Falling into the Abyss

Facing Samuel's question, Ethan just looked blank.He spread his gaze behind Samuel, and found that Schneider and others were also standing not far away, staring at him suspiciously.

Among these few people, only Samuel has seen his mutated appearance, but will Samuel tell Schneider?

Ethan didn't intend to let Samuel know the chaotic images he saw, so he made an excuse, "It's nothing, I just had a headache. Let's go."

They walked through the entire empty and long hall, Ethan was silent all the way, listening to other people's various guesses.

"Such a large palace is not consistent with the usual architectural style of the horned people." The sergeant said while looking around. "The shape of these pillars gives people a... very uneasy feeling. I always feel that they will fall down .”

"Didn't it mean that this place might be an ancient mausoleum or something? The holy race or something probably belonged to ancient princes and nobles. Maybe that was the style at that time."

"Damn it, those people with horns already look weird enough, why even the tomb is so weird?"

"This may not be a tomb, but a temple." Stan whispered on Schneider's back, "I have come into contact with many undiscovered ancient tombs on various planets in my business before entering the city, and no tomb owner would Make the entrance so obvious, and choose a location in such a damp place. Especially when the other party is a nobleman. Instead, it is a temple. I heard that the corpses of horned people are usually buried on trees. But their temples are usually buried deep in the ground."

Ethan agrees with him. He has seen some photos of the horned man's temple, and they are indeed hidden deep in the ground like a tomb.But the temple's architectural style doesn't quite fit the horned people's usual rounded style, it's too big, and it looks like it's been abandoned for quite some time.There is a decaying smell in the air, like a mummy that has been sleeping for thousands of years.

Most importantly, there are no obvious sculptures of the great wise men worshiped here.

Finally, the hall came to an end, but their footsteps suddenly stopped.At the end is a tall and straight stone wall. There is no wall and no stone carvings. The wall is full of dense round holes, some high and some low, some big and some small, like a pockmarked face eroded by wind and frost, which is uncomfortable.The largest hole is the closest to the ground, like a subway tunnel that has just been dug out.The stones at all the entrances of the caves were corroded into pits, and some translucent mucus films remained in the grooves. Those films spread all the way to the ground and spread in all directions on the dusty ground.

The faint cold wind blows out from those holes, carrying a strong fishy smell.

"You said..." Samuel said first, "These things are not where the bugs come out..."

What he said was exactly what everyone thought, but suddenly hearing someone actually say it, I still felt my scalp go numb.

Look at the number of holes, and look at those holes as big as subway tunnels...

"So those bugs outside locked us in their nests? Are you trying to store us for the winter?" Samuel snorted bitterly, but the others didn't think it was funny.

The sergeant sighed, "We're dead."

Ethan suddenly walked towards the nearest huge hole, reached out and grabbed the rock, climbed up and stood at the hole.He suddenly heard a long sigh reaching his ears along with the stench coming from his face.

"Ethan! Come back!" Samuel shouted eagerly behind him.

Ethan looked back at them, "Wait for me here, I'll go in and take a look. Maybe there are other exits."

"What nonsense are you talking about! You don't even have a weapon, what do you do if you encounter that kind of big bug?!" Samuel rushed over and wanted to pull him down, but Ethan took a step back and gave Samuel a firm look. With a smile, he whispered, "Don't worry, I'm not afraid of them anymore."

Samuel was taken aback.He understood the meaning of Ethan's words.

He never wanted to recall the scene of Ethan's mutation, and he didn't want to believe what kind of... monster Ethan had become.

But he looks so normal now, no different from before?Maybe the mutation is only temporary?He kept telling himself that.

But now he has to start to wonder, if Ethan can really drive those huge bugs, then they are trapped here now, does Ethan belong to their human side, or to those disgusting bugs?

His suspicion and hesitation did not escape Ethan's eyes, and Beta took a step back, "Don't follow." Yu Bi gave him a deep look, then turned around, and his figure was quickly swallowed by darkness.

He didn't even bring any lighting.

Samuel turned his head and saw the other three staring at him in disbelief.Schneider asked, "You let him in like this?"

"He...he said he knew what he was doing. Don't let us follow."

Schneider put Stan on his back and frowned, "Do you trust him?"

Samuel hesitated, then nodded.

Now two of the four of them are seriously injured, it is not appropriate to act indiscriminately.They decided to move to a place near the wall a little farther away to rest and wait for a while.Stan lost a lot of blood, and sprinkled the remaining hemostatic medicine on the wound, but it still oozes.The burns on the sergeant's arm were also worsening.Although bandaged, the sergeant seemed to feel itchy and often scratched vigorously.And gradually, an unpleasant smell emanated from that arm.

No one knows if the acid from those bugs will be poisonous.

Schneider and the sergeant continued to try to use the beeper to contact the headquarters for help, but for some reason, all the electronic equipment on their bodies could not transmit or receive any signal.It's like being cut off from the whole world by an invisible wall.The sergeant finally threw the communicator to the ground angrily and gave up.

***********

The dark, viscerally frightening color is the final color of all colors mixed together, the color that simultaneously represents everything and nothing, existence and nothingness.

Ethan used to be very afraid of the dark. When he was a child, he accidentally dropped his father's portable capsule into a water glass, and was locked in a narrow closet by his father.At that time, my mother went abroad to perform, and only he and his father were at home. He was locked up for a whole day, no matter how much he begged for an apology, it was useless, and he almost thought that his father would not let him out again.

Since then, he has been afraid of the dark, afraid of narrow spaces.He also used to turn on a small dim light by his pillow when he slept. When Roland saw it, he laughed at him for being so grown up and afraid of the dark.

But now, he found that he didn't feel any anxiety, and the beating frequency of his heart remained normal.He even likes this kind of darkness a little bit. He can't see anything, but somehow he can perceive the direction he is traveling in.

Perhaps, he was born to belong to the dark.

The bumpy road under his feet made him think of the intestines, and he suspected that he was walking in the belly of a huge monster.Thinking that if it was really intestines, it might not be long before it would be digested into a puddle of excrement, he actually laughed softly to himself.

He tried to feel whether there was a thought transmitted to him by Tanithel in the silence, but his mind was still empty, which made people lose their minds.He hadn't heard from Tanithel for a week, and he began to wonder if their temporary soul binding had expired?Or did he accidentally not notice the idea that Tanisel passed to him?Or... something happened to Tanithel?

He refused to believe in the last possibility.Because he didn't know what would happen to Tanisel if something happened to him.

At this time, a sigh was suddenly heard in the ear.

The sigh was so close, it seemed to be right next to his ear.He could even feel the breath blowing against the fluff of his ears.

"Who!" Ethan shivered.

The darkness looked back at him silently, as if turning into a solid body, wrapping him like amber wrapping a bug.

Ethan took a few more steps, and this time he felt something sticky brush the back of his hand.He hurriedly staggered a few steps in the opposite direction, and asked sharply, "Who's here!"

The darkness was still silent, and just when Ethan felt that he was about to lose patience, a genderless, childish, and very unnatural voice said, "We've been here. It's been a long time."

The voice had a weird articulation, as if the tongue was not flexible enough, with a strong accent.

Ethan tried to reach out his hand, touching in all directions, but couldn't touch anything.He ran forward, trying to get rid of the unreal voice, whether he was hallucinating it or not.

But the voice followed him.

"It's so cold here, so cold, so crowded..."

"We are leaving...to a warmer place...to wait for the gods to come..."

"Egg...egg...laying...expansion..."

That stiff, mechanical, child-like voice followed him like a nightmare, with no clear direction or source.

**********

Everyone else fell asleep, and Schneider watched the night alone in the dark, looking at Samuel's sleeping face in a daze.He turned the light on the gun to the darkest, and the gentle light caressed Samuel's side face, softening his always rigid and strong outline a lot, making him look more like a real Omega than usual.

Schneider looked down at his palms.Somewhat bewilderedly thinking that maybe he will die here with him.

Before he became the chief of the guard of the Forbidden City, he was also sent out with the garrison to clear up the pirates who had been harassing the border of the Earth Alliance.His comrade-in-arms in that fierce battle was also his lover—a strong and beautiful female Alpha, who was instantly burned to steam by the pirate's new microwave gun in front of him.And he was also seriously injured in that war, his right hand was a little inflexible, and he was no longer suitable for being a frontline officer.Because he successfully protected several civilian hostages, he was transferred to the Forbidden City after being awarded several medals.Originally, the head of the guard was an idle job with less work and more money, because most of the actual management was carried out by the supervisors of the east and west districts—for example, Vasiliev from the east district.As the head of the guard, he only needs to be responsible for formulating basic guarding and defense policies, patrolling the Forbidden City from time to time, and ensuring that there are enough non-human beings for all the atonement tasks assigned by the Forbidden City Committee.

But probably because of his personality, he just likes to do things by himself, and he has taken over many tasks that were originally in charge of by Vasiliev and the director of the West District.He probably wants to keep himself busy so that he doesn't have to think about his lover who has been dead for a few years.

Until he found Samuel, he saw the uneasiness and bewilderment surging deep in his beast-like vigilant and hard eyes.That expression was so similar to his former lover.It is true that Samuel was very different from her, but after her death, Samuel was the only one who touched his heart.

He wanted to get Samuel, wanted to embrace that strong and beautiful body like a cheetah, wanted to see his face soaked in desire, wanted to hear his name being called out from those full lips.

If they were going to die here, he wished he could tell the obsession that had been tormenting him before the end came.

He gazed at Samuel's profile fascinatedly, and leaned down slightly, trying to steal a kiss on that cheek.But just as he bent down, Samuel suddenly opened his eyes.The dark brown eyes turned slightly, looking at him faintly.

Schneider's body froze, and he quickly sat up straight, as if he was well-behaved.

"You want to kiss me?" Samuel asked in a matter-of-fact tone.

"No." Schneider retorted too quickly, and the reason was a bit lame, "I just want to see if you really fell asleep."

Samuel slowly sat up straight, his eyes glistening in the darkness, "It seems that Ethan is right."

"what?"

"He said you liked me."

Schneider wanted to refute the denial, but he didn't know why the words turned into the question he asked before: "...do you believe him?"

"I didn't believe it at first, but now I believe it a little bit." Samuel looked a little funny, folded his arms and stared at him, "Shouldn't I be honored that the dignified chief of guards has taken a fancy to me, a thick-skinned inhuman? ?”

His thorny tone made Schneider feel pain in his heart, he looked away, and whispered, "Don't talk to me in this tone, I don't owe you anything."

"You're right. I've always owed you." Samuel's heart softened a little when he saw that handsome but too serious face had a tinge of sadness.He lowered his voice and asked, "Are you sure it wasn't because you ... were in a special situation last time, and then I helped you, and you accidentally fell in love with me as your Alpha?"

A blush flew over Schneider's cheeks, but fortunately the light was too dark to see it, "Don't feel too good about yourself!"

Samuel laughed softly, leaned forward, and purposely got very close to the embarrassed chief of guard, his fingers frivolously outlined Schneider's jaw, "Then if I kiss you now, will you beat me?"

"……meeting!"

"Want to try it?"

"You dare!" The chief guard's angry look was originally majestic and intimidating, but for some reason, Samuel felt a little cute at this time.

Samuel was about to tease him a few more words when he heard the sergeant let out a cry of pain.The sergeant who was lying on the ground was holding his burned arm and rolling on the ground, as if it was in excruciating pain.

Schneider rushed over immediately and asked Samuel to hold him down, while he carefully unwrapped the bandage that wrapped his arm.

Then he almost threw up.

On the large honeycomb-like pitted wound that had already festered and drained pus, a large area of ​​white maggots grew, greedily devouring the carrion.

The sergeant himself saw his arm and screamed, "No no no no!!!!"

Both Samuel and Schneider looked at each other in shock. This kind of deterioration and decay was too fast, and it was not normal at all.

However, judging from the last few missions, they seem to be far, far away from normal.

Schneider said to the sergeant in a difficult voice, "The infection is so severe that it may require amputation."

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Happy Chinese New Year everyone~~~Thank you little angels for the red envelopes~~muuuuuua!!!