Chapter 470: Things in the pool
"The weapon?"
The captain didn't know what the other was referring to.
"To prevent accidents, we brought a spiritual energy disintegration bomb."
Dr. Wells said proudly.
Hearing Dr. Wells' words, the captain and Lin Ye simultaneously took a step away from the off-road vehicle, but they immediately realized that if that bomb exploded nearby, there was no way they could escape.
"...How come I never heard the news about the spiritual energy disintegration bomb being completed?"
The captain asked suspiciously.
As frontline combat personnel, once such weapons were completed, it was their job to test the weapon's power.
"Of course because it's not completed yet. The one we brought this time is just a semi-finished product. Its power is much smaller than the finished version, but it's already enough to destroy this entire area."
Dr. Wells turned his head to signal his assistant to prepare the bomb. "Hold on, we haven't reached the point where we need to use the bomb yet. Let's go look for what might be an exit first."
The captain stopped Dr. Wells. He really didn't want to detonate a spiritual energy disintegration bomb in a place like this. If it blew up something strange, he'd still be the one who had to deal with it.
Lin Ye didn't participate in the discussion about the bomb. He continued casting his line by the edge of the pool, using the pond creatures he caught to hatch more Red Frogs.
As long as he had enough Red Frogs, he could clean out all these pools.
But soon, Lin Ye noticed that the number of Red Frogs climbing out of the pool was off. It seemed like something was hunting the Red Frogs down below.
"Get me a diving suit. I'll go down and take a look."
Lin Ye could actually wear the Nameless Armor Wreckage to enter the pool, but he didn't really want to wear this Abyssal Relic casually.
The influence of the Abyss was no joke.
"Then be careful."
Dr. Wells agreed to Lin Ye's request and had someone prepare a diving suit for him.
After changing into the diving suit, Lin Ye jumped directly into the pool. The moment he entered, he sensed an extremely complex underwater world.
The pond creatures near the water's surface had all been cleaned out by the Red Frogs. Lin Ye quickly dove deeper, and soon he found the pond creature that was constantly clearing out the Red Frogs.
It was a large mass of entangled blood-colored tendrils. This thing was probably what had pulled the team member into the depths of the pool earlier.
Numerous tendrils shot toward Lin Ye from below. Lin Ye wanted to control compressed spiritual energy to cut those tendrils, but he found that the spiritual energy in the water seemed mixed with some impurities, which caused his control over spiritual energy to be a bit slower than outside.
Fortunately, Lin Ye's mental energy purity was very high, so he managed to cut those tendrils just before they touched him.
Lin Ye took out several rune cards from his loot space and threw them at the tendril monster. These were consumables he made in his spare time after returning, all high-grade rune cards crafted from high-grade materials.
The compressed spiritual energy blades formed by the rune cards shredded the tendril monster's body and completed a re-splicing of its wounds.
The tendril monster thrashed violently in the water. Clearly, it couldn't properly control its newly reassembled body for the time being.
A large number of Red Frogs shot their tongues at the tendril monster, leaving deep wounds all over its body. They forced their way into the wounds and began laying eggs inside the tendril monster's body.
Before long, the tendril monster's body was completely eaten by those frog eggs, and a large number of Red Frogs emerged from inside.
Some Red Frogs, under Lin Ye's control, continued clearing out nearby pond creatures, while the remaining Red Frogs dove deeper into the pool to search for a way to leave this area.
Lin Ye didn't follow them down, instead maintaining a safe distance to prevent anything more dangerous from being below.
When the Red Frogs dove to a certain depth, a large number of them suddenly died instantly. Without the slightest hesitation, Lin Ye ejected compressed spiritual energy and ascended at full speed, leaping out of the pool in less than a second.
Lin Ye's body stiffened as he lay prone on the ground. A shadow dozens of meters tall enveloped his body. He didn't need to look back to sense the thing behind him.
It was a massive blood-colored flesh pillar, exactly the same size as the pool.
The flesh pillar emerged from the pool. It didn't attack Lin Ye and the others, merely hovering there for a few seconds before retracting back into the pool.
Several more seconds passed before Lin Ye and the others dared to breathe slowly.
"...What was that?"
"Don't know. Looks like part of some creature."
"Could also be some kind of biological device. These pools might be part of some facility. We can only see this much, so we can't understand its purpose."
"True. The flesh pillar didn't attack us, probably because it was designed that way."
...
Lin Ye calmed his racing heart. If he hadn't been cautious enough, that thing would have just killed him.
The Red Frogs and those pond creatures had all vanished. Only Lin Ye, who had jumped out of the pool, was still alive.
"Can the spiritual energy disintegration bomb deal with that thing?"
The captain suddenly felt Dr. Wells' preparations weren't sufficient enough. They should have brought a few more bombs.
"The finished product probably could. The semi-finished one is still a bit lacking... How did you lure it out?"
Dr. Wells looked at Lin Ye.
"The scout creatures dove to a certain depth, and that thing came out. I'm not sure what exactly caused it to emerge."
Maybe it was related to the Red Frogs, maybe to the large number of outside creatures, maybe it was just a coincidence. Only through multiple attempts could they determine the cause of the flesh pillar's appearance.
But Lin Ye was no longer planning to go down and try again.
"Maybe we can search the shallow parts of the pool for a way to leave here."
The captain also didn't want to be hit by that thing. He was quite certain he couldn't withstand it.
"There must be an exit here. We just haven't found it yet. Otherwise, we should have encountered the missing squad that came before us."
Dr. Wells stated with great certainty.
"Could they have already died inside the pool?"
The captain wasn't that optimistic.
"No. If they hadn't found an exit, they would have at least left one team member here... Maybe we can look for any information they left behind."
Dr. Wells knew the composition of that team very well. He didn't believe those people would be trapped and die here.
"Let's split into pairs to search. This place is quite large. As long as we don't get close to the pools, it should be fine."
The captain couldn't think of any other methods for now.
Lin Ye and Logan formed a pair, responsible for inspecting the area where the treasure was located.
"Brother Lin, you've got to protect me. I'm the academic type."
Seeing Lin Ye's previous actions, Logan clearly knew who the real powerhouse was.
"Don't worry. As long as you're not dead, you won't die."
Lin Ye walked towards the pool where the treasure was located.
"Then I'm relieved... Wait, is something off?"
Logan stuck close to Lin Ye, not daring to approach the pool at all. After leaving the off-road vehicle, he had lost his only sense of security.