Chapter 313: The Heavenly Lord's Underworld
A winding, rugged mountain path stretched south from Gao Family Village, leading all the way to Shijia Valley.
Shijia Valley was a remote, desolate village on the border of Heyang County and Chengcheng County, home to only about a hundred people.
This unfortunate village had also been mercilessly ravaged by drought, and its residents lived a life of extreme hardship. It wasn't until Li Daoxuan's field of view expanded to include them that he finally provided them with grain and rain, alleviating their suffering.
Now, the more than one hundred villagers, in their spare time from farming, were desperately building a road. They aimed to construct a cement road directly connecting Shijia Valley to Gao Family Village, which would allow them to connect to the "solar cars" and eventually travel to Gao Family Village for "work."
However, with only a hundred or so people, it was hard to say when they would ever finish.
One day, as the villagers were vigorously digging the dirt road, a convoy of single-wheeled carts rumbled along the mountain path, laden with sacks of grain. Guarding these carts was a group of exceptionally formidable men.
The villagers were startled by the men's imposing presence, but the sight of their grain-filled carts led them to guess that these were surely people from Gao Family Village.
The village chief of Shijia Valley bravely approached them. "Gentlemen, who are you?" he inquired.
The leader of the fierce men was none other than Lao Nanfeng, a veteran warrior from the Guyuan rebels.
He explained his purpose to the Shijia Valley chief, then paid no further attention to the old man. He led his group into the village, surveyed the area, and set up camp by the mountainside. Out of habit, he ordered the labor reform prisoners to unload the grain from the carts, then arrange the carts, bumper to bumper, around their "camp" to form a makeshift "cart wall."
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With a large quantity of grain piled in the center, covered with tarpaulin, and a hundred border army tents pitched in a circle around the grain, the camp looked quite impressive.
A subordinate sidled over, whispering, "Brother Nanfeng, this is a perfect chance for us to escape! The Heavenly Lord might not be watching us right now. If we abscond with this grain, we'd be as free as a bird."
Lao Nanfeng secretly wished to flee, but the moment the thought crossed his mind, he immediately recalled his last escape attempt: being herded into the "wooden fortress" by the Heavenly Lord, encountering all sorts of traps, and barely escaping with his life.
He slapped his subordinate's head. "What's going on in your brain? Are our opponents human? No, they're gods! Gods! Gods! I'll say it three times because it's that important. If a deity wants to catch you, how could you possibly escape?"
His subordinate, having been struck, rubbed his head, yelping.
Lao Nanfeng continued, "The Heavenly Lord said our crime is 'war crimes,' and the usual sentence is labor reform for life. But if we perform well, our sentences can be reduced. Overseer Zhong has told us his story, hasn't he? He used to be a labor reform prisoner in Gao Family Village, just like us. But then he performed well, his sentence was reduced, he was released, and now he's a person of Gao Family Village. Look how comfortable his life is now!"
At this, Lao Nanfeng sighed. "To be honest, being a labor reform prisoner in Gao Family Village is better than serving in the border army back in Guyuan. Although there's no freedom here, we eat our fill every meal, and sometimes we even get sugar and meat..."
Hearing this, the subordinate felt a pang of emotion. "That's true! Even though we don't have freedom here, we didn't have any in the border army either. We were still tightly controlled by our superiors."
Lao Nanfeng nodded. "Exactly. Anyway, we're all being controlled by someone, so what's the difference where we're controlled? It's great to at least have enough to eat. Don't ever bring up escaping again. I'd rather die than go back into that bizarre fortress."
No sooner had he spoken than another subordinate ran up to report: "Brother Nanfeng, ten soldiers have run away. They were personal guards under Commander Lang."
Lao Nanfeng exclaimed, "Oh? Is that so? Then let's wait and watch the show... They were Commander Lang's personal guards!"
He immediately leaped to his feet and began scanning the sky. Soon, he spotted a massive wooden fortress slowly descending in the sky not far to the east.
"Look! Commander Lang's personal guards!"
Lao Nanfeng pointed at the wooden fortress. "That thing is coming down. Those ten escapees are about to go inside. Call everyone who didn't run, and let's go watch the spectacle."
The remaining ninety men followed Lao Nanfeng, running eastward. Soon, they climbed a hill and could see the wooden fortress already set up in the valley below.
Last time, Lao Nanfeng had been *inside* the fortress and couldn't see its full appearance. This time, looking down from the hilltop, he could clearly make out its entire structure.
What an enormous fortress! Filled with complex passages, terrifying traps, and giant monsters crawling inside, their eyes glowing red.
The inexperienced soldiers gasped in astonishment. "What exactly is this?"
Lao Nanfeng scoffed, "This is called the 'Heavenly Lord's Underworld.' Only those who've been inside once truly understand its horrors. You're lucky to be able to watch from outside today. Pay close attention to the terrible things those ten runaways are about to endure."
Indeed, the ten personal guards of Commander Lang were frantically sprinting down the hillside when suddenly, a giant golden hand extended from the sky and began herding them from behind.
Lao Nanfeng burst into laughter. "That's the move! That's how I was driven into the 'Heavenly Lord's Underworld' back then."
The ten men, similarly pressed by the colossal hand behind them, had no choice but to run towards the great fortress. Soon, all ten scurried inside. Then, just like Lao Nanfeng's experience, they began their adorable, panicked "hamster's great adventure."
"Ahhh!"
One man tumbled into a floor trap and fainted from fright upon seeing a mechanical cockroach.
"Ahhh!"
Another triggered a mechanism, fell into a pool, and was 'swallowed' whole by a plastic shark.
One man, pursued relentlessly by a giant iron ball, stumbled and fell with a splash. The enormous iron ball rolled over him. Interestingly, he wasn't dead; it turned out it wasn't an iron ball at all, but merely a large inflatable balloon.
The ten men were thoroughly tormented by various traps. Not a single one managed to escape successfully; in the end, all fell prey to the mechanisms. Game Over!
Then, the Heavenly Lord's giant hand descended, scooped the ten men into a small glass cup, and brought them back to Shijia Valley. They were then emptied out before the ninety watching men. The ten individuals tumbled limply from the glass, collapsing exhausted before Lao Nanfeng and the others.
Lao Nanfeng walked over and kicked one of them. "Still planning to run?"
The ten men weakly replied, "Never again."
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