CHAPTER 609: CHAPTER 607: UNDERGROUND

Lu Chen pulled Jianxiong out in one motion and, together with Su Mo, returned to the surface, where he immediately froze the pool of water solid. The thick plants vines, which had begun to move, no longer focused their attacks only on them. A number of vines, with tough skin and covered in black granular substances, surged out of the churning black freshwater beneath them.

The splash of a large wave made everyone quickly retreat backward. A soldier fished a hand grenade out of his backpack, threw it into the midst of the strange plants, and yelled loudly, "Get down!"

Everyone instantly turned and ducked. Accompanied by a huge explosion, countless plant debris scattered and fell to the ground.

The massive explosion in such a confined space caused everyone’s ears to briefly lose hearing, and the ringing in Su Mo’s ears made her head spin. When she turned to look again, the huge plant was still alive, but most of its branches had been blown off, greatly reducing its lethality.

Soldiers coming from the remaining two uncleaned passageways of the circular corridor, having heard such a loud noise, all rushed out.

The crowd split into three groups to face them.

These species combined with insects below the ground had a myriad of attack methods. Su Mo even saw zombies covered in tentacles.

After clearing the zombies from the four passageways, Su Mo could barely hold her knife steady and collapsed, sitting among the piles of bodies, her chest heaving up and down.

The mutated carnivorous plant, reduced to half its size at the center, was finally cut down at the root by Lu Chen with his Ice Giant Sword, and it fell into the middle of the pool.

Thus far, they were incredibly lucky to have no casualties, and the air was filled with a thick smell of rotting plants.

After a short rest, Su Mo stood up and said, "Let’s see what’s on this level."

Apart from the large pool in the middle of the second floor, there were several rooms in each of the four directions, each room separated and big enough to accommodate two people’s living space.

Su Mo, walking alongside Lu Chen, casually opened a room to be greeted by a heavy dampness.

The inside was very small, resembling a cage.

For some reason, Su Mo felt uncomfortable at the thought, "Are we going to sleep in cages like this from now on? This will drive someone mad."

For herself, she could hardly accept such a dark, damp, and cramped environment.

"Compared to here, I prefer the lab I blew up. How did these researchers manage to move the sky underground?"

Su Mo walked around the small room and then stepped out again.

Lu Chen closed the door. He checked each room as they went until they had reached the end of this section and stopped.

"There’s still a long time ahead, maybe it can be created," Lu Chen said softly, comforting her as he stroked her hair.

All the passageways in all the directions were checked, and all the zombies were cleared out.

The group gathered again by the edge of the pool.

In the dim corridor, Su Mo could not tell how much time had passed, but they must have been down there for nearly a day.

After finding a relatively clean spot, they sat down together to eat, and each chose a small room to rest in.

Tomorrow, there were still three levels to clear.

Once re-equipped and ready to go, they found that the third floor was even bigger than they had imagined.

Su Mo was surprised that they could carve out a space as large as a soccer field on the third underground level, estimating a rough height of around twenty meters.

This place did not have the caged feeling of the second floor.

Standing in the middle of the platform, they looked around at the emptiness, nothing in sight.

Compared to the dense zombie population of the levels above, this seemed much safer.

Su Mo searched around but could not find where the power switch was.

Using the light from flashlights, someone noticed the crisscrossing ventilation duct entrances above.

Pieces of flaking metal occasionally fell from above, the result of long-term neglect.

Su Mo looked up and noticed that many air ducts had cracked and broken, with an unknown creature’s fluid dangling from them.

"There are several bodies in the pipes," said the Spiritual Superpower User after using his powers, "and it seems they’re blocked."

Su Mo replied, "No wonder the air is so thin."

Lu Chen surveyed the area and finally found the gate leading down to the lower level in this space as large as a football field.

"There’s no trouble here for now, let’s head down first."

The group had to cross the football field to get to the large iron gate on the opposite side, the ground covered with wet droplets due to the dampness.

As they walked across, stepping on the droplets, Su Mo noticed something about the water on the ground and suddenly halted.

"Wait."

She stood still and frowned, "Nobody moves."

Jianxiong was about to step forward but withdrew his foot, "What’s wrong, little sister?"

Su Mo crouched down, and the flashlight in Lu Chen’s hand illuminated the area in front of her.

Up close, she discovered something off about these little droplets.

Within the water were many black granular substances.

After a while, she said with some confusion, "They seem to be... insect eggs."

Insect eggs covering the football field?

Everyone couldn’t help but recoil their feet a bit.

This was no joking matter; they all instantaneously thought of those insect amalgamations.

Jianxiong instinctively looked at the bottom of his shoe only to find a dense mass of black insect eggs.

"It really seems like it."

Su Mo stood up, frowning, "At the very least, we can be sure that there’s a problem with the water storage system here, and something is laying eggs everywhere."

Lu Chen pulled her up, "Let’s talk after we go down."

This time they moved more quietly, passing through the iron gate into a straight corridor leading downwards to the fourth level, which was once a cafeteria with hundreds of dust-covered tables and chairs.

On the ground were several streaks of dried blood that had trailed off into the distance.

Something significant must have happened here before.

The group weaved through the tables and chairs, heading for the kitchen at the far end where the sound of pots and pans hitting the floor could be heard, as if knocked over by something.

In such a place, only monsters could still exist.

Su Mo and Lu Chen exchanged a glance, and moved to the side of the door where he placed his hand on the doorknob, slowly turning it.

When the door opened, the sight inside was incredible, shocking everyone even more than the sight of those strangely-shaped zombies.

The Insect Nest, resembling a human’s huge heart, was wrapped in a membrane and glued to the wall, almost filling the entire kitchen.

The noise they had heard was a fleeting black insect shadow, moving too fast for Su Mo to see clearly.

"What’s in there? Insects?"

Stepping on the spread-out membrane, Su Mo took a few steps inside to inspect the thing wrapped on the wall.