Chapter 653 - 444: The Monster Trapped Under the Prison

"What do you mean, Keke can understand the roars of the giant beast?!"

The other three were stunned.

"Ying!" Surrounded by four people, Keke was not afraid. It broke free from Xu Xin’s hands, jumped to the ground, and stood up waving its tiny paws, "Ying ying ying!"

"Ah, um... what does this mean?" Wang Lei said somewhat dumbfounded.

"So cute! I really want to hug it..." Wen Guixin made a gesture with her hands as if she wanted to pounce and hug Keke, but eventually, her hands fell powerlessly.

"Brother Xin, can you understand it?" Zhao Xiaochuan looked at Xu Xin.

Xu Xin was frowning slightly at the moment.

After partnering with Keke for so long, he could quickly grasp what Keke was trying to express.

"The meaning of that big monster is: How dare you toy with me, there’s clearly nothing here, why call me out."

Xu Xin spoke.

"Ying!" Keke nodded its little head and waved its paws again.

"Don’t think that just because you have me pinned here, I can’t do anything. If this continues, I’ll perish together with you."

Based on Keke’s gestures, Xu Xin explained according to his understanding: "Is this what you mean, Keke?"

"Ying?" Keke tilted its little head, then nodded, "Ying!"

It seems there might be some deviation in tone, but the general meaning was correct.

This is truly...

Massive information!

Stroking Keke’s little head as it climbed up his body again, Xu Xin looked at the other three: "Do you have any thoughts?"

Their current situation was too bizarre.

Having lost the staff here, they had an operation room but dared not touch anything and didn’t know what to do to find a way back to the surface. They could only rely on the information they had and make guesses.

Luckily, time was still on their side.

"Hmm..." Wen Guixin looked at the ground below, "So, is the big guy below... actually being suppressed by the prison we’re in now? And it’s helping the prison do some tasks."

"Wow, a giant beast suppressed below?" Zhao Xiaochuan also looked down, "That sounds intriguing!"

"Rather than a giant beast..." Wang Lei instinctively stomped on the ground, as he was the one who walked the longest on the soft "ground" below, "I feel it’s more like a... big bug? Would the skin of a giant beast be this soft?"

Big bug...

Bigger than any underground beast, a giant bug.

And now, they were on a metal rod piercing through this big bug.

Yikes...

Thinking about it like this, really sends shivers and a sense of disgust.

"Huh? Can the skin of a big bug deform?" Zhao Xiaochuan felt something was off, "Bug skin doesn’t eat people, could this thing below be some slime-like monster?"

That’s possible.

After all, in the underground world, it wouldn’t be uncommon for mutant creatures like that to exist.

"Whether it’s a big bug or not, it’s currently being held down below and won’t harm me and might even help us? Help with what? According to Xu Xin, it eats the creatures falling on top?" Wen Guixin speculated.

"No." Xu Xin shook his head, "Not eating. If it’s helping the people in the underground prison... then there’s probably only one possibility."

"Ah!" Zhao Xiaochuan hammered his right fist into his left palm, suddenly realizing, "Helping the prison managers transfer the underground creatures that fall on top into the prison!"

Xu Xin nodded: "That should be correct. Otherwise, with those furry strange people, they wouldn’t have the capability to move a giant beast if it really fell down."

"Is it like this?" Wen Guixin pondered for a moment, "But if that’s the case, why would they still personally transport my body, leading them to be poisoned and die collectively?"

"That’s probably because even this big guy below isn’t easy to deal with," Xu Xin said looking at the unresponsive ground, "Judging from its previous behavior, it doesn’t entirely follow commands and has a temper. So, for smaller creatures like you people that those furry creatures can handle by themselves, they probably wouldn’t bother the big guy."

"Ah," Wen Guixin’s furrowed brows relaxed, "That does make sense. Explains it well this way."

This conjecture shouldn’t have problems.

But it also didn’t help much with their current predicament.

So, even if they knew all this, what should they do now?

How could they find the way back to the surface world?

Just as Xu Xin was pondering, suddenly, there was another "crack" sound behind them.

This time, the noise was not small!

Everyone turned their heads abruptly.

"Did something happen in the prison?" Zhao Xiaochuan asked in surprise.

"It’s not in the prison!" Xu Xin started running to the other side of the cylindrical prison along the outer path, shouting as he ran, "It’s up above on the other side! Something is probably about to fall!"

The three behind him immediately followed.

Just as they hadn’t made it around, they all simultaneously heard a shout.

"Ahhh—!"

A scream that was abruptly cut off followed by the sound of something hitting the ground.

This sound...!

"Oh! It’s Lou Fei’Er’s voice!"

The other three also heard it and ran over in that direction.

After turning, they looked down.

Sure enough, they saw Lou Fei’Er already lying on the soft ground.

"You guys go trigger the gravity mechanism and come down." Xu Xin said, then jumped directly from a height of fifty meters.

"Yikes!" Keke was startled, clutching Xu Xin’s shoulder tightly.

Xu Xin easily landed on the soft, elastic ground, even bouncing a little off it.

"Whoa, he just jumped down?!" Zhao Xiaochuan exclaimed.

"We all fell down here, what’s to be scared of?" Wen Guixin also jumped down directly.

The remaining two exchanged a glance.

"Why bother with the gravity mechanism, just jump!" Zhao Xiaochuan leaped immediately, "Woah!"

Wang Lei scratched his head, "The gravity mechanism is right next to us, I’ll still use it..."

At this moment, Xu Xin had already reached Lou Fei’Er’s side.

Like the others who fell into the trap, Lou Fei’Er was unconscious.

"This..."

From afar, it wasn’t visible, but up close...

It’s terrible...

Her face was clearly bruised all over, with traces of blood at the corners of her mouth that hadn’t been wiped clean.

Even the purple-grade steel armor on her body was tattered, with some parts cracked and torn, and the exposed parts of her arms were mostly covered in scars.

Fortunately, despite being tattered, the purple-grade steel armor still protected her well, so she wasn’t seriously injured.

"Yikes..." Keke ran to her face, gently nudging with tiny paws, but didn’t manage to wake her.

Xu Xin could already guess her current state.

Remembering the Silver King’s attraction to underground creatures, it was imaginable how dreadful her experience must have been.

How terrible must it have been that she didn’t even get a chance to take Healing Medicine?

Thinking back, Lou Fei’Er seemed to always have such dreadful experiences...

"Ah, this is..." Wen Guixin walked over, saw Lou Fei’Er’s condition, and couldn’t help covering her mouth, "How did she end up like this? Was she attacked by a beast?"

"Her experience was probably much more brutal than ours." Xu Xin said as he helped the unconscious Lou Fei’Er sit up and fed her a pill.

By this time, Zhao Xiaochuan and Wang Lei had also come over, and upon seeing Lou Fei’Er’s miserable state, they were very surprised.

At this point, the scars on Lou Fei’Er’s face and body began to fade after she took the pill.

Her injuries looked severe but were mostly skin-deep, and the pill completely healed them.

"Hmm..." Lou Fei’Er let out a soft hum, then slowly opened her eyes to see Xu Xin supporting her.

She also saw the three standing behind Xu Xin.

Her eyes blinked, then gradually widened.

"...Huh?"

She stared blankly at Xu Xin, then looked toward the three behind him.

"Wait...huh? Wait a minute...What happened? How are you all here?!"

She immediately tried to stand up but almost fell onto Xu Xin when her legs gave way.

After all, the pill could only heal her injuries, not restore her strength.

She had probably run here at full speed and was now exhausted.

"It’s a long story," Wen Guixin began, "Fei’Er, how did you get so badly injured?"

"I... is it not normal to be injured? Weren’t you guys injured?" Lou Fei’Er felt Wen Guixin’s question was odd; being chased by so many beasts and insects, not getting injured would be strange!

"Huh?" Wen Guixin was also puzzled.

"You didn’t enter the burst mode, did you?" Xu Xin asked.

Lou Fei’Er instinctively shook her head, "No, the total activity time is only 24 hours, and entering burst mode would mean a day of weakness, which would waste this activity... Wait, wait! So what’s going on now?!"

She clutched Xu Xin’s arm, looking at the four in front of her, "Did you guys... have you been here for a long time? I just... I think I stepped on some trap and fell below ground, right?"

Saying that, she looked up, "This is underground? No, no, we were already underground... So this is underground under the underground?"

"That’s right, this is underground," Wang Lei said, "Sister Fei’Er, you’re finally here, so now five of us out of six are reunited! Just missing Brother Chaoyang! Hope he gets here soon."

"Yeah, feels like we’re missing someone, so some things we’re hesitant to do just in case it affects the surroundings," Zhao Xiaochuan stroked his chin.

"I actually hope he doesn’t come in," Xu Xin said, standing up and pulling the puzzled-looking Lou Fei’Er up with him, "If he comes in, then we’ll all be trapped in this prison."

Besides, he hasn’t entered the prison yet, which probably means he’s discovered something.

Has he found the prophesied scene?

Where exactly is that spiraling staircase?

"Wait... so, what’s going on now?" Lou Fei’Er was still confused about the situation, bewildered.

"We’ll explain once we’re up," Xu Xin said, "First, tell us how you got here."

"Oh, alright." Lou Fei’Er nodded and began recounting her experience.