Golden light flowed through the walls, floor, and ceiling of this small basement, making the entire basement seem like some kind of mysterious altar, with the wooden coffin at the very center.
A halo of light appeared beneath Saman and the others' feet, seemingly fixing them in place, though their upper bodies could still move.
"What is this?" Saman looked at the golden, thread-like light flowing across his skin. Each time it appeared, his body weakened a little.
Although the quantity is small, over time, he will become very weak. Is this the monster's ability—devouring?
"Susu, I originally intended to spare your life." The base leader looked at the young lady, "but you always defy your father."
The young lady was sweating profusely, her face pale.
The base leader then looked at the other two intruders, only to find that both of them remained expressionless, as if they were completely unconcerned about their situation.
Ke Bei raised his hand and threw a knife, which pierced straight into the base leader's forehead, but it seemed to pass through thin air.
"Hahahaha." The base leader laughed, his split forehead instantly healing. "I am immortal."
"The ninth fragment of the legendary scroll, which was supposedly taken away, was used on yourself, wasn't it?" Saman remained completely calm, looking at the base leader with perfect composure. "The base is capturing monsters everywhere, but it turns out, you are the real monster."
Six people, nine fragments of a scroll, eight of whom turned into monsters, what about the last one?
Legend has it that he was taken away, but Saman remained skeptical, believing there was no need for him to be taken. Now, his doubts have finally been answered.
The ninth fragment was in the hands of the base leader, who then modified it.
Saman guessed the exact time was six months ago. The hunt for the Scarlet Witch was six months ago, the sale of assets was six months ago, and the decision to stop leaving the base was also six months ago—this timeline is quite interesting.
Why was it six months ago?
"What prompted you to decide to carry out the plan and experiment with this monster transformation, which is said to have a high mortality rate?" Saman asked curiously.
Just as the base leader was about to speak, the young lady's voice rang out: "Terminal illness, he has a terminal illness."
If this hadn't been discovered by accident, given the base leader's personality, it might have dragged on for a while longer. He's a complete hypocrite, wanting to have his cake and eat it too.
"I see." Saman understood. "But since you've already succeeded, why did you still want to capture the Scarlet Witch? For the base? Impossible, you're planning to leave the base, so why?"
"Because it's not enough." The base leader looked at his arm, where golden energy flowed, constantly plundering from others to replenish himself. The feeling of becoming stronger was mesmerizing.
"So you didn't capture the Scarlet Witch for any base at all; you did it for yourself," Saman asserted.
"That's right, I'm doing it for myself. Everyone looks out for themselves. What's wrong with me doing it for myself?"
It seems that holding things in for too long will eventually lead to an urge to confide; the base leader dropped all pretense at this moment and directly revealed his prized plan:
"Experiments number one through eight are just ordinary monsters. To transform them into powerful monsters without weaknesses, one more important condition is needed."
"It has to be the Scarlet Witch? Because of his healing ability?" Saman guessed.
"They should be blood relatives," the handsome player corrected, "and blood relatives who have already been transformed into monsters."
The base leader glanced at the two of them with surprise, then said bluntly, "You're both right. The monsters on each piece of paper have different origins. The Scarlet Witch's ability isn't self-healing; that's just the most basic level. Her ability is resurrection, immortality. As long as her heart is intact, the Scarlet Witch can be resurrected. And I can devour the abilities of my blood relatives."
The Scarlet Witch's birth was never an accident, but rather a deliberate choice by the base leader.
The handsome player had another question. He glanced at the stunned young lady and said, "Speaking of which, eighteen years ago, your daughter was just born. Why didn't you use her for experiments? Surely you didn't develop feelings for her after holding her yourself and then be reluctant to part with her? The leader doesn't seem like the kind of person who would have such trivial feelings."
The young lady suddenly looked at the base leader, seemingly wanting an answer.
The base leader, who had just been looking smug, just scoffed: "It's just that her mother is keeping a close eye on her, making it difficult to take action."
It's hard to do it? A newborn baby, and the one being done to is the biological father, so why is it hard to do it? It's probably not that the objective conditions are difficult, but rather that the subjective conditions are difficult.
Perhaps the leader of the base back then wasn't the utterly depraved person he is now.
It's unclear what kind of psychological shift led him to harm his second child.
"Fifteen years ago, there seemed to be a change in the leadership of the base. Someone wanted to take over, right?" Saman knew a lot of the secrets of the higher-ups. This information was provided by an anti-base force.
Six people discovered the monster's secret; one left, one died, and four remained. These four established the current base, and the base's leader was chosen because he was the first to discover it.
However, among the four, the most capable was not the base leader, but someone else. That person first undermined the base leader's power, and then, not content with that, wanted the position as well.
Only the base leader and the hunting team captain knew what happened after that, because they were the victors, while the other two had their remains turned to ashes.
"Having your power stolen from you, does that provoke you?" Saman stared directly into the base leader's demonic eyes.
"That's right!"
This matter still seems to enrage the base leader. He couldn't maintain his smug expression, which instantly turned grim: "I was the first to discover this altar, and I found everything inside first. Without me, there would be no protective shield for the base, but they actually betrayed us!"
Enraged to the extreme, the base leader sneered, "Unfortunately, they don't know that the first person to arrive and make contact always receives some preferential treatment."
He didn't elaborate on what the 'preferential treatment' was, but from his barely suppressed smug expression, it was clear that the 'preferential treatment' was probably exclusive information, such as how to transform oneself into a powerful monster without weaknesses.
Eighteen years ago, the base leader was just a young man who wouldn't have easily tried something like this. But after three years as the base leader of thousands, things were different.
He had already tasted the benefits of power and could not bear to give it up. So he had no choice but to choose another path: to continue maintaining his power.
"So fifteen years ago, two high-ranking members of the base suddenly died. You also decided that in order to strengthen yourself, you would not hesitate to sacrifice the newborn child. Unfortunately, you were too cowardly at the time and did not act immediately. Instead, you delayed for fifteen years until you discovered the terminal illness, and only then did you take the plunge." Saman casually peeled off his skin.
"Hahahaha... After I transformed into a monster, I suddenly realized that all my previous anxiety and hesitation were completely unnecessary." He looked at his inhuman hands, his smile growing wider and wider.
"You don't understand what it feels like to have power and regain your youth. I am stronger and more powerful now than I was when I was younger. And this youth isn't fleeting; I can live for a very, very long time. At that time, what wouldn't I have?"
Eternal youth and longevity are irresistible temptations for humanity, so the base leader's decision wasn't surprising. Once he took that step, turning his infant son into a monster, the gears of fate began to turn, and nothing could stop them.
Now, the final step has arrived. All that's needed is to capture the Scarlet Witch, and everything the base leader desires will be fulfilled.
"Once I capture the Scarlet Witch, I will become the most powerful one. And then... I will become the king of monsters." The base leader had been planning this for at least fifteen years, and he couldn't wait to enjoy the bountiful rewards.
The basement was bathed in light as the base leader looked at the two people besides the young lady: "Let's start with the two of you..."
Before he could finish speaking, the ground began to shake violently.
"What happened?"
Saman moved his foot and easily stepped out of the trap, as did the handsome player. Neither of them had been under control to begin with; it was all just a ploy to lure the base leader into self-destruction.
However, there's nothing that can be done about the golden lines on his body that absorb energy.
The young lady stared blankly at the shaking basement: "Never before..."
The base leader over there didn't notice the players' commotion; he was holding his phone, his face ashen.
The phone displayed live surveillance footage of the base's entrance. The gates and fences had been crushed, the guarding hunting teams were nowhere to be seen, and only hordes of monsters were seen pouring in.
Many, many monsters, such as the Cyclops, the Sundew Dragon, and the Smoky Horse, were once monsters that ignored each other, but now they seemed to be being directed to line up and enter the base.
Monster siege?
The word popped into the base leader's mind, and he found it very strange: even though one person had been sacrificed, the shielding aura was still intact, so how could the monsters have entered? And with such a massive scale.
11 PM update: [Fifth Night: Undying.]
With a loud 'boom,' the virtual sky of the underground city shattered, and moonlight streamed lazily through the hole. The black-robed wizard flew across the moon on a broomstick, and a cloud appeared out of nowhere, sometimes transforming into a winged horse chasing and playing in the sky, and sometimes into a soaring eagle.
The crisp, cool night air was gently carried in by the wind, along with the rustling sounds of nature. They heard birdsong and the whispers of some nocturnal animal.
"This is?"
"The night sky?" The humans stared blankly at the enormous opening. They had long forgotten what night looked like. Seeing it felt both familiar and intimate.
A group of black shadows flew out from the hole, tall and short, big and small, all different from humans. The humans finally came to their senses: "Monsters—!"
They were so frightened that their legs went weak and they almost collapsed to the ground.
Most people here haven't encountered a monster in years. To them, monsters are things that only exist in books and videos, so their first thought upon seeing one is often absurd: Who's playing a prank?
But the violently shaking ground and the pieces of ceiling that fell off said otherwise.
Realizing that these were real monsters, and that the base had been destroyed, the faces of the rioting demonstrators, the resisting officials, and the onlookers turned deathly pale.
"Ah—" Some of them lost their voices, some screamed incessantly, and the already gathered crowd suddenly fell into chaos, with screams rising and falling, all from those who were trampled or injured by falling ceiling debris.
Strangely, however, these monsters simply watched as humans tortured themselves, without taking any further action.
More and more monsters poured into the huge plaza of the dungeon, but gradually, the humans became less panicked because they found that they were not being attacked.
"Waaaaah!" In the chaos, a child was accidentally left behind in the square. Her parents stood far away, held tightly by the people around them, tears streaming down their faces as they watched the monsters approach her.
A long, thin monster poked its head out and looked closely at the human cub.
The people in the distance instinctively held their breath: Were they about to make their move?
The little girl was four or five years old, wearing a pale yellow dress and with two little braids. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she was whimpering with a sob in her voice, but her eyes were full of curiosity.
Because the facility strictly prohibits grotesque works, these children have no idea what monsters are, let alone what they look like or any detailed stories about them. Her parents may have scared her with monsters, but there was never a specific image of one in the stories.
Today, this child saw a monster for the first time, but didn't realize it was a 'monster' in front of her. She smiled and said, "You look so strange, can I touch you?"
Before the monster could respond, the little girl stretched out her chubby paw and touched the nose of the monster that had come closer to look.
The ugly monster sneezed, and the little girl burst into laughter, reaching out her hands to hug the monster's head.
This is a skinny, elongated monster that walks on all fours, about six or seven meters long. It looks like a dried-up lizard and is extremely ugly. Just looking at it, you can imagine its ferocious, man-eating appearance.
In the distance, her parents had collapsed to the ground, barely able to bear watching their child's fate.
But after tilting its head and looking for a while, the monster stretched out a slender claw, carefully grabbed the little girl's collar with the tips of its two fingernails, lifted her up, and then stretched out its arm to send the little girl out of the monsters' circle.
It gently put her down, nudged the little girl's back with its claws to signal her to leave, and then slowly withdrew its claws and caught up with the group.
"Goodbye, thank you." The little girl waved politely to it before running towards her parents. Her parents hugged their child, whom they had lost and found again, and wept with joy.
"It..." The onlookers were stunned.
This is unlike the monsters of legend; their upbringing taught them that monsters eat people.
Author's Note: Lizard Mummified Monster: I'm ugly, but I'm very gentle~
There are carnivores and herbivores among the monsters; this one is a her
bivore.