LRAB Chapter 495: Bunker Terror (9)
Chapter 495: Bunker Terror (9)
Deep inside the cell block, cell number 11.
The five members of the Quack Club had just returned here. On the way, they encountered many monsters in the dungeon and other players from the two teams. After a fierce battle, fortunately, the five of them cooperated well and had greater strength, so they were able to return to the cell area safely. Although they were not unscathed, it was not a big deal. While they were studying the scratches left by the officers on the wall of cell No. 11, they had already recovered almost completely.
The task of studying these scratches was handed over to the quick-witted Pei Lan and Wuzhitu, while the other three started chatting about the previous battle.
"I always feel that the enemies we fought not long ago are more... How should I put it, something is wrong?"
"You mean the enemy's strength is increasing?"
"Well...hiss...there should be some of this reason, but it's not just this."
"I also feel that something is... wrong, right? You see, the enemies we faced when we first entered the dungeon were just some ordinary soldiers of the enemy army at first, not even cannon fodder. Then there were those mutant rats and mutant hounds. Although these enemies can poison us, to be honest, their strength is just so-so. Those mutant corpses are not to be mentioned. They are not as powerful as the zombies summoned by Kaikai. But think about the battle just now. Not only have the strength of those mutant enemies increased by several levels, but the coordination between them is also not simple. If the system hadn't marked them as enemies in the dungeon, I would have thought they were players wearing mutant-style appearances!"
"But I guess it's just that the new dungeon is more difficult. After a player dies or is eliminated, they will be teleported out of the dungeon immediately, and there will be no corpse left. Maybe you're just overthinking it."
Just when Yuan Si, Zhao Mingkai and Yuan Feng were discussing, Wu Ritu interrupted.
"I think we can't be too sure about this. Although the players we saw were immediately teleported out of the dungeon after they died, it was us, who were also players, or other players who killed them after all."
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is that if only players who are killed by other players are teleported out of the dungeon immediately, then players who die from other reasons, such as the dungeon mechanism or the enemies in the dungeon, may be transformed into mutated enemies in the dungeon. After all, this is a new dungeon, so it's not surprising that there are any rules."
"Now that you mention it, it might be possible!"
"That means that the powerful enemies we have eliminated so far are actually weakened versions of other players?"
"It's not necessarily weakened, it could also be strengthened. After all, among the teams we've encountered so far, there isn't a single player or guild we know. I'm more inclined to believe that the players who died in the dungeon will have their strength modified to an average after they've transformed into mutated enemies. The stronger ones may be weaker than before, and the weaker ones may be stronger than before."
"But this is just your guess. After all, the enemies in all copies are wearing either French or German clothes, and their weapons are also standard weapons of both sides. Even if we are determined to identify them, we probably won't find any actual evidence."
"I have found something, come and see."
Pei Lan, who did not participate in the discussion and had been trying to figure out the meaning of the scratches, found a clue on the wall. Her voice immediately interrupted the discussion of others, and they all gathered around the wall where the scratches were.
"What did you find?"
"Boom."
Pei Lan didn't say anything. He knocked on the wall twice, and the wall made a hollow sound. This was not right. The wall with the scratches should be made of solid soil and rocks according to the structure seen from the outside. That position was not within the movable range of the bunker. After all, there were no props such as shovels in the bunker.
"Is the back empty?"
"Leave it to me, everyone, let me go!"
Knowing that there was still space behind the wall, Yuan Si stretched out his hand to push everyone away, took a half step back, and left himself room to exert force. After the other four people stood in a safe position, he aimed the golden stick in his hand at the location of the scratch and swung it out fiercely.
"Hey I C..!"
"Boom."
However, the wall with the scratches was not as strong as he had imagined. Yuan Si smashed the entire wall away. He also lost his balance due to excessive force and fell to the ground. Fortunately, he was not injured, but he was definitely embarrassed.
"Be careful! Are you okay?"
"It's okay, it's okay. I just didn't expect it to be so crispy."
Yuan Si smiled awkwardly, stood up from the ground with the help of the golden stick, and patted the dirt on his body. Not long after the passage was opened, something like smoke floated out directly from the place where Yuan Si opened it. Yuan Si quickly held his breath and stepped away. Pei Lan had a mask on his face that could protect him from toxic environments, so he was fine. Yuan Feng directly put on a shield for himself. Zhao Mingkai was standing outside cell No. 11, so it was okay.
Among Wuzhitu's passive skills, there is a skill that makes one immune to non-lethal poisons. Once a lethal toxic environment appears, his skill will have a prompt, and there will be a one-minute immunity buffer time before being affected by the toxin. However, his skill does not have a prompt now, so these things are either not poisonous or not lethal toxins.
"Smells of sulfur?"
"Can you confirm that these gases are not poisonous?"
"We can't be sure right now. So, Yuan Si, Kai Kai, you two stay here and guard it. Pei Lan and I will go in and take a look. Yuan Feng, you must be ready to pull us back at any time. If we can confirm that there is no toxin in the environment below, we will come back to inform you. If there is, then Pei Lan and I will investigate it together."
"Well, from the looks of it, there might be some secret hidden in here."
"Okay, then you two should be careful."
After determining the division of labor, Pei Lan and Wu Ritu entered the hole in the wall. Although the entrance made by Yuan Si was spacious, the passage ahead was very narrow and could only accommodate one person crawling forward. Even crawling on the knees was not enough. To be on the safe side, although both of them had Yuan Feng's mark and had the displacement skills to escape, they still kept a certain distance from each other to avoid being killed together in case of an accident.
The passage was filled with the smell of sulfur and heavy fog. The entire passage was not only narrow but also long and there was no light. The deeper they went, the more different the surrounding environment was from the bunker, which made the two of them wonder if they had entered a hidden mission. However, the system did not prompt them, indicating that they were still within the scope of the main mission.
About ten minutes later, Pei Lan and Wu Zhitu finally left the passage and came to a place that was not on the map. This place was very dark, and there were some ancient stone pillar fragments around. The air was very humid, the temperature was not low, and there was a smell of sulfur everywhere.
"This... place can't be the deepest part of the bunker, right?"
"No, that location is on the other side of the bunker, which is directly opposite the location when we entered the bunker copy. And the specific location is also marked on the main quest. No matter what this place is for, it should have nothing to do with the main quest."
"Don't be so absolute. After all, we only found this place by following the main plot."
"You're wrong. We thought this was the location of the detonator, but in fact, this place may have nothing to do with the detonator. It may be a place where some side quest is refreshed."
"Then should we go in? I see there is a corridor-like building ruin in front. Maybe there is a lot of space in the back."
"Let's go in and take a look first. Don't forget that we are just here to investigate whether there is any poison here. If not, we still have three people."
"What if it's poisonous?"
"Then... it's bad luck for both of us."
Since they were not sure whether the gas at the current location was flammable, the two did not use any lighting props, but relied on Wuzhitu's night vision ability to cautiously go deeper inside. The building wreckage that they saw before, which looked like a corridor, was indeed walkable. It was a large stone staircase leading down. On the walls on both sides that were not completely destroyed, there were some familiar paintings, which looked very old, and the two could not recognize them for the time being.
When they reached the middle of the stairs, they felt a few tremors around them. The amplitude was very small and it was not triggered by anything deep inside. After thinking about it, they were sure that the tremors were caused by the shock waves generated by the explosion of shells on the battlefield above the bunker.
After resolving their doubts, the two continued to descend and came to a large building wreckage, most of which was submerged in water. The water temperature was not low, and there was mist floating on the water surface, and the smell of sulfur was very strong. After carefully observing the surroundings, the two finally felt relieved. They finally recognized where this place was.
"The remains of an ancient Roman open-air bath?"
"I felt familiar with the paintings in the corridor before, but it was only when I saw the water that I realized this was a bathhouse. I didn't expect it to be a hot spring."
"If that's the case, then there shouldn't be any poison here, and the smell of sulfur is just coming from these hot springs."
"Let's check again. If there is absolutely no problem, let them come in."
The two carefully checked the wreckage of the bathhouse to see if there was any toxic environment, and searched it briefly. The passage leading to the bathhouse was quickly checked and there was no toxic environment here, so the two used the team channel to notify the other three people, and while on guard at the same place, they waited for the other three to join them.
After a while, Pei Lan and Wuzhitu heard some noises. It was the sound of someone digging the soil. Pei Lan looked back at the stairs. Not long after, a ball of human figure rolled down, cursing all the way down the stairs, and then fell headfirst into the hot spring in the open-air bathing area with a plop.
"Crash!"
"Puff! Zhao Mingkai, fuck you!"
The figure who rolled down the stairs and fell into the hot spring was Yuan Si. The sound of digging the soil was made by him. Due to his body size, he was stuck at the exit of the passage, causing Zhao Mingkai, who was crawling behind him, to stick his face directly on his butt. Zhao Mingkai, who was so angry, directly used the Thousand Year Kill on Yuan Si. Although this method was very damaging, it did successfully allow Yuan Si to rush out of the passage.
"Fatty, I'm gonna fuck you! Why don't I just stab you to death!"
Zhao Mingkai, who came down the stairs, naturally pointed at Yuan Si, who was climbing up the edge of the bathing area, and started to curse him, and even kicked him twice. However, Zhao Mingkai, who was not at an advantage in strength, was naturally pulled down by Yuan Si, and the two of them started fighting in the hot spring. However, in the eyes of others, this fight was just a joke, after all, the two were not really angry.
"Okay, both of you stop playing and come up first."
"Oh."
Yuan Feng just gave a casual advice, and the two stopped fighting and climbed out of the bath. The two who were fighting and greeting each other's relatives just now, now stood together with their arms around each other's shoulders, as if nothing had happened.
"Pei Lan, Wu Ritu, did you find anything?"
"Not yet. We haven't searched this place carefully, but Wuzhitu saw that there is still space in front of the bathhouse. This is not the end of the passage."
"Didn't you two just go into the water? Is there anything underneath?"
"No, there are some holes, but they are just the outlets of the hot springs. There is nothing special. But we can go down and take a look. Maybe we missed something."
"Okay, then Pei Lan and Wu Ri Tu will search the surroundings, Fatty and Kai Kai will search the area with water in the bathing area. After all, this area is quite large. I will seal the passage we came in through and set up some early warnings so that if someone finds this place, we can also receive the news in advance."
"Row."
After everyone finished their work, they started to act. Yuan Si and Zhao Mingkai jumped into the hot spring again, exploring every corner of the water. Pei Lan and Wu Ritu carefully searched around the bathing area, not missing any suspicious places. Yuan Feng returned to the entrance, began to seal the entrance, and set up early warning devices.
Yuan Si and Zhao Mingkai explored the bottom of the water and found a metal object made of iron or copper at the lower right corner of the bathing area. It was a square object with one corner worn off, about two meters square and two fingers wide. There should have been patterns or paintings on it, but it was probably soaked in water for a long time and was severely rusted.
There was a gap at the worn corner, which allowed Yuan Si to insert the end of the handle of his golden rod into it and use it as a crowbar. So Yuan Si naturally inserted the golden rod into that position. However, just before he was about to pry open the metal object, Zhao Mingkai, who was searching the bathhouse with him, immediately stopped him.
"What are you doing, Fatty?"
"Pry this open?"
"What if there's a big hole underneath and it sucks us in?"
"Hiss... That's right, what should we do then, just ignore it?"
"Let's call the others over first and discuss what to do."
"Okay, hey! We found something here!"
Following Yuan Si's shout, the other three quickly gathered around.