To ensure their safety, Vivian tossed another little bat down. This time, she had the bat carry a small protective crystal as it flew down. Watching the tiny thing wobble into the passage with a crystal dangling from it, Hao Ren was genuinely worried it might crash into the wall. Fortunately, it successfully reached the bottom.
Below the metal pipe lay a labyrinthine world of tunnels extending in every direction, as complex as an anthill. Following the bloodstains left on the pipe, Vivian found the route the stitched monsters had taken when they came out. She also discovered many monsters dead inside the pipe. They had collapsed on top of one another, the skin on their upper bodies scorched over a large area. The cause was a short-circuit malfunction in the black electrical vests they wore. It seemed the electromagnetic pulse bombs Hao Ren had thrown down earlier had been remarkably effective. They had not only destroyed the mechanical controls in the metal pipes, but also killed a large number of monsters charging outward and blocked some of the exits.
However, Vivian's little bat also discovered mechanical grinding sounds coming from some of the pipe's branches. Those areas might gradually be returning to operation. If the pipe system had self-maintenance and cleaning functions, the other monsters would soon find new exits and pour out.
Hao Ren decisively decided to charge in before those pipe systems resumed operation. To give everyone enough time, and to cause even more trouble for the underground facility, he threw several more electromagnetic pulse bombs down one of the pipes.
After a series of dull booms came from deep underground, Hao Ren nodded. "It's clear. Let's go down. I'll lead the way."
Uruk frowned. He had never seen anything like this before, and instinctively sensed waves