Breaching the Stomach

Furious, Willow reached out and struck it with two hard slaps across the face—wearing gloves, naturally. The ferry whelp wailed and thrashed, but Willow showed no mercy, beating it until blood trickled from its mouth and nose and its face swelled up like a bee sting. While she disciplined the little monster, He Lingchuan said to Door Plank, "I chopped off half its leg earlier, and after just this short while, it's completely healed." Without so much as a scar, no less. "This underground palace has too powerful a regenerative effect on it," Door Plank agreed. "We might as well kill it to prevent further trouble down the line." "Haven't you noticed this stomach sac is churning faster?" He Lingchuan pointed at the ghost whelp. "The louder this thing screams, the more agitated the cavern—no, the 'mother'—becomes." "You mean this underground palace has emotions?" Door Plank stared, dumbfounded. "This mission is way too difficult. They really shouldn't have assigned it to us patrolmen." Unless they raised the pay. The patrolmen's usual duties were merely fighting monsters and patrolling the plateau. This was the first time he had ever encountered such a bizarre subterranean maze. He Lingchuan hesitated, then changed tack: "There might be two ways out. First, kill the most powerful ferry whelp; once its sorcery dissipates, the palace might vanish as well. Second... make this 'stomach sac' vomit us out." Everyone shuddered involuntarily. Willow pointed at the wounded man and cried, "Vomit us out? Even if that works, will we end up like this guy?" Everyone here had experienced crouching by a wall after drinking too much, well aware that what came up was not just food, but gastric juice and bile. If they got out that way, wouldn't they be slathered in it from head to toe? He Lingchuan spread his hands. What did he have to fear? He had died four or five times already; would a little acid scare him? Yes, he was just that kind of irresponsible squad leader. Naturally, no one would choose that route before reaching total despair. Door Plank coughed. "I wonder how the other two squads are doing." "At least one failed its objective, and the strongest whelp is still alive." This underground palace might very well be its handiwork. He Lingchuan said, "Its abilities will be a whole cut above the other premature ones. Be prepared." With that, he walked over and swung his blade, cleaving the monster into three large pieces from head to tail. Without Fusheng's edge even flashing, the cut was already done, giving the patrolman holding the little demon quite a fright. He Lingchuan had already witnessed how versatile these ghost whelps were. Fearing it might survive even after losing its head, he simply severed it into several pieces to thoroughly snuff out its life force. Since they had to prepare to deal with the final boss, keeping this nuisance around was useless. The blade moved with deft agility; before the green blood could even seep from the wounds, He Lingchuan sheathed it and gently kicked the corpse over. Seeing what was happening, everyone dodged out of the way, only to watch the flesh and blood that hit the ground slowly wither away, soon revealing bare white bone. After a dozen more breaths, the white bones dissolved into nothingness as well, leaving behind not a single scrap of residue. If the wounded patrolman were not still lying there, it would be as though this ghost whelp had never existed. Even Skinny found this place thoroughly disgusting. "It got absorbed?" Willow murmured, "This is the stomach, after all." Now that the ghost whelp was dead, the mother absorbed it back. From where it came, thither it returned, completing a full cycle. Yet He Lingchuan and the others knew the danger this implied. If it would drain even the very last drop of nourishment from its own kin, how savage must this final boss be? Seizing what little time they had, Willow bandaged the wounded man's hands and thrust his weapon into his grip. "Success or failure rests on this one battle." Otherwise, none of them would make it out alive. Relying on the other squads was completely out of the question now. He Lingchuan and the others made a few preparations, then took a deep breath. He turned to Door Plank and said, "Do it!" Door Plank nodded, stepped to the edge of the alcove, raised his heavy greataxe, and chopped into the rock wall with all his might. Once, twice, thrice... The entire cavern trembled violently again, in agony and fury, yet utterly powerless against these parasite-like little mortals. Vines and stone walls were shattered, blood gushing like a fountain and cascading down into the pool below. As the two liquids mixed, a continuous hissing erupted, kicking up billowing plumes of white mist that sent a foul stench rushing into their nostrils. Door Plank did not stop, swinging his axe with broad, sweeping strokes. He was determined to gouge out a gastric perforation. This underground palace was the ferry whelps' lair, bound to them by blood. Therefore, causing the palace to bleed and suffer injury was largely equivalent to weakening the ghost whelps, continuously draining their strength. If the monster was truly as ferocious as they imagined, it would never tolerate this. The acidic mist grew thicker and thicker. He Lingchuan and the others covered their mouths and noses with face cloths, yet their eyes still stung faintly. By now, Door Plank had struck fifty or sixty blows, his axe face plastered with gory debris. Blood flowed like a river through the underground palace, which writhed in immense torment. The stomach sac contracted violently, but it could do nothing against the humans entrenched in this ulcer. Door Plank suddenly said, "I think I'm about to break through the stomach wall!" Everyone perked up at once. "Can we break through?" "Light is filtering through." Door Plank was thrilled as well; after all, a third option seemed to have presented itself. "Let me try again." He Lingchuan's mind stirred at the words. Light? How could there be light on the other side of the stomach wall? Willow was pleasantly surprised as well. "Could it be the other squads?" Door Plank landed a final blow and wiped his face. "Broken through! Let me widen the opening." Chopping vertically and slashing horizontally, he indeed carved out a large hole. Once the blood finished draining, they would be able to squeeze through. Beyond the opening seemed to lie another passage. Willow whispered, "Who goes first?" Skinny said loudly, "I will!" He approached the opening but did not crawl in. Instead, he pulled a hazelnut from his bosom and tossed it outside as a probe. The hazelnut rolled onto the ground and suddenly transformed into Skinny. Strictly speaking, it turned into an illusion of him, yet in the dim environment, it looked vivid and lifelike. It strode out of the hole, paced two steps, and then vanished. This trinket had no offensive power whatsoever, serving only to deceive the eye. If a monster lay in ambush on the other side of the hole, it would surely strike at the prey. Door Plank immediately raised his shield in front of him and strode outside. Soon, his voice carried back: "All clear. Come on over." Skinny leaped through at once, followed by Willow, the new recruit, and He Lingchuan. Those bringing up the rear quickened their pace, because the hole Door Plank had carved out was rapidly knitting shut! By the time He Lingchuan crossed over, one of his boots nearly became trapped in the wall. On the ground, they spotted a bundle of fluorescent grass. The light Door Plank had seen earlier had come from here. Evidently, one of the other two squads had passed through this place and dropped the bundle after running into some unexpected trouble. Regardless, escaping the flesh-dissolving, bone-corroding stomach sac was always a relief, even if they had no idea where this new path led. Just as Willow picked up the bundle of fluorescent grass, light flickered ahead, and several figures came rushing forward. Clang, clang! Weapons left their scabbards as both sides assumed combat stances. Door Plank, however, let out a breath of relief. "So it's you guys." The newcomers were another patrol squad, led by Squad Leader Xu Chun. He Lingchuan swept his gaze behind them. "Where are the rest of you?" Including Xu Chun, there were only four people before them. He had arrived with a full squad of ten men. Xu Chun shook his head, his voice heavy. "All gone." He Lingchuan noticed the other three had darting eyes, constantly glancing in all directions like startled birds. "What were the characteristics of the ferry whelp you encountered?" "It commanded an army of bone puppets." Skinny thought his ears were playing tricks on him. "What did you say?" Xu Chun said, "Monsters formed from white bones and rock and soil. Their numbers seemed endless, and they even had ranged units. When fighting, they swarmed us all at once, which gave them an enormous advantage in the narrow tunnels." "Have you only traveled through passages like this, without entering anywhere else?" "We entered a stone cavern, much wider than this place, symmetrical in shape, with winding passages on both the left and right," another squad member answered. "The bone puppets surged out from there. We cut down wave after wave, but there truly was no end to them, so we could only retreat. We lost four men during that retreat, and then the monster took action personally and killed two more of us." The whole ordeal had been an absolute nightmare; even now, lingering terror gripped the four survivors. "What was the ghost whelp's innate talent?" All four fell silent. Xu Chun gave a bitter smile. "We don't know either." Willow said unsparingly, "You lost six men, and you didn't even catch its movements clearly?" "It was too fast." Xu Chun knew he had failed in his duty this time. "All I know is that the bone puppets attach to its body, forming exceptionally sturdy armor that I couldn't cut through. We wounded it twice, but the bone puppets patched right into its wounds, making it seem unkillable." He had watched helplessly as the monster dragged his squad members into the darkness, completely powerless to stop it. That feeling was agonizing. He Lingchuan said, "Since it held the absolute upper hand, why did it leave you?" "We were on the verge of being backed into a corner when the ghost whelp suddenly halted its attack, turned, and slipped away, and those bone puppets followed right behind it." They had come and gone like the tide. "We don't know why either." Afterward, they had walked here and run into He Lingchuan's group. "I'm afraid we'll have to kill all the whelps before we can get out." Skinny shared their deduction. When Xu Chun heard the words 'mimicking a body' used to describe the underground palace, his face similarly took on an indescribable expression. Willow suddenly tossed several tiny seeds onto the four men, watching for a few breaths before saying, "No color change." These seeds were called thief mustard; they changed color upon contacting demonic qi or curses. Willow used them to test whether the men were controlled by foul sorcery. This was one of the standard countermeasures patrolmen carried. Xu Chun and his men allowed her to do so without objection, only rubbing their wrists afterward before speaking: "Let's move. I see your numbers are still intact?" Moreover, only one person was wounded. "Just good luck; we didn't run into any overly troublesome opponents. These whelps don't seem to gather together, each choosing a territory to serve as its home field. Based on the battleground you described, your squad must have encountered the strongest ferry whelp—the youngest—which makes for far too difficult a challenge." He Lingchuan pointed at the healing rock wall. "Behind this stone wall is the stomach sac. The acid pool inside dissolves flesh and melts bone, serving as that ferry whelp's home turf. The creature could spit acid slurry and healed from wounds at astonishing speed, but unfortunately for it, it wasn't very bright. It tried to kick us down, failed, and got killed by our counterattack instead." The two groups exchanged information, checked their weapons and supplies once more, and held up the bundles of fluorescent grass to march forward, hoping to rendezvous with the third squad. However, the first thing they encountered was not their own people.