Chapter 4

“Are you all okay?”

“Gong Jiaxin.”

“Jian Xiangxue.”

“Ni Shushu.”

Su Lanjin only slowly opened her eyes after realizing her feet were on solid ground.

It was completely dark around them. The air carried a foul, damp smell that was slightly nauseating—the closer they got, the stronger the scent of rot and sourness became.

The demonic energy was thick, it was so dark that they couldn’t see their own hands. As soon as they called out, the echoes bounced off their ears. Was this really the world beneath the demon nest?

“We’re here.”

Gong Jiaxin’s clear voice echoed inside the cave. Su Lanjin’s ears twitched as she moved toward the sound, just in time to see the four of them reunited.

“This is… the cave beneath the demon nest?”

Everyone looked toward the cave entrance. It was so deep that the edges couldn’t be seen, sending chills down their spines.

“The demonic energy inside is especially thick, but strangely, I don’t sense a single demon here.”

Ni Shushu’s heart pounded like a drum. A bad premonition rose in her chest.

Su Lanjin slowly approached them from a distance, her eyes dark as ink. “The gap we fell through has been sealed. For now, we can only move forward.”

With that, Su Lanjin took the spiritual energy sword and led the way. After exchanging glances, the others followed closely behind.

The pitch-black path didn’t look like a large demon nest. Instead, it resembled one narrow cave after another. As they walked down the corridor, the space grew smaller and smaller, allowing fewer people to pass—eventually becoming narrow enough for only one person to squeeze through sideways.

“Still going?”

“I’m a little scared.”

Ni Shushu fought to suppress her panic, tears gathering in her eyes as she tightly clutched her clothes.

“Let’s go.”

Su Lanjin’s strong voice sounded ahead. The group followed her steps, passing through the narrow corridor. After an unknown length of time, the path gradually widened, and the entire cave slowly brightened from the previous darkness.

“This is…”

Gong Jiaxin’s face showed terror. Her hand involuntarily rose, trembling as she pointed forward.

Su Lanjin turned her head in confusion, but the next moment her pupils constricted sharply.

Before them lay piles and piles of skeletons, along with some fresh corpses that hadn’t yet fully decayed. Their bodies were stained with blood, some missing arms or legs, none intact.

Some of the bodies were clearly used by the demons as parasitic hosts—each expression frozen in terror, as if trying to tell them about the horrific battle that once took place here.

Some even had half a skull or half a human body still recognizable, while the other half had clearly become a twisted half-human, half-demon creature.

This was the final struggle of heroes turned demon hosts. Some still retained their consciousness but died in unbearable, heart-wrenching pain.

How cruel this was.

“Those are… the spirit capturers who were sent to the frontline not long ago.”

Song Juncai suddenly spoke up, the terror in his eyes turning into grim reality.

“A few weeks ago, the spirit capturers sent to the frontline disappeared unexpectedly. Even the military was unable to find them. Who would have thought they ended up on this barren star?”

“I suddenly have a very bad feeling…”

Ni Shushu frowned as she looked at the scene before her, her expression grave.

【Wait, look at those bodies—there are demons, spirit capturers, and some obviously already used as containers. Could it be… no, it can’t be, right?】

【Hiss, it shouldn’t be, right?】

【I just checked—it really is the Abyss Underground! But how could the Abyss Underground appear here?】

【No, I don’t believe it. I just saw hope that we could defeat the demons. Why now must they fall into this deadly Abyss Underground with no survivors?】

【This has to be a joke, right?】

The live chat flooded with messages. The viewers, eyes red from worry, watched everything through the small cameras on the scoring ring.

Jian Xiangxue stepped forward carefully and took the token pressed beneath the corpses. Upon reading the engraved characters, her pupils shrank. “This is the Abyss Underground.”

“What? The Abyss Underground?”

Song Juncai happened to overhear Jian Xiangxue’s whisper and immediately looked grim.

Outside the arena, the organizers of the selection tournament paced anxiously back and forth in the room, their phones constantly ringing.

“Yes, yes, yes, we have already sent a request for a rescue team. We will definitely ensure they come back alive.”

“We have not yet confirmed if this is truly the Abyss Underground, but we will do everything possible to save them.”

“Yes, yes, yes, we are continuously contacting the c on the barren star. Once all the checks are complete, the live broadcast will surely resume.”

“……”

The organizers wiped sweat from their brows in frustration, their eyes fixed on the images transmitted by the small cameras.

When they saw the thousands of corpses inside, their last hope was shattered.

This really was the Abyss Underground.

Under the live broadcast cameras, the few held tokens tightly in their hands, a heavy pressure weighing down the atmosphere.

Jian Xiangxue’s eyes were bloodshot as she looked at the vast piles of bones before her — all their comrades, and those spirit capturers who had fought bravely on the front lines despite their injuries.

But after death, none of them had returned to their hometowns, they were trapped in this narrow cave filled with thick, demonic energy.

“The Abyss Underground? What’s the problem?”

Su Lanjin asked clearly, her voice crisp as her eyes scanned the skulls and the partially decomposed bodies.

“The Abyss Underground has been the torn of the star system for thousands of years. We don’t know when it first appeared, nor why.”

“For thousands of years, anyone who disappears into the Abyss Underground either dies fighting inside or is rescued when the military breaks through from outside. There’s no other possibility.”

“Ha! Isn’t that just a choice between two options — either wait to die or wait for someone else to save you?”

Song Juncai suddenly stood up, a spark of determination flashing in his eyes. “It’s just an Abyss Underground. There’s light and airflow here, so there must be an exit. If the predecessors couldn’t do it, how can we be sure we can’t?”

His resolute words gained Su Lanjin’s approval.

She didn’t like leaving hope in the hands of others.

【Exactly, why do we think they can only wait to die? At worst, the military rescue has already been deployed. Now that we know the location of the Abyss Underground and who’s inside, how could they possibly die?】

【Is everyone being too pessimistic? I believe they will definitely make it!】

【They are the future of the Federation. I don’t believe a single selection tournament will truly destroy them.】

The chat room stirred emotions among the viewers, but many still thought this was wishful thinking — after all, self-rescue and being rescued are two very different things.

Su Lanjin listened to the news about the Abyss Underground as she kept walking forward.

After passing over the piles of bones, they saw one jar after another placed on both sides of the cave entrance.

Black patterns were painted on the ceramic jars, looking like materials from thousands of years ago. Approaching closer, they could faintly see dark black gas flowing out of the jars, gradually intertwining with the dense demonic energy surrounding them.

Those who had hoped it wasn’t the Abyss Underground sighed heavily when they saw the ceramic jars filled with demonic energy.

“How could the Abyss Underground appear on this barren star? Could it be that those bastards earlier led the sinister demons here, causing the Abyss Underground to emerge as well?”

Ni Shushu was full of anger. If it weren’t for those people’s reckless actions back then, how could so many contestants have died? Some hadn’t even had time to withdraw from the competition.

“Su Lanjin, wait, don’t move.”

Just as Ni Shushu was venting her anger, Jian Xiangxue sharply noticed Su Lanjin walking toward one of the ceramic jars, even reaching out her hand to touch it. Nervously, she immediately spoke up and hurried forward to grab Su Lanjin’s wrist.

“There’s a sinister demon hidden inside this jar. The surrounding area is full of demonic energy. If you touch it like that, something bad will happen!”

“Sinister demon?”

Su Lanjin narrowed her eyes but didn’t stop her hand. Since Jian Xiangxue held her right hand, she quickly reached out with her left hand to touch it.

“Crackle…”

A small, sharp sound echoed through the cave. Everyone immediately went into a combat-ready stance but did not blame Su Lanjin. Jian Xiangxue instinctively drew her knife and stood protectively by her side.

After a while, the sound disappeared. The sinister demon inside the jar did not appear, but the demonic energy grew even thicker, occasionally being inhaled by those around.

“This demonic energy, why is there so much?”

“It feels really uncomfortable.”

As the jar trembled, several nearby people started feeling dizzy, even their spiritual energy gradually fading into nothingness.

Nearby, Song Juncai shook his head, and a trace of demonic energy seeped from his nostrils to his forehead. In his dazed state, he inexplicably pressed the withdrawal button — but there was no response.

He stubbornly kept pressing the one-way call button, but still got no response.

“It’s over. We might really be trapped here to die. For thousands of years, no one who entered the Abyss Underground has ever escaped—either they die fighting the sinister demons inside, or they become vessels, or they can only wait for rescue.”

Song Juncai furrowed his brows tightly and collapsed to the ground. He suddenly seemed to lose all will to fight, completely lacking the strength he had at the beginning.

The others said nothing but silently echoed his despair.

Su Lanjin ignored the turmoil here and carefully examined all the ceramic jars around. The intricate patterns carved on the jars’ bodies, the demonic energy around them growing thicker and denser.

The intense changes in the demonic energy made Su Lanjin’s heart skip a beat. She crouched down and closely observed one of the ceramic jars.

“No, we can’t just sit here and wait to die. There’s a rescue team outside, but we have to save ourselves as well.” Seeing that the jars showed no sign of activity, Ni Shushu immediately spoke up.

“But what else can we do? So many jars, all filled with sinister demons. If we accidentally touch one and wake it up, the outcome will be being torn apart. There are sinister demons everywhere here, and there are only five of us.”

Song Juncai hung his head low. The pulling sensation at the back of his head worsened, his body growing more and more exhausted. A flicker of demonic energy passed through his eyes before vanishing, and he slumped down dejectedly.

The faint demonic energy around him circled and swirled on his body until it disappeared inside him.

His words made the others press their lips silently. Song Juncai looked miserable as the demonic energy at his brow slowly sank downward, penetrating his organs.

Su Lanjin glanced at him, then cautiously moved forward. Her spiritual sword suddenly lit up, illuminating her path with a swish.

Every so often, they found piles of ceramic jars placed in groups, each inscribed with a variety of characters.

Su Lanjin rubbed her forehead as she walked through this place. After more than ten minutes, she returned.

“How is it?” Gong Jiaxin looked up anxiously and asked, only to receive a shake of Su Lanjin’s head.

It turned out that the Abyss Underground really was a death trap—one could enter, but never escape.