Chapter 56: A Dramatic Ending

The van drove along a desolate and abandoned road.

The surrounding area was filled with charred ruins and debris.

Dante pointed at the ruined expanse and said, "Back then, every single resident here was parasitized by the human-faced moths!"

"The entire town became a hatchery for the human-faced moths!"

"I had just become a Sacrifice at that time, and the seniors made me stay in the rear for logistics!"

He seemed to be reminiscing.

"Tragic! It was too tragic!"

"A vast number of large-scale weapons were deployed at the time!"

"Artillery fire nearly leveled this entire town!"

Liuguang asked in a deep voice, "Were only the Sacrifices assigned to this mission back then?"

Dante took a deep drag on his cigarette.

"Not just us! It wasn't just the Sacrifices; there were also the Warden's special operations soldiers!"

"The number of Sacrifices wasn't large; the special ops soldiers were the main combat force!"

"Not only that, the three containment facilities dispatched numerous anomalous objects to assist!"

At this point, Dante's expression became somewhat wistful.

"There were simply too many human-faced moths!"

"Even as we cleared them out, new human-faced moths were constantly hatching!"

"Sometimes, just as we pushed forward a few dozen meters, newly born human-faced moths would burrow right out of the soil behind us!"

Liuguang looked somewhat puzzled.

"I remember C03 has a deity in containment, right?"

"S09 - The Contaminated Creator!"

"If we had deployed him directly, wouldn't it have avoided all casualties?"

Dante rolled his eyes at him.

"You also know that he is the Contaminated Creator!"

"If he were really let out, forget about this human-faced moth hive, the entire Magic City would probably cease to exist!"

"That entity is only suitable for deterrence."

Liuguang asked again, "What about other S-class anomalous objects? Like the Prison Doctor?"

Dante rolled his eyes again.

"Forget about that guy, the Prison Doctor! If he came out, he'd probably start by slicing up everyone he laid eyes on!"

Hearing Dante speak ill of the Prison Doctor, Lu Xiao looked somewhat displeased.

"Are you questioning my friend's medical ethics?"

Dante curled his lips.

"Medical skill, fine. But medical ethics? That's something he definitely doesn't have!"

Clearly, Dante knew much more.

Lu Xiao gave Dante a deadpan stare.

"A doctor harboring lofty ideals, and you actually say he lacks medical ethics?"

Dante paused for a moment, then suddenly chuckled.

"You're not wrong, putting it that way! His dedication to medicine is indeed overwhelming!"

He paused for a second.

"But you must understand, human beings as a species all harbor various ailments to a greater or lesser degree!"

"And some of those ailments don't even affect a person's daily life!"

"Yet the Prison Doctor does not allow a single ailment to exist within any human body!"

"It's only because there are few people to see inside the containment facility that the Prison Doctor can keep himself from going insane!"

"If he were to enter the real world and see humans walking all over the place, that guy would probably go on a rampage immediately!"

Dante spread his hands.

"Therefore, all the anomalous objects dispatched to annihilate the hive back then were non-living entities!"

"Only such non-living anomalous objects can be properly controlled."

Lu Xiao pointed at the close-in grenade launcher mounted on the roof of the van.

"Wouldn't it be over and done with just by carpet-bombing the place?"

Dante nodded.

"True, heavy firepower can effectively kill ordinary human-faced moths!"

"But that was a hive, home to the Human-Faced Moth Empress!"

"That is already a supernatural and bizarre lifeform!"

"Those conventional weapons have absolutely zero effect when hitting it!"

"We even used tactical short-range missiles!"

Lu Xiao pinched his chin.

"Then how did you guys finally deal with that empress?"

Dante smiled.

"It sounds ridiculous, but in the end, an obscure, unassuming anomalous object played the decisive role!"

"That anomalous object was called something like 'Intestine-Blocking Pills'."

"It was a one-time-use anomalous object!"

"Then, S077 - The Butler was made to swallow that pill, and was ordered to march himself straight into the mouth of the Human-Faced Moth Empress!"

"That frail, mustachioed old man in a suit?" Lu Xiao asked, pinching his chin.

Dante smacked his lips.

"Frail? Maybe to you he is!"

"This dramatic ending was something none of us expected at the time!"

"That sky-blocking, impervious Human-Faced Moth Empress fell just like that to an unremarkable little pill!"

Suddenly, as if recalling something, he hurriedly added, "Oh right! The person who proposed this plan was the Doctor!"

As they spoke, the driver had already driven the vehicle up to the edge of a huge sinkhole.

That opening was roughly the size of a football field, the surrounding terrain scorched black.

Dante jumped out of the van.

"We've arrived. This is the hive."

The others followed suit and dismounted.

The driver sat in the driver's seat, looking hesitant. "How about I just wait for you guys right here?"

"If you run into danger, just call me, and I'll teleport in to pick you up!"

Dante thought for a moment and deemed the proposal reasonable.

"Then you can wait here!"

"Keep an eye on your surroundings, though. Human-Faced Moths might suddenly pop up, and those things aren't picky—they eat anything!"

Hearing this, the driver froze, then quickly changed his tune.

"I suddenly feel that I might be of much greater use on the inside!"

Shifty remarked to the driver, "Looks like there's a good reason your beautiful wife left you!"

Lu Xiao patted Shifty on the shoulder and nodded in approval.

"Bro! You stole the exact words right out of my mouth!"

Driver: "...Ouch, that hurts!"

...

Lu Xiao and his group of six walked through the labyrinthine tunnels of the Moth Empress's hive.

The surrounding soil still retained the faint scent of gunpowder smoke, and occasionally, charred shrapnel could be seen embedded in the dirt walls.

The layout of the entire Empress hive somewhat resembled an ant nest.

Passages branched out in all directions.

The group had no idea how long they had been walking inside.

The howling of the wind had never ceased.

Lu Xiao walked at the very front, carrying the close-in grenade launcher, his nose twitching constantly.

Dante lit a cigarette and asked aloud, "How is it, bro? Do you smell anything?"

Lu Xiao sniffed and nodded. "Yeah! There's a strong bizarre aura!"

"That shouldn't be right. Judging by the scent, it should be right nearby! Why can't we see anything?"

Dante glanced around. Having dealt with the anomalous for years, his instincts screamed that something was wrong.

He tightened his grip on his assault rifle and entered a state of high alert.

Just then, Shifty nervously tapped Dante on the shoulder.

"Report... Devil! I think I just saw my late great-grandmother waving at me!"

Dante frowned and immediately turned to look at Shifty.

Shifty was staring up at the ceiling, his body trembling uncontrollably.

Seeing this, the others hurriedly raised their heads to look upward.

Illuminated by the tactical high-intensity flashlights, countless human faces covered the ceiling of the cavern.

Dense, countless human faces.

Those faces stared down with hollow eye sockets at the six members of Lu Xiao's group.