Translator: CKtalon
“Professor Chu, when did you enter Netherworld City?” Zhou Wen asked directly.
If this Chu He was really Professor Chu He from Imperial Capital College, then the Professor Chu He who went to Zhuolu was likely a fake.
However, since the imposter hadn’t been discovered, this meant that Professor Chu He must have come to the desert a long time ago. That was why no one had seen him again. Otherwise, the imposter would have been discovered long ago.
In that case, Professor Chu He should have entered Netherworld City a while ago. Otherwise, he would definitely have made contact with the outside world. Someone outside should know that he was in the desert and not Zhuolu.
However, the truth was that no one knew of such a situation. Even Chu He’s family believed that he was in Zhuolu. This was extremely odd.
If someone hadn’t deliberately cut off the connection between Professor Chu He and the outside world, it would have been because he had entered Netherworld City a long time ago. That was why no one knew he was here.
However, with the three ironclad rules of Netherworld City, how did Professor Chu He survive?
“When?” Professor Chu He looked at him strangely and said, “Just today. Didn’t you come in today when you encountered a sandstorm?”
“Today? Didn’t you contact your family before you came in?” Zhou Wen asked in disbelief.
“There’s no signal in the desert. How can I contact my family? It was only about a couple of weeks ago. I went to the city outside the desert to contact my family once. At that time, I was very excited to tell them that I had made a huge discovery and that I would be back soon to reunite with them. I never expected...” Chu He’s face was filled with sorrow.
This left Zhou Wen completely dumbfounded. Chu He had contacted his family a couple of weeks ago, so why hadn’t his family mentioned this matter? His family had never mentioned that Chu He had gone to the Taklamakan.
Now, Zhou Wen wished he could return immediately and ask Chu He’s family what was going on.
From Zhou Wen’s point of view, this wasn’t a coincidence. Two Professor Chu Hes had appeared in different places. There had to be someone pulling the strings from behind.
Who’s doing these things? If the Zhuolu expedition team’s Chu He is fake, what did the fake Chu He want to do by joining the expedition team? Could the former principal’s disappearance have something to do with him? With this in mind, Zhou Wen’s mind became active.
If someone really abducted the former principal away, the former principal might still be alive.
Liu Yun was somewhat anxious. Zhou Wen kept asking questions that weren’t pertinent. All he could do was ask himself, “Professor Chu, you came earlier than us. Do you know what’s going on here? What exactly is that dimensional creature that appeared up there?”
“That’s City Lord Netherworld. The bronze bell hanging there will ring every hour. It’s the same as the wall clock at home. When the bell rings seven times, he will appear and cast the dice to take a life...” Chu He said with a trembling body.
“Wait, you said that it rings seven times a day. Doesn’t that mean you have been here for more than a day?” Zhou Wen discovered the problem in Chu He’s words.
Chu He said with a bitter smile, “I heard it from others. As you saw, City Lord Netherworld really appeared and even took a life. Perhaps it will be my turn tomorrow. However, my worries are unnecessary. I don’t even know if I can survive today. Why should I be worried about tomorrow?”
Liu Yun was immediately disappointed. He originally imagined that he would find someone who knew what was happening and obtain some information about Netherworld City, but to his surprise, Chu He had entered Netherworld City the same day as them, albeit a little earlier than them.
Taking a closer look at Chu He’s feet, he realized that he still had 132 steps left. That was even fewer than Zhou Wen and company.
“Professor Chu, have you learned anything about Netherworld City and City Lord Netherworld?” Liu Yun continued asking unwillingly.
Liu Yun was surprised when he realized that Chu He knew much more than he had imagined.
According to what Chu He had heard, the three ironclad rules of Netherworld City could not be violated. Otherwise, one would immediately die.
Furthermore, the distance between the stone slabs was a number. Be it advancing or retreating, or moving left and right repeatedly, it was part of the count.
Once the number dropped to zero, it meant death.
Chu He saw a person self-destruct because of the number turning zero. It was identical to how the middle-aged man who had died just moments ago.
It was said that there was only one way to leave Netherworld City alive. That was to walk to the end of the long street and step onto the stone steps to reach the Netherworld Divine Throne. Only by sounding the bronze bell on it can one leave Netherworld City.
“That’s impossible. From here to the stone steps, there are at least two to three thousand stone slabs. With just the few steps allocated to us, we can’t even reach the stone steps, much less walk up the stone steps and strike the bell,” Liu Yun said with a frown.
“It’s not impossible to increase the number of steps. Every new hour, the doors on both sides of the long street open. When the time comes, we have a chance to obtain more steps,” Chu He said as he pointed at the tightly-shut doors.
“Are the shops selling steps? What do we use to buy them? Is it money or dimensional crystals?” Liu Yun asked as he sized up the shops on both sides of the street.
“No, those aren’t shops, but torture chambers. You can be punished in the torture chamber in exchange for the number of steps. The punishment in each torture chamber is different. You can obtain different steps from different punishments...” As Chu He spoke, his eyes revealed fear.
Zhou Wen and Liu Yun were dumbfounded when they heard that. According to Chu He, there were various kinds of punishments in the torture chambers.
Getting branded by a piece of red-hot metal on the chest until the flesh scorched could exchange for five steps.
Having needles stab the ten fingers could be exchanged for ten steps. Having a piece of flesh taken with a blade could obtain one step.
Although these sorts of punishments wouldn’t kill, it left one shuddering in fear.
“In that case, as long as we can endure the pain, we can obtain enough steps to walk up the stone steps?” said Liu Yun.
“That’s not entirely the case. Every punishment only gives steps the first time,” Chu He said.
Zhou Wen immediately counted the number of torture chambers on both sides of the street. According to the information he had obtained from Chu He, one could obtain about ten steps from each torture chamber.
“239 torture chambers. If we can obtain 10 steps from each torture chamber, we can obtain more than 2000 steps. With so many steps, can we walk up the stone steps?” Zhou Wen estimated that it was about there, but this was only an estimate. It wasn’t necessarily accurate.
“Junior Brother, we seem to have made a mistake...” Liu Yun’s expression turned nasty as he thought of the same problem as Zhou Wen.
Steps were scarce. One had to visit all the torture chambers once before they could ascend and reach the Netherworld Divine Throne.
However, as they walked all the way, they had already missed many torture chambers. If they walked back now, it would be a waste of many steps, making their already small number of steps even fewer.