Who Designed This Underworld Dungeon?

"In short, that's how it is."

Fanen gritted his teeth, disregarding whether his companions could handle the massive amount of information, and rapidly blurted out everything he had just seen at a speed akin to divine speech.

Absolutely no personal guesses added in!

After speaking, he looked up.

Great, he saw nine victims who had just stared into Medusa's eyes.

It took a few minutes for someone to first come to their senses, their previously stone-like rigid body finally beginning to move, but their speech was still a bit stammering.

"You, you mean the one we just fought was the little girl's father?"

Fanen nodded.

"..."

The person looked up at the sky, rubbed his face briskly up and down, and after a moment of silence, sighed deeply:

"Such a sin..."

"Clang!"

Someone suddenly collapsed to the ground, eyes vacant, as if their soul had wandered away.

Someone's expressions kept changing, like a constantly flicking TV channel.

Someone couldn't help but sigh and shake their head, repeatedly saying that the Dungeon was inhumane.

Fanen recognized the person who fell, he was someone Fanen had personally saved and sent into Sain Dungeon to grow as a Hunter.

After successfully becoming a Hunter through Blood Therapy, the first thing he did was to go back and kill his mother, who had been heavily infected by parasites and turned into a living corpse. According to him, his other family members were killed by his mother after she was infected.

Thinking about it, it seems what happened to the little girl's family matches his experience?

Later, he sought out a survivor who knew a bit of crude Forgetfulness Spell, hoping to forget that memory. But judging from his current state, it seems he hasn't forgotten, or maybe something triggered the forgotten memory to resurface.

Bell was walking in small shuffling circles in place, a look of anxious urgency on her aged face, murmuring repeatedly, "How are we going to explain this when we go back..."

Seeing people's reactions, Fanen suddenly realized something he hadn't noticed.

The impact of the little girl's situation on his companions seemed far greater than he had imagined?

Having endured the parasite disaster, these survivors actually had very severe psychological scars, only just managing to pretend to be normal people on regular days.

The strongest proof being that their spiritual power now radiating out was almost twice that of normal people with equivalent strength!

If Gong Qiying targeted adventurers with psychological scars for severe treatment, the Dungeon's earnings might double. Unfortunately, people with psychological scars aren't always available, and the idea was somewhat too hellish; if Hell's March had the fortune of wearing him, it would surely climax on the spot.

For the situation where psychological trauma sufferers like Red appear en masse... it truly is as rare as a unique king of poisons going to the restroom.

Fanen's parents had passed away before the parasite disaster broke out, leaving him only with his sister Isha, so he didn't lose family in the disaster and naturally didn't feel as profoundly as others.

Come to think of it, with his father's skills during his lifetime, Fanen might be dead, but his father wouldn't die.

After the people who realized the truth calmed down a bit, Fanen asked:

"Should we continue?"

It seemed like everyone's mindset for battle had changed after this round.

"Tired."

"Want to leave, just want to leave."

"Completely drained."

Indeed, everyone couldn't keep going on with it.

"In that case, let's rest here, and head out after having dinner prepared by the puppet lady," Fanen had no choice but to say.

The meals prepared by the puppet only appear at night, the quantity isn't much, just enough to stave off hunger, but the extraordinary flavors bring the greatest comfort, which is why people come timely every night for a meal.

Fanen was going to find a spot to lay down and rest, but the highly popular puppet lady's side was already packed, and it wasn't possible for him to have people make space for him.

But at that moment, he saw Bell still shuffling in small circles, shook his head, walked over, and asked, "It's time to rest, Miss Bell."

"Oh."

Bell, as if waking from a dream or startled, looked at Fanen, and asked painfully, "How upset do you think the little girl would be if she knew this news."

Though knowing he should be more empathetic and comfort her with gentle words, Fanen didn't want Bell to get too caught up, so he said directly:

"In theory, after residual shadows have delivered enough information, they'll enter a certain dialogue loop. If we don't tell the little girl this news, she'll always remain in her current state. You don't have to worry she'll find out elsewhere and be heartbroken. As long as we do nothing, she won't get further upset."

The sorrowful look faded from Bell's face. She stared at Fanen for a while, sighed helplessly, and said:

"Fanen, did Isha ever tell you that sometimes you really ruin the mood?"

She felt then like she was lost in a tragic story, but someone suddenly jumped out to tell her that the stories were intentionally created by the author to mess with people's heads, and actually being sad means falling for the author's trap.

How to put it, though it was a mood killer, it was indeed effective, successfully bringing Bell back to her own rationality.

Fanen shrugged, "I'm afraid too much grief would affect your health."

Bell tapped the ground with his cane, "Then I really should thank you. By the way, you still have that ruby brooch, right?"

"Yes."

"Then you just keep it. Let's not send it to that child."

Since she knew the girl's story was likely a tragedy, she didn't want to know more, at least not now. The survivor's life was already miserable enough; she didn't want to burden herself with any more unhappy feelings.

Speaking of the ruby brooch, Fanen took it out and examined it. The more he looked at the beautiful blood-red gem, the more unusual it seemed. When he got closer, he thought he could even smell a hint of blood, not from a woman's corpse, but innate to the gem itself.

A small messenger suddenly appeared at his feet, waving its thin arms to catch his attention.

"You want this?"

Fanen handed the ruby brooch to the messenger, who then did something unexpected — it directly dismantled the red gemstone from the brooch and even rubbed it!

He was startled. This was the keepsake of the little girl's mother. Although he didn't want to tell the little girl, dismantling it just like that seemed a bit...

The messengers handed over a shrunken ruby, and when Fanen took it, his eyes lit up.

[Blood Stone Fragment]

[Solid fragments formed in dead blood, this part that isn't crystallized is called the blood stone]

[In workshops, hunters embed blood stones into weapons for enhancement]

Enhance weapons?

Fanen couldn't help looking at the Saw Meat Blade beside him. It was his first time getting something like a Blood Stone Fragment and the first time knowing weapons could be enhanced.

But this was a keepsake of the little girl's mother...

After a fierce inner conflict, Fanen ultimately made a decision that might dock him one merit point.

Not long after, he left the workshop, studying the Saw Meat Blade, now enhanced with the embedded blood stone, under the moonlight.

"Why can't I see the difference?"

However, the feel during swinging seemed different than before. Even the sound of slicing through the air was more pleasing, as if the Saw Meat Blade itself was rejoicing.

He learned of the little girl's family tragedy but gained a Blood Stone Fragment that could enhance weapons. Perhaps the ruby brooch of the little girl's mother would refresh every time they entered the Dungeon...

Fanen didn't know whether he should feel happy or sad at the moment. Does this mean that every time someone wants to enhance their weapon, they have to steal from the girl's mother's corpse?

"I'm going to go crazy because of this Dungeon sooner or later..."

He muttered to himself and suddenly realized something.

"Crazy?"

Elsewhere, people smelled the aroma of a meal prepared by the puppet, lifting their spirits. Just as they were about to gather around, they saw a stern-faced Fanen blocking their path.

"In the future, we'll have to cut back on our old training methods."

He was referring to the routine of becoming addicted to hunting and then calming the addiction by leveling up.

"The situation with the little girl's father, Gascoin, shows that the cost of being obsessed with hunting might be far more severe than we imagined."

His tone was grave, with not a hint of levity.

Moments later, the dinner rush ended.

People gradually emerged from the Dungeon, and even some from nearby shelters came over for a meal. Now that most parasites in the Fishing Port District had been cleared, the road posed little danger if one was cautious.

Fanen and his group also came out, and amidst the crowd patting their satisfied bellies, their group looked particularly serious.

"Brother, you're finally out."

Isha ran over, holding a thick stack of drafts.

"Isha? Perfect timing, gather everyone—"

"I've already figured out how to design the path to lure monsters from the other two districts!"

Fanen's words were cut off as all his attention was drawn to the drafts Isha handed over.

"So quickly it's designed!?" he was shocked to disbelief.

"Hmph, your sister is a super genius." Isha struck a pose with her hands on her hips, her little face beaming," And thanks to all the comprehensive information you found, really helped a lot."

"Isha, having you here is truly wonderful."

Fanen flipped through the drafts, which marked which existing streets could be utilized, where terrain modifications were needed, and areas needing extra attention—truly a comprehensive plan!

"Great."

He clenched his fist, a hint of victory glowing on his face.

"Call everyone together, it's time for some big work!"