Chapter 77
Three minutes ago, Chi Xia followed the location markers to find this place. It was a pitch-black passage, devoid of any sign of life, yet the location displayed on her wristband was right here, constantly flashing.
"Feng Xu?"
No one responded; there was even a muffled echo.
Chi Xia stood still, tapped her bracelet to look at the map. Her data from her circular movement over the past three minutes resembled a vortex, with the terrain descending. Although there were a few empty areas on the outer perimeter, she had been heading northwest since she first came here. It was safe to say that she was very likely now in the center of the entire Unnamed City.
This was a time-consuming and labor-intensive project during interstellar warfare, built while being concealed. It was like a living person painstakingly hiding themselves from exposure. Simply put, it was like a living person "building a tomb" for themselves, requiring absolute concealment and luring the enemy deep inside.
The power outage in the entire Unnamed City did not affect the normal operation of other places. Is it possible that this place was built for the enemy from the very beginning?
"despair!"
A crisp, clear sound rang out, and then the entire space was illuminated as brightly as day.
Chi Xia's first reaction was to hide under a tall shelter. After her eyes adjusted to the sudden bright light, she found that the place was full of stones, piled up in a sunken space, surrounded by thick stone walls.
It was indeed an ambush, the kind used against aliens during interstellar warfare. This method of burying people alive, though primitive, was effective. Chi Xia quickly found the direction she had come in from. There used to be an exit there, but it was gone. Above her head was an intense light that she couldn't look up at, as if the sun had been stuffed into this airtight space, which was now completely sealed and scorched by the sun.
Even an assassin of Chi Xia's caliber, who has faced countless life-or-death situations and been trained to be as strong as steel, would inevitably feel his heart sink in such an environment; it's a dead end.
“I know you’re inside, and I can kindly tell you that the person you’re looking for is also inside. I think you should have guessed what this place is. Once you’re in, there’s no way you can get out.”
The voice came from above; it was the same commander as before, still wearing a voice changer and megaphone. He spoke politely and with restraint, but beneath this facade, Chi Xia sensed his barely suppressed joy.
"Why don't you come out yourself, take off your disguise, and let us see the brilliance of the top five on the Dawn Ranking? I'll give you a quick and painless experience."
Chi Xia remained unmoved, tapped the bracelet, and dialed Feng Xu's number, but this time even her communication was interrupted.
"drop!"
Those are instruments for signal detection and interference.
The man laughed. "You don't actually think you have any chance of survival, do you? Let me tell you the truth, you're no different from a dead man now. Why not just surrender?"
After waiting no more than five seconds with no response from below, the man decisively gave the order, "Move!"
With a "creak," followed by a long, sharp, and noisy screech, the ground shook violently.
Chi Xia watched helplessly as the surrounding stone walls rose higher and higher, while the boulders around her began to shake as if they were alive, the shaking intensifying until it made her dizzy and her ears ring.
Amidst the uproar, Chi Xia calmed down and walked through the shifting stones. Feng Xu did not respond to her, most likely because he was unconscious. In this state, he could easily be crushed to death by stones.
The person above seemed to have spotted her, and their voice, though disguised, trembled with excitement, "Look, she's there! A woman!"
Chi Xia was initially unsure about the design of the place, but after observing the increased activity and noise above and the intense vibrations below, she became certain that it was a human-driven mechanism based on the most primitive lever principle.
"Kill her! Now!"
The people above went completely mad, cheering and jumping for joy, as if she were a rat trapped in a sealed jar, and the people outside were doing everything they could to shake her to death inside the jar, to turn her into blood, flesh, and powder.
Their madness artificially created an earthquake of at least magnitude five in the space below. Chi Xia struggled to climb onto the wildly shaking rocks, using her own weight to give them a force, and using that force to make them carry her up and down.
Now, she didn't care about being watched by the people above; every second she wasted would mean Feng Xu would be smashed to pieces.
There was no signal, and the location was not displayed. The difficulty of rescuing people in this "earthquake" space with a diameter of nearly 100 meters can be imagined. She moved quickly and laboriously, racing against time and the pressure of death.
A fleeting glimpse of crimson, a breathtaking sight.
Chi Xia stepped on the shattered stones, leaped up, grabbed the figure behind the stone, and before a stone slab could hit her, quickly threw the person onto her back and turned to dart towards the edge of the space.
"As expected of being in the top five of the Dawn Ranking, this strength is comparable to a thousand troops. What a pity." The commander above smiled, looking at the smooth stone wall, which was covered like a barrel. Even if she had suction cups on her body to climb up, she could not possibly push the lid that was pressing down on her by herself.
As the stone trembled and sank, the closed stone door on the rock wall rose above the lid, and the space below gradually compressed, leaving no exit.
Chi Xia observed this result, but Feng Xu behind her was breathing and had warmth, so she led him to the edge of the stone wall.
The tremors in the center are much stronger than those on the sides, just like at the epicenter of an earthquake. Here, although there is shaking, the chance of being hit by falling rocks is greatly reduced.
Chi Xia put Feng Xu down, held him on her lap, took off his gas mask, and confirmed through the blood-stained and grimy face that it was indeed Feng Xu.
This man had kept his car looking brand new, yet now he allowed himself to be disheveled and covered in blood. Chi Xia reached out and touched his two legs; one was broken, and the other wasn't much better. His hands were warm to the touch.
Chi Xia took off her gloves, her trembling fingers checking his breath and then placing them on his carotid artery. He was still alive, but his vital signs were rapidly declining.
"Feng Xu, wake up."
After shouting, Chi Xia began to observe the environment again. This time, she took Feng Xu's gas mask and looked up through the goggles.
After being filtered, the blinding light could now be looked at directly. The thick tempered glass was densely packed with people, but they were divided into several groups, constantly rotating gears. Driven by human power, the glass was slowly sinking, making it look like a large piston.
In a flash, a line of thought exploded—
That's unreasonable! If it was designed to ambush the enemy, how could there only be one passage?
If she were to design it, there might not be an exit, but there would definitely be countless entrances, like rivers flowing into the sea, drawing enemies in from all directions, forcing them to either escape upwards or downwards.
That must be it!
Below is a vibrating boulder, and beneath the boulder is a mechanism; otherwise, how could the boulder vibrate? Therefore, the exit can only be at the top, which makes sense. The intention behind the design of the strong light is to prevent ambushing enemies from looking up and thus making it impossible for them to find the exit.
Using the gas mask as a filter, Chi Xia squinted as she fought against the still intense light, searching for an exit inch by inch on the tempered glass.
"What is she doing?"
The man had thought Chi Xia had found a partner and was sitting on the edge, ready to die. He was somewhat frustrated, feeling that he had overestimated her. Using such a trap meant to bury thousands alive against a woman was simply a waste of talent.
But then he noticed Chi Xia's movements. He walked over from the central command position, stood directly above Chi Xia, and squatted down to look down.
Chi Xia withdrew her gaze, piercing through the scorching tempered glass and two layers of gas goggles, like an iron hook slowly focusing and anchoring her gaze on the person above. With a "click," the hook locked, and Chi Xia's cold and sharp gaze, like a blade drawn from its sheath, shocked the person above, causing their vision to blur and their eyes to dart away.
Chi Xia's lips curled up, and she mouthed: Get down!
The man was so frightened that he fell onto the tempered glass floor, scrambling away as he yelled, "Speed up! Kill her! Sink to the last point and release the bio-toxin!"
“Chi…Chi Xia.”
Chi Xia lowered her head and met Feng Xu's moist gaze, the sharp, burning intensity in her eyes slowly fading.
Feng Xu woke up and stared into her eyes without blinking. When he saw the change in her gaze, he gently curled the corners of his lips. He had seen that look before; it was exactly the same as the one in Tong Yue's painting.
It really is fascinating.
"You can still laugh." Chi Xia's eyes softened as she looked at Feng Xu expressionlessly.
Feng Xu moved, trying to raise his hand, but couldn't. "I want to touch your...your eyes."
Speaking was difficult, as if he had swallowed a mouthful of hot, metallic blood, but it did not dispel his desire to touch the person in front of him.
Chi Xia didn't help him. She looked at him coldly and said, "Get out of here alive, and I'll let you touch me as much as you want."
Feng Xu wanted to laugh, but he choked on the blood in his throat and coughed, spraying blood everywhere. Chi Xia picked him up and hugged him from the front to help him catch his breath.
After climbing into the top ten of the list, this was the first time she had ever teared up because of someone she thought she didn't care much about.
Feng Xu, like a broken puppet, let her hold him, neither retreating nor advancing an inch. "Don't deny it, you...you like me too, don't you..."
His voice was barely audible amidst the chaos, but even his slight sobs as he struggled to breathe were clearly audible to Chi Xia.
With one arm around him and the other holding up her gas mask, she continued to look up, searching for an exit. When she saw a glimmer of hope, she responded, "Hold on, don't die."
Feng Xu's bracelet was no longer on him, and the person who spoke to Chi Xia earlier was not him. How could he knowingly ask the person he liked to come and save him when he was already in dire straits?
It was the commander above who, after tasting the benefits of capturing hostages to lure people out, sent very few people to chase after Chi Xia and Xin Ran, while most of his men were busy capturing hostages.
After being separated from Ye Feng, Feng Xu was left alone. Ye Feng was able to escape because of his teleportation ability, but Feng Xu did not have a similar physical talent. He was chased and forced into this ambush, and was even knocked unconscious and left alone.
Feng Xu: "You shouldn't have come, but thank you for coming."
Chi Xia stared intently at a small raised button on the tempered glass, hugged Feng Xu tightly, and braced her legs, saying, "Let's talk about this outside."
Feng Xu's entire body was numb with pain, and even his limbs were starting to feel cold, but he managed a smile and replied, "Okay..."
When the glass was less than a meter from the boulder below, Chi Xia suddenly picked up Feng Xu and ran wildly along the edge. She ran 500 meters at a 65° angle. Without needing to use her mask to confirm her direction again, Chi Xia turned Feng Xu onto her back. Carrying a man much larger than herself, she stepped on the rocks with reduced vibrations and leaped up.
Upon witnessing this, the commander had no time to warn the others and frantically searched for an exit to escape.
With a "click!", Chi Xia slammed the button into the keyhole, and the locking mechanism clicked and popped open several times, revealing a circular exit with a diameter of one meter, like a piece of ice that had been chiseled open.
"Clang! Clang clang clang!"
After a bomb exploded, deafening gunfire erupted from above.
Chi Xia breathed a sigh of relief; her teammates had arrived as reinforcements.
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