Chapter 208
The tunnel suddenly began to widen, but the scenery on both sides remained the same—covered in vines, bullet holes, and bloodstains.
"The tunnel seems to be extending deep underground. Where are we now?"
"If I remember correctly, this direction seems to be towards the Boundary Stele in the Garrison District."
Maple and Lan spoke cautiously in low voices, Anilas nodded in agreement, "I can feel the temperature dropping."
"That's right, the Resonance of the Boundary Stele nearby is becoming increasingly intense."
Because of her right eye, Efnir was particularly sensitive to changes in the Order Energy, and in her perception, they were constantly moving closer to the Boundary Stele.
"If only I had a car..."
"Kite, remove all these roots."
These roots floated with tiny specks of "dust." Although they appeared still, Efnir knew that they might gather together and launch an attack at any moment, so they couldn't be left behind.
Not far away, as Efnir and the others ventured deeper, more and more Mutated Entity came into view. Maple and Lan fired shots to intercept them, but those that got close were easily pierced through the chest by Efnir and died.
Ten minutes have passed, and we still haven't found anything.
"Wait, there's the aura of Mutated Entity ahead."
Efnir raised her hand to stop the others, squinting slightly as she gazed into the deep darkness. Anilas, stared at the distance with a sharp look in her eyes. With the enhanced vision of the "Fifina" template, she could see everything clearly at the edge of her field of vision.
"There are some other spaces ahead; it seems we've reached the end of this stretch of road."
105. Monarch
The group moved forward along the only road, the track beneath their feet extending deeper into the distance, and before them unfolded a breathtaking scene that astonished everyone.
The space here is much brighter than inside the tunnel. Although most people still can't see anything clearly here, the agent can see the entire panorama very clearly—it's like a huge mine. Steel plates are laid out in all directions in this space, which is about the size of a football field. The walls on all sides expose the surface of brown and black rock. Countless towering steel frame structures and steel buildings of all sizes make up a spectacular underground world. And in the very center of all this, a huge cylindrical building stands, rising from the ground to the top of the cave. A large number of mechanical connections radiate outwards from it, and its overwhelming presence makes it impossible not to notice.
Even though there was no light in the underground space at this moment, Efnir could almost picture in her mind what this space looked like on ordinary days.
It's like forcibly moving a corner of a city underground.
"How spectacular... Is this... Is this really underground?"
Lan stared in shock at the scene before her, a sight beyond her comprehension, her heart churning with waves of emotion. Even though she came from the Central Province, this was the first time she had ever seen such a vast space underground. Judging from the various buildings, she was certain that many humans lived here on ordinary days.
But why is such a vast underground world not recorded on the official maps of Xijing City?
Why?
"Where... where am I?"
Anilas shocked than Lan; she tapped the bracelet a few times, her gaze slightly lowered.
"We are now more than fifty meters away from the ground."
"Wow, it's this deep? The subway in the Central Province seems to be only this deep..."
Lan and Yuan exchanged their guesses.
"Is this an air-raid shelter left over from the Old Era? I've heard that many cities in the Old Era had these things, but I've never seen one in person."
Hearing Yuan's guess, Efnir shook her head. "If only that were true."
Most of the air-raid shelters left over from the Old Era were used as strategic evacuation points or underground storage sites, while others were converted into refuges. Large-scale wars between humans had not occurred for a long time in this era, Old Era's fortifications were naturally used to resist Erosion Disaster.
But what's in front of us is clearly not like that.
It doesn't even appear in the records of Xijing City.
This intensified Efnir's unease—why would a satellite city like Maesakagawa possess an underground space of this scale? What was this place? What was it used for? Why wasn't it recorded in the official records of Xijing City? Why were those Mutated Entity concentrated here? What was the Apostle Organization searching for—was it related to this place?
Anilas raised her eyes and glanced at Efnir, sensing a worrying undertone in Efnir voice. Efnir said nothing more, gripping her weapon tightly, her gaze fixed intently on the source of the "dust" in the air.
"Anilas, could you mark this place roughly on a map?"
"Okay, no problem, I need fifteen minutes."
"Good."
Efnir glanced around, lost in thought.
There were no particularly noticeable fluctuations in "dust" here, but a faint "dust" was constantly permeating the air; in other words, the anomaly of "dust" filled all areas of this space.
"Lan, Yuan, Feng, the three of you search the area and see if you find anything—if you encounter any danger that you can't handle, be sure to ignite the signal flare immediately."
"Yes!"
Efnir turned back to look in the direction of the tunnel and moved away.
There was no noticeable "dust" floating inside the tunnel. The railway tracks stretched out from the depths of the tunnel, then pointed towards the center of this underground world, entering the towering cylinder at the very center, and then exiting in another direction, disappearing into another tunnel.
Efnir looked at Anilas: "I'll go check inside that thing in the middle."
"Okay, be careful."
A massive cylindrical building stands in the center of this underground space.
Yuan, Lan, and Feng split up to search, while Anilas was calculating the location and stayed behind to provide support.
Efnir walked along the railway tracks until she reached the cylindrical building. She looked up and gazed upwards, her eyes reaching the very top of this underground space, where she seemed to be embedded within it. Looking up, it was as if she were standing on the edge of a leaning tower about to collapse, looking down into the distance—a chilling sight.
Efnir squinted slightly, her right blue-purple eye deep and alluring—she could clearly sense some "dust" emanating from the interior of this cylindrical tower.
Since gaining the "Dust" vision ability in her right eye during the battle with Codename H, this ability, whose origin and principle are unknown, has never deceived Efnir. Unconsciously, Efnir has become increasingly reliant on the information and intelligence provided by her right eye. The more she understands this ability, the stronger Efnir can be in battle.
"Something seems unusual here..."
Beneath the cylindrical building, the railway tracks extending from the tunnel pointed to a massive entrance, but it was now blocked by a heavy metal door from which fine vines grew. Efnir pursed her lips, not immediately forcing her way in, but instead taking a step forward from the side—she wanted to walk around the huge cylindrical building to observe it.
This enormous cylinder is at least four hundred meters in diameter, and the entire structure is clad in metal. It is an incredible feat of engineering, at least in Efnir's memory, something that Xijing City could not have built in a short time.
At the same time, something else puzzled Efnir — Efnir noticed vehicles parked in front of nearby buildings, with numerous tire Trace on the ground, suggesting vehicles traveling between the cylinder and the surrounding buildings.
This is strange.
--The cylinder is clearly the center of this enormous underground space. The intricate network of alloy roads and the surrounding buildings all revolve around this overwhelmingly dominant cylinder. Even the buildings near the cylinder, with their completely different architectural styles, are deliberately kept at a considerable distance from it, making the area around the cylinder appear very open, like a forest where huge ancient trees grow without any other small trees.
Efnir even sensed a strange feeling of awe from the surrounding buildings, like countless subjects bowing down to their monarch, whose monarch was this huge cylinder—this feeling was very subtle, ambiguous, or rather, it was incredible in itself that one could read such a human emotion from the arrangement of buildings.
106. Loss
"Submission," or rather "fear," is a subtle feeling that appears on the surrounding buildings. It's very strange. A glance at it is like unfolding a magnificent scroll, and the scene in front of you is just a corner of that scroll.
I don't know why Efnir felt this way from the surrounding buildings.
Efnir looked up and for a moment felt as if some kind of gaze was directed at her, but it vanished without a trace the next second, leaving only the illusion of being spied on.
Looking at the towering cylindrical tower, Efnir felt disoriented, as if she were sinking into the ocean, and directly above her, hidden in the dark vortex of the seabed, a huge life form was looking down at her.
As an agent representing the limits of individual human strength, Efnir's intuition has always been reliable. This is not only because her five senses have been enhanced, but also because Efnir has experienced countless battles, and the skills she has honed in battle have made her extremely sensitive to auras and sight.
This feeling was not unfounded; rather, it spread rapidly as Efnir spent more time near the cylinder.
"This is getting weirder and weirder..."
Efnir did not stop. Her gaze remained fixed on the cylinder as she slowly walked around it, observing it carefully, not missing a single detail.
Judging from the oxidation Trace on the metal surface of the cylinder and the Trace on the walls of other surrounding buildings, this cylindrical building is likely not from the same period as the other buildings, and its existence dates back much, much earlier than the other buildings.
After walking a while longer, Efnir came to a broken door.
She stopped and crouched down to examine it.
A shocking Fracture ran through the thick pile of steel, caved inward, burying the roots and vines beneath, while a few roots peeked out from the ground and walls.
At first glance, it seemed fine, but the more she looked, the more Efnir frowned.
The strange, inward-curving Fracture looked as if it had been violently breached from the outside by an immense force.
The large vines that had not yet grown out covered the ground. Efnir had seen the powerful vitality of these vines before. Based on the growth of the vines in this area, she deduced that the growth rate of these vines was extremely impressive. But even so, not many of these vines had poked their heads out. Obviously, not much time had passed since the door was destroyed.
--This door will likely be destroyed soon.
In other words, the perpetrator might not have left yet! Moreover, judging from the extent and manner in which the door was damaged, the force that struck it was not a weapon like cannons. Therefore, it was clearly the work of a person with personal power, such as an agent or Apostle. This person is obviously not someone from Xijing City or Suzuda City, but most likely a member of the Apostle Organization, or even Angel.
Judging from the weight and thickness of the door, the person who broke it open was extremely powerful, far superior to those half-baked Apostle.
Could it be that something here has already been taken by someone else?
With this in mind, Efnir immediately took a few steps back and cautiously probed her surroundings.
But after a long while, Efnir still found no Trace, not even a change in the "dust".
At that moment, a beam of light rose from the direction it had come from.
"A signal flare!?"
Without a second thought, Efnir immediately rose and leaped back in the direction she had come from.
As soon as she left the center area, she saw Anilas running towards her.
"Efnir!"
Anilas waved to Efnir from afar and jumped over.
Efnir noticed that Anilas's expression was somewhat solemn and serious.
"What happened? What was that signal flare? Are we in danger?"
"No, no, I was just calculating our location..."
Hearing Anilas say this, Efnir breathed a slight sigh of relief.
But Anilas, then raised her eyes. "No, to be precise, we're in danger— Efnir, do you sense anything's wrong?"
Something's not right?
Efnir frowned and glanced around.
Something's off about this place, especially that thing.
Anilas followed Efnir's gaze to the towering cylinder, her eyes flickered, and suddenly she grabbed Efnir's sleeve, her legs buckled, and she collapsed towards Efnir.
"Anilas?!"
Efnir quickly helped Anilas.
"What's wrong with you?"
"Efnir... can you take me back to where we came from? Lan and the others are waiting there..."
Anilas's face showed obvious weakness; she looked haggard and spoke in a low voice.
"There's something wrong with that cylinder... the closer I get to it, the less force I can apply..."
Efnir scooped Anilas up in her arms and immediately headed back the way they had come.
When they returned to the entrance, Lan, Yuan, Feng, and the others were already waiting there.
They cleared a small area inside the tunnel, left a flare, and the three of them waited there. When Efnir saw them, she was surprised to find that they had all lifted their Exile Form.
"You..."
"Senior Efnir! Are you alright?"
"Captain! Captain! Are you alright?"
Efnir landed safely with Anilas in her arms. Before she could even put Anilas down, the others rushed over and helped Anilas sit down.
Anilas waved her hand to indicate that she was fine; she was just a little weak. After sitting down against the wall, she looked at the others and asked, "What's wrong with you all? Why... are you all like this?"
"The kite's Order Force has been completely exhausted, so we have no choice but to discontinue the Synchronization."
Maple and Iris exchanged a glance and explained, "But we found that as long as we canceled the Synchronization, we wouldn't be affected, so we simply canceled the Synchronization and waited here."
"Really?"