Chapter 47: Underground River
[Attention. A large number of unknown heat sources are approaching you. Leave the site immediately!]
's warning burst from the vehicle's communications, his tone urgent.
's pupils contracted sharply.
"Everyone, retreat! Run toward the base! Don't look back!"
His roar exploded through the tunnel. The team members doing support work froze for half a beat, then dropped their tools and ran.
The LED light strips illuminated their fleeing backs, their footsteps amplified several times in the enclosed space.
But the people inside the all-purpose vehicle tacitly did not run. They were at the front—getting out and running would not only be too late, it would also mean abandoning their last line of defense.
grabbed the control stick, and the " 's" heavy body began to slowly reverse.
Its six wheels rolled over the freshly laid temporary track, steadily following behind the fleeing people.
While reversing, the team member in charge of the weapon system had already reached the machine gun control panel. The twin-linked gauss machine gun turret's servo motors spun up, its barrels trained on the darkness ahead in the tunnel.
A few seconds later, a dense, continuous "rustling" sound suddenly echoed through the tunnel.
Like countless dry limbs scraping against the rock walls, like torrential rain hammering a sheet-metal roof.
Then, less than forty meters ahead, the tunnel wall began to crack.
The quick-setting material's coating first developed hairline cracks, then peeled off in large chunks.
What burst out of the gaps was not rubble, but a black, gleaming segmented limb—thicker than an adult's arm, its surface covered in dark brown carapace, ending in a scythe-shaped hook.
When the first insect burrowed out, 's heartbeat skipped a beat.
The thing was over three meters long, its flat body divided into dozens of segments, each segment extending a pair of razor-sharp legs.
Two antennae on its head thrashed wildly, and layered teeth were visible between its opening and closing mandibles.
It wasn't alone.
The rock wall shattered at multiple points at once—the second, the third, the seventh, the fifteenth—the swarm surged out of the cracks from every direction like a tide, filling the tunnel space ahead.
didn't hesitate. He gave the attack order directly.
"Open fire!"
The twin-linked gauss machine gun turret let out an air-rending shriek as electromagnetically accelerated projectiles slammed into the swarm at supersonic speed.
The first centipede's head was blown to pieces, green bodily fluid splattering against the tunnel wall and giving off faint wisps of smoke.
The second charged right behind it. The ammo belt didn't pause—sustained fire pierced through its thorax and abdomen. Carried by inertia, the creature slid two meters forward before stopping, its legs twitching a few times before going completely still.
The barrels rotated at an extremely fast angular speed, weaving an impenetrable web of fire through the narrow tunnel.
controlled the vehicle's retreat while keeping his eyes on the monsters that kept lunging at them.
The swarm's charge was clearly suppressed. A layer of insect corpses had piled up on the tunnel floor ahead, green fluid pooling into little streams that made sticky, viscous sounds as the wheels rolled over them.
But insects were still pouring out, just more slowly.
They seemed to realize that a frontal charge meant certain death and began crawling along the tunnel ceiling and side walls instead, trying to approach from firing blind spots.
"Damn, they're pretty smart," cursed. The team member manning the weapon system promptly switched the turret's firing mode to sweeping fire, expanding its coverage.
Several centipedes attempting to flank were swept down, and as they writhed on the ground, follow-up projectiles pinned them dead.
[ , all team members have withdrawn inside the base gate.]
's voice rang out at just the right moment, instantly easing the pressure on .
took a deep breath.
The team members were safe. That meant he had nothing to worry about behind him.
He immediately stopped reversing.
The " " braked firmly in the tunnel, all six wheels locking, the entire vehicle becoming a stationary gun platform.
The gauss turret's firing accuracy immediately jumped up a level.
Every projectile precisely pierced an insect. The tunnel was filled with the sounds of carapaces shattering and fluid splattering.
Once he'd confirmed these insects weren't very durable, had already changed his mind.
Since your HP bar isn't long, don't blame me for being ruthless.
Three minutes later, fewer and fewer insects emerged.
The last few poked their heads out of the cracks, antennae twitching as if assessing the situation, then retreated back inside.
The turret stopped firing. The tunnel suddenly grew so quiet that only the hum of the ventilation system and the clatter of falling shell casings remained.
[Threat temporarily neutralized.] confirmed, then added, [I've sent five Sentinels into the tunnel. They're approaching you.]
[They're carrying supplementary ammunition.]
Two minutes later, several Robots arrived from the tunnel behind , muzzles facing forward, taking up defensive positions on either side of the vehicle.
With reinforcements, completely relaxed and began directing his team members to reload ammunition.
"What are these?" he asked while staying on guard.
[Judging by their size and body structure, they should be lower-order relatives of the .]
's tone was quite certain.
knew that creature—he had seen it before on the screen used specially to display known mutants.
That had left a deep impression on him back then. He never expected its earlier stage to be this weak.
"So you're saying, when they grow up, they become that?"
[Theoretically, yes. The good news is they're clearly still far off from that.]
looked at the tunnel littered with insect corpses. Over a hundred had been killed, but the number that actually emerged was clearly higher—a considerable portion had been scared off by the firepower.
"So what are you thinking?"
[I'm quite curious now... what's inside that cavity.]
"You want me to go in and take a look?"
[Are you willing?]
didn't hesitate. He had already guessed what this AI was thinking when he heard the Robots were carrying supplementary ammunition.
"I'm curious too." smiled. Having a swarm of insects constantly disrupting his work in the future was not a good idea.
[Don't worry. The current thermal imaging scan shows no large heat sources ahead.]
[Those insects fled, and that's that. The cavity itself should be safe for now.]
"Alright." grabbed the control stick again. "Let's go in and take a look."
The " " restarted, its wheels rolling over insect corpses and slime as it advanced slowly.
The high-power searchlight at the front blazed to life, its white beam piercing the darkness ahead.
The rock wall at the end of the tunnel had already been largely broken apart by the swarm itself. With a bit of a push, the vehicle smashed through the remaining obstruction and drove into the anomalous cavity area previously detected on the radar.
The moment the searchlight swept the darkness away, 's hand on the control stick froze.
This looked like a natural karst cave, but it was almost too regular.
There was also a river in it.
More precisely, an underground river about fifteen meters wide, its surface an eerie deep green that gave off a faint fluorescence under the light.
On both banks were jagged rock walls covered in large amounts of green, glowing moss-like material.
The fleeing centipedes were now scurrying frantically away along the riverbank, their carapaces reflecting a damp sheen in the light, quickly vanishing into the darkness upstream.
" , can you see this?"
[I can see it.]
[An underground water system... This is flowing water.]
[Flow rate approximately 0.3 meters per second, water temperature 14 degrees Celsius, preliminary assessment shows no significant radioactivity.]
"Should I take samples?" asked.
[Yes. No unknown organisms or radioactive contamination detected. There are portable sampling bottles in the vehicle. Take water samples from three different locations first, but pay attention to safety precautions.]
"Understood." fished the sampling equipment out of the toolbox behind the driver's seat, opened the door, and stepped out.
His feet landed on the damp stone surface, where he could feel a faint vibration—the resonance of water scouring the bedrock of the riverbed.
The air carried a damp, mineral smell—not exactly unpleasant, but definitely not fresh.
He crouched at the riverbank and submerged the sampling bottle, taking care not to let the water touch his hands, even though he was wearing gloves.
With the three samples collected, returned to the vehicle.
"What's next? Keep following the river?"
[We can try advancing upstream. There are no unknown large heat source signals nearby.]
The " " drove slowly along the riverbank.
The underground river's channel varied in width—the narrowest point was only seven or eight meters, the widest over twenty.
The cavity's height changed as well. On some stretches, the ceiling hung less than three meters above the water; on others, it towered more than ten meters high.
The vehicle-mounted geological radar kept working, transmitting the geological structure along the route back to 's consciousness in real time.
While receiving the data, marked the course of the underground river on his cognitive map.
As the course became clear, noticed a problem.
The river's overall flow was from northeast to southwest.
And its upstream direction—the northeast—
Pointed directly at a place he was very familiar with— Hairui Biotechnology Co., Ltd.
He immediately pulled up the existing surface survey data and projected the underground river's course onto the ground map for overlay comparison.
The margin of error was within acceptable range.
If the river maintained its current course and extended upstream about four kilometers—it would reach the strata directly beneath Hairui Biotech.
Coincidence? Like hell it was. Something was definitely wrong! immediately went on alert.
The " " advanced another eight hundred meters or so.
The tunnel space suddenly widened considerably, as if they had entered a natural underground hall.
The underground river split into two tributaries here—one continuing northeast, the other turning due north.
And just then, noticed something wrong.
The color of the moss on the riverbank had changed.
It had been dark green before; now it gradually transitioned to deep red.
"Mr. , this..." 's tone carried a hint of gravity.
[I see it. Prepare to turn around and head back. The danger ahead is no longer controllable.]
stepped on the brake, and the " " came to a steady stop, its searchlight shining ahead.
At the farthest reach of the light, on the rock walls on both sides of the underground river, the moss-like attachments grew denser and redder.
Their form was changing too—no longer flat moss, but beginning to bulge outward into finger-sized spherical protrusions.
Like some kind of flesh growing on the rock walls.
A chill ran down 's back.
He had seen this sort of thing before.
In District—the flesh tissue that grew out of building walls was almost exactly like what he was seeing now, only much smaller in scale, looking like an early stage of development.
"This..." drew in a sharp breath.
[ , an unknown heat source has been detected ahead. Please turn around and head back immediately.]