Absolute Death Game

This amber, however, was semi-transparent, and inside was a massive fetus that was clearly visible. The egg continuously shot out beams of light, which seemed to wax and wane with the fetus's heartbeat and blood flow, like a gigantic firefly. Through these lights, Xiao Buli felt he could even see the fetus's blood vessels and internal organs clearly.
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Yi Xuan also noticed the anomaly. As he kept picking things up, he typed and said, "Xiao, what is that thing?" Since there had been no prior communication with the fetus, Yi Xuan didn't fully understand what he was seeing and simply found it eerie that something so strange had been unearthed during mining.

But Xiao Buli didn't answer. His eyes were fixed on the giant egg as he quietly switched his pickaxe for a sword, ready in case the thing inside suddenly became violent.

The curved shape inside the egg, though in the form of a fetus, was larger than a fully grown elephant. Even with the illumination, Xiao Buli found the creature within bizarre; its limbs were unnaturally twisted, not rounded and smooth like a normal fetus.

Seeing that Xiao Buli hadn't responded for a while, Yi Xuan also stopped picking items up and walked over to Xiao Buli, and a line of characters floated above his head: "Xiao, what's going on here?"

Inside the amber, the massive fetus suddenly opened its eyes. Xiao Buli only saw eyes completely filled with black pupils, looking eerie and terrifying. The fetus's limbs twitched, causing the stone egg to shake violently—this was probably the source of the rumbling sound the two had heard earlier.

The amber-like shell didn't seem very hard, it cracked and split open under the violent shaking. Xiao Buli and Yi Xuan quickly retreated as they saw the fetus stretching its limbs and breaking out of the egg. Fluid poured out from the opening, mixed with a fishy stench like that of a rotten egg, prompting Xiao Buli to cover his nose and mouth involuntarily.

The fetus freed itself from the eggshell and sat on the ground, continuously twisting its body. Xiao Buli was puzzled at first but soon realized the fetus seemed to be exercising its limbs; it had probably been trapped in the eggshell for too long and could no longer move freely. Fortunately, as an Immortal Fetus, it didn't take long for it to adapt to the movement of its limbs and struggle to stand up from the ground. Only then did Xiao Buli get a clear look at the creature's full appearance—if you could call it a fetus, it would be the ugliest one in the world. Its huge head was sparsely covered with brownish-yellow hair, damp and sticky with the fluid from the eggshell, clumping on its wrinkly scalp.

Its skin was the same, looking like the wrinkled flesh on one's fingers after a long bath, paler than a human's. The overall shape of the body was humanoid, but there were unnatural twists on the limbs and torso. Looking closer, Xiao Buli suddenly thought of a deformed apple, which sometimes grows wedged amid tree branches; as it grows, the fruit becomes malformed, taking on the shape of the branches due to their constriction.

This person had been curled up in the egg for a long time, but his body kept growing, with limbs limiting each other, and the body developed those deformed patterns. If this person curled back into that position, he would probably fit perfectly into the shape and size of the eggshell.

In his heart, Xiao Buli couldn't help but feel some sympathy for the creature, wondering what reason there could be for it to endure such suffering, growing each year in that cramped space, each year of growth increasing its pain.

The fetus had a head large and round like a baby's, with a nose that seemed to be just two dark holes without any bridge, and a mouth that was not clearly defined, as if a line had been cut directly on its face to form a mouth.

The fetus slowly straightened its body, looked at Xiao Buli and Yi Xuan with surprise in their eyes, and seemed to have no intention of explaining anything. It turned and walked towards a cave.

Xiao Buli, coming to his senses, shouted at its retreating back, "Hey, you haven't told me the origins of this game yet!"

Yi Xuan, who was nearby, grew tense upon hearing this. After all, every participant in the game would be interested in the truth behind it. Although Yi Xuan hadn't heard the conversation between Xiao Buli and the Stone Egg, Xiao Buli's question made it clear there must have been some prior transaction between the two.

But the fetus ignored Xiao Buli's shouting and left on its own. Xiao Buli quickly followed and shouted, "Hey, you promised. The system task has been issued, are you not afraid of the Heavenly Dao?" Since he had heard NPC discussions in the game, Xiao Buli knew that the game's characters revered this mysterious force as the Heavenly Dao. He was hoping it would restrain the fetus long enough to divulge the truth.

Upon hearing Xiao Buli speak this way, the fetus actually stopped, slowly turned around, and stared at Xiao Buli with its huge, weird eyes, making Xiao Buli's skin crawl. If not for his determination to discover the game's truth, he would have preferred to let it go.

The fetus looked at Xiao Buli for a moment, then cracked open its mouth, revealing an extremely ugly smile. A voice that was neither male nor female echoed in Xiao Buli's mind: "Heavenly Dao? He can't control me," then it turned as if to leave, paused, and turned back to add, "The only reward you can get is one piece of advice, leave the Immortal Realm quickly. Some things are destined to happen, and they will happen soon." (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it at qidian.com (Frequent Readers Program, Monthly Ticket). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)