Once communications were restored, everything became more orderly, and there was no need to raise the volume to make sure everyone could hear.

"A7, found traces resembling footprints."

"C3, drag traces detected."

…

Unusual clues were captured one after another, and Chen Nian moved closer to look at the footprints.

Well, it was a little different from what he had imagined. The shape and size of the footprints were obviously not from humans, nor did they look like any creature he knew.

If I must say, it seems to be an alien that walks on four legs.

There were large patches of dried blood on the walls of the corridor, which had oxidized and turned black due to the long time.

The mental power spread along the long and narrow corridor, exploring to the end, where it was blocked by a metal door.

Amid the sound of everyone exploring and communicating, Chen Ci suddenly said, "Everyone, silence."

The moment they heard the order, everyone shut up and stopped moving at the same time.

The surroundings fell into silence, and a faint chaotic sound passed through the metal door and was clearly captured by my ears.

Some kind of flexible creature was constantly turning and moving, occasionally hitting the wall. The vibrations caused by the fierce fight were transmitted through the metal and sensed by the extremely sensitive team members.

Shafley made a gesture, and the team closest to the gate moved forward silently.

They leaned against the wall, their fingers on the trigger, concentrated their mental strength, stared at the door that was about to open, and breathed steadily.

Shafley raised his hand, and the terminal on his wrist came into contact with the reader. After a few violent flashes, the door slid open to the sides.

In an instant, mental power extended through the crack in the door, and Chen Ci "saw" a strangely shaped monster crawling on the ceiling, with several soft limbs clinging to the surface of the building, rushing towards them quickly!

The bullets poured out and hit the monster instantly.

It let out a scream, and was finally illuminated by the light, its body appearing a peculiar blue in the dim light.

The roles of prey and hunter were instantly reversed. The monster followed the sound and came over, intending to hunt, but it encountered an unprecedented fierce attack.

Blue blood spurted out at once, and it fell from the ceiling and hit the ground. It tried to retreat, but was shot in the head.

The monster lay paralyzed on the ground, completely motionless.

The special operations team approached cautiously, and Shafley warned: "Be careful, something might come out of the spine on its back."

All team members were wearing closed protective suits with thick masks, so even if they were attacked, they could provide some resistance in the first place.

The leader put the muzzle of the submachine gun against the back of the monster's neck. With the sound of flesh tearing, the loach-like creature suddenly drilled out and rushed straight towards the team members!

Then it was shot and burst into pieces, with juice splattering everywhere.

"What a damn thing." The team members couldn't help but complain.

Chen Nian hurried forward. Apart from a slightly different appearance, the corpse lying on the ground was the same species as the monster that attacked him near the Ring Ocean Platform!

Shafley and others turned the monster's body over, and its face also had lines filled with blue substance, but without the shape of eyes.

The compass pointed faithfully toward the corpse.

Chen Ci was looking at the end of the passage.

He walked over alone, and seeing this, Fu Tianhe hurriedly followed Chen Ci.

The two of them walked through a hundred-meter-long corridor together. The light at the end was broken, probably because it was killed by the blue monster.

The lampshade was shattered all over the floor, and even the wires were pulled out, occasionally emitting arcs with a crackling sound.

A robot that had been torn into pieces lay against the wall. It looked similar to the one seen in the incubator before, but it had a long antenna on its back, which fell crookedly to the side.

The chaotic noises they heard in silence were the result of the fight between the blue monster and the robot. The outcome of the fight was obvious, as the blue-eyed monster, the victor, had already died at the hands of their guns.

There were some miscellaneous objects scattered around the robot, including relatively intact metal blocks, mechanical parts with less rust, and containers of various sizes.

Fu Tianhe squatted down and checked the condition of the robot. The visual sensor on its head kept flashing red, one after another, silently.

"This is a remote-controlled robot." Fu Tianhe quickly concluded, "Someone is controlling it to collect supplies here."

"Really?" Everyone was immediately cheered up.

"Yeah." Fu Tianhe dismantled the robot's energy capsule in two moves. Nearly half of the energy inside had been used up, and there were obvious signs of processing.

Fu Tianhe: "This is not the original energy system. The robot has been modified. If nothing goes wrong, there may be other robots coming to recycle the unused energy blocks. Energy should be a rare thing in the moonlight now."

Special Forces Captain: "Can we follow the trail it came from?"

"It should work." Fu Tianhe looked at Shafulai, "This is operated by an antenna. Can we try to connect the signal?"

Shafley: "I just tried it, but I haven't received a response yet, and the channel hasn't picked up any other signals."

Fu Tianhe: "Maybe they are also trying to hide themselves. After all, it's quite dangerous here."

More clues about the survivors filled everyone with motivation, but unfortunately the communication between this place and the outside world was cut off, so they could only use the internal shortwave channel, otherwise they could apply for additional manpower.

The special forces placed cameras near the small robot so that if it was recovered, it could be discovered immediately.

As for the corpse of the blue monster, it is relatively unimportant. After all, there is another one in Cinnabar's deep cell, and Beacon has also been studied and a lot of information has been obtained, and a compass has been made.

After the team members finished debugging, they aimed the camera at the damaged robot. Shafley used the permission card to open the door at the end. Well, the remote-controlled robot also has the habit of closing the door.

Shafley: "Everyone, please be careful. There may be more blue monsters."

"receive."

After the ID card was checked, the door slowly opened and light came in from the front, illuminating everyone's eyes.

It is hard not to notice its huge figure at first glance, clinging to the building like a strange, jagged rock on the seabed.

A giant anglerfish is embedded in the wall.

The slender protrusion extending from the center of its head swells at the end, emitting light, like a hanging lantern, suspended in the air, dispelling all darkness in the enclosed space.

Its eyes are on its back, its head is flat, its mouth is wide and full of sharp teeth, and its countless skin protrusions make it look like a complete monster. It grows recklessly because it lives in the deep sea and cannot be seen.

Fear was unavoidable, but Chen Nian quickly came to his senses. He took a deep breath, quickly adjusted his state, and used reason to fight against his instincts.

Speaking of which, he has to thank Electric Fantasy Kingdom. Several months of playing the game have greatly enhanced his psychological endurance. If the scene before him was seen by someone with a fear of the deep sea, they would probably be unable to breathe.

The anglerfish has no scales, its skin is exposed and has long been dehydrated and dried up.

But the light on the tumor shows that it is not dead yet. The glandular cells secrete light hormones, and the slow oxidation reaction produces light, which becomes a bright but not dazzling lamp.

The special forces training quickly left the corridor and entered this wide space. Hundreds of people used their mental power to explore the anglerfish, carefully guarding against possible accidents.

Without taking off the mask, Chen Nian knew that this place must have the same foul stench as the area where Maxine was.

He and Chen Ci exchanged a glance and were about to move closer, trying to make contact to see if he could hear the sound again, when suddenly a special forces member's voice came from the earphone: "Severe and unstable energy fluctuations detected!"

What?

Before I could ask clearly, my vision suddenly became blurry and the sounds in my ears disappeared.

Countless rectangular blocks swayed before my eyes, turning everything I saw into blurred blocks of color, shaking and mottled.

For a moment, Chen Nian thought he had returned to the electric fantasy kingdom. Countless brown blisters burst, and the juice made the picture mosaic.

He immediately reached out and grabbed Chen Ci's wrist, and felt his brother holding his own tightly as well.

Chen Ci's presence made Chen Nian feel more at ease. At least no matter what the situation was, he was not alone.

It is difficult to use accurate onomatopeia to describe the chaotic movement and stillness echoing in my ears. I can only say that every sound makes my heart tighten and my hair stand on end.

Fortunately, this state only lasted for five or six seconds, and the scene in front of my eyes suddenly became clear again.

It was still a bright light, but it did not come from the deep-sea fish lanterns in mid-air. Rows of overhead lights left no room for shadows. The huge anglerfish disappeared, and the empty room was filled with large equipment.

Everything is extremely neat, with regular walls and several robotic arms extending from the ceiling, full of the beauty of technology.

Chen Nian's eyes widened in surprise. He turned his head and saw Chen Ci with a slightly frown on his face, observing his surroundings as quickly as possible.

Everyone else just stood there, sighing in amazement.

Shafulai and Fu Tianhe immediately came to the brothers' side and promised to provide them with protection as soon as possible.

What they saw was clearly related to the unstable energy fluctuations they had just sensed.

Steel plates are being manufactured by large machines, and robotic arms are performing basic welding. The entire workshop is highly automated, with only the central control console displaying various data and processes.

Shafley calmed himself down, walked forward and looked at the screen on the control panel.

The upper right corner only shows the time of the day, but judging by the situation inside the workshop, it should be at the time node before the moonlight collapse.

Several robot supervisors passed by them, unaware of the more than one hundred uninvited guests, and continued to move forward.

The special forces continue to monitor the abnormal energy fluctuations, trying to find its source.

However, before everyone could find out more information, the vision became blurry again.

After a few seconds, the view darkened slightly, and gray dust floated silently in the light and shadow. The huge anglerfish opened its fierce mouth, and the lantern on its head became the only light source.

They returned to reality.

The control panel in front of Shafla disappeared without a trace, leaving only traces of it being violently removed on the floor.

The large machines and robotic arms also disappeared, and everything became deserted and terrifying.

Is it an illusion?

At first Chen Nian didn't think anything was wrong, but when he suddenly came back to reality, he suddenly realized the depression.

In the normal scene just now, the place where the anglerfish was was still a complete wall. If they were standing at the base of the wall, would they be swallowed by the anglerfish now?

No one could tell if something like this would happen again, so everyone became more cautious. Chen Ci took a step forward and came to the anglerfish.

He raised his hand and pressed it against the rough, rocky skin.

The heavy breathing of the anglerfish came into my mind.

【……】

It was silent, not saying a word, as if in this world, except for the light emitted by itself, everything else was false.

Chen Ci withdrew his hand without trying to ask it anything.

This workshop used to be part of an assembly line, and the produced steel plates would be transported to other places. Now that the transportation passage has collapsed, they can only find a suitable passage through other means.

Several team members collected the stratum corneum from the anglerfish's skin as samples for testing.

Although it is extremely large, it is not big enough to be called the King of the Sea. As the team goes deeper, the state of the original creatures seems to be more complete.

No one knows how it has managed to survive without any water.

No matter how much they evolve, primitive organisms cannot completely live without water.

"There's a shoe here!" He was so excited when he heard the team members' report on the channel that he almost broke his voice.

This is the first human-left object the team discovered after entering the moonlight!

People gathered around to take a look. A child's shoe was lying alone in the corner. It was only the size of a palm and covered in dust.

There was a gap in the corner of the wall, with broken concrete blocking the other side, but the gap left should be large enough for a child to pass through, and there was no bloodstain around.

Perhaps a child who was in a crisis situation managed to escape at the time.

"Try here."

Several special forces members used tools to enlarge the gap and were the first to enter the other side of the wall.

This is the next step in the assembly line. The instruments have also been removed, and the back half of the anglerfish takes up most of the space.

Without the light provided by deep-sea fish, infrared goggles were activated one after another, and mental power spread far away, keenly sensing the unusual things above.

The ceiling is integrated with raw stones that can block mental power, but with Chen Ci's current level, he can slightly break through the barrier and perceive more hidden situations.

Chen Ci poked Shafulai with his elbow, and their thoughts connected through mental power, and Shafulai immediately took out a compass.

The pointer is spinning 360 degrees in a disorderly manner, indicating that the object attracting it is either above your head or below your feet.

Just when Shaflay wanted to tell everyone the news, his vision suddenly blurred again.

All the images began to spin, and the dark and light green in the infrared goggles merged into a deep black in the center of the vortex.

Amid the noise, the view suddenly became bright. The crackling sound of cold water pouring on hot objects was incessant. In the huge assembly line, the steel plates were undergoing the final quenching.

Chen Ci looked up. The ceiling was clean and tidy. There was nothing on it except lights and robotic arms.

But he could feel that the thing was still hidden there.

Fu Tianhe is observing the operation level of the entire assembly line. The quenching method of the steel plate is quite strict, and the finished products produced by this will be of the highest grade.

Ordinary workshops rarely choose this method because it consumes a lot of raw materials and energy, which is not worth the loss in today's resource shortage.

What does moonlight create?

Chen Ci loaded the gun in his hand.

He took a few steps forward and slowly approached the door on the other side. At this moment, a team of robots was passing by. The team could pass through the open door and enter the next room.

Fu Tianhe couldn't tell what Chen Ci was paying attention to, but that state of complete alertness was transmitted to him through the mark.

Shafulai quickly passed through the door, and his vision blurred again. Noticing the change, Shafulai immediately grabbed Chen Nian and pulled the boy, who had just stepped over the door frame, to his side.

The next moment, the surroundings fell into darkness again and they returned to reality. If Shafley had not acted quickly, Chen Nian would have been trapped in the closed door.

babble--!

The shrill screams rang in his ears, and the moment his vision blurred, Chen Ci brazenly pulled the trigger!

Phew.

Blue blood spurted out, and the monster's twisted body had just appeared when the bullet accurately pierced its head.

The large-caliber bullet caused half of the monster's head to explode like a watermelon. The monster screamed, lost control of its body in mid-air, and fell heavily to the ground.

Chen Ci adjusted his angle, preparing to deal with the loach that was parasitic on his spine.

But that thing was one step faster and drilled out from the alien's tailbone in an instant!

The mental force swept over suddenly, forcing the loach-like monster to stop. It was even so powerful that it could change the gravity field, and it seemed that it would directly crush it to the point of exploding!

However, to Chen Ci's surprise, the blue alien swam in his mental power like a fish in water, so slippery that he could not reach it at all.

It moved quickly, taking advantage of the debris on the ground to hide itself, and in the blink of an eye it turned around and dived into the tail of the anglerfish.

Chen Ci: …………

He frowned slightly and approached the alien corpse step by step. He saw the wet blue trail left by the parasitic species dragging and extending towards the anglerfish.

What happened just now?

Why did his mental power fail?

Chen Ci pondered the feeling he had just had, as if... he instinctively regarded that thing as a companion and was unable to do anything harmful, just as he was unable to control himself with his mental strength.

Fu Tianhe didn't know what was going on. He just stared at the place where the anglerfish was drilled and asked in a low voice: "Will this fish be controlled by that thing?"

"I don't know." Chen Ci took note of it silently, preparing to discuss it with Chen Nian in private after reviewing it with him.

He used his foot to turn the alien's corpse over. The blue markings on its face were more similar to the one he encountered in the corridor.

Chen Ci turned around and looked at the closed gate. Most of the troops had just entered the other side. Only he, Fu Tianhe, and five special forces members were left here.

After a brief burst, the abnormal energy fell back to the bottom of the fluctuation, waiting for the next rise.

"It should be the overlap of time and space." Shafley's voice came from the headset, "The unstable energy affects the nearby space, causing a certain time in the past to overlap with the present. No matter what happened in the past or now, it will have a certain impact on us."

In the past, Chen Nian would have definitely complained, "You've read too many novels. How could such a thing happen?"

But now, no matter what happens, he will not be surprised.

Chen Nian even felt that everything they had experienced in the fantasy kingdom before was designed for this, and all the current situations could be found in the game.

So the last sentence, "Be careful with your eyes," made him particularly uneasy.

The sea king Maxeney had dozens of eyes. Not only did he reach into them and take out the missing limbs, he also saw Maxeney's tears.

The three members who drank the eye secretions in order to suppress Ashes also don't know what happened to them.

Chen Nian took a deep breath, calmed himself, and asked, "Brother, can you find another way to get here?"

Chen Ci: "Should."

The five special forces members quickly explored. Chen Ci closed his eyes and used his mental power to penetrate the metal barrier as much as possible to find the weak point.

Fu Tianhe looked up at the ceiling. In the light of the flashlight, two robotic arms that had not been disassembled were hanging alone in the air. There were zip lines at their roots, and under normal circumstances, they could move across the entire assembly line.

Today the assembly line has been dismantled, but the track for the robotic arm remains.

"Maybe we can get through there." Fu Tianhe pointed upwards, "but it might be a little dangerous."

"Try it."

Chen Ci estimated the height between the track and the ground. They were wearing special protective clothing with shock-absorbing functions, so even if they accidentally fell, they would not get hurt.

Two special forces members stepped forward, found the right angle, and fired the lanyard.

With the help of mental power, the hook was hung on the horizontal bar accurately and wrapped around it several times to fix it.

"I'll go up first so I can pick you two up." said the special forces soldier. He hung the buckle on his waist on the rope and climbed up quickly with absolute agility.

Perhaps it would be more vivid to say "竄". In less than half a minute, he had reached the track twenty meters above his head and stood on the narrow metal frame.

Others followed one after another, and the last team member who came up retracted the rope. Seven people stood side by side. If they were not careful, they would slip and fall.

Chen Ci stood on the 40-centimeter-wide metal structure and looked down. The ground was swallowed up by darkness, as if there was a bottomless abyss of ten thousand meters under their feet.

Chen Ci: ……………

He stopped, squatted down to lower his center of gravity, sat astride the horizontal bar, and decided to move forward little by little in the most stable way.

"We have found a way to do it." Fu Tianhe said in the communication channel, "Wait for us for a while."

The seven men moved forward carefully. There was something sticky attached to the metal frame, which looked very much like the pipe that Chen Ci had drilled through when he opened the manual valve.

The test results showed that it contained genes from many different organisms. Chen Nian felt good at the time. To some extent, this thing was the flesh and blood of many organisms.

Fortunately, the protection of the protective suit has reduced the disgust in my heart a lot.

Ten minutes later, seven people crossed over the assembly line and successfully joined the main force.

Chen Ci said: "The parasitic species that came out of the blue alien's body has drilled into the anglerfish's body. We don't know what will happen to it."

"The worst possible outcome is that the big thing starts moving again under control," Chen Nian consoled him. "It's been out of the water for so long, and it looks half-dead. Even if it moves, it probably won't cause much harm."

Chen Nian exhaled and complained, "I thought there was only one blue monster that we caught, but how come there are so many?"

"The two just now should be much weaker than the one you encountered." Chen Ci said, "They are also relatively smaller in size. The patterns on their faces should be related to their levels."

The special forces captain stared at the instrument closely, detecting the source and direction of the energy fluctuations. The changes in the strength of the energy clearly showed a certain pattern. There was a difference of about twenty minutes between the two overlaps, which meant that the next time and space overlap would come soon.

They can take advantage of that time to pass quickly.

There are only a few minutes left before the estimated time, so everyone is hurrying to prepare.

Fu Tianhe told Shafley about the steel plate problem: "The steel production of Moonlight should be reported. Can this kind of thing be found?"

"Of course they can, but we've lost the signal to the outside world and can't connect to the database." Shafley paused and said, "Those steel plates are probably used to build shelters, so they have to be of such high quality."

Fu Tianhe nodded: "You should be able to see other facilities being installed on the assembly line at the back, so pay more attention to them later."

Three minutes later, the captain's voice came into the headset: "Energy fluctuations detected, everyone get ready!"

Everyone immediately gripped their guns tightly, waiting for the coming dizziness.

Countless rectangular blocks of color overlap, and one can even feel a kind of silent burning sensation sweeping over the whole body. The past and the present overlap at this moment.

The view suddenly became bright, Shafer came to check the ID card, and everyone rushed through the open door.

Many robots are working, and my mental power finds the passage on the left that allows me to leave the assembly line and enter a more spacious facility.

There were two white coats hanging on hooks on the wall. The clothes, which had just been taken off, seemed to still carry the body temperature of their owners.

Chen Ci: "Turn left, there are traces of human presence over there."

My mental power quickly followed the direction and I seemed to be able to hear the man's hurried footsteps.

Chen Ci closed his eyes, grabbed Fu Tianhe's arm, supported his body, and focused all his attention on his mental strength.

Finally, Chen Ci encountered that person.

His head was shaved, and a round hole was cut in the skull at the back of his head. A lush cluster of purple crystals protruded from it, and one could even see the gray brain tissue inside through the gap, protected by a layer of meninges.

The clothes between his arms and legs were bulging abnormally, and hard inorganic matter was growing through his skin, forming strange shapes.

Does it hurt? It should be very painful, but despite this, the man still walked forward at a steady pace.

On his chest hung a metal name tag.

Hebo Ceres.