CHAPTER 33

Go back to where you escaped from.

After sending Qiu Zhishui to the secret passage connecting to the upper city, Sheng Qing and the others used the same trick again and returned to the church.

Meng Yunxi's soul tried to make a sound to attract the guards' attention, but Qin Feiyan discovered it in time and restrained it.

The group successfully entered the basement and tightly closed the only exit door.

"Is this the place?" The Rat King looked at Meng Yunxi.

“That’s right.” Meng Yunxi retorted, not to be outdone.

"Let's try them all first," the Rat King said, looking at everyone.

So the attacks, conjured from the elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, were launched one after another at a certain wall in the basement.

All attacks vanished a second before hitting the wall, so the location was undoubtedly correct.

However, whether due to insufficient energy to open the passage or for some other reason, the wall did not show any signs of the passage opening.

The Rat King silently stroked his chin, pondered for a moment, and said, "Change the order."

Just as they were about to repeat the Earth, Fire, Water, Wood, and Metal elements, a halo with sparkling edges appeared out of nowhere in front of the wall.

"I've got it!" Qin Feiyu exclaimed excitedly.

"Let's go!" With a shove to Meng Yunxi, the group stepped inside before the halo disappeared.

The sound of a gate being broken open came from behind; it must have been a huge energy fluctuation that had attracted the attention of the ground guards.

On the other side of the halo was a pitch-black, suspended space. Caught completely off guard, everyone landed on the ground.

"Are you alright?"

A few flames flickered, instantly illuminating the entire space.

Sheng Qing and the Rat King exchanged a glance. This was a sealed and narrow passage, very similar to the previous secret realm.

"You two wait here, the three of us can go in." The Rat King pointed to Meng Yunxi and Sheng Qing.

The crowd looked puzzled, but no one raised any objections.

Why? Is there something special about them that they can't know? Sheng Qing looked at the Rat King suspiciously.

The three of them walked out of the passageway one after the other, and after about ten minutes they finally arrived at an open space.

Unlike the previous secret realm, this time what appeared before us was the interior space of a building.

Under the bright, cold lights, countless densely packed rooms lined both sides of the corridor.

"Huh?" Meng Yunxi asked in confusion.

"What, is it different from what you saw before?" The Rat King turned to look at Meng Yunxi.

“It’s different. It used to be in a strange room,” Meng Yunxi tried to recall.

"Is that so?" The Rat King pulled Meng Yunxi into the corridor and casually pushed open a door.

“That’s right.” Meng Yunxi was stunned for a moment, as if she was recalling a bad experience.

Sheng Qing followed, and from the outside it looked like just a small room, but once inside, he discovered its enormous space.

It has a similar concept to Doctor Who's blue time machine.

The first thing that catches the eye is the well-arranged metal structure and the tubular devices that gleam with a yellow light.

And countless sophisticated and cold large-scale instruments and equipment, such as microscopes, automated instruments, and ultra-low temperature freezers.

There were also many other devices that Sheng Qing could not name, nor could he guess their purpose from their appearance.

Further inside, there is a whole row of animal cages and feeding equipment equipped with drinking water systems and automatic feeders.

Then there is the operating table and surgical equipment surrounded by various surgical instruments and monitoring devices.

A thought flashed through Sheng Qing's mind: was this the reason why these rats preferred to live in Sky City?

Sheng Qing looked up at Meng Yunxi, whose face was pale and her forehead was covered with fine sweat. She was leaning against the wall between two large pieces of equipment, panting heavily.

"Are you alright?" Sheng Qing asked softly.

"Do you think I look good like this?" As if she had used up all her strength, Meng Yunxi frowned, closed her eyes, and slid down the wall as if she had lost all her strength, finally falling to the ground.

"What happened to him?" The Rat King probably had no relevant past experience and had no idea what had happened.

"Hypocritical humans." Meng Yunxi sneered. "You should be turned into guinea pigs too, to experience the pain we once suffered."

"What do you mean?" The Rat King looked at Sheng Qing.

Sheng Qing pointed to rows of animal cages and operating tables piled high with surgical instruments, and said, "They are victims of animal experimentation."

"So that's why they divided humanity, turning humans into cats or even rats, in order to take revenge on them?" The Rat King quickly understood.

Sheng Qing seemed to hear the white mouse's shrill screams.

Sheng Qing never believed that animal experiments had any moral or scientific justification, but she never opposed them either, after all, she had enjoyed the additional benefits.

"Which is more important, saving the rat or saving the child?" Meng Yunxi opened her bloodshot eyes. "It's ridiculous, why does it have to be the rat?"

Sheng Qing and the Rat King both fell silent; they couldn't answer that question.

Survival of the fittest, the winner takes all.

This is the fairest, yet also the most unfair and cruel law of nature.

"It hurts! There's too much, too much, I can't take it anymore." Meng Yunxi slapped her head with both hands, her voice hoarse. "Why did they have to put all their memories on me? I thought that changing my body would allow me to escape these cruel and painful memories, but it turns out I can't escape them at all."

Tears streamed down Meng Yunxi's cheeks. The pain made him delirious, and he slammed his head against the wall. Blood then flowed from his forehead.

"Don't do this!" Sheng Qing rushed over and hugged Meng Yunxi tightly. He calmed his mind, opened the channel in his sea of ​​consciousness, and poured out his spiritual power.

Meng Yunxi's pained expression softened, and she stopped struggling, finally leaning quietly on Sheng Qing's shoulder.

"Alright, alright, we'll go find a way to rescue you now." Sheng Qing gently patted Meng Yunxi's shoulder and slowly leaned his body against the wall and the equipment next to him.

Suddenly, a violent tremor occurred, and Meng Yunxi, who had already fainted, slid down and lay on the ground.

"What happened?"

"Outside."

Should we bring him along?

“No need.” The Rat King refused, indicating that Sheng Qing should use elemental power to create a separate space, and then place Meng Yunxi’s body inside.

"Hurry up." As if he had only placed ordinary items into the space, the Rat King urged Sheng Qing on.

"Captain, aren't you worried at all about something happening to your body?" Sheng Qing asked, quickly following the Rat King while glancing back with concern.

"There won't be any danger for the time being," the Rat King said calmly.

Well, the emperor isn't worried, but the eunuchs are.

As soon as they stepped outside, the entire room collapsed, the ground began to sink, and something was about to burst out of the ground.

"Captain, your body!" Sheng Qing exclaimed in surprise.

"Don't worry, once I'm back in my body, I'll find a way to get out."

Sheng Qing was taken aback. "Fine, I was just being nosy and meddling."

"Go there." The Rat King pointed to the upper right and then carefully put his arm around Sheng Qing's shoulder.

With her soul trapped inside the Rat King's body, Meng Yunxi temporarily lost the ability to summon elemental power. Coupled with the Rat King's already immobile body, most of the physical labor had to be done by Sheng Qing.

Sheng Qing summoned the power of the wood element, and with the help of the vines, he held the Rat King's body and landed steadily at their destination.

"Captain, are you really that confident that my power can protect you?" Sheng Qing couldn't help but ask.

"Otherwise what? Can you carry both of us?"

“That might not work,” Sheng Qing said, quite self-aware. “But why not let them come in too?”

"secret."

Fine, never mind if you don't want to talk about it.

"By the way, you're still wearing the bracelet?" The Rat King brought up a new topic.

"You mean this?" Sheng Qing raised her hand, revealing the antique bracelet with intricate patterns that was supposedly a reward from the Queen.

“Pick it.”

"Why?" Sheng Qing asked, but her hands didn't stop. Then she showed a helpless expression. "I still can't get it off."

"Try your... uh, spiritual power."

"Huh? It actually came off!" Sheng Qing handed the bracelet he had taken off to the Rat King.

"No need to give it to me, just remember to wear it before you meet Her Majesty the Queen." After saying this, the Rat King turned his gaze downwards.

The once flat ground has completely collapsed, and a huge stone statue is slowly rising, surrounded by five familiar snake-bodied goddess statues at its base.

Similar to the previous secret realm, the goddess statue is topped with symbols representing the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, earth, and fire.

Sheng Qing temporarily suppressed her questions about the bracelet and turned her head to ask, "Light it up like last time?"

"Let's go down together."

Sheng Qing used the vines to return to the ground.

What order did you use to light up the statue of the goddess last time?

Right, it's in the order of drawing the five-pointed stars.

Sheng Qingzhao followed suit, lighting up the statues one by one, but when she lit the last one, the statues in front of her suddenly went out at the same time.

It seems the order is incorrect.

Sheng Qing thought about what had happened in this secret realm.

"Do it the other way around."

The two said in unison.

As expected, Sheng Qing tried the opposite direction and successfully lit up the last statue.

Then the five-pointed stars were successfully connected, and a white light lit up at the wireless intersection.

Sheng Qing was about to move into the circle when the Rat King blocked her way. In the end, the Rat King walked into the white light and took out an iron box.

If Sheng Qing remembers correctly, this iron box is exactly the same as the one from the last secret realm.

The contents of the tin box looked no different from the last one; they were still two beads that glowed red.

Even the urge to stop it was the same as last time.

"Take me up."

Before Sheng Qing could think it through, he was interrupted by the Rat King's voice.

"Should we put it in the statue's eye instead?"

"You can see?" The Rat King seemed somewhat surprised.

“Yes, that’s fine,” Sheng Qing replied confidently. “But shouldn’t we take it back to give to the Queen?”

"You don't need to know so much." The Rat King had no intention of explaining.

Does putting the bead into the stone statue mean the task is complete?

Or perhaps the captain had already hidden what needed to be brought back to the Queen within the white light?

Why are you being so secretive?

Forget it, I'll just be a tool for them.

Sheng Qing summoned the power of the wood element, and a sapling instantly grew into a towering tree, supporting Sheng Qing and the Rat King as they slowly rose, finally stopping at the position of the empty eye sockets of the stone statue.

In fact, given Sheng Qing's abilities, it was impossible for him to rise to such a high level in one go. But whether it was due to the coverage of spiritual energy or his actual improvement in ability, he actually rose to such a high level in one go.

"Are you done?" Sheng Qing felt a little out of breath, probably because she had overused her mental energy.

The moment the two red beads were placed into the stone statue's eye sockets, the Rat King suddenly lost consciousness and his body involuntarily fell downwards.

Seriously? They're using this trick at this time?

Sheng Qing was startled and summoned another vine to tightly bind the Rat King.

Hang in there!

Otherwise, how would I explain it to Miss Mouse after I leave?

It's one thing if she abducts the groom, but if her father really gets into trouble while she's in charge, even eight mouths won't be able to explain herself.

What happens if someone falls from a height of 20 meters?

Sheng Qing didn't want to know the answer, but at this moment she probably had to verify the result herself.

Sheng Qing pulled the Rat King along and used his spiritual power to hold on for a few more seconds.

At a height of twenty meters, life or death is uncertain. But what if it were five meters?

Sheng Qing silently closed her eyes, holding the Rat King tightly with one hand and protecting her head with the other.

Huh?

Instead of the expected pain, I felt a soft touch.

"Are you alright?" It was Meng Yunxi's familiar voice.

Sheng Qing opened her eyes and found herself being caught steadily by the other party.

"Where is the Rat King?" Sheng Qing jumped down from Meng Yunxi's arms and turned to see the Rat King floating in the air, entangled in vines.

"What happened?" the Rat King asked, puzzled. "How did I get back?"

"What, is my body easy to use?"

Sheng Qing then realized that Meng Yunxi had returned to her original human state.

And what about yourself?

I glanced at my hands; the fluffy cat fur was gone, replaced by human skin. The familiar touch was so comforting!