He raised his hand to rub his temple, then walked towards Nansong. His steps were steady, even with a hint of his usual caution.
"Don't be in a daze." Bai Di whispered, his voice still a little hoarse from the surging blood, but his tone had returned to his usual lazy tone, "Look behind."
Nansong turned back suddenly——
The strange alien sea otter was slowly approaching with the dough.
Just a few minutes later, it changed again...
The fur was an unhealthy gray-blue, and the raised tumor shrine on the back emitted a faint green fluorescence, illuminating Ma Tuan's half-worn, half-hanging mask.
Ma Tuan didn't look in good condition, with a few traces of dark red blood seeping out of the edge of his mask, but he was sitting cross-legged on the otter's head.
He was playing with a black ice crystal that he had picked up from somewhere, and his posture was so leisurely that it seemed as if he was just here for sightseeing.
"Oh, see you again?" Ma Tuan shook the ice crystal in his hand, his tone light, as if he didn't notice the weird atmosphere around him at all.
Nan Song's mouth twitched: "You seem quite leisurely."
"What else? Looking sad won't solve the problem."
"At least we're all alive."
Ma Tuan shrugged and jumped lightly from the otter's head, but he staggered slightly when he landed, obviously not as easy as he looked.
Bai Di ignored the two people's bickering and looked at the sea otter. The creature squatted quietly, its black eyes staring straight into the depths of the pyramid, its ears trembling slightly, as if listening to the continuous heartbeat.
"Did it bring you here?" Bai Di asked.
Ma Tuan nodded: "I guess so, but it seems... to know the way."
Nansong frowned: "What do you mean?"
"Literally." Ma Tuan tapped the mask lightly with the ice crystal.
"This guy is very familiar with the structure here, as if he has been here before - or, rather, like he is back home."
The air froze for a brief moment.
Bai Di and Nan Song looked at the sea otter at the same time. The latter remained silent, but the light of the tumor shrine flickered slightly, as if responding to Ma Tuan's words.
"so,"
Nansong slowly exhaled.
"We're being led by a sea otter of unknown origin, in a man-eating pyramid, listening to the heartbeat of an unknown thing, and outside there's a group of singing, melted people chasing us?"
“It’s a very good summary.”
Ma Tuan said,
"But there's one thing I missed—those songs could freeze into icy spikes in the water, and I suspect if we keep listening to them, our brains will start to melt, too."
Bai Di rubbed his brows: "...Is there a solution?"
Ma Tuan spread his hands: "At the moment, we only have two choices."
"First, turn around and confront those villagers head-on. Let's see if we can make it out."
"Second, let's keep going inside and see what that heartbeat is. And we can also try to make sure it doesn't treat us like a snack."
Nan Song sneered: "What a reassuring option."
Bai Di remained silent, his gaze once again cast into the darkness. The heartbeat continued, slow and heavy, carrying with it an indescribable sense of oppression.
But strangely, he didn't feel fear - instead, a vague sense of familiarity lingered in his heart, as if he had heard the same rhythm long ago.
"Go inside." he said suddenly.
Nansong and Matuan looked at him at the same time.
"Reason?" Nan Song asked.
Bai Di was silent for a moment, and finally just shook his head: "Intuition."
Ma Tuan narrowed his eyes, and the corners of his mouth under the mask curled up slightly: "Interesting... Let's go."
The sea otter seemed to understand their decision. It whimpered softly, turned around and walked deeper into the passage. The light from the tumor shrine drew a flickering trail in the darkness.
The three of them looked at each other and followed.
What no one said was—
They could all feel that the heartbeat was gradually speeding up.
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