Chapter 237. Two (3)

“Who~ should I pick today~?” One of them said in a sing-song voice.

“Did you really come here to give food?” A low voice asked.

“These guys aren’t the only ones who need food. We need to have our fill too.”

“Fufu. That’s true.” Laughter rang across the room, and Chi-Woo lowered his head even more. He instinctively had a bad feeling about this. He heard footsteps wander here and there until they stopped right in front of him. Then, he heard the door open, and a figure walked toward him. At the farthest corner of his eyes, Chi-Woo caught a faint purplish light roaming around two feet. It wasn’t a human’s feet and probably belonged to a demonic creature.

“Hello cutie. Time to eat your feed.” Thud! A plate filled with gray liquid that looked like porridge was placed in front of him. Chi-Woo wondered if he should calmly eat the meal or shove his head into the bowl and lick the surface like a dog. After pondering a bit, Chi-Woo decided to remain still for now.

“What brings you here today? You didn’t ask for that guy for several days.” Beyond the cage, Chi-Woo heard another demonic creature’s voice. The female demonic creature didn’t respond. Chi-Woo hoped that the creatures would leave just like this, but things didn’t go as he wished. Splash! The female demonic creature dipped her feet into the plate and then raised it to shove it against Chi-Woo’s face, toe dripping with a mysterious liquid. Chi-Woo smelled a sweet scent and felt his mind becoming hazy. He instinctively held on his breath, but the female demonic creature ordered:

“Lick it.”

Chi-Woo was about to do as she asked without thinking. It was almost a reflex. Though his mind resisted, his body moved on his own as if he had been conditioned to do so. All sorts of thoughts passed his head, and one, two, three…ten seconds that felt like a ticking bomb passed.

“…Hmph. This is no fun.” The female demonic creature laughed mockingly and placed her feet back down. The male demonic creature chuckled.

“What happened? You played around with him from morning to evening every day for a while. Did you get bored of him already?”

“Look at him. He shows no response. It was fun when he used to glare and resist in the beginning.”

“Yes, he was such a tough guy. Even after consuming loads of medicine three meals a day, he still resisted. It’s rare to see someone endure for so long.”

“What’s the point of that though? In the end, he is ruined like all the others.”

“Of course he will break down eventually. There’s the deal with the medicine, but it was the first time I ever began to pity a human. Every time I saw you with him, you reached the pinnacle of perversion…”

“Are you introducing yourself, dirt-bag?”

“I’m nowhere near your level though. I at least stop before my toys become tattered rags like him.” The male demonic creature shook his head and moved. Chi-Woo heard the door of the cage beside him open.

“Let me see. Where are you, my precious…?” Sometime afterward, the male demonic creature cursed heavily.

“What is it? What happened?” The female demonic creature asked in surprise and headed outside. Soon, Chi-Woo heard a person getting dragged across the floor and thrown outside the cage. The body rolled on the floor like a broken doll and lay limply in front of Chi-Woo’s cage. Chi-Woo’s eyes widened when he glanced at the figure. The unmoving body had silver hair. Her hair was short, but when he looked at her small physique…

“Isn’t she pretending to be dead?”

“No, she’s dead.”

At the female demonic creature’s question, the male one heaved and kicked the girl. The girl’s body turned half a circle and faced Chi-Woo. Chi-Woo’s heart stopped for a moment. He thought it couldn’t be… but alas, it was Hawa. Like him, she was naked. Her mystical long hair was cut raggedly without order and reason, and though this look still quite fitted her, she was dead as the male demonic creature said. With her eyes wide open, Hawa looked incredibly vengeful and angry even in her death.

“What happened? I thought she was heavily medicated.”

“She must’ve been pretending the whole time, or suddenly regained her senses.”

The male demonic creature responded, and the female demonic creature said in surprise.

“She shouldn’t even have the strength to kill herself….”

“I don’t know. I think she held her breath or something.”

“…What a vicious wench,” the female demonic creature murmured.

“Ha…this girl has been the highlight of my days…” The male demonic creature sighed, and the female demonic creature looked at him nervously.

“But what are we going to do now!?”

“Tch. What’s the big deal of one of these dying?” The male demonic creature spat out, and the female demonic creature shouted.

“Not a big deal!? You think so?” While chewing on her fingernails, she continued, “Only the high-quality goods are gathered here…even the great demons visit this place from time to time…I don’t know about the others, but if you-know-who learns about this….!” As if she didn’t even want to imagine what would happen, the female demonic creature shuddered.

“Ah, don’t worry about that. Didn’t you hear the rumors? Right now, he’s obsessed with this female who has divine blood running through her despite being human.” The male demonic creature spoke calmly unlike her, “And besides, the others already chose the males and females of their liking and took them for themselves. They probably wouldn’t even care for this place anymore.”

“Don’t you know that one of them visited recently, looking for new faces?...What do we do?”

“What can we do when she’s already dead?” the male demonic creature said and lifted Hawa by her neck. “We have to destroy the evidence.”

The male demonic creature’s mouth stretched to an unbelievable length until he gulped Hawa’s head entirely. Crunch! Grr! Crunch! Munch! A terrifying sound of bones and skin breaking apart rang across the area. Chi-Woo’s face turned pale. He had to bite his lower lip hard so that he wouldn’t scream. If he could, he wanted to block his ears to prevent himself from hearing anything, and it didn’t take long for Hawa’s head, body, and legs to disappear inside the male demonic creature’s belly.

“Fuu…” The male demonic creature sighed with satisfaction. Then, he looked around when he felt a prickly gaze staring at him. When he saw that Chi-Woo was obediently lying inside his cage, he tilted his head and turned around.

“What? Are you leaving?”

“I’m in no mood to play. You should play by yourself today,” the male demonic creature said and opened the entrance door before walking outside like nothing had happened. Left alone, the female demonic creature stared at Chi-Woo for a bit, but eventually turned around and left the room with her companion.

Though he overcame the recent hurdle, Chi-Woo didn’t move for a while. No, he couldn’t. His fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles were white. He had witnessed something so shocking, and if he could, he wanted to dash outside and kill those two demonic creatures. Yet, he couldn’t do that, nor should he. If only he wasn’t in the future and he didn’t need to gather information to bring to the present…things would’ve been different…! Chi-Woo tried with all his might to repress his burning rage.

Sometime later, Chi-Woo exhaled the breath he had been holding in. He pushed out his exorcism mana and gripped the leash around his neck with his one remaining hand. The chains broke off like paper, and Chi-Woo got out of his cage. He glanced at the now empty cage beside him and where Hawa’s corpse had been. He could still clearly remember how Hawa’s face had looked—her eyes widened with pure rage. When he met her eyes, it was as if she was telling him the anger she was feeling and asking him to avenge her. And to do that, Chi-Woo needed to repress his emotions right now.

The situation was already terrible. He would only be able to increase the chances of succeeding his goal by acting logically and efficiently. Thus, Chi-Woo decided to look around first. This place appeared to be where they kept prisoners, specifically meant to be potential playthings for great demons. If he was lucky, he might be able to find someone he knew. And after Chi-Woo wandered around for a bit, he was able to find one.

Rather than a prison, the place was more like a barn raising livestock. And there weren’t only humans, but also members of the Cassiubia League; male and female, as long as they had great beauty, were imprisoned inside these cages. Among them, there were some Chi-Woo knew—he quickly approached the woman with dark indigo hair.

“Ms. Eshnunna?”

While naked, she was busily licking her plate clean.

“Ms. Eshnunna! Ms. Eshnunna!”

She didn’t respond no matter how many times he called out for her. She simply focused on licking her plate clean like a dog. Seeing this, Chi-Woo went inside the cage and placed his hand on her neck, pouring exorcism mana into her. Eshnunna suddenly stopped moving and let out a piercing scream.

“Hiiiiiiiii—!” She floundered both her arms and legs around. Then, she quickly crawled to the walls and scratched it like a cat while heaving.

“Esh….Esh…”

“Hii—! Hiiii—!”

She was in no state for a conversation. Her usual sharp demeanor was nowhere to be found, and Chi-Woo had to give up on trying to talk to her in the end. He saw that she became more pained the more exorcism mana he poured into her. Furthermore, he didn’t know when the guards would come back again, and he couldn’t wait until Eshnunna gained her senses. Thus, after agonizing for some time, Chi-Woo turned around.

Fortunately, he was able to find one more person he knew. He couldn’t recognize him at first because his hair was long, but he could recognize the thick beard on his face; it was Allen Leonard. Like the others, he was chained inside his cage, naked. His plate was sparkling clean, and he was leaning against the wall while smirking like an idiot and playing with his fingers. He was missing one eye, and it seemed he had also lost the body part where the Celestial Realm device was implanted.

“Do you hear me, sir?”

“Heh…”

“Mr. Allen Leonard. Can you tell who I am?”

“Heh…Heh...hehehehe….” As expected, Allen was also under the influence of the mysterious drugs, but Chi-Woo placed his faith on Allen’s strong mentality and poured exorcism mana into him.

“Uh…” Yet, Allen’s response was no different from Eshnunna’s.

“Uh! Ughhhhhhh!” Allen frantically pushed Chi-Woo away and ran around in circles inside his cage. Then, he thrust his body toward the bars and in the end, fell to the corner while foaming from the corners of his mouth. It was as if he was a fear-stricken baby beast. Seeing Allen’s reaction to the slightest stimulus, Chi-Woo knew there was no hope of conversing with him.

Chi-Woo didn’t know what kind of drug it was, but it was so strong that he almost succumbed to it in his perfect state of mind. There was no way anyone could be sane after consuming a drug like that for long periods of time. From the conversation he heard from the two guards, it seemed he had also lost his mind to it after enduring for some time. It was then Chi-Woo truly realized the dire predicaments he was in.

Not only did he no longer have his device, but everyone who could possibly tell him what happened had lost their minds. Furthermore, Philip, who was usually always with him, was nowhere to be found, and he couldn’t expect help from Mimi either without his device. Even if the world flowed beyond what he wished for like his brother had said, this was all a bit too much.

‘I just need one…just one person…’ It could be anyone, as long as they had their minds slightly intact and could share information with him, no matter how menial. It was then Chi-Woo stopped walking and hurriedly ran toward another figure. Inside a cage, a naked, blonde woman was lying on the ground with her arms and legs stretched out like a frog. Her usual neat ponytail sprawled on the floor. She was staring blankly into the ceiling with no signs of intelligence in his eyes. And it seemed she had just finished eating her medicine judging by the glistening parts around her mouth.

“Ms. Ru Hiana…” Chi-Woo supported her back and helped her sit. ‘Please, please…’ he begged earnestly and poured exorcism mana into her. Ru Hiana flinched, and a glimmer of consciousness flashed through her eyes for a moment.

“Ms. Ru Hiana?” But then Chi-Woo had to immediately stop.

“Huuuuurgh-!” Ru Hiana groaned and raised her arms before bowing deeply and shuddering like she was afraid of being hit. Chi-Woo’s expectations fell, but he didn’t give up.

“Ms. Ru Hiana, it’s okay. So please…”

Chi-Woo’s desperate cries didn’t reach her, and Ru Hiana tried to distance herself from him by pushing her feet across the floor. “Ugh…ugh…urggggh…” She cried, but Chi-Woo poured in more exorcism mana. He felt like he would have no more options if Ru Hiana didn’t regain her senses.

“Ms. Ru Hiana!” Chi-Woo raised his voice and poured in more exorcism mana.

“Hiick!” Ru Hiana doubled over like she was shocked and shuddered. Shhhhh—

A light, yellowish liquid wetted the floor while exuding a terrible stench. Terrified, she had peed then and there.

“Ugh…eh…” Ru Hiana still had her head lowered as she cried, and Chi-Woo took his hands off her. He suddenly felt all strength drained from him, and he wondered whether he should just return to the present. With one hand, he fumbled with his die. He didn’t want to stay a second longer and didn’t know if he could endure any more of this. It was too wretched and miserable—to think this was the future that came about after he stopped two incidents. At this point, even the first future was better. After all, even death was preferable than this sickening sight.

It wasn’t just Ru Hiana. Everyone—Eshnunna and Allen Leonard—had lost all their higher intellect as human beings and were reduced to beasts and livestock who only relied on their instincts. And Hawa…

“…” Hawa’s face resurfaced Chi-Woo’s mind.

‘…No.’ Chi-Woo raised his head again and thought, ‘I can’t run away.’ He still couldn’t forget Hawa’s vengeful eyes. For those eyes alone, he needed to find out what had happened. Since all the humans and members of the Cassiubia League were in a state like this, he could catch one of the Demon Empire’s members and beat information out of them. Although this came with enormous risks, Chi-Woo strengthened his resolve. This was a future bound to happen if he didn’t do anything in the present; thus, he needed to get information somehow to thwart the direction of the present by any means possible.

“…Ms. Ru Hiana.”

Ru Hiana was still trembling on the floor. Chi-Woo got on one knee and softly hugged her. “I will change it. I promise you…I will surely change the future.”

Ru Hiana tried to wiggle free from him, but Chi-Woo held her harder and strengthened his resolve. It was then a faint voice reached his ear.

“S...en…ior…”