Body bag, but it’s empty.
The appearance of such a professional tool undoubtedly makes the situation a bit more complicated.
In the original plan, those swallowed by Brother Tantou possibly belonged to the Art Prison staff, gathered here due to some actions by Yiven, and eventually clashed with their rival.
Now it seems not so simple.
Were the frozen corpses actually transported here in body bags?
What exactly was being done in this tree cavity makes one even more curious.
"I’ve been here before..."
Although the situation is complex, it’s comforting that Brother Tantou finally learned to interject, observing the scene, and quickly seemed to recall more.
"Was it the one with the best taste?"
Arriving at such a deep location, Fu Qian nodded slightly.
"No... it was another person, not so cold..."
The dialogue was truly eerie, but Brother Tantou seemed to be more accepting, quickly responding with certainty.
So they were transported in batches?
As the saying goes, don’t doubt a person you use. Even though it’s just one side of the story, Fu Qian naturally continued deducing.
It seems that the current situation is not an exception; there are multiple frozen corpses transported here, even differentiated by time and not in the same batch.
But here’s the question: why is the girl’s corpse the coldest—because it’s the newest?
An easy answer comes to mind.
According to Brother Tantou, the two missing persons only arrived here yesterday.
Considering his mental state, this timing may not be reliable, but if they indeed became corpses, they would likely be relatively fresh.
It even aligns with the earlier concerns about the uncertain fate of the missing individuals.
"Recall the best tasting spot."
Without spending time mourning, Fu Qian directly continued the topic, naturally giving the order.
...
The best tasting...
Fill-in-the-blank questions are always harder than true/false ones, the slightly calm Brother Tantou almost instantly fell back into struggle.
Forced to recall some inhuman scenarios, his will was clearly tested, and the inner pain manifested in a more direct way—
Nearly crawling on the ground, every part of his body in an unnatural spasm, almost unbearable to watch.
But just barely.
Fu Qian watched closely for changes in that body.
However, noticing the faces on the torso, still like masks without any added expression, he quickly lost interest and withdrew his gaze.
He hadn’t inherited any memories from others; it was merely a crude fusion of physical forms.
On one hand, this meant extracting more information from different perspectives was impossible; on the other, it also suggested no opportunity to exploit will contests for an escape.
After swiftly reviewing, Fu Qian even turned and was heading out.
As he nearly brushed past Brother Tantou’s body, he still didn’t draw his gun.
Instead, he easily took the slightly damaged oil lamp from the small hand on the other’s shoulder.
Yet even such a slight move, the light and shadow shifts still greatly shocked Brother Tantou.
"Going back..."
The spasms seemed forcibly suppressed in that instant, leaving only the fear of becoming useless.
With this small help, he indeed broke through himself and gave an answer.
"Okay."
Without questioning, Fu Qian raised the lamp in his hand a bit higher to illuminate the path, signaling the other to lead the way.
...
Great, just a wrong turn.
Brother Tantou indeed accepted the suggestion, leading the way and moving along the path from before.
From this angle, it seemed even more like the passage was alive.
Each stream merging into one, step by step thriving upward, eventually piercing through Yiven’s belly, blossoming into the Void...
But here’s the problem, if these are truly the roots of a gigantic plant, what was that spherical space for placing corpses?
Bulb? Tuber? Surely not a molehill?
Regardless of the concept, it seems the corpses were placed there not just because the space was large.
While pondering silently, Brother Tantou had stopped ahead.