that necessary?" Yun Yao frowned. "They'll just respawn after dying—you should know that better than I do."

"But that's not right. We're people from the real world, not ghosts wandering in 'Zhong Yan Zhi Di'," Chen Jun Nan sighed. "If you won't save them, I will…"

Yun Yao could only shake her head helplessly. After this encounter, she had a general understanding of Chen Jun Nan's personality. This man was dominant in some ways, but he had an obvious soft spot.

She and Xu Qian exchanged a look, then began searching the surrounding rooms.

Yan Zhi Chun put away his "Dao" and watched the others with interest.

It wasn't long before Xu Qian found a hidden door leading to the basement under the central podium.

"Over here!" Xu Qian called out, and Yun Yao and Chen Jun Nan quickly approached.

As the three got close to the hidden door, they realized something was off—a strange, foul odor was wafting out from it.

"Is there someone down there…?" Yun Yao asked in disbelief, as the smell didn't seem like it could come from anyone alive.

Chen Jun Nan glanced at the large iron lock on the door and tugged at it with his hand, but he had no strength left. "Can you help me open it…?"

Xu Qian immediately turned and went to Di She's corpse. She rummaged through the countless fragments and found a completely broken key.

The key had been cut into pieces along with the body, making it utterly useless.

"No need for that," Yun Yao said as she extended her hand. "This lock looks really old—the internal parts are probably mostly rusted out already."

With that, she gripped the iron lock, and it instantly became covered in rust. Then, with a hard pull, it shattered like loose charcoal with a series of cracks and pops.

"You're something else…" Chen Jun Nan said weakly with a smile, then reached out and pulled open the hidden door.

An overwhelming stench rushed out from the door, hitting them full force. Yun Yao covered her mouth and nose, turning away to dry heave repeatedly, while even Chen Jun Nan furrowed his brow.

How could this possibly be the smell of living people?

It was only the second day—what had Di She captured, and what had he done to them?

"I'll go check it out." Chen Jun Nan pulled Yun Yao behind him and started down the stairs. His whole body was trembling, as if unpleasant memories were flooding back. "I don't know what's down there—you two stay up here for now."

Yun Yao and Xu Qian exchanged glances. Chen Jun Nan could barely stand—why was he insisting on playing the hero?

"I'll go down too," Xu Qian said. "If it's about saving people, I can help out…"

Hearing that Chen Jun Nan had already gone deep into the stairs and fallen silent, Xu Qian slowly followed. After a moment's thought, Yun Yao went down after them.

Yan Zhi Chun walked slowly to the edge of the hidden door but didn't go down, just stood there deep in thought.

The stairs seemed very long, more like the depth of a second underground level than a typical basement.

In the darkness, the three descended one after another, the heart-gripping stench growing stronger and making it hard to breathe.

They moved slowly, and it took about a minute before they saw faint lights ahead.

It appeared the basement had some kind of lighting.

Chen Jun Nan reached the hidden space below first. He looked around and froze in place.

Dim, damp, foul, bloody, and absurd.

This was hell.

Along both walls stood dozens of women, naked and chained by the neck, standing motionless with vacant eyes that revealed nothing about whether they were alive or dead.

Without exception, they were emaciated beyond recognition, their shriveled bodies showing every rib clearly.

"What the…?"

Chen Jun Nan's eyes flickered as he pushed through the stench and walked forward a few steps. He saw that some of the girls were already dead, their bodies still hanging by the chains like rags, with rotting flesh falling off and covered in maggots.

"Di She… you bastard…" Chen Jun Nan clenched his fists tightly, forgetting his own pain. "What the hell are you doing…? Have you forgotten you were once human?"

Yun Yao and Xu Qian arrived in the room shortly after, frozen in shock and unable to move.

The floor was covered in excrement and bones, and those women didn't seem right—they were probably native residents!

Chen Jun Nan walked forward step by step, the girls on either side standing like statues, completely expressionless.

The rectangular room was about ten meters long, but due to the dim lighting, Chen Jun Nan felt there was something at the far end.

"Chen Jun Nan…" Yun Yao called softly, "Be careful…"

Chen Jun Nan seemed to hear nothing, continuing his heavy steps forward.

Finally, he stopped at the other side of the room.

Yun Yao and Xu Qian watched his back from a distance, unsure what he had seen, and quietly moved closer.

After ten steps, a massive throne came into their view. It was made of stone but covered with a layer of rotting, blackened human skin, from which the overwhelming stench emanated, making it impossible to approach.

A girl with a proportionate figure sat on the ground next to the throne, as if waiting for someone.

Yun Yao's pupils trembled slightly as she stepped forward to examine the woman.

She didn't look emaciated and seemed to have become a native resident not long ago, but her body was covered in wounds, and her pupils were starting to dilate.

She had messy hair adorned with a crown made of twisted wire, and on her chest were four bloody characters carved into her skin—

"My Wang Fei."

The carvings were clearly done just a few days ago, the letters crooked and scabby, with the wounds slightly raised and on the verge of infection.

Before Yun Yao could speak, the girl looked up with a grin, revealing a mouth full of blood and only a few remaining teeth.

"Has the master returned…?"

The scene made the hair on Yun Yao and Chen Jun Nan's bodies stand on end, and they both exclaimed in unison:

"Xiao Ran…?"

The atmosphere was unusually silent. Chen Jun Nan turned his head to look at Yun Yao, and neither of them knew how to describe the current situation.

Yun Yao took a deep breath, suppressing her emotions, and said,
"Chen, Chen Jun Nan... They are all Yuan Zhu Min... Do you think we still need to save them...? They don't even know what they're doing right now."

Chen Jun Nan came to his senses and replied,
"No... that's not the point... Yuan Zhu Min won't fade away over time... If we don't save them, they'll be trapped here forever."

Yun Yao glanced at Xiao Ran and said,
"This... Although her transformation was unexpected, you know what kind of person Xiao Ran is, right?"

Chen Jun Nan nodded and said,
"I know. We're from the same room, so I know her character. Even though I made her cry more than a dozen times, I still don't feel satisfied."

Yun Yao asked,
"Then do you think she deserves to be saved?"

Chen Jun Nan sighed and turned back, saying,
"Big star, I regret seeing this too, but if we just walk away, it's no different from what the Di She did."

Yun Yao looked at him doubtfully and asked quietly,
"Chen Jun Nan, what kind of person are you, exactly?"

Chen Jun Nan lowered his head and unlocked the chain around Xiao Ran's neck, saying,
"In a world full of good people, I want to be a bad one. In a world full of bad people, I want to be a good one."

He gazed at Xiao Ran's face, feeling a slight sense of emotion.

He added,
"You two should help untie the chains too..."

The three of them moved around the room, freeing these emotionless Yuan Zhu Min. The chains were simply wrapped around their necks, but the women were like walking corpses, completely unable to break free.

In no time, all the chains had been removed from their necks, yet not a single one of them moved.

Chen Jun Nan shouted,
"Hey! You're free now. You can go."

The women in the room showed no reaction, making Chen Jun Nan think for a moment that they were deaf.

After a while, Xiao Ran, sitting by the throne, slowly lifted her head and said,
"Bad person..."

Chen Jun Nan turned to her and asked,
"What?"

Xiao Ran mumbled unclearly,
"Bad person... I won't go... I'm waiting for my master to come back..."

Chen Jun Nan looked at Xiao Ran, smirked, and said,
"Suit yourself. I've done all I can."

As soon as he finished speaking, one of the girls standing by the wall began to slowly shuffle toward the stairs, followed by a second, then a third.

Out of the twenty or so people, half of them headed toward the stairs, moving like robots as they left the room.

Chen Jun Nan turned back to Yun Yao and Xu Qian and said,
"Let's go. We've given them the choice."

Xu Qian looked puzzled at the remaining girls and said,
"Really, we don't need to do anything more for them...? There are teenagers here, only about ten years old..."

Chen Jun Nan replied,
"Qian Jie, I'm a good person, but not that good. I only do what I can."

As the three left the basement, they felt the air of Zhong Yan Zhi Di become refreshingly fragrant.

It was hard to imagine these girls spending their days in a completely sealed room surrounded by waste and corpses. Fortunately, they had long lost their awareness, or they would have gone mad.

The girls who had walked out looked around and then slowly went their separate ways, while Yan Zhi Chun, dressed in white, remained standing there.

Yun Yao looked at her in confusion and asked,
"You... didn't leave?"

Yan Zhi Chun smiled faintly, tucked a strand of her long hair behind her ear, and said,
"You three vigilantes are really bold, leaving the Dao here unguarded and just heading straight to the basement. What if I locked the door and took all the Dao? What would you do then?"

The group watched Yan Zhi Chun warily, unsure of her intentions.

Yan Zhi Chun glanced at the women who had walked away and continued,
"But I have to say, you did do a good thing... This counts as protecting Zhong Yan Zhi Di."

Xu Qian thought for a moment and asked,
"You... were you deliberately staying here to cover for us?"

Yan Zhi Chun shook her head and said,
"Not exactly..." Then she looked at Chen Jun Nan and added,
"I remember someone told me not to leave after it was over because he wanted to treat me to a meal."

Chen Jun Nan suddenly recalled something and quickly stepped forward, saying,
"Ah? Chun Jie, it's not just a meal..."

Yan Zhi Chun smiled at him and asked,
"Hmm? There's more?"

Chen Jun Nan laughed weakly and said,
"Chun Jie, do you want a husband? If you do... just say the word... and I'll get one for you..."

Before he could finish, his eyelids drooped, and he collapsed forward.

Yun Yao and Xu Qian were too far away to catch him.

Just as Chen Jun Nan was about to hit the ground face-first and break his nose, Yan Zhi Chun raised her hand, and at the same moment, Chen Jun Nan's hand lifted, steadying his body with his palm.

Yan Zhi Chun then pushed her hand forward, controlling his body to turn over, as if he were simply rolling over in his sleep, and he gently lay down on the ground.

The three women stared at Chen Jun Nan, lying on the ground covered in blood, not knowing what to do. They weren't even sure if he was still alive.

Yun Yao was the first to step forward, squat down, and check his neck. Though faint, there was still a pulse.

She said,
"I'm taking him back. He's the hero who killed the Di She. I want to make him the king of Tian Tang Kou."

She looked up at Yan Zhi Chun and Xu Qian and asked,
"Can you help me?"

The two women seemed confused. Yan Zhi Chun paused and asked,
"How are you going to get him back? There's not even a cart here."

Without a word, Yun Yao removed her jacket, revealing the sports tank top underneath, and said,
"I'll carry him."

Yan Zhi Chun echoed,
"Carry him?"

Yun Yao turned her back to Chen Jun Nan, squatted down, draped his arms over her shoulders, and used her jacket as a makeshift rope to tightly bind their waists together. With a surge of strength, she hoisted him onto her back.

Only then did Xu Qian and Yan Zhi Chun notice that, despite Yun Yao's slim appearance, her legs and arms showed clear muscle definition, suggesting professional training.

Yun Yao ignored Xu Qian and turned to Yan Zhi Chun, saying,
"I don't know where you stand, but if you try anything funny, you'll end up dead by my hand."

Yan Zhi Chun's expression remained a kindly smile, but it carried a dangerous edge as she replied,
"Is that so...? My 'stand'? I'm with the Ji Dao."

Yun Yao's face turned cold, as on this land, she hated the Ji Dao most of all.

She said,
"Our paths are different, so we can't work together. Go your own way."

Yan Zhi Chun found it amusing and said,
"Ha. Sister, you're not the one who invited me, so you don't have the right to send me away."

Xu Qian sensed the tension between them, like some old grudge, but didn't know how to intervene.

She said,
"If you keep delaying, Chen Jun Nan will die. Shouldn't we get him medical help first?"

Yun Yao realized Xu Qian was right, snapped back to focus, walked over to the Di She's corpse, grabbed his withered, old snake head, and carried Chen Jun Nan out of the room.

Yan Zhi Chun and Xu Qian followed behind, leaving the eerie, foul-smelling place.