I Will Teach You How to Hunt Gods

"Sacrifice the eyeball...?!"

Upon seeing this word, Yun You was slightly taken aback, but quickly came to understand.

"This is the eye sacrifice!"

That's right, the demands recorded on this note were precisely the sacrifice requirements that the old miner Miles had mentioned in his diary.

The diary described a time when a once rational actress suddenly required the old miner to dig out her eyeball, chew it up, and spit it onto the fungal mat to let it slowly absorb. It was said that only by doing this could they gain the favor of the "Lord" and open the door.

This was exactly the "pass method" given by the note.

But for some reason, the old miner who came here two months ago seemed to have never seen this note.

He learned about the requirements from the actress's mouth.

Moreover, Yun You looked closely and found that although the note was somewhat yellowed and curled, it was not very old.

At the level of humidity in the tunnel, if a piece of paper stayed inside for more than two weeks, the ink on it would most likely begin to fade.

However, this note showed no such fading, proving that it should not have appeared for more than two weeks.

And this timing coincidentally matched Aurora Miles' actions.

"Could it be... this was also left by Aurora?"

Thinking this, Yun You directly flipped through the note, and indeed on the back side, saw Aurora's neatly elegant handwriting.

[This is Aurora Miles]

[After cracking "its" secret, I took a swipe at it with my monomolecular wire, and it screamed in pain, then scurried away, taking away part of the mist, although not entirely dissipating]

[I surmise that this attack couldn't have killed it... technically speaking, scattering the mist wouldn't kill it either because it probably has a part of its body "behind the door," as I analyzed from my father's diary]

[After continuing down the corridor for another kilometer, I indeed found this door at the end of the mine]

[Initially, I found no method to open it, neither prying nor using a drill worked, the door's hardness exceeded my imagination]

[I conducted a simple test with instruments, and the door's compressive strength reached hundreds of thousands of megapascals per square centimeter, a thousand times that of natural diamond, comparable only to military level special steels, so give up the notion of brute force attack]

[Unless you can bring a nuclear bomb to detonate it at close range, it's absolutely impossible to break this thing open]

[I was at a loss at first, but then somehow, I suddenly heard a strange voice in my ear, narrating a story in ancient Sanskrit and giving a hint]

[Luckily, I've dabbled in ancient scripts, and managed to roughly translate the content of the text]

[The few lines written on the front of the note are the hints I heard, I wrote its contents in Sanskrit, if you can't comprehend it, that's fine, just remember one thing – it tells us that only by digging out the eyeball, crushing it, and spitting it out, can we pass through this door]

[This rule is identical to the situation encountered by my father, but the difference is, my father had a silicone prosthetic eye, while I do not...]

[However, from the situation he encountered, offering a fake eye probably won't have any effect, only a real eyeball, a human's eyeball, can satisfy the "Lord's" demand]

[...]

[Honestly, losing an eye in this environment would undoubtedly have a massive impact on subsequent exploration and potential battles, for us, losing half our strength and vision is quite possible]

[Moreover, the act of manually digging out your own eye is inherently terrifying, just thinking about it makes one's legs tremble uncontrollably...]

[It's kind of ironic, I often portray myself as "calm," but at this moment, I'm still instinctively wanting to retreat]

[Because no matter how one looks at it, the cost of this method is far too great]

[But I can't let it scare me]

[Before coming here, I had already prepared for the worst: losing limbs, my body being torn apart, my head and organs crushed like watermelons by various mechanisms, and not even leaving a complete carcass behind, only being shoveled out...]

[Is it possible to pass through the mine path unscathed, without offering anything, while carrying my father back?]

[Impossible... don't dream, Aurora, being here with all limbs intact is already a blessing...]

[It's just an eyeball, after all, I can always fill it with a sapphire later, it's not a big issue... not a big issue!]

[But I really have to think hard about how to remove the eye with the least pain and smallest wound... A monomolecular wire won't work, and the knives I brought are all too large; attempting surgery would risk fatal infection and bleeding]

[Should I knock down a piece of sharp rock and take a look?]

[Future explorers, I recommend you don't rush to imitate me, I only did this out of necessity due to time constraints]

[I can feel the pink mist and the "it" within beginning to revive, so I didn't have time to consider carefully, only using the dumbest and most direct method]

[Okay, the hints stop here]

[As for the "story" I just heard... hmm, integrating the patterns on the door and some folk legends I've previously researched, I have a conjecture]

[A conjecture about the origin of "it" and why "it" exists]

[However, since these conjectures are too subversive and involve my personal biases, the validity is not assured and could mislead future explorers, so I won't write them down]

[Let's discuss them gradually if there's a chance for a face-to-face meet later]

[If nothing unexpected happens, this should be the last note I leave in the mine passage; being able to read it means we're somewhat destined...]

[I won't say more than necessary, I hope my notes can help you, and wish you good luck]

[Aurora Miles]

[Left on August 14, 2077 (ten days ago or so)]

After reading Aurora's message, Yun You roughly understood why Aurora and that actress could hear the hints, but their group could not.

Because the request to "dig out the eye" was proposed by "it."

Aurora and the actress couldn't seriously damage the mist, but Yun You and the others completely dispelled it – at least for the short term.

"It" is probably in a weakened state now, so naturally can't make any more requests.

But it doesn't matter whether it suggests or not, as Aurora has already recorded those requests.