Walker Of The Worlds

Chapter 3914: Crimes Passed Down Through Generations

’If multiple generations have already grown up here...’ Lin Mu furrowed his brows as he realized the situation had become vastly more complicated.

Children bore no responsibility for the crimes of their parents. That remained true regardless of whether one followed mortal law or cultivation law. Yet those children had never left. Instead they grew up inside the Mad Demon Depths.

They had grown alongside starvation, violence, desperation and of course, cannibalism. That environment inevitably shaped them into people little different from the criminals surrounding them.

Lin Mu slowly exhaled. ’I should have realized sooner.’

Ever since arriving he had already noticed both men and women living together. At the time he simply accepted it. The Mad Demon Depths imprisoned everyone. Naturally both genders would eventually appear.

Only now did the obvious conclusion truly settle into place.

Given enough time... Children would inevitably be born.

The prisoners certainly would not suppress their natural desires forever as life continued even within hell.

Yet another question immediately surfaced.

"How?" Lin Mu quietly asked.

The prisoners looked confused.

"How do children survive?" He continued. "You barely possess enough food to keep yourselves alive. Infants require far more care and you don’t even have proper shelter. How have multiple generations managed to survive?"

The prisoners exchanged uneasy glances and finally the same man quietly answered.

"They don’t."

Lin Mu frowned.

"I mean... Very few survive." The prisoner hurriedly clarified. "My lord, I wasn’t born here."

That answer immediately caught Lin Mu’s attention. "You weren’t?"

The prisoner shook his head.

"I was born below." His hand pointed toward the deeper caverns. "The great forest. My parents belonged to one of the communities living there."

Lin Mu silently listened.

"I was still a baby when my parents carried me as they were forced to leave." His expression darkened. "They offended someone stronger. So we were expelled."

He let out a heavy breath before continuing. "They climbed back into these outer caves and we’ve lived here ever since."

Another prisoner quietly added to the explanation.

"It happens often. The stronger communities don’t always keep everyone and some families get driven out. They either survive near the entrance or they die."

Lin Mu slowly processed the information as he thought about the communities and their families; and the exile from their territory over power struggles. He realized all this resembled far more than a prison.

The Mad Demon Depths had gradually transformed into something entirely different. It was a society. One that was primitive, brutal and immensely cruel, yet undeniably... a civilization.

People were born, families formed, communities rose and fell, territories changed hands, resources determined power and children inherited the circumstances created by previous generations.

The thought left Lin Mu deeply unsettled.

’The Heavenly Stream Guardian Sect...’ His expression subtly changed. ’They’re making an enormous mistake. At least if they knew this exists.’

Criminals receiving life imprisonment represented one thing. Their descendants inheriting the same punishment forever represented something entirely different. Those children had committed no crimes.

Yet they grew up believing starvation and murder formed ordinary parts of life.

Lin Mu quietly wondered whether the sect truly understood what had developed beneath their own prison. Perhaps they simply believed every prisoner eventually died. Perhaps nobody imagined generations of descendants continued living here.

That thought led naturally toward another question.

Lin Mu looked toward the gathered prisoners. "Tell me. Do the prison guards ever come here?"

The reaction surprised him as the prisoners looked at one another and confusion spread throughout the gathering.

"Guards?" One prisoner scratched his head. "I’ve never seen one."

Another slowly shook his head. "Only when they threw me inside."

A third prisoner quietly spoke. "I thought nobody entered after that."

Several others nodded and it became clear that most of them had never witnessed anyone from the Heavenly Stream Guardian Sect after arriving.

Lin Mu remained thoughtful when another voice interrupted.

"I have." Everyone turned.

The one who had spoken was the old man. He still sat where he had fallen after losing his bone peg leg and his weathered face retained traces of earlier despair. Yet his expression appeared considerably calmer now.

Whether he had finally accepted reality or whether the promise of the carrot had outweighed his despair, only he knew. Either way he had chosen to speak.

Lin Mu looked toward him. "You’ve seen them?"

The old man slowly nodded.

"I have." His voice remained hoarse. "I’ve lived here..." He briefly calculated. "...for Eight Pools."

Several nearby prisoners immediately lowered their heads with respect as eight Pools was nearly two centuries by their crude measurements.

’No wonder he had become their leader.’ Lin Mu thought before asking. "When did the guards appear?"

The old man answered without hesitation. "Five Pools ago."

Lin Mu immediately understood why the other prisoners looked confused. Five Pools was over a century, and most of them simply had not lived long enough to witness it.

"What happened?" Lin Mu asked. "What did they do?"

"I don’t know." The old man frowned. "They entered and walked through these caves while ignoring everyone. Of course, no prisoner dared approach and most simply hid. Only a few people including me managed to witness that they descended into the great forest." He pointed deeper into the prison. "After that they disappeared."

Lin Mu frowned. "They disappeared?"

"They continued onward and I couldn’t follow. Nobody could." The old man nodded. "There are many regions beyond the forest, and I’ve never seen them."

Lin Mu immediately asked another question. "You mentioned regions. Explain."

The old man slowly nodded.

"The caves around the entrance..." He tapped the rocky ground beneath him. "...are considered the First Zone." He pointed downward. "The great forest below is the Second Zone. The stronger prisoner groups live there."

Lin Mu listened carefully. "What comes after that?"

The old man slowly shook his head. "I don’t know but I’ve heard stories. Some say there is a Third Zone while others speak about a Fourth. Some even claim there are more." His remaining eye looked toward the darkness beyond the tunnels. "I’ve never reached them, I don’t know where they begin and I don’t know what lives there."

"I only know..." He quietly swallowed. "...that nobody from our community ever returned after trying to find them."