My spirit was tumbling in a dark passage, not knowing how long it had been before I finally landed on solid ground. Everything was pitch-dark, and I couldn't see my hand in front of my face.
What place was this? It was just a small Soul Vessel, and I never expected it to be so spacious. Ah, I clearly remembered that the soul was sucked in, but why were my equipment still there?
Two small light balls approached me. I stared at them blankly. As they got closer, it was a person wearing a long robe and carrying a cloak on his head. His hand was gripping a rabbit's ear, and the rabbit's two eyes emitted red light, barely illuminating the distance in front of me.
With the light, I immediately saw the small fat guy in front of me, grabbing him.
The Fat Demon God smiled bitterly: "I was really messed up by you. There were ten thousand or even eight thousand people trying to kill me in this place. You didn't even need to hold onto me; I didn't dare to even try to escape."
I was about to ask when the person holding the rabbit spoke: "I'm the guide of Hell. Follow me, please."
My body trembled: "Hell!"
The Fat Demon God sneered: "Yes, you wanted to restore the Ghost City, right? The guardian god of the Ghost City is imprisoned in Hell. There's a chance soon. You really are not ordinary lucky."
As the guide was about to walk away, without the rabbit lantern in his hand, we were afraid we would get lost. I hurriedly grabbed the Fat Demon God and followed him.
I tried to cast fireballs or light-based spells, but to no avail. All the spells were unusable.
There was a snap sound under my feet, like the cracking of rotten wood. The guide said calmly: "Walk more gently. The Ling Hao Bridge has been in disrepair for a long time. Recently, many new ghosts have come, and the bridge is almost broken."
My heart tightened: "What will happen if it breaks?"
The guide said calmly: "You'll fall into the Ling Hao River and have all your data in the Three Realms erased, which is equivalent to losing your account and starting over."
I was horrified: "What? How long is this bridge? Can't we take a boat instead?"
The guide said: "The conditions are not good now. Please bear with it. Hell needs everyone's joint construction. Later, there will be boats, and the bridge will be repaired..."
I was sweating profusely, walking carefully on the bridge, not daring to hold onto the small fat guy anymore. His weight was really worrying me.
Finally, we crossed the so-called Ling Hao Bridge. I let out a sigh of relief. Someone handed me a bowl of tea, and I said "Thank you". Just as I was about to drink it, suddenly I saw the small fat guy looking at me happily.
I was puzzled: "You don't want to drink it?"
The small fat guy smiled: "I'm a demon god and have privileges. I don't need to drink Meng Hou's soup."
I shouted: "Meng Hou's soup! I'm not dead, why should I drink it! Meng Hou's soup clears the memories of the dead souls. If I drink it, I'll definitely become level 0, right!"
At the bridge's end, an old woman with a blank expression said: "If you don't want to drink it, that's fine. It saves my tea. Anyway, my level and equipment are low now, and I can't defeat you. Hmph, up to now, there are hundreds of thousands of ghosts, but only two-thirds of them fell for my tea. It's really annoying."
At this moment, the guide of Hell opened a wooden door and turned back: "Alright, this is where I lead you. Go ahead. Hell has no government now. Good luck to you."
I walked over in a daze, hearing a dog bark. I turned my head and saw a puppy tied to the door, with three heads. I said blankly: "This... this is, the legendary Hell Dog?"
The guide said calmly: "Yes, it's still in its juvenile stage, so be gentle."
It was like a dream. I and the Fat Demon God walked into the Hell Gate.
At the moment of entering, the system notified: "Because the player, Tian Zhengfen, was the first to enter Hell, you will receive 1000 reputation points."
"Because you are the first player to enter Hell, you will be rewarded with 'Hell Investigation Technique'."
I grabbed the Fat Demon God: "Tell me, what happened exactly!" The Great Belly Demon God said, "Nothing to worry about. That Soul Vessel you have can suck souls into hell. It was originally an item belonging to the Hell Enforcers and somehow ended up in your possession. My level is low now, so it's normal for my soul to be sucked in. I don't know why you came in. But I won't tell you that."
I gave a slight smile. I understood. It was my own fault. Why use the Soul Union Technique to voluntarily send my soul into the Soul Vessel when there was no need?
I looked around: "Then what about the hundreds of thousands of dead souls I sucked in the other day? Did they come here too?"
The Great Belly Demon God sighed sadly, "Of course. As soon as these people see me, they'll tear me to pieces. I can only wait for three days until I'm resurrected..."
I was in hell, but it wasn't that unbearable. This place was better than the irrecoverable Ghost City outside. Here, there were still quite a few ghosts, and there should be monsters to fight. Besides, my mission was originally to liberate the Guardian Spirit of the Ghost City in hell.
Now that I was outside, I had no death. I just temporarily sent my soul to hell. As long as I returned to the human world, I could come back to life. So, there was no rush.
I looked at the Great Belly Demon God. He was looking around, afraid that some soul would discover him. I rolled my eyes: "Fat Guy, why don't you be my pet?"
The Great Belly Demon God let out a sound, opened his mouth wide, and looked at me as if I were an idiot.
I chuckled: "If you don't want to be killed by other ghosts, it's better to hide in my pet space."
Just as we were talking, a human (ghost?) voice came from somewhere nearby. The Great Belly Demon God's face changed, and he nervously looked in that direction. Suddenly, he gritted his teeth: "Alright, I'll tolerate it. Let's sign a short-term contract for three days!"
I grunted: "Three days is too short!"
The Great Belly Demon God's face turned pale and he broke out in a sweat: "Then what do you want? Our NPC rules state that we can't overly help players and disrupt the game balance. If I agree to help you for a few years, Sister Hailan will eliminate me!"
I smiled: "Of course, I won't be too excessive. You know that the Prison of Death is very difficult to break. Without your help, I don't know how long I would have to struggle. So, let's sign a contract to rescue 'Dream Butterfly'!"
The Great Belly Demon God's sweat was increasing. He waved his hand to wipe it off and the voice got closer.
The Great Belly Demon God finally made up his mind: "Alright, I had no choice. Sister Hailan should forgive me. But I can't accompany you for that long. As soon as I reach level 50, my abilities can return to the human world. I still have my 'job' to do here. So, I'll sign a one-month contract at most!"
I looked at his appearance. He seemed to have reached the limit. That's fine. One month is already quite good. This is a Demon God-level boss. There's nowhere to rent it, and it doesn't cost money either.
After signing the contract, I named the Great Belly Demon God Little Fat Guy and recalled him to the pet space.
Several figures walked over from a distance, each holding a rabbit in their hands.
A white-bearded old man greeted me: "Young man, you just came down. You're not familiar with the environment. Let's team up."
After leaving the Underworld, I was still leveling up. It felt strange. Anyway, let's make a few friends first.
We formed a team. When we looked, except for the old man, the rest of the team were all level 10 or below "new ghosts". And the old man was a 125-level mage!
The old man suddenly cast "Eater's Gate", and all the dozens of monsters in front of me were swallowed into the black space in the sky. I shuddered.
The surrounding ghosts, some of them immediately leveled up by one. Everyone chatted and continued walking to find other groups of monsters.
I couldn't help asking: "Are you all from the Ghost City too?"
Everyone nodded. A soldier-like warrior angrily said: "We were too stupid. We drank that Meng Hou soup, and our levels were reset to zero. Fortunately, the mage Norris was willing to lead us." Norris chuckled, "Actually, I had a pretty tough time when I first arrived. All the magic was ineffective. Using the wand to strike these monsters was exhausting. It took me over a day to finally get someone to help me find the Dark Magic book."
I looked at these ghosts, feeling strange inside. They were actually NPCs, but they were not much different from players. On them, although NPCs hunted too, they rarely saw NPCs teaming up or chatting.
The priest in the group was the most idle. He kept looking at me and suddenly said, "By the way, you must be the one who sucked us in with the pot, right?"
I was shocked. It was over. They actually remembered me. I couldn't escape. I was a level 125 mage. What could I do?
Norris smiled, "I recognized you earlier. If it weren't for him, we would still be trapped in the magic god's array and unable to escape. He can be considered our great benefactor."
Everyone laughed and thanked me. I finally let out a sigh of relief.
Now my original skills were all ineffective, including the life skills. I could only use swords and axes to hack. Fortunately, my swords and axes seemed to have transformed into hell attributes, and they could deal damage to the monsters here.
However, with this super mage around, I basically didn't have a chance to use my skills. As I was about to level up to 40, I suddenly shouted, "Norris, thank you for taking me with you. But I can't continue training with you guys anymore. I'm a special growth type, and being led around costs a lot of points!"
Norris said with a "oh" sound, "That's really embarrassing. Well, then, go in that direction first. That's the nearest village, which is also where the ghosts are concentrated in the northwest part of our area."
I remembered something important, "Excuse me, where is the prison of death? I need to liberate the guardian god of the ghost city!"
Norris' expression suddenly became serious, "We are currently leveling up and finding skills to go to the prison of death. All the combat NPCs from the ghost city we came from are working hard! When you reach the village, just ask anyone for the location."
My heart was filled with excitement. Great! There are so many people doing the mission together, and there are so many high-level characters. It won't take long to finish it, right?
Following the direction Norris pointed, I took the rabbit lantern he gave me from the warrior and rushed towards that hellish village.
The village before me was similar to the structure of the human world. Countless ghosts were working hard to build.
However, it was obvious that they didn't have the corresponding skills, and the houses and items they made didn't look good.
At this moment, a big man ran back from outside the village excitedly, "I found it! I found a 'Hell Carpenter Technique' book! Whoever has a higher intuition, come and claim it!"
Immediately, a group of people rushed over and argued for a long time. Finally, an elderly man learned it. He immediately grabbed the hell trees that others had collected and started making things.
Now I had finally adapted to the hellish environment. Actually, I just entered another space of the game. The various skills in the original space couldn't be used here, but the equipment and level were still there.
So, I'll go and look for the village chief first.
An old man in a pastoral god suit appeared in front of me. I stared at him blankly, "Old... Old chief, you, you are the village chief here!"
It was the chief of the Harsa tribe. He was surprised when he saw me and then laughed and hugged me, "I never expected that you would come down too, huh? Are you a deleted account?"
I smiled, "I'm 'stealthed', by the way. Also, can I obtain citizenship here?"
The chief smiled, "If you have a household registration in the mortal world, you can't obtain citizenship here."
We talked about our situations after saying goodbye. The old chief knew that his son's position as the village chief had been taken by me, but he solemnly said, "Without you, how could we seal off the two magic gods? Your gratitude to our Harsa tribe is higher than the sky. You being the village chief, I am very pleased!"
I looked at the chubby guy beside me. He was so scared that he couldn't close his mouth after hearing that I had sealed off two magic gods. We chatted for a while longer, and learned that Hell is still in its early stage of development. There are only nine villages in Hell, and the village in the northwest, with the addition of the ghost from the Ghost City, is already the most developed. However, it is still a village lacking in facilities and housing.
During the conversation, it was discovered that this old patriarch, although his manner and speech were the same as before, seemed to lack a certain kind of vitality, or rather, the traits of a human being. However, upon further consideration, since they are all computer-simulated intelligence, it is impossible for them to be exactly like humans. The humanity I felt from the old patriarch before was probably just an illusion.
While we were talking, a ghost approached the old patriarch, lowering his head and remaining silent.
The old patriarch looked at him: "Divine Law, what's wrong? You've come back here crying again? Well, it's no wonder you have such deep sins in life. I can't help you either."
Looking at this ghost in front of me, I couldn't believe my eyes. This ghost, dressed in simple new clothes and holding a wooden sword, was actually the "Fantasy Divine Law!" Apart from the difference in appearance and equipment, he was indeed him!
At this moment, a long laugh came: "What, Divine Law, have you come to the village chief's office to cry again? Go and level up, return to level 10, and we'll start killing again!"
The laughing voice came from a group of ghosts riding on skeleton horses approaching from the village entrance. The one laughing was a big man, in the center of the group, with a cold face and holding a knight's gun, it was the "Iron Blood Cavalry Division"!
The Iron Blood Cavalry Division is now at level 62, wearing the emblem of the "Underworld Sea Eagle Cult" as the leader. The hundreds of subordinates beside him also have many who are over level 50.
Although the Iron Blood Cavalry Division is now computer-simulated intelligence, the boundless momentum it emits is even stronger and more resilient than before. The ghosts in the village all nodded to him and their eyes were filled with reverence.
At this moment, a ghost riding a skeleton horse came running back: "Quick! The newly made medicine is here, give it to me quickly. The medicine at the front line is about to run out!"
The group of ghosts making medicine hurriedly handed over some dark-colored blood medicine. The ghost riding the horse said anxiously: "Is there any left? This medicine is only enough for a short while."
The old patriarch walked towards the ghost: "How long until the first refresh point of the first floor is reappeared?"
"Well, it's just a little bit more. If we give up now, the next attack will have the monsters reappear all over again!"
The old patriarch slammed his staff heavily on the ground: "Issue the general mobilization order. All those with combat abilities, go to the Death Prison. Even those below level 10 should go along!"
The Iron Blood Cavalry Division said nothing and led their brothers with the messenger ghost to go.
When I asked the old patriarch, it turned out that these newly joined ghosts, as soon as they arrived in Hell, desperately wanted to go to the Death Prison to rescue the Guardian Spirit of the Ghost City, while the old patriarch and all the original ghosts were moved by their spirit, so although the village was still poorly constructed, they still fully supported them.
It sounds like the fighting in the Death Prison is already very intense. I also want to contribute my share.
I summoned Flying and followed the ghost riding the skeleton horse to run. In my ears was the "general mobilization order" being issued.
The Death Prison is under the "North邙 Mountain", when I arrived, I saw tens of thousands of ghosts rushing into the huge cave door with various weapons. The four big characters "Death Prison" were at the entrance.
I also followed the "ghost group" into the cave. In the huge cave, over a hundred thousand ghosts were rushing towards countless skeleton soldiers.
Among these ghosts, a considerable number were high-mind profession such as mages, but most of them had no magic skills and could only use staffs and mallets to strike the skulls.
At the front, all the melee profession were roaring loudly. However, rarely did any battle skills' brilliance appear.
The battle was at the front line, the most prominent thing was the dozens of mages with magic skills and hundreds of advanced soldiers, knights, and some ancient professions. However, all my attention was focused on a tall figure.
Straining my eyes to see clearly, I finally confirmed: "Aiman!"