The orphanage was located at the northernmost edge of Dry City, close to the city wall. It was an extremely remote place, and few people were willing to live there.
Mostly poor families chose to live here. Some of the houses were still single-story flats because no developers had any interest in the area.
Who knew when a beast tide might break out? This place would be the first to be reduced to rubble.
The tunnel Su Wuming had kicked open happened to lead directly outside the city.
After climbing down, Su Wuming understood why Tu Tu had been able to hear sounds from below.
This was Dry City's main underground water pipeline, specially renovated decades ago. Since most water sources near the Dark Forest had been occupied by Demon Beasts, precious metal had been used to construct this underground water pipeline system.
Above it were the foundations of the orphanage buildings, except they had now been hollowed out.
No wonder Tu Tu had heard something. Normally, if Demon Beasts intended to sneak into the city, they naturally would not make too much noise.
Moreover, this tunnel branched into several passageways. Starting from the orphanage buildings, they led to various parts of the city. The tunnel in the courtyard was relatively close to the surface, less than two meters deep, forming a convenient slope.
The passageway was around thirty feet tall and twenty feet wide, enough for Nunu Beasts to pass through.
After getting a rough look with his flashlight, Su Wuming returned to the surface and glanced around the courtyard. In the end, his gaze settled on a steel pipe supporting a clothesline.
Without another word, he pulled out one of the steel pipes and laid it across the tunnel entrance he had smashed open.
"Pangpang, notify the Monster Hunters' Office to send people over. I'll go farther in and take a look first."
"Wuming, no. Wait for the Monster Hunters' Office people to arrive and let them investigate. Why take this risk?"
Lin Pangpang did not want Su Wuming to take this risk. The moment he saw the tunnel, he understood everything.
A sense of foreboding crept into his heart. Su Wuming felt the same way.
Yet Su Wuming could not stop himself from investigating. Otherwise, he would never be at peace; it would remain a knot in his heart.
"Don't worry. It's not like I came unprepared. If anything happens, I promise I'll run back immediately."
With that, Su Wuming firmly gripped the steel pipe laid across the tunnel entrance with his right hand, then leaped down once more.
As he moved forward, his arm stretched along with him. This was an emergency escape measure. If anything happened, he could snap back at top speed.
With Rubber Gear One unlocked, theoretically, his body could keep stretching indefinitely.
It was just that in battle, he rarely had the chance to brace himself and stretch out. Most of the time, he relied on his own strength to rapidly extend his arm dozens of meters, then snap it back for a strike.
Otherwise, when he had fought Ji Boxiao earlier, if he had been given enough time to stretch his arm, he could have beaten the shit out of Ji Boxiao without using [Front Lotus].
As he slowly ventured deeper, the steel pipe on the ground began scraping toward the edge until it pressed tightly against the entrance and became fixed in place.
Lin Pangpang, using his status as a Spirit Martial Practitioner, had also notified the Monster Hunters' Office.
Afraid they would brush it off again, he directly recorded a video, added a caption, and posted it online and in the class group chat, tagging their instructor, Mo Lan.
The class group chat quickly exploded:
Zhao Qiansun: [Holy shit! Demon Beasts know tunnel warfare now?]
Li Wencai: [Our ancestors' legacy isn't just being stolen by foreign countries anymore. Even Demon Beasts have started studying it?]
Fang Mingxiao: [Shouldn't we be focusing on this tunnel? A tunnel for Demon Beasts to travel through—what if an exit is right outside our own front doors?]
Li Chuang: [What are you scared of? Can't the Monster Hunters' Office just fill it in? What can Black Iron trash like us do even if we know? Help haul dirt?]
Clearly, these students had not realized how serious the situation was. This was not something that could be solved by simply filling in the tunnel.
Fortunately, Instructor Mo Lan spoke up at that moment.
Instructor Mo Lan: [@Qin Ming—have the Monster Hunters' Office under your family sound the alarm.]
Qin Ming: [Got it!]
Instructor Mo Lan: [@Everyone—all of you, gather immediately and head to the South City Safe Zone for shelter. I'll say it again: this is not a drill!]
After sending that message, Mo Lan posted an intelligence video she had just received into the group.
She had only just finished watching it when Lin Pangpang's underground tunnel video arrived.
In the video Instructor Mo Lan posted, somewhere in the Dark Forest nearly buried beneath the unceasing snowfall.
Countless Demon Beasts were densely gathered there. At first glance, it was impossible to tell they were Demon Beasts, but as the camera zoomed in, it revealed Nunu Beasts crawling through the snow one after another.
The person recording the video was about to film farther ahead when a string of bloody blossoms burst across the screen. The video ended there.
As for the person recording it, there was no need to think about the outcome.
Their identity was naturally one of the people sent out earlier to investigate the Snow Demon's attacks on the city.
For a time, the Class One group chat fell silent. Not only that group—every other class group chat was the same.
[...]
Instructor Mo Lan: [@Lin Pangpang—tell Su Wuming to retreat immediately.]
Lin Pangpang: [Got it!!]
After putting away his phone, Lin Pangpang's heartbeat suddenly accelerated, and his breathing became rapid.
"D-Director! Take the children and get out of here!"
"What is it, Pangpang?" Lin Pangpang panicked for a moment, unsure how to explain it, so he showed the video to the director.
He himself rushed into the building and began urging the children to put on warm clothes.
Then he hurried back outside, just as the director finished watching the video. However, the director was calmer than Lin Pangpang.
Though already advanced in years, the director's mentality had long since steadied over the years. Having lived this long, the director had long accepted life and death. The only concern was who would take over caring for these children after the director was gone.
At that moment, Lin Pangpang rushed over, snatched the phone from the director's hand, and called Su Wuming.
However, there was no signal!!!
That completely threw Lin Pangpang into a panic. Just as he was about to grab Su Wuming's hand and warn him, the director stopped him.
"Although I don't understand Spirit Martial Practitioners' abilities, you're harming him by doing that. Without support, he really won't be able to come back."
The reminder immediately made Lin Pangpang come to his senses.
"Director, take the children and go first. Take New Forest Road. I'll go down and call him, then catch up with you."
The moment he finished speaking, an alarm suddenly sounded from an iron tower in the city. Red signal lights came on, sweeping across the city in every direction.
It was the alarm sounded by the Monster Hunters' Office under Qin Ming's family. The other three iron towers followed right after, their alarms blaring as well.
The North City Wall was a step slower. They had only just fired a signal flare when many members of the Guard Team stationed on the wall, jointly formed by the city's major families, chose not to activate the barrier but to flee instead, heading straight for the South City Safe Zone.
At the same time, after seeing the warning signal, Lin Pangpang hurriedly gave one more instruction before jumping directly into the tunnel.
He shouted Su Wuming's name as he ran down in the direction of his arm.
Before you continue