Chapter 994: What the h.e.l.l is this Place?

"Hey! Where are you going? Stop!"

As Lin Sanjiu rushed into a square courtyard, several voices yelled from behind the wall on the upper level. Just as the shouts erupted, she abruptly stopped her footsteps because in the center of the courtyard, cracks appeared on the ground, revealing humanoid black holes with faint red flames burning at the edges, as if they had been smashed through by several fire people. The smoky smell of burnt metal or leather filled the courtyard, turning the air white and irritating the throat with a painful itch.

Various echoes continued to reverberate between the walls. Distant sirens, shouts of commands, and rhythmic footsteps mixed together, creating a chaotic and contagious atmosphere that seemed ready to spread at any moment.

Looking up through the hazy smoke, Lin Sanjiu saw several faces peering out from behind the corners of the wall. When their eyes met, the people were momentarily stunned. Just as Lin Sanjiu took a deep breath and deactivated the item in her hand, the people above called out, "It"s dangerous to go any higher from the second level. Hurry back!"

Lin Sanjiu had a thought and hurriedly exclaimed, "I... I"m here to provide support!"

"Just you alone?" one of the young men murmured, asking, "Is it for lockdown or combat?"

"Combat!"

The people upstairs seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. They scrutinized her through the smoke, and the young man pointed upstairs, saying, "Then go up! The lockdown team has secured the floors above the second level. I don"t know how much longer they can hold on!"

As soon as he finished speaking, someone beside him sighed and whispered, "The situation is really bad... How did the Mad Dog manage to get on the s.h.i.+p?"

Although the words were soft, they clearly reached Lin Sanjiu"s ears, causing her whole body to shudder. In the Twelve Worlds, there was only one person referred to as the "Mad Dog," confirming that she had indeed come to the right place.

In the blink of an eye, she dashed up the iron staircase like an arrow released from a bow. The ceiling lights shattered and flickered, barely illuminating the dim corridor. As she poked her head out from the second-floor staircase, she almost crashed into the barrier that the lockdown team had already set up. She quickly stepped back two steps and looked up, only to discover a deep black void blocking the staircase.

Breathing heavily, she looked suspiciously behind the black void.

A long, slimy, flesh-like tube in pink occupied the corridor, completely swallowing the stairs leading to the third floor, leaving only a dark opening. Peering inside, all that could be seen was endless darkness.

"You"re here to provide support?" a hoa.r.s.e, m.u.f.fled voice came from somewhere. Following the sound, Lin Sanjiu lifted her head and saw a short figure emerging from behind the opening. As the person stepped into the light, she involuntarily held her breath.

If she didn"t know that everyone appearing here was a lockdown ability user, she would have mistaken the person in front of her for a duoluozhong.

On that unremarkable face, the most striking feature was a round, large mouth - it was more like a black hole opened in the face. The man"s neck and chest were swollen and round, connected like a thick tube. Honestly, it was hard to imagine, but his appearance and the pink meat tube occupying the corridor bore a somewhat eerie resemblance.

"You"re a bit smarter than those fools who came to support earlier. You"ve come to the right place. Only I can enter and exit the lockdown line," the man with the meat tube-like appearance said vaguely. The black hole on his face opened and closed slowly a few times. Without lips or a tongue, it was astonis.h.i.+ng how he managed to speak. "Wait for me to swap the ends."

"Swap?" Lin Sanjiu"s hand tightly gripped the card hidden under her robe, and she calmly asked, "What do you mean by swapping?"

"You think you can just go in without swapping? You won"t find the way out," the man with the meat tube-like appearance sneered. "Rest a.s.sured, I will temporarily deactivate my digestive function. But don"t dawdle inside!"

"Wait, what digestive function?"

An offended expression emerged on the face with the hole.

"You must be new here. Don"t you know about my lockdown ability?" He snorted and placed his hand on the pink meat tube. "You haven"t been to the Mokugyo Encyclopedic Forum? Haven"t heard of my "Simplified Nutrient Absorption System"?"

The term "simplified version" made it sound less impressive.

Before Lin Sanjiu could ask, the man spoke as if scolding her, "The end you see now is the exit, and the entrance is upstairs. It would be great if the Mad Dog had entered the entrance."

"Why?"

"Anyone who enters the entrance can"t turn back; they can only move involuntarily towards the exit... In this process, the essential parts of their body will be decomposed, digested, and absorbed by my tubes." It was evident that he was proud of his ability. As he busily worked on the pink tube, he elaborated to his "ally," "When they are finally expelled from the exit, they will be reduced to remnants after digestion and absorption."

Wasn"t this... like going through the large intestine?

Lin Sanjiu managed to hold back from saying that out loud. After swapping the entrance and exit, the staircase leading to the third floor reappeared in the dim corridor. The man, who resembled an upright tube, waved his hand toward the stairs, urging, "Why are you just standing there? Go inside!"

"This... is the entrance?" Lin Sanjiu hesitated and carefully examined the staircase. It looked exactly the same as before, with no trace of the pink meat tube.

"The entrance should naturally appear as ordinary as possible," the man glanced at her, seeming to think she was foolish. "Who would stupidly go into a black hole-like entrance? It can adapt to the environment... So, are you going in or not?"

Unless there was an unexpected situation, this area should be locked down. At least, this peculiar man didn"t seem suspicious of her.

Gritting her teeth, Lin Sanjiu made up her mind. As she stepped toward the staircase, she quietly activated her [Defense Forcefield]. The staircase seemed endless, growing darker as she climbed. Soon, it turned into pitch darkness, and she could no longer see her own hand. However, when she saw a narrow beam of light, she pushed her way out and managed to come out smoothly, unscathed. When she turned around, the walls were smooth and traceless, with no visible sign of the entrance to the [Simplified Nutrient Absorption System].

Not far from her, several posthumans quickly glanced at her, then swiftly averted their gaze, not giving her a second look. Looking around, she realized she was standing at the back of the crowd. Everyone around her was breathing heavily, their faces solemn, staring intently at the other end, as if facing a formidable enemy.

Suppressing her heartbeat, Lin Sanjiu took two cautious steps forward. Pa.s.sing through the shoulders of the posthumans in front of her, her gaze fell upon the end of the corridor.

Several wooden crates were scattered on the ground, with one of them overturned and used as a makes.h.i.+ft chair. A man wrapped in a black leather jacket, pale and fragile, sat on the edge of the crate, his elbows resting on his knees. Black hair hung down from his neck, casting a shadow over his face, obscuring his eyes. Only his cold, penetrating gaze felt like a gust of wind seeping through the cracks, chilling and pressuring the skin without a hint of warmth.

He seemed as if a gust of wind could blow him away, yet none of the dozens of posthumans across from him dared to make a move.

"Where... in the world am I?" Puppeteer lowered his head, seemingly unnoticed by anyone, and asked in a hoa.r.s.e voice that betrayed long-standing wounds. In the silent corridor, his voice lightly grazed the ears like fingertips—only those familiar with him could sense the suppressed anger, as if the words were squeezed out through clenched teeth.

Lin Sanjiu felt a bit awkward and scratched her face.