Not only Shen Feng's side discovered the zombies entering a deep hibernation state, but other teams also discovered this situation. After entering the ground for twenty to thirty meters, everyone was surprised to find that the zombies were lying in the tunnels, and these zombies did not react even when making loud noises, as if they were completely dead.
For these hibernating zombies, different teams had different ways of dealing with them. Some teams chose to kill all the hibernating zombies, some ignored them and continued to move forward, and some chose to search for valuable jewelry on the zombies. Whether it was a big gold chain, a diamond ring, or a necklace and bracelet, there were people specifically collecting them.
It turned out that some ordinary evolvers felt they were not as fast as ability users in reconnaissance, but they couldn't come back empty-handed. After all, they had participated in the plan, and it would be a loss to leave empty-handed. Therefore, these evolvers began to collect jewelry from the zombies.
Everyone knew that thieves never left empty-handed. Many people understood this principle and didn't want to go underground for nothing. So, they started searching for useful items around them.
There is a saying: "Antiques in prosperous times, gold in troubled times." Gold and silver have always been natural currencies, and many people saw this clearly. Therefore, in this situation, if you don't want to return empty-handed, it's best to bring back some gold and silver, which can at least be exchanged for food.
There was no danger in the cave, and the explorers gradually gave up killing zombies, mainly because the efficiency was not high. Killing hundreds or thousands of zombies every day might only allow them to advance a few hundred meters. However, without considering the zombies on the surface, how many kilometers of tunnels could they explore in a day? The tunnels were intertwined, and if no markers were made, they might get lost. In this case, they had to seize the time and explore diligently, otherwise, the generous reward for first place would go to someone else.
Many people dreamed of becoming the ones who explored the most underground, and by doing so, they could obtain ability potions by becoming the first place.
Becoming an ability user meant soaring into the sky and achieving great success from then on. With such generous rewards, even a fool could see it, so countless people risked their lives to explore.
Little did they know that somewhere underground, there was a huge stone chamber where dozens of corpse kings were talking and playing games. Candles were used for lighting in the stone chamber. Although it was dim, it was enough to see the surroundings clearly. These corpse kings all had large heads and little or no hair on their heads, but their large heads represented their intelligence.
The corpse kings in the stone chamber were either playing mahjong, playing cards, or playing chess. Some corpse kings were even exercising with dumbbells. If they were not called corpse kings, they would look like ordinary people playing games. Except for their slightly larger heads, they were no different from ordinary people.
The leading corpse king was playing international chess, and his name was Ma Jing Shuang, the corpse king who wrote the letter to Yan Jing. No one expected him to be staying in this stone chamber with so many corpse kings around.
"Old Ma, those people have killed many of our subordinates. Shouldn't we strike back now?" asked the corpse king playing chess with Ma Jing Shuang.
Ma Jing Shuang casually made a move and said, "It's fine. You can't catch a tiger without entering the mountain. Besides, the outer areas are just ordinary zombies. It doesn't matter if they are killed. We have over a hundred million subordinates, and losing tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands is nothing. On the contrary, it can make these people relax their vigilance! When they go deeper, when they become more arrogant for a while, then we will use thunderous means to capture them all! This way, Yan Jing will focus more attention on us!"
"Haha, your plan is indeed flawless. You are deliberately acting ostentatiously, deliberately provoking Yan Jing's anger, making them investigate the situation, and making them find ways to eliminate us. But in reality, our real killer move is not here, but in the south!" The corpse king opposite Ma Jing Shuang was extremely excited. He knew that as long as their plan was not exposed, victory would eventually be theirs.
Ma Jing Shuang said unhurriedly, "In fact, war is very much like playing chess. The more you focus on one place, the more you neglect another. I am just drawing humanity's attention to us, but the real killer move is already being prepared!"
"I can already imagine how terrified humanity will be after Yan Jing is breached. At that time, they will have to negotiate with us. We will establish living areas for zombies, and when zombies can also reproduce, zombies will completely defeat humans!" the corpse king said fanatically.
"It's your turn to play chess. Stop talking nonsense," Ma Jing Shuang urged.
"Damn it, I'm checkmated! I lost!" The corpse king on the opposite side only then realized that he had been checkmated by Ma Jing Shuang's brilliant move while he was talking.
Ma Jing Shuang shrugged and then walked out of the stone chamber. When he first became a corpse king, he still thought he was human, just a slightly strange human. As long as he still had human thoughts and ideas, he was still a person. Unfortunately, humans did not think so.
Ma Jing Shuang found that he had become another species, a corpse king feared by everyone. At this moment, Ma Jing Shuang completely gave up his human identity. Since he was a corpse king, he had to fight to the end and survive. He wanted to prove with his actions that even if he became a zombie, he would fight to the end. Why did he suddenly become another species? Why was he hated by humans?
"Just wait and see. I, Ma, have traveled all over the place, relying on a good diversion. Now, I'll let you humans be arrogant for a while. When the time is right, I will kill my way into the city and use my strength to prove that I have the qualifications to negotiate," Ma Jing Shuang muttered to himself.
Outside the stone chamber, mutated zombies stood in neat rows. These mutated zombies were not in a deep hibernation state, but stood in place with vacant eyes, holding many daily necessities and food.
Ma Jing Shuang casually took a piece of fruit from a mutated zombie and began to eat it. Although as a corpse king, he could have any food he wanted, as a former human, he still couldn't eat humans or zombies. He would at most eat the meat of mutated beasts, but not humans or zombies.
In this regard, Ma Jing Shuang did not seem like a zombie, but more like a human.
As the evolvers and ability users entered the vast underground world, the exploration mission was very smooth. This was because they only encountered ordinary zombies when moving underground, and all these zombies were in hibernation. Even if they were killed, these zombies would not react at all. Under such circumstances, the explorers naturally explored the underground caves at a rapid pace.
The explorers thought that there would be some danger underground, as the previous exploration vehicles were often destroyed, and it must have been the zombies that destroyed these small vehicles. However, after more than three days of exploration, they found nothing unusual. It seemed that as long as humans entered the caves, everything was fine. Thus, everyone became bolder and no longer paid attention to the zombies lying in the tunnels, going deeper and deeper.
As for Shen Feng's side, their approach to the zombies in the tunnels was relatively simple. He knew that he could not leave any hidden dangers. If the corpse kings ordered all the zombies to riot, wouldn't everyone die underground?
Therefore, Chu Chaoyan's ability played an important role. She controlled chlorine gas to clear the way in the tunnels. All the zombies in the areas she passed through were killed. In this way, even if they went deep into the hinterland, even if the corpse kings ordered ordinary zombies to attack, the three of them could return the same way, putting themselves in an invincible position.
However, during this period, Shen Feng's eyelids kept twitching, and he felt uneasy. Although all the dangers were eliminated after entering the ground, at this moment, he still felt that he had missed something, and danger always loomed over him.
"What is it? What am I worried about?" Shen Feng muttered to himself by the campfire.
At this time, Shen Feng, Lu Xian, and Chu Chaoyan were repairing in the mountains. It was already dark, and the three dared not stay in the cave, so they left the cave and chose to spend the night in the mountains. Although it was freezing outside, finding a sheltered place and starting a fire could maintain basic body temperature. As long as they were careful not to burn the forest, everything would be fine.
Chu Chaoyan gnawed on compressed biscuits and drank water. She was very relaxed now and said easily about Shen Feng's current worries, "It's okay. Didn't we kill all the zombies in the tunnels we passed through? In this situation, we can just run if anything happens. We'll be fine."
Lu Xian also patted his chest and said seriously, "City Lord, don't worry. I can now detect heat within a one-kilometer radius, especially underground. As long as I detect the situation in the tunnels, I can know if there are any zombies there and know the enemy's situation in advance, which makes it even safer!"
Shen Feng shook his head helplessly after hearing their explanations and said, "It seems I'm just too tired, so I'm always thinking too much. I should get a good night's sleep!"
Shen Feng was very cautious in exploring underground and did not take any dangerous actions. Once a threat was discovered, it was dealt with as early as possible. However, other teams were not like this. It could be said that everyone was doing their best. Some people directly lived in the caves, and except for needing to leave the underground to upload terrain data every day, they never left the caves. The terrain data uploaded by these people was indeed far ahead, as they even ate and slept underground.
Most people chose to explore caves near Yan Jing, because if a zombie siege occurred, they could quickly retreat to the city to avoid being chased by zombies.
A few people chose to explore places farther away from Yan Jing. Zhang Jue, who had wings growing on his back, was one of them. After receiving the equipment for exploring caves, he flapped his wings and soared into the sky, flying thirty miles away to explore a cave there.
Zhang Jue's plan was well thought out. He thought to himself, "The closer the caves are to Yan Jing, the more people are exploring them. If I follow these people, wouldn't I be wasting my time? I should use my advantage, which is flying!"
Zhang Jue used his ability to fly in the sky all day. If he found a cave, he would go down and explore it, but he never went deep. He knew his advantages and disadvantages. If he was surrounded by zombies underground, he would be no different from an ordinary evolver. Therefore, his strategy was to cast a wide net!
Most people, when exploring caves, would dive straight underground. As long as the flashlight had power, they would not come out at all. However, Zhang Jue did the opposite. He specifically did not explore deeply. The caves he chose to explore were places that ordinary people could not reach. In this way, quantity could make up for the lack of quality.
"In short, I must obtain the ability potion and use it for my sister, so that she will also have the ability to protect herself!" Zhang Jue thought to himself.
However, on this day, Zhang Jue discovered something different. After entering the underground cave, he did not find any trace of zombies. Normally, he would be happy not to see zombies, but now, in tunnels filled with zombies, it was too strange not to see any.
"Could it be that there are no zombies living in these tunnels?" Zhang Jue thought to himself.
Zhang Jue thought for a moment and walked a long distance in the tunnel. As long as he did not find any hibernating zombies, he would explore to the end.
After walking about two kilometers underground, Zhang Jue was defeated by the winding tunnels. The tunnels were too complex, with one岔道 connected to another, and they were all interconnected. If no markers were made, it would be easy to get lost underground.
Suddenly, Zhang Jue discovered that the end of one of the tunnels was gradually going downwards. Upon discovering this, Zhang Jue immediately became suspicious and muttered to himself, "Could there be a second layer beneath these tunnels?"
With this thought, Zhang Jue couldn't help but explore downwards. Perhaps he was the first person to discover the second layer of underground space, and if he uploaded this terrain data, he might get more rewards.
But at this moment, a roar came from the depths of the second layer of the tunnel: "Roar..."
After this roar, there were shouts. Zhang Jue had heard these shouts before; it was the sound of countless zombies roaring together, which meant that countless zombies were gathering in the second layer of the tunnel.
"Damn it, the zombies are going to attack!" Hearing this sound, Zhang Jue turned and ran. He knew that he could not defeat a zombie horde, and even a third-tier strong zombie could kill him. And he was in a tunnel now, so flying was impossible. There was only one way: to escape!