In the putrid, damp darkness, He-Gu held up his phone’s flashlight, his entire body frozen in place.

Under the weak light of the phone’s flashlight, a mass of “human-shaped rotten flesh” stood there.

Yes, human-shaped rotten flesh—that was the most fitting description He-Gu could think of at the moment.

It was entirely a mass of decayed flesh, with festering skin and flesh all over, oozing red and yellow viscous fluids.

Yet, it was human-shaped, “standing” there like a person.

In the position where its head should be, one could barely make out some remnants of skin and two eyes bulging out like a crab’s, grotesquely hanging on its face.

He-Gu had seen all kinds of gory horror movies before, but seeing such a thing standing right in front of him was almost beyond his psychological tolerance, delivering a nearly overwhelming visual and mental shock.

As He-Gu stared blankly at this “human-shaped rotten flesh,” the radio in his pocket crackled to life: “As you can see, I can only speak through that radio now.”

This thing was entirely a “human-shaped rotten flesh,” corroded and melted, without even a mouth, no wonder it couldn’t speak!

He-Gu’s scalp tingled as he looked at the thing and uncertainly asked, “Are you… 424?”

The “human-shaped rotten flesh” swayed slightly, and laughter came from the radio: “Hahaha… It’s quite shocking, isn’t it?”

“I left so many clues to guide others to escape, yet I ended up like this, trapped in this dark, hellish place forever.”

As he spoke, He-Gu took a closer look at 424.

He then noticed that not only had 424 turned into a mass of “human-shaped rotten flesh,” but there were also some tentacle-like things connected to it.

These “tentacles” were dozens in number, as thick as chopsticks, dark in color, like dried rotten flesh.

Most of the “tentacles” were concentrated on its back, writhing slowly, with the other ends extending into the darkness behind it, appearing both as part of its body and as chains binding it.

He-Gu’s scalp tingled again: “How did you become like this?”

424 sighed: “That’s a long story.”

“Can you give me that radio? With it, at least I can speak whenever I want.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll give you what you want after I finish talking.”

He-Gu took a cautious step back: “How do you know what I want?”

424’s voice continued from the radio: “Didn’t you bring the Four Elements Blood?”

“Obviously, you want to trigger the lockdown state and escape in the chaos.”

He-Gu frowned slightly and asked again: “Can you help me?”

424 laughed: “It’s simple. Give me the Four Elements Blood, and I can drink it myself.”

Hearing this, He-Gu’s heart skipped a beat: “Drink it? You mean…”

424 sighed: “Yes, I am the core they speak of… To be precise, I have merged with it.”

“It originally had no physical form, but now… you can consider me its incarnation.”

He-Gu was stunned, looking at the “human-shaped rotten flesh” in front of him, momentarily speechless.

The so-called “core” was actually 424!?

No, 424 said he merged with the core… What was the original core!?

The so-called “it,” wasn’t it something eerie?

As He-Gu’s thoughts raced, 424 spoke again: “I know you have many questions…”

“Forget it… I haven’t talked to anyone in a long time, so let’s chat.”

“But we need to agree, after I finish my story, you give me the radio, and I’ll let you inject the Four Elements Blood into me and let you out, how about that?”

He-Gu showed a hesitant expression, quickly thinking about whether his words were credible.

After hesitating for a moment, He-Gu tentatively asked: “If the Four Elements Blood is injected into you, what will happen?”

424 laughed: “Nothing much, just a period of sleep.”

“However, when I… or rather its consciousness falls asleep, it will temporarily lose control of this pharmaceutical factory, and other ominous things will lose their restraint.”

“So once I fall asleep, the entire factory will initiate a lockdown state as planned, which will be your only chance to escape.”

After hearing 424’s words, He-Gu fell into deep thought again.

To be honest, He-Gu couldn’t confirm whether he was telling the truth.

But on the other hand, even if he didn’t agree to his request, He-Gu had no way to pass smoothly.

At this point, whether He-Gu trusted him or not didn’t matter much anymore.

Given the situation, he could only take a gamble.

Thinking of this, He-Gu sighed: “I accept your proposal.”

Hearing He-Gu’s words, a relaxed laugh came from the radio.

“Alright, let’s begin.”

“Hmm… let me think, where should I start…”

After a moment of contemplation, 424 spoke again: “First of all, this world is twisted.”

“When I say twisted, I mean it in a physical sense.”

“This world is not complete, it doesn’t even follow natural laws, many things are twisted, and because of this, it can accommodate the ominous…”

Halfway through his words, 424 suddenly paused.

After a moment of hesitation, 424 sighed again: “Forget it, that’s too far off, you don’t have time to hear the whole story…”

“Let’s talk about this pharmaceutical factory.”

“Do you know, the medicine produced by this factory has miraculous effects, it’s like a wonder drug.”

“How do you think such miraculous medicine is made?”

He-Gu frowned, thinking about what he had seen along the way, and tentatively asked: “Using… humans to make medicine?”

The “human-shaped rotten flesh” nodded slightly and continued through the radio: “Yes.”

“People extract medicinal substances from animals to make medicine for humans, like bear bile, snake gall, and bezoar.”

“But since the medicine is for humans, of course, the best ingredients come from humans.”

“And through countless experiments and research, they found that extracting raw materials from different parts of people at different ages had varying effects.”

Although he had already anticipated it, hearing these words still made He-Gu’s scalp tingle.

424 sighed: “Human nature… sometimes it’s more twisted than this world…”

“A group of twisted people doing twisted things in a twisted world attracted even more twisted things.”

“It and they appeared in this series of twists.”

“Or rather, this series of twists formed this world, and then they, we… were all trapped here.”

“For some unknown reason, they formed some subtle balance with each other and the outside world, creating this twisted world.”

…