Chapter 113 - 108: The Passage

"It’s right there!"

KIKI shouted loudly. Before she even arrived, she had already used her superpower to snatch at the void, instantly bending the metal emergency door and forcibly tearing it off its frame.

Lin Xian hadn’t reacted yet and quickly said, "You open doors faster than I do!"

"What are you babbling about!"

Void, void, void!

Behind them in the corridor, the tall red Human Skull rapidly emerged, its joints and spikes hitting the walls with a crisp hollow sound.

Ugh!

Another sharp cry rang out, and without thinking, Lin Xian immediately grabbed KIKI and leaped into the stairwell while creating a door to seal the passage.

Unexpectedly, behind the passage, there was a very steep staircase, and they both stumbled and started falling downwards.

"Ah!"

As they were falling, KIKI turned and embraced Lin Xian’s waist, her eyes flashing with superpower, and the downward momentum of their fall slowed mid-air. They rolled down for over ten meters before buffering to a stop on the stairs with a thud.

Boom!

The steel door created by Lin Xian was blasted away by that surge of flame, flying straight over their heads with great force and then violently smashing into the wall of the stairs. It bent instantly, glowing red and steaming hot!

Seeing this, Lin Xian felt a tightening in his back, realizing that the monster could not only breathe fire but its power was also so exaggerated.

"Ouch!"

KIKI was rubbing her butt and head as she climbed up from the stairs, crying out in pain.

If it weren’t for her superpower protection just now, they surely would have suffered severe head injuries from the fall.

Void!

Perhaps because the safety passage was too narrow, the Monster couldn’t get through, so a blood-red, charred-looking claw suddenly reached in through the door and began wildly scratching around.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

"Watch out!"

Not minding the aching pain from their rough fall, Lin Xian quickly got up, not even stable on his feet, when he suddenly grabbed KIKI’s hand and pulled her back, as they hastily moved down a few steps of the staircase.

Then they saw that after those wildly scratching claws caught nothing, they slowly retracted.

Lin Xian’s face was filled with fear. Unlike the White Giant Monster they had encountered before, this red Human Skull was covered with muscle-like tissues that emitted steam.

"You! Good!"

After the bloody hand was withdrawn, a while later, that eerie voice sounded again.

Soon Lin Xian and KIKI’s flashlight beams shone towards the door where a blood-red skull face gradually appeared.

Those eyes were like hollow blood holes. It was crouched at the doorway, staring at Lin Xian and KIKI as if eyeing its prey.

"Goodness, it can breathe fire AND it can talk!!"

KIKI’s eyes widened in horror as she stared at the blood-red skull, hastily leaping backward, "These things are getting more disgusting."

Disgusting? While Lin Xian was also retreating down the passageway, catching his breath, he could not help but feel an odd sense of eeriness.

That was

This thing... was becoming more like a person.

As this thought rose in his mind, he had an inexplicable tingling sensation on his scalp.

"Will it be able to crawl in here?"

"I don’t know." As Lin Xian shone his light down the deep, dark steps behind them, he said with resolution, "But if it blocks that way, we won’t be able to return the way we came."

"I wouldn’t go back there anyway." KIKI’s brows were furrowed tightly, seeing such a thing made it hard not to have nightmares.

If it were just an ordinary Monster, Lin Xian and KIKI wouldn’t feel such psychological pressure.

However, this Monster had humane eyes and a talking mouth; that spine-chilling, eerie feeling was maxed out, making one feel extremely uncomfortable.

"Let’s go, it probably can’t get in."

Lin Xian, looking at the red skull at the doorway watching them, took a couple of quick breaths without hesitation and continued to pull KIKI down the stairs.

"You!... Good!"

As they ran far down the staircase, no longer able to see the door at the end, that strange greeting still echoed from behind, sending chills down their spine.

Damn it!

Lin Xian’s forehead was drenched with cold sweat as he cursed inwardly.

It was the first time he’d encountered such oddities within a building. Compared to encountering them in the wilderness, the pressure inside felt even greater.

Boom, boom, boom!

Lin Xian and KIKI shone their flashlights, making their way down the staircase. It wasn’t long before they saw a yellow safety door.

"This is the place."

The two descended the stairs, and Lin Xian grabbed KIKI’s hand. "In times like this, let’s not use our superpowers to open the door."

Although KIKI had reached the Evolution Level and possessed superpowers, they shouldn’t be used recklessly. Countless dangers could lurk in the Underground City; they had to conserve their energy at all times.

Lin Xian reached for the doorknob, activated Mechanical Heart, which instantly connected to the safety door’s lock—click—the door swung open.

Whoosh~

As the door opened, a gust of cold air brushed against them. The flashlight illuminated a subway-like underground tunnel outside. The conduit lines and emergency exits alongside the track still looked relatively new, yet the entire tunnel was already filled with a strong scent of decay.

"Are we just going to follow the tracks?"

KIKI asked.

"I’m estimating some distance. Sixth level—we’ll probably have to circle half the Underground City." Lin Xian pulled out a Geiger counter; it showed 56.66 μSv/h, higher than above ground but still within safe levels.

"What else can we do? We run."

KIKI, wearing an anti-toxic mask, was panting heavily, her voice muffled.

Beep beep~

KIKI’s mobile terminal lit up, and Ding Junyi’s voice came through.

"Have you entered the tunnel?"

"We’re here."

"Good. The total length from the 89th floor entry to the 95th floor is 2620 meters, with a vertical distance of 62 meters to the No. 1 pile on the 100th floor. I recommend that if the Sievert value exceeds 100, abandon the mission."

Lin Xian took a deep breath and glanced at the tunnel behind him.

"Let’s go. If we don’t make it, we either head back the way we came or run up through the tunnel."

"No way." KIKI waved her hand, gasping for air. "I don’t want to run into that monster again."

"Let’s go down and see first."

Lin Xian no longer wasted words and began to walk down the tunnel.

He expanded the flashlight’s beam and shone it on the hollow tunnel, noticing that the newly constructed underground passage had already begun leaking, and cracks appeared in several places. As Ding Junyi had said, the main structure of the Underground City was indeed fractured.

Boom buzzing!!

Just a few steps out, a violent trembling sensation surged. Echoing emptily in the tunnel, sand and droplets fell ceaselessly, giving both an immediate sense of ringing in the ears and dizziness, as if the whole ground was shaking.

"An earthquake?!!"

Lin Xian and KIKI struggled to keep their balance and immediately grabbed onto the handrails beside them.

"Ah!" KIKI screamed.

As the shaking intensified, Lin Xian wrapped his arms around KIKI and pressed her head down. He created a shield with his hand and added support columns to protect them both.

Just as he thought a significant earthquake was upon them, the trembling abruptly started to die down and then slowly faded away.

Rustle rustle...

After the tremors subsided, sand continued to fall in the tunnel, and after a while, it finally quieted down.

Beep beep beep!

At that moment, the mobile terminal rang again, this time with Teacher Chen’s anxious voice.

"Lin Xian, Lin Xian, are you alright?!"

"We’re fine." Hearing Chen Sixuan’s voice, Lin Xian also breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time, his heart tightened. "Director Ding," he called out to Ding Junyi.

"Have you experienced this kind of earthquake before? Does it have to do with the underground creatures?"

Hearing that Lin Xian was unharmed, Chen Sixuan’s face relaxed. Ding Junyi then spoke.

"Yes, earthquakes of this magnitude have happened several times a day for the past two weeks, mostly concentrated at night."

Hearing this, Lin Xian felt a numbness wash over