Yama Reborn-Chapter 602 - 599: Beneath the Tunnel

The Octopus Monster approached the ordinary Special Ability Users, quickly announcing with a laugh:

"Everyone, the target we are looking for is inside this tunnel. There are some equipment and tools in the adjacent engineering room. Those who need them can take them, of course, if you feel it's unnecessary, you don't have to.

I know this mission has been delayed for far too long, but rest assured, the reward for this mission will definitely reflect your effort and value.

On this point, on behalf of Octopus Monster Company, I can guarantee you. Your efforts will certainly be reflected in the final reward figures, and it will be transferred to your accounts immediately."

With these words—although the crowd didn't know that the Neon Person standing before them was the Octopus Monster itself, they roughly understood that this guy named Kamisou Ichiro was most likely a representative of the Octopus Monster Company.

No one would be unhappy about earning more money, of course.

Not to mention, Kamisou Ichiro's attitude was very gentle.

Soon, the Special Ability Users were all in high spirits, and some went to the adjacent engineering room to get equipment.

It was actually just some work suits, emergency lamps, strong flashlights, oxygen tanks, and other simple items.

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Chen Nuo and the others stood quietly in place, watching the Octopus Monster directing people to prepare equipment.

Chen Nuo sighed, "I feel things are increasingly strange."

The Wizard had a gloomy look: "He was clearly suspicious just now but let it go lightly..."

Chen Nuo took a deep breath: "So I think this guy is hiding an even bigger secret from us.

The target being the Mother Clone is not his biggest secret!"

But seeing the allies with slightly wavering emotions, Chen Nuo took a deep breath: "However, we also have our plans he doesn't know about yet...

So, it's not time to admit defeat and give up."

The Wizard nodded: "No matter what, I won't give up."

Nolan nodded: "I'm not even afraid of death. But… maybe I should be more low-key. I'm his Chosen One, I worry he might easily detect something from me, I'm not able to hide it from him."

The two directly headed towards the crowd.

Son of the Sun quietly walked to Chen Nuo's side, nudging him and speaking softly: "What do we do, kid?"

Chen Nuo glanced at the Son of the Sun.

The Son of the Sun looked solemnly at the tunnel entrance, and Chen Nuo noticed that there were actually a few drops of cold sweat on the old man's forehead!

"My premonition doesn't feel good! This place, inside that tunnel… whenever I look at it, I get a bad feeling."

The Son of the Sun's face seemed a bit rigid.

Chen Nuo exhaled, thought for a moment, and spoke softly: "It, the Octopus Monster, has secrets, has cards up its sleeve, we do too, old man."

Son of the Sun looked at Chen Nuo.

Chen Nuo spoke softly: "Don't forget, we... still have a cat."

With that, Chen Nuo went over, picked up an oxygen tank, handed it to Lu Xixi, then took one for himself, carrying it on his back.

The Son of the Sun watched Chen Nuo's actions and followed suit, picking up an oxygen tank.

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The tunnel was about five meters wide.

Moving forward, after approximately a few hundred meters, the terrain gradually began to slope downwards, becoming steeper.

Lighting tubes were installed on the tunnel walls, and moving along the way, there's hardly a need to use the carried flashlights and other equipment.

But the twenty ordinary Special Ability Users walking at the front seemed visibly tense and excited.

Chen Nuo and the others walked at the back, and Kamisou Ichiro didn't seem intent on monitoring them, looking quite relaxed while walking with the ordinary Special Ability Users.

A few hundred meters ahead, no more lighting equipment was installed in the tunnel.

The frontrunning Special Ability Users turned on flashlights.

These guys were quite experienced, not rushing to use the equipment haphazardly, but using the lighting equipment they carried in batches.

At the front of the squad, a Special Ability User with some treasure-hunting experience carried a powerful flashlight.

In the middle of the squad, someone held a flashlight to illuminate the path below.

Beyond that, no other lighting was used, everyone was conserving the equipment's energy.

Within the squad, voices gradually fell silent.

After all, amongst these Special Ability Users, picking anyone, they could easily dominate the secular world. Who among them hasn't taken lives? Who hasn't experienced life-and-death battles and dangerous situations?

Though the squad was numerous and had a few Controllers leading the brigade, morale was actually quite confident.

But as they truly entered the dark part of the tunnel, everyone naturally grew tense.

Some Special Ability Users even started getting ready for combat.

Kamisou Ichiro walked in the rear part of the Special Ability User squad, suddenly turning back to glance at Chen Nuo and the others with a smile: "Everyone, you might need to keep closer now."

Chen Nuo nodded with a smile, without hesitation, quickening his pace to walk to the front.

The terrain within the tunnel initially inclined downwards at around 30 degrees, then gradually changed to a 45-degree slope.

Yet somehow, the ventilation remained excellent.

Chen Nuo carefully observed the airflow, glancing back at his allies.

The Wizard spoke quietly: "There's wind, but very little, which is why it doesn't feel stuffy."

Chen Nuo pondered: "So… might this tunnel actually lead to the outside world?"

The Wizard shook his head: "Hard to say, what you mentioned is possible, but it might also connect to some other underground cavity causing an air cavity effect."

Chen Nuo looked at the Octopus Monster's back, furrowing his brow.

Lu Xixi whispered: "Honey~ what's wrong?"

Chen Nuo glanced at Lu Xixi, gently holding her hand.

In the dark, silently, Chen Nuo traced letters on Lu Xixi's palm with his fingers.

Lu Xixi squinted, quickening her pace to follow closely beside Chen Nuo, carefully feeling the letters Chen Nuo was writing in her palm.

"If a fight starts, don't act first."

This was the content written by Chen Nuo.

Fearing a misunderstanding, Chen Nuo wrote it three times to ensure Lu Xixi understood before releasing her hand.

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Though the tunnel was a result of construction work, it wasn't a formal engineering project, and as they moved deeper, the construction became increasingly rough.

The ground had coarse fragments, and some muddy parts.

In some places, water was even dripping.

Clearly, the tunnel made by the Octopus Monster seemed like a one-time use, with no concern for issues like water seepage.

This situation was actually quite dangerous—such forcibly constructed tunnels evidently lacked thorough preliminary surveys.

Digging this deep, if any groundwater seepage issue arises, it could easily trigger a collapse.

At such depth, once a collapse is triggered, even special ability users might not have a place to be buried. In the team, except for those Controllers at the back, everyone else might just end up dead here.

There were those in the special ability user team who knew what they were doing, so they instinctively became cautious and slowed their steps.

Kamisou Ichiro remained calm and said lightly, "Don't worry, the construction team has assured us that this place will not have any collapse issues for at least a month. Several areas with seepage have also been reinforced and supported. So, a month's time can be guaranteed."

Alright, hearing this, many couldn't help but mutter in their hearts.

Spending such a huge cost, in this remote place, to create such a large tunnel.

And it can only be used for a month.

Is the money at Octopus Monster Company really just blown in by the wind?

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After walking for about ten minutes, judging by the team's pace, they had probably walked about two kilometers in this underground tunnel.

Under the illumination of the flashlight, the tunnel walls gradually began to show some weak reflections.

Chen Nuo casually approached the edge and touched it.

Nolan, who followed up from behind, said slowly, "Quartz Ore."

Chen Nuo nodded, the rock layers on the tunnel walls felt coarse to the touch, indeed containing a lot of quartz sand.

The air started to become increasingly damp.

The rocky walls felt wet to the touch.

Suddenly, Chen Nuo shouted, "Mr. Kamisou Ichiro, how much further do we have to go in this tunnel?"

"Very soon."

Kamisou Ichiro turned back with a smile, "We should have already covered half the distance."

Chen Nuo exhaled but silently split a strand of spiritual power tentacle, leaving it behind.

The Wizard sensed Chen Nuo's spiritual power fluctuation and immediately noticed what Chen Nuo had done.

He was slightly startled and then mimicked, also splitting a strand of spiritual force tentacle and releasing it in the same place.

Seeing the Wizard mimic him, Chen Nuo said nothing, just shook his head and continued.

The Son of the Sun sneakily approached Chen Nuo and said, "What did you just..."

"Shh," Chen Nuo shook his head, "Don't ask more."

With that, he winked at the Son of the Sun.

The old man, although not understanding Chen Nuo's intentions, obediently kept his mouth shut.

A stretch of muddy ground appeared, and it was clear that there was seepage in this area.

After passing this section, everyone's shoes were covered in mud and muck.

Finally, after walking in the underground tunnel for about half an hour, they reached the end of the tunnel!

The team ahead had already halted, and there was a burst of exclamations followed by whispers.

Chen Nuo and the others approached in silence, and as soon as the Controllers were in position, the team naturally made way for them. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The end of the tunnel revealed a wide underground cave.

It seemed to be a natural underground cave formed by an underground river's erosion.

The tunnel drilled in from the left side of this underground riverbed, piercing through.

The underground riverbed had dried up long ago, leaving an empty underground cave after unknown millennia of erosion, and further years of wear and tear had left the dried riverbed without water, making the riverbed rocks brittle.

The tunnel exit was about less than three meters above the riverbed. Jumping down from the tunnel, even an average person with a bit of agility shouldn't get hurt—this height wouldn't be an issue even for parkour athletes with minor training.

With the flashlight's illumination, Chen Nuo observed left and right for a while, not noticing anything unusual.

However, the riverbed of this underground river seemed to continue deep underground on the left side.

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Everyone gradually jumped down from the tunnel entrance, landing on the dried-up riverbed.

After Chen Nuo landed, he squatted down first to feel around the bottom of the riverbed with his hands.

He only felt a handful of brittle rock fragments.

He sensed that this dried-up underground riverbed was higher on the left and lower on the right.

The air flow, the wind should come from the right side of the riverbed, so searching in that direction should bring them closer to the surface and possibly find a ventilation opening.

As for the left...

As expected, Kamisou Ichiro was already directing the special ability users to continue exploring the left side.

The terrain on the left sloped downward.

Chen Nuo and the others said nothing, quietly trailing at the back of the team.

The stone and soil beneath the dried riverbed were already dry and brittle, and as the team passed, a rustling sound was generated on the ground.

"There should be another underground river ahead."

Nolan whispered his judgment next to Chen Nuo, "The underground river we're on now likely dried up after some crustal movement caused geological changes, and the river changed course."

But after the diversion, the underground river surely redirected to another direction, so as we follow this direction down, we should find another underground river."

Nolan's tone was quite confident, and Chen Nuo couldn't help but ask, "Have you had similar experiences?"

Nolan glanced at Chen Nuo, "I'm a geology major."

Chen Nuo shrugged, "Alright, I didn't expect you to have attended college."

The cavity left by this underground river gradually narrowed as they moved left.

The height also began to decrease.

At the lowest point, someone standing upright, raising their hand, could touch the rock overhead.

Moreover, the incoming air, Chen Nuo perceptively felt, was getting increasingly humid ahead.

Faintly, there was the sound of flowing water.

Finally, the team up front came to a halt again.

Chen Nuo and the others proceeded and discovered why the team had stopped.

The dried-up riverbed had come to an end!

In front was an underground water pool.

Chen Nuo frowned and looked at the Octopus Monster, "So, are we meant to continue forward? Do we need to dive through to get across?"

The Octopus Monster chuckled, "Of course, the path is made by people walking."

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[The National Day holiday is over, I hope everyone made money on stocks!]

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