While repairing the car, Han Xiao reflected on the problems exposed during the battle.
His current combat style is mainly based on Sniping, and his best tactic is to kite, but his own movement speed is not fast, so he should create some gadgets to increase his speed.
Powered legs are a good choice, but Han Xiao finds them too bulky. Fortunately, with his current level and knowledge, he can create something more flexible.
He felt he could further refine his combat strategy, such as by forming a robot squad to provide fire support and compensate for the slow frequency of Sniping attacks.
Anyway, our Mechanic Class is a wholesale supplier of equipment; we're self-reliant and just fill in whatever we're missing.
After quickly repairing the car, Han Xiao drove the Thorn and followed the radar coordinates back to the entrance of Feronya. He immediately saw a series of footprints that extended to the edge of the cave and disappeared. After a moment's thought, he knew that the group of wanderers had gone down first.
An ordinary person might worry that someone else would get their hands on the good stuff first, but Han Xiao thought it was better this way, with someone helping him scout out the dangers.
Standing at the edge of the cave entrance, peering down, the rock walls were clearly layered, and at the boundary between sunlight and darkness, one could vaguely see rusted metal extending downwards.
"The rock face shows signs of artificial carving, and there's a fishy smell in the wind... the smell of rust. I've never seen this place before. Let's go down and take a look."
Han Xiao, fully equipped and with a flashlight in his mouth, climbed down the rock face, occasionally shining the flashlight down below.
As he got further and further away from the ground, the sunlight gradually disappeared, and he realized that the rock wall was curved.
Soon, the sunlight disappeared, and darkness enveloped the surroundings, leaving only the flashlight as the sole source of light. This eerie atmosphere made Han He-Tu-Shu Xiao involuntarily on high alert, feeling a chill creep into his heart, and he wished he could slow his heartbeat to ease his tension.
After climbing down for about three minutes, the flashlight finally shone on the ground, revealing a perforated metal floor covered in dust, with thick cobwebs in the cracks, indicating that no one had set foot there for a long time.
Han Xiao rolled over and landed with a thud, the echo carrying far and wide, sounding desolate and eerie in the pitch-black environment.
The surroundings were vast and deep, the flashlight beam like a lonely island in a dark ocean. A rustling sound came from the darkness, as if the sound of something landing had attracted the attention of some unknown entity.
He swiped his flashlight around and found himself in a metal corridor, seemingly built in the style of the base, with reinforced concrete everywhere. The walls were covered with yellowish-green rust oxide, and strange soft-bodied insects could be vaguely seen crawling in the rust.
The perforated metal plate on the ground was covered in dust, and a series of new footprints stretched forward, presumably those of the pilgrims who had gone ahead.
There should be space underneath the perforated metal floor.
Han Xiao turned the flashlight and shone it down at his feet, revealing the scene below.
Through the perforated metal plate beneath his feet, countless densely packed red compound eyes silently watched him in the darkness!
"Holy shit!"
Han Xiao felt a chill run down his spine and hurriedly withdrew the lamp and the picture book light, designating the lower level as a restricted area.
He carefully followed the footprints of the pilgrims. All around was silent, with the faint rustling sounds of creatures crawling. But when he listened carefully, the sounds vanished without a trace, which was very eerie and made him involuntarily tense.
After walking quite a distance, a fork in the road appeared ahead, and the pilgrims' footprints disappeared on the right fork.
Just as he hesitated, he heard hurried footsteps coming from the right fork in the road, as if many people were running in panic and quickly approaching.
Han Xiao quickly dodged to the other side of the road, turned off his flashlight, and put on the night vision goggles from Farrian Wholesale.
"Run! Run!"
"Monster!"
The pilgrims fled in panic from the side paths, as if hiding from some unspeakable force. Their clothes were stained with blood, and their numbers dwindled.
"What are they hiding from?" Han Xiao asked, puzzled.
Suddenly, a deep, beast-like roar came from the other side of the side road next door. It was hoarse and heavy, like the sigh of a giant, and the echo was buzzing. Just hearing this sound made his blood boil, his chest feel nauseous, and he was secretly frightened.
"This is a high-level beast-transformation pressure, definitely exceeding level forty!"
The pilgrims looked terrified, as if they had seen something horrifying, and they crawled backward in panic, using both hands and feet.
However, the monster did not seem to emerge, and the pilgrims collapsed to the ground, looking as if they had just escaped a disaster.
The monster made no sound at all, and Han Xiao remembered it.
"Joel was eaten by a monster, boohoo..."
"This place is terrifying."
The old pilgrim trembled, his expression dejected, as if all his energy had been drained away. He said, "This isn't Feronya. We won't find what we're looking for here. Let's leave quickly and find the real ruins."
Legendary magical ruins should be filled with mystery and antiquity, carved with countless incomprehensible and mysterious patterns, and made of stone as the main body of the ruins. But this place is just a man-made steel base. He saw the emblem of a lost country on the wall. This is a secret military base of the old country.
The pilgrims fell silent. A young man spoke up, "Perhaps this really is Feronya. Our motherland found the ruins and built a base here to study the Treasure of the Desert."
The Treasure of the Desert, a legendary treasure of Feronya, capable of controlling the Somar Desert.
The old pilgrim shook his head and smiled bitterly, "Impossible. If the old kingdom possessed the Treasure of the Desert, how could it have been destroyed?"
"This isn't the place we're looking for. The real Feronya Ruins are still hidden somewhere in the desert!"
The old pilgrim was resolute.
The pilgrims helped each other leave.
After listening to their discussion, Han Xiao finally understood some of his doubts. As far as he knew, there was no magic on Planet Aquamarine, and the so-called miracle of the Treasure of the Desert was likely just the effect of some technological weapons.
But people always have an inexplicable confidence and unrealistic fantasies about mysterious things they don't understand. This inexplicably reminded him of a story: when a flood came, a man prayed to the gods for help on the roof. God sent a boat to save him, but he only hoped for a miracle.
He didn't understand why the pilgrims were so convinced that Feronya was related to magic, but it didn't seem to have anything to do with him... Or was this another hint for a hidden quest?
After regaining his composure, Han Xiao and the other pilgrims appeared only after they had walked a distance, and then hesitated at the fork in the road.
The pilgrim peers to his right and sees a monster, which is dangerous, but the left side is unknown and may be even more dangerous. What should he choose?
"Based on experience, this group of pilgrims is acting as dungeon guides. Their warning about monsters on the right is a clear signal, but it could have two meanings: first, a warning not to go right because of the monsters; second, a deliberate attempt to mislead me into going left..."
Han Xiao gritted his teeth and resolutely chose the right side. The unknown was more terrifying than monsters. He still remembered the dense red eyes on the lower level. If he encountered those things, he would be lucky to escape with his life.
He put on Electrothermal Cutting Gloves, and without a flashlight, using only night vision goggles, he entered the right fork in the road. His vision was filled with a dark green, and he could barely make out the road ahead.
There were huge footprints on the ground, unlike any human footprints. They must have been left by the monster. It also had two legs and five toes. If we were to compare it to human height proportions, this monster would be about three meters tall.
After walking for a while, a room with an open door appeared ahead, and the monster's footprints extended to the doorway and then stopped abruptly.
Han Xiao quietly approached the door and smelled a foul stench, like meat that had been rotting for years, with a hint of fresh blood.
He peered inside.
A pair of large, bell-shaped eyes were staring intently down at him, no more than half a meter away!
Han Xiao felt a chill run down his spine.