Falling into the Abyss

A giant baby worm about five or six meters long suddenly rushed out of the ground, emitting a sharp cry like a baby’s sobs, and with light yellow acid flowing down the folds of its skin that was just beginning to turn light gray.

When Tanisiel and Samuel came back, they saw Ethan standing in front of the terrifying giant worm, as though he would be swallowed at any time. Tanisiel’s expression changed, and he rushed in Ethan’s direction with his third eye completely open. Samuel also ran over, shouting, “Ethan!”

However, Ethan turned his head and looked at them calmly, raising a hand to signal them not to come.

“I’m fine. It knows me,” Ethan said to the pale Tanisiel and Samuel and slowly extended his hand in the direction of the worm.

The towering monster closed its mouth and gently lowered its head to rub against Ethan’s palm……

Looking at the bizarre scene in front of him, Samuel murmured, “It seems that it really treats him as its mother……”

Tanisiel breathed a sigh of relief, surprised that he had just been so scared he emitted cold sweat. He closed the eye on his forehead and approached that person and worm carefully. The little worm crawled gently in front of Ethan while the latter squatted down and touched the wrinkles on its skin that looked sticky and soft, as though he was touching a dog, with a gentle smile on his face.

Tanisiel squatted down beside Ethan and looked at the honest worm with great interest. “You already know how to summon it?”

Ethan nodded.

“Have you given him a name?”

“Yes.” Ethan looked at Samuel, who stood in the distance and was unwilling to approach the worm, and whispered, “Little Rafael.”

After hearing its name, the worm on the ground suddenly raised its front end, shaking twice in the air in happiness and spitting out a mouthful of sticky things, which almost splashed on Ethan’s body.

Tanisiel chuckled and then looked up and waved to the worm. “Hello, Little Rafael. If this is your mother, then I’ll be your father.”

Ethan reached out and punched Tanisiel in the waist, but his body was so weak that he couldn’t use any strength. Tanisiel fell to the ground in an exaggerated posture and said to the little worm, “You see, your mother’s domestically abusing me.”

Ethan seldom saw Tanisiel show such a childish side. Light warmth and happiness diffused in Ethan’s chest, as though he had just drunk a bowl of hot tea. Although he knew that this was not the right time or place to brew these kinds of emotions, no one can control their emotions after all.

Samuel saw the two of them murmuring and cursed in a low voice. After that, he reluctantly walked closer to them. “Hey! If we don’t leave, our pursuers will arrive!”

Ethan stood up with Tanisiel, looked at the worm that was still twirling happily, and said to it in his mind, “Little Rafael, take us out of here, to the ground a kilometer away.”

Ethan has already considered that their current location was approximately south of the center of the Forbidden City. They should be safe one kilometer away from the Forbidden City. The little worm received the order and immediately flipped over. With a bang, it drilled into the ground. A big hole was quickly made in the ground, and the worm disappeared.

Samuel leaned over the pit and looked down. “It doesn’t seem very deep.” After he finished speaking, he jumped down.

Sure enough, the pit was only about two meters deep. It had a gentle slope, which began to extend gently in a certain direction. It was just that the worm was not big enough, so the hole it dug out could only accommodate one person. There was no end to the narrow darkness ahead. Just looking at it gave people a deep sense of oppression.

“I’ll say, secretary,” Samuels looked up at Ethan and said, “Your worm won’t suddenly go crazy and turn around to bite me, right.”

Ethan pursed his lips. “I can’t guarantee it. Why don’t I be the first to walk ahead.”

“Come on, you’ll get dizzy and block the road later. I’ll be the first to go. Priest, you take care of him,” he could not help but order them, and then he lowered his head and headed into the hole.

“They were lovers.”

Tanisiel raised his eyebrows. “I thought he liked you?”

Ethan gave him a strange glance. “I thought he liked you, too.”

Tanisiel shrugged and said in a factual tone, “In terms of appearance and physical needs, he should really like me. However, people like him who may have gender dysphoria are not able to use their common sense.”

“Narcissist……”

Tanisiel let Ethan go first, while he himself followed after. The narrow space encroached on them from both sides, and as long as they raised their heads a little, their heads would collide into the ceiling. The pungent smell of dirt seemed to be mixed with a blood-like smell. In such a place, when they were crawling on their hands and knees, their movement was slow, and oxygen was scarce. After a while, Ethan’s speed slowed down significantly. Behind him, Tanisiel felt something strange. He quietly opened his third eye a little and found the thin golden thread binding their souls in his endless spiritual sea. He wound his thoughts on the golden thread and sent it quickly in Ethan’s direction.

“Where do you want to go after you leave the Forbidden City?”

Ethan was stunned, and the voice that suddenly appeared in his mind pulled him out of his confused state. He reflected for a while before realizing that the question was not spoken by the other but a thought that appeared directly in his mind.

He wanted to look back at Tanisiel, but the space was too small to turn around. He responded in his head, “I don’t know……I haven’t thought of it……”

“Didn’t you think you would leave here?”

“……I’m not sure if we can escape successfully.”

“And if it works out, where do you want to go?”

Ethan moved his hands and knees in silence, his breathing and his heartbeat sounding clearly in the narrow space. The physical exhaustion pushed his body to the limits, but Tanisiel’s question seemed to divert his attention slightly.

If he could really leave, where could he go?

He knew too much insider information about Project Zero, and he became a mutated monster, so the Earth Union wouldn’t let him go. He was afraid that he couldn’t stay anywhere in the Earth Union any longer. Even if he wanted to go home, it was not realistic for him to be able to look at his parents from afar.

The rest of the Milky Way was vast, so where should he go? What would the spreading mutation in his body eventually turn him into? How long could he hold on?

Thinking this way, he felt that the road ahead was boundless, and he couldn’t see the end, but he couldn’t see the hope.

His desperation penetrated into the priest’s consciousness through their connection, and the deep and heavy feelings also affected the priest’s feelings. Tanisiel controlled his emotions and conveyed his thoughts in the lightest and most pleasant form.

“Why don’t you come back to the Eves’ planet with me?”

Ethan halted abruptly, and Tanisiel almost bumped into his ass…… “Hey, don’t brake suddenly.” The priest spoke reproachfully, but there was a smile in his tone, and he didn’t seem angry at all.

Ethan forced himself to continue crawling, but Tanisiel’s words had completely overturned his mind.

“The E……Eves’ planet?” Ethan’s thoughts were filled with uncertainty……and a little bit of surprise that he tried to hide. He didn’t expect that Tanisiel would propose to take him to his home planet. His face was already hot, but now it seemed to be burning.

But on second thought, it seemed that the feasibility of this plan was not high…… The Eves were in alliance with the Earth Union. They would definitely not risk falling out with the Earth Union to accept him as a fugitive and mutant monster…… Even if Tanisiel seemed to have a noble background and was not an ordinary priest, he couldn’t be wilful when it comes to the interests of the planetary state, right?

Ethan’s mood suddenly sank, and although it wasn’t shown on the surface, his violent emotional upheavals felt like a roller coaster within Tanisiel. Tanisiel couldn’t help but smile silently. Such rich inner turmoil made him feel as though he had the uncontrollable and primitive emotions of human beings. It was like a hallucinogen for the priests like them who had been trained to control their emotions.

As he had described before, it was a very delicious feeling.

“You don’t have to worry. Of course I’ll disguise you and take you back,” Tanisiel reassured.

“No matter how I disguise myself, I’m not an Eve.”

“There are so many Eves on the Eves’ planet, and you won’t be asked to open your third eye to prove your identity.” Tanisiel was still calm as he asked, “Don’t worry, I’ll arrange for it. Would you like to come with me?”

Now, Ethan really wanted to turn around and look into the priest’s eyes before answering this question. He also wished that the place where the priest asked him was not in this narrow corridor or when they were in a situation where their butts were to each other’s faces, and the priest could only see his buttocks. Ethan’s mood dropped a little after he thought about this.

Damn, couldn’t he wait until after they went out before asking such a romantic question!

Seeing that Ethan didn’t answer for a long time, and he even seemed to be a little angry, Tanisiel was confused and a little frustrated. He didn’t quite understand why an Alpha like him, who had a beautiful face, a house, and a car, was rejected. Therefore, the next thought he passed along to Ethan was aggrieved, “Ah……you don’t want to……”

Ethan yelled back wrathfully in his head, “I’m willing!!!”

“……Since you’re willing, why are you so fierce?” Tanisiel was still full of grievances.

Ethan rolled his eyes at Tanisiel in his head. “Can’t my brain be muddled due to the fever?”

“Okay, okay, okay,” Tanisiel said this time, with an indulgent tone, “Since you are the patient, you have the reins.”

.

Of course, Samuel didn’t know what the two men were doing. His speed was much faster than Ethan’s, so when he finally got out of the narrow cave and jumped into another wider space, he had to wait for ten minutes before Ethan came out of the cave. At that time, Samuel had been holding a flashlight to explore this new “hole.”

However, it was easy to see that this was not an underground cave but another subway station that had been abandoned for many years. After sweeping a glance past the area, Samuel almost thought they were back at the starting point. However, a closer look showed that there were many broken lamp boxes and billboards on the walls, rubbish on the ground, a blanket in the corner of the wall, and shopping carts full of junk. It looked like someone was living here.

Ethan was sweating and panting heavily when he climbed out of the cave. He held onto the wall firmly and looked around blankly. “This is……a subway station?”

“Yes, but it’s not one of the two from the Forbidden City.” Samuel shone the flashlight on the subway map on a board. “Your worm may have dug through to the subway line outside the Forbidden City.”

Tanisiel also emerged and sniffed. “The air is very fresh. It seems that this area is not sealed off. Ethan, our baby is very considerate. It’s afraid we can’t climb too far, so it made a small detour to get us into the subway system.”

Ethan was too lazy to pay attention to the priest, who was unreserved when he came to him. “How far is the Forbidden City from here?”

“From the road map, we’re probably less than one kilometer from the Forbidden City. It’s still not safe.” Samuel projected the light from the flashlight onto the rails under the platform. “It’ll be safer to walk for a few more stops.”

Ethan agreed with Samuel. He jumped off the platform behind the Omega and went deep into the tunnel. After two stations, they were surprised to see many ragged scavengers gathering, cooking on the third station’s platform. Their dry faces, which had been tortured by the cruel environment outside their settlement, watched as the three of them walked by in the dark, and some mice also ran and squeaked at their feet. As they traveled through different subway lines, they found more and more scavengers. It seemed that the subway system had become an underground city. Tents made of waste could be seen everywhere on the platforms, while weak lights and the scent of strange food diffused in the air.

Ethan couldn’t hold on, and he coughed violently, feeling like he was going to cough his heart and lungs out. Tanisiel held his tottering body and touched Ethan’s forehead.

His temperature seemed to be even higher than it was previously.

They had been walking for several hours without rest, and even healthy people would be exhausted. Moreover, Ethan had spent so much energy that he was close to his limit, and it was not wise for them to continue on such a hard journey. Tanisiel said to Samuel, “Let’s have a rest before we continue.”

Samuel watched the scavengers warily. They were sitting together in groups of two or three and were cooking, mending, or singing with an accordion they had got from somewhere. He looked at Ethan, who was pale, hesitating before he nodded.

The three of them initially thought that these scavengers probably had their own territory. They didn’t want to cause trouble, so they planned to go back to the tunnel to find a place to rest. However, an old woman who must have been in her eighties suddenly said to them, “Come to my side. Your friend is very ill.”

After thanking the old lady for her kindness, Tanisiel helped Ethan over there. The old woman had a tent made of a torn canvas covered with dust and patches. Judging from the clutter around, she should have lived here for a long time. She was accompanied by a boy about fifteen or sixteen years old, who looked at them with big black eyes. The old woman cleaned up a bunk and asked Tanisiel to help Ethan lie on it. Then, she cooked a bowl of dark liquid cooked with some unknown plants and gave it to Tanisiel to feed Ethan.

“This is our folk prescription, which can reduce inflammation and fevers.”

Samuel frowned in suspicion when it seemed that Tanisiel was really going to feed the bowl of dirty things to Ethan. He quickly put out his hand to stop him.

“Don’t worry,” Tanisiel whispered to him, “Ethan will not be so easily poisoned now. It’s better for him to have a try.”

Samuel pursed his lips, looking at the pale and thin face in the priest’s arms, and reluctantly agreed. Tanisiel helped Ethan up, letting him lean against him before he blew on the soup in the bowl and coaxed Ethan, “Come on, drink it and go to sleep.”

Ethan opened his heavy eyes in a trance and opened his mouth cooperatively.

As Ethan drank the medicine, the old woman asked Tanisiel, “I haven’t seen aliens for a long time. Why are you here?”

Tanisiel concentrated on giving Ethan the medicine and didn’t answer the question for a moment. Samuel shrugged his shoulders and answered, “Avoiding creditors.”

“Tsk, tsk, there are one or two people here who are avoiding creditors. How much do you owe?”

“A lot. It’s an amount that I can’t even afford in my next life.”

“Aish….. Is it due to gambling? Tsk, tsk, today’s young people are really confused.” The old lady shook her head with regret. Not caring about whether Samuel had denied her question or not, she just turned back and asked her little grandson to pour the hot water into the basin.

Ethan choked carelessly, but Tanisiel carefully wiped the corners of his mouth with his sleeve and helped him lie back slightly. At this time, the old woman brought the hot water and a towel to soak it with. “Wipe his body with hot water. I have a quilt here, and after covering him for a while and letting him sweat, he should get better.”

The priest also felt that his robe that Ethan was wearing was too thin, so he untied the robe and planned to wash it for him. However, he did not expect a piece of a skin-like object to fall out of the lapel.

Moreover, after seeing the words and patterns on the skin, the old woman seemed to have seen something terrible and screamed. Even the basin she was holding became unstable, and the water spilled all over the floor.

“Cr……Crypt ghost!!!”

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There was no update yesterday, so there’s a little bit more today~

T/N: Thank you Ko-fi supporter and VBaby for your kofi!