Chapter 83.1 Ghost Market
Lin Banxia felt that he had been discriminated against. Why did the others get effected by the smell so easily, while he was just an old bacon and didn’t react at all.
Although he didn’t want to admit it, he had to say that going crazy or being assimilated was actually much better than being sober. At least he wouldn’t have to watch himself being carried into a dark room, not knowing what would happen next.
It was pitch dark everywhere, and he couldn’t see anything. He could only feel the movement of countless people.
Lin Banxia felt his body rising and falling continuously as he was carried across a flat road, and then started to go down. Wait, down? Lin Banxia didn’t expect that there was a basement in this old building. He kept smelling the sweet aroma. After smelling it for a long time, his sense of smell became a little numb, and he could hardly smell anything else.
All this time, Lin Banxia’s hands and feet were tightly bound. Several people carried him like a coffin, and slowly reached a very steep staircase leading downwards.
They seemed to be heading deeper into the ground. There was actually a cave beneath the basement.
He didn’t know how long they walked, but Lin Banxia felt a little sleepy. Several groups of flashing green light suddenly appeared in the darkness. At first, Lin Banxia thought they were lights. However, the closer he got, the more Lin Banxia felt that it was not light from a lamp, but more like the light emitted by a living thing. The faint green color flickered like countless blinking eyes.
The people carrying Lin Banxia suddenly stopped and turned around to walk in another direction. Lin Banxia found that the space in this place was very large. He even wondered how the underground of the entire community had been hollowed out and yet there was no collapse. It was a miracle.
After walking forward for some distance, the group finally stopped. Lin Banxia heard a subtle, sticky sound of water. He suddenly had a bad feeling. Taking advantage of the few people’s unpreparedness, he unexpectedly and violently struggled. The people carrying Lin Banxia probably thought he had given up, so they did not expect that he would still struggle. In addition, Lin Banxia was wet, so they couldn’t grab him for a while, allowing Lin Banxia to break free and fall to the ground.
As soon as Lin Banxia’s feet landed on the ground, he turned around and ran. However, before he could even take two steps, he felt something grabbing his feet and couldn’t move further. The thing was like a sticky liquid, flowing along his feet and spreading to his calves, firmly anchoring him to the ground.
“Damn it.” Lin Banxia couldn’t help cursing and tried to cut the thing with a dagger. However, the dagger quickly got stuck. He felt as if he was stuck in candy. There was absolutely no point in struggling like a bug.
The people behind him came over again, grabbed Lin Banxia, and dragged him forward.
After being dragged forward a few steps, Lin Banxia felt their hands loosen and he was thrown to the ground – no, to be precise, it was a pool filled with liquid.
Logically speaking, the liquid should be soft, but Lin Banxia felt that the liquid under him was like quicksand. It would be okay if he did not move, but as long as he tried to struggle, the liquid would become hard and forcefully trap him inside.
Only then did Lin Banxia understand that the thing brought him here because the previous dose was too small. Its dignity had probably been insulted, so it immediately decided to increase the dose and infect Lin Banxia.
Lin Banxia struggled for a while, but couldn’t get out of it, so he had to give up temporarily and observe the surrounding situation. Because it was too dark, he could barely see the outlines of nearby objects. At this time, he seemed to be in a room with several pool-like things. Lin Banxia thought about it carefully and wondered if he was not the only one being soaked, so he called out twice, but no one responded.
What could he do next? Lin Banxia was a little worried. The only thing he was lucky about was that the liquid in the pool was quite shallow. Otherwise, he would have been miserable if he was forced to swallow some of the liquid. They all knew what it actually was. If he drank a few sips, it would be really deadly.
Lin Banxia was trapped in the pool. The darkness made it difficult to determine the time, so he didn’t know how long he had been lying there. He didn’t realize it at first, but gradually, Lin Banxia felt some changes in his body…
The surrounding environment that was originally unclear became clear, and his eyes seemed to have gained night vision, able to identify everything around him. He saw a layer of black shadow attached to the wall next to him, as if it was alive, slowly squirming.
It was not only the walls, but also the ceiling. Everywhere he looked, he could see the existence of the black shadows. This huge underground lair seemed to be made of these black shadows.
Lin Banxia’s body also underwent a strange change as time went on. He felt that his body began to become lighter, and a strange whispering sounded in his ears. It was a strange sound, crisp and sweet. At first it sounded like the sound of a musical instrument. After listening carefully, it felt more like the sound made by a living creature…
Lin Banxia couldn’t understand the voice at first, but gradually, he began to vaguely understand the meaning. The owner of the voice was calling him over, and he was about to become its subject, both in soul and body.
Lin Banxia’s consciousness began to blur, and the green flashing lights once again appeared in front of him. He could reach it if he stretched out his hand, so he really did this, and the pool water that was originally restraining his body actually let go of his hand, allowing him to lift it up and grab the light ball itself.
After grabbing the light, Lin Banxia realized that it was a black, ant-like insect with a tail like a firefly, emitting green light. It gently touched Lin Banxia’s fingers with its antenna. The gentle movements were like an elder comforting a newborn child. Lin Banxia unexpectedly felt a sense of peace from it.
His consciousness seemed to be drawn into a whirlpool of chaos, and his self was gradually suppressed in his subconscious. Only the crisp voice echoed in his mind. Lin Banxia used his last rationality to think. So is this what it feels like to be assimilated? It was more comfortable than he expected, as if he was about to surrender his body and soul.
Just as he was fighting against surrendering, Lin Banxia twisted his body slightly and found that he could get up from the pool without any trouble.
He took two steps forward in confusion, and saw the people who forcibly tied him up outside the door. When he saw them, he wanted to take a defensive stance. What Lin Banxia didn’t expect was that, these people actually did not try to attack him again. Instead, they bowed their heads and made a respectful gesture.
Lin Banxia’s mind began to blur. He blinked and tried to break out of this state, but it was very difficult. The sweet smell in his nose, accompanied by the crisp sound, constantly eroded his sanity. He seemed to have reached the edge of the abyss, and if he took another step forward, he would fall.
Even at such a stage, Lin Banxia was still unwilling to give in. He turned around and saw the place where the light spots gathered in the depths of the darkness. The clear voice he heard just now sounded from there again. The meaning of the voice was very clear. Let him pass.
So… did it want him to go there? Lin Banxia thought. Was he still himself? He seemed unable to refuse this request, so Lin Banxia finally took a step towards the darkness.
As he moved forward, he saw countless humans standing in the darkness around him. The expressions on their faces were numb, and their dull eyes were staring at the place where the light group gathered. However, when Lin Banxia walked past them, they all stepped back, then arched their bodies and trembled slightly, as if they were welcoming an awed god…or a fearful demon. Lin Banxia was like Moses splitting the sea. Wherever he went, the crowd rushed to both sides, and in this small space, a wide road was forcibly made for him. Lin Banxia didn’t realize anything was strange. He walked forward slowly with an expressionless face. Finally, a large open space appeared in front of him. The center of the open space was where the light groups gathered.
Lin Banxia walked to the front of the clearing, and the voice calling him became clearer and clearer. He stepped forward step by step, and his right hand hanging by his side gently pressed against the dagger strapped to the side of his leg. The sound became louder and louder, and the smell became stronger and stronger. Lin Banxia had a suffocating feeling that encompassed his entire body. He swallowed slightly, bit his tongue hard, and suppressed that feeling of losing oneself with the pain.
The open space was enormous. Lin Banxia walked forward slowly. After a while, he saw that the light group in front of him gradually became larger. This one was not a group of flashing lights. Lin Banxia paused, and finally saw the dark thing clearly at this time. It was a huge, hill-like object, all white, like living flesh, covered in those flickering green lights. The most obvious thing was its countless flickering eyes. On top of its body, there was a pair of huge transparent wings, which were flapping, constantly making the kind of sound that Lin Banxia was hearing.
Lin Banxia walked up to it, and at its call, he stretched out his hand uncontrollably and gave it a surrendering hug.
He came into contact with its body which had an interesting texture. It was a little soft and very cold. After holding it in his arms, he couldn’t help shivering.
This hug made it happy. Lin Banxia raised his head and saw its wings waving more briskly, kicking up a breeze, and the meaning of its voice also changed. It obviously liked Lin Banxia very much, and there was joy in its voice.
Lin Banxia felt like his mind blurring. He couldn’t think, so he could only follow its instructions and react as it directed. Just when it was about to continue giving instructions to Lin Banxia, several harsh gunshots suddenly rang out in the darkness behind it. Lin Banxia turned around and saw several bright flares illuminating in the darkness, followed by a heavy crash. It was the sound of things falling to the ground. Seeing these faces, he still looked at them with a numb expression, like a stiff puppet.
“Kill…kill…him…” The wings buzzed again, conveying its meaning, “Kill…kill…him…”
This was the order it issued to Lin Banxia. Lin Banxia only hesitated for a moment, then turned around and walked towards the person in the darkness.
After Song Qingluo and Lin Banxia separated, Song Qingluo realized that they had been deceived. That thing could be transferred at any time. Even if he caught the thing, it could self-destruct on the spot, leaving Song Qingluo helpless. In desperation, he could only give in temporarily and watched helplessly as a group of people took Lin Banxia away by force.
It had to be said that this operation was indeed very difficult, because although the residents who were companions were infected, it had not yet reached the level of mutation. It was impossible for him to use weapons to kill the crowd, so he had to endure it and wait for the opportunity to act. Song Qingluo saw with his own eyes that Lin Banxia was taken into the eighteenth building, but did not climb the stairs. He immediately realized that there seemed to be something underneath these buildings, so he simply asked Li Su and the others for help. After Li Su and the others caused a commotion outside, they took the opportunity to sneak in.
Originally, Song Qingluo thought that he would have to spend a lot of time searching. Fortunately, the underground structure was not complicated. After passing a few levels, he arrived at an open space.
The air was filled with the familiar sweet smell. Song Qingluo was worried about Lin Banxia and was in a bad mood, so he struck a little harder. He planned to deal with these people quickly and get in as soon as possible. He got some usable large-scale weapons from Li Su, which would not harm the humans yet could temporarily render them incapacitated.
However, while Song Qingluo was fighting hard, he suddenly realized that something was wrong. The crowd that swarmed to attack him dispersed and froze, turning into motionless statues. The originally noisy space fell silent for an instant, and then, slight footsteps sounded in the distance.
Song Qingluo raised his flashlight and saw the person approaching from the end of the crowd. It was exactly what he was looking for…Lin Banxia.
The two looked at each other across the crowd. The darkness made their expressions a little indistinct. Song Qingluo noticed something strange. He opened his mouth and called out: “Banxia?”
Lin Banxia said softly: “Yes.”
Song Qingluo said: “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay.” Lin Banxia still looked the same as when he disappeared. When he approached, the people around him quickly dispersed to both sides, seeming to be very afraid of him. He walked slowly towards Song Qingluo.
Song Qingluo stared at his face and felt that Lin Banxia’s appearance at this time was a bit strange. His face was still the same, but from his unwavering eyes, he actually saw a cold expression. F*ck…Song Qingluo had seen this kind of divinity in some inhuman heretics with his own eyes. This was not a good sign. He didn’t know what happened to Lin Banxia, but obviously, Lin Banxia was also affected.
If possible please consider supporting me on Patreon or Ko-fi. I will release an extra chapter for every Ko-fi donation I receive. It might not be on that exact day, but it will be released within the week.
