Chapter 1 A Ventilation Duct is Quite Spacious for Humans of Average Build

Perhaps it was because Hao Ren’s unreliable boss had a rare moment of caring for his employees, or perhaps it was because the Creation Goddess was watching over her own daughter from above, but the group encountered almost no trouble as they slipped past the outer perimeter under the noses of the Corruptors and entered the ventilation duct leading to the control center.

The power of the Lord of Madness had infected nearly everything on Amantir, and the temple and its associated facilities were no exception, but this infection did not affect the normal operation of these facilities, such as the energy and lighting systems. The ventilation duct’s doors could still be opened, and the internal circulation and lighting systems were functioning as usual. Coupled with the quiet within the ventilation duct, Hao Ren would almost forget that he was in the heart of the Lord of Madness’s territory if it weren’t for the oppressive chill that permeated everything and the strange, almost imperceptible stench in the air.

"This passage will be long," Hao Ren said, leading the way while looking at the map projected by the data terminal. The map was provided by Saruman and recorded the detailed structure of Amantir before its fall. The Corruptors had no need to destroy the fortress they had already obtained, so most of the map was still valid, but its safety factor was hard to say. "The underground structure of the planetary fortress is intricate. You could say that its underground facilities are the main body of the starship. We will pass through several underground factories and mechanical bays. Although most of the route is inside the ducts, there will still be a few sections that lack cover. Everyone, improvise as needed. Concealment is the top priority."

Vivian said in a low voice, "This is very close to the Great Rift Valley. The underground environment may have changed a lot. We can't completely trust the map."

"Of course," Hao Ren nodded. "But for now, we have nothing else to use besides this map."

At this moment, the data terminal suddenly issued a warning: "Attention, Corruptor reaction above."

Everyone immediately shut their mouths, and Vivian waved her hand to summon a gray-black shadow. The power of the shadow concealed everyone, suppressing their aura to the lowest level.

After a moment, the data terminal lifted the alert: "It has passed. Other weak reactions are far away from us."

Hao Ren looked up. The dark vault of the ventilation duct blocked his view, but he knew that he was now passing under a small temple. The Corruptor reaction that the data terminal had sensed earlier should have been soldiers patrolling the small temple. This was still a shallow area, and if they weren't careful, they could still be sensed by the enemy.

"The Shadow Canopy can't be used too frequently," Vivian said, retracting her shadow power after the alert was lifted. "Although this energy is difficult to detect, frequent use may still be noticed."

Hao Ren nodded. "Let's get through this section as soon as possible."

The team continued to advance through the underground facilities. In the huge ventilation duct, the only sounds besides the team's footsteps were the ubiquitous low hum of machinery and the sound of air flowing through certain gaps. There was naturally no scenery worth admiring in a duct, and coupled with the oppressive environment, Lily felt very uncomfortable. "It's giving me the creeps... I can't see anyone, but I feel like there are people everywhere..."

"Can you not say that right now!" Nangong Wuyue immediately got goosebumps all over her body. She was currently crawling forward in sea serpent form, and her tail instinctively straightened upon hearing Lily's words. "I was already feeling uneasy..."

Nangong Sanba suddenly frowned. "Wait a minute... maybe it's not just a feeling. There really is something here!"

Although Sanba was among the weakest in the group, his "Hunter Skills" from his demon hunter bloodline gave him good perception abilities. Coupled with the precise control techniques he had developed out of necessity due to his limited strength, he was often the first to react when there were extremely subtle and difficult-to-detect anomalies in the surrounding area.

So as soon as he spoke, everyone immediately became tense, and Hao Ren immediately looked at the data terminal. "Scan."

The data terminal immediately activated all its sensors, and a faint blue light spread along the inner wall of the ventilation duct, while the terminal projected the scanned results above.

In the tubular holographic image, there was nothing but a few scattered bright spots, and those bright spots that looked like interference were actually just discarded energy that had escaped from the depths of Amantir and permeated the entire space.

"This unit has found nothing," the data terminal shut down the enhanced scanning module. "Sanba, are you having auditory or visual hallucinations?"

"Please call me Nangong," Nangong Sanba corrected with a serious face, then shook his head with a frown. "No... I can definitely feel something around me. It's... a very subtle spiritual power reaction, with weak thoughts, a bit like a ghost, but the thoughts are even more chaotic and weak than a ghost's."

"I feel it too," Vivian said from the side, backing up Nangong Sanba. "But my perception is also very unclear. It's hard to say what it is."

Hao Ren looked cautiously around while lowering his voice. "We haven't been discovered yet, so 'that thing' shouldn't be a scout set up by the Corruptors. Maybe it's a special energy field emanating from the uncorrupted parts of Amantir. Let's continue moving forward. Maybe we'll find something ahead."

This small interlude heightened everyone's tension, and even the dizzying Gungir opened his eyes wide and focused his attention. The cat girl tiptoed lightly behind Hao Ren, her feline instincts allowing her to move more silently than anyone else.

But as they walked, she suddenly stopped, her pointed cat ears twitching alertly on her head. "Big big cat, I hear a sound!"

"What sound?" Hao Ren stopped again. "I don't hear anything."

"It's coming from nearby..." The cat girl squatted down, turning her ears this way and that while saying in a low voice, "It sounds like someone is mumbling with something in their mouth... Stupid big cat, can you hear it?"

Lily didn't care about the cat girl's way of addressing her, but squatted down next to Gungir with a serious face, also turning her furry ears this way and that, listening intently. The two beast-eared girls began to search for any abnormal sounds in the underground duct like human sonar.

The low hum of the machinery and the ubiquitous airflow disrupted the sound, and even Hao Ren and the others, with their keen senses, couldn't hear anything unusual at this time, but the cat-dog combination's super hearing came into play. After carefully distinguishing for a minute, Lily and Gungir almost simultaneously raised their hands, pointing to a fork in the road ahead. "It's coming from over there! And it's getting closer!"

Vivian immediately summoned the Shadow Canopy again, concealing everyone's aura and even muffling the already faint sound of their footsteps. Under this cover, Hao Ren led the team cautiously to the fork in the ventilation duct, where there were two seemingly identical, empty ducts.

Elizabeth muttered, "It doesn't seem like there's anything."

"It's below, it's coming from below," Lily reminded. At her reminder, Hao Ren noticed that a part of the floor here was made of a different material than the other areas. It was a rectangular metal plate, and its overlapping lines and raised structure seemed to indicate that it was a hatch that could be opened.

Nangong Wuyue immediately placed her hand on the metal plate, and a stream of water separated from her body and penetrated the various gaps in the metal plate. Under the power of the water element, the deformable metal plate silently opened a crack, and light shone out from the crack.

There really was something down there!

Hao Ren leaned over and observed the situation below the duct through the gap.

According to the map provided by Saruman, they should have reached the vicinity of the Great Temple where the control center was located. There were relatively dense underground facilities here, so it was not surprising that the duct happened to pass through an underground chamber. It was even more normal for there to be "people" in the underground chamber.

What Hao Ren was really curious about was the gurgling "speaking" sound that Gungir had heard. Corrupted monsters couldn't speak. They had no need to communicate, nor the ability to do so.

In Amantir, a place that had already fallen into madness, who could communicate in language? Could it be the senior commanders in the Corrupted Legion?

Through the narrow gap in the floor, Hao Ren saw a rather large room below. The room was brightly lit and furnished with some huge, buzzing equipment, but this bright environment could not dispel the room's own twisted and oppressive atmosphere. All the equipment and the floor were covered with a layer of dark red纹路(wenlu,纹路, lines), which was proof of corruption.

And in the center of the room, Hao Ren saw a strange creature.

The creature's image made his eyes change instantly.

It was a swollen, roughly ellipsoidal mass of flesh, like an inflated brain. It was fixed on a circular metal platform, and a dozen dark red flesh tendrils extended from below the "brain." The ends of those tendrils probed into a circle of round holes around the metal platform, and a large number of pipes diffused out from below the round holes, connecting to various equipment in the room.

It was clear at a glance that this "brain" was controlling the things in the room.

And the gurgling talking sound that Gungir heard was coming from this brain. It was talking to itself.

"Landlord, landlord," Lily leaned over in a low voice. "What did you see-let me see too?"

"I didn't expect..." Hao Ren raised his head, his expression a bit dazed. "I almost forgot about this thing... but I didn't expect to see another one here!"

Vivian was piqued with curiosity. "What did you see?"

"It's a Brain Monster!" Lily had already craned her neck to take a look at this time. Before Hao Ren could say anything, she suddenly raised her head and exclaimed in a low voice, "There's a Brain Monster below! It's the kind of Brain Monster we saw in Holleta and the Siren City back then!"