Garden of Eden || Apocalypse Paradise #2 [Complete]

175: Returning from the Netherworld

"Although she was unconscious when she was sent away, it is far better than being absorbed by those apple trees." Despite her usual poker-faced expression, Xueqin couldn't help shuddering when she talked about those trees, "Those things are too freaky..."

"After you fell asleep, we weren't quite sure of the situation. We rested in the same spot for a few days. We also saw those snake-faced people eating those apples..." One of the twins added softly. Somehow, her voice seemed to be ridden with guilt.

"We were worried that the snake-faced people would find us sooner or later if we remained there," she sounded as if she was trying to justify something.

The other twin, the older sister, suddenly let out a long sigh without any reason.

They weren't the only ones looking rather dejected. The complicated expression on Snow's reddened face was clear for all to see despite his beard. Xueqin shot a glance at them and pursed her lips with a cold expression. She was obviously aware of why the others were acting this way, but she seemed adamant not to talk about it.

In the end, it was Rabbit who spoke.

"The snake-faced people seemed extremely furious. They carried away the corpse of their companion, probably the one you defeated, and checked all the trees carefully. We had a hard time hiding from them... After they left, we woke you up a few times and asked you some questions. We finally found out what you knew and got an understanding of the whole series of events."

At this point, even B. Rabbit found it difficult to speak about what had happened. "That son of a bitch. He is such a letdown. I'm not going to cover this up for him!" Then, B. Rabbit ranted angrily, "After we knew the effects of eating those flesh apples, Error 517 secretly—"

"Ate two flesh apples when we were chopping off tree barks to create the boat." A young teen's monotonous voice, coming from outside the plastic material, accompanied by the sloshing sound of fluid, suddenly finished B. Rabbit's sentence.

Lin Sanjiu was shocked. She only realized then that Error 517 wasn't in this ball. She only got to know the five-member group through B. Rabbit, so she didn't know them that well personally. Since the light inside the ball was dim, she failed to notice that there was a missing person.

"Why... Why is he outside?" Lin Sanjiu was very shocked. "What exactly... is going on?"

This time, even Rabbit stopped talking as his expression grew sour.

The awkward silence continued for a few seconds until the teenager outside the spherical boat ended up being the person answering her. He seemed to deliberately maintain a sort of flat, monotonous tone, "Sister Lin, I'll answer you. They are ashamed of me now, so they don't want to bring this up.

"Sister Lin, have you glimpsed my ability in the past few days? Of course not, because my ability isn't anything special... Oh, don't ask me what my ability is; it's all in the past, anyway. I've been constantly relying on others, holding them back. I had had enough of it. Since I had a chance to change that, why shouldn't I have? Those people were as good as dead anyway... I shouldn't have to keep suffering in pain for nothing, right?"

Lin Sanjiu listened in a daze. This was totally beyond anything she expected. She would never have thought that one of the companions she rescued would choose to eat one of those flesh apples.

"There's no need to eat the entire thing; digging out and eating part of the bulging veins, the portions that had a living reaction, is sufficient." From his tone, Error 517 sounded like he was forcing himself to be calm. "It didn't fail to meet my expectations. Eating both of those apples had a huge payoff... The price was well worth it."

Before Lin Sanjiu said anything, Snow chastised hoarsely, "What about us? Are we less important than those two abilities?"

For a while, there was only silence outside.

After some time, Error 517 spoke up again and even laughed softly. "Brother Snow, if I didn't have those two abilities, would we be able to swim up against the flow of the fluid in these roots? I can't control how you guys view me... but we're friends, and Sister Lin is my benefactor, so I promise I'll pull this boat to the surface."

Lin Sanjiu only understood then that the reason this boat could advance against the stream was because Error 517 was pulling it from the outside.

With that, she was in no position to say anything about it. All of them clearly condemned his actions, yet they had to depend on him. Under such circumstances, it wasn't surprising that B. Rabbit looked so aggrieved.

Even after some time, no one in the boat said a word. Lin Sanjiu vaguely heard Error 517 sighing outside. Then, there was only silence.

The sloshing noises of the flowing fluid became the only sound that accompanied them along their path.

The route back was far longer than the one they took to arrive. Error 517 seemed to be pushing himself to his limits. Every day, he would enter the boat to have a bite of food, and without even sleeping, he would go back outside to continue pulling. Lin Sanjiu wanted to persuade him to rest, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything when Error 517 gave her a distant look.

'Forget it; everyone lives by their own principles,' Lin Sanjiu thought.

Before she woke up, she had slept for slightly more than a week. The group was in the rhizomes for almost a month before they heard from Error 517 that it was getting brighter outside. It seemed that they were nearing the surface.

Following the direction Lin Sanjiu provided, they were heading toward the area she had dug up. When they were near the path she dug, they broke out from the roots' tough epidermis and finally returned to the surface.

When the long-awaited sunlight shone on their bodies again, almost all of them felt as if they had returned from a surreal experience from a lifetime ago.

Error 517 secretly left on the night that they returned without bidding farewell to any of them.

"Actually, I didn't rebuke him that harshly..."

Lin Sanjiu sighed and patted B. Rabbit's despondent head. "He probably couldn't accept it himself."

'Right now, there is another urgent matter—'

There was a sudden cry from afar, "Sister Lin! You finally came back! We're starving to death!"