Ch. 77 - Eating

"These damn bastards—are they planning to have some fun and raise children here?" Han Shu withdrew his gaze from the giant corpse and muttered.

Tianyang felt even more heavy-hearted. "It won't be that simple, Black Prince... If there's a prince, could there be a king?"

Han Shu's expression changed. "Siyan let one slip once; inside the Inverse Universe, there indeed exists something like the Black Prince. But unfortunately, my authority is still insufficient. It seems that only the higher-ups like Siyan know about those things."

Tianyang frowned. "As Night Walkers exist for the Exploration Corps, shouldn't information about the Inverse Universe be unconditionally open to us?"

Han Shu comforted him by patting his shoulder. "When I first joined the Night Walkers, I thought the same. But now I think it's not bad to know less; at least there's less mental pressure. Just look at Siyan's appearance of kidney deficiency; you can tell being in the higher-ups isn't easy."

Tianyang couldn't agree with his way of thinking.

Han Shu snapped his fingers at Ji Yu again. "We need to go down and see, Ji Yu, find us a way out."

Ji Yu sighed and said, "Increasing my workload again."

Han Shu grinned. "The more work, the more rewards; come on, stop complaining; let's quickly figure out what those dark scoundrels are up to, so we can get back sooner."

"After going back, I want to drink. Good wine!" Ji Yu emphasized. "Good wine!"

"It's on me; I'll treat you. If you get drunk, I'll find you a place to sleep," Han Shu winked.

Ji Yu snorted from her nose and agilely flipped over the tree wall, heading down below.

The others followed suit.

Arriving at the bottom of the tree wall, Ji Yu gestured and led Tianyang and the others through the rubble, wreckage, and various concealments.

Exceptionally smoothly, they sneaked into a building.

Inside the building, the walls were covered with the unique fungus of the Inverse Universe, and the ground was scattered with various miscellaneous items. They found a staircase leading to the upper floors, and after a moment, they reached the fourth floor.

Han Shu found a window and looked outside. He saw that in the middle of the open space below the building, there were a dozen or so black, strange trees arranged in a circular pattern.

These trees had no leaves, only twisted branches, and strange symbols were carved on the trunks. Under each strange tree was a bonfire. In the firelight, eerie figures wandered nearby.

Wanderers!

Not many in number, but there were also dozens of these bottom-level dark creatures wandering around.

When Tianyang also saw this scene, he lowered his voice and said, "Captain, these several buildings, along with the strange trees below and the outer tree wall, form three concentric circles. This is obviously not a natural phenomenon."

Han Shu also retracted his head, sat against the wall, and drew three circles on the dusty ground with his fingers. "It does look very strange indeed. It's a bit like the structure of the Church of the Warlord, with their altar. Plus, there's that Black Prince. What are these scoundrels really worshiping?"

As they were observing outside the window, Su Dou suddenly changed his expression, and Ji Yu beside him also reminded him, "Quick, look outside."

Han Shu and Tianyang looked outside again. A group appeared in the open space below.

This group was mainly composed of mad dogs and mysterious shooters, with a wizard leading the way.

Beside that wizard, there was another figure.

Tianyang adjusted the tactical eye's focal length, zoomed in, and saw a fat man.

Short stature, wearing shorts, with pale skin.

On his head was a helmet resembling a crown. Tianyang would bet that he also wore a face mask covering half of his face.

"Is that thing also a Black Prince?" Han Shu had just said this when another team appeared in the northwest corner of the open space.

Also led by a wizard, the team was followed by a humanoid creature. However, this one was particularly burly, with very defined muscle lines, and his arms were wrapped in black iron chains. As he walked, the chains collided, making a clinking sound.

From the crown helmet and black face mask, yes, this was also a Black Prince.

Han Shu and the others all withdrew their heads, sat down, and stared at each other in shock.

"I think we should retreat," Ji Yu coughed, casting an inquiring glance at Han Shu.

Just one wizard was enough to give people a headache. Now there were two below, and moreover, two Black Princes.

Adding the one they let escape, there were already three Black Princes in this town.

Although it was not clear to what extent the Black Princes' true strength reached, since they could be crowned as Princes, they were likely not inferior to wizards.

If they were to be considered as Level 3 danger dark creatures, now there were a total of five monsters of this danger level.

In any case, Raven Squad had no chance of winning.

Han Shu looked hesitant. The current situation there would definitely be dangerous. But if they left like this, they wouldn't know the dark creatures’ purpose.

Strange roars and cries came from downstairs. Tianyang peeked and saw that two teams had already arrived near the tree circle.

The teams stopped, and all the mad dogs and mysterious shooters among them began to howl loudly, as if celebrating something.

It wasn't until the two wizards, with their stooped figures and layers of fabric draped like capes, raised their pale, skinny hands that the crazed howls of the dark creatures quieted down.

The wizards pointed towards the tree circle. At this moment, the ground trembled slightly, and an invisible force lifted a rock from the ground.

The two wizards gestured with their hands, and the rock immediately turned into a high-backed stone seat under the influence of the invisible force.

On the high back of the stone seat, sparks flickered, carving out the mysterious symbols that Tianyang and the others had seen on the black, withered tree outside the mysterious little building!

After the symbols were completed, a series of short, hoarse words sounded from inside the wizards' hoods. The two Black Princes seemed to understand, both nodding slightly before walking towards the tree circle.

Once inside the tree circle, the particularly burly Black Prince swung his arm, and the iron chains wrapped around his arm flew out, entangling a wanderer.

The giant-like Black Prince pulled on the iron chains, pulling the wanderer towards him. The Black Prince reached out and grabbed it, and the crown-shaped helmet and face mask on top of his head opened up, revealing the mouthpiece inside.

A bite.

It bit into the wanderer's head, and there was a sharp sound of teeth and bones scraping violently.

The other fat one also didn't hold back. Despite his seemingly clumsy figure, he leaped lightly into the air, rushing towards two wanderers ahead.

In mid-air, his belly suddenly split open left and right, revealing a gaping mouth.

As the fat one pounced down, two bursts of black blood, like oil, sprayed out from under his body, devouring most of the wanderers in an instant.

"They..." Tianyang looked toward Han Shu. "Are they... eating?"

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