CHAPTER 9 THE UNDERWORLD

Scene 1:

“What’s going on? Why you suddenly change your mind?” Pinks asked as she walked out from restroom.

“I didn’t change my mind. I just made up my mind.” I said.

“Oh…what the smell...Did you get drunk?” She stopped, looking around, and even started to shoot with her cell.

“No, worse than that. I took a bath with every single bottle of collection in my shop, totally wasted.” I went straight to my bedroom.

She reminded me that I really needed a shower now. But we didn’t have much time left. Either the enemy’s backup or cops could be around anywhere. So I must change my clothes and get away as soon as possible.

“I’ll be right back. Then we go.” I said as I closed the door of bedroom.

Once the door was closed, I took a deep breath. It seemed that I had no choice but to go back to the immortal world. The people I just killed tonight was really a concern that I could not ignore.

I quickly stripped off every layer of shit, and dressed in something fresh and dry.

Then I walked out. Pinks and Aezo were around the hole I blew up on the floor. Again, Aezo was taking a selfie with a big black hole as background, totally helpless.

“Hey, Cang. What happened? Did you just screw up a bonfire?” Aezo seemed really excited about the mess. After all the only thing he cared was just how much attention the post on Wechat could draw to him.

“Looks like a gas blast. You killed them all?” Pinks turned around, and gave me a curious look.

“Nope. I left this one alive. But she’s gonna come with us.” I wrapped up the starseer like a body bag with her long cowl.

“She? You mean it’s a girl?” Pinks wondered.

I carried the starseer on my shoulder, and said: “She is the bitch that wasted all my bottles. So I won’t let her die easily. Now let’s move.”

“Wait, wait! Can I take a pic with her first?” Aezo asked.

I stood for a moment, thinking, and then said:

“You know what? If you don’t wanna come, then I can kick you down to the big hole and you will find a dead hog’s head down there with a big f#king hole on his corpse. I’m sure that’s a nice picture to post.”

But Aezo seemed a little bit puzzled. He asked:

“Well, what kind of corpse with a hole in it? There isn’t anyone downstairs.”

For a second I thought he were joking. But then when I got close to the hole on second floor, seeing through to the ground where the swordsman’s body stood, actually it was gone. I meant there wasn’t any body of anyone I killed could be spotted, not in my view.

That was definitely not a good sign. I hit the swordsman with one of my biggest lightning strike called “Dragon’s Eye”, and he was dead on spot. But somehow his body was missing, so as the great sword.

“I thought you said you killed them all, except for this one.” Pinks wondered.

“There are more coming.” I said as I asked them to move.

“Don’t be retarded. Now let’s go. We head to the storage. Come on. Hurry up!”

I led the way downstairs, and quickly got into the storage. But it was too dark since my electricity had been cut off for a while. So I said to the kids: “Light up, please.”

Pinks quickly turned on the torch of her smartphone, and a stream of light projected on the racks.

Thanked to her help, I found the bottle of wine in which the ring was hidden, without much effort.

I quickly flushed out the ring, and wore it on my ring finger.

“Are you guys ready? Now stand by me.” I said as I carried the starseer again, putting her back on my shoulder.

“Hey, what is that?” Aezo pointed at a certain bottle of wine in rows. Something inside the bottle was glowing, like a neon light.

It was the amulet, wakened again.

“No, forget about it. We gotta go. Now stay close.” I took a breath first, and then blew the ring with a whisper:

“Underworld.”

Space around us began to fall apart, like a damaged mirror with a lot crack on it.

“Wow! This is fantastic!” Aezo once again, raised his cell for recording.

But whatever, once he entered the immortal world, everything he used to be familiar with, would become totally worthless.

Scene 2:

We landed in the cave where I left a landmark for transmigration. The lightning symbol engraved on the rock wall was activated, and twinkled like a little star, whenever I made a call for transmigration.

I put down the starseer on ground, while Aezo and Pinks were looking around with curiosity.

“Where are we?” Pinks asked.

“The world you’ve always wished to come.” I said as I checked the wound on my left hand. It was not bleeding any more. Actually it was fully healed.

My power would become much stronger here in immortal world than in human world, which was hard to explain based on the limited knowledge I had. But my guess was that the source of my power might be born here. So it made it easier for me to absorb energy from the origin than some place at the far end of whole universe.

“Hey guys, why my signal is so bad?” Aezo was searching around for mobile signal, hand up in the air with his pathetic iphone 7.

I looked around. There was no trace of any human activity or beast inhabitant as far as I could tell. The bodies I dropped previously had been gone, and the pond by which once Jia Gu stood was still flickering like neon.

“Now come here before you’re fed to beasts. I know a lot horrific creatures live in the underworld.” I said.

Aezo stopped for a moment, being hesitant yet frightened. Then he turned around and went back really fast.

Pinks never went too far. She stayed with me, not interested at all.

I waited till Aezo was back, and then said: “I’m gonna teach you two some basic knowledge with regard to this world. It is not the one you’re familiar with. But you will get used to it and hopefully live a happy life here.”

Aezo was confused, and gave me a concerned look.

“Wait…What do you mean, live? ” He asked.

I took a breath, and then started to explain:

“This world is an united earth of nine states. It doesn’t get a name but in common sense, we just call it immortal world. But it doesn’t mean that everyone here cannot be killed. In opposite, some places are very dangerous and the only way to secure your life is to kill everybody else whoever crosses your way. For example, here, underworld, which belongs to one of the nine states called Rouland, far west, is the biggest state of least population worldwide.”

Aezo seemed zoned out, which actually was a good news to me. After all, I didn’t expect to bring two kids to underworld. It was a mistake by accident.

“So what we need to be aware of?” Pinks asked. She seemed no different.

I looked up, nothing found high above but tough rocks.

“I found this cave on a long journey, began from the central state called Zhongzhou, all the way to west, and finally I got here. Away from mankind, a lot wild creatures inhabit, a place that is hardly traced as being a secreted safe house.”

Pinks looked at me, thinking while said: “So you were born in this world. Then why you live in…I guess our world if I may call it.”

I smiled as I lowered my head. It was hard to tell this little girl everything about my life, not that I didn’t trust her, but rather be my personal problem, unsolved.

“I have run away from my past, and I believe you will never want to cross the path I was misled once. Anyway, you asked for transmigration, so now we’re here.” I said.

She shrugged: “Sounds like your life was just Temple Run. Then what we gonna do? I think you told me the time in this world was different. So what time is it now? Any jetlag I need to worry about?”

I said while thinking: “Well, I guess it’s midnight on ground now. No, no jetlag, but we won’t go up to the earth very soon. We have to wait, till the bitch wakes up. She is a witch, usually called starseer, from Yingzhou, one of the nine states, but far east, almost the end of world.”

“You mean she is from here?” Pinks was a little bit surprised.

I nodded as I continued:

“Starseer is somehow like Daoist. But instead of heaven gods, they worship the god of sea, and gain power from water. They are the guardian of anything born in water.”

“Then why they’re called starseer, instead of something more like water, like...Naga? and why the hell she showed up in our world?” Pinks frowned as she asked, seemed more confused.

I rolled my eyes, not sure if this is a good time to discuss.

“Because they have an eye on stars. Many of the starseer can see oracle or plague upcoming through the changes in stars, just like astrology. They really have a good vision for when and where it is going to happen. Ok, that’s it. I’m gonna check the starseer we got. You, stay here, so as Aezo. Please keep an eye on him. Don’t let him hang out like a trash panda. ”

I said as I turned around, walking to the starseer who was supposed to wake up by now.

(To be continued…)