Edge of Midnight City, old sewer branch, shack hotel.
The figures in teaching uniforms quietly ate the food they had brought. The little girl who poked her head in from outside told them to stop.
A few pairs of eyes under the hood fell on the little girl. She waited for a while, but then left the door when she saw that she couldn't attract any business.
After finishing their food in silence, they paid for the room and left the shack hotel.
The shimmering light emitted by the fluorite blocks on the roof of the cave is not as bright as the torches and oil lamps in the shops. The sign with the name of the shop written on the alchemy slate blooms with colorful luminous runes, which can be clearly seen even from hundreds of meters away.
The sturdy figure following his companion suddenly paused briefly and looked towards the street not far away.
He saw the little girl selling flowers everywhere again. She seemed to have hit a wall again, and there seemed to be no missing flowers in the flower basket with her thin arms.
A thin girl without any malice or pollution is incompatible with the environment of the old sewer, and seems to be swallowed by the strange things coming and going at any time.
The figure left the group of companions, squatted in front of the little girl, took out a few crumpled shillings from the back pocket of the teaching uniform and stuffed them into the little girl's hands.
"It's time for us to set off."
A companion called from behind.
"Find a way to get to the ground, not here."
The figure rubbed the little girl's head, took the swaying purple flowers from her, stood up and returned to her companions, walking towards the lively underground streets in the distance.
…
Midnight City Terminal.
The bustling main streets seem no different from the city on the ground.
In addition to the wonderful and weird products in the store.
Lu Li and the others arrived a little later than expected. Due to the lack of insect tunnels, all the worms around Dark Star City had been plundered, and the vacant insect tunnels were quickly occupied by wandering groups.
"Sir, please buy a flower."
A dirty, thin little human girl approached Lu Li and the others.
"How much does one cost?"
"Just three shillings sir."
Lu Li gave the little girl 3 shillings, but did not take the flowers from the little girl and led the believers to avoid her.
"Weird...also...buying flowers?"
Ophelia looked back frequently. The little girl went to sell flowers to other passers-by.
"There are more humans and aliens in the Midnight City Terminal than in other old sewers." Lu Li stepped forward.
"They're better at cheating."
"Easy to lie...?"
"Flowers are weird, I've seen this scam before."
As a resident of the old sewer, Pusius has the right to speak and expose the little girl's flower-selling illusion: "Strange flowers use this method to spread pollen or parasitize. I guess it is the latter. The little girl is parasitized or the strange flower itself.
"
There's no way a real little girl could survive alone in the messy old sewers.
"Didn't the old sewer... have... rules?"
Ophelia's recollection of the little girl's numb expression and behavior is indeed strange, but does the Midnight City Main Station allow weirdness to feed here?
"Miss Ophelia, you can treat it as an unspoken rule that you will be fine without being discovered... The old sewer rules have very low binding force and are definitely incomparable to human cities. Idiots and weaklings have no right to survive here..."
Pusius said with emotion and the pain of not wanting to remember.
He is not a fool, but a complete weakling. He is the only one alive among the Boy Scouts around the city. If it weren't for Lu Li, he would have become the food of a certain monster like his former partners.
…
tick tick tick
Squeezing into the dimly lit dark alley, blood dripped along the fingertips.
Chi
The struck match burst into smoke and light, swaying into the oil lamp.
The dim light that lit up gradually revealed the surroundings.
Captain Hoggart continued to peel off the ends of the veins clinging to the muscular figure's bloody chest.
A string of purple-red veins like tree roots were lost in the mud at his feet.
"Servant, be a torch."
Captain Hoggart didn't even look back, dug out the last root buried in the flesh, and took the torch from the retinue.
"Be patient."
The torch was so close to his chest that it felt like it had been plowed, and the suppressed groan and the smell of barbecue overflowed at the same time.
Ten seconds later, Captain Hoggart took out the torch, wrapped gauze around his chest, and sprinkled a potion to mask the smell of blood.
With trembling rough and broad hands, he grabbed the teaching uniform and put it on, and walked out of the alley like a wall-like silhouette in the firelight.
Knight Vino stopped: "Maester Lanna died because of my mistake."
"So we must learn lessons. Remember, nothing here deserves sympathy."
Captain Hoggart whispered seriously: "This is very paranoid, but don't forget the mission assigned to us by the Bishop. For the glory of mankind."
"...for the glory of mankind."
…
The spider guide no longer needs to follow them.
The rescued worms should have recovered from their injuries and left. There is no need to worry about the spider guide betraying them when he returns.
But there is a high probability that the spider guide will not go back.
Because there are more opportunities at the Midnight City Terminal, because you may die on the way back, and because this sect is not as difficult to contact as you imagined and even treats it quite preferentially.
Spider-Man hopes to follow Lu Li again, whether doing things or serving them.
The word "serve" makes Ophelia sensitive, but they do need someone reasonably smart to run the errands.
Bishop Jon rented a hotel and asked the spiderman guide to investigate outside. Not long after, the spiderman showed up with a local guide.
"I heard there was an auction of old sewers recently." Lu Li asked.
"Can you be more specific?"
The three-eyed alien guide is more proficient in human language than the spider man, and he lies on the ground flatteringly: "The auctions at Midnight City Station are held every day."
"A deep treasure auction." Lu Li recounted what the Tentacle Cultist had conveyed.
"Deep...please give me some time!"
The three-eyed guide who left came back three hours later. One of his arms was tragically broken and one of his eyes was gouged out.
However, it brought back news from Lu Li: the auction of weird and rare treasures will be held on the seventh floor tomorrow night.
The three-eyed guide paid a heavy price for investigating the intelligence. It humbly prayed to Lu Li to pay the reward as agreed, or to make him a believer.
Lu Li did not expand the team of companions, but only paid it a high pension that made the spider-man jealous.
"My kind and compassionate lord, if I break one of my legs..." the eight-legged spider-man flattered him, but was driven away from Lu Li by Bishop Jon.
After learning that the three-eyed guide's injury had nothing to do with inquiring about the auction and was just a normal "unwritten rule of the old sewers," Lu Li and the others left the hotel and headed for the spiral hall that led to the depths.
The spiral staircase spirals down along the edge of the abyss-like cave, with the center being bottomless.
Except for the various hidden lines leading to the deeper levels, the Spiral Hall is the passage from the bright side of the Midnight City Terminal to the deeper levels.
This means it is safer.
At least from the Spiral Hall to the seventh floor, except for the fact that there are fewer and fewer humanoid silhouettes around and more and more abhorrent weirdos, there is no trouble finding them.
