Bai Qi flew swiftly over the sea, so fast that the water on either side parted as he passed.
Upon landing on the island again, Bai Qi did not linger. His target was clear: the volcano at the center of the island. The ghosts and zombies in the forest, sensing Bai Qi's terrifying aura, dared not show themselves.
Soon, Bai Qi arrived at the crater, a faint smile gracing his lips as he surveyed the barren landscape.
To ordinary eyes, there was nothing here. But to Bai Qi, it was different. Here, and indeed the entire volcano, pulsed with strong magical fluctuations.
"This entrance is designed so amateurishly."
Dao Long had mentioned sensing a necromancer's presence on the volcano. Upon arrival, Bai Qi had instantly found the way down. This necromancer hadn't even bothered to conceal it.
Unfortunately, perhaps due to age and disrepair, the entrance was no longer operational.
But that was no matter. Bai Qi approached the entrance and lightly tapped it with his finger. The long-sealed door was reactivated. A flash of blue light, and Bai Qi was teleported inside the volcano.
Within the volcano lay a vast space, roughly the size of a football field. However, this did not make it feel spacious. Instead, numerous metal tanks filled the area. Soudan Novels Online.
Bai Qi approached one to inspect it. Externally, these metal tanks were not finely crafted, even crude, preserved to this day solely by magic.
Wiping away dust from the glass, an ugly face appeared before Bai Qi.
"Well, another mad experimenter."
The former owner of the castle Bai Qi had dealt with previously enjoyed magically crossbreeding various animals. Here, the original owner seemed to prefer experimenting on humans.
This metal tank contained nothing less than a person long dead. Unlike ordinary corpses, however, this one was preserved in a special liquid, its body unrotted but gaunt.
From the skeleton, it was not difficult to deduce that in its normal state, this individual would have stood over two meters tall.
Bai Qi moved among these metal tanks, finding similar corpses in almost every one.
Soon, Bai Qi reached the core of this area: a small hut made of sheet metal. The lock on the door was rusted beyond recognition due to age, and the octopus flag hanging on the door clearly indicated its former owner.
Hydra, a massive global terrorist organization.
Many believed Hydra to be a WWII-era German entity, but in reality, Hydra's history predated WWII significantly, tracing back to ancient Egypt. When the first metahuman, Hive, appeared on Earth, his connection to other metahumans was recognized, and he was sent to a dead star. Hydra had been dedicated to his return and world domination.
However, their true rise to prominence was during WWII in Germany, represented by the Red Skull.
Under Hydra's influence, Nazi Germany conducted numerous sensational experiments, spanning science, biology, magic, and genetics.
It now appeared that this place, this volcano, and indeed the entire island, were relics from that era.
While WWII had brought civilization to the brink of destruction, it had also given rise to countless twisted technologies. Especially for the warring nation of Germany, immense investment in the military-industrial complex yielded weapons that still seemed unbelievable today.
Establishing a research facility on such a remote island, gathering numerous necromancers, likely aimed at creating an undead army to turn the tide of their eventual defeat.
As someone who had seen the outcome, it was clear they had failed, but they had left Bai Qi with a considerable inheritance.
Bai Qi did not rush forward. Instead, he picked up a stone from the ground and tossed it casually.
*Crack!*
The flying stone suddenly shattered in mid-air, as if struck by some mysterious force.
"Not bad. It seems these necromancers had some tricks up their sleeves."
The cause was invisible to the naked eye, but with his senses, Bai Qi could easily detect a magic field surrounding the area. Any external intrusion would trigger this field, either blocking or directly eliminating the intruder.
As for why this field and the external metal tanks were still operational after so many years, the fundamental reason was their energy source: the volcano itself.
The volcano continuously provided abundant thermal energy, which was then converted to power the normal operation of this facility.
This field drew its energy from the volcano. To enter the hut, one would either have to sever the connection between the volcano and the field, causing it to fail eventually without its power source, or level the entire volcano, which would also disable the field, though it risked damaging the contents within.
Therefore, Bai Qi chose a third path.
Bai Qi stepped forward and placed his hand gently before the field.
Then, a miraculous event occurred.
The energy from the field was continuously absorbed by Bai Qi. Lacking energy, the field drew power from the volcano to replenish itself. In effect, Bai Qi was absorbing the energy of the entire volcano.
Absorbing the energy of a volcano sounded impressive, but in reality, it was quite straightforward.
Firstly, as a demon of fire, Bai Qi had a natural affinity for fire. Moreover, this was not a complete volcano to begin with. Hydra's research here drew all its power from this volcano. After years of sustaining the facility's operations, the volcano's energy reserves were depleted to a mere fraction. Lastly, and most importantly, Dao Long had performed a ritual here, reaching the peak of ambient dark energy. The entire island was under the control of Mother Dark Energy, so Bai Qi had no reservations about absorbing the volcano's energy.
As streams of volcanic energy were absorbed by Bai Qi, the field gradually became ethereal until it vanished completely. Feeling a warmth spread through his body, akin to emerging from a sauna, Bai Qi felt incredibly comfortable.
As a demon of fire, Bai Qi could rapidly regain his strength by absorbing volcanic energy. However, he could not do so.
Absorbing a large amount of volcanic energy would alter Bai Qi's personality, making him irritable and prone to anger. It would also cause considerable damage to the world. Even Mother Dark Energy, who generally favored him, would not allow such an action.
Occasionally absorbing the residual energy of one or two volcanoes, however, was permissible.
Once the field completely disappeared, Bai Qi stepped forward, tore off the lock on the door, and kicked it open.
As the door swung open, dust billowed out, carrying a musty odor.