Chapter 221

Jiang Tianming was right. The path they took, winding and turning, meant that even someone with an excellent sense of direction couldn’t easily find their way back in the darkness. Qiao Mu, who could see in the dark, and Zu Zong, who was well-adapted to living like a blind person, could probably manage, but the problem was they couldn’t fly. If one of them went with Si Zhaohua, they would fall back into the original problem: how to avoid the aboriginals.

So, as Jiang Tianming suggested, it was better to first understand the environment and communicate with the aboriginals. If they had no ill intentions towards them, that would be even better, and they could leave easily.

However, everyone knew that such a possibility was quite small. Even if those aboriginals truly had no ill intentions, they wouldn’t easily let them leave. Those not of our kind are sure to have ulterior motives; what if they went up to call for reinforcements to capture everyone inside?

Not long after, the sound of a door opening came from the entrance, and several tall figures approached. One of them jabbered something, but due to the language barrier, no one replied, or even dared to make a sound.

Seeing this, the speaker looked at a companion nearby and jabbered something else. Then, that companion suddenly began to sing—a song less than ten seconds long, without lyrics, only a melody.

The singing didn’t sound like it could come from a human. It was resonant and melodious, very pleasant to the ear. But everyone’s minds were not on appreciating the song; they were all astonished that they could understand the other party’s meaning through this sound without any lyrics.

The meaning conveyed in the song was simple and clear: “Who are you?”

Since the other party had expressed a willingness to communicate, they naturally no longer needed to pretend they couldn’t speak. However, with the language barrier and their inability to convey meaning through song, how could they communicate?

Left with no choice, Jiang Tianming tried speaking: “We fell in by accident. Can you understand?”

Surprisingly, the other party actually understood, continuing to speak in an excited, high-pitched song: “You fell from above? There’s really a world up there?”

They didn’t even know there was a society above. But then again, according to Cyril’s story, these people found a way to live underground because they were discriminated against, ostracized, and hunted. To prevent future generations from going up out of curiosity and harming the entire clan, they would certainly not tell them about the surface.

It was safer to simply not mention the surface than to demonize it. After all, if it were only demonized, it wouldn’t guarantee that adventurous individuals or mischievous children wouldn’t insist on exploring it.

Moreover, there was no light underground, so it was probably difficult to use writing. In that case, any original information about the surface would be lost after one or two generations.

“Yes, and if you’re interested, you can come up and see it with us after we find a way to leave,” Jiang Tianming said with a friendly expression, though he wasn’t sure if the other party could see it.

The other side was silent for a moment, then spoke: “You are our guests. Let us host you well first. During this time, you can also tell us about the world above.”

Upon hearing this reply, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. A peaceful resolution was naturally the best outcome; otherwise, it would be very difficult for just a few of them to leave this underground world smoothly.

After discussing, the person who sang introduced herself. Her name was Zheng Caige. The reason she could communicate with them through song was because her singing had a special ability that allowed her to converse with any species. The person who spoke first beside her was their clan leader, named He Bin. After the introductions, they untied everyone’s bonds.

From their actions, everyone could tell that these underground people likely didn’t perceive them as having any offensive capabilities, otherwise they wouldn’t have been willing to grant them a certain degree of freedom, even knowing they were intelligent beings.

Sure enough, as they led them to another room, Caige casually chatted with them: “Your skin is too delicate; it feels like it could be easily damaged. But what kind of animals are you? Most animals underground have very hard shells; soft ones like you would be eaten within a day.”

“We are humans.” Jiang Tianming, who had inexplicably become their spokesperson, had to answer himself when he saw no one else responding.

Although she had lived underground for a long time, Zheng Caige also knew that her own species was human. Hearing this, she asked in surprise: “You’re humans? How can that be? You don’t look like us at all!”

This question was difficult to explain. In fact, Jiang Tianming and the others wanted to ask the same thing. He could only answer in a somewhat biological way: “Because our growing environments are different, our evolutionary paths are also different.”

“Where did you evolve?” Zheng Caige’s singing sounded a bit disdainful. She really couldn’t see what survival skills these soft, floppy fellows possessed in a dangerous environment.

Rarely, everyone answered in unison: “We evolved our brains.”

Zheng Caige: “…”

During their conversation, both sides were discreetly gathering information. Su Bei and the others learned that these people had lived in this underground world for many years, using excavated caves as homes.

There wasn’t just one village or tribe here, but other tribes as well. Each tribe occupied a large area, with a central square dug out and houses around it. The squares between different tribes were interconnected, and people generally visited and communicated in the squares.

The entire underground world was like an anthill, complex but orderly.

As for food, their staple diet was a special edible clay, and their side dishes were some underground animals and plants.

Despite the constant lack of sunlight underground, there were plants that could grow without photosynthesis. Perhaps these things weren’t technically called plants, but because they weren’t meat or a staple food, they were temporarily referred to as such. These were all things not found on the surface, which greatly broadened everyone’s horizons.

Since they weren’t sure if surface dwellers could eat the clay and plants, everyone had guinea pig meat for dinner. Because it was seasoned with salt and the underground people also ate cooked food, the taste was actually quite good. It was much better than what everyone had originally expected, as they had thought they wouldn’t have a good meal for days.

Dinner was at the clan leader’s house. Knowing that extremely special strangers had arrived, wave after wave of underground people came to the clan leader’s doorway to observe. Su Bei and the others felt like animals in a zoo, being gawked at. They were forced to meet many different underground humans, but unfortunately, it was too dark to see anything, so they could only distinguish people by their voices.

Midway through, under the pretext of using the restroom, Su Bei finally found an opportunity to ask Wu Jin why he had tugged at him earlier. Wu Jin told him that when Cyril said he wanted to communicate with the underground humans, his emotions had momentarily become very excited.

This momentary excitement made Wu Jin sense something was off, which was why he wanted to warn Su Bei. Not just Su Bei, he also secretly warned Jiang Tianming. Whether these two were the most reliable in his mind was debatable, but they were certainly the most intelligent. There was no harm in discussing problems with them.

Excited by this information, Su Bei fell into contemplation. It was clear that Cyril was very eager to communicate with these people. But why would he need to chat with a group of ancient people who had lived underground for years, especially when he wasn’t a historian or biologist?

Thinking back to the vague points in Cyril’s earlier account of these people’s history and identity, Su Bei raised an eyebrow. Initially, he thought Cyril hadn’t explained many things clearly because he didn’t know, but now, it seemed there might be other hidden motives.

He just didn’t know what about these underground people interested Cyril, and whether it was Cyril’s personal interest or the Black Flash Organization’s interest.

If it was the former, there was nothing to guess; heaven knew why Cyril was interested in underground people. But if it was the latter, what could interest the Black Flash Organization were nothing more than two things: longevity and Night Beasts.

This world was a comic book world, so Su Bei leaned more towards the latter. In that case, he could certainly probe the relationship between the underground people and these two keywords.

After dinner, the underground humans were accustomed to exercising to aid digestion. They had few entertainment activities underground, much like ancient people. Exercise, however, was essential. Seeing this, Huangfu Mingzhe had a flash of inspiration and suggested competing with the underground humans.

He had the best physical condition among everyone except the two Black Flash Organization members. Even without using his ability, the passive effects of Five-clawed Golden Dragon were still active in him. So, even if the underground humans were strong, he could put up a fight.

The reason for competing with these people was Huangfu Mingzhe’s foresight to test their strength. Cyril had said that these people were also Ability users, but their abilities had manifested as external expressions. Since they were Ability users, their strength should not be underestimated. Understanding it beforehand would also help them prepare for their departure in the future.

Although those people looked down on the “frail” Su Bei and the others, they were indeed curious about these outsiders and therefore agreed to his request.

At this point, Huangfu Mingzhe then proposed another request. He said that in a completely dark environment, they couldn’t see anything, so a competition wouldn’t be fair. He asked if they had a way for them to see, so they could have a fair duel.

This was his true purpose. Since these underground people could find someone who could communicate with them through song, perhaps they could also find a way for them to see things in the underground world.

Huangfu Mingzhe wasn’t wrong. After learning they needed to see with their eyes, the clan leader was surprised for a moment, then rummaged through his belongings and pulled out some items: “We don’t have ‘eyes’ like that, and I’m not sure what exactly you’re looking for. But our ancient records mention that when we first came to the underground world, we adapted to the environment with these things. See if you can use them?”

As he spoke, he placed an object in everyone’s hands. Su Bei fumbled with it; it seemed to be glasses. He put on the glasses, and light actually appeared in his vision! What he saw with the glasses was a bit like a night-vision monitor—though the overall environment was still dark, he could indeed see things.

He didn’t know until he looked, and then he was shocked. Su Bei thought, no wonder Zu Zong and Qiao Mu were so silent. Seeing a group of creatures with such strange appearances indeed made it hard not to be silent.

The people surrounding them were indeed humanoid, but they had many alterations based on a rhomboid shape. For example, they had four arms and four legs covered in bumpy tentacles, and faces so bizarre they would appear in horror films. Coupled with their greenish-gray skin and white hair, those who knew would say they were underground humans; those who didn’t would think they were ancient tomb corpses!

Their location was a very spacious stone cave. Unlike the simple mud caves everyone initially imagined, the nearby walls were made of stone and carved with patterns, looking very artistic.

Many rooms had things like spatulas and dried meat hanging in front, as well as brooms made of stone and thatch, full of the气息 of daily life. Although it was underground, it wasn’t the primitive society Su Bei and the others initially imagined; instead, it was more like ancient or rural times.

With the glasses that allowed them to see their surroundings, Huangfu Mingzhe and the clan leader’s match began to be prepared. The competition site was the square, so things needed to be cleared out to avoid damage.

It was a rare spectacle in the underground world. Hearing that the Mud Tribe’s clan leader was going to compete with an outsider, members of other tribes, already curious about what outsiders looked like, couldn’t sit still. They all came to the corridor outside the Mud Tribe’s main hall, craning their necks to watch.

Zheng Caige welcomed everyone in, brought them stone stools, and had them sit on the side.

As these people entered, Su Bei sharply felt several malicious gazes. However, because these people were crowded together, he couldn’t pinpoint who the gazes came from.

Malicious gazes were not surprising; they were outsiders, and they looked completely different from the people here. It was quite normal to be regarded with hostility. In fact, the clan leader’s enthusiasm and friendliness was what surprised him.

The match began, with both sides forbidden to use weapons. The clan leader attacked with all four hands, while Huangfu Mingzhe dodged swiftly and delivered a punch to his side.

This punch immediately sobered up the clan leader, who had initially underestimated Huangfu Mingzhe. If such great strength was considered weak, then their entire clan must be weak.

Both sides fought seriously, with clear advantages and disadvantages. The clan leader’s advantage was his agile limbs; an ordinary person could be swept down with a single leg sweep, but because he had four legs, it was difficult for Huangfu Mingzhe’s single leg to sweep all four of his feet.

Huangfu Mingzhe’s advantage was his great strength, speed, and excellent combat skills. He had undergone formal training, unlike these people who fought based on instinct.

Relatively speaking, Huangfu Mingzhe was more formidable. Seeing that he was about to win, the worldly-wise Wu Mingbai gave a heavy cough as a reminder.

Fortunately, Huangfu Mingzhe understood his hint, voluntarily stopped, and settled for a draw.

After successfully demonstrating their strength, the underground people’s attitude towards them became much warmer. They prepared several four-person rooms and promised to take them to the cave entrance where they fell in tomorrow, to see if they could return directly.

Everything was unbelievably smooth. Regardless of how others felt, Su Bei was on high alert. He didn’t believe these people would let them leave so easily. Putting himself in their shoes, he wouldn’t let outsiders just walk away. After all, they didn’t know what was happening on the surface; what if they invited a wolf into their home only to release a tiger back into the mountains?

Moreover, the underground people’s reaction after realizing their strength wasn’t weak was also strange. Why would the strong abilities of outsiders make them happy? Shouldn’t they feel panic or caution instead?

Jiang Tianming shared the same thoughts as Su Bei. After the underground people left, he paced back and forth in the room: “I feel their attitude towards us is a bit strange. While we’re not too tired, let’s gather some information now. Also, if possible, we should try to find the original cave entrance ourselves first, what do you all think?”

No one else had objections, but before they could leave, Lan Subing suddenly noticed a problem: “Where are Cyril and Li Xiang?”

“Cyril and Li Xiang just said they wanted to walk around and left directly,” Qiao Mu replied. She was the first to notice the two leaving, so she specifically asked about it.

Everyone ignored those two; they weren’t on the same team anyway. After discussing, everyone left the rooms assigned to them in pairs or trios.

Su Bei, Si Zhaohua, and Wu Jin walked together. Led by Su Bei, the three of them went directly to the neighboring tribe. The others wanted to find the way out, while Su Bei wanted to find clues.

He had seen Caige walk in this direction earlier. Since they didn’t speak the underground world’s language, they had to find Caige to pump for information. Fortunately, the clan leader hadn’t restricted their freedom, so they could move around freely.

Of course, he didn’t restrict them because he trusted them, but because he trusted his own clan members. Jiang Tianming and the others were absolute anomalies in terms of both identity and appearance; it was impossible for any normal underground person to protect them after they did something.

Along the way, Su Bei curiously asked Wu Jin beside him: “Do you think your face can still have its intended effect here?”

Clearly, the underground world’s aesthetic was completely different from the surface world. For instance, they had just been criticized because Lan Subing’s skin looked soft and delicate, which was a good thing on the surface.

Si Zhaohua also showed a curious expression. To be honest, when he saw Wu Jin’s face during the competition two days ago, he was momentarily taken aback. He never expected his ordinarily unremarkable connection-based classmate to possess such an exquisite face, and his ability wasn’t what they knew, but rather the extremely rare Succubus.

Si Zhaohua, being knowledgeable, knew a little about this ability and understood that Wu Jin could charm others purely with his face, even without using his ability. But as Su Bei said, in a situation with completely different aesthetics, would his ability still work?

“It should have an effect.” Wu Jin nodded hesitantly. “I have the passive effects of the Succubus ability. My… face is recognized as beautiful by all species.”

Upon hearing this, Su Bei immediately felt relieved: “Then you’ll be the one to pump for information later!”

Wu Jin: “…”

It was only now that he realized what Su Bei meant. He pursed his lips, somewhat unwilling, and said with difficulty: “I don’t want to… seduce them. It would make me feel… a bit ashamed.”

Hearing this, Su Bei immediately showed a complicated expression. It was just that Wu Jin had too high a moral bottom line; if it were him, he would never have such a thought. But he also knew this was Wu Jin’s hang-up, and it would be hard to resolve with just a few words. Moreover, Su Bei wasn’t the type to be an empathic listener, so he wouldn’t bother trying to reason with him.

He looked at Si Zhaohua, signaling him to speak. However, Si Zhaohua also didn’t know what to say; this young master rarely had the chance to comfort others. After a moment of hesitation, he tentatively asked: “I’ll give you a hundred thousand yuan if you help us get some information?”

Although he felt this might not comfort the other party much, it was indeed the best way he could think of to comfort him. Despite being wealthy himself, Si Zhaohua knew very well that for most people, money was the best medicine.

Su Bei: “…”

Wu Jin: “…”

Honestly, Su Bei was genuinely tempted by the prospect of a hundred thousand yuan just for pumping for information. But Wu Jin clearly wasn’t; he was amused for a moment, but his eyes still didn’t show complete willingness.

Left with no choice, Su Bei had to step in. He chose a simple and crude redefinition: “Your ability is Succubus. Your act of pumping for information with your face is using your ability’s passive effect. It’s like Huangfu Mingzhe’s ability is Five-clawed Golden Dragon; when he uses the powerful body his ability gives him to fight others, that’s also using his ability’s passive effect. You can’t say he’s cheating and that competing with the clan leader is shameless, can you?”

“Is… that so?” A look of doubt clearly flashed across Wu Jin’s face, but seeing Su Bei’s firm expression, he became dazed again. He knew Su Bei was talking nonsense, but because he couldn’t refute it, he felt there was some truth to it.

Fine, he never had a way with Su Bei anyway. Wu Jin finally chose to compromise, sighed, and asked: “What do you want me to ask?”

“Ask them about their knowledge of the surface world.” Su Bei wasn’t actually sure where the problem truly lay, so he could only give a general scope. “Also, express some willingness for us to stay here and live long-term.”

Asking the first question was to see if they truly had no knowledge of the surface world. If they had no knowledge, being so trusting of these outsiders was strange. If they had knowledge but lied earlier, that would be even stranger.

As for the second request, it was to test their true intentions. If those people were happy when Wu Jin expressed their desire to stay, it would prove that they also didn’t want them to return to the surface, and their promise to help them find the exit tomorrow was likely a lie. If they were unhappy, then they’d have to figure out why.

As for his previous thoughts that these underground humans might be related to Night Beasts or longevity, Su Bei temporarily decided not to ask. Compared to the Black Flash Organization’s conspiracy, he was more concerned with whether he could leave this cursed place quickly.

“Are you not giving me enough credit?” Wu Jin smiled wryly, pointing at himself and complaining in a low voice, “How would I know how to pump for information? I usually say very little.”

Because of his face, he had disliked interacting with others since childhood, let alone being a social butterfly like Su Bei or Zhao Xiaoyu. Even after revealing his face, his confidence would greatly increase, but it was still far from being eloquent.

Su Bei naturally thought of this and reassured him: “Si Zhaohua and I will handle the other conversations; you just need to ask the key questions at crucial moments.”