The crowd struggled to push open the Bloody Bronze Door. As it moved, a large number of ghastly, pallid chunks of flesh fell from it, making everyone shudder with fear.

Behind the door, a gust of cold wind blew out, lowering the temperature by at least ten degrees.

"It's not a refrigerator. Where did this come from?" Wang Linchi commented.

The rapid drop in temperature was definitely not a natural phenomenon. There had to be something manipulating things behind the scenes.

"Mage... it's a bit cold," the village chief's son said, shivering.

"It's fine, just bear with it. It's only dropped by about ten degrees," Wang Linchi said. He glanced at his status bar; no major issues.

As for feeling cold, what Player character would be bothered by it? At most, a debuff slowing speed or agility might appear.

A Player's body is truly marvelous. It's a pity it's digitized and can't be dissected; otherwise, I'd really like to turn Players into plugins for the Book of Records.

A Player's senses are indeed a marvel. They have no weaknesses. As long as their HP doesn't reach zero, their combat capabilities will always be at their peak. Moreover, once an enemy's HP drops to zero, they will essentially die. They don't even need to be hit in a vital spot—even attacking their feet could kill them.

This was precisely God-given World's method for combating the Abyss.

Hearing Wang Linchi's words, the village chief's son was somewhat speechless. What did he mean, 'bear with it'? If this could be endured, he would...

Before he could finish his thought, he saw pairs of red dots emerge from behind the bronze door, and he instinctively took several steps back.

These red dots were undoubtedly eyes. What else could they be?

Wang Linchi wasn't worried at all. He had seen these things earlier. They were indeed eyes, but not of ordinary creatures.

They were a group of small, strange creatures, looking somewhat like Goblins or dwarves, but they had been demonized.

They seemed to have been in a deep sleep before sensing the presence of humans, which awakened them.

[Elite · Abyssal Demon · Abyss Dwarf Demon LV15 (2,000/2,000)]

"They're all Elite Monsters?" Wang Linchi's expression turned a little grim. Their low HP indicated that this group of Abyss Dwarf Demons had likely allocated their attribute points elsewhere.

Shrill cries echoed as the Dwarf Monsters rushed toward them at extreme speed, displaying intimidating fangs and claws. Their skin was like tree bark, and their bodies were dark. They could jump five times their own height.

As wave upon wave of Dwarf Monsters rushed toward him, Wang Linchi grabbed one. As for the others, the Saint Master would handle them.

This was the first time he had seen a true Abyssal Demon. The bandits in Black Wind Stronghold were, at most, merely demonized; they didn't qualify as Abyssal Demons. If the chieftain's ritual hadn't been interrupted and he had successfully transformed into the Eye of the Abyss, then he might have been considered one.

The Dwarf Monster in his hand struggled violently, trying to bite Wang Linchi savagely. However, Wang Linchi reacted quickly. He not only avoided being bitten but also backhanded the Dwarf Monster across the face, leaving it stunned.

Because he was currently a Player character, the opponent directly lost a small segment of its HP bar.

A Player's special nature can be really inconvenient at times.

Wang Linchi began to dissect the Dwarf Monster on the spot. He had a knife—a Hunter's Knife, a universal off-hand weapon. It didn't add any attack power, but it increased the drop rate when harvesting from animal-type monsters.

This tool, lacking durability, was akin to a Divine Artifact. If he weren't a Player character, he would have considered using it as a shield. Buying hundreds or even thousands of them would surely be profitable. Unfortunately, Player characters didn't operate that way; the game only cared about Defense attributes. It was a matter of give and take.

CHITTER-CHATTER.

Wang Linchi's dissection caused the Dwarf Monster to struggle fiercely. However, weakened by a card, the Sealing Demon Formation, and the Bronze Coin Sword, it had no ability to resist and was even silenced.

The Bronze Coin Sword had a 50% chance to silence demonized-type enemies when attacking. Abyssal Demons were clearly classified under this, so if triggered, the silence was guaranteed.

With his Luck, a 50% chance was practically a certainty.

Unless the enemy had corresponding resistance.

As he cut open the Dwarf Monster's body, a foul odor emerged. Wang Linchi didn't block his sense of smell this time, mainly to analyze the situation—for instance, to find the source of the foul odor or to investigate if this stench from the Dwarf Monster's body served any purpose.

As a living creature, every organ or scent it possessed must have a reason for its existence; they wouldn't just evolve haphazardly.

Of course, this thing might not have evolved at all.

During the dissection, Wang Linchi also noted that the creature was indeed crudely formed.

Meanwhile, the Saint Master had already killed most of the Dwarf Monsters and even captured three alive. The remaining ones were incinerated with a breath of fire to prevent any unnecessary complications.

Seeing Wang Linchi's actions, the others were terrified. After all, watching him dissect a monster, continuously probing its insides, and even peering into its skull was deeply unsettling for them.

"Strange, how does this thing not have a brain?" When Wang Linchi opened the Dwarf Monster's skull, he found that it literally had no brain—just a pool of liquid-like substance, with no solid structure.

However, this liquid maintained equilibrium through pressure, thereby performing the functions of a brain. Its only drawback was its underdevelopment.

This resulted in these Dwarf Monsters having intelligence lower than Wild Beasts; even their instincts were somewhat deficient. All they knew was to eat, eat, eat.

Good thing this Hunter's Knife deals no damage; otherwise, it would have killed this Dwarf Monster outright. Wang Linchi glanced at the Dwarf Monster's HP bar. Throughout his examination, it had been constantly losing HP. The HP loss wasn't due to the dissection itself, but the inherent damage dealt by his Player character.

Every action he took toward the Dwarf Monster was judged by the Game System as an attack, inflicting Fixed Damage.

Wang Linchi had no good solution for this inflexibility within God-given World.

As someone who had to abide by the rules, he simply lacked the power to defy them.

What he needed to do now was find a way to poke a hole in these rules, allowing himself to bypass them.

Therefore, the Abyss, as the archenemy of God-given World, could surely provide Wang Linchi with such a method.

Otherwise, why would he be researching the Abyss at all?

"Kill them all and throw them into the Storage space," Wang Linchi said, glancing at the now-dead Dwarf Monster in his hand. Its HP bar, which had been half-full, was now empty; it apparently couldn't withstand his experiment.

Hearing this, the Saint Master quickly killed the three Dwarf Monsters he held.

Within the game, the constraints imposed by the Game System prevented further research. The bodies could only be smuggled back to reality via the Storage space.

In doing so, he could also investigate whether this Abyss was part of God-given World.

If it was, the bodies would display a bugged texture, much like his Qingyun Ink Brush. But if it wasn't, and an entity known as the Abyss truly existed, then these corpses might genuinely appear in the real world. The "might" was because they could still be blocked by the barrier between the virtual and real worlds. Wang Linchi needed to find a way for these corpses to pass through.

Of the four Dwarf Monsters, apart from the one Wang Linchi had meticulously dissected and preserved before placing it into the Storage space, the other three had died painlessly and remained perfectly intact.

He placed all of them in the stasis zone of the Storage space to prevent decay.

He took out some water to wash his hands, which were sticky with a black liquid—the residue of the Dwarf Monster's blood and brain fluid.

"Sigh, if only you were Bassa. Then you could spit out some water for me," Wang Linchi said, looking at the Saint Master, who could only breathe fire.

If it could spit water, how much trouble it would save him when he needed to bathe in the future.

Then again, the Soul Aspect World is indeed quite deformed. They are still at the basic stage of spiritual power usage, relying on Soul Skills and Soul Kind for external interference. They don't even have an energy system, let alone control over various Elements. Awakeners are just a bunch of battle-crazed meatheads.

"Mage, those four Evil Demons..." the village chief's son asked with some fear.

"Evil Demons? These aren't Evil Demons. At best, they're like the grandchildren of Evil Demons," Wang Linchi interrupted.

The so-called Evil Demons naturally referred to boss-level Abyssal Demons. This group of Dwarf Monsters were merely Elite Monsters; they didn't qualify.

"Still, I suppose we'll be encountering actual Evil Demons soon enough."

Wang Linchi surveyed the underground palace. It didn't seem very difficult. Essentially, it appeared to be some kind of large array targeting Abyssal Demons, similar to the Sealing Demon Formation in South Ridge Village, just with different effects.