Chapter 66 The Scorpion's Gift! With my flesh and blood, I welcome the arrival of a new god!
Under the dim light, the shocking scratch marks on the pipe wall were a death warrant left by some kind of behemoth.
The metal plate was torn apart, its edges curling outwards, displaying its undeniable and terrifying power in a grotesque manner.
Lu Zhanting's gaze swept over the scratch marks inch by inch. He tightly gripped a "deactivation pill" mixed with realgar and red yang stone powder in his hand. His muscles tensed silently, and every cell was on high alert.
He did not back down.
He continued crawling forward with slower, lighter movements.
Su Wanqing followed closely behind. In this deathly silent steel cage, she could even clearly hear the amplified pounding of her own heart.
Another bend in the road.
The space ahead suddenly opened up.
They climbed out of the narrow branch pipes and came to a huge, bottomless vertical main ventilation shaft.
Countless pipes of varying thicknesses converge here, like the tangled veins of a steel behemoth, extending into the deeper darkness.
A cold wind howled up from the bottom of the abyss, carrying with it a stench of mud, rust, and a thick, pungent smell of blood.
Both of them stopped breathing at the same time.
About twenty meters diagonally below them, a huge black body was coiled on the thickest main pipe.
It's too big.
The section of its body that was perched there was thicker than a heavy truck.
Its body is covered with layers of black iron-like keratinous scales, which are completely dull. However, dark red patterns flow slowly between the scales, like magma about to erupt from the depths of the earth.
It is dormant.
Its massive body rose and fell slightly with each breath, each exhale producing a deep, rumbling sound that caused the entire metal structure of the ventilation shaft to resonate.
A giant tail covered in bone spurs and tipped with a sickle-like barb hung unconsciously from the pipe, swaying slowly in mid-air.
Each sweep leaves a new, deep scratch on the hard alloy tube wall.
Su Wanqing instantly understood the origin of the scratches on the wall.
This thing is the true guardian of this base.
They must pass silently, either above or below it, to reach the other pipe that connects to the lowest level.
Lu Zhanting turned around and asked with his eyes.
Su Wanqing's eyes gave the answer: there was no other way.
Lu Zhanting took out a specially made climbing rope from his backpack, silently inserted the grappling hook into the gap at the pipe connection, and tightened it with all his might to make sure it was secure.
He tied the rope around his and Su Wanqing's waists and made a downward gesture.
He was going to take her and rappel vertically down from the top of this sleeping behemoth.
This is tantamount to dancing on the devil's fangs.
Even the slightest sound could awaken the terrifying, unknown creature below.
Lu Zhanting's movements were extremely light.
He controlled every muscle in his body, alternating his hands to slowly lower the rope carrying the two of them down.
Ten meters.
Five meters.
They were getting closer and closer to the giant beast, and could even smell the scorching heat of its breath, which carried a strong sulfurous odor.
Su Wanqing held her breath completely, relaxed her body, and handed everything over to Lu Zhanting, but her eyes were fixed on the monster below.
As soon as it shows any sign of waking up, she will immediately throw out the "inactivation pill" and flashbang in her hand.
Suddenly, Lu Zhanting stopped moving abruptly.
A small piece of rust, peeling off from the pipe joint, swirled and fell silently.
It landed squarely on the mountain-like head of that giant beast.
The monster's breathing paused for a moment.
Lu Zhanting and Su Wanqing's hearts also stopped beating.
The black head twitched slightly.
The tightly closed eyelids, like deep, abyss-like cracks, seemed to be struggling to open a crack.
A terrifying pressure originating from the primordial era instantly enveloped the entire ventilation shaft, as if it were about to crush their souls.
Lu Zhanting's back was instantly soaked with cold sweat. He held Su Wanqing tightly in his arms, his other hand gripping the military knife coated with "deactivating pills".
Time stood still.
One second.
Two seconds.
After an unknown amount of time, the giant beast seemed to be merely shifting uncomfortably in its sleep, letting out a dissatisfied grumble in its throat before lowering its massive head once more.
The heavy breathing sounded again.
The crisis has been temporarily averted.
Both of them felt as if they had struggled out of suffocating deep water, their lungs greedily drawing in air.
Lu Zhanting dared not linger any longer. He quickened his descent, and with Su Wanqing in tow, they finally crossed the giant beast safely and landed at the entrance to the pipe leading to the lowest level.
They quickly untied the ropes, packed up their equipment, and the two disappeared back into the narrow darkness.
This time, the atmosphere inside the pipe was completely different.
The air was unusually cold, as if it could freeze even the bones.
Su Wanqing could clearly feel a suppressed and evil energy fluctuation coming from the end of the pipe.
The "immortal heart" lies just ahead.
After crawling for about another hundred meters, the exit appeared.
That was an exhaust grille that had been pried open.
Lu Zhanting cautiously peeked out; outside was an empty corridor.
This corridor is completely different from the upper floor. The walls, ceiling and floor are made of a thick alloy that gleams with a faint light, making it feel like an impenetrable fortress with a strong sense of oppression.
Every ten meters there is a malfunctioning surveillance camera, and there are also heavy explosion-proof doors embedded in the walls.
The lowest level of the base.
The two slid down silently, landing like cats without making a sound.
In the deathly silent corridor, only their own heartbeats could be heard.
As you walk down the corridor, a huge, round alloy door, resembling a bank vault, comes into view.
Above the door, a line of text is marked in red: A-01 Deep Geological Sample Storage Room.
The target has been reached.
The main gate was tightly shut, and the electronic lock in the center flashed a red locking light.
However, next to the electronic lock, the outer casing of a mechanical combination lock used for emergency opening had been forcibly removed, revealing the complex wiring inside.
“It was Scorpion who did it,” Lu Zhanting said in a low voice. “He doesn’t have the highest level of authority, so he tried to break through here by force.”
Su Wanqing stepped forward, her eyes sharp as she looked at the severed wires.
"He didn't crack it; he set a trap."
She took out her handheld computer from her backpack and connected it to the line port.
“He deliberately left this loophole. If someone tries to force the door open from here, it will trigger an alarm, or even… a self-destruct mechanism.”
Su Wanqing's fingers flew across the virtual keyboard, and lines of code flowed across the screen like a waterfall.
"He implanted a trigger command in the main control program, which sends a signal to his terminal whenever there is an external connection. I have already intercepted and blocked this signal."
A cold confidence flashed in her eyes.
"However, he was too arrogant, and this encryption method left a fatal flaw in his personal style."
A few minutes later, a soft "click" sounded.
The electronic lock on the heavy alloy door changed from red to green.
Lu Zhanting stepped forward, grasped the huge round doorknob, his arm muscles bulged, and with all his might, slowly turned it.
With a heavy clanking sound, the alloy door opened a crack inward.
A white mist, colder than the corridor and seemingly capable of freezing the soul, billowed out from the crack in the door.
The two men exchanged a glance, then walked into the storage room with their guns drawn.
The interior is a huge circular space, with deep-temperature freezing chambers arranged on the surrounding walls.
In the very center of the entire storage room is an altar-like base made of special crystal.
At this moment, the cylindrical glass cover on the base has been opened.
Inside, it was completely empty.
They were late.
The "Heart of Immortality" has been taken by the scorpion.
Just as their hearts sank, a holographic projection screen suddenly lit up on the base in the center of the storage room.
What appeared on the screen was not the scorpion's face.
Instead, it was an ancient map slowly unfolding, its final destination marked in a massive underground cave known as the "Cradle of the Gods."
A processed, hoarse, and malicious voice rang out from the hidden speaker.
"Welcome, key."
"By the time you see this message, you've probably already admired my pet and solved the mystery I left behind. I must admit, you're even more interesting than described in the profile..."
The voice paused, as if savoring something.
"The pure, masculine, and vigorous life force within you is truly... captivating. It will be the best offering for the incarnation of a new god."
“I await you in the Cradle of God. Come, fulfill your destiny as the ‘Key,’ and witness with your own eyes the end of an old era and the beginning of an age of immortality.”
As soon as the words were spoken, the holographic image disappeared.
Lu Zhanting's face was as cold as ice.
"boom--!"
With a loud bang, the heavy alloy door behind them slammed shut!
The entire storage room was plunged into darkness instantly, with only the emergency lights on the walls emitting an eerie red glow.
They were locked up.
“Now, the game enters the next phase.” Scorpion’s voice rang out again, with a hint of playful mockery. “Before the final ceremony begins, please allow me to introduce you to the true ‘gatekeeper’.”
"I hope you... will like my gift."
As he spoke, an alloy wall directly in front of the two of them slowly slid open to both sides.
A huge, bottomless black hole was exposed.
An extremely dangerous aura, filled with violence and madness, rushed out of the cave entrance.
A heavy, rolling sound of footsteps came from afar.
Immediately afterwards, a huge figure emerged step by step from the darkness.
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