The Abyssal Garden: No Room for the Idle

The deep red was intensifying!

It seemed to be furious that someone had disrupted this place, and equally enraged that someone had tampered with the Energy Hub, releasing all the Elemental Devouring Beasts.

It was heading this way!

Su Qi watched the scene unfold, turning to Brother Cat, "Brother Cat, I feel that since you've done this, you must have a way to solve it..."

With a snap, Brother Cat's flesh and fur burst open, his body unable to withstand the powerful Strength and on the brink of collapse.

"....."

Good grief.

Su Qi's eyelids twitched. If you don't have the skills, don't take on the job, he thought. Had he known, he would have done it himself, directly detonating the energy inside... and blown up this place.

And yet, the alarm was still sounding.

Suddenly...

That voice which had appeared before gently rang out again.

"Tsk..."

"...I just went to take a nap, and when I return... this is what happens..."

"I had wanted to stir things up later... but now, it's all come bursting out."

The voice muttered to itself, as if not particularly urgent.

"Since that's the case..."

"Boom!"

Terrifying Strength seemed to collide head-on! Someone had intercepted the dangerous entity that was approaching!

It appeared as though a battle had erupted!

The thick walls of the area were sealed, but vibrations could still be felt! An anxious aura permeated the entire space!

And at this moment... Brother Cat fell too, the brilliant corridor losing its supporting Strength... slowly dissipating.

He was covered in wounds, barely alive.

Su Qi grabbed him by the throat, picking up the Magical Conch, "Brother Hai Xing... I'm leaving him in your care."

The conch give off subtle Ripples, and Su Qi tossed Brother Cat inside. The Magical Conch formed its own space, and once Patrick entered, Su Qi felt like he was holding a Pokemon Ball. Now, leaving Brother Cat in the care of the coarse-nerved Patrick, he couldn't help but wonder... if it was the right choice.

Rumbling vibrations!

The entire area shook, and everyone felt uneasy!

The speed at which the area was descending was much faster than agreed upon before.

According to previous statements, they were supposed to descend slowly, making stops, resting, exchanging Tools, and having the chance to leave after exchanging all their points.

But now.

They seemed to have skipped all selectable processes.

They were being forced to plunge into the very bottom!

Night Watch and Fang Li also appeared next to Su Qi, their expressions anxious and solemn, "Brother Su, what on earth is going on?"

"Just after that cat appeared, it's as if we've encountered a sudden incident!"

Everything that just happened seemed to have caused a serious chain reaction.

And Su Qi, looking up at the sky, said, "Why ask me? I don't know. Maybe this gigantic elevator is just poorly maintained."

"....."

The battle vibrations continued, and the speaker and the constructor of this place didn't seem to be on the same side.

The former seemed more like a Guider to everyone.

Su Qi couldn't help but ponder a question... Could this Guider be related to that hospital? Or one of those people?

A caregiver?

The entity from Room No.4 who hadn't shown up?

Or could it be... Doli, who claimed to be the chief doctor yet was never in his office?

Meanwhile.

Su Qi also noticed the presence of Black Fog, mingling with the deep red, seemingly trying to infiltrate through the gaps.

This also suggested.

They were getting closer and closer to the ultimate Hell of the Anxious Land.

Su Qi slightly nodded.

"One can only say Brother Cat is young and reckless, too impulsive."

The Magical Conch on Su Qi's body rippled slightly, Brother Cat seemed to have regained some consciousness but was still weak.

Faintly reminding Su Qi... I can hear you badmouthing me.

Calling him Brother Cat to his face, but Brother Cat behind his back.

Su Qi felt no shame at being discovered, looking around, "Then, while we still have time, Brother Cat... please explain the situation."

The area continued to fall, the alarm blared incessantly, but the Anxious Land was like an Abyss, and for the moment, you could only see Black Fog swirling, yet to reach the bottom.

And Su Qi just took the opportunity to ask why the Patrick that had previously left and why he had reappeared here, and why both of them ended up in this state.

As for why he didn't ask Patrick...

Heh.

Brother Cat is a normal cat; it actually managed to communicate its intentions through spiritual energy fluctuations, faster than a standard conversation.

Su Qi slightly raised his eyebrows, mused, "So that's how it is..."

It and Brother Hai Xing were both homeless, lonely creatures. After they had lost their restrictions and gained freedom, they teamed up to travel between worlds. Brother Hai Xing was looking for his home, while Brother Cat was searching for its missing kin. They both managed to make quite a few enemies, and there were forces coveting them, but Brother Hai Xing was very powerful in his own right, and Brother Cat could open portals to escape.

They followed the traces and finally found the Anxious Land...

This sealed-off space was normally an inaccessible and dangerous area.

But Brother Cat was indeed quite special; it stubbornly opened up a chaotic passage. It originally didn't want Patrick, who was its companion, to enter, but the latter foolishly followed along anyway.

The passage through the chaos was unstable, scattering them. Patrick accidentally fell into the Devil's Sea where he caught the eye of the deep red shadowy will and was cursed.

Whereas Brother Cat, relying on its own ability, delved deep into the Anxious Land.

It did, indeed, find... its kin, except they were discovered and suppressed by some entity, and turned into an energy hub... until now.

"That entity... should be the person now fighting the Guider," Su Qi mused lightly, "But if all these areas are energy hubs, what exactly is their purpose? Do you know, Brother Cat?"

He couldn't see beyond his line of sight right now and naturally couldn't glean too much information.

[Supplying energy...]

Brother Cat's spiritual energy sent waves, transmitting the message.

[While imprisoned, I had no self-control, only to be used as an energy storage device, inundated with massive amounts of energy, then drained away...]

[But in my haze... I seem to have seen the convergence point for all the hubs...]

[That's the sunken remnant at the bottom... a broken corpse...]

Su Qi fell deep into thought.

A corpse?

He linked this to the bottom layers and the previous information about the Deep Red Fragment and preemptively matched up the God of Anxiety.

"How incomplete?"

[...]

Brother Cat couldn't answer.

According to Brother Cat's account, it couldn't see the remnant corpse clearly, as if some rule prevented it from directly looking at it.

However.

Judging by the vague outlines, it seemed that many parts were missing.

At this moment,

the temperature within the area grew even colder!

However.

With a "boom"!

The fluctuations of the battle seemed to pause somewhat, showing that the confrontation had reached a conclusion.

And after a brief ten seconds or so.

A voice slowly began to speak. Its tone was lighthearted, but seemed somewhat agitated, clearly indicating that the recent battle wasn't a small skirmish.

"You really do bring me trouble... But congratulations, you're quite lucky to still be alive after all this..."

Everyone tensed up slightly, many Young Master Spirit Kings, offspring of powerful entities, and rising stars of great forces all furrowed their brows.

Although the crumbling of these areas induced panic, it wasn't to the extent of causing death, right?

Only Su Qi understood.

That statement seemed to be about himself... causing the unexpected situation... Brother Cat's burst of strength had even touched the core... disturbing the terrifying danger.

And if it hadn't appeared just in time to repel the other party, then they all would've met with death.

"Although... it was indeed unexpected... but this also isn't without its opportunities..."

The voice trailed off with a playful laugh, "Listen carefully..."

Everyone's ears pricked up.

What they could anticipate was... the thick walls of each area had surely been sealed with various horrific rituals, and even that terrifying battle's fluctuations had only transmitted a fraction, with no sign of damage.

Only now,

everyone heard the horrifying screams and scratching noises from outside, growing clearer and clearer.

The unsettling sensation made everyone's hair stand on end!

It seemed the area was slowing down, not because it was being controlled, but because it was continuously smashing into obstacles.

With a bang!

All the alarms in the area smashed to pieces! The descending trend of the area stopped abruptly!

No one knew what had happened, nor where they were, only to hear that voice slowly rising:

"Congratulations, you've speedrun through the sixth layer, Ghost Face Hell, skipped the fifth layer, Asura Death, and due to completely insufficient points, also missed the fourth layer's reward – contact with the Temple..."

"Now, this is the last layer of the Anxious Land."

"I can only say two words."

"Good luck."