Gamers Are Fierce-Chapter 595 - 593: Styx
Contrary to what one might have imagined, the Styx didn’t have countless skulls floating on its surface, nor was it filled with despairing Spiritual Bodies. It was just an ordinary, large river.
The river was wide, its surface calm. The water was a murky grey-black. Although it was impossible to see how deep it was, it always gave you the feeling that "if you fell in, you’d never surface."
"This is the Styx."
Ferry strode ahead, arrived at the riverbank, bent down, scooped up a handful of river water, and washed his hands with it.
"The water of the Styx is formed from the tears of sinners slaving away in hell and should be a mystical substance of extremely high quality," the Witch raised an eyebrow. "Quick, ask him what he’s doing!"
"Uh..." the mule, standing nearby, cautiously asked, "Mr. Ferry, I remember, isn’t the Styx formed from Soul Tears? Can this water be used for washing hands?"
"Of course it can." Ferry stood up, shook his hands, and said matter-of-factly, "The idea that the Styx is formed from accumulated tears is a human fabrication. Just think about how many tears it would take to make a river. Even if all the Souls of humanity, from ancient times to the present, were gathered to watch the most heart-wrenching tragedies, they couldn’t produce enough. Besides, many human Souls are stone-hearted."
The mule asked, "Then what is this water...?"
"It’s leakage from the ceiling," Ferry replied nonchalantly. "The top of Paradise Mountain connects to the real world. Sixty million years ago, five Dinosaur Majesties carved a spring in the sky. From this, they borrowed seawater from the Pacific, which then encircled the Underworld as the Styx, providing water for all its living and production needs."
He continued, "Due to the subtle differences between planes, the water in the Underworld is indeed much lighter than in the mortal realm. Souls who step in recklessly are easily submerged. Consequently, over time, dreadful wails have come to drift along the river."
"Wails?" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦
The mule listened intently for a moment but didn’t hear any moans and asked in confusion, "Why don’t I hear any...?"
"That’s because the Styx has been cleaned up," Ferry shrugged. "Decades ago, this was a filthy river, heavily eutrophicated, filled with lingering, half-dead Souls from years gone by, limbs severed in wars, and garbage discharged from unscrupulous factories upstream and downstream. The wailing was incessant, and the stench was overwhelming, suffocating. Eventually, even the Military Warlords upstream and downstream of the Styx couldn’t bear it any longer. They called a temporary truce and introduced dozens of Abyssal Demon Fish from the gloomy regions of Purgatory into the Styx. They let them voraciously consume the garbage—these creatures can digest any substance in the world—and slowly, the water quality of the Styx improved."
Ferry gazed at the shimmering river surface and remarked with genuine feeling, "Improve the ecological environment, restore our homeland’s clear waters and green mountains."
"...Why does that phrase sound like something out of the *Book of Great Fortune*?" Black Trojan couldn’t resist quipping.
"The real point should be that even the Underworld faces serious environmental management problems," Li Ang said calmly. "Besides, the *Book of Great Fortune* is outdated. The true key to wealth now is to go on Bilibili and say, ’I’m a foreigner, I love the East, the East is truly so magical and great!’ or ’Although I’m only nineteen, I’ve had twenty years of depression and split personality,’ or ’All proceeds from this video will be donated.’"
"...How do you know so much about this?!" Black Trojan exclaimed in exasperation. "And what’s with being nineteen years old with twenty years of depression? Were you sick in the womb?"
"It’s simple," Li Ang replied calmly. "You can achieve it by listening to death metal prenatal music every day during fetal development. I listened to prenatal music for twenty years, so now I’m always a bit smarter than others."
Li Ang was telling blatant lies with his eyes open. It was a pity he was currently in a projected state; otherwise, he would have definitely tried to get a few of those so-called Abyssal Demon Fish out of the water for a closer look, no matter what. This was a mythological-level script world, after all, where treasures were everywhere, yet regrettably, he couldn’t take anything with him.
The mule pretended not to hear his companions’ banter and hesitated before asking Ferry, "Uh, so are we going to cross the river?"
"Yeah." The bald, dark-skinned man nodded and said, "Normally, all living Souls, including humans, would be assigned to different city gates according to their species and location before death—that’s the gate we just crossed. They would go through a long waiting period, queuing for the ferryman of the Styx. However, Lawyer, considering you’re an honored guest who appears once in a millennium, we’ve specifically cleared a VIP channel to welcome you. If we had used the common gates, this entire way would likely be filled with the wails and screams of human Souls."
Ferry paused for a moment, then added, "Pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, Gluttony, lust... Souls with particularly strong worldly attachments from their lives transform into all sorts of bizarre forms in the Underworld. I believe you wouldn’t wish to see those Deformed Monsters."
"..."
The mule smacked his lips and asked hesitantly, "So, does that mean you and I, Mr. Ferry, were people without such desires in our past lives?"
"Haha, not necessarily." Ferry’s face broke into a hearty smile. "Some Souls’ deformities aren’t outwardly visible. Others, who have spent enough time in the Underworld, learn to hide their grotesque appearances. As a Saint, you are undoubtedly fine. As for me... I probably harbored some intense aspiration in life. It’s just that I’ve been dead for so long, I’ve even forgotten what that aspiration was."
Ferry shook his head with a touch of regret and looked towards the river. "Hmm... judging by the time, Charon should be arriving soon."
