By now, Fanta had stopped pretending to be friendly, his face filled with a sickly expression and brimming with malice, while Elder Kevin was smiling sinisterly, looking at him as if he were a wild beast in a cage.
“You are ruthless, actually using the Level 4 Meditation Method as bait,” Locke watched everything, cursing inwardly that they were not normal people.
“Cut the crap and hurry up,” Elder Kevin snapped.
Such a scolding attitude made Locke even angrier, his teeth itching with irritation,
He made a mental note of it for now; he’d sort things out later, after he found Randall, and ideally before the boss arrived to resolve the situation.
Before long, the trio returned to the office they had been in previously.
“Remember, you can’t leave the Black God Abyss anymore, and neither can your silkworms. It’s best not to try any tricks, or you’ll regret it,” Kevin warned in a low tone, then instructed, “Take him down to where the lower-class Insect Masters belong.”
“What are you standing around for, come on,” Fanta urged impatiently.
So arrogant, aren’t you afraid I’ll slap you to death?
Locke was speechless, but after a few minutes of adjustment, he had come to accept it; it was pointless to argue with lunatics.
Afterward, Fanta led him to the abode of the low-class Insect Masters.
A crude cave, dark and damp, bred many pests, but its only advantage was that the concentration of energy particles was not low, which was also beneficial for raising insects and cultivating the Black Beard Chapter.
After Fanta left, the Silkworm Queen’s massive body shook, and all kinds of vermin scattered in a hurry, scampering out of sight.
“Why do you think they didn’t wait a second before turning on us, especially that Fanta? Aren’t they afraid of pushing us into staging a massive uprising?” Locke asked through transmitted voice, puzzled over this matter.
To be honest, he was confident that he could crush Fanta into a pulp before receiving any severe punishment.
“Could it be they think you’ve been completely controlled by the forced contract, having lost any ability to resist? In reality, though, that’s not the case; you still have a slim chance of fighting desperately,” the Silkworm Queen analyzed a possibility.
“Uh— that could indeed be possible,” Locke thought and couldn’t help but feel somewhat amused and frustrated.
First, he wasn’t a sorcerer, and second, his situation was quite special; he hadn’t fully cultivated the Black Beard Chapter, and the forced contract was clearly mediated through the Black Beard Chapter, which meant the contract’s effectiveness was somewhat reduced.
“Silkworm Queen, how do you feel?”
“I’m as constrained as you, but we need to test to know for sure,”
“No matter what, we’ve got the complete version of the Black Beard Chapter for the boss; this time it was worth it.”
“Mmm-hmm, in the worst case, we wait for rescue. This place definitely can’t stop Jenny,” the Silkworm Queen agreed.
Locke, feeling a bit irked, didn’t refute the Silkworm Queen’s words, knowing that woman’s strength was extraordinary and unaffected by the surrounding special environment.
Without a doubt, something big was hidden deep in the Black God Abyss, changing the entire environment, enveloped in a special field that suppressed any creature tainted with the air of the Black Beard Chapter, whether human or insect.
Therefore, it was clear that Ivan would also be affected upon arrival, far less conveniently than Jenny.
After a brief test, they discovered that their communication was severely disrupted.
The next day, Locke tried to leave his dwelling, aiming to look around in other areas but found two people guarding the outside — two unfamiliar Level 1 Sorcerers, both dressed in black robes and headscarves, wrapped up tightly.
“We’re all colleagues from the Black God Society; what’s the meaning of this?” Locke asked, his gaze unfriendly.
“We are intermediate Insect Masters, and we’ve been ordered to keep you here for the time being,” one of them replied coldly, with a hint of condescension.
“What are intermediate Insect Masters? What are lower-class Insect Masters?” Locke, not bothering with the pleasantries, took the opportunity to ask.
You’ll find out soon enough.” The man clearly didn’t wish to elaborate.
Locke felt helpless; it was still not appropriate to fight back fiercely, so he decided to wait a bit longer.
A few hours later, Fanta appeared again, warned him to properly cultivate the complete Black Beard Chapter, adapt to the environment of the Black God Society, and said that after some time, they would arrange for him to meet Randall.
For Locke, these words were like a calming pill, and he agreed to them.
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Days passed, and Locke casually pondered over the Black Beard Chapter. As for cultivation, he knew he simply wasn’t cut out for it; his pondering was merely to understand the Black God Society better.
During this time, he played quite a few tricks, including sending other rapid wood silkworms to escape, all of which vanished without a trace.
This led to multiple warnings from the people of the Black God Society.
Realizing it was futile to resist, Locke settled down quite a bit and quietly awaited the right moment.
“Low-level Insect Master Ivan, you may come out now. Don’t you want to see Randall?” Early one day, Fanta’s voice echoed.
“At least you have some credibility,” Locke said, flashing out of his humble dwelling. It had been about twenty days since he moved into the spartan cave, and this was the first time he had been allowed outside, which was nearly driving him mad.
“Mind your language!”
“Yes, yes, yes.”
Seeing him still somewhat defiant, Fanta was displeased.
Thinking of the urgency, Fanta didn’t bother to take him to task.
At the edge of the cliff, the two boarded a flying insect beast and delved deeper along the Black God Abyss, turning three corners before reaching the mountain wall at the very end of the Abyss.
There was a plaza here, only about a meter taller than the range of the black mist.
At this time, the plaza was steaming with moisture, making the stones below exceptionally smooth. Many figures were sitting on the stones, with quite a few looking odd and out of place.
“A sacrifice to the Evil God?”
Following Fanta to the plaza, Locke was immediately attracted to a statue on the mountain wall.
It depicted a creature with a round body and a pair of broad wings, its body and wings covered with black beard-like appendages, and densely packed spikes on the beards that made one’s scalp tingle slightly.
Below the creature were many tentacles.
Locke found these black tentacles somewhat familiar; weren’t they the same ones he had seen during his inheritance visions? He thought this might be an Evil God from an alien world.
If so, the Black God Society was really audacious.
Such actions were absolutely not permitted in the domain of sorcerers; otherwise, there would be no need for the Abnormal Creature Monitoring Investigation Institute.
“Look quickly, Randall is there,” the Silkworm Queen’s telepathic message interrupted his thoughts.
“Where?” Following the direction the Silkworm Queen indicated, he caught sight of a hulking figure heavily affected by insectification.
Locke approached and realized that Randall had drastically changed; all his hair had mutated into insect-like whiskers, and his face, neck, and hands were covered in chitinous insect patterns, making it difficult to discern whether he was human or insect.
His aura was also different from before, and only because the Silkworm Queen was quite familiar with Randall could she easily identify him.
“Hey, Randall, open your eyes and look—your disciple Ivan is here,” Fanta jested with a smile, also moving closer by his side.
“Ivan?” Hearing the voice, Randall finally opened his tightly shut eyes.
What kind of eyes were these? His eyeballs had mutated, one turning into three, the beads connected, looking nothing like human eyes.
His voice carried a metallic friction, becoming distinct from human speech.
In addition to that, his expression was dull, and he seemed somewhat mentally unclear; this was not the state a sorcerer should be in.