Host, Please Be Honest! What Exactly Are You?

Skull Island!

Gia Ming blurted the name out instinctively.

Everyone looked at the scene, feeling their blood dry from their faces.

It was strange to say that on the entire island, this was the only place where they could see greenery, though the leaves were purplish.

Everywhere else, the trees had been barren, with not a single leaf on their creepy branches. But here, though there were no trees, the ground had various spots of purplish grass growing across the barren plains.

And across the open plains was what looked like the entrance of a giant cave.

Bones... Bones where.

If they had to say, there should be a hundred... No!... A thousand bones decorating the cave's outer walls and entrance.

But maybe what was scarier was that the lines were bleeding blood right before their very eyes!

One step back, another step back.

Everyone subconsciously took a few steps back, falling into their imaginations of what could have happened here.

'These bleeding bones... Don't tell me these monsters killed and skinned the dead cruise line travelers alive, hanging their bloodied, dripping bones out here. F***! This is too respectable, right?'

Instantly, everyone jolted in horror, hoping Bho Jin and the other Navy officer were still alive.

Bho Jin felt dizzy, wondering what he would do if he saw his grandson's bones once he got in.

No! No!

~Pah!

He slapped his cheeks fiercely.

This was no time to think negatively. His grandson was alive, and that was that!

The group was about to advance, when they suddenly saw several figures running towards them from different angles.

Ah!---

"Old Gia!"

"Old Ghu!"

"Old Hou!"

(^π^)

.

Everyone was so happy seeing familiar faces running their way, especially Old Bho.

He wanted to let out his grievances and sorrows about how he saw his poor grandson fall into that awful pit.

Woooo~~~

He had a thousand grievances pent up in his heart.

Additionally, with more people with powers like the Grandmaster, won't they have a better chance at taking down whatever evil is lurking within the cave?

Everyone smiled and waved excitedly, also happy to see old Gia and the rest were safe and alive.

Hahahhahaha~

The group began running to each other in slow motion.

If not for the scary place they were all in, one might even see non-existent flowers of happiness appearing around the bunch.

"Old Gia... Old Ghu... Old Hou..."

Bang!

Everyone stood frozen, seeing the 3 figures not only fall and wail but also change forms into terrifying little goblins with teeth as long as their fingers, bodies missing layers of skin, and maggots swimming around.

At this point, even though it was hideous and protest, would you believe the smell of this ace they were currently in was far more troubling than their sight?

They had a hunch the smell belonged to whatever was in the cave.

In that case, wouldn't the creature inside be so grotesque it would make their eyes bleed blood?

Augh~

... Should they have brought their sunglasses to at least mask some of the effects?

(?0?)

.

An uneasy wind stirred, brisk and chilling as they watched the dreadful creatures howl to death.

It was now that they also remembered this place could deceive them.

Who knew if anyone coming at them was truly the friends they arrived here with?

Dorian had his hands in his pockets, lazily looking at the bunch.

"Let's go."

Ah-

Grandmaster, wait for us!

No one cared about the strange dead being anymore. They had to stick close to the Grandmaster so long as they were in this devilish place.

Old Bho twisted his lips in worry. 'Little Jin... Wait for me.'

...

Narrator: "Like so, our 'brave' heroes ventured into the strange and deadly skull cave... Will they be alright without sunglasses? Will the group discover that someone amongst them had long wet themselves? Will they see their friends in one piece?... The answer to it all depends on time... Only time will tell."

...

Cough. Cough. Cough. Cough~

Bho Jin and the Navy officer coughed vigorously, having fallen into a pile of human waste.

Bones dried up blood on the purplish grounds, ghoulish wails from other humans nearby... The duo were shocked, quickly rushing to their feet.

Where are they? Where are they?

They remember falling into that terrible hole. And now they appeared here.

The first image their eyes met was the massive ceiling space high above that seemed endless.

They felt like ants in an ant cave.

Boof!

Purple fires randomly shot out the walls, and strange giant cages made of bones hung far above.

Monstrous winged creatures roamed the place, and the foul stench of decay polluted the place.

No!... It can be said that the smell was much more than that, so much so that his eyes began tearing up.

At this point, he wanted to slice off his nose and throw the whole thing away.

F***!

Even the faint festering stench of sewage and fecal matter he preserved would be a better choice to sniff at than this.

The other Navy officer thought so too.

.

"What do we do?" Bho Jin had to admit he was petrified without the Grandmaster by his side.

The Navy officer thinned his lips, gripping Bho Jin's hands hard.

Yes. Both of them were subconsciously holding hands.

"What do we do? We wait, of course! You also have I'm the Grandmaster. So we'll be rescued. But now, it's only a matter of when."

"Yes." Bho Jin whispered, not wanting to call any attention to them.

The Grandmaster had already said at the beginning that he would take them in and bring them out. So how could he let anything truly happen to them?

Thinking it through, Bho Jin's nerves relaxed a teeny bit though his fear still hadn't vanished.

Nope.

His legs were still shaking like a cornered chicken's.

The Navy officer was no better. But because he had fought many battles, he was able to think straighter than Bho Jin.

"All we need to do is lay low while observing the situation. Remember, we came into this hell hole to investigate and save any surviving cruise line members."

Bho Jin once again modded vigorously.

Alright.

Wasn't it just laying low?

This young master can lay low quite well!

Bho Jin's thoughts were good. However, before he and the Navy officer could react, a shrieked, high-pitched voice bellowed. fre𝑒𝘸𝚎𝚋n૦ѵℯl.c𝒐𝘮

.

"No!... No!... Don't look at me!!"

Bho Jin and the Navy officer froze.

They looked at the hunched being that spoke out and was dumbfounded.

Gulp.

They swallowed hard, nearly biting off their tongues from shock.

These beings... No!... These people... What the hell happened to them?

Around the corners of the strange towering space were several people, all looking practically deformed.

Their backs had been arched, some very inclined and others only slightly.

Still, one would think they all came from some hereditary hunchback family. Their hands were also bent and unsightly, permanently twisted in these unnatural ways.

Boils, warts, pimples...

Their faces were ridden with all sorts of protruding feelings. And for some, their scalps were patchy, some having only a few strands of hair left on their heads.

Anyone could see that these hairs had fallen off unnaturally, not with any bloody old age.

"Ahhhh!!... Don't look! Don't look at me! I'm ugly." A woman in the corner called out, waving her hands frantically above her face.

Ugly. Ugly... Which woman ever desired to become ugly?

"Don't look! Don't look!... Don't look at us!" 𝐟𝓇ℯ𝐞𝚠𝚎𝒃𝑛𝒐ѵe𝚕.co𝚖

Several others also crowd, running away from the duo when they landed in space.

The Navy officer wanted to stop them but found he had no words to say.

Tell them someone will come and rescue them? Tell them it was going to be alright?

Even if it was true, he still found his tongue heavy to move.

All he and Bho Jin could do now was wait safely.

It had only taken these survivors no more than a day to begin acting like true cavemen when faced with such a terrible place.

.

The Navy officer frowned.

He could see their sanity wasn't right. And their situation was mysteriously different from those they rescued on the ship.

So why?... Why was it like this?

"It's this place." Bho Jin tried, recalling Dorian's words when they first entered the space.

He said once in here, everything rots, including them. So maybe the effects were higher in some places on the island than others?

"Yes. You're right. It should be this place." The navy officer commented, looking upwards. "Something isn't right."

Bho Jin was taken back, quickly turning his attention upwards too.

The giant cages above... They were empty but stained in thick blood.

(?~?)

What is the cage's purpose? The duo didn't understand.

But fortunately for them, fate was willing to answer their every question.

Gawkkkkkkk!!!!!!

The flying creatures above bellowed, and those below began to scramble away for their lives like crazy.

Feasting time was here.