Chapter 170 The Disappearing Corpses

Nan Gong Wuyue left protective barriers around the soldiers who had died unexpectedly, ensuring that their remains would be safe from the mountain beasts tonight. Other soldiers from the kingdom's army would naturally come to search for these missing soldiers in the morning. She and Hao Ren did not rashly try to find other outposts in the mountains to report the news—because it would be difficult to explain why two foreign mercenaries who had not applied for patrol missions and had not been registered would appear near the kingdom's army's defense line late at night. Now that Leyton Town was panicked, and the kingdom's army and the Church army were on edge, it was best to avoid as much trouble as possible.

However, not long after she and Hao Ren left, she suddenly felt the barrier she had left being touched by some strange energy. Immediately afterward, the environment where the barrier was located underwent an incredible change, and she immediately called out to Hao Ren, "Go back! Something's happening!"

Hao Ren didn't know what was going on, but he immediately followed Nan Gong Wuyue back to where the fallen soldiers were, and both of them subconsciously restrained their aura. When they returned to the small clearing, they saw an unbelievable scene: the bodies of the fallen soldiers were gradually being swallowed by the earth!

The solid rocky ground seemed to soften into mud, surging silently and quickly, engulfing the remains of the soldiers. The scene was as bizarre as a living swamp. Many soldiers' remains had disappeared, leaving only a few traces of blood and a lingering bloody smell in their place. The remaining bodies were almost completely swallowed. When Hao Ren and Nan Gong Wuyue arrived, they only had time to see a few pieces of armor sinking into the "swamp" at an astonishing speed!

"What's going on?!" Hao Ren couldn't help but exclaim in surprise at this bizarre scene. He wasn't very good at concealing his aura in the first place, and now that he found no enemies on the scene, he naturally relaxed even more. But the moment he spoke, the "mud" that was constantly swallowing the remains seemed to sense something and suddenly paused. Then, it suddenly sped up its movements and splashed out more than a dozen "mud" spikes towards Hao Ren and Nan Gong Wuyue.

As soon as the "mud" left the "mud pit" below, it quickly hardened, turning into sharp stone thorns in mid-air!

Nan Gong Wuyue's body was too large to dodge at this time, and she only had time to subconsciously curl up her tail to prepare for a hard defense. But Hao Ren's practice in recent days finally paid off. He reacted quickly and lunged forward, blocking all the stone thorns. The sharp and unusually strong stone thorns erupted into an ear-piercing sound like metal clashing against each other on the shield, shattering into pieces all over the ground.

Hao Ren and Nan Gong Wuyue were also temporarily blocked by this sudden situation. By the time they reacted, everything was over: all the bodies in the small clearing had disappeared, leaving only a little blood and a few scattered pieces of equipment. The softened ground that had been surging like a mud pit had also returned to normal. Hao Ren stepped forward and stepped on it, feeling that it was solid rock.

"What was that just now?" Nan Gong Wuyue slithered forward with some lingering fear, bent down to touch the stone on the ground, and tapped around with the tip of her tail.

The data terminal flickered with a faint light and floated in front of Hao Ren: "Just now, I detected magic energy reactions, but as soon as we approached, it quickly transferred. Based on the sensitivity of the transfer and the counterattack just now, someone should be monitoring here, but I don't know where they're hiding. There's no one within radar range."

"The bodies were swallowed underground?" Hao Ren was thinking about another question. He had just watched the soldiers' remains being swallowed by the earth, and the bizarre scene made him think of the suspicious camp he had seen at the lakeside outpost before: it was the same scene after a fierce battle, with the same traces of blood and a bloody smell, and the same lack of corpses. "Dig down and see!"

As he spoke, he released an autonomous machine from his dimensional storage. The little monster covered in tentacles was surprised by the surrounding environment at first, but then it received the order. It formed a ring-shaped drill with its tentacles under its body, and bright blue light burst out from the tips of the tentacles. Its entire body spun rapidly and dug downward.

Hao Ren chose the excavation point where one of the bodies disappeared. He felt that if the body was swallowed by the earth, there would at least be some clues left directly below. However, the autonomous machine drill went down more than ten meters, but only brought up some unremarkable stones and gravel.

"Gone?" Hao Ren was surprised. "Could it have been absorbed by the Dragon Spine Mountains?"

The word "absorbed" was something he had unconsciously thought of, but it immediately reminded Nan Gong Wuyue next to him. The siren girl immediately held her breath and carefully sensed the earth with her body. Hao Ren was a little curious when he saw her like this: "What are you looking for?"

"Water, the moisture I left behind, and the moisture in those soldiers' bodies," Nan Gong Wuyue frowned and searched carefully. "I can remember the water I've come into contact with in a short period of time, and I can sense it no matter where it goes, even if it turns into steam, or even if it's really absorbed by the mountains… I can feel that the moisture is moving deep underground, very quickly."

Hao Ren immediately stopped talking and let Nan Gong Wuyue sense it slowly. The latter had completely activated her talent. Her consciousness was rapidly extending along the ubiquitous moisture in the atmosphere and soil. The shape of the Dragon Spine Mountains was slowly outlined in her mind, using water of varying concentrations as lines and colors, depicting a three-dimensional image that was vaguely similar to the real world but had many differences. The Dragon Spine Mountains were a dry, unpleasant gray-white in this image, and the further down it went, the more so. Only a few underground rivers flowing through the caves in the mountains showed a bright blue color. Among these strange colors, a glimmering color was moving rapidly under the earth—and was about to leave her sensing range.

Nan Gong Wuyue immediately raised her body, subconsciously hissing in her throat, and quickly swung her long tail to chase in a certain direction: "Over there! Hurry!"

Hao Ren didn't have time to ask about the situation and ran after her.

They ran quickly along the mountain road and soon left the normal road, entering a primitive mountainous area that was difficult for ordinary people to set foot in. The rocks were jagged, the slopes were high and the road was steep, making it almost impossible to stand. Nan Gong Wuyue was chasing along the shortest route in her senses, so naturally she couldn't take into account choosing a road while chasing. However, this road condition was not a problem for the two of them: Hao Ren jumped lightly between the rocks, feeling no different from walking on flat ground. Nan Gong Wuyue was even more relaxed. She raised her upper body and part of her snake body high, and her tail slid quickly on the rugged mountain terrain and even the rock walls, as stable as if it were equipped with seventeen or eighteen gyroscopes…

In this situation, Hao Ren even had time to joke, "You're pretty steady."

Nan Gong Wuyue smiled slightly: "Search online for a 'the steadiest mountain parkour video in history,' I uploaded it. My record is holding a DV all the way down from the top of Mount Hua along the mountain without opening electronic image stabilization, only two frames are blurred—the realm of shooting, those who play with equipment will never understand."

Hao Ren was stunned: "What's the point of this?"

Nan Gong Wuyue continued to show off her water snake waist image stabilization technology while her face was full of pride: "Post it online to trick people into clicking!"

Hao Ren felt that the daily lives of these aliens were simply too rich. How bored do you have to be to come up with this idea?

Chasing all the way like this, they found that they had unknowingly arrived at a place in the deep mountains that seemed to have never been visited before: the rocks on both sides formed an encirclement, and the road extended downwards in twists and turns. It seemed that there was a deep valley in the mountains ahead, which must be a place covered by layers of rocks if viewed from a distance.

Nan Gong Wuyue sensed that the water vapor deep underground was no longer moving quickly, but was slowly drifting into the valley. At the same time, it was spreading out and gradually rising, as if it had reached its destination and was undergoing some strange transformation.

"It's right in front of us," Nan Gong Wuyue lowered her voice and body. "Be careful, I smell a strange smell that makes people very uncomfortable, and the water elements here are restless. They seem to be forced to undergo some kind of transformation."

While Nan Gong Wuyue and Hao Ren finally discovered some clues, Vivian and Lily had already returned to the lakeside outpost and entered the tunnel they had discovered before.

They were advancing in the opposite direction from last time, and the tunnel stretched out in front of them.

All the way to the underground.

(By the way, I just learned that the bonus coins do not count as subscriptions…)