The Blood Brake Squad stayed nearby and searched the area.
Taking the Two-Headed Black-Line Snake's strength into account, they used the Vanke Dream City residential complex as their starting point and searched in a fan-shaped formation toward the Third Circle Layer.
Fortunately, the monsters in this area were generally not very strong.
With the Mental Network between master and servants to assist them, they only had to avoid the Carrefour supermarket. Searching separately posed little danger.
After two days, An Zhengxin made a discovery.
On the ground in one direction, he found some slime.
From experience, he knew it was the kind of trail snakes naturally left behind as they moved.
Judging by the amount and size of the slime, the monster was definitely not small.
There was a good chance it was a Two-Headed Black-Line Snake!
Bai Yang hurried over, took out the Spirit Energy Meter, opened its back cover, and put a little of the slime inside.
This was a special use for the device. By inserting a part of the target, it could lock onto whatever they were searching for.
No matter how far away the target was, it could point them in roughly the right direction.
As a precaution, during their earlier training, he had even secretly kept a few strands of Luo Feng's hair.
He hadn't expected them to come in handy first in a place like this.
Bai Yang closed the cover and fed spirit energy into the compass.
A moment later, the Spirit Energy Meter's needle started to wobble. Judging by the size of its swings, the target was indeed somewhere between Advanced Beast General and Elementary Lord!
They were very close now.
Bai Yang immediately led everyone forward, following the needle of the Spirit Energy Meter.
Before long, they had left their original area and entered what was roughly the Fourth Circle Layer.
The monster packs here were nothing like those in the Third Circle Layer.
Most consisted of several dozen to a few hundred monsters, and their leaders were generally between Advanced Beast General and Primary Lord in strength.
The surroundings gradually began to change, too.
They were no longer in the suburbs but in the area between the suburbs and the city.
There were vast stretches of green vegetation as well as many high-rise apartment buildings, and the terrain was becoming increasingly varied and complex.
"Everyone, be careful. There are too many buildings around here. We don't have as clear a view as before, so stay alert," Bai Yang warned.
The squad members acknowledged him.
As they drew closer, the needle on the Spirit Energy Meter in his hand started twitching more and more frequently.
Everyone knew the monster was close, and they grew even more vigilant.
These highly venomous monsters were different from ordinary beasts. The usual injuries posed little threat to these "freaks."
But there was no telling how dangerous their poison might be. One careless mistake, and even their master might not have time to save them.
The grass around them grew taller and taller. Thick, leaden clouds hung overhead, and their squad was the only one in this vast area.
Quite a bit of the same disgusting slime could now be found on the ground, proving they had found the right place.
Everyone moved carefully, reluctant to make a sound. The whole scene was both silent and eerie.
It felt as if all sorts of snake monsters might suddenly burst out at them, attacking wildly—from the low shrubs, the long grass, the ruined apartment buildings,
or some unnoticed corner, or one of the heaps of rubbish scattered along the roadside.
For some reason, a scene like this, with no monsters in sight,
made it even easier to understand what an apocalyptic wasteland this place had become.
Bai Yang cleared his mind of distractions and carefully explored everything around them with Psychokinesis.
But there was so much debris in the area that his search was far slower than elsewhere.
Soon, the Spirit Energy Meter told them they had reached their destination.
But there were no monsters around. The group stood in a circle and looked in every direction, finding nothing at all.
Bai Yang was confused. The Spirit Energy Meter wasn't a technological device but some kind of magical item. It shouldn't break.
Yet its needle was pointing straight ahead, indicating that the target was right here.
No matter how he searched with Psychokinesis, there were no monsters within dozens of meters.
What was the problem? What had they missed?
He carefully checked the direction of the needle, then looked up at the surroundings.
He tried to picture the terrain in his mind. Suddenly, he took out his handheld computer and pulled up an old municipal map of the area.
Bai Yang thought for a moment, then finally smiled. "I get it! So that's what's going on."
"Master, where are the monsters?" An Zhengxin asked hurriedly.
"Right here. Under our feet," Bai Yang explained.
Seeing that the squad members still didn't understand, he continued, "This is the outskirts. There used to be a large sewage treatment plant here.
"The ground beneath this area is crisscrossed with underground pipes and sewers, built to carry things that the Base City no longer has any use for.
"Nowadays, Base Cities don't have pipelines that connect directly to urban areas, because monsters could crawl in through them. That's why nobody thought of it."
Now that they knew the right place, the rest was easy.
Bai Yang immediately found an old map, and the group headed toward the abandoned sewage treatment plant nearby.
Sure enough, they hadn't walked even a kilometer before several giant pythons attacked them from the roadside.
These pythons were only at Advanced Warrior-level, but judging by their markings, they were indeed members of the Black-Line Snake family.
Bai Yang had no time to waste on them. A thought, and Psychokinesis ripped them apart in midair.
These snakes were worthless to him. Even their Snake Fangs were too poor to break through an Advanced Beast General's defenses; they were useless to him.
The group soon slipped into a decrepit building that was almost entirely in ruins: the old sewage treatment plant.
With his handheld computer, Bai Yang led everyone to the underground sewage pipes.
The rushing sewage had long since disappeared from inside. As they moved lower,
the Spirit Energy Meter in his hand changed again, its needle pointing straight in one direction.
It was telling them they had definitely found the right place this time!
The entire squad returned to combat readiness. Bai Yang took the lead and walked into the pipe.
They were underground, with not a trace of light. Although the squad members had prepared Infrared Goggles, their vision was still limited.
Bai Yang's Psychokinesis and the various genes he had absorbed earlier ensured that his eyesight remained sharp.
His abilities were almost entirely unaffected here, and he could bring them all to bear.
With a thought, he lifted the entire squad into the air, and they floated slowly forward.
They were inside an enormous, empty pipe. Even the slightest vibration could travel a long way.
Hundreds of meters deeper underground, a colossal python suddenly raised its head.
It sniffed in confusion, as though something were approaching.
If Bai Yang had seen what it looked like, he would have been astonished.
This Black-Line Snake had no second head, but the pair of horns on its head were clearly visible.
Rather than a snake, it was more like a wyrm. It had truly set one foot into the realm of Dragon Beasts!
Its body had reached Primary Lord level, but its actual combat strength could only be greater!
And all around it, countless giant snakes were packed together, numbering in the hundreds!
A monster pack on this scale could dominate an entire area of the Third Circle Layer!
Before you continue