Deep in the Living-Chapter 439 - 427 Deciphering

[Sixth Room - Clothing Store]

Event Participants - Luo Di, Noosh Lebeite.

Letter Requirement - "Choose clothing of any color, go to the fitting room to change, ensure a snug fit with no other clothing inside. After dressing, just stand in front of the wardrobe mirror for self-examination, and the door to the next room will open.

Please remove your clothes quickly, or it will be very dangerous."

Monochrome clothing hangs on the hanger (primary colors).

Red trench coat, green leather jacket, blue turtleneck sweater.

Leaning on a cane, Luo Di and the half-headed Lebeite had little hesitation as they each picked an item.

Luo Di chose red, Lebeite picked blue, and they each headed to the dressing room.

Question mark tags were left at the necklines of these clothes, but the danger of the clothing itself could not be detected, estimated to be revealed only when worn.

Removed the monk’s coat and inner layers,

Phew~ Taking a deep breath, Luo Di put the trench coat on his body.

The next second, what seemed like normal buttons on both sides immediately adhered to his skin, some kind of probe inserted under his skin, connecting all the ribs.

Bone Siphoning!

Luo Di could feel his ribs deteriorating rapidly, quickly leaving the dressing room, going to the only wardrobe mirror to admire his form, visibly, his chest was slowly caving in.

After completing the self-admiration, the lock on the door opened halfway.

Lebeite had also put on the blue sweater, the knitting thread pierced under his skin, siphoning his blood, as he was falling into a state of blood loss and dehydration.

As he displayed himself in front of the mirror, the door to the next room was already open.

They now needed to figure out how to take off the clothing.

However, both looked at each other and did not remove the clothing immediately, instead using this opportunity to sense the interaction between the question marks and their bodies.

Luo Di closed his eyes, blocking out all external influences.

Under the influence of the Game Brain, he concretized the "question mark decryption",

A huge three-dimensional question mark icon floated in front of Luo Di, in the previous level he only tore off a small part of the sticker on the surface of the question mark.

As the clothing stayed on longer, Luo Di had more time to decipher the question mark.

Reaching out and slowly tearing off the surface sticker, the secrets hidden under the huge question mark began to reveal themselves, Luo Di even got immersed for a moment, forgetting the clothing’s harm to him.

Until...

"Luo Di!"

A piercing sound directly reached his consciousness, as if an unseeable monster was about to crawl out from the darkness.

He suddenly opened his eyes and used a blade to cut through the clothing on his body.

When the clothing fell to the ground... clatter! A sound of bones hitting the ground echoed.

An almost complete rib cage was found inside the clothing.

Correspondingly, Luo Di’s ribs had almost been drained, his entire upper body completely deflated, relying only on the support of his Old Spine.

Because this was the means of Mr. Question Mark,

any attempt to replace the function of the ribs couldn’t be realized,

neither by iron chain frameworks nor tentacle supports, only letting the internal organs lose the protection of bones, placing the upper body in an "empty" state.

Breathing was also affected, making the ventilation efficiency very low.

Lebeite looked at the human in front of him, "Luo Di, you really don’t care about your life! If I hadn’t called you... you might’ve been drained by this clothing."

"The decryption degree here is about 38%, how about you?"

Luo Di said nothing useless, only spoke about the question mark decryption matter.

Lebeite’s skin had been completely peeled off by the sweater, blood loss exceeded 50% like a mummy, but his condition was still good, as if completely unscathed.

Upon hearing the percentage given by Luo Di, he directly gave a thumbs up, "So fast! My side is about just 30%... and I can’t estimate as precisely as you. Your brain seems very adept at this sort of task, your control over your body is very high, super impressive! Luo Di!"

Luo Di didn’t intend to waste words, but seeing the other’s finger gesture, he couldn’t help but quip, "Thumbs pointing up is praise, downwards means the opposite."

"Oh oh oh~ The book I read just mentioned pointing the thumb, didn’t specify the direction. I didn’t know the direction makes such a huge difference, human details sure are numerous! Thanks, otherwise, with bad-tempered ones, I might get beaten up."

Lebeite quickly rotated his thumb to the correct position.

Luo Di looked toward the pitch-black doorway, "I hope the next room is similar to here, having a longer time to contact the question mark."

Lebeite, however, examined Luo Di, whose breathing was labored,

"Can you hold on? I might have already discovered Mr. Question Mark’s secret, but what’s more important now is whether you, Luo Di, can survive.

I studied medicine with my family, I can see, Luo Di, your situation is dire, you might die you know."

"Let’s go."

Upon hearing Luo Di’s response, Lebeite didn’t say more.

The two, supporting their battered bodies, walked towards the next room, the scene ahead made Luo Di shiver, even Lebeite rarely showed a twisted expression.

No pretense anymore,

ahead was directly a trap room.

An eight-meter-wide circular pit was set in the center of the room, filled inside with larvae shaped like question marks, having mouths similar to lampreys.

The letter requirement was simple,

jump into the pit of worms, find the hidden key inside to proceed to the next room.

If the previous rooms merely stripped away parts of the flesh, then here it can directly consume the human body entirely.

All sorts of perceptions cannot penetrate these swarms of insects, you can only jump down and reach out to explore.

Lebeite had already sensed the danger of these insects in advance, roughly estimating the time it would take for the body to be completely consumed. Without resistance, it would probably be less than half a minute before being eaten up.

Moreover, once you go down, even if you can climb back up, it will probably be very difficult to proceed to the next room.

As initially estimated by Luo Di, the two could jointly pass through three rooms at most.

Standing at the edge of the pit, Luo Di’s eyes were resolute, "This time we’ll jump down while maintaining a shared brain state, no need to find the key!

Pour all our focus into deciphering the question mark... once it’s deciphered, then we’ll consider the key."

"Are you sure? We might be gnawed clean before it’s even deciphered."

Luo Di didn’t respond, only gave a look.

Lebeite grinned broadly, "I’ve read about humans in books, mostly described as a timid species, inherently afraid of death... Luo Di, you’re completely different, absolutely nothing like the descriptions. I’m becoming increasingly curious about the human world.

Since that’s the case, I’ll also bring out my true strength to pass."

Lebeite’s seemingly frail body seemed to undergo some change; however, this change was not external, but internal.

It couldn’t be seen through the camera feed, only Luo Di beside him could feel it.

The old spine instantly straightened,

A primal fear lingered in his heart.

Luo Di suddenly looked at Lebeite’s abdomen, as if something was in there, something very frightening.

"What are you looking at, Luo Di! Connect with me quickly."

"Mm."

Crunching~ Gray tentacles grew from Luo Di’s forehead, boring into the other’s brain, thought connections shared, progressing the question mark’s decryption.

Connection established,

The two leapt forward simultaneously.

Thump! Upon falling into the pit, the question mark-structured worms immediately started gnawing at their bodies, burrowing inside once a breach was made.

This time, Lebeite didn’t focus on deciphering the question mark,

Since Luo Di was faster in decryption, he left that task to him while ensuring Luo Di wouldn’t be eaten to the bone by these worms.

Buzz!

An invisible field spread out.

Only one question mark worm managed to burrow into Luo Di’s body, all others trying to enter either of their bodies would be crushed into pulp.

Decrypt the question mark with minimal physical consumption.

Though the worms between the pits appeared to be produced without limit, their production rate could not surpass Lebeite’s eradication speed.

A certain extreme entity of fear lurked within Lebeite’s body, capable of obliterating targets within range with just a squeeze.

However, that one worm that did enter Luo Di quickly laid eggs, multiplying into dozens or hundreds in less than a minute.

Lebeite couldn’t directly crush them inside Luo Di, as the shattered worm bodies carried toxins that would accelerate flesh decay.

Just as he worried about whether Luo Di might die because of this, he noticed something strange.

The number of worms inside Luo Di was increasing, yet their gnawing speed was decreasing. Moreover, as Luo Di neared death, their gnawing speed dropped to almost nothing.

"Hmm? Is Mister Question Mark going easy... No, it’s Luo Di’s ability?"

Lebeite diverted some attention to look at Luo Di’s ravaged body, discovering that the worms crawling between his flesh seemed unable to bite any further.

A strange aura surrounded Luo Di internally, preventing death from occurring.

"Undead?"

Minutes passed,

Disfigured, devoid of human form, Luo Di astonishingly smiled, completing the final decryption before consciousness faded.

Upon sharing the decrypted result with Lebeite,

The two immediately remodeled their body structures,

Lebeite also ceased exterminating the worms, allowing their bodies to be overrun by the swarm. Yet this time, the swarm merely crawled over their surfaces without biting.

"Excellent!! Luo Di!"

Lebeite praised with a human term he picked up from some book,

Luo Di, however, could only offer a wry smile; standing up was problematic now, maintaining even the most basic breathing was his limit.

At the pit’s edge,

Lebeite crawled out carrying Luo Di’s remaining upper body,

His skin bore bloody holes,

No ribs,

Dismembered face,

Even his eyeballs had been gnawed clean.

However, Luo Di’s remains continued to maintain an undead state, with internal blood vessels rearranged, corresponding to the secret pattern behind the question mark.

This internal arrangement served as a "Key," enabling the question mark structured substance to cause no harm to their bodies, the secret Mister Question Mark set at the final level had been decoded.

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