Decaying World

Chapter 149, Moon Tower Three (Thanks to the witty, brave, and spirited Alliance Leader, Ling Sanjun)

"Sixteen years old!?" Lin Hui dodged the broom, his face showing doubt. He looked the old man in front of him over carefully once more.

He had white hair, white eyebrows, and a white beard. His face was full of wrinkles, his skin was loose, and his face and neck were covered with age spots.

Sixteen years old?!
"Why don't you just say you're only six years old?" he said speechlessly.

"How do you know the person serving time in this godforsaken place isn't only six years old?" The old man pointed to a long-haired old woman watering potted plants in a shop across the street.

"That kid is nine years old. Do you believe it?"

"..." Lin Hui stared at the old man with the look of someone looking at a fool. "Do you even believe what you're saying?"

"It seems you really don't know anything, yet you came here." The old man didn't get angry anymore, but sighed and put down the broom.

He turned around and went back into the shop, pulled out a chair and plopped down in it.

The shop was filled with a faint smell of tobacco, and there were also some gray cigarette ash scattered on the mahogany table.

The old man turned a book he was reading upside down, placed it on the table, leaned back in his chair, and exhaled.

"Speak, what do you want to ask? To be honest, I haven't seen such a strange fellow as you in years. On the one hand, you have a good background, so you don't ride the moth carriage into the tower; on the other hand, you have a bad background, so you leisurely stroll around here, not worried at all about the virtual field emitted by the tower."

"I only had some inner city permits with me," Lin Hui said truthfully.

"Permission? That thing can only temporarily hold off the illusion; it will run out after a while. Also, the term 'inner city' suggests you're from the outer city. People from other districts don't usually use that term; only those from the outer city refer to this place as the inner city."

"Your speculation is excellent and very detailed. May I ask you questions now?" Lin Hui nodded.

"Okay, you say."

"Is this the deep domain of the core area? Why have you been able to stay here? How do I enter the Moon Tower? How do I apply?" Lin Hui asked three questions in one breath.

"One question, one feather of blood." The old man stretched out his hand.

“Okay!” Lin Hui gritted his teeth and said. He didn’t have much Feather Blood himself, but he thought that these questions really needed to be answered, so he reached into his waist bag and took out three sticks and put them on the other party’s table.

"The first question is, this isn't the Deep Realm. This is just a buffer zone between the Deep Realm and the Moon Tower. To enter the Deep Realm, you have to go down into those deep pits at the bottom of the Moon Tower. The real Deep Realm is the underground world at the very bottom. That place is quite large, like a series of small towns," the old man replied.

“Second question. I am a prisoner, a criminal captured by the Moon Tower, so I must stay here and cannot leave. Everyone living here is in the same situation as me.” The old man held up two fingers.

"Third, how do you enter the Moon Tower and how do you apply? This is actually a question. There are two ways to enter the Moon Tower. One is through the invitation of the original bloodline at the core of the Moon Tower. If you can receive an invitation from the original bloodline, you can enter without any restrictions."

“Another way is to go through the Deep Realm. The Deep Realm controls the basic restrictions for lower-level people to enter the Moon Tower. There’s a Paradise Platform there. Go check the instructions. If you can complete the tasks there and get into the top 100 each day, you’ll be allowed to enter the Moon Tower for a day. Of course, the conditions there are said to be very harsh and strange. Anyway, I’ve never been there. I can’t go anywhere from here. These are all things I’ve heard from the caravans that have gone in,” the old man added.

"Prisoners? Why are you imprisoned here?" Lin Hui asked, frowning.

"No reason." This time, the old man didn't ask for the feather blood, but he himself showed a mix of confusion, doubt, bewilderment, and hatred.

“I’ve been here for many years and have seen many people captured by the Primal Blood. They were all captured for no reason. They were just captured inexplicably.”

"Oh, right, I just met a little kid on the stone bridge with glowing red eyes," Lin Hui described the little boy. "What's that kid's identity? Is she a bloodline of the original?"

The old man reached out and accepted the feather blood that Lin Hui tactfully handed him.

"She is indeed a member of the Primal Bloodline, and one of the few who rarely enters or leaves the Moon Tower from the ground. There are only about a hundred members of the Primal Bloodline in the entire Moon Tower. She is a rather special one. She is a very kind person and has helped many people who have encountered trouble."

"One last question." Lin Hui pulled out another vial of Feather Blood. "Why have you all aged so much? Were you serious when you said you were sixteen?"

"Of course it's true. We look old because we're prisoners. This place doesn't allow us to leave. As for looking old..." A hint of fear flashed in the old man's eyes.

"That is the power of the Longevity Wheel. Our lifespan is constantly being drawn out here and then gathered into the original blood within the Moon Tower."

This wasn't the first time Lin Hui had heard the name "Longevity Wheel." He had previously heard in the outer city that powerful clans in the inner city had fought fiercely over a replica of the Longevity Wheel, resulting in the complete annihilation of many outer city residents, one household at a time.

I never expected to hear this name again in the inner city core area after so long.

Suddenly he thought of his elder brother, Liu Wujun. Given his status and position, he might know something. He would find an opportunity to ask him when he got back.

"Is there anything else you want to ask?" the old man asked again, weighing the feather blood in his hand.

"One last question. I don't want to pay for the blood anymore. You can choose not to answer. What's your name?" Lin Hui asked finally.

"Just call me A-Zhe. If you have any questions in the future, you can come here to ask me anytime. I'll stay in the same place, always here. Don't forget," the old man A-Zhe said with a smile.

"Okay." Lin Hui nodded, turned around and walked out of the shop.

"Are you planning to go to the Deep Realm?" Old man A Zhe's voice rang out from behind.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Lin Hui turned around and looked at the other person.

"Since you're honest, I'll give you a piece of advice for free: in the Deep Realm, don't eat any food that anyone offers you. Don't take anything that's free. Remember, what's free is often the most expensive," the old man, A Zhe, said in a deep voice.

This sentence seemed familiar to Lin Hui; he had heard it before in his past life.

"Thank you." He cupped his hands in thanks to A Zhe. He walked out of the shop. This time, without hesitation, he followed the main road and the flow of traffic until he reached the edge of the deep pit at the bottom of the Moon Tower.

Then, following the spiral path along the inner wall of the pit, they hurried down as fast as they could.

He wasn't the only one on the road this time; there were large trucks, fully loaded with unknown goods, covered with gray cloth, constantly transporting goods from the bottom up.

There are also vehicles transporting goods down the other spiral roads from the ground, but their numbers are far fewer than those transporting goods outwards.

Lin Hui noticed that the driver and passengers in the car that came out all had flushed faces, pale lips, slightly unfocused pupils, and abnormally high body temperature.

Moreover, they carried a faint fragrance, a very pleasant scent that he found difficult to identify precisely; it didn't smell like flowers or fruit.

"Young man, are you also going to the Deep Realm? Want to come along?"

Halfway there, at the middle of the pit.

A woman with a ponytail, sitting on a white oxcart, waved to Lin Hui and transmitted her voice with a smile.

The side of the oxcart was engraved with intricate floral patterns, which were arranged in a strange way to form the character "Li," clearly indicating that it belonged to a prominent family in the inner city surnamed Li.

The woman had long, flowing hair and a voluptuous figure. She wore a light green, tight-fitting tank top that accentuated her large curves, and white, short shorts that revealed her fair and shapely thighs.

She was sitting in the carriage, holding the reins of a white bull in one hand, with a dark red beauty mark at the corner of her eye, looking charming and alluring.

"Don't be afraid, I don't eat people. It's just that I happen to have a younger brother about your age, and I feel a little sorry for you traveling alone on the road." The woman's voice had a special, tingling quality.

Lin Hui glanced at the truck behind her; it was piled high with things, all covered with gray cloth, so he didn't know what it was carrying.

He wasn't afraid.

The other party's aura faintly suggests internal energy, indicating they likely practice martial arts. However, whether it's due to a spiritual connection is impossible to determine.

After a moment's hesitation, he leaped and landed easily in the other car seat next to the woman, where he sat down.

"Thank you, sister," he said, bowing slightly.

"No need to thank me. You're too conspicuous running around on the road all by yourself. Look around, who else would dare to run around on their own two legs? Everyone who dares to come here has a nice car with them," the woman said with a smile.

Seeing Lin Hui sit down, he naturally reached out and touched Lin Hui's crotch.

"Come on, let your sister see what you've got. You can't go to the Deep Realm without some capital."

In a flash, her hand reached for nothing.

Then, in a flash, the person who was just sitting there disappeared.

The next second, her hand was held down by another hand and held in mid-air.

She then realized that Lin Hui had somehow moved to the other side of her.

The woman struggled for a moment, then realized she couldn't move her hand, and a look of horror flashed across her face.

"Wait! I just wanted to have some fun with you, I meant no harm! Don't hit me!" She immediately knew she had met her match and begged for mercy.

"I am Li Xinruan, the young lady of the Li family in Central. If you let me go, you will surely be rewarded handsomely in the future!"

"Behave yourself." Lin Hui frowned, released his hand, and sat back down. "I ask, you answer. Understand?"

"Understood!" Li Xinruan nodded repeatedly.

What brings you to the Deep Realm?

“Our Li family has established businesses and shops in the Deep Domain. I’m here to deliver supplies and also transport goods back to the family. The Deep Domain is incredibly rich in resources, nourished by the blood stream flowing from the Moon Tower. You can just scatter a handful of seeds here, and within days countless edible fruits will grow. So this place is the best place for production,” Li Xinruan said quickly, her voice slightly tense.

"This is my first time in the Deep Realm. Is there anything I should be aware of?" Lin Hui didn't hide the fact that it was his first time here. After all, it's hard for an experienced person to hide such things, so it's better to be open about it and ask for more information.

“There’s nothing to worry about. The Deep Realm is a place of pleasure. As long as you have Feather Blood, you can enjoy everything here. The longer you stay in this place, the more sensitive your body will become, and the easier it will be to experience pleasure. You can’t explain it just by talking about it. You’ll experience it for yourself in a bit,” Li Xinruan said nervously.

“Okay.” Lin Hui, wearing four masks, was also puzzled. He had concealed himself so well, yet this person still noticed him. He was helpless.

The oxcart continued its descent, and since Lin Hui was now on board, he no longer attracted attention, giving him time and leisure to observe his surroundings.

The Li family's car seemed to indicate a high status; as it moved forward, many oncoming vehicles would give way.

This gave Lin Hui a general idea of ​​Li Xinruan's family background.

About half an hour later, the oxcart finally reached the bottom of the pit.

A silvery stream cascades down from the sky, crashing into the center and forming a large, circular pool.

(End of this chapter)