I'm a villain, not a devil

The closer you get to the bottom of the underground prison, the stronger the strange smell of blood in the air becomes.

Along the way, Sean counted carefully and found that a total of nineteen prisoners had died from the third underground floor to the second underground floor.

Most of them looked like crazy beasts, which was probably why they were locked up. Sean didn't recognize the other prisoners who still looked like humans, but from some details, he could tell that they were all Crimson-level strongmen when they were alive.

It is worth mentioning that eighteen out of the nineteen prisoners are pure Vetoes, and they have no signs of prosthetic modifications.

The only person left had only one arm showing signs of transformation.

This is a bit strange... After being promoted to Crimson, the number of Vetoes does exceed that of the Weak, but the ratio is about two to one, unlike here where almost all of them are Vetoes.

There might be a connection, but Sean hasn't found the key yet.

Continuing forward, Sean could already see the entrance to the last underground floor, and at the entrance was a unique cell.

The cell looked like a giant peach, with its edges connected to the walls at various points and pipe-like devices extending deep into the walls.

When you get closer, you can see that the huge "peach" is divided into four parts, and something like a diaphragm forms the wall.

Heart...this thought popped up in Sean's mind subconsciously.

This special cell in front of me looks like an enlarged heart.

He moved closer and became more certain of his thoughts.

There are four chambers: left atrium, left ventricle, right atrium, and right ventricle. The left and right atria and the left and right ventricles are separated by septa, so they are not connected to each other. There are also valves between the atria and ventricles.

Although the shape is abstract, it is indeed a heart, which can be confirmed by looking at the location of the valve pathways and the 'blood vessel' connections.

As he got closer, the smell of blood reached its peak all at once. There was no handle or chain on the door of the heart cell, and he had no idea how to open it.

However, the sound of blood flowing in the dungeon had already reached Sean's ears.

He looked at the tubes in surprise, and as expected, blood was flowing inside.

"Could it be that... all the lost blood was gathered here?"

But what is the role of this heart here?

Sean couldn't help but look towards the entrance to the last underground floor.

Just after taking a few steps closer, suddenly, a "bang" sound was heard.

Sean looked back in surprise. He finally knew what the loud noise he had heard on the fourth floor was.

It's the sound of a beating heart...

Just now, the heart cell twitched violently, making a deafening heartbeat sound.

Somehow, Sean had a false feeling.

This heart seems to be preventing itself from approaching the underground level?

Could it be that this heart is the key to the underground level?

He turned his gaze to Xiao Ci, who silently closed his eyes and felt it for a while, then shook his head: "I didn't notice anything wrong, and this heart was suppressed by the defense force of the Black Pigeon Prison. Brother, the oppression you felt before is likely to come from it."

Sean frowned slightly. Before his heart was oppressed, it was clearly shocking him, but now it was reminding him subtly not to open the door to the basement?

The previous and subsequent behaviors are conflicting...

Moreover, the blood that makes this heart beat comes from the prisoners here and those who died in Black Pigeon before, which is what the tree people want to see.

Does this mean that the tree people want to make this heart beat again?

How strange...

Finally, Sean turned his gaze to the door to the basement.

Just in case, he confirmed it again: "Can we open it like before?"

Xiao Ci nodded: "I'm still suppressing it."

He repeated the previous operation, and during this process, the heart next to him beat heavily again, as if trying its best to stop Sean.

Sean ignored it, and the door to the last floor was opened without any hindrance.

The smell of blood remains.

The moment the door opened, Sean felt like he was being stared at by a terrifying beast.

It was different from the oppression I had felt before. If I had to distinguish the difference, the oppression I had felt before had an indescribable madness. The oppression I felt now also had a madness to it, but there was also an inexplicable sense of purification in it.

This purification seemed to be purifying the madness, and it also seemed to be purifying Sean as well.

Xiao Ci behind Xiao En immediately shouted and reminded him: "Brother, there are creatures inside, and I can't suppress them!"

Xiao Ci cannot use the Black Pigeon's basic defensive power to suppress it, which means that the thing inside is also a part of the Black Pigeon.

As thoughts flashed through his mind, the sound of a giant moving slowly rose from the underground floor.

In the darkness, a huge mouth first appeared in front of Sean. He could tell at a glance that the dead prisoners in front of him were bitten in half by this mouth!

Plague saliva?!

"Gig... Gig..." A sound like blood foam frothing in the throat was heard, and the full picture of the big mouth appeared in front of Sean.

Is that... a tree?

To be precise, it's a tree man.

The tree man was extremely huge, with a big mouth full of sharp teeth on its abdomen, and the tree trunk around the mouth was covered with dark red blood stains.

You can't see the tree man's eyes, you can only see the densely packed fruits hanging on its branches that look like magnified cells.

"Purify...purify..."

The tree man uttered two words tremblingly, and was about to pounce on Sean.

Sean, who had been prepared, was about to take action, but suddenly, the tree man's forward movement stopped in place.

It slowly turned its body, and the cell-like fruits hanging on the branches trembled and fell to the ground, turning into small saplings. As soon as the saplings hit the ground, they turned into monsters with wide-open mouths, but they did not attack, but rolled on the ground in pain.

"What's going on..." Sean was of course prepared to encounter danger before venturing deeper, but the actions of the tree man in front of him did not give him much sense of threat.

The attack action just now was indeed carried out, but it stopped in an instant... Why...

Sean protected Xiao Ci behind him, and the latter poked his head out and looked at the strange tree man curiously.

"Did you suppress it?" Sean asked.

Xiao Ci shook his head: "It's not the suppressed part."

Then my guess is correct, this tree man is part of the Black Pigeon’s defense force...that is, the guard code-named Plague Saliva.

No, judging by the appearance of this guy, it should also be a tree man. Then the tree man’s previous attack was to release this guy, right? How could the tree man merge with the black pigeon?

"Brother, look underneath it." Xiao Ci reminded.

Sean looked over when he heard that, and his pupils suddenly contracted.

The tree man's roots serve as his feet to support himself on the ground, but those roots are covered with a lot of dense black lines.

Black lines like nematodes are wrapped around the roots of the tree man. They are frantically trying to drill into the tree man's body. Traces of their winding paths can be seen all over the wooden body.

Is this... a 'parasite' of the residents of the Imperial Capital?

When Sean first arrived in the imperial capital, he discovered that his deceptive heart always encountered obstacles when he tried to deceive others. That was because most people in the imperial capital had some kind of power in their bodies that could "resist" the erosion of the etheric body.

After many experiments, Sean found this thing in the body of the people in the imperial capital.

These black nematode-like creatures exist in large numbers in the bodies of the people in the imperial capital, and their function is simple, which is to ensure that the people in the imperial capital always maintain absolute loyalty and absolute awe for His Majesty the Emperor.

In other words, this can be regarded as a means for the emperor to control the people's hearts.

Moreover, this method is manifested differently among people of different levels in the imperial capital.

For ordinary people in the imperial capital, these black nematodes exist in almost everyone's body, and they respect His Majesty the Emperor from the bottom of their hearts.

But for some people on the margins of society, such as thieves, gangs, etc., this thing will be much less.

For civil servants, the higher the rank, the fewer black nematodes there are - which pretty much means that the higher your social status in the empire, the less you have to fear the emperor.

However, people with higher status had more access to the emperor, and even without the influence of the black nematodes, they still maintained sufficient respect.

Of course, it is also possible that the higher the status, the easier it is to be discovered.

Apart from maintaining awe of the emperor, Sean did not find any other use for this black nematode.

The relevant information channels are all from Zhu Zhu's parents, so Sean has not paid too much attention to it during this period of time - after all, he does not have this thing in his body.

However, what Sean didn't expect was that the black nematodes that he had not cared about for a long time actually appeared on the body of this strange tree man, and it seemed that the black nematodes were trying their best to corrode the tree man.

"Brother, there." Xiao Ci pointed again. She seemed to be able to clearly see the direction of the black nematode.

When Sean heard this, he looked and realized that the black nematodes were not destroying the tree man as individual life forms, but were spreading from other places.

And at the end of the black nematode... Sean looked up, and what caught his eye was a hand, a hand tightly bound by branches and cell fruits. The hand was almost like a mummy, and was severely corroded.

Are the branches and fruits corrupted?

Is this the prisoner imprisoned on the last floor? Or is it not the prisoner, but the guard who was corrupted by the plague?

Sean subconsciously raised his head to look upwards.

Suddenly, a rapid ringing sounded in his heart.

The half pointer that had merged into the body appeared on Sean's retina for the first time like a projection.

The pointer... is reminding me... that I can’t look?

Is it some kind of unimaginable pollution that would affect even me after seeing it?

Just as Sean was thinking, suddenly, he and Xiao Ci raised their heads at the same time.

The whole prison suddenly shook!

Did I cause this? But I didn't do anything...

Xiao Ci closed his eyes and felt it for a while, then immediately said: "Brother, the basic defense force here is inexplicably lost, I don't know why... Wait, someone with authority over this place is opening the restrictions here!"

Xiao En was stunned for a moment, then he started to curse: "Damn Bai Zhan, you didn't even give your third brother the last chance, right?"

The shaking of the Black Dove became more violent, and even an acute feeling of weightlessness came over him, as if the entire prison was about to spread its wings and fly away just like its name meant.

"My adventure trips are always interrupted by gates." Sean shouted cursingly. He took a last look at the tree man who was still standing there in a daze, and then hugged Xiao Ci.

Once the defensive force is completely lost, Xiao Ci's suppression will be useless. At that time, no matter who is the plague saliva between this tree man and the person bound behind him, he will be in trouble if he stands here.

After running out of the basement, as expected, the heart cell had begun to vibrate violently. Sean could even see the blood in the walls beginning to flow violently.

Blood is starting to pour in here...

Sean frowned and ran outside quickly.

"Sean, what happened? The other prisoners in the cell are screaming for some reason!" Zhu Zhu shouted immediately when she saw Sean running out.

Sean took a casual look and saw that a large number of black nematodes had emerged from the cells where the prisoners were held. The nematodes were eating away at the prisoners. They began to self-mutilate frantically, and blood was spilling and flowing into the pipes along the corners of the cells.

Sure enough, the blood was flowing back into the heart... The black nematodes and the heart of the prison cell were one and the same. Was the tree man going to free them?

Because the Count and Countess were too weak and had lost their minds too much, they were not too affected by the black nematodes at this time.

Sean hooked his finger, and the nematodes entangled with the count and his wife shook and turned into a cloud of mist.

"You don't even need me to open the door. The defense here is weakening. Bring your parents and Zhu Zhu, and let's go."

"it is good!"

Several people were pulled by Zhu Zhu into the shiny buttons. Sean walked quickly forward. In front of him, Elisa Lam was holding Bai You tightly.

Bai You was also eroded by the black nematodes. He wanted to hurt himself but was stopped by Elisa Lam.

"Bai You, Bai You, wake up!"

"Wake up, damn." Sean took a step forward and slapped Bai You hard on the face.

Bai You, who originally had a crazy look on his face, stood there in a daze. As soon as he lowered his head, he saw the black nematodes crawling out of his body, trembling and turning into a ball of black mist.

He looked up and saw his mother looking at the man in admiration.

"Sean..." Bai You was dazed.

Xiao En chuckled and said, "My savior is here. I don't want you to call me dad, but calling me Uncle Xiao is not too much, right?"

"Uncle Xiao...that's not right!" Bai You finally reacted. He looked at him in disbelief. "My mother said that you saved me. It's all true..."

"nonsense."

"But what exactly happened now?"

"What are you standing there for? This is nonsense. Your dear elder brother doesn't want the Third Prince to get away safely."

As they were talking, suddenly several people rushed upwards together under the influence of huge force, almost hitting the ceiling directly.

Sean held Elisa Lam with one hand and used the other hand to casually hook Bai You's body to stabilize it.

And the force just now is still continuing.

"This is not right..."

Sean smashed the wall next to him with one punch, and then saw that the soil and concrete were "falling" rapidly.

The underground cell is rising!