I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

Moreover, this is not simply darkness, but an infinitely expanding space.

The pollution it contains is enough to torment one's rationality, causing various hallucinations and even doubting one's own existence. In such a polluted environment, the loss of reason can lead to even more terrible situations.

Until, a light appeared.

The light came from the flashlight in Old Song's hand.

The artificial light source had never felt so warm; several beams of light illuminated the area, allowing Lu Ban to see his surroundings clearly.

Chapter 827 Escape Zone

Tap, tap, tap—

In the deep, dark world, only the crisp sound of the counter echoed.

In times like these, this sound becomes a source of reassurance for everyone.

Of course, it would be even better if the counter frequency were a little lower.

The sound now rang out in an orderly fashion, about once every two seconds. Lu Ban looked around. The flashlight beam shone far, but beyond the beam, there was still darkness.

The ground beneath their feet was also pitch black, without any texture or outline of soil, like a sheet of pure black glass. The light from their flashlights was not reflected on the ground but was swallowed up, making it impossible for them to see any clear boundary when they stepped on it, as if they were walking on dark clouds.

The flashlight beam swept across the area, and Lu Ban's vision followed the beam. There was no information around him, only emptiness remained.

Lu Ban had imagined that the deep well would contain countless monsters or a lot of pollution, or at the very least, endless babbling, but there was nothing there.

It was empty and desolate, like a world that had already perished.

"Is this the interior of the deep well?"

Xia couldn't help but sigh.

Her voice was also absorbed by the darkness and did not travel very far.

“This area is relatively safe because it is still the outermost part of the ever-expanding space.”

Old Song explained.

He casually pulled a small object from his pocket and tossed it forward. Soon, before it was swallowed by the darkness, it had already moved far away from them, as if it had been pushed aside by something.

"The further forward you go, the faster the expansion speed."

He said something.

Sia originally thought that the Deep Well was a space that extended outward from the Outer God, but now it seems that it is the opposite. It is a space that extends continuously towards the center, starting from the edge of the Deep Well.

When space extends towards the center point, it will inevitably collide with it.

As space warps, in the presence of the Outer God, the warping creates a depression that causes the Outer God and His corruption to sink into it. Moreover, with infinite expansion, this depression will become deeper and deeper.

This is a deep well.

Xia suddenly felt that the name was very vivid and fitting.

"The deep well can be divided into three areas. We are currently in the escape zone. In this zone, as long as you master certain skills and have a certain amount of strength, you can escape from the deep well. This is why it is so quiet here and there is nothing here."

Old Song illuminated the surroundings with his flashlight and said.

"Further ahead is the buffer zone. Once inside the buffer zone, the pollution intensifies. Unless you possess special powers, you cannot leave the buffer zone and return to the escape zone. The buffer zone is also the largest area. Beyond the buffer zone lies the bottom of the well."

Without Lao Song's explanation, Lu Ban and Xi Ya knew what that meant.

The core of the seal, the place where Outer Gods and Great Old Ones are bound, the absolute source of pollution.

"Even for us, once we enter the bottom of the well, we absolutely cannot leave. If we accidentally fall to the bottom of the well, the best option is to end our lives immediately and completely annihilate our souls, so that we will at least not suffer too much cruel torture."

As Old Song spoke, he continued walking forward.

As the group moved forward, the beeping of the counter intensified.

Soon, the flashlight beam illuminated an even darker wall.

The wall was infinitely high and infinitely wide, absorbing all the light, like a murky black fog.

Da da da—

The counter is now operating at a frequency close to once per second. According to Lao Song, the current pollution concentration is ten times higher than before.

"Further ahead is the buffer zone. Our protective suits can withstand contamination for about thirty minutes. This doesn't mean that you won't be contaminated at all while wearing these suits for thirty minutes, but rather that the contamination within thirty minutes can be recovered. After that, every second that passes will lead to more irreversible damage."

Old Song took out the stick that had previously dispersed the silt. The stick trembled slightly, as if it resonated with the thick black fog in front of him. The fog, which had been unchanging, suddenly began to ripple.

As they continued forward, a spherical barrier formed around Old Song, blocking out the fog.

The barrier was so large that it covered the entire group of people.

Lu Ban glanced ahead.

Suddenly, a cacophony of babbling echoed in his ears.

Most of these murmurs were in a language that Lu Ban couldn't understand. The few that he could understand were telling stories of the darkest, strangest, and most twisted things.

In the darkness, a face suddenly appeared.

Lu Ban saw a face that resembled Du Danping in his youth, who was persuading Lu Ban in a deep voice.

Beside Du Danping, the faces of various people Lu Ban had seen before, people who had perished in other lands, gradually appeared, their voices overlapping and filling Lu Ban's mind.

He saw that intricate and beautiful patterns spread across those faces, and these patterns traveled through the void to Lu Ban's eyes.

In his eyes, the dazzling patterns gradually filled his pupils and rapidly spread outwards.

The same pattern quickly covered Lu Ban's face. He could feel his face melting, accompanied by an extreme itching sensation.

The act of simply "seeing" something can lead to the spread of pollution.

Xia closed her eyes, refusing to see or hear anything, to prevent herself from being contaminated.

"This is just ordinary pollution, well, probably at the [Alienation] concentration."

The giants like Old Song were unaffected by the pollution. They had already been exposed to too many alien realms and had undergone sufficient alienation, so this level of pollution would not affect them.

"Don't worry, all the alienation so far is reversible."

Old Song shook the stick in his hand, and Lu Ban immediately felt the patterns crawling on his body begin to fade, and his breathing became smooth again.

And the babbling that had been lingering in my ears had lessened considerably.

Lu Ban was able to see his surroundings clearly.

The ground in the buffer zone was uneven, like the original island's land, but it was all black, like an inkstone. In the sky, a red sun was emitting a dim glow, illuminating the entire space. The sunlight made the murmurs in Lu Ban's ears amplify. In addition, some writhing monsters made of flesh and blood were suspended in the sky. They swam in the air like octopuses, while others were close to the ground, gnawing on the few remaining trees.

The trees were also made up of the limbs of humans and wild beasts. Their skin was broken into leaves, their bones became branches, and their flesh became fruits. The fruits were like human heads, emitting eerie laughter, and every pair of eyes was filled with bloody tears, accusing the world of injustice.

"That's a deep well."

Old Song pointed to the red sun.

Lu Ban saw that from the sun, red pus dripped down, solidified in mid-air, twisted, and flowed, transforming into a huge serpent. The serpent was winding and twisting, its body made of rotting yellowish-green flesh and blood. It quickly discovered the location of Lu Ban and the others. The heads on the trees swayed and all looked in this direction in an instant.

*Pfft*

Crimson blood formed a huge wave, rising suddenly from the ground and surging towards this side.

With the arrival of the giants, the buffer zone seemed to undergo a tremendous change.

Chapter 828 Ignorance is the Greatest Wisdom

All things grow.

On the tall, giant tree, the heads of skinless people shed blood and tears. Their mouths were open, revealing holes from their throats to their necks. These holes made whistling sounds in the wind, like mournful cries. Yet, the faces of those heads also wore manic smiles. The laughter and weeping mingled together, creating a chilling effect.

A massive wave of blood surged from the front, filled with a strong, pungent stench. The stench of decay swept over the heads of people on the treetops, adding a rosy glow to their already parched faces.

The enormous serpent in the sky headed towards Lu Ban's location, its body covered in thick, foul-smelling slime. It rode alongside the blood-soaked waves, pushing and amplifying them, causing the tide to gradually obscure the crimson sun in the sky and cover everything within Lu Ban's field of vision.

"This is the disturbance we brought about."

Old Song remained calm and unhurried. He put away the flashlight and took out a pistol-shaped prop from the backpack behind him.

"Pollution tends to spread to areas that are not yet polluted. We are here in an area with extremely low pollution levels, so the pollution will naturally spread here."

The pistol had no trigger or muzzle; it seemed to be just a piece of silver metal shaped like a pistol. Holding it in his hand, Old Song raised the gun and pointed it at the surging monsters.

The next moment, although there was no action of pulling the trigger, Lu Ban felt as if he heard a gunshot.

The overwhelming wave of monsters suddenly created a void, as if it had been forcibly torn apart by some invisible force. Countless pieces of flesh turned into dust and dissipated in the void.

The surging tide of monsters paused for a moment, and the huge hole could not be filled in a short time, causing the entire space to tremble slightly.

But Lao Song didn't stop what he was doing. He kept firing, and with a few silent gunshots, the monsters that had gathered in the entire buffer zone were smashed to pieces, and it became as quiet and peaceful as paradise.

In mythology, the descent of angels can quell wars and calamities, but now it seems that these descending angels must all be wearing power armor, wielding chainsaw swords, and carrying flamethrowers to fight those terrifying and ferocious demons.

Meanwhile, the other giants also began their work one after another. They took out some supports from their backpacks and placed several square boxes on the supports. Rather than preparing to clean up the battlefield, they seemed to be starting surveying work.

Light burst forth from those boxes, sweeping across the entire space, including the crimson sun.

Soon, the box started beeping, seemingly collecting data.

"The pollution concentration has increased again, and it seems that the core of the pollution still needs to be suppressed."

Old Song glanced at the unknown characters flashing on the box and quickly came to a conclusion.

Da da da—

The counter on his body began to jump numbers wildly, at a frequency that clearly exceeded ten times per second.

"The pollution concentration is rising rapidly, and there are still 900 seconds before it exceeds the protection limit."

The giant beside him read out the data.

As the counter ticked away, Lu Ban felt a pang of heart palpitation in his chest. He could sense certain changes happening in his body. Beneath his skin, worm-like blood vessels swelled, and the blood inside had turned into dark yellow pus, flowing to his heart and causing the constantly beating organ to wither.

He could see that, in the area separated by the black pillars, even the void had begun to disperse nameless spores, and a gray, viscous fungal carpet was growing.

The light from the crimson sun is enough to cause mutations in humans.

If the idea that knowledge is pollution is already enough to overturn common sense, then everything here in the deep well is contrary to cognition.

When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.

Similarly, when you become aware of the existence of Outer Gods, Outer Gods have already cast their gaze upon you.