Apocalyptic Crazy Kitty

Chapter 50: On the Brink of the Abyss

Teddy, carrying the Orange Cat on his back, made his way through the dense horde of zombies. All these zombies were entangled in red threads, standing there like wheat in a field, completely silent. Only when Teddy and the Orange Cat passed between their legs did the zombies suddenly open their eyes, ready to attack—only to be instantly silenced by Zuo Chen’s psychic force field. Due to their height, the cat and dog could only look up at a dense forest of legs and feet; they had no idea where they had ended up. However, the thick carpet woven from blood-red threads on the ground began to glow gradually. At first, it was only a faint glow, but the further they advanced, the brighter the light became—until, eventually, it looked as if LED backlights had been installed on the ground. Suddenly, a burst of light filled their vision; the forest-like tangle of legs and feet vanished, revealing a vast plaza before them. Where was this place? The red light ahead was blinding, momentarily obscuring their vision. As far as the eye could see, a vast circle of zombies stood all around them, forming a ring. Or rather, this was a clearing in the center of a densely packed horde of zombies. No, wait—it wasn’t a clearing! As their eyes gradually adjusted to the brightness, they finally made out what was right in front of them. “What the hell…” Zuo Chen jumped straight up from Zhao Ritian’s back, his cat-like face etched with disbelief. Zhao Ritian also slowly stood up, letting Zuo Chen perch on his shoulders. With one cat and one dog stacked on top of each other, they peered forward—both with their mouths agape. This wasn’t a square at all—it was clearly an abyss! An abyss spanning hundreds of meters in diameter—roughly the size of two soccer fields—appeared before their eyes! The surface of this abyss was covered with layers of a substance resembling flesh and blood, crisscrossed with thick blood vessels and nerves, as if it were still pulsating ceaselessly, just like a living creature. It was as if the ground had opened its gaping maw, staring straight up at the sky! Surprisingly, there wasn’t a single zombie around the abyss—as if this area were off-limits to them. Just one meter behind them, zombies were packed shoulder to shoulder, so tightly packed they were practically squashed flat. Zuo Chen hesitated for a moment, then swiped his tail, delivering a sharp “smack” to the face of a zombie behind him. The zombie, its body wrapped in blood-red threads, immediately opened its eyes, let out a low growl, and lunged toward Zuo Chen. But just as it lifted its foot, it seemed to hit an invisible barrier and was forced back. It could only snarl at Zuo Chen from a meter away, and before long, it fell back into a deep sleep, returning to stillness. Sure enough, the area near this abyss was off-limits to zombies! As for who had imposed this restriction, it was clearly the psychic force field emanating from the Wei Abyss. “Put me down, meow,” Zuo Chen said, grimacing. Zhao Ritian immediately raised his front paw, ready to grab Zuo Chen’s butt and lift him down. But before he could even touch Zuo Chen’s butt, Zuo Chen immediately screamed, “Don’t touch my butt, meow! Squat down—let me crawl on the ground!” Zhao Ritian hurriedly dropped to all fours and lay flat on the ground. Just then, the Orange Cat on his back stretched out its paws and fell like a flat pancake, landing with a “thud” on the ground. “Meow…” the Orange Cat let out a groan and lay there, not daring to move a muscle. During the intense chase and battle just moments ago, it hadn’t felt anything, but now its butt and back ached terribly. Although the periosteum inside his body had blocked all the bullets and he hadn’t suffered any serious injuries, his outer skin and fur had been torn in many places—especially on his rear end, which had been directly facing the enemy. Fortunately, his anus hadn’t been hit by any bullets… “Is there anything wrong with my butt?” the Orange Cat asked in a muffled voice, his face buried in the ground. “It’s… bald… the fur’s all gone…” Zhao Ritian replied with a look of pity, feeling deeply moved. Cat Brother’s butt had become completely bald, and the fur on his back was also heavily thinned; in many places, the fur had even been singed, giving off a burnt smell. The exposed skin was covered in bruises—blue and purple marks—and in many places, the skin had cracked open and was bleeding. Seeing that the Orange Cat showed no reaction, Teddy grew extremely anxious. He racked his brain trying to figure out how to comfort Cat Brother. After a long, labored pause, he said, “Cat Brother, it’s okay. Being bald actually looks pretty good. We have a Monkey Brother at the zoo—his butt is red and bald, and he looks so majestic when he’s perched on a tree…” But before he could finish, he saw that the cracks on the Orange Cat’s bald bottom were healing at a visible speed, and yellow fur actually began to grow back in the areas that had been completely bald! A layer of fine down covered the bald spots; though it was much shorter than his original fur, it didn’t look quite as jarring anymore. Realizing that this was as much fur as it could grow for now, Zuo Chen pushed himself up with all four paws and stood up. “Thank goodness I absorbed that long-haired zombie’s special ability when I entered the Weicheng ruins,” Zuo Chen thought to himself. “Otherwise, I’d be stuck as a bare-bottomed cat for the rest of my life…” Zhao Ritian was completely dumbfounded. With a look of admiration, he said, “Cat Brother, you’re so awesome! You can even grow fur!” Although this new downy fur was much lighter than his original orange color—at first glance, it looked like an Orange Cat had pooped all over its butt—Zhao Ritian obviously wouldn’t, and dared not, say such a thing out loud. A smug smile tugged at the corners of Zuo Chen’s mouth. He then pointed toward the abyss ahead and whispered, “Let’s go take a look.” The cat and the dog immediately dropped to their bellies and quickly reached the edge of the abyss, both peering down with half their heads sticking out. Inside the abyss, it was like a blood-red hell. An eerie red glow emanated from the flesh-and-blood walls, while thick veins and nerve-like structures spiraled downward from the abyss’s rim—their depth unknown. Every few meters, layers of fleshy folds and vascular structures protruded from the abyss’s walls, with a translucent, egg-shaped object—roughly the size of a human head—hanging from each one at regular intervals. These egg-shaped objects looked like blood-red ostrich eggs; it was unclear what they contained. The surrounding folds and vascular-nerve-like structures extended downward layer upon layer, resembling a giant spiral staircase. However, after a few dozen layers, the abyss plunged into darkness—it was impossible to tell exactly how many layers there were or just how deep it went. What the hell is this thing? Why does this shape look somewhat familiar? The Orange Cat clutched his face, lost in thought. “Cat Brother, there’s a zombie coming…” Zhao Ritian cautiously nudged Zuo Chen and pointed to the side. Only then did Zuo Chen notice that at regular intervals along the edge of the abyss, there was a man-high passageway—it looked like a tube extending out from the depths of the abyss. A powerful psychic force field radiated out from the bottom of the abyss. Several zombies from the surrounding horde, as if on command, staggered over to the tube’s opening and crawled inside. Zuo Chen’s gaze followed the silhouettes of the zombies inside the tubes as they moved downward, and he saw that they were all sucked into the bottom of the abyss by the tubes. In the blink of an eye, the tubes began to writhe again. The next moment, the openings suddenly expanded several times in size, and clusters of slimy threads spurted out, drifting on the wind and scattering across the ruins of Weicheng! Zuo Chen instantly realized that these slimy threads, which covered the entire city, were actually made entirely from zombies! What kind of place was this, exactly? If this was the core of the Weicheng ruins, then where was the Wei Abyss? Zuo Chen’s mind was filled with confusion and bewilderment. What exactly was that terrifying Wei Abyss trying to do? And what about this massive, blood-red abyss—could it have anything to do with the title of “Abyssal One”? With that thought, he immediately released his mental energy field, straining to probe downward. Although the maximum range of his psychic field for attacks was only a few dozen meters, when used for vague scanning, it could extend several times that distance. Just then, a torrential surge of psychic energy roared upward from the bottom of the abyss, like an invisible volcano erupting in an instant, shattering Zuo Chen’s psychic field to pieces! In the next instant, from the darkness deep within the Blood-Red Abyss, a massive red spotlight suddenly appeared, shining toward the top of the abyss. The spotlight, with a diameter of no less than three meters, appeared abruptly from the very depths of the abyss. No, this isn’t a spotlight! The Orange Cat shuddered, grabbed Teddy by the neck, and the cat and dog both retreated simultaneously. It was an eye!