Chapter 69 The Vanishing Rose
"This stuff smells pretty good." Xie Liang took the small bottle of magic wine and sniffed it around.
Hong Guo asked doubtfully, "Can you get in with this thing?"
Seeing that Hong Guo was seriously injured, Xie Liang said, "I don't think he would have lied to us. Why don't you find a place to rest? The three of us can go."
"No need. The wind is getting stronger and we don't have much time left. Besides, this injury is nothing to me." Hongguo said lightly, covering his face.
A few people walked along the long ridge of the field all the way to the manor. They didn't know how long they walked, but finally arrived at the pear blossom fence.
Xie Liang held the small bottle in his hand and walked in front towards the main entrance.
The two gatekeepers initially showed signs of blocking the way, but after Xie Liang raised the small bottle in his hand, they carefully sniffed the air and soon retreated to both sides of the door.
Xie Liang walked in front, and according to his memory, he led Xu He and the others to turn left and right, through flower beds of all sizes, and finally arrived at the main building.
The two doors at the main entrance of the building were closed.
Xu He and Long Qingye looked at each other, took a few steps back together, and then they both took a running start and suddenly crashed into the middle of the two doors.
This time, the two doors were knocked open easily.
"It seems that it is easier to get things done during the day. Let's hurry up and look for the basement separately." Hongguo said, covering her swollen cheek.
Seeing that Hongguo's face was even more swollen, Xie Liang took a deep breath for her and said, "Miss Hongguo, your face..."
"It's okay. This bitch beat me so hard that my head was buzzing. I should have killed him just now." Hong Guo said angrily.
Several people scattered around the first floor and began looking for the basement that the man in the suit mentioned.
The first floor was empty, and there was obviously no basement. They walked around and looked at each other in confusion.
"Let's go upstairs and take a look?" Xie Liang asked.
Hong Guo looked puzzled: "Shouldn't the basement be underground?"
"Not necessarily. There might be some connecting passage."
Then, they went to the second floor. Almost every room on the second floor was filled with the skeletons of children covered in fungi.
There are no windows in the house, and the whole building looks extremely dark.
Xie Liang held up a flashlight, looked at the fungus in the room, and said to himself, "I really want to burn these things."
"Let's find a basement quickly. Once we're done, we can burn it all down." Hong Guo, who was walking behind Xie Liang, screamed as soon as she finished speaking: "Ah! My teeth!"
Xie Liang looked back and saw Hong Guo spitting out a tooth from his mouth onto his palm. He consoled her, "Go back and get a replacement, but it might hurt for a while."
After reaching the third floor, they searched all the rooms again but still couldn't find the basement.
Most of the rooms on the third floor are lined with rows of wine barrels, but the wine in these barrels should be semi-finished products and the aroma of the wine is very light.
"By the way, the room where the man in the suit lives! Follow me." Xie Liang led Xu He and the others back to the room where the man in the suit lived.
"Where is it..." Xie Liang muttered as he looked at the wall behind the wooden bed. Suddenly, he saw a rose-shaped protruding stone on the wall. "This is it." He pressed it down.
The entire stone wall suddenly shook and slowly opened from both sides.
An enchanting aroma of wine wafted out, which was many times stronger than the aroma emitted by the wooden barrels just now.
The secret room was pitch black. Xie Liang shone a flashlight inside and walked in.
The dark room was lined with wooden wine racks, sparsely dotted with bottles of rose wine known as "divine wine." To one side of the racks was a slanting, seemingly deep passage that sloped downwards. Even with a flashlight, I couldn't see the bottom, and I had no idea where it led.
"Is this the basement?" Hongguo came forward and said.
"Maybe. I saw a man in a suit go in before. When he came out, he was holding a bottle of wine, the same one on this shelf." Xie Liang said as he walked into the dark passage.
"Then why call it the basement! Hiss... my face is getting more and more painful!" Hongguo said with a sigh, covering his face.
"Let's go." Long Qingye said.
The passage was covered with roots and vines, extending diagonally downwards, with no bottom in sight.
Xie Liang suddenly felt that the cells in his body were gradually getting excited.
The further they walked, the more roots grew around them, a network of roots extending in all directions, and the passages grew wider and wider. After walking for an unknown amount of time, they finally reached the end, and a deep abyss appeared before them.
In the abyss, there is a dense rhizome, which is composed of countless rhizome vines of different sizes twisted together, stretching straight to the dark sky above their heads, stretching to an unknown place.
They look like giant pythons or the roots of giant trees, with green fluorescent spots attached to them.
Xie Liang was stunned by the scene before him. He had never seen such a large, thick and developed root system. Even if more than 20 people held hands, they might not be able to surround the dense root system.
"There are also fireflies, this is so magical." Xie Liang exclaimed.
"It's not fireflies, it's phosphine." Xu He held Xie Liang's wrist and shone the flashlight in Xie Liang's hand towards the things that were flashing green light.
After seeing clearly that it was not a firefly, Xie Liang asked in surprise: "What is that..."
"Phosphine, a substance produced by the decomposition of corpses by microorganisms."
Xu He suddenly shone the flashlight towards a certain place. Xie Liang looked closely and saw that, sure enough, dark brown corpses were entangled on those thick roots not far away.
Those corpses were like the nutrients of these vines. They had long been eaten up, leaving only hollow skeletons with little green fluorescent lights on them.
"They can move!" Hongguo screamed in surprise.
Xie Liang suddenly noticed two corpses hanging on the roots on one side that looked particularly familiar. The surface of the corpses was flesh-colored and looked fresh, as if they had been there not long ago.
Looking at the clothes wrapped around the corpses, he immediately realized who the two corpses were. Xie Liang was shocked and confused: "Liu Boyuan and Zhao Nanyang! Why are they here?"
"Could it be that these things have become spirits, using the so-called 'magic wine' to control and attract people to serve as their fertilizer?" Hong Guo asked.
"If that's the case, wouldn't it open the door if we destroy this?" Long Qingye said, "If I'm not mistaken, these roots can connect to the roses all over the hills outside."
At this moment, the roots, as if sensing their presence, began to move. The vines wrapped around them began to twist and extend towards them.
"They are surrounding us!" Xie Liang hurriedly pulled Xu He back a few steps, "Hurry and prepare to light the fire."
Vines spread silently towards Xie Liang and the others, surrounding them almost instantly.
Xu He was the first to react. He drew out his black sword and swung it at the vines under his feet.
Hong Guo, who was standing by, was distracted by the pain on her face and was soon entangled by several vines. Xie Liang wanted to save her with a dagger, but found that his body was out of control and the blade was aimed at Xu He who was struggling with the vines.
"Brother He, get out of the way! I'm losing control of my body!" Xie Liang swung the dagger towards Xu He. Xu He dodged him with a flip.
Xie Liang swung his dagger at Hong Guo who was standing beside him, "Miss Hong Guo! Get out of the way!"
"Damn it! How can I get out of the way?" Hongguo struggled hard, but she was tightly entangled by the vines and could not move.
Seeing that Xie Liang's dagger was about to pierce her abdomen, she closed her eyes in fear.
At this moment, Xu He raised his black sword and knocked Xie Liang's dagger to the ground.
Long Qingye quickly jumped over, bent down to pick up the dagger that fell on the ground, and cut the vines that were wrapped around Hongguo's hands in a few strokes.
After Hongguo broke free from the restraints with his hands, he quickly drew out the folding steel knife from his waist and swung it, quickly cutting off the vines that were bound to his body.
More and more vines extended towards them, almost filling up the entire passage.
Xie Liang tried to force his hand into his pocket, but failed after several attempts. He shouted to Hong Guo, "Take out the lighter from my pocket! Light it up and throw it into that green light!"
Upon hearing this, Hongguo quickly turned around and tried to run towards him, but as soon as she took a step, new vines attacked her. One of her feet was entangled in the vines, and she was unable to free herself for a moment: "I can't get through!"
As soon as Xu He came to Xie Liang's side, Xie Liang's hands climbed up his neck uncontrollably. He took out a lighter from Xie Liang's pocket and threw it to Long Qingye, who was closest to the green light.
Xie Liang's hand was still around Xu He's neck, as if he was about to strangle her. For some reason, Xu He suddenly curled her lips at him.
Xie Liang looked at that faint smile, and suddenly remembered the scenes beside the rockery——
The flowers were fragrant, the water was gurgling, and when Xu He kissed him, it was so devout and passionate.
Before Xie Liang could come to his senses, Xu He grabbed him by the waist and ran towards the passage they came from.
Long Qingye had already ignited the dense rhizomes in the abyss, and countless vines and rhizomes of varying thickness were shrunk back by the flames. The fire spread rapidly, and wherever there were spots of fluorescence, flames blazed fiercely. Waves of heat and thick black smoke continuously assaulted them.
"Cough cough..." Xie Liang couldn't help but cough.
He found that his hands were finally no longer out of control, but he soon discovered that his limbs were stiff and he could not move as flexibly as before. He had no choice but to let Xu He carry him and run to the passage they came in and out.
The four of them finally returned to the secret room they came from, only to find four gardeners standing there, as if they were waiting for them.
When the four gardeners saw Xie Liang and his group, they were extremely angry. They picked up the magic wine on the wooden shelf and drank it or poured it on themselves.
"You damned scoundrel! How dare you destroy our sacred plant!" The female gardener was furious. Several vines quickly sprouted from her body and stabbed at Xie Liang and Xu He. Seeing her attack, the other three gardeners also rushed towards Long Qingye and Hong Guo at the same time.
Behind them was a sky full of flames and billowing black smoke, which was almost suffocating. The four gardeners attacked fiercely, and Xie Liang and his companions were in a dilemma.
"Hurry up and find a way to get out! It's too hot!" Hongguo shouted, waving a steel knife.
At this moment, a group of people came in from the door. They were other Adventers, including Liu Hao and Zhao Minghui. Seeing this, they hurriedly joined the melee.
The fire grew larger and larger, reaching the secret room they were in. Soon, the vines sticking out of the four gardeners' bodies were also ignited. Their speed slowed down, and they gradually lost ground.
Xu He carried Xie Liang over the vines and rushed downstairs. Everyone fought back and soon ran out from the two large doors downstairs.
As soon as everyone ran out of the door, the flames on the stairs suddenly shot out in a raging fire, engulfing the four gardeners still on the stairs in flames.
The fire grew bigger and bigger, and soon the whole building was on fire.
In the smoke-filled manor, the rose bushes in the numerous flower beds began to wither in large numbers, revealing corpses half-buried in the soil at the bottom of the flower beds, creating a scene resembling hell.
The brown corpses were emitting white steam, and soon they turned into a pile of white bones.
The entire manor was shrouded in huge gray smoke, and hot air was rising all around. Everyone hurriedly scattered towards the main gate of the manor.
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