Of the ten murals, Lin Ya recognized four and Ye Lin recognized two.
Guanyin, the Dao Ancestor, Christ, the Virgin Mary...
There was no apparent logic connecting the images. If they shared anything, it was that all depicted religious or mythological figures.
And all had enormous rings of light above their heads.
While everyone else was puzzled, Hu Jia felt secretly pleased.
The murals' appearance suggested, to some extent, that his interpretation was more accurate.
"What do these pictures mean? Are these the gods we're supposed to find?"
Recalling the system's wording, He Zheng couldn't help asking.
But the more he considered it, the stranger it seemed.
One god would have been normal. Even an unfamiliar god. So many different divine figures, however, felt wrong.
Origin of the Gods. Find ??... A god?
Could every god in human history be here?
Ye Lin was just as puzzled.
His eyes stayed fixed on the murals, searching for more details.
According to He Zheng, every scrap of information in a Death Gaokao question mattered. It wasn't just giving the wrong answer that killed you. Misreading the question was enough.
Clearly, these murals concealed crucial information for the second round.
"Ye Lin? Thought of anything?"
He Zheng couldn't help asking again. He was desperately uneasy, with a strange feeling that something terrible was about to happen.
Ye Lin said nothing, lowering his head as he rapidly worked through possibilities.
They faced three questions.
First, what did the murals mean?
Second, who had made them?
Third, which of the gods depicted actually existed, or could help them? And if any did exist, where were they?
As for whoever had created these corpse murals...
If humans had done this, then besides the Aberrants, they would have to face a group of utterly deranged lunatics. But if...
"Aaaah!"
A hideous shriek suddenly rushed toward them from the distance.
It was so piercing it hurt their eardrums.
Ye Lin snapped his head up toward the winding passage behind them. An intense sense of danger erupted inside him.
No human could make that sound!
And it was moving incredibly fast!
The shrieks grew from distant to deafening in moments.
Even without seeing them, he could picture the screaming monsters charging toward them at incredible speed.
And judging by the number of cries, there had to be at least a hundred!
"Ye Lin! Run or fight?"
He Zheng tightened his grip on the fire axe and demanded an answer.
Without speaking, Ye Lin motioned for everyone to prepare, then pressed his ear to the floor.
In theory, with so many monsters coming, they should run. But their only escape was back the way they'd come, which was little better than waiting to die.
He had to gamble that they weren't all coming from the same direction.
The few seconds dragged like years. Just as He Zheng was about to turn and flee, Ye Lin sprang up and aimed at the bend in the passage.
"Fight!"
"There's only one close to us! The others aren't in this passage! Kill it, and we can take another route!"
The footsteps were dense, but their rhythms differed. The shrieks came in a mass, yet from different elevations.
Sound struck the walls, spreading and echoing. That meant the passages behind the bend branched!
"Fight?"
He Zheng gulped air, his gaze shifting as he looked at Ye Lin.
After the last round, he trusted that Ye Lin wasn't talking nonsense. But He Zheng had the strongest body and the best hearing.
Even at this distance, he could hear metal scraping beneath the shrieks. Either these monsters could already use weapons, or...
Screech!
A piercing scrape sounded. The screaming and running stopped abruptly.
The next instant, with the sounds gone, a long, thin black shape burst out like an arrow from a bow.
Before anyone could see it clearly, the monster seemed to sense the gun aimed at it. Its hunched, streamlined body kicked off the wall and sprang toward them!
A quick look at will leave you more fulfilled.
So fast!
He Zheng's face changed. Speed was one thing, but its agility far exceeded anything he'd expected!
He'd planned to let Ye Lin take a test shot first. Now there was no way to aim!
"A monster! A monster!"
Hu Jia screamed behind him. He and Lin Ya were hiding farthest back, but the creature's oppressive presence and stench washed over him like something ingrained in his genes. Every pore seemed to scream.
As though drawn by his voice, the leaping Aberrant shrieked and launched straight at him, locking onto its prey.
Fuck!
He Zheng cursed inwardly. Seeing it about to leap past him, he had no choice but to charge.
It wasn't that he cared whether Hu Jia died. Their formation couldn't break!
If the Aberrant got among them, He Zheng would be unable to fight freely, too!
At such close range, he finally saw what it looked like.
It resembled a fish with human legs, its body covered in scales. On either side of its enormous, centrally split fish head, two bulging eyes stared motionlessly like a corpse's.
The sight was so revolting his scalp crawled.
"Ye Lin!"
"Zhang Tie!"
There was no time for fear.
He shouted to warn them to back him up. Then, raising the fire axe high, he bent like a bow and swung savagely toward the leaping creature.
But the Aberrant was so fast that he couldn't be sure of hitting its eyes, which looked like its weakest point.
Clang!
It was like striking a steel plate. The recoil drove him back several steps.
Only a trace of blue blood seeped from the head where his axe had landed.
He Zheng turned deathly pale.
What kind of defense was that?
Nobody knew better than he did how much power he'd put into that blow. Against a normal human, it could probably have split them in half from the skull down!
"XIA!"
The fish-headed Aberrant shrieked in pain.
Its right claw swept toward He Zheng. The blow ripped through the air so fast that the others saw only an afterimage.
Thud!
He Zheng screamed and flew backward. Blood sprayed from his abdomen like flung paint.
He struck the wall and collapsed.
Clutching the wound in agony, he lost his grip on the fire axe. It skidded several meters away.
The enraged Aberrant charged again. His eyes filled with terror.
If his body hadn't been so strong, and if he hadn't twisted slightly at the last instant, that claw would have slit his belly and ripped out his guts!
Damn it!
He'd expected the Aberrants to be powerful. He hadn't imagined he couldn't handle even one!
And there were hundreds more behind it!
What could he do?
The vast mouth opened wider and wider. Faced with jaws that could crush his skull in one bite, He Zheng stared in horror.
If it bit him, he would die. Once he was dead, the rest wouldn't last a few seconds!
"He Zheng! Zhang Tie!"
"Hold it!"
Just as despair took hold, Ye Lin's voice rang out.
Somehow, he'd already reached the creature's flank. He kicked the fallen fire axe straight between He Zheng and the gaping jaws.
Was he...?
Understanding flashed through He Zheng. They hadn't exchanged a word, yet he knew what Ye Lin intended.
Jam the monster's mouth open! Then have him and Zhang Tie hold it still long enough for a shot!
But...
The axe wouldn't hold for long. Its wooden handle would be bitten through in an instant!
In that case...
He Zheng steeled himself, thrusting his left arm straight into the bloody maw.
He intended to sacrifice an arm, too, to make absolutely sure it stayed open!