Fantasy Game: Infinite City

Chapter 645 The Secret of Bastinburg (4)

Han Zu paid no attention to the little mouse above his head; his focus was on an entrance at the base of the tower. This entrance was hidden within the spiral patterns of the tower, difficult to spot without careful observation. A thin, silvery-white membrane covered the entrance, beneath which emanated the same silvery-white light as the tower's patterns. He hesitated for a moment, not immediately entering, but instead circling the tower, finding no other passageways besides this one. He guessed that this entrance might lead to the tower's interior, but considering the spatial collapse caused by touching the throne earlier, he decided not to rush in and to explore the circular space first.

Around the circular space, four entrances led in different directions, each with a unique shape. Han Zu chose an entrance radiating a dark red light and stepped inside. The walls of the passage were covered with dark red, vascular-like structures that constantly writhed, transporting a dark red liquid in all directions. On the floor, dark red, moss-like fleshy tissue grew, slippery and soft underfoot, making a "plop plop" sound.

After walking for several hundred meters, the passage suddenly widened, forming a vast canyon-like space. On either side of this space were towering cliffs of flesh and blood, riddled with enormous holes from which dark red liquid flowed continuously, forming massive waterfalls of blood that eventually converged into a dark red lake at the bottom of the space. The lake's surface was covered with tiny bubbles, which constantly burst, making gurgling sounds, and the air was filled with a strong smell of rust.

Within this canyon dwell a number of enormous creatures. These creatures are at least ten meters long, with streamlined bodies constructed from thick, skeletal-like tissue, their surfaces covered in a layer of dark red, scale-like flesh. Their heads are triangular, containing enormous mouths filled with sharp, tooth-like proboscis, while their eyes, hidden in depressions on either side of their heads, gleam with a dark red light. These creatures swim slowly in the lake, occasionally surfacing to open their massive mouths and swallow chunks of flesh that fall from the cliffs.

The little mouse, perched atop Han Zu's head, stiffened slightly upon seeing the enormous creatures, its claws gripping even tighter. A flicker of fear gripped it; in its mind, these things were terrifying—their mouths so large, their teeth so sharp—a bite from one would surely shatter it into pieces. But it quickly regained its composure, stealing a glance at Han Zu's profile. Seeing that he remained expressionless and fearless, it mustered its courage once more.

Han Zu, carrying the little mouse, slowly made his way along a narrow path along the edge of the canyon. This path, constructed of skeletal tissue, clung tightly to the cliff face, its width barely allowing one person to pass at a time. Below lay a bottomless, dark red lake, where occasionally enormous creatures would surface, creating huge waves. The splashed dark red liquid would land on the path, making a sizzling sound before being absorbed by the skeletal tissue of the path.

As Han Zu continued his journey, he discovered that on the cliff face of the canyon, there were vine-like fleshy tissues growing. These vines twined around the holes in the cliff, their ends bearing fruit-like sac-like structures. These sac-like structures were translucent, filled with a dark red liquid, within which something seemed to be wriggling. Upon closer inspection, he found that the surface of the sac-like structures was covered with fine blood vessels, which were connected to blood vessels on the cliff face, constantly absorbing the dark red liquid.

The little mouse stared curiously at the sac-like structures, tilting its head and wondering what was inside. Was it something delicious? Or were there little monsters hiding inside? It wanted to jump down and take a look, but dared not leave Han Zu's head. It could only point at the sac-like structures with its little paws, making soft "squeak" sounds, as if asking Han Zu a question. Han Zu sensed the movement above him, glanced down at the sac-like structures, but didn't pay much attention, continuing along the path.

At the end of the canyon was a massive stone gate, composed of pure black, skeletal-like tissue, its surface carved with intricate patterns. These patterns seemed to depict the evolutionary process of some creatures, gradually evolving from the simplest flesh and blood into various forms of life. Inlaid in the center of the gate was a huge, dark red crystal, shaped like a heart, slowly pulsating and radiating powerful energy fluctuations.

Han Zu walked to the stone door and gently touched the dark red crystal. The moment the crystal touched his finger, its pulsation suddenly accelerated, and the patterns on the stone door began to emit a dark red light, as if they had come alive. But the stone door did not open; instead, it emitted a repulsive energy wave, repelling Han Zu's hand. He frowned, sensing that the crystal seemed to require specific energy to activate, and the energy within his body did not match the crystal's energy.

Seeing Han Zu's hand repelled, the little mouse became angry. It bared its teeth at the stone door and made a threatening squeak, as if blaming the stone door for being ungrateful. In its mind, Han Zu was omnipotent, and this stone door dared to refuse him—it was truly despicable. It waved its little paws, wanting to jump down and scratch the stone door, but Han Zu gently pressed its body down, so it could only squat unwillingly on his head, glaring fiercely at the pulsating crystal.

Unable to open the stone door, Han Zu turned back and chose another entrance. This entrance emitted a pale yellow light, and the walls inside the passage were covered with a sand-like substance that made a "rustling" sound when stepped on. On both sides of the passage grew fleshy plants resembling cacti, their surfaces covered with sharp thorns, the tips of which shimmered with a pale yellow light.

After walking for about several dozen meters, the passage suddenly opened up, forming a vast desert-like space. The ground of this space was covered with thick, sand-like flesh and blood tissue. In the distance stood some huge sand dunes composed of skeletal tissue, their surfaces covered with fine patterns that reflected a soft luster under the pale yellow light. At the top of the space, some cloud-like flesh and blood tissue floated, constantly releasing pale yellow particles that fell to the ground like rain, merging with the sand-like flesh and blood tissue.

In this desert landscape live camel-like creatures. These creatures are large, with limbs and bodies made of robust, skeletal tissue. Their bodies are covered with a thick layer of pale yellow, downy flesh, which helps them withstand the desert's dryness. On their backs are two enormous humps, also composed of skeletal tissue, filled with pores that store large amounts of water and energy. These camel-like creatures move slowly across the desert, occasionally lowering their heads to dig into the sand with their sharp snouts, searching for hidden energy sources.

The little mouse's eyes lit up when it saw these camel-like creatures. It had never seen such large creatures before; they were even bigger than the monsters it had encountered in the canyon, but they looked much gentler. It sat on Han Zu's head, waving its little paws excitedly and making "squeak" sounds, seemingly expressing its curiosity to Han Zu.

Han Zu, carrying the little mouse, slowly made his way through the desert. He noticed that these camel-like creatures were equally oblivious to his presence, continuing to intently dig into the sand. When they unearthed an energy source hidden in the sand, their mouths would make a "crunching" sound as they chewed it up and swallowed it. And in the places they had dug, new sand-like flesh and blood tissue would quickly grow back, filling the holes as if they had never been dug at all.

In the center of the desert space, there was a huge vortex-like structure, its core constantly rotating, sucking in the surrounding sand and pale yellow particles. Han Zu walked to the edge of the vortex and discovered a faint blue light shimmering deep within its center. He could sense that this vortex seemed to be an energy convergence point, with all the surrounding energy gathering towards its center. However, he did not approach the vortex, because he could feel an unstable energy fluctuation emanating from it, and approaching rashly might result in being sucked in.

When the little mouse saw the whirlpool, its tiny body trembled slightly, a hint of fear in its heart. This constantly spinning thing looked dangerous, as if it could suck everything in. It clung tightly to Han Zu's hair, burying its head in Han Zu's scalp, too afraid to look at the whirlpool any longer. Only after Han Zu led it away from the whirlpool did it dare to peek out and continue observing its surroundings.

After leaving the desert space, Han Zu explored the remaining two passage entrances. One passage led to a space filled with white mist, inhabited by ghostly, semi-transparent creatures that survived by absorbing energy from the mist. The other passage led to a massive maze composed of skeletal tissue, riddled with traps. Smaller creatures that accidentally triggered these traps were absorbed into the maze's flesh. As Han Zu explored these spaces, he encountered more and more creatures, their forms becoming increasingly bizarre. However, they all shared a common characteristic—they were oblivious to Han Zu and the little mouse, focusing solely on their own activities.

As time went by, the little mouse grew bolder. It no longer just sat on Han Zu's head; sometimes it would climb down his arm, onto his shoulder, or perch on his wrist, observing the passing creatures up close. Once, a butterfly-like creature flew in front of Han Zu. Without hesitation, the little mouse stretched out its tiny paw to catch it, but the butterfly-like creature nimbly dodged and then flapped its wings and flew away. The little mouse was a little disappointed, but it still didn't leave Han Zu's side, merely waving its paw in the direction the butterfly-like creature had flown.

Han Zu didn't stop the little mouse from playing. As long as it didn't leave his side or provoke any aggressive creatures, he let it play. He could sense that the little mouse was full of curiosity about this strange and peculiar world, and this curiosity might help it discover some overlooked details. And indeed, once, the little mouse discovered a small passage hidden in a crack in the wall. Inside the passage grew a fleshy plant that emitted a faint glow, and this passage ultimately led to a small space storing a large amount of energy crystals.

Furthermore, Han Zu was also curious about this little creature that had followed him all the way from Bastienburg. Leaving aside the fact that its frail body could tear off a piece of its own flesh, and that it could even evolve after accidentally ingesting it, this seemed normal, but it wasn't actually the case. Han Zu had conducted many experiments in the past, and he discovered that unless one consciously used their own flesh to evolve other creatures, any organism that ingested their own flesh, from insects to humans, would die quickly because they couldn't withstand the evolutionary pressure. But this little mouse was different. It was currently the only creature that Han Zu hadn't consciously controlled, yet it had withstood the evolutionary pressure and successfully evolved. Although in Han Zu's perception, this little creature was no different from an ordinary mouse (before it evolved), since it could evolve, it must possess some unique characteristics that Han Zu was unaware of. Han Zu had already decided that as long as this little creature didn't exhibit any uncontrollable hostile behavior, keeping it with him wasn't out of the question.

After exploring for about half a day, Han Zu arrived at a massive corridor composed of skeletal tissue. The corridor was at least several kilometers long and about ten meters wide. The walls were covered with regularly spaced grooves, each containing a glowing crystal that emitted a soft light, illuminating the entire corridor as if it were daytime. The floor of the corridor was covered with a smooth, marble-like layer of skeletal tissue, making no sound when stepped on.

Along both sides of the corridor stood numerous statues composed of flesh and blood. These statues varied in form; some resembled humans, others animals, and still others creatures never before seen. The surfaces of the statues were covered with intricate patterns, emanating a faint aura of energy, seemingly undergoing some kind of slow transformation. A little mouse sat atop Han Zu's head, curiously observing the statues. When it saw a statue that resembled a cat, its eyes lit up, and it pointed at the statue with its little paws, squeaking as if to tell Han Zu that the statue was very interesting.

Han Zu walked slowly along the corridor. He noticed that the arrangement of the statues seemed to follow a certain pattern, evolving from simple fleshy tissue forms to complex biological forms, and finally to human-like shapes. He guessed that these statues might record the evolutionary process of the creatures in this fleshy labyrinth, and were important clues for studying the origin of this labyrinth. He reached out and gently touched a human-like statue. The surface of the statue was warm to the touch, completely different from the cold, skeletal tissue he had encountered before.

The moment Han Zu touched the statue, the patterns on its surface suddenly emitted a dazzling light, and a blurry stream of information flowed into his mind. This stream of information contained fragmented images: enormous flesh and blood tissue continuously split and grew, forming the initial passage; various creatures were born and evolved within the flesh and blood tissue, gradually forming fixed patterns of activity; a colossal palace rose from the ground in the center of the labyrinth, radiating powerful energy fluctuations. However, this stream of information was too fragmented for him to extract complete information from. Soon, the light disappeared, and the statue returned to its previous appearance.

The little mouse sensed the statue's light and curiously approached it, sniffing it with its little nose and gently touching it with its tiny paws. Seeing that the statue didn't react, it climbed back onto Han Zu's head. It was puzzled: Why did this human-like thing glow just now? Was it because its "guardian" touched it? If I touch it again, will it still glow? Although the little creature was full of questions and curiosity, it dared not touch it again, fearing it might cause some danger.

At the end of the corridor stood a massive archway, constructed of pure black, skeletal-like tissue, its surface carved with intricate patterns somewhat similar to those seen on the stone gate earlier, seemingly depicting some kind of mysterious ritual. Above the archway hung a huge, moon-like luminous object, emitting a soft, silvery-white light that illuminated the area below.

"Perhaps I should go in and take a look."