Chapter 158 This Is Not the Only Way to Escape

Li Tianque looked at Achu in shock and asked in astonishment,
"You mean... it went to Brother Tatar just now?"
Achu grunted in response and pulled out two more bundles of metal wire.
Achu's words just now made Li Tianque feel extremely uncomfortable.
However, it was undeniable that if the yellow spherical derivative of the 食限 (Food Limit) hadn't been attracted by Brother Tatar, who was bleeding all over, it was hard to say whether the two of them would have had a chance to hold on until now.
Looking back, this Food Limit did indeed possess a certain ability to pass through walls, and could even completely seal off a room, which Li Tianque had witnessed with his own eyes at the Wolf Totem Restaurant.
What was more, since the Food Limit could crawl out from the walls of the basement, it was naturally capable of destroying other walls as well.
The upper floor was very close to Brother Tatar's room; the Food Limit must have caught the scent of blood there first and then squeezed through to devour him!
This also showed that the feeding method of the Food Limit described by Achu was not comprehensive and she had hidden things from him.
Apart from using this gelatinous ball derivative to lure prey, the Food Limit also seemed capable of allowing the derivative to directly swallow living humans, or even corpses.
As Li Tianque was wondering whether he could find a way to defeat it through this large pink ball's feeding method, a sudden roar interrupted his thoughts.
"Go find the basement entrance quickly, or we'll all die!"
The sharp scream pounded heavily against Li Tianque's eardrums, instantly putting him on high alert.
Achu was indeed panicked; this Food Limit seemed to have caused Achu to feel a profound sense of unease.

At that moment, under the blinding beam of the flashlight, Li Tianque saw the full appearance of the large pink ball, which only made him feel that this kind of nuclear insect was utterly disgusting:
Brother Tatar's dismembered body was being devoured inside the large pink ball by giant woodlice, and after being excreted by the woodlice, it turned into an internally sticky liquid. The pink ball itself lacked a digestive system and actually relied on woodlice to convert energy.
The originally yellow liquid had perhaps turned pinkish after absorbing fresh blood.
When the pink ball writhed, the woodlice inside scurried around randomly as well, enough to make anyone's scalp tingle.
Li Tianque agreed with Achu; if they couldn't find the entrance to the basement soon, they would probably be in inescapable doom.
In such a cramped room, a gelatinous mass filled with corrosive liquid was blocking his path, and trying to return the way they came was definitely impossible.
If they couldn't find an exit and were swallowed by the pink ball, the two of them would be gnawed to the bone by the dense swarm of giant woodlice inside its body—just thinking about it was enough to drive someone insane.
Li Tianque snapped out of it, immediately pulled back his flashlight, and began searching for the basement entrance.

At this moment, the pink ball had already noticed the presence of the two, but it seemed completely uninterested in them.
Whether this was because it hadn't fully digested Brother Tatar yet, it unexpectedly showed no intention of launching an active attack, instead coming to a halt and standing in a standoff with Achu in the darkness.
Li Tianque breathed a slight sigh of relief.
It was best if they didn't fight. The top priority right now was to find the entrance leading downwards first, and then figure out a way to get away from this big guy.
With that thought in mind, Li Tianque hurried to search for the lower entrance.
However, judging from his current position, it would be very difficult for Li Tianque to approach the area near those two machines, as that place was simply too close to the pink ball.
So Li Tianque ultimately went back on his own judgment and decided to check first to see if there would be any discoveries next to these decomposing corpses.
The flashlight beam shifted toward the rotting corpses—a sight Li Tianque truly did not want to see and was unwilling to look at.
Covering his nose, Li Tianque forced himself to accept a reality: if he couldn't find the entrance among these decomposing corpses, the next ones to turn into them would be themselves.
Yet thinking about such a matter and actually doing it were two completely different things; breaking through this psychological barrier was exceptionally difficult.
Li Tianque picked up a bone still hung with rotting flesh and pried open the decomposed bodies.
These things were even more disgusting and difficult to handle than Li Tianque had imagined. Their state of corruption had long stripped them of the texture of flesh; with just a casual prod, the dead skin over these ulcerated layers ruptured, oozing out a large gush of yellowish-green liquid.
Li Tianque smacked his lips, helplessly prodding a few more times, but the result was the same.
Facing these rotting corpses already made Li Tianque's scalp tingle, and now he had to search right next to them—this was simply fatal...
However, it wasn't long before Li Tianque found himself gradually growing accustomed to it.
When you come into contact with disgusting things for long enough, you actually become numb to them.
Taking advantage of his gradually accepting mindset, Li Tianque immediately bit down on the flashlight and began searching wildly, dispensing even with the bone for prodding and rummaging directly with his bare hands.
Li Tianque pushed aside the rotten flesh and batted away the maggots crawling on the ground with his hands, searching beneath the decomposing corpses by the light of the flashlight.
Both Achu and Fatty Bi had come to this room before, but Achu hadn't noticed these rotting corpses previously, which meant these bodies must have been placed here after Achu left; otherwise, the flesh on these bodies would have long since adhered to the floor tiles.
Li Tianque also secretly rejoiced that the rotten flesh of these decomposing corpses hadn't stuck to the ground, otherwise dealing with just this rotten flesh would probably have consumed even more time.
Li Tianque had already grown used to the intense sensory impact of the filth before him, and there was only a single thought in his mind now: to quickly find clues regarding the entrance.
Although he didn't know why Achu was so adamant that there had to be an entrance leading downwards here, this was likely their only way out.

The only way out, the only way out, the only way out?
This phrase echoed like a revolving lantern in Li Tianque's mind, suddenly making him feel that something was not quite right!
This didn't seem right at all!
Li Tianque stopped rummaging and realized a problem!
Why did Achu insist on finding an entrance leading downwards?
This room was not a sealed room; rather, it had at least two obvious entry and exit points!
One of them was the climbing ladder the two of them had descended from, and the other was the metal door she had walked out of earlier!
Since she had walked out from there and then lain in ambush for Li Tianque near the door, Fatty Bi could also completely have walked out through this metal door!
Why did it absolutely have to be some secret entrance leading downwards?
Li Tianque stopped and was just about to ask Achu when he suddenly noticed a strange noise coming from the direction where Achu was.
The strange noise sounded somewhat like fabric tearing, but sharper and more piercing...
The next moment, the rustling sound of metal wires began to detonate in the air.
Clearly, the Food Limit had launched an attack on Achu.
At this point, Li Tianque couldn't care about much else and immediately shouted at Achu:
"Achu, why not just run straight out through this metal door? Maybe..."
Before Li Tianque could finish, Achu rudely interrupted him:
"Impossible, that door was double-locked and sabotaged from the outside by me! Ungh..." Distracted by talking to Li Tianque, Achu seemed to have been struck by the gelatinous violent worm.
Li Tianque turned to stone instantly, a million alpacas stampeding through his heart...
Great, so the sabotaged control button he had seen earlier was actually done by Achu!
Wasn't Achu leading him straight into a dead end?