Han Ling stood still, her gaze slightly narrowed as she stared at the ground beneath her feet.
The sound was very faint, so faint that she even wondered if she was being overly sensitive due to her profession and had misjudged the situation. But...
" Captain Han, what's wrong?" Cao Yiyi noticed that Han Ling and the Stone-Armored Beast hadn't followed, and looked over with some confusion.
Han Ling looked at the ground beneath her feet, feeling the movements below becoming clearer at an extremely rapid pace.
She suddenly looked up, her expression grave, and gazed at the crowd watching them.
"A Calamity Beast is coming up from below, and it's moving very fast!"
Upon hearing this, everyone was slightly taken aback.
Below... are Calamity Beast rising up?
They could hardly believe what he meant, after all, the area below had been thoroughly cleaned up by Director Jiang.
Cao Yiyi instinctively opened her mouth to refute, but before she could speak, she stopped herself.
She suppressed her urge to refute and began to sense things from below.
The people around remained silent, also sensing downwards.
Soon, Cao Yiyi's expression changed.
Her eyes were slightly open, her expression grave, tinged with disbelief. "This... how is this possible?"
"Are there really Calamity Beast down there?" A Fifth Tier inspector from Chongshan City also sensed it and frowned. "Didn't Director Jiang say before he left that all the Calamity Beast down there had been killed? How come there are still some alive? Could they have been missed?"
"Impossible! Our mental strength isn't strong enough to sense what's happening underground. But for Xingwei, the situation at the Eye of Earth Marrow couldn't have been hidden from him the moment he arrived here. Unless it's Sixth Tier or higher Calamity Beast skilled in stealth, but Calamity Beast skilled in that wouldn't be assigned to guard such a place!"
Cao Yiyi refuted this with certainty.
"Therefore, under these circumstances, it's impossible to miss any Calamity Beast! Besides, Xingwei even went down there himself!"
"Then why is that?" the inspector asked, frowning. He couldn't refute what Cao Yiyi said, but the reality was that a Calamity Beast had appeared underground and was rapidly rising.
There was no reply, Cao Yiyi's brows furrowed as well.
This is what she doesn't understand: why did Lord Xingwei say that all the Calamity Beast had been dealt with, but now another one has escaped?
The people around were also pondering this.
However, with limited resources, it seems impossible to come up with any solutions.
What if it were Shen Heng...? Han Ling, standing to the side, lowered her eyes slightly.
"You guys think," Zhou Xuan suddenly raised his hand and rubbed his chin twice, "Could it be that this Calamity Beast can burrow underground and has been hiding there, waiting for Director Jiang to leave before coming back?"
Upon hearing this, everyone turned to look.
Han Ling also glanced at Zhou Xuan. This reason was indeed something Zhou Xuan could come up with, after all, the god he summoned at the First Tier was the Earth God!
"No way!" Cao Yiyi continued to refute, "Normal Calamity Beast wouldn't hide underground for no reason; besides, Xingwei would definitely be able to sense the surrounding situation if he went down, unless it was hiding very far away; plus the commotion it made coming up now, if it were Calamity Beast that could burrow underground, it would have just burrowed up directly, instead of coming up like this!"
"Uh, that's true..." Zhou Xuan nodded, then frowned again, "It can't be that they can be resurrected, can it?"
Upon hearing this Cao Yiyi instinctively opened her mouth to retort, but after parting her lips, she paused, and hesitantly said:
"Perhaps... it really is possible to be resurrected. After all, only in this way is it possible to rise again after Lord Xingwei's departure. Yes, that's it!"
Zhou Xuan stared wide-eyed at the mushroom-headed girl who seemed to have found the answer, her eyes wide with disbelief.
No, I was just saying it casually, and you actually believed me?!
Han Ling glanced at the ground beneath her feet, then looked up at Cao Yiyi.
"Regardless of whether it can be revived or not, we need to figure out what to do now!"
One sentence brought everyone back to the point.
Upon hearing this, Cao Yiyi frowned and nodded, beginning to ponder what to do next.
Should we run? Or prepare to fight?
Han Ling glanced at Cao Yiyi, and seeing that he didn't seem to have the ability to make a decision immediately, said:
"How about we evacuate for now?"
"Hmm? Why?" Wang Hu crossed his arms and looked over with a slight frown.
Cao Yiyi looked over with some confusion.
"If the Calamity Beast below isn't strong, then it poses no threat to us; we can simply kill Calamity Beast!" Han Ling calmly observed the two.
"But with so many Origin Crystal already, killing one more of these Calamity Beast doesn't make much of a difference!"
"Conversely, if the Calamity Beast that come up are very strong, strong enough to deal with all of us, then the best thing for us right now is to retreat!"
"Even so, there's still a possibility of the Calamity Beast catching up, but Calamity Beast might also ignore us and go report on the situation here!"
He paused for a moment, then continued:
"... Then, based on normal reasoning, the one who survived under these circumstances is very likely the strongest one in this Eye of Earth Marrow!"
After he finished speaking, the room fell silent.
"Are you going to run away before even seeing the situation of the Calamity Beast?" Wang Hu asked in a low voice, a smirk playing on his lips.
"At the speed of this Calamity Beast, it will come up before we can completely evacuate. If you want to fight, we can decide after we see the specific situation of the beast!" Han Ling said calmly to Wang Hu.
Wang Hu's lips twitched even wider as he looked at Han Ling and said, "Spending so much time with Shen Heng, are you starting to become like Shen Heng?"
Han Ling paused, then tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Perhaps it's just a matter of being influenced by one's surroundings!"
"Heh, that sounds like something Shen Heng would say!" Wang Hu grinned.
Without responding further, Han Ling turned her gaze to Cao Yiyi.
Before leaving, Jiang Xingwei said that she would leave the decision-making process to the other party and had no objections. Wang Hu also showed no interest in the matter.
Cao Yiyi looked at Han Ling with a slight brightening in her eyes. She hadn't expected the other party to think so comprehensively. And, Shen Heng...?
Shaking his head, Cao Yiyi and said:
"In that case, it's decided. Let's retreat first!"
Everyone nodded, then quickly retreated to the side.
They didn't get very far away.
"Bang! Bang!..."
The sound of the ground trembling echoed at the entrance leading to the Eye of Earth Marrow below.
As they flew backward, their eyes kept turning towards the entrance to the Eye of Earth Marrow.
soon.
"Bang!"
A huge beast claw emerged from the entrance and landed on the ground.
Then, a Calamity Beast slowly crawled up from the ground.
Han Ling stared at that spot, then her gaze suddenly stopped.
Zhou Xuan's slightly uncertain voice came through the channel.
"Hey, I say, isn't this the same Profound Crystal Griffin we encountered over a year ago?"