A new day dawned, and the explorers entered the caves one after another. As usual, everyone wanted to complete the cave exploration mission as quickly as possible and receive generous rewards. To do this, they had to rank in the top ten among the exploration team of over three thousand people. Otherwise, the ordinary rewards were simply not enough. Evolution potions were useless to those who were already evolvers.
Eating the flesh of mutated beasts could also turn one into an evolver, so while evolution potions seemed to offer rich rewards, their value was not high.
After the first four or five days of reconnaissance, everyone discovered that the tunnels were mostly filled with dormant zombies. These zombies did not resist even when killed. Many people had indeed killed zombies, but more chose to ignore them. Time was the most precious commodity; wasn't it better to spend time exploring the tunnels than killing zombies?
Shen Feng, like others, entered the underground. He chose a cave far from Yanjing to ensure that his exploration area did not overlap with others.
However, the tunnels today seemed to have become different. It was very quiet within the tunnels. Although he still frequently saw dormant zombies on the ground, this usual sight made him start to suspect, "We have been killing zombies all these days. Roughly speaking, tens of thousands of zombies have already died under the poison gas. Could it be that the Corpse King is unaware of our actions? That shouldn't be the case!"
Chu Chaoyan, as usual, used chlorine gas to kill zombies and advance. Lu Xian also used his abilities to scout for potential dangers in the tunnels. As long as no awake zombies were found, there would be no danger.
Suddenly, Shen Feng thought of something and quickly asked, "Lu Xian, can your ability detect heat in the soil?"
Lu Xian was surprised that Shen Feng asked about this and shook his head, saying, "No, I can only detect heat on the surface of solids. I cannot detect the heat distribution within solids."
"No, we must leave the tunnels immediately. I sense a conspiracy!" Upon hearing this, Shen Feng was about to turn and leave because he suddenly thought of a terrifying problem: if zombies were hiding in the soil, wouldn't they be able to easily block the tunnels?
"Why leave? There are no awake zombies nearby!" Lu Xian asked in confusion.
Shen Feng patiently explained, "It's not snowing anymore, but why aren't the zombies leaving the caves to fight? Why are they still hiding in the tunnels? They must be plotting something, especially underground. Once the entrance is blocked, we'll be doomed. The underground is not our territory!"
At this moment, Shen Feng was truly panicking. He had felt uneasy for the past few days, feeling that he must have overlooked something. Now, thinking carefully, the unusual aspect was the zombies. Logically, these zombies, having found a hiding place, would not allow people to explore the caves so freely. Yet, after five days of exploration, during which countless ordinary zombies had been killed, the Corpse King had shown no reaction. This was too strange!
Shen Feng was somewhat alarmed, but Chu Chaoyan instead asked, "Shen Feng, do you think the zombies would seek their own death? It's already difficult to get fresh air in the underground world, and there are ventilation shafts everywhere. If the zombies block the tunnels, with so many zombies staying underground, wouldn't they all suffocate?"
"That's true. Am I being too suspicious?" Shen Feng thought about it and realized it made sense. The air underground came from above. If the zombies completely blocked the tunnels, it would be a great harm to themselves, and perhaps even the Corpse King would suffocate underground. Since this was the case, the zombies would definitely not block the entrances.
Lu Xian also patted his chest and said, "City Lord, don't worry. If there's danger, I'll give you advance warning. From what I see, the zombies don't care about such minor casualties. These zombies just want to wait until spring to act, so we can just explore the terrain."
Shen Feng was eventually persuaded. Indeed, there was no sign of danger at the moment. If he kept suspecting things, he would miss the opportunity to explore the caves.
The three continued to advance into the depths of the cave. Behind them were only the zombies they had killed. The underground world was very complex. Shen Feng had encountered underground battles in Fish Town before, but the caves then were huge and spacious, and everything was visible from the cave ceiling. The caves in Yanjing were different; twenty to thirty meters underground were all tunnels. Shen Feng had not seen any spacious areas, only one passage leading to another.
"It's like a spiderweb. How can we investigate the terrain carefully?" Shen Feng said with frustration.
Shen Feng speculated that these maze-like tunnels might have been deliberately created by the Corpse King to confuse humans. After all, they had been exploring underground for five days, but they had not found any mutated zombies. They could only infer that the mutated zombies and the Corpse King were hidden elsewhere, so they wouldn't be found anytime soon.
The number of mutated zombies was one in ten thousand. For every thousand ordinary zombies, there was one mutated zombie. However, with the current massive zombie horde, there were certainly many mutated zombies. It was estimated that there were at least a million mutated zombies, enough to destroy a small city. The fact that they were now hidden was very thought-provoking. If the Corpse King had done this intentionally, then there must be a huge conspiracy!
Shen Feng advanced five to six kilometers underground and suddenly saw a passage leading upwards. It turned out that Shen Feng had moved from one entrance to another. This entrance was a passage sloping upwards at thirty degrees. If one looked closely, they could see a faint light at the end of the cave. Walking this way would allow them to leave the underground.
However, at this moment, the ground began to tremble slightly, and small stones began to jump. The intense tremors were immediately noticed by the three. Roaring sounds could also be faintly heard from the depths of the cave. The three immediately felt that something was wrong.
"Let's go quickly. Fortunately, there's a way!" Shen Feng took the lead and prepared to leave through this exit. The situation in the cave indicated that the zombies had started to act, otherwise, there wouldn't be tremors and roaring sounds in the cave.
Shen Feng led the way towards the surface, but as he looked up, he found that the faint light from above was gone. The light from the ground instantly disappeared, replaced by several huge stones rolling down from above.
"Damn, what's going on!" Shen Feng was surprised that the cave entrance was suddenly blocked, and giant stones were rolling down. Without time to think, he reached out to block the falling stones. Fortunately, the slope here was not very steep, and Shen Feng managed to hold up the giant stones. These stones must have weighed over ten tons. If they had fallen on a person, they would have been crushed into a meat patty on the spot!
Chu Chaoyan was also panicked at this sight and quickly said, "Let's go back quickly and leave through the entrance we came from."
Shen Feng pushed the giant stones with all his might, but they did not move at all. It was clear that they could not leave this way.
However, Shen Feng did not heed Chu Chaoyan's suggestion and instead explained, "If I'm not mistaken, the entrance we came from must also be blocked. We are now trapped underground, and it will be very difficult to leave."
"How could this happen?" Chu Chaoyan was bewildered. She didn't understand, "Don't the zombies fear suffocating underground themselves? Why are the zombies doing this? Why?"
Shen Feng thought for a moment and said to Lu Xian, "Quickly lead the way, through the passage without zombies. I don't believe all the cave entrances are blocked. There must be an exit for us. But we must be careful, the zombies might all be awake!"
Lu Xian quickly took the lead towards the passage without zombies. He used his abilities to their fullest extent, extending his abilities along the passage. He could sense zombies in the passage a kilometer away. Being trapped underground was a minor issue, as there was no immediate danger of death. However, if they were caught by zombies, they would face endless attacks, which needed to be avoided.
Shen Feng's guess was correct. The zombies that were previously in a dormant state were now instantly awake. In the dark tunnels, the zombies stood up one by one and roamed the tunnels. Once they spotted humans, they would rush forward and attack ferociously.
In just a few minutes, all the zombies underground had awakened and were surging through the tunnels, attacking humans on sight. Many explorers did not expect the zombies to awaken at this time. For the past five days, these zombies had been easy prey, but now they were attacking frantically. It was unbelievable.
The explorers immediately wanted to leave the underground. They fought zombies while retreating towards the entrance they came from. As long as they could leave the caves, their survival would be guaranteed. However, when they reached the exit, they were surprised to find that the entrance had been blocked at some point, making it impossible to leave through it.
The explorers were filled with despair. They had not expected the zombies, who had been inactive, to attack humans, nor had they expected the entrance to be blocked at some point. Leaving the underground seemed like a distant hope.
Not only in the west of Shen Feng's city did the cave entrances get blocked and zombies go berserk, but also in Yanshan, north of Yanjing, zombies rioted at the same time. The plains to the east and south of the city were even more direct: all cave entrances were instantly sealed, and the zombies awakened to attack humans.
The zombies in the tunnels were all ordinary zombies. An ordinary evolver could easily deal with ten to eight ordinary zombies, but it was different underground. The zombies charged forward frantically. For every ten killed, there were a hundred more. The zombies seemed to charge endlessly. The evolvers fought valiantly, but in the end, they were exhausted and bitten to death by the zombies.
Qin Kewe and Yue Hengyi also encountered the same problem. Endless zombies charged forward, showing no fear of death.
Seeing this situation, Yue Hengyi decisively unleashed his ability: "Gravity Domain!"
Instantly, within a twenty-meter radius around Yue Hengyi, gravity increased dramatically. Three times the normal gravity enveloped the area. The zombies rushing towards Yue Hengyi and Qin Kewe stopped abruptly, falling involuntarily. The weaker zombies died on the spot. The sudden increase in gravity forced these zombies to the ground. The gravity was applied from the outside in. While bones might not break, internal organs were different. The liver and spleen could not withstand such pressure and exploded within the body.
At this moment, Yue Hengyi had resolved the threat of the zombies. He then turned to Qin Kewe and said, "Sister Qin, quickly change the terrain and leave. The Corpse King seems to have started acting. It will be dangerous to stay underground."
At this time, Qin Kewe was struggling to stand, leaning against the tunnel wall. She was already an evolver, but she still felt the strain from Yue Hengyi's ability. Three times the normal gravity had placed a great burden on her. If her physical fitness were any weaker, she would have collapsed on the spot.
"Okay, I'll open a passage to leave the underground right away!" Qin Kewe nodded. After activating her ability, the ground around her instantly split apart, and a straight passage was formed. This passage sloped upwards towards the surface. As long as they left through it, the danger would be automatically resolved.
Similarly, Wang Aoye also encountered danger. Fortunately, Hu Lixue was by his side. She was an evolver previously defeated by Shen Feng. Her ability was hypnotic waves, which could affect humans. Hypnotic waves were specifically designed to induce sleep. She pointed her finger into the tunnel, and the charging zombies fell into a slumber again. Waves that affected humans also affected zombies.
Hu Lixue looked at Wang Aoye anxiously and said, "Boss, the zombies have all gone berserk. We can only run. Let's find a way to escape, otherwise, when the mutated zombies appear, we will all die!"
Wang Aoye nodded and looked at Zhu Kai, asking, "Isn't your ability to control rocks? You must be able to control the soil to form a passage, right?"
Under the flashlight's beam, Zhu Kai's face looked somewhat grim, but he said seriously, "My ability is indeed to manipulate rocks, but I must point out one thing: the rock content in soil is not high. I can create a passage to leave, but it will take at least half a day. Rocks and soil are different."
Wang Aoye nodded seriously and said, "Half a day, right? We will buy you time. You just need to be responsible for creating the passage to the outside. We will hold off the zombies. Even if the Corpse King appears here, I will cut off his head!"
The zombies in the tunnels had all become active. Wang Aoye had not killed the dormant zombies earlier, and now the consequences of not clearing the danger had appeared. The zombies were all attacking humans frantically. Even with seven evolvers present, Wang Aoye felt the danger. The narrow tunnels did not allow for evasion, but the zombies were endless, as if they were inexhaustible. In such a situation, everyone hoped to leave quickly.
Zhu Kai quickly focused on creating the passage to the outside, while the defense task was handed over to others. The group had never been so united.
Among the mountains, a black figure shot up into the sky. Upon closer inspection, it was an evolver with a pair of black wings on his back. After emerging from the underground cave, fearing that the zombies would pursue him, he simply flew into the sky, thus avoiding being killed by the zombies.
Zhang Jue flew in the sky, still shaken. The moment he discovered the zombie riot, he fled. Even though he discovered the problem in time, he was almost caught by speed-type zombies in the tunnels. If he had been any slower in his escape, he would have perished underground by now.
"Hoo... hoo..." Zhang Jue gasped for breath as he flew. Although he was safe now, he didn't know what to do. Continuing to explore the caves was also dangerous, but he hadn't explored much of the area. Giving up the mission like this would be embarrassing, wouldn't it?
"Forget it, I'll return to Yanjing to report this matter first. I'll come back to investigate the underground situation in a few days." Zhang Jue flapped his wings and flew towards Yanjing. Since the zombies had awakened, there was no point in staying here. It was better to rest in Yanjing.
However, when Zhang Jue returned to Yanjing, he learned that something big had happened today. On this day, zombie riots had occurred in all the underground caves in the four directions of Yanjing. By now, apart from Zhang Jue who had returned to Yanjing, no one else had come back. Both evolvers and ability users had vanished without a trace!
"In one day, the entire exploration team was wiped out!" The headquarters finally received this news!