Ruins
Soft footsteps echoed through the silent, pitch-black space. The faint sparks flickering from the raised spear illuminated the path ahead and behind them.
"It feels like we haven't encountered anything alive in a long time."
Li Cheng held the Spear of Andarville, lighting up the darkness around them.
"Mm."
He Ao's gaze swept across the surrounding space as well.
This was a small laboratory. Scattered equipment lay haphazardly across the floor, and every electronic instrument had long since been destroyed.
Traces of long-dried blood remained on the ground. Thick dust covered the floor, as though no one had come here for a very, very long time.
He Ao stopped before a wall. Written faintly on it in the language of the First District were the words [Satellite Research Lab 01].
There were no other written documents nearby, nor any usable electronic devices. Apart from those few words, there was no other useful information.
However, He Ao vaguely remembered that the previous laboratory they had encountered with clearly legible writing had been marked [Satellite Research Lab 05]. The numbers had been steadily decreasing.
"We've been circling downward around the hall we fell into earlier."
He raised his head, looked at the small open door ahead, and spoke softly.
They had already been walking along this corridor for a long time.
In his perception, this corridor roughly formed a spiral, winding downward around the vast cavern hall they had fallen into.
Ruined laboratories lined both sides of the corridor. The laboratories had long been abandoned, with not a trace of life in sight.
Like a vine covered in leaves, this corridor slowly coiled downward along the cavern hall.
"This spiral should be narrowing, forming a funnel shape," Li Cheng continued He Ao's words. He glanced up above them. "We should be