Deep, oppressive. The darkness squeezed the space ever tighter, while heartbeats swelled in their chests, as though eager to burst through the ribcage to breathe the turbid air.
The party from the Funeral Agency descended along the abandoned staircase, stepping deeper into the subterranean abyss one stride at a time, looking like a flock of Lalafells voluntarily strolling into an ogre's maw.
Each of them turned on the shoulder-mounted illumination lamp of their protective suits—even Lisi, who was clinging to Yaxiu's back, was no exception. Yet the beams of light they cast could not pierce the blockade of darkness at all. Visibility was less than five paces, and the darkness beyond those five paces seemed as thick and active as jelly.
"Ah!"
Startled, everyone whipped around to look back at Yaxiu and Lisi. Lisi stammered, "J-Just now, some wind blew into my clothes and tickled my neck..."
Lisi was only a child, after all, and the environment here was harrowing enough to test even an adult's bladder control. It was completely natural for her to jump at shadows. No one could fault her; they simply offered a few half-hearted words of comfort and continued downward.
Before long, however, another bloodcurdling screech rang out.
"Ahhh!"
Everyone scattered at lightning speed. Igola glared at the screaming Yaxiu and demanded, "What happened to you?"
"M-M-My back..."
Yaxiu trembled all over, every word quivering so hard it seemed to leave afterimages. "M-My back is so heavy! Check for me, quick! Is... is there a corpse riding on my back?!"
The tense atmosphere evaporated in an instant. Annan turned the Second Miss back into an earring, Banjie lowered his Twin Frostcurse Guns, and Harvey, with the coffin strapped to his back, spread his hands and said, "Yaxiu, there is no such wonderful thing in this world as a corpse climbing onto your back. At the very least, you would have to prepare a coffin for them first."
"Daddy!" Lisi choked Yaxiu's neck with all her might, fuming, "It's me behind you! And Lisi isn't heavy at all! Stinky Daddy!"
"Let go, let go, I'm dying, I'm dying..."
Igola remarked nonchalantly, "I didn't expect you to have learned how to use sarcastic innuendo, Yaxiu. I'll give you a ninety out of a hundred this time. Speaking of which, Lisi, do you still need Yaxiu to carry you?"
Earlier in the car, Lisi had clung relentlessly to Yaxiu. And because the paths in the Forest Park were in terrible condition, letting Lisi walk on her own would have severely slowed the group down, so she had pestered Yaxiu into carrying her.
Lisi's eyes darted around. "It's so dark here, and I'm so small. What if you guys turn around and I get lost? So it's better if Daddy keeps carrying me."
Igola chuckled. "Oh? There's a good thing like you getting lost?"
Yaxiu slapped Lisi's bottom hard before she finally loosened her grip. Panting, he said, "Then let Aunt Bogin carry you. Your Aunt Bogin has soft skin, a supple body, and even smells nice. It'd definitely be way more comfortable having him carry you. Or if worse comes to worst, a mature, gorgeous beauty like the Eldest Miss works too. At best, I should only be your third choice, right?"
Annan cast Yaxiu a peculiar look. "Why am I only the second choice? Is Igola really that much better than me?"
"Eldest Miss, we ordinary humans shouldn't try to compete with a Veela."
"I will say this once more: the Veela race has only ever consisted of females! I merely possess a tiny bit of Veela blood!" Igola retorted through gritted teeth. But then he glanced at Lisi, a gentle and tender smile suddenly curling onto his lips, and he spread his arms. "Fine, then. Since you're begging me so earnestly, Yaxiu, let me carry Lisi."
The moment Lisi saw that smile on Igola's face, goosebumps erupted across her entire body, and a chill shot straight to the crown of her head.
The malice beneath that smile was so blatant that the little Witch felt as though every strand of the Swindler's hair was bristling at an angle that screamed he wanted to strangle her to death. Instantly, she clung to Yaxiu like a facehugger, refusing to let go. "No, no, no, no! I-I-I only want Daddy!"
This was no joke. As the sister most adept at discerning good and evil in people's hearts, the little Witch had a powerful premonition—if she fell into Aunt Bogin's clutches, he really would look for an opportunity to do her in!
In fact, she wouldn't even need to fall into his hands. As long as she acted alone, he would definitely find a way to abandon her!
Only by clinging to Daddy could she guarantee a slim chance of survival!
"Um," Harvey raised a hand and offered a very heartwarming suggestion, "there's still a bit of room in the coffin. Alice wouldn't mind squeezing in with Lisi."
Amidst all this banter and jesting, the Funeral Agency smoothly reached the end of the passage. What greeted their eyes was neither a blood-spattered monster's den strewn with corpses, nor a Harvey-delighting paradise of thousands of graves. If they had to describe it, it looked more like a park plaza that had fallen into disrepair over the years.
And a bustling park plaza at that.
A little girl was on a slide; several children were chasing and frolicking about; a handsome, dashing man strolled with his chest puffed out and head held high; a beautiful, quiet maiden sat on a bench reading a book; a cute boy fond of gunplay was dismantling a handgun; a diligent, earnest swordswoman was practicing her swings... Even more were indolent beauties lounging idly on the lawn. Though it was a space dozens of meters below ground, it staged an aura of bright sunshine and peaceful years.
Yaxiu was suddenly reminded of a saying: *As long as you have the ocean in your heart, everywhere is a beach.*
That phrase fit the scene remarkably well—even though sunlight could not penetrate dozens of meters of earth, these "people" were actually luminous themselves, bodily lighting up the entire subterranean expanse as bright as day.
"These are..." Igola murmured.
"These are the mermaid fish-mint," Annan said, pointing at the lifelike, glowing human figures throughout the street. "The cat grass smoke Harvey smokes is extracted from them."
"Eldest Miss," Harvey tapped his mask, "I'm wearing a mask right now and can't smoke. Please don't tempt me with such talk."
Even the knowledgeable Purple Moth was momentarily choked speechless by the necromancer's reaction. She suddenly realized that in this era, an ultimate evolved life-form capable of keeping pace with Harvey's aesthetic tastes simply did not exist.
Yaxiu walked up to the "young woman" closest to them and scrutinized her. Looking closely, one could indeed see the texture of plant fibers showing through the "maiden's" skin, which only made it all the more terrifying—every smile, every frown, every subtle movement of the "maiden" was so authentic and natural. It wasn't at all like the vague, forced resemblance of a ginseng fruit; rather, it felt as though an actual young woman had literally been turned into a vegetal human, sending a shiver down one's spine.
Yaxiu even had the hallucination that the "maiden" was about to come alive and strangle him by the throat, clutching his windpipe so tightly he could barely breathe...
"Stop strangling my neck every time you get scared!" Yaxiu swatted backward. The little back-spirit shuddered. "I'm really scared too!"
However, Harvey, who had seemed brimming with enthusiasm just a moment ago, pulled a long face after observing for a while. He reached out and slapped the "beauty" closest to him, reducing it into a pile of grass leaves.
"Ugh," he said in disgust. "Utterly repulsive."
Hearing such an exclamation from the mouth of a necromancer was truly a novel experience. Yaxiu couldn't resist asking, "Harvey, you're actually a picky eater?"
Igola gazed out into the distance at the plaza, which seemed to stretch on without end. The bustling yet dead-silent crowd of "people" sent a chill through the Swindler's heart.
"The Six Emblems turn their deceased kin into mermaid fish-mint?" Though framed as a question, Igola spoke in a declarative tone.
"Now I'm quite curious about your opinion of this place, Mr. Harvey," Annan said. "I only know the general circumstances of this farm, not the specific details. I thought you would like it here very much, Mr. Harvey; your current reaction is genuinely somewhat unexpected."
"This is a sinful place that insults life, desecrates corpses, and twists souls," Harvey said, enunciating each word.
Hearing Harvey spout such righteous nonsense, Yaxiu and Igola couldn't help but exchange a glance, their expressions turning grave.
Yaxiu spoke up abruptly, "My dream is to create a Substitute miracle that will provide for and support me. My top three most hated nouns are work, society, and exercise."
Igola said, "I like stupid people and despise smart ones. My dream is to go on travels and adventures after amassing endless wealth."
Lisi joined in the commotion as well: "I like Daddy and the big sisters who are nice to me. I hate bad guys who are mean to me. My dream is to grow up quickly."
Annan cast them a strange look, unable to fathom why they had suddenly launched into self-introductions. Banjie, on the other hand, realized what was happening and couldn't help but burst into a chuckle.
"Mm, it seems our mental states are completely normal, and our personalities haven't undergone any drastic shifts," Yaxiu mused. "In other words, does the mental attack here only target the person with the darkest skin...?"
Igola replied, "I think it targets the person with the most abnormal aesthetic sense. With Harvey taking the fall, Yaxiu, consider yourself lucky this time."
Lisi, possessing a slightly less vicious tongue, offered the most plausible hypothesis: "Could it just be that Uncle Harvey's brain got fried from smoking too much?"
Chapter 359