Chapter 96: The 1st Mechanism (Seeking First Subscription, Friends)

Xu Xin still wanted to contract a few beasts to use for scouting, but was stopped by Chang Yin.

Chang Yin said that if it was just for scouting, he could directly command the beasts to move forward, so there was no need to waste a contract.

The ring must actually touch the mutant beast’s body to be able to contain it. Xu Xin tried all sorts of methods, coercion and inducement, but still couldn’t touch the speedy mutant cheetah. Although the cheetah had already signed a contract with him, it still wouldn’t let Xu Xin touch it.

With no other choice, he had to give up the idea of putting the cheetah into the ring and let it follow behind him.

When Xu Xin and Chang Yin came out of the room, Xue Lan, a little boy, and a maid were still waiting outside. Seeing the cheetah following Xu Xin, Xue Lan was a bit surprised: "You actually subdued this cheetah. We put in a lot of effort to catch it back then."

Xu Xin’s heart skipped a beat: "You caught it? Weren’t you always underground? Where did you capture them from?"

"Some of these beasts were brought down from the surface, and some were bred later. This cheetah was one of the beasts initially brought down."

So that’s how it was... Wait!

Xu Xin’s eyes widened: "You... weren’t you underground for forty-nine years and never went out?"

"Yeah." Chang Yin was also followed by a few sturdy-looking mutant beasts, intending to use them for scouting, "Maybe the lifespan of mutant beasts is relatively long. We don’t know much about the mutant beasts outside, but these man-made mutant beasts have shown no signs of aging for so long and have only gotten stronger over time."

Whoa! Seriously?

Xu Xin was shocked. Isn’t this eternal life?

He was tempted to try a bottle of [Mutant Beast Potion]. After all, humans could mutate too, as proven by those hairy people in the other room.

Chang Yin seemed to see through Xu Xin’s thoughts and said irritably: "Don’t even think about it. Most beasts that drank this potion lost their will and only retained instinct. Only a few, including this cheetah, still have some memories from before they mutated. As for humans, they all turned into madmen without exception. Do you want to become a lunatic and live forever?"

Oh, I see... Then never mind.

It’s a pity. If growing fur all over could grant eternal life, he could accept it.

Isn’t there hair removal cream or something? Having too much hair isn’t a problem; losing hair is the real pain.

Xu Xin pointed to a room full of mutated humans: "What do you plan to do with them?"

"Them..." Chang Yin looked at the concealed wooden door, his tone complex, filled with hatred and sadness, as if gritting his teeth, "They will remain here in this sunless underground forever!"

With that, he stomped his foot fiercely, and a heavy stone wall emerged from under the door, smashing the door plank to pieces with a "crack, crack" sound, and with a "bang," the stone wall completely sealed off the room.

Chang Yin’s emotions were a bit unstable. Xue Lan stepped forward to hold his arm, and the little boy stood by his side, looking at Chang Yin with concern: "Dad..."

The middle-aged maid stood behind them like a statue, saying nothing.

Xu Xin just felt a bit regretful. He had considered if he could contract with a mutant human since tasks like planting and mining could only be done by humans, but seeing Chang Yin’s demeanor, he wisely chose not to mention it.

Once Chang Yin’s emotions returned to normal, Xu Xin gestured towards them: "Come on, didn’t you say you have experience with the first two doors, so you would handle them? Lead the way then."

Chang Yin’s stone-like eyes couldn’t blink, but it seemed like he was rolling his eyes at Xu Xin: "You have no empathy at all, let’s go." Then he started walking into the depths of the corridor.

After passing through the last metal door, the corridor no longer had doors on either side, leaving only a deep, dark, stone corridor without any lights.

Due to knowledge of the previous mechanisms, there was no need for mutant beasts to scout for now. Chang Yin used some tool to store away the mutant beasts, and the group proceeded into the depths of the corridor.

The path was long, and the only sound in the corridor was the footsteps of a few statue-like figures touching the ground.

Keke, who had helped Xu Xin all day, was now asleep on his shoulder, emitting faint snores. The mutant cheetah followed two meters behind Xu Xin silently, and if not occasionally looking back, Xu Xin would’ve thought it didn’t keep up.

Gradually, Xu Xin noticed that the corridor seemed to be getting wider and taller.

"Is this corridor widening?" Xu Xin voiced his inner suspicion.

"It’s wider further up, and we’re still far from the first door," Chang Yin said without looking back.

Xu Xin felt something was amiss. He thought he had already walked quite a distance. Recalling the unused map, Xu Xin willed it in his mind, and the long-neglected map surfaced in his thoughts.

The map still only showed the terrain above ground, and his current location was getting further from the Black Bear Cave entrance and his treehouse, even approaching the boundary of his normal three-kilometer protective range.

Fortunately, the protective range of his treehouse was larger than the average person’s, spanning six kilometers, so he wouldn’t face the risk of stepping out of the protective range and encountering underground creatures for now.

As he continued forward, the corridor’s width and height increased, turning into a tunnel-like expanse. Even the floor turned slightly sloped upward. Though the incline was slight, it gave the impression of heading towards the surface.

Even as the corridor became an upward sloping tunnel, it remained empty, presenting a vast and profound emptiness.

After walking forward for a few minutes, Xu Xin suddenly felt the ground trembling slightly, and the vibration became increasingly intense. From the depths of the tunnel, the sound of something hitting the walls could be heard.

"What’s going on?" He became alert.

The four stone statues seemed quite calm. Chang Yin casually said, "Don’t worry, the first trap mechanism is coming."

Xu Xin squinted ahead with a frown. When he saw what was approaching, his eyes widened in disbelief.

A rolling boulder!

It was a massive rolling boulder, with a diameter slightly smaller than the tunnel’s width. As it rolled downward, it constantly crashed into the stone walls on both sides. The slope caused the boulder to gain speed, and it was only seconds away from hitting them.

He had to catch the boulder’s rhythm as it hit the walls, and dodge to the other side when it struck!

While Xu Xin was focused on dodging, Chang Yin suddenly slapped the wall in front, causing a section to indent inward, creating a small opening that was two meters high and less than a meter wide, and several meters deep.

"Get in and hide." Chang Yin pulled Xu Xin inside, followed by the four stone statues.

...Isn’t this a bit of a cheat, directly digging a hole in the wall to avoid the trap?

A few seconds later, the rolling boulder passed by the entrance with a loud crash, hitting the opening and continuing downward.

Stone debris flew everywhere, hitting Chang Yin at the entrance, though he seemed unaffected, merely brushing off the stones.

"...Is it over?"

"Not yet, just wait."

At this moment, the little boy beside Xu Xin tugged at his clothes and said, "Uncle, we’ve played this game before. There will be several rolling stones one after another. Just hiding is difficult. It’s better to wait in the hole until all the stones pass."

Several consecutive rolling stones? Xu Xin’s mouth twitched. If he were doing this alone, dodging one might be fine, but dodging several in succession would be too hard.

But... Uncle? Who’s your uncle? If you consider the age, this little boy stone statue must be at least fifty years old. You should be my uncle instead. Xu Xin grumbled inwardly.

Xu Xin suddenly felt something was missing.

"Wait, where’s the leopard? The leopard is still outside!" Xu Xin realized the leopard that had been following them did not enter the hole and got a bit anxious. He admired the leopard a lot.

"Don’t worry about it. It’s fine. If it can’t even dodge, then this trap doesn’t want anyone alive. This is just the first trap, not that strong." Chang Yin said calmly.

Xu Xin peeked out from between the stone statues and saw the mutant leopard unharmed, even lying down, licking its fur.

It glanced at the cramped hole with a few people inside, not intending to come in.

Seeing its relaxed demeanor, Xu Xin also felt relieved, leaning comfortably at the back of the stone cave, even pulling out an ordinary apple to munch on.

While eating, he regretted not bringing some grilled meat, considering how long they had been out. He really craved meat.

The loud noise from the back of the tunnel indicated the rolling boulder got stuck, as the path got narrower, causing it to jam eventually.

Soon, the ground started trembling again, and sounds of rolling and crashing from above became more frequent, sounding like three rolling stones.

Though Xu Xin used a cheat method to evade the trap, he had already devised an optimal strategy. After dodging the first boulder, he should continue forward as much as possible, since the tunnel gets wider and provides more space to maneuver, making it easier to dodge these rolling stones.

"Run forward, there’s more space to dodge ahead!" Xu Xin shouted to the leopard outside. The leopard seemed to understand and sprinted swiftly out of sight.

It was incredibly fast.

Soon, three rolling stones passed by the opening, followed by three loud crashes from behind.

"Don’t rush, there’s more."

More indeed... this trap is really deadly.

"Oof..." Keke on Xu Xin’s shoulder woke up startled by the loud crashes, rubbed its little eyes, checked the situation, found no danger, and lay back down to sleep.

The ground trembled again, the noise grew more frequent, and soon five boulders rolled one after another past the entrance and got stuck behind.

"There should be no more." Chang Yin peered into the depths of the tunnel.

"Just in case, let’s wait a bit more."

"Alright, as you say." Chang Yin shrugged.