“We decided to follow the underground passage and continue exploring downward, but the progress was far slower than I had imagined. During the exploration, a large number of black humanoid creatures appeared in the tunnels, along with subterranean organisms that seemed to have grown to gargantuan proportions as if affected by radiation.
What left us most helpless was the magnetic field anomaly. Once we exceeded a depth of fifteen hundred meters, all electronic equipment would malfunction or even be destroyed. We could only continue our exploration through manual means.
Before this, we had already lost six exploration teams. Over a hundred comrades gave their lives for this cause. I was part of the seventh.”
Liu Ruhe took a slow breath.
“By constructing data models, we discovered that whenever that mysterious biological wave fluctuated, the number of black monsters emerging from the ground would not only drop sharply, but the monsters already in the caves would become much calmer. Therefore, I believed it was the best time for a scientific expedition.
This expedition was led by Section Head Qin Yue of the 500 Special Investigation Section from the Southwest Circuit. Ma Guniang, you should have heard of her.”
Qin Yue?
No wonder the authorities had transferred Qin Yue all the way from the southwest to hold some “Yellow River Trial.”
It was all for the sake of exploring the underground palace.
Nan Zhi’s face remained expressionless as she signaled Liu Ruhe to continue.
“So what happened after that? How did you get separated from them?”
“When we first entered the cave, everything went smoothly. Although we encountered a large number of black monsters, we had the fire support of the accompanying military and could barely manage. The real trouble came from the giant creatures living here.
The seventh exploration group, including myself, consisted of one hundred and six people. But by the time I was separated from them, only thirty-seven survivors remained.”
Liu Ruhe gave a bitter smile. “There were monstrous fish like Titanoboas, giant earthworms as tall as seven-story buildings, and mosquitoes half the height of a person that could suck a human dry...
I saw with my own eyes my student being torn apart and dragged away to be eaten by a spider the size of a truck—and a spider of that size was only a specimen that had hatched about ten days prior.”
At this point, tears began to well in her eyes.
“I’ve even begun to doubt if this is still the Earth I know.”
No, she hadn't been sure before, but now she was basically certain.
The clues in Nan Zhi’s mind formed into puzzle pieces, slowly clicking into place.
According to Liu Ruhe, they had traveled downward about fifteen hundred to two thousand meters and spent six days before entering this unknown land.
But Nan Zhi had entered through the underwater passage at the bottom of the Yellow River. Even excluding the days she spent swimming at the beginning, the giant fish had dived relentlessly for over forty days. That distance—
Unless the elevation difference between the Helan Snow Mountains and the bottom of the Yellow River was comparable to the Milky Way, how else could it be explained?
The only possibility was that the two parties had entered through different entrances and stumbled into a place that did not exist in reality, a place independent of any land on the Blue Star.
It was like the “secret realms” or “small cave heavens” often mentioned in cultivation novels.
“So, this really isn't Earth... No wonder, no wonder—the multi-dimensional universe theory is true. The passage beneath the underground palace is the entrance to this secret realm.”
Liu Ruhe was no fool. She keenly sensed something from Nan Zhi’s gaze. She took several long, trembling breaths before shaking her head as if to comfort herself.
“At least we blew up the passage leading to the surface in time, blocking the path for those giant beasts and black monsters to escape. This might be the last contribution we can make for the humanity of the Blue Star.
That was also when I got separated from the others. I don't even know if they are still alive.”
Nan Zhi: “...”
Blown up?
What did you just say you blew up?
The passage?
So the explosion she heard inside the fish's belly a few days ago was the commotion caused by the authorities?
Nan Zhi had been thinking that the passage the authorities used was short and intended to hitch a ride back. But now you're telling her you blew up the exit?!
Fine, whatever. She’d just have to honestly jump back into a fish's belly to get out when the time came.
“So, you came from the source of this fragrance?”
Nan Zhi raised an eyebrow, catching the key point in Liu Ruhe’s words. The latter looked bewildered, seemingly struggling to understand her meaning.
“Fragrance? What fragrance? Are you talking about the upstream of this flame-colored lake? I did indeed drift down with the current from that direction. There, we discovered a tomb structure similar to the Han Dynasty style, but... I didn't smell any fragrance.”
She couldn't smell it?
Nan Zhi made a mental note of this and asked what was in the tomb.
“Then did you see a Golden-Winged Centipede? It seemed to be chasing the scent of blood on you.”
“There were some traces of human habitation in that tomb, but not many. It didn't have much archaeological value. There was also an altar shaped like an eight-sided lotus, with a dried corpse on it, but I didn't look closely.”
Liu Ruhe’s expression changed, turning somber.
“As for that Flying Golden-Winged Centipede, it was the one that forced us to blow up the entrance. That beast probably smelled the blood and has been chasing me relentlessly.”
Nan Zhi paused, then gently swept her hand over her belt, taking out a bottle of inedia pills. “Eat one. Rest for a bit, then lead the way. I want to go see that altar you mentioned.”
“Thank you, Ma Guniang. To be honest, I haven't eaten for almost three days. Perhaps our people are still near there as well.”
Liu Ruhe sheepishly took an inedia pill and swallowed it. Seeing Nan Zhi standing with her hands behind her back in deep thought, she sensibly kept her mouth shut.
...
...
After a brief rest, Nan Zhi picked up Liu Ruhe and flew in the direction she indicated for half a day. Sure enough, a massive stone-built altar vaguely appeared in her field of vision.
It was a lotus altar with a Buddhist style. The sides of the altar were carved with a relief of all beings attaining liberation from suffering.
There were eight lotus stone lamps at each of the cardinal and ordinal directions. The lotuses had a thousand petals, and the leaves were wild and bold in a very rugged style. Inside the basins of the lotus stone lamps was bright, crystalline lamp oil, about half the height of a person.
Nan Zhi released her divine sense to perceive the area for a moment before flying forward. She set Liu Ruhe down and casually threw out eight fireballs. With a series of soft pops, the wicks ignited into meter-high flames, instantly lighting up the entire karst cave as if it were day.
The strange, thick fragrance grew even more intense, so heavy that Nan Zhi could barely keep her eyes open. She felt a burning hunger in her stomach.
She focused her gaze and saw that, just as Liu Ruhe had said, at the center of the lotus altar was a simple, ancient circular stone platform several yards higher than the rest. On the platform lay a dried corpse in blue robes, facing upward.
And the thick fragrance Nan Zhi smelled was coming from this corpse.
So...
She had been attracted by the scent of a corpse and had traveled all this way for it?
For a moment, her expression became quite peculiar.
“Who is it?!”
In the next second, her brow twitched. She flipped backward and flickered into the air. A smoking gunpowder mark was left on the edge of the stone platform where she had just stood.
“Who told you to fire?! That’s a living person, person, person, person—Ma Guniang?”
In a karst cave not far from the altar, a familiar large head suddenly poked out.
It was Lyu Dongfang, looking haggard and covered in stubble.
Rate on N.U.
