TDU Chapter 333
Chapter 333 The Queen Consort
Yun Yao and Xu Qian exchanged glances; there was something odd about Yan Zhichun.
Despite everyone having just saved her, she didn’t show the slightest trace of gratitude.
“Let’s divide the {Dào},” Yan Zhichun stated. “With that man gone, we each take twelve of the forty-eight.”
“I’m fine with that,” Xu Qian agreed. “Dangerous or not, the reward makes it worth the trouble.”
“You all go ahead…” Chen Junnan said. “Superstar, hold onto my share for now.”
With that, he dragged his nearly broken body and slowly made his way toward the other side.
“Where are you going?” Yun Yao snapped. “Don’t you even know what kind of shape you’re in?”
“This young master can’t collapse here just yet…” Chen Junnan responded weakly. “There’s still people I gotta rescue…”
“Rescue…?” Yun Yao didn’t understand what he meant. They were the only survivors left, who else was there to save?
After taking just three steps, Chen Junnan bent over, pausing to catch his breath. He felt like maybe he really ought to die first, this was starting to get unbearable.
But he couldn’t leave yet, there were still people in harm’s way within the building.
“I can barely stand anymore…” Chen Junnan turned back to Yun Yao and Xu Qian. “Ladies, that bastard Terrestrial Snake had women and children locked up here… Now that he’s dead, we ought to free them too.”
“Is that really necessary?” Yun Yao frowned. “You know better than I do, they’ll just respawn once they die.”
“But that’s wrong in every sense. We’re living humans, not damned phantoms drifting through {End Point},” Chen Junnan sighed. “Even if you won’t, I will—”
Yun Yao could only shake her head helplessly. After everything they’d been through, she had a fairly solid grasp of Chen Junnan’s character. He was a man of strong will, yet with a clear and vulnerable soft spot.
She exchanged a glance with Xu Qian, and the two began searching the area.
Yan Zhichun, meanwhile, tucked away her {Dào}, watching them with idle curiosity.
Not long after, Xu Qian discovered a hidden trapdoor beneath the table at the center podium.
“Over here!” Xu Qian called out, and both Yun Yao and Chen Junnan quickly made their way over.
As the three of them approached the trapdoor, an ominous, foul stench began seeping out from below.
“Are there really… people down there?” Yun Yao asked in disbelief. That smell didn’t seem to come from anything living.
Chen Junnan looked at the large iron padlock affixed to the trapdoor and tugged on it only to realize he no longer had the strength. “Could one of you help me open this…?”
Wordlessly, Xu Qian turned and approached Terrestrial Snake’s mutilated corpse. After rummaging through the twisted remains, she retrieved a completely unusable key, sliced into multiple pieces along with the corpse.
“No need to complicate things,” Yun Yao remarked as she stepped forward and extended her hand. “This lock looks ancient. Most of its internal components are probably already corroded.”
As she spoke, she grasped the iron padlock. It instantly turned mottled with rust, and with a firm tug, it crumbled like brittle charcoal, shattering into pieces.
“You’re something else…” Chen Junnan gave a faint, weary smile, then reached out and pulled the trapdoor open.
An overwhelming stench surged upward, flooding the room. Yun Yao immediately clutched her nose and mouth, doubling back with dry heaves. Even Chen Junnan’s face contorted with a deep frown.
This couldn’t possibly be the smell of anything alive.
It was only the second day; who had Terrestrial Snake captured, and what had he done to them?
“I’m going down to check,” Chen Junnan declared, pulling Yun Yao behind him before descending the stairs. His whole body trembled as if dredging up some long-buried trauma. “I don’t know what’s down there, stay here for now.”
Yun Yao and Xu Qian exchanged glances. Chen Junnan looked like he could barely stand, why insist on playing the hero?
“I’m going with you,” Xu Qian said. “If others are to be rescued, I should contribute.”
Hearing that Chen Junnan’s footsteps had already faded into the depths of the staircase, Xu Qian began descending slowly as well. After a brief moment of thought, Yun Yao followed suit, trailing the other two down the stairs.
Yan Zhichun, meanwhile, walked calmly to the trapdoor. She neither descended nor made any move to stop them; she merely stood there in silence, lost in thought.
The staircase stretched far deeper than any typical basement, more like a sublevel, reaching the depth of a second underground floor.
Shrouded in pitch-black darkness, the trio made their way down, one after another. The stench became increasingly unbearable, thick and oppressive, making it difficult to breathe.
Their pace was slow; it took over a minute before the faintest traces of light began to appear.
The basement, strangely, had illumination.
Chen Junnan was the first to reach the hidden chamber below. He took a single glance around the space, and froze where he stood.
It was dark. Wet. Putrid. Drenched in blood. Utterly surreal.
This was hell incarnate.
Lining both walls stood dozens of women—completely naked, their necks shackled by iron chains. Their eyes were vacant, hollow, staring into nothingness. Whether they were alive or dead was impossible to tell. Without exception, they were emaciated beyond recognition, their ribs sharply defined beneath parchment-thin skin.
“Fuck.” Chen Junnan’s gaze flickered as he forced himself to step forward through the stench. He quickly noticed that some of the women were already dead; their limp bodies still suspended by the chains, hanging like broken mops. Flesh was rotting from their bones, maggots crawling freely over what remained.
“Terrestrial Snake… you motherfu—” Chen Junnan forgot the pain coursing through his body and clenched his fists tightly. “What the hell were you doing down here…? Did you forget you were once human?”
Yun Yao and Xu Qian stepped into the chamber and stopped cold. Horror rooted them where they stood, unable to take another step.
The ground was littered with excrement and white bones. There was something odd about those women...Indigenous inhabitants?!
Step by step, Chen Junnan pressed deeper into the chamber. The women on either side remained utterly motionless, like statues, lifeless and expressionless.
This elongated room measured more than ten meters, yet the poor lighting left Chen Junnan with the unsettling impression that something awaited him at the far end.
“Chen–Chen Junnan…” Yun Yao called out in a hushed voice. “Be careful…”
It was as if Chen Junnan could no longer hear anything. He trudged forward, each step heavy, pressing deeper into the chamber.
Eventually, he came to a stop at the far end of the room.
Yun Yao and Xu Qian watched his silhouette from a distance, unsure of what he had seen. In silence, they cautiously moved forward, step by step, following after him.
Soon, a massive throne entered their view. It appeared to be hewn from stone, but its surface was draped in decaying, blackened human skin. A nauseating stench wafted from the throne, thick and oppressive—an invisible wall that kept anyone from drawing closer.
Beside the base of the throne sprawled a woman of well-proportioned figure, as if waiting for someone.
Yun Yao’s pupils trembled faintly as she stepped closer to examine this young woman.
She didn’t appear emaciated; perhaps she had only recently become one of the {indigenous inhabitants}. Yet her body was covered in wounds, and her gaze was fading fast, her pupils already growing dim.
In her wild hair sat a crude crown fashioned from twisted iron wire, and across her chest, blood-red words were carved deep into her flesh: My Queen Consort
The carved wounds were clearly fresh, no more than a few days old. The characters were jagged and uneven, the cuts just beginning to scab over. Every letter stood raised and inflamed, on the verge of festering.
Before Yun Yao could speak, the young woman slowly lifted her head and smiled, revealing a mouth full of blood and only a few remaining teeth.
“Has… Master come back…?”
The sight made Yun Yao and Chen Junnan’s skin crawl, every hair standing on end. In unison, they cried out:
“Xiao Ran…?!”
TL Note: Who would have thought Xiao Ran had ended up here, and in this state. I’m not sure if I should feel bad for her...
