Deepnest was once very prosperous, though not in the usual sense. Few outsiders came here, but many of Hallownest's top technologies converged, making it a combination of a secret military base and a magic research institute.
It's worth mentioning that Hallownest and Deepnest were once adversaries, only uniting under the threat of their common enemy, The Radiance.
Under The Radiance's influence, the bugs of Deepnest lost their ability to reproduce, and their leader, Herrah, made a pact with the White King. They secretly conceived Hornet behind the White Lady's back.
Simon led the Little Knight to explore the tram tracks. This was not just a transportation route but also a tram hub, with many discarded trams, broken and overturned, like the corpses of dead steel beasts. Some trams hung high on the cables, looking quite new.
In this dust-covered metal ruin, several silver-bright flying insects emerged from their hiding places. These were Dirtcarvers' Hatchlings, the mothers of the Dirtcarvers. They looked like curved segments of flesh with two pairs of wings that flapped with a rustling sound.
Seemingly sensing an enemy, the Dirtcarvers' Hatchlings expelled Dirtcarvers from their caudal cavities, and these Dirtcarvers immediately charged at Simon.
Curious to see how many Dirtcarvers a Hatchling could produce, Simon, with a mischievous streak, didn't kill the Hatchlings, just waited for them to continuously give birth.
After an average of four or five Dirtcarvers were expelled, the caudal cavities of these Hatchlings closed. They then let out piercing screams and rushed at Simon, attempting to bite this hateful enemy with their apical mouthparts.
Several reanimated bug husks scurried out from a corner, swaying and wandering. After Simon dealt with the Dirtcarvers' Hatchlings, he turned his attention to them.
"Although they look normal, I always feel their aura is impure," Simon said to the Little Knight, who nodded slightly.
He killed these husks, but the next moment, grotesque black claws and white fangs burst from within them, forming distorted, monstrous creatures. These were Corpse Creepers.
Simon was almost amused by their bizarre appearance; two weaklings combined brought twice the joy. He swung his light sword and impaled them.
"Not much skill, but plenty of tricks."
Shaking his head, he continued forward.
They arrived at a platform-like area. Numerous signboards hung from the low ceiling, displaying information similar to train timetables.
The path ahead was blocked by a mechanical gate, but there was an entrance on the ground. Jumping in, they found themselves in a tram car with a mechanical valve. After opening it, the barrier gate on one side of the car lifted, allowing them to enter the depths of the abandoned tracks.
There were few trams here, but instead, it was filled with bug eggs, many of them dead. However, as long as some were still alive, they could hatch an endless supply of bugs.
The number of Dirtcarvers' Hatchlings here was immense, and Simon had to exert some effort to clear them all out.
At the end, there was a tram car. After searching inside, they found a tram pass. Simon gave the pass to the Little Knight.
With the tram tracks fully explored, they headed back, passed through a circular gate, and continued forward into a warehouse-like area with a chair, which the Little Knight did not sit on.
Now they had deviated from the main path. Simon led the Little Knight back to find the Foolish Followers.
When they arrived, the Followers had already filled the pit in the ground and had killed several Deepnest Creepers, which they were now eating.
The return of the two Colosseum champions made these Foolish warriors very nervous. They stood in rigid formation, facing the two with admiration and longing.
"Let's go to Herrah's Beast Den and get down to business!" Simon said to the Little Knight. "There should be a Stag Station there. Next, I'll have the Fools escort the group into Deepnest through the tracks, which will avoid a lot of risks. However, once I deliver you to Herrah, I will have fulfilled my promise, and you must walk the rest of the path yourself."
The Little Knight nodded.
The road to the Beast Den was not too eventful, though the Little Knight left several times along the way. Simon guessed he was going to rescue the grubs.
The Grub family, living in the Crossroads, had their larvae abducted by the Collector and placed in jars, scattered throughout Hallownest. This act was touted by the Collector as great protection; he interpreted this imprisonment of bugs as love, but in reality, many bugs he collected in glass jars starved to death. In his Tower of Love, the mountain of jars contained mostly the corpses of various bugs.
Collecting these grubs was a relatively meaningful task for the Little Knight. He would receive a reward from the Grubfather in the Crossroads for every larva he rescued.
Simon also had the opportunity to rescue these bugs, but for some reason, he was unwilling to do so. He feared becoming the creator of tragedy, so he chose to stand by and watch the crying larvae.
...
The Beast Den was one of the most secluded, dark, and terrifying places in this underground kingdom.
It wasn't that dangers were everywhere, but rather there was a sense of oppression that could drive a normal mind to madness.
Simon and the Little Knight stood on a cliff, looking around.
In the abnormally vast cavern, massive silk sacs hung in the air, and as far as the eye could see, the cave walls in the darkness were also paved with silk sacs. Looking down into the deep bottom of the cave, there was only a layer of dim water, without the slightest ripple or fluctuation, silent and still.
This seemed to be a large hatchery.
With such a colossal number of egg sacs, one could imagine how prosperous Deepnest once was.
"The Radiance is the enemy of all life. It must be utterly destroyed," Simon said to the Little Knight. He worried that the Little Knight might embark on the path of sealing The Radiance, which would only postpone the tragedy.
The Little Knight said nothing, only looking up at the largest egg sac. He had already realized that Herrah was there.
Silk bridges connected the suspended egg sacs. Besides these, there were no other steps.
The beasts of Deepnest were climbing experts; they could easily move and cross between the silk sacs, but for outsider bugs, the paths here were quite problematic.
Simon gestured, then looked down at the Weaver hatchlings scurrying at his feet, and suddenly had an idea.
He called the Fools to remove the silk sacs embedded in the cave walls, then extract the silk threads, and have the Weavers re-weave them into ribbons. Then, they would fly and tie the ribbons to the silk sacs.
This was a huge project.
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T/N: Although I'm an inexperienced Editor, I do have a Patreon account! Although it seems like I don't have many supporters right now, my webnovel will be released in full every day, and the advanced chapters will be uploaded to Patreon.
It may not be worth it now, but who knows, it might be different in the future. Who knows!
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