Deep in the Living

Chapter 680 Relics
The outer door was closed, leaving only Roddy in the secret room.

He inhaled the ancient scent in the air, feeling as if he were in a dreamlike hell, encountering his ancestors.

"The corner has only existed for less than a century. Whether it is the blocky shallow area or the relatively open middle area, it is all based on the human world for the past century, directly replicating the random environment of the past."

Fear in various forms is also expressed through modern literature.

It's hard to imagine that such an ancient area could exist in this corner, especially since the 'area' actively sought out humans... I won't think about that too much now; I'll probably find out what's going on once I'm in the stone coffin."

He jumped into the coffin.

Lying in it,

There was no strange smell, nor any sense of fear associated with the corner.

I waited quietly for three minutes, but nothing happened.

"Do I really need to build it myself?"

Roddy had no choice but to sit up again and move the heavy coffin lid to the side. The moment it was sealed tightly, the inside of the coffin instantly became extremely dark.

But apart from this darkness, nothing else has changed.

An hour passed, and nothing happened.

Luo Di was huddled in this restrictive, dark space, feeling somewhat physically uncomfortable from the suffocation. He subconsciously wanted to push open the coffin lid, but then withdrew his hand.

"Let's get some sleep~ I haven't had a break since I finished filming the movie."

Just thinking about it makes me sleepy.
I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

It was my first time sleeping in a stone coffin. It felt like I slept for a very, very long time, making up for all the sleep I had missed during this period.

Just as he was about to wake up, a peculiar sensation came over him, as if something soft and cold was pressed against his body.

When Roddy opened his eyes, the inside of the stone coffin was filled with mist.

A faint white face was right in front of him, the other person above him, Luo Di below him, their eyes meeting.

As for that unusual feeling of attachment, it came from a white-painted belly that draped down from the mist and touched Roddy's abdomen.

It was Jock, an image covered entirely in white paint. It wasn't a physical entity; only its face and part of its belly were visible.

For a moment, Roddy couldn't understand why the pituitary gland, which had been completely killed, could be presented in this form.

There is only one possibility: it is related to a secret room, or to the so-called creation of relics.

If that's the case, he can only ignore it for now.

However, Jock's disgusting voice came through: "You're finally awake~ Where is this place? It's so dark, so narrow, so scary! Luckily you're here! Otherwise, I would have been scared to death."

I never imagined that even after I died, I could reappear in this form.

If I'm not mistaken, Roddy, you're probably involved in what humans call artifact creation, right?
What kind of thing do you plan to make me into? I personally suggest making me a balloon, which you can tie to your body or float behind you whenever you want.

"I can witness your logging operations and see what's happening beyond the corners of the map—it's so exciting just thinking about it!"

Hearing that familiar mocking voice, Roddy showed no emotion or response; he was simply sensing the changes in the coffin.

"Is it flowing?"

The coffin, which was previously lying flat at the bottom of the pit, now appears to be floating downstream.

"Hey! Can you chat with me? This is so boring."

The painted belly rubbed against Roddy's body, but the latter didn't care at all and didn't stop it.

Roddy speculated that this should be part of the pituitary adaptation process, and any rejection might affect the creation of the artifact.

No matter what Jock said or did, he pretended nothing had happened.

Waiting quietly.

Suddenly, a jolt of impact was felt. The stone coffin seemed to have reached its end and stopped moving.

At the same time, the sealed coffin lid loosened on its own, and Jock's behavior became increasingly outrageous.

Seeing this, Luo Di kicked off with all his might!
Not only did it puncture Jock's enormous belly, turning it into mist, but it also kicked the coffin lid open completely.

Rising from between the stone coffins, they indeed arrived at a completely new area, an ancient grotto hundreds or thousands of times larger than the secret chamber.

The stream murmurs.

The coffin was led to this unknown ancient grotto, where nearly a hundred stone coffins are currently piled up at the end of the stream.

The spacious interior of the grotto features a unique and distinctive building.

The building's shape is inconsistent with any period of human civilization; it resembles a "broken hand."

Its overall shape differs from that of a human hand. In addition to the usual five fingers, a large number of secondary fingers grow on its top, growing haphazardly and without any pattern.

The broken wrist corresponds to the building's entrance.

It is enormous in scale, with the arched entrance gate reaching a height of nearly 100 meters.

It doesn't seem to be designed for short humans, but rather constructed for some great being.

Jock's illusory image made an exaggerated gesture of surprise, as if his jaw was about to drop to the ground. "Wow! There's actually such a pristine area in the corner. I've never been to it before... It seems that being killed by you, Roddy, isn't entirely a sad thing after all."

Roddy had already blocked out the other party's voice, focusing all his attention on the spectacle before him.

"Is it a hand again? If it's related to the nature of corners, I wonder if this thing will react?" Roddy took out the divine ring, and there was indeed a slight reaction, but it wasn't strong.

Driven by curiosity about the relics, Roddy leaped out of the coffin and rushed toward the cave wonder, entering through the arched doorway.

Jock's indistinct body floated behind him in the form of a gathering mist, its tail connected to its pituitary gland.

【hall】

"Top": The top is covered with dense grooves, corresponding to the hundreds of index fingers at the top.

"Five Finger Passages": The five fingers of the building correspond to five extended passages, but they are currently all sealed off by stone doors, making them inaccessible and equipped with special seals.

"Central Stone Platform": In the center of the hall stands a normal-sized stone platform, shaped like an arm, as if something needs to be placed on it.

The closer Roddy got to the hand-shaped stone platform, the more Joker, who was floating behind him, resisted.

However, Jock is already dead, and his phantom form can't change anything.

Judging from Jock's extremely resistant expression, Roddy probably understood the true purpose of the stone platform and was finally able to escape this disgusting invasion at such close range.

Hold the balloon-like pendant and place it on the hand-shaped stone platform.

click!
It was as if some kind of mechanism had been triggered.

The five-fingered structure on the stone platform suddenly began to clench, squeezing the pituitary gland tightly until it was completely crushed. A hoarse sound of the balloon breaking could be heard, like Jock's dying lament.

If Roddy was physically executed by Jock during the filming of the movie...

What happened here was a complete and utter annihilation.

Between the crushed pituitary glands, a white liquid seeped out and was completely absorbed by the stone platform itself.

Rumble!
The spectacular structure trembled, and the dense fingers on its top began to move wildly, as if they had received nourishment and were growing.

follow closely,

The five stone doors (five-finger passageways) corresponding to the hall began to change.

Different patterns and symbols suddenly appeared on the surface of the stone gate, as if Roddy needed to make a choice here.

Thumbs up, [the circus tent]

Index finger, [Swarm of balloons]

The middle finger, [with a sinister mist where ghostly faces appear].

Ring finger, [comic book]

Little finger, [without any pattern].

"Do the five doors correspond to the different characteristics of Jock's pituitary gland? Are these doors the 'relics' that have already been made?"
Once I make a choice, the corresponding relic characteristics will be fixed.

Judging from these graphics, the fog is clearly the best choice... Jock's tricks, balloons, and abilities from beyond the realm don't suit me, nor do they fit the style of a serial killer.

But what about the door corresponding to the little finger? Can I select it? Why isn't there a related image?

Although Roddy really wanted to choose the fog gate corresponding to the middle finger,

But his gaze always drifted toward the mysterious stone door corresponding to his little finger.
For some reason, even though there were no patterns to refer to or make a judgment, intuition made Roddy want to get closer to them.

"What I currently possess, whether it's the Black Ridge of Megan or the peripheral items I obtained in the dungeons, is very useful and sufficient for me to proceed to deeper levels."

Making relics is merely icing on the cake.

Since my intuition has made the choice, I'll give it a try, otherwise I might regret it forever.

Of course, it's also possible that this door can't be opened, and only the first four doors are available. Go and take a look.

Roddy made a decision and moved to the little finger's door.

Just as he was considering how to open it and reached out to touch the door... *hum!* The divine ring on his hand responded.

The stone gate loosened and sank downwards!
A dark passage, known as the Little Finger Passage, came into view.

At the same time, the stone doors of the remaining finger passages all returned to their original state, no longer displaying any patterns, and remained closed.

The choice has been made; Roddy can only venture deeper.

Whew... I let out a long breath and stepped into the only little finger passage.

At the end of the darkness,

A stone coffin reappeared.

He reached out and placed his hand on the edge of the coffin lid, then pushed hard!
At the same time, a beam of white light suddenly descended and happened to shine inside the coffin.

At first glance,

Jock's pituitary gland was lying inside perfectly intact.

Upon closer inspection,
It does retain the shape of the pituitary gland, but its essence is no longer that of a balloon. Instead, it is an ellipsoidal, fleshy pituitary gland that is smooth and bright red.

Its top is inlaid with a hand-shaped metal interface, which resembles the feeling of holding a pendulum, and it seems that it can be made into a necklace by attaching a metal chain.

As Roddy grasped the strange pituitary gland, a voice rang out:
<Unknown Relic Acquired>

(End of this chapter)