Reincarnation Paradise: The Crucible.

Chapter 438: Ji Xiong (End of the Demon Seed Chapter)
"Haha, I knew there must be someone else who could escape from here, one big and one small, plus the previous ones, there are exactly five of them. I'm willing to admit defeat and give me the money!"

At night, the moonlight gradually sinks.

A rough male voice quickly spread outside the fog. His loud laughter even created invisible transparent ripples in the air and made the torches not far away sway continuously.

Looking down from directly above, one can see two strong soldiers in red armor standing beside the river, and at their feet are two figures, one big and one small, both soaked and in disarray.

Let’s not talk about the soldiers for now. The figures, one big and one small, are none other than Yun Niang and Ji An, the mother and son who had entered the thick fog not long ago.

An hour ago, Ji Jun successfully sent the mother and son into the fog in an extremely heroic way, but this does not mean that they are completely out of danger. Only when they walk out of the thick fog that has blocked Qingshi Town for more than a month can they be considered truly safe.

So no matter how sorrow and pain surged in her heart, Yun Niang still did not dare to delay for a moment. After simply comforting Ji An, the two of them continued on this stumbling journey of survival.

Compared to the hoarse roars that can be heard everywhere in the town, the fog is a completely different scene of silence. The thick, liquid-like fog seems to not only block the vision, but also swallow up the sound.

Suddenly, the surroundings were so quiet that it seemed as if there were only the mother and son left in the entire world. With every step forward, she could even clearly hear the sound of her own footsteps mixed with her rapid heartbeats hitting her ears.

Unable to tell the direction or determine the location, in this eerie and strange silence, Yun Niang could only bite the bullet and rush straight forward, even though she was not sure whether the route she was taking was straight.

The passage of time is meaningless in the fog. I don’t know how much time has passed. Perhaps it is because of Ji Jun’s protection in the dark, or perhaps the full moon really has some special suppression on the fog that can distort the five senses.

In short, before they were about to become exhausted, the mother and son actually found the only way out in the fog: a long river that ran through the entire fog.

The river has no beginning or end, rushing forward. Due to the fog, Yun Niang can't even see the whole picture of the river, but she knows that as long as they keep moving forward in the direction of the river flow, they will definitely be able to escape.

So their legs, which should have been exhausted long ago, took big steps again. Unlike the long journey they had imagined, guided by the river, they only walked for less than ten minutes and found a wide open space in front of them.

As far as the eye can see, the originally thick fog has completely dissipated, and what is seen in front is a large flat field and the extremely eye-catching clusters of flames in the distance.

"Mom, we seem to have escaped!"

The firelight in the distance reflected a few bright spots in Ji An's eyes. He looked up at his mother beside him, but before he got a response, he heard two subtle sounds of breaking through the air approaching rapidly.

"Bang!" "Bang!"

With two almost identical muffled sounds, two tiny stones shot out from the darkness and hit Yun Niang and Ji An's jaws almost at the same time.

The next moment, two splashes of water of different sizes appeared at the edge of the river. Less than a few seconds after they escaped from the fog, the mother and son were in danger again.

"Damn it, it's been over a month and someone is still able to come out of the Yin-nourishing Land. What bad luck!"

"Haha, this is luck. The desire of those civilians to survive is stronger than you think. Stop talking nonsense. Accept the loss and pay me quickly."

On the left side of the river, two red figures slowly approached from the darkness not far away, talking and laughing.

Huang Sheng casually shattered a few hard stones in his palm. With a gloomy look on his face, he scattered the fine stone powder remaining between his fingers. Then he took out a piece of gold from his arms and threw it directly to Wei Hongcai beside him.

On the other hand, compared to Huang Sheng's unhappiness, Wei Hongcai, the winner, was obviously in a good mood. He took the gold coins thrown to him with a smile and put them into his purse. Only then did he have time to lower his eyes to look at the two lucky escapees at his feet.

"Tsk, a woman and a child, this combination can actually last so long in the Yin-nourishing Land, and even get out of the maze by chance, they are quite lucky!"

Glancing at his teammates who were clucking their tongues in amazement, Huang Sheng, who was still angry, curled his lips and said sarcastically:
"Oh, they are just untouchables who don't have the qualifications to worship fire. No matter how lucky they are, they are just weeds that can be killed anywhere."

There was a hint of condescending indifference in the cold tone. After hearing this, Wei Hongcai frowned slightly, but did not say much. Instead, he leaned over and reached out to grab Ji An, who had already fallen into a coma beside the river.

"Alright, calm down. The important thing is to deal with these two escapees. According to Lord Yuan's request, if we find an escapee who has not transformed into Yin, we must immediately break his legs and throw him back to Qingshi Town."

"Moreover, in seven days at most, this Yin-nourishing land should be ready for harvest. This child has been able to hold out for so long without showing any signs of Yin transformation. His soul potential should be among the best in the entire Qingshi Town. By then, this will be the nourishment for you and me to make further progress, so... don't waste it."

After he finished speaking, Huang Sheng's face changed when he heard the three words "Master Yuan". He said no more, but leaned over and raised his hand to grab Yun Niang on the other side.

"You can throw the child back, but what about this woman?" "It doesn't matter. The Yin in her body is already corroding her heart meridians. She will turn into a zombie in three days at most. A zombie of this caliber is worthless, so you can do whatever you want with her. But I think she looks pretty good. If you're interested, you can keep her. If you don't like the trouble, just burn her."

"I don't have that kind of fetish, so just burn it!"

After a while, the sizzling sound of flames licking flesh and blood and several heart-wrenching sounds of bones breaking could be heard from the side of the river. Then a red gas ball suddenly broke through the fog and flew straight into the depths of the fog on the opposite side.

A few minutes later, the thrown air mass penetrated the maze directly and only fell when it reached the edge of the town.

Amid the roar, the smoke and dust from the explosion rose up along with the spreading air waves. When the smoke and dust cleared, a small pit covered with cracks appeared on the originally flat land.

And in the center of the pit was Ji An, who had been 'sent back to the city'. Time passed by minute by minute, but the twisted figure with blood oozing from the mouth and nose in the pit showed no signs of waking up.

With the protection of the red gas, the strong impact of the fall just now did not cause him to directly turn into a bloody mass of flesh, but even so, he was seriously injured and would most likely end up waiting for death.

After all, Lord Yuan’s request was simply to prevent these precious resources from dying meaninglessly outside the maze.

...............

Deep in the soul.

Countless raging waves surged in the gray sea of ​​consciousness, and at the same time, Ji An's extremely suppressed and shrill cries also spread out.

Ever since he was suddenly knocked unconscious not long ago, his consciousness has come to this unknown space. Although he cannot control his body here, his perception of the outside world is not affected at all.

So he heard the entire conversation between the two people word for word, and also smelled the burnt smell produced when his mother was burned in the fire.

Yin-nourishing land...harvest...sustenance...these terms were not difficult for him to understand, considering the tragic experiences he had gone through in the past two months: the destruction of his home, the deaths of tens of thousands of people, the estrangement of his closest relatives, and the disappearance of his parents...

All these experiences made him realize that all of this was not an unprovoked natural disaster, but a long-planned cruel harvest.

"Why is this happening!"

“Why are we eating each other!!”

“Why can the food only be us!!!”

The shrill wails raged wildly in the sea of ​​consciousness, the sound waves becoming sharper and sharper. At the same time, the childishness that remained in the wails began to dissipate rapidly, and was replaced by boundless resentment and hatred.

"Because you are too weak!"

Suddenly, a cold voice came faintly from behind Ji An. Although the volume was not loud, it caused his shrill cries to stop abruptly.

"Who?!"

Ji An, who was floating above the sea of ​​consciousness, suddenly turned around and looked around. An extremely familiar figure suddenly came into his sight. It was himself with dark eyes.

When their eyes met, Ji An took a half step back, while the strange figure opposite him raised his lips slightly and said softly:
"I?"

"I am another you, and I am here to make you stronger."

"Since your name is An, then I'll call you Xiong."

…………

On the surging sea of ​​consciousness, two figures with identical appearances stood facing each other. One had eyes that were clearly black and white, but were filled with resentment and hatred; the other had eyes that were dark and deep, but one could not see any emotion at all.

After staring at each other for a long time, Ji An suddenly raised his head and laughed wildly, while a huge bone banner fluttering in the wind appeared faintly behind Ji Xiong.

(End of this chapter)