"Is that... underground...?"
Ziwei and Su Changqing couldnât help but show a hint of surprise when they saw the direction pointed by the beam of light.
"Underground? How is that possible? Weâve already scanned there; thereâs absolutely nothing there... Wait! Could it be..."
Su Changqing suddenly paused halfway through his sentence, as if something struck him, and his expression turned serious.
"Whatâs in there, Little Trickster?"
Seeing his expression, Ziwei knew he must have discovered something.
Su Changqing furrowed his brows and immediately took out a Spirit-detecting Compass from the Storage Space.
This Spirit-detecting Compass could detect much more range than the one Su Kuangkuan had, reaching depths of up to three thousand meters underground.
But even at this depth, heâd already scanned before and found nothing suspicious. However, Su Changqing knew his Tracking ability wouldnât deceive him. Since the Spiritual Power Beams emitted by the Light Tree branch pointed underground, it means the source of all this must be there.
"Ziwei, look quickly, according to the display on the Compass, the beam from the Light Tree branch goes straight down beyond detectable range. Iâm sure the hidden monster is there!"
Though called a beam, it was actually a Dark Spiritual Power ray that can penetrate matter without being obstructed by soil or rock.
"Is there something in there?"
Ziwei recalled Su Changqingâs earlier reaction, secretly thinking there might indeed be something unknown nearby.
Su Changqing pondered for a while, nodded first, and then shook his head, leaving Ziwei bewildered.
"Ah, whatâs going on here! Just speak! Youâre driving me crazy, Little Trickster! I hate you guys who speak in riddles!"
Faced with Ziweiâs urgency, Su Changqing couldnât help but smile wryly.
He wasnât deliberately keeping secrets; he was just considering how much of a connection there might be between this matter and the information he knew.
"Ziwei..."
Ziwei quickly waved his hand.
"Donât call me senior, donât call me senior. Iâve told you many times, calling me that makes me feel old. Just call me Ziwei."
Su Changqing felt a bit helpless and then said:
"Okay, Ziwei, actually, from the intelligence Iâve gathered, near New York Cityâs western suburbs, which is where weâre standing now, there used to be a secret base set up by the local government."
"Secret base? What was it for?"
"This base was referred to as a containment facility, specifically for holding captured Alien Species."
"Contain captured Alien Species!?"
Ziwei was shocked upon hearing this and couldnât help but ask again.
Upon seeing Su Changqing affirmatively nod, she displayed a look of incredulity and continued:
"Youâre saying these people specifically set up a base here to imprison those Star Beasts? Just like the island you have on Rebirth Island?"
Su Changqing shook his head and said:
"Itâs not the same, Ziwei. Youâve been to Tianji Island; the creatures held there have undergone strict filtering, with zero aggression and evolution potential. Using your worldâs terminology, theyâre âartificially breedableâ Star Beasts."
"But the base here is different. The Alien Species imprisoned there arenât subject to strict species restrictions. Besides ordinary Biological Species, they also include some Calamity Species and Demon Series..."
Ziweiâs eyes widened.
"The people on your planet are the most reckless Iâve ever seen. They actually dare to imprison the Calamity Clan and Demon Clan. Do you not know their danger level? Oh my! If this were to happen within the Dark Spirit Star Domain Alliance, and got known by the Order Court, it would be a serious violation of interstellar law, leading to direct capture by a Shadow Sentinel!"
Su Changqing couldnât help but sigh.
"So, after we learned of their actions, through a joint meeting of the Anti-Demon Alliance, we made them dismantle the facility here. Only, we didnât expect these guys to dismantle the containment on the surface but secretly establish a new one even deeper underground..."
Ziwei heard this and still felt somewhat unbelievable. She couldnât believe someone would be foolish enough to raise Demon Clan and Calamity Clan. In the Dark Spirit Star Domain Alliance, no matter how ancient or powerful a family, no one would dare to breach such a taboo. Those who did have paid the most tragic price, a cost so immense that every person in the Dark Spirit Star Domain Alliance had to bear some of it.
Su Changqing also didnât know all this before Ziwei came here, perhaps because Zhang Xiaoman hadnât yet opened the passage between the First Universe and the Second Universe or acquired the wide range of intelligence resources from the Dark Star Alliance.
At that time, they only knew the danger levels of Demon Series and Calamity Species Alien Species were exceedingly high, capable of autonomous evolution. Those captured might initially seem like Level 1 minor monsters, but soon they could evolve to Second Level.
Thus, they would never contain these two categories. Upon sight, they would directly eliminate them, rarely using even their body parts as Dark Spiritual Material, as these components carried certain hazards, some affecting the userâs mind and others potentially reviving through specific means.