Chapter 194 - Woman on a Beast (1/2)

Lin Luoran feels that she is a jinx.

Lava is still rolling after a day. It keeps gathering.

The animals all start to panic because of this abnormality. They crowd into the higher spots on the platform in order to keep themselves safe in case the lava bursts into the sanctuary.

There are dozens of animals in various sizes and different levels of the food chain. At first, they lived in peace with each other because they were all refugees from the disaster. As the safe place in the sanctuary became smaller, a turmoil started as Lin expected.

The turmoil was started by an ant. It stepped into the territory of the gophers and one of the gophers ate the ant. Before the ant slipped into the gopher’s stomach, the other ants got angry and they sent an army.

A saying goes that a million ants are able to kill an elephant. Except for the gophers who are also super productive, other animals are normally not so stupid to drift into a fight with the ants.

Therefore, the other animals just sit by and watch.

The fight came to an end soon. The battleground was covered by the dead bodies of ants and gophers. The fittest survives in natural selection. Lin was fine with this.

What disgusted her was that the gophers and the ants later fought for the dead bodies on the ground. They were not collecting their enemies’ bodies as trophies. They fought for the bodies of their own… Lin thought that the gophers and the ants were about to bury their friends. Wen also was moved because he believed that the animals and insects also had feelings.

Soon enough, the reality slapped both Wen and Lin in the face.

The gophers dragged the dead gophers back and the ants dragged the dead ants back… Then, Lin witnessed a group of gophers tear apart the bodies of the dead gophers and eat them clean. The ants first gave the dead ants to their queen and they ate clean what was left.

Lin felt that her stomach was rolling. She needed a strong willpower to not throw up.

It was just like humans ate humans. While mating, female mantis would bite the male’s head off when the male wasn’t paying attention. The female one would eat the entire body of the male one, which would serve as the nourishment for its unborn baby… Let’s say that this is the way how mantises breed. However, why did the gophers and the ants do this when they were just stuck here for a day?

Were the ants take back the bodies of the dead ants because they were small and easy to carry? Were the gophers do that because the meat of the dead gophers can fill the alive one’s belly? If so, why did they start a fight…? It seemed that the gophers and the ants had planned to eliminate the old and the weak ones of their own in order to prepare for the crueler war against all the other animals.

Nevertheless, Lin really couldn’t accept the animals’ behavior of eating the dead bodies of the old and weak ones of their own.

Lin doesn’t worry about the shortage of food. She just hates to be hara.s.sed later — when the fight between the animals gets fiercer, the animals will set Wen and Lin as targets. This sanctuary is crowded with so many animals. Though these animals are not strong enough to threat Lin and Wen as the scorpion king did, Lin and Wen would have to fight for a while if the animals attacked them.

The first day in the sanctuary pa.s.ses in the silence of Lin and Wen.

In the heat, both humans and the animals feel sleepy. Lin and Wen sit down back to back. Lin uses her spiritual mind, which is very weak now, to warn the cyan little fox not to leave her side. Then she returns tranquility and starts to cultivate.

Wen’s level of cultivation has dropped, but he doesn’t regret calling out the “Fire-proof Dome” before. This sanctuary is surrounded by lava and the fire Reiki around is abundant. He takes the chance and tries to restore his power.

Both of them are somehow anxious. They are in this situation because of the murals, yet they don’t have a clue about the murals… The inhibition in the relic in the desert is clearly the work of cultivators.

Did the inhibition cause the sudden sand sink, or were there somebody or something that wanted them to come to this underground world?

Wen clearly thinks deeper than Lin about these questions. He grew up in a family of cultivators so he has certain advantages over Lin. For example, information and materials — Wen is 100% sure that this underground world is unknown to humans.

There are abnormal animals, complex tunnels and glowing plants, herbs, and the Strange Fire… If this place were found by humans earlier, the world of cultivation would fight for this treasured place.

Therefore, the answer to the mystery of “the disappearance of cultivators on and above the level of Gathering Vitality” may be here. The problem is that he doesn’t know where to find it.

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When Lin opens her eyes again, she sees the red glow on the walls around. This arched platform is as hot as before, which means that the lava is still around.

The cyan little fox is not in her arms.

Lin is surprised and she jumps up and looks for the little fox. Thank G.o.d that the cyan little fox is meters away from her and it is digging into the ground. Lin is relieved but then she frowns.

She was cultivating last night. How did she fall asleep?