230: Foraging in the abyss

Chapter 230: Foraging in the Abyss. "Damn it!"

Wang Daoming's face on the screen changed drastically. "How could it collapse so fast! Zero! Get out of there now! Go to Sector B!"

Ruan Qiushui seemed to not hear Wang Daoming's command at all.

She was still staring at Chen Mo.

That sense of hunger hadn't faded because of the "appetizer" just now; instead, it became even more intense after tasting the unique "bitterness" on Chen Mo.

"I want..."

She reached out her hand toward Chen Mo.

"Like hell you will!"

Clutching his shattered shoulder, Chen Mo used every last bit of his strength to kick the now-empty crystal coffin.

The heavy base of the crystal coffin slid across the metal floor, slamming hard into the back of Ruan Qiushui's knees.

Ruan Qiushui leaped up lightly, dodging the impact.

But this was exactly what Chen Mo wanted.

"Jump!"

He grabbed Su Qingxue, who was closest to him, and snagged the dazed Ninth Master with his other hand. Regardless of whether a bottomless abyss lay below, he jumped straight off the edge of the platform.

"Aaaah! I don't want to die—!"

Ninth Master's screams echoed through the hollow space.

The three of them fell into the dark abyss like kites with broken strings.

At the exact moment they jumped—

Boom!

The chains connecting the Inverted Pyramid snapped completely.

Under the force of gravity, the metal structure weighing thousands of tons tilted and collapsed, crashing into the abyss below along with the "god" who had just awakened.

The crack overhead grew larger and larger.

Billions of tons of groundwater acted like a heavy hammer, intent on completely submerging this sinful underground world.

Falling.

The sensation of weightlessness made his heart feel like it was about to jump out of his throat.

The wind whistled in his ears.

Chen Mo gripped Su Qingxue's hand tightly, not letting go even though the pain in his shoulder made him feel like he was about to pass out.

"There's water below!"

Chen Mo shouted, "Adjust your posture! Feet down!"

At this moment, his perception ability was pushed to its limit.

At the bottom of that pitch-black abyss, he heard the roar of rushing water.

It wasn't stagnant water.

It was a surging Underground River.

Splash!

The bone-chilling water instantly swallowed them.

The massive impact sent Chen Mo's internal organs churning, and he nearly lost his breath.

He tumbled in the water, bubbles gushing from his mouth.

He could see nothing in the murky water, only countless pieces of rubble and metal debris sinking around him.

Chen Mo struggled to the surface.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

He gasped for air and wiped the water from his face.

"Qingxue! Ninth Master!"

"Over here..."

Su Qingxue's weak voice came from the darkness not far away.

Chen Mo swam toward her with all his might.

Su Qingxue was clutching a floating wooden board while her other hand gripped the unconscious Ninth Master.

"This fat guy... is too heavy..." Su Qingxue's face was pale; she had clearly swallowed quite a bit of water.

"Grab onto me."

Chen Mo paddled with one hand, dragging the two of them toward the shore.

This seemed to be a shoal of the Underground River.

Above them, the Inverted Pyramid had completely crashed down, wedged between two giant boulders and letting out a tooth-gritting sound of twisting metal.

"Where's that woman?" Ninth Master was jolted awake and spat out a mouthful of dirty water. "Is she dead?"

Chen Mo looked back.

Amidst that chaotic ruin and within the roaring flood,

a white figure stood quietly atop a giant boulder.

The flood flowed past her feet, yet it didn't even dampen the hem of her dress.

Ruan Qiushui wasn't dead.

A collapse of that magnitude hadn't even managed to stain her qipao with a speck of dust.

Standing high above, she looked down at the three "ants" struggling in the muddy water.

The white flames in her eyes appeared exceptionally piercing in the darkness.

But she didn't chase after them.

She seemed to be drawn by something.

She looked up toward the large hole overhead that had been blasted open by the flood.

There, a faint sliver of daylight leaked through.

"It's dawn."

Gasping for air, Chen Mo watched that figure who looked like both a god and a demon.

Ruan Qiushui reached out and caught that sliver of light.

Then, her body slowly began to turn transparent, eventually transforming into countless white points of light that flew up along the beam of light.

It was like an ascension.

"She ran away?" Ninth Master was dumbfounded. "What the hell is this? An immortal's ascension?"

"No."

Chen Mo watched the direction where the points of light had vanished, his heart sinking to rock bottom.

"She went to 'forage'."

"There's no more food here."

"And above..."

Chen Mo pointed overhead.

"That's the surface."

"It's Jiang City, with its population of millions."

"That is a much larger granary."

...Cough, cough, cough.

His lungs felt as if they were stuffed with rusty steel wool; every breath he took carried the scent of blood.

Chen Mo rolled over and lay on his back on the pebble beach.

Rocks were still falling from the crack overhead, like a leaky mouth spitting at the ants below.

The Underground River's water level was rising rapidly, already reaching his ankles. The bone-chilling current washed over his wounds, slightly suppressing the agonizing pain.

"You're not dead yet, are you?"

A fat face leaned in, blocking the meager daylight.

Ninth Master wiped the mud from his face and tossed aside his deformed gun. "That scream of yours just now nearly punctured my eardrums. Can you still move?"

"I won't die."

Chen Mo tried to move his left shoulder.

Hiss.

The sound of bone fragments grinding in his flesh made Su Qingxue's face turn pale.

"Don't move."

Su Qingxue pressed down on his shoulder, her fingers skillfully feeling around his collarbone. "It's a comminuted fracture, and some bone fragments might have pierced the muscle. If you don't want this hand to be useless, you'd better stay still."

"There's no time for a cast."

Chen Mo gritted his teeth and sat up, supporting himself with his right hand. The dizziness almost made him collapse again. "That woman went up."

"So what if she went up?"

Ninth Master plopped down beside him, pulled a pack of cigarettes from his soaked pocket, and tried to shake out the water, but it was full of mud. Infuriated, he hurled the cigarette pack into the river.

"That's a fight between immortals; why should we mortals get involved? That woman obviously eats people whole without spitting out the bones. Let her go torment that old dog Wang Daoming. Our priority is to take the chance to slip away."

"She won't be satisfied."

Chen Mo clutched his chest.

The "pump" in there was beating like crazy, its frequency abnormally fast.

It wasn't because of the intense physical activity just now.

It was because of resonance.

Even through hundreds of meters of rock, he could still sense Ruan Qiushui's presence.

It felt like an invisible thread, with one end tied to that monster and the other to his heart.

The hungrier she got, the faster his heart beat.

"What do you mean?" Ninth Master was stunned.

"Jiang City has ten million people."

Chen Mo looked up at the unreachable opening. "To her, that's not a city; it's a buffet. Once she's done eating up there and this thread snaps, I'll die too."

The frequency of the hell engine was bidirectional.

The Inhibitors had already failed. If the source wasn't dealt with, his heart would eventually explode like a firework from the overload.

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