“Calm down, that was just a nightmare!”
The nearby Minecart rebuked.
The Damaged Pickaxe, now just a wooden handle, finally came to its senses, but its body still trembled uncontrollably.
Its appearance reminded Li Andy of the troubled nuns trapped in the shadows at West Suburb Church.
Only after the Damaged Pickaxe calmed down did the Minecart continue:
“These people are from the church; they want to ask you about that monster.”
The Damaged Pickaxe slowly rose, as if scanning with its gaze, but when its “eyes” landed on Youxi, it shrieked again:
“You… you! Monster! Ahhh! The monster is already here!”
Yuquan Youxi frowned slightly.
The Rusty Pickaxe beside them sighed, saying helplessly:
“I told you, he’s crazy.”
Li Andy thought for a moment, then pulled out his pistol and aimed it at the Damaged Pickaxe.
Everyone else was terrified!
“W-what do you want to do?!” The Damaged Pickaxe seemed to clear up a bit.
“Bang!”
Li Andy pulled the trigger, and the bullet embedded itself in the ground, startling everyone.
“Heh heh, buddy, are you awake now?” The revolver in his hand asked arrogantly.
“Aw… awake!” The Damaged Pickaxe trembled like a vibrator.
“Good, then… I ask, you answer.”
Li Andy nodded, slowly crouching down, looking less like a priest and more like a mob godfather.
“You saw that monster?”
“Sa… saw it!”
“What did it look like?”
“Can’t see clearly, I can’t see clearly!”
The Damaged Pickaxe became agitated again, “It was covered in black mist, and everyone it touched died! Their bodies became shriveled, like rotten wood! I broke my arm when a rock fell on me and passed out, which is how I luckily survived! Woo woo… my arm, monster… monster!”
The Damaged Pickaxe went mad again, rolling and spinning on the ground, looking both comical and a bit eerie.
“Uh… Sir, could you please pause for a moment? His condition doesn’t look too good.” The Minecart beside him said with a snort.
Li Andy exhaled softly and slowly stood up.
Just then, a younger-sounding pickaxe ran over in terror:
“This is bad! Captain Alu! Ajiel fainted, and his body… his body somehow became so shriveled!”
Everyone froze, turning their heads.
At the edge of the firelight not far away, a pickaxe was twisting in agony, its iron head covered in rust, its wooden handle withering and rotting at an alarming speed, and a shrill scream echoed through the cave.
“Ha, it’s here! It’s here! Hahahaha… we’re doomed! Hahahaha!” The Damaged Pickaxe was completely insane.
A chill ran down everyone’s spines.
Suddenly, Youxi felt something pressing against her back.
She wanted to call for help, but her body… couldn't move.
“Bro…”
Sophia, standing nearby, noticed the anomaly: a strange figure was standing behind Youxi.
“Youxi!”
Her body moved before her mind, and she lunged at Youxi.
The figure tilted its head and angrily clawed at Sophia.
Sophia’s arm was accidentally touched by the black mist, and the nearby skin turned black as if poisoned.
“Sophia!” Youxi had the Specter Nun attack the shadow, but it touched nothing.
“Bang! Bang!”
Li Andy’s bullets cut through the air, and the flames from his gun barrel allowed him to briefly see the strange shadow.
It had a human form, but its limbs were abnormally long, and its body emitted unsettling black mist.
The Specter Nun and bullets were ineffective against it?
Li Andy frowned, then suddenly raised his lantern high.
The monster actually retreated a few steps, disappearing into the darkness, seemingly disliking light.
“Ah ah ah ah!”
Another scream rang out, from the crazed pickaxe.
It screamed and rolled, its wooden handle constantly shedding splinters.
In a daze, Li Andy seemed to see a man writhing in pain as his skin constantly ulcerated and peeled off.
“Ah ah ah!”
Another scream echoed from a different direction; another pickaxe was exhibiting the same symptoms.
As one person after another fell.
Fear spread like a disease.
Despair crept into everyone’s hearts.
“Mother God above, save me!”
“Run!”
Two pickaxes, unable to bear the fear, screamed and rushed out of the firelight, but before they had taken two steps, they collapsed into the mud due to their limbs decaying.
“Calm down! It’s afraid of light!”
Li Andy held the lantern high above his head.
In just a few tens of seconds, only the Rusty Pickaxe, Alu, and Meilin remained among the survivors.
Youxi took advantage of this brief calm to quickly treat Sophia’s wound.
“Ugh!”
After the wound was doused with holy water, the black mist on her arm stopped spreading, but the skin around her elbow became like a dry riverbed; with a light touch, red blood oozed from the cracks, and Sophia couldn’t help but groan in pain.
“Wh-what should we do?”
Meilin’s expression was panicked; she copied Li Andy, holding the only two gas lamps high, slightly expanding the illuminated area. But the flickering flame of the old gas lamp made the edge of the darkness look even more terrifying, like a constantly writhing swarm of rats.
Li Andy’s expression was grim; he ensured the light perfectly covered his sister and himself, warily watching their surroundings.
How strange…
That monster felt very strange to him!
It had no physical form, but it wasn’t like a specter; there wasn't a single spiritual fluctuation.
“Ugh ah!!”
At this moment, the Rusty Pickaxe suddenly groaned in pain, and its body began to rot and peel.
Li Andy was horrified.
What’s going on?!
It can attack people within the light?!
No, that’s not right, the pickaxe was too small, and Meilin’s shadow blocked the light!
“Uncle A-Lu!”
Meilin tried to bend down to help, but her hurried movement caused the flame of the old gas lamp to suddenly extinguish, and darkness instantly enveloped her.
Li Andy saw in the fading light… the girl’s terrified face, her skin peeling off in chunks, revealing the white jawbone underneath.
“Ah—!!”
The scream shot straight to his brain, and Li Andy felt a wave of dizziness.
But the next second, the world became suddenly silent.
Looking closely, everything around them seemed to have disappeared.
The pickaxes, the minecarts, Meilin, nothing was left; only the three of them, the outsiders who had stumbled in.
“Brother, what happened?”
Youxi, holding the pained Sophia, looked around nervously.
Li Andy scanned the area, and after observing the surrounding structure, he suddenly felt a chill:
“We… seem to have returned to where we first arrived.”
“This is where we first arrived? But… the mark I left is gone!” Sophia’s forehead was sweating, and the throbbing pain in her elbow made her extremely uncomfortable, like a scalding burn.
“The mark disappeared…”
Li Andy paused, then suddenly crouched down, cupping Sophia’s face as he asked:
“Do you remember how you met Meilin?”
Sophia was a bit confused but honestly replied:
“I was on lookout outside and heard some noise, then I secretly went out to look and found Meilin with a lantern.”
“So, before that, did you hear a sound once already? And because you weren’t sure, you didn’t go to check the first time?” Li Andy continued to ask.
“Huh, how did you know?” Sophia was stunned.
“It really is…”
The disappearing scratches, that strange feeling…
Li Andy swallowed, saying:
“This layer of ‘Domain’ we’re in right now, perhaps… is a ‘Cycle Domain’.”