Chapter 182 : Underground Ruins
After completing preparations, the team officially set out.
And Lonis never expected... that in her lifetime, she would have another day of riding an elevator!
From 0 to B99, inside the metal elevator box, there were densely packed hundreds of buttons, and Dr. Okali pressed the bottom one without hesitation.
"Clang, clang!"
The elevator's descent speed was very uneven, sometimes fast, sometimes slow.
Sometimes it even swayed left and right, making Lonis wonder if some cable might suddenly snap.
"Hmph, you said you were brave, but now you're scared."
"I... I'm not scared!"
The silver-haired girl mustered courage and forcibly argued.
Actually, saying she wasn't scared was impossible, because as the elevator gradually descended, Lonis could feel the stale smell in the air was also deepening.
But...
Because Elucia and Yi Cheng were by her side, Lonis wasn't that afraid.
Anyway, this scheming girl probably already had some plan figured out, right?
And she had been bullied into sweating so much—now even terrifying demons shouldn't be a match.
......
......
Ding dong.
With a strange sound, the elevator also stopped at the deepest level.
The elevator doors opened, and a world of darkness came into view.
"This place is..."
"Mm, it seems like a nuclear war shelter from the previous era."
"Eh?"
"Incidentally, they were also researching some unknown experimental projects. If we use those ancient tools, we might discover some unknown secrets."
Elucia took the first step, entering this dim underground corridor.
Cool air rushed toward them, and in a corner of the wall, Lonis even discovered a nuclear radiation symbol... The girl was about to lean in for a closer look, but her body was stopped by Yi Cheng.
"Lonis, don't move. There's a trap here."
"A trap?"
"Yes, it seems to be some kind of alarm mechanism... There are many similar traps."
Even without removing her eyepatch, Yi Cheng's senses still penetrated through this darkness, seeing many unknown things.
"Are there 7th-tier Exotic Decay Lords or 8th-tier Demon Lords?"
Elucia inquired.
"No, what I can sense are all ordinary demon puppets with combat abilities around 4th-5th tier."
"Oh, so they're all minions?"
"No, in the deepest part, there seems to be a peculiar energy flowing. That power is very special and shouldn't be underestimated."
"Then before reaching the deepest part, let's advance silently. Yi Cheng, can I leave the reconnaissance work to you?"
"No problem."
Thus, everyone walked through the underground world.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Lonis finally "witnessed" demons for the first time.
Same as what she faced in the Land of Ends, guarding this underground research facility were demons called Animated Armor.
Their intelligence among demons was low-tier, about the same as cats and dogs. But their combat ability made ordinary people tremble with fear.
The main body of Animated Armor was a rotten creature resembling meat paste. They inhabited armor, making them look like fully armored medieval soldiers from a distance.
But if you treated them with tactics meant for humans, you'd lose miserably.
Their joints were abnormally flexible, and they could attack from various inhuman angles—while simultaneously, their bodies had good resistance to physical attacks.
Even if their heads were severed, Animated Armor could still move freely, and after defeating beautiful girls, they might even attach themselves to the defeated girls' bodies, imprisoning them in the armor as nutrients.
That feeling would be exactly like wearing a "tentacle suit." So this time Lonis was very careful not to show off again.
And what about Elucia?
She still didn't take these Animated Armors seriously.
The black-haired girl first used her own power to release a pitch-black smoke to block sound and magic transmission. Then she used the Red Lotus Hammer to heavily smash toward the Animated Armor.
......
"Demon canned goods, be crushed!"
......
One by one, the originally arrogant Animated Armors were thus "forcibly assassinated" by Elucia.
Lonis was already used to it, but the accompanying Dr. Okali showed a very surprised expression.
"How, how is this possible? This power..."
"Hehe, it's power from the Flame Abyss. Otherwise, how do you think you recovered?"
"Uh!"
The doctor gasped but still seemed incredulous:
"I never expected the power of the Flame Abyss would see the light of day again... But what's with that pitch-black smoke? Why can you use the power of Exotic Decay... could it be you're a demon?"
"Hehe, this matter is a secret."
"A secret..."
"Yes, so... could Dr. Okali please keep it secret? If you don't keep it secret, I'll secretly dispose of you here!"
Elucia's words startled Dr. Okali.
But having spent so much time with the scheming girl, Lonis already knew she was joking: "Miss, please don't make such jokes... you'll scare the doctor."
"Hehe, just livening up the atmosphere. After all, we're about to face some indescribable things~"
......
......
Before they knew it, the passage had reached its end.
Along the way, everyone had eliminated over ten Animated Armors without triggering any alarms.
At this moment, though they hadn't reached the deepest part yet, they had arrived at a small hall...
Compared to the dim tunnel, this place was much brighter. Yellowish light shone down from the ceiling—the light source wasn't electric lamps, but a unique type of mushroom.
Countless branches and vines pierced through walls, extending down from the ceiling.
The shelves originally placed in the room had long been destroyed, and the things stored inside had disappeared without a trace.
But most shocking of all was the thing in the center of the room.
A heart.
Or rather, a heart composed of tree resin.
It was translucent and still constantly writhing. Through those indescribable gelatinous substances, you could see a sleeping person imprisoned within.
The resin heart seemed to be absorbing this person's nutrients, with wisps of energy flowing along the vines and branches around the heart's exterior, apparently being transmitted to some unknown place.
"It's Mark, a cultivator from our research institute!"
Dr. Okali seemed to recognize the imprisoned person and immediately wanted to run forward to smash the heart.
But Yi Cheng immediately grabbed her.
"Dr. Okali, don't be impulsive! We can't alert the enemy now."
"What?"
"This prison has an alarm device. If we touch it, our previous infiltration efforts will be wasted."
"Then... what should we do?"
"Capture the leader first. Let's head to the deepest part and see what kind of plan Dr. Ma Run is carrying out."
Yi Cheng patted the doctor's shoulder consolingly.