Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Things that the guardian giants built, even if it were just a ventilation duct, looked like a tunnel in the eyes of ordinary humans.
Perhaps Hao Ren’s lunatic superior was guarding her employee. It may also be that the goddess of creation was protecting her own daughter. The group made it to the ventilation duct under the nose of the festered monster without being detected.
The power of the Mad Lord had infested almost everything one Amantir, including the temples and its ancillary facilities. But the contamination did not affect the regular operation of facilities such as energy and lighting systems. The vents of the ventilation ducts still worked, the internal circulation system and lighting also functioned as usual, and it was quiet inside the ventilation duct. Had it not been for the depressively chilly atmosphere, and the strange smell in the air, Hao Ren would have forgotten that he was moving in the lair of the Mad Lord minions.
“It is a long tunnel.” Hao Ren looked at the plan that the MDT projected in front of him as he moved forward. The diagram that Salaman provided had a detailed structural layout of the Amantir fortress. Even after the fall of Amantir, the festered monsters had no reason to destroy the fortress. Most of the places still remained the same as before. But safety might be a concern, though. “The underground structure of the planetary fortress is complex. The underground portion is the main body of the battleship. We will pass through several underground factories and machinery bays, and most of the time, we will be moving in the tunnel. But there are a few exposed sections without any cover. So, keep your eyes open and your head low at all times.”
Vivian whispered, “It is close to the rift, and the underground environment might have changed. We must not entirely depend on the plan.”
“Of course.” Hao Ren nodded. “But the plan is the only thing we have right now.”
The MDT suddenly said, “Watch out! The festered monsters are detected above.”
Everyone stayed quiet while Vivian waved her hand to summon a blanket of gray-black shadows to hide the team and their breaths.
A moment later, the MDT said, “The festered monsters have gone; they are far away from us now.”
Hao Ren looked up, but the dark vault above the ventilation duct blocked his view. He knew that he was passing under a small temple. The festered reaction that the MDT had detected just now should be the patrol units in the temple. They were moving in a shallow zone, and if not careful, the enemy might smell them out.
“Night Veil spell must not be used too often.” Vivian retracted her shadow power. “This energy is hard to detect, but frequent use could possibly make it perceptible.”
Hao Ren nodded. “Let’s move past this section.”
The team kept moving ahead. Other than the footsteps of the team members, there were only ubiquitous humming sound and the sound of blowing air. They did not expect to see any scenery in the duct, but the confined space made Lily felt uneasy, “It is creepy in here. Although I cannot see any,, I still feel people are everywhere.”
“Don’t say it!” Nangong Wuyue was now in her sea snake form. The tip of her tail stayed erect upon hearing what Lily said. “I have goosebumps all over my body.”
Nangong Sanba suddenly frowned. “Wait a minute! It may not be an illusion, there is something here!”
Nangong Sanba might be the weakest in term of combat strength, but the instinct of the demon hunter had given him a superb sensory ability. It coupled with the excellent control he had mastered to compensate for his lack of strength, his reaction to those imperceptible vision was sensitive.
Everyone instantly became nervous. Hao Ren quickly looked at the MDT. “Scan.”
The MDT switched on all of its sensors. A blue light beam swept the ventilation duct ahead while a hologram above the MDT displayed the findings.
In the tubular holographic image, there was nothing but a few bright spots. And the bright spots that looked like interference were only the waste energy that had escaped from inside Amantir.
“I cannot find anything.” The MDT switched off the scanning module. “Sanba, could it be your hallucination?”
“Please call me Nangong,” Nangong Sanba looked solemn. He then shook his head. “No. I can really sense something in here. It is… it is a subtle spiritual response with weak thinking, like a ghost, but much more confusing than a ghost.”
“I feel it too,” Vivian said, agreeing with Nangong Sanba. “But it is also barely perceptible. I cannot say what it is.”
Hao Ren looked around cautiously and said with a low voice, “Since the festered monsters have not discovered us yet, the ‘thing’ you mention should not belong to the festered ones. Maybe it is a unique energy released from part of Amantir that has yet been infected. Let’s move on, perhaps we can find something ahead.”
This little incident had struck the nerve of everyone. Even muddleheads like Rollie could not help but keep her eyes open. The cat maiden tiptoed as she followed behind Hao Ren; this talent allowed her to walk quieter than everyone else.
She suddenly halted her steps, her ears flicked around in alert. “Big Boss Cat, I hear voices!”
“What voices?” Hao Ren stopped again. “I cannot hear any.”
“It comes from the vicinity.” The cat maiden crouched. Her ears kept flicking around while she said quietly, “It sounds like someone is mumbling with something in the mouth. Big Dumb Cat, did you hear that?”
Lily cared not about how the cat maiden called her. Instead, she crouched beside Rollie with a solemn face, her hairy ears tilting back and forth. The two maidens with beast ears began to listen for any unusual sound in the tunnel like human sonars.
The humming sound of the machines and the ubiquitous air turbulence interfered with their hearing. Hao Ren and the rest, even with their superb hearing ability, did not hear anything wrong. But the synergy of cat and dog combination could work wonder. After a minute of careful listening, Lily and Rollie pointed at the junction ahead in unison. “The voices come from there! It is getting closer!”
Vivian summoned a Night Veil again to hide their breath and even their faint footsteps while they continued to move forward up to the bifurcation. The duct then branched out into two identical routes in different directions.
Y’lisabet mumbled, “There is nothing here.”
“It is below us. It comes from below,” Lily said. Only then, Hao Ren noticed that the material used on a spot of the tunnel was different from the rest. There was a rectangular metal plate, on which the raised lines and structures seemed to indicate that it was an opening.
Nangong Wuyue pressed her hand on the metal plate. As liquid water began to flow down her hand and permeate through the gaps, the deformable metal plate slid open with a narrow opening, through which a bright light shone.
Sure enough, there was something underneath.
Hao Ren came up and peeked in through the gap.
If the plan that Salaman provided was accurate, they should be near the great temple where the control center was located. There were more underground facilities here, and the duct just happened to be near one of such chambers. So, there was nothing unusual about this, and the fact that there were people in the underground room was entirely normal.
What Hao Ren was curious about were the mumbling voices that Rollie heard. The festered monsters could not speak. They had no reason to use language, let alone the ability to talk.
Who was still using language to communicate in this crazy place of Amantir? Could it be the commanders of the festered army?
Through the narrow gap in the floor, Hao Ren could see that it was a rather large room underneath. The room was brightly lit, filled with large equipment that emitted a humming sound. But the bright environment could not hide the deformed and gloomy air of the room. Dark-red patterns covered the equipment and the floor, and it was the evidence of festering.
Hao Ren saw a weird creature in the middle of the room.
Hao Ren’s heart missed a beat.
It was a swollen, ellipsoidal mass of meat, like a bloated brain, fixed on a circular metal platform with a dozen or so dark-red tentacles extending from under the ‘brain.’ The tentacles reached into a ring of circular holes around the metal platform. In turn, below the circular holes were many cables connected to the instrument in the room.
Hao Ren immediately knew that the ‘brain’ was operating the instruments in the room.
The mumbling voices that Rollie heard came from the ‘brain,’ which was talking to itself.
“Mr. Landlord.” Lily came up and said quietly, “What do you see? Let me take a peek.”
“What a surprise!” Hao Ren looked up with a what the heck look. “I almost forgot about this thing. Seeing it here really surprises me!”
Vivian instantly became curious. “What did you see?”
“A brain monsters!” Lily had taken a glimpse of the thing below and exclaimed quietly. “There is a brain monster down there—the kind of brain monster that we have first seen in Holletta and the city of the sirens!”
