Infinite Puzzle City

Chapter 877 An Intolerable Thing
Xiao Ran's determination remained unwavering. He not only maintained the high price of 500 ghost coins per gram, but also distributed his reserves of food, warm clothing, and even some basic medical supplies to the miners free of charge.

"Uncle-Master, this... is too much of a loss." Qi Jinguang frowned as he looked at the money and supplies being spent like water.

He understood Xiao Ran's good intentions, but this was almost like throwing money away.

Xiao Ran stood under the shade of the pavilion, letting the wind and snow flutter the hem of his clothes. He did not explain to Qi Jinguang's doubts.

As he said before, these were all things that others risked their lives for, and what he gave up was nothing more than material possessions.

Xiao Ran didn't want to owe these ordinary people the slightest thing in this matter.

However, the greed in people's hearts is like the cold poison deep in the mine; it will not be completely dispelled by a moment of warmth.

This undisguised and immense favor, while comforting the majority, also ignited an even more fervent desire in the hearts of a few.

Since this "good fortune boy" is so generous, and the opportunity is once in a lifetime, why not take the chance to make a big profit?
That night, several miners living in adjacent shacks huddled together under the dim, flickering oil lamp. They had also received talismans and food during the day, but now they felt no gratitude, only scheming.

"Damn it, 500 yuan a gram! I worked myself to death today and only managed to dig up two grams. I'm exhausted!"

A man with pockmarked face spat, his eyes hardening. "At this rate, when will we ever save enough money to leave this godforsaken place? We might just end up here one day!"

“Pockmarked guy is right!” a tall, thin man chimed in, his eyes gleaming with greed. “We’ve only gone down 400 meters today. I heard that from 600 meters down, the rocks are all the size of fists! Just pick up a few, and you’ll have hundreds or even thousands of grams! That’s enough for a lifetime!”

"Six hundred meters?" Another short, stocky man's face showed fear. "The curse in that place is incredibly evil; even talismans wouldn't last long, would they? I've heard that nine out of ten people who go down there never come back..."

"What's there to be afraid of!" The pockmarked man sneered, lowering his voice, "If the talismans can't hold out, don't we still have that?"

"A blood pack?!"

The short, stocky man's expression changed. "That...that thing...it's too heinous..."

The air seemed to freeze for a moment. A suffocating silence and chill filled the shantytown.

Blood packs are human-shaped amulets made from living children through cruel processes, capable of temporarily warding off the curse of the deep mines.

"Hmph, heinous crimes?" The pockmarked face sneered. "You think those children aren't suffering now that they're alive? Look at what they've become! Neither human nor ghost, living a life worse than death! We'll use the blood packs, go down and collect enough stones to leave sooner, and they can be freed from this torment sooner! They won't have to suffer like this here!"

Upon hearing Ma Zi's words, the few people who had initially shown extreme resistance were suddenly tempted.

People who do bad things especially like to make excuses.

For example, rapists often blame girls for dressing too revealingly and attractively.

Thieves always claim they have no money to live on.

Truck drivers who speed and overload their vehicles always complain about how hard their lives are.

But these are all reasons they use to numb their conscience, to deceive others, and to deceive themselves; it's just self-deception.

But even without this self-deceiving reason, they can still come up with ten or a hundred more.

Hearing someone offer a reason, the other miners finally found a way to soothe their troubled consciences and chimed in with their agreement:
“Those children are so pitiful, this is a good deed we’re doing.”

"That's right, we're doing good!"

"Sigh, those children are so pitiful..."

"Tomorrow morning, we'll go find Old Pi to get some blood packs, and also ask that little Taoist priest who draws talismans for a couple more talismans! With the talismans and blood packs, I'll risk my life to make it through those 600 meters!"

Outside the shed, the cold wind howled.

Inside the shed, the lamp wick flickered a few times before being extinguished with a "poof" from a rough hand.

Darkness swallowed everything, also concealing the relieved yet even more sinister smiles on those greedy faces, which revealed a sense of relief upon finding a legitimate reason.

Heavy snoring soon began; in his dream, it was probably filled with glittering, multicolored minerals.

The next morning, as soon as it was broad daylight, Qi Jinguang had already taken out the talismans he had written and handed them to everyone.

"Young man, we have a few more brothers behind us. Could you help them get an extra one?" The man with a pockmarked face said as he walked up to Qi Jinguang.

Qi Jinguang didn't think much of it and casually took out some more talismans and handed them over.

After obtaining the talismans, Ma Zi and the others exchanged glances and headed straight for the mining area. They met up with each other after entering the mining area.

"Are the blood packs ready?"

"All right!"

A miner took out what he called a blood pack from a corner. It was a metal box about the size of a travel backpack, and it was quite heavy, weighing about 20 kilograms each.

This is the worst kind of blood pack. A high-quality blood pack would be as small and lightweight as a child's backpack, but the price would be beyond their reach.
Without further ado, the group shouldered their blood packs and immediately began to climb down.

Upon arriving at a relatively spacious, abandoned old platform constructed from rotten wooden planks.

Ma Zi and the others wiped the cold sweat from their foreheads and subconsciously looked up to estimate the depth.

He looked up, but suddenly stopped.

At the corner of the walkway above, several beams of similarly swaying mining lamps were slowly moving downwards.

By the dim light, Ma Zi could clearly see that behind those blurry figures, there were also heavy, rusty iron boxes on their backs.

Not just them! Ma Zi's heart trembled violently.

He quickly glanced at his companions and found them also staring in astonishment into the deeper shadows below.

There, indistinctly, were several groups of figures carrying heavy iron boxes, like slowly moving beetles, continuing to grope their way down the steep rock face!
When Ma Zi's gaze briefly met that of a miner carrying a blood pack at the corner above, the other man simply looked away quickly.

No words are needed. No communication is required; everything is understood without being spoken.

Ma Zi's Adam's apple bobbed, but he ultimately said nothing. He simply spat out a mouthful of saliva, tightened the cold iron box on his back, and growled at his companion:
"What are you looking at! Hurry up! Don't let someone else get there first!"

Upon hearing this, the group dared not rest any longer. Clearly, what they had thought of, others had also thought of, and had acted even earlier than them.

Ma Zi and the others slid down the cave wall, and gradually the surrounding light became brighter.

Suddenly, Ma Zi's eyes lit up when he saw a large, multicolored stone not far away, about the size of an adult's palm. He had never seen such a large multicolored stone in his life.

Just as he was shocked, his gaze shifted and he saw many, many more such large, multicolored stones in the distance.

"We've struck it rich! We've struck it rich!!"

Upon seeing this, Ma Zi and the others couldn't help but scream, took out their tools, and began digging.

Ma Zi and the others were digging frantically down below, unaware that none of the miners above had gone down into the mine.

"Uncle-Master, Grand-Uncle-Master, come quickly!"

Qi Jinguang hurried back and found Xiao Ran and the others.

He didn't know how to explain it, so he just said, "This morning, those people from the Changchun Association brought a really big coffin to the mining area. I don't know what they're up to."

Everyone was taken aback by what they heard. Xiao Ran frowned and stood up, saying, "Gu Bei, you and Wang Yu stay at home. If there is any commotion later, take the children and leave in the chaos."

Xiao Ran deliberately left the tiger demon behind to assist the two of them.

He then led Qi Jinguang, Wu Man, and Jin Chanzi straight to the mining area.

This was Xiao Ran's first real visit to the mining area, and in fact, Xiao Ran was quite averse to such places.

He saw too many things about the mining area in Wang Wu's memories.

This bottomless mine has claimed countless lives. If they can even develop something like blood packs, then what can't humans do?

He arrived at the edge of the mining area and saw that the miners dared not go down into the mine rashly, and were all gathered around and watching carefully.

At the edge of the northern mine pit, a huge black coffin came into view.

The coffin was five inches high, seven inches long, and three inches wide.

Don't call it a coffin; it's clearly a small house.

The surrounding miners felt a chill run down their spines when they saw such a colossal object.

They didn't know what was inside, but they knew Changchun never did anything without a reason. Suddenly bringing in such a strange thing would make anyone suspicious. This was why no one dared to go down into the mine rashly.

"Such a heavy corpse aura!"

When Xiao Ran and the others arrived, they looked at the coffin from afar, but all Xiao Ran could see was darkness.

It was not a visual darkness, but a heaviness and chill emanating from the depths of the soul, like the most filthy River Styx from the depths of hell pouring into the human world, with an intense and irrepressible aura of resentment erupting!

"Boom!"

An invisible wave of energy emanated from the giant coffin, spreading outwards like a tangible black tide.

Wherever it passed, the air groaned in agony, and space itself seemed to wrinkle and distort.

The already gloomy sky was suddenly stained with a chilling, pale green light, as if the heavens had been pierced by resentment.

"Ugh..."

"Pfft!"

The miners who were close to the edge of the mine did not even have time to scream before they were struck unconscious as if by an invisible giant hammer.

Fortunately, the golden talismans on their bodies emitted golden light, protecting their minds. Although they were unconscious, their lives were not in danger.

Those who were a little further away felt as if their hearts were being gripped by a cold, ghostly claw, and even breathing became difficult.

Immediately, the miners surrounding the edge of the mine retreated, no longer daring to approach rashly.

Xiao Ran's pupils constricted slightly. When she probed with her spiritual power, she was instantly torn to pieces by the resentment emanating from the coffin.

If Xiao Ran hadn't severed that connection of spiritual power in time, this resentment would have even tried to corrupt her through her spiritual power.

"Infinite Heavenly Venerable!" A rare and startled Taoist chant rang out.

The usually carefree, chubby face of the Golden Toad was now as solemn as a mountain.

His small eyes gleamed as he stared intently at the black coffin.

Wu Man, standing to the side, also frowned: "This thing definitely didn't come naturally; it must have been manufactured."

After saying that, he remembered something and said to Xiao Ran, "It's that old guy, right? Last time I saw him, he should be a B-level professional [Spirit Seeder], and he's good at making these kinds of evil things."

The Spirit Seeder and Xiao Ran's Corpse Stitcher are two extremes of the same type.

Both involve manipulating and modifying corpses, but Spirit Cultivators prefer to use corpses as soil to cultivate even more powerful corpses.

Xiao Ran's approach, however, involved stitching and modifying the corpse to make it stronger.

The two are like one practicing external martial arts and the other practicing internal martial arts.

It's hard to say who's better or worse, but the methods of the Spirit Seeder are able to greatly restrain Xiao Ran's corpse.

When Xiao Ran first encountered Pumpkin, he didn't dare to rashly use corpses to attack, because the methods of a Spirit Seeder could directly seize control of the corpses.

At this moment, Old Mu stood behind the giant coffin, his withered hands forming several twisted and strange hand seals, while he muttered incantations.

As he chanted the incantation in a low, hoarse, inhuman voice, the surface of the giant coffin, which exuded an overwhelming aura of resentment, was...

The several thick, rusty bronze chains covering the area wriggled and unraveled on their own, as if they were alive, accompanied by a sickening metallic scraping sound.

Immediately afterwards, several core members of the Changchun Society worked together, using winches and ropes, to slowly tilt the enormous coffin that had been standing upright toward the mine pit!

"Crack!"

A piercing sound like tearing silk rang out. The heavy coffin lid wasn't pushed open, but rather seemed to be burst open from the inside by a tremendous force!
In an instant, a thick, almost liquid, pitch-black resentment suddenly surged out from the crack and spread out!
The black mist was no longer gaseous, but viscous like ink, carrying a bone-chilling cold and a nauseating stench of decay. It flowed heavily down the upright coffin, dripping into the bottomless abyss of the mine below.

Wherever the black mist passed, the air hissed as it was corroded, and even the falling snowflakes instantly turned into gray liquid and fell.

"Crack... crack crack crack..."

A chilling scraping sound, neither metal nor wood, emanated from the darkness inside the coffin, as if some huge, decaying skeleton was laboriously rubbing and moving.

The field of vision was filled with thick black mist of resentment, and only a blurry shadowy outline could be seen deep in the crevice, slowly moving outward!
He simply took a step forward and stepped onto the edge of the coffin!
"Boom——!!"

A suffocating sensation, ten or even a hundred times stronger than before, surged forth like a tangible tsunami.

A large woman gradually emerged from the darkness.

The woman was completely naked.

Her abdomen was swollen and protruding, making her look like a pregnant woman.

But the huge belly was covered with the faces of children.

"brute!"

Jin Chanzi's eyes widened, and he couldn't help but curse, "These people are bastards! They actually used these children to train corpses!"

Xiao Ran saw it clearly, and her face turned ashen.

Jin Chanzi was a Taoist master who could see the underlying principles. But Xiao Ran was a thief, a corpse controller, and a corpse-making expert; he understood how this thing was made at a glance.

Using the female corpse as a base, those children were forcibly implanted into the female corpse using the methods of spirit planters. The souls of hundreds of children were intertwined, and the pain and resentment they emitted were unimaginable, not to mention that the female corpse's original body was that of a C-level professional.

What Xiao Ran saw was only a part of it; the actual method and process of making it were probably even more inhumane.

"Rumble..."

At this moment, a series of muffled thunderclaps came from deep within the clouds, and the entire sky turned pitch black, as if night had fallen, creating a chilling atmosphere that made one's heart feel oppressed.

"This kind of thing goes against the natural order and is destined not to last long."

Jin Chanzi glanced at the celestial phenomena and thought, "I'm afraid he won't survive much longer. Heaven will surely send down calamity to kill him!"

"Kill?"

Xiao Ran turned to look at Jin Chanzi, who nodded: "The Heavenly Dao is fifty, the Heavenly Evolution is forty-nine, and one escapes. This means that everything has an unfathomable change. A carp leaping over the Dragon Gate transforms into a dragon and goes away, while a corpse transforms into a drought demon. These are also opportunities bestowed by Heaven and Earth. However, such things are not opportunities bestowed by Heaven, but rather evil deeds that go against Heaven. Heaven will definitely not tolerate the existence of such things."

God can allow many things to transcend His own framework, but the prerequisite is that you have to work hard, strive, and have a bit of luck.

But the woman in front of me was artificially created.

It is precisely something that deserves to be punished by heaven and earth.

Xiao Ran just couldn't understand why, if Jin Chanzi said this woman was merely a disposable product, the Changchun Society would go to such lengths to create such a toy?

Xiao Ran's doubts were quickly answered.

Old Mu stepped forward, holding a long whip in his hand. This whip was not made of leather, but was woven from hair.

This hair is exactly the hair that the woman had when she was alive.

Old Mu swung his whip and lashed it across the female corpse.

With a "crack!", sparks flew everywhere, and the female corpse let out a shrill scream, her bloodshot eyes turning back to glare fiercely at Old Mu.

"You beast! What are you standing there for? Go down there and bring up that multicolored stone!"

Old Mu pointed to the enormous, multicolored stone at the bottom of the pit.

The female corpse stared at Old Mu with her scarlet eyes, but also looked at the long whip in his hand with fear. She let out a scream, and countless cries came from her swollen belly. The sound alone was enough to make people's scalp tingle and their stomachs churn. People with weak mental fortitude couldn't help but lie on the ground and vomit.

After a piercing scream, the female corpse suddenly leaped into the air!
Enveloped in a thick, malevolent black tide, it leaped into the bottomless mine like a falling black comet!

“Boom, boom—!!”

The entire mine wall was trembling violently! The resentment emanating from the female corpse poured down into the mine like a torrential rain.

This immediately affected Ma Zi and the others who were mining. Fortunately, the golden light talismans on their bodies emitted golden light in time, blocking the dripping resentment.

Before Ma Zi and the others could even breathe a sigh of relief, the female corpse glanced around in the darkness and saw the blood packs on their backs. Her already bloodshot eyes suddenly flashed with a chilling killing intent, and she abruptly turned around and charged towards Ma Zi and the others.

(End of this chapter)