349: Chapter 349 Praying to That Thing

Early morning.

The Shelter was quiet, most people still sound asleep.

Lin Yuan, Ling Shuanghan, and Shen Bingtong stood at the entrance of the drilling tunnel they had excavated earlier.

This was the only path to the Icebound Body three hundred meters underground.

Ling Shuanghan was wearing a specially made extreme cold combat suit.

Two frost longswords hung at her waist, and her expression was solemn as never before.

She glanced back at Shen Bingtong.

Shen Bingtong was also in combat attire, a faint glimmer flickering in her light gray eyes as she focused intently on sensing the energy fluctuations underground.

Both of them were prepared for a mission where death was nearly certain.

Then, they looked at Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan was wearing a very ordinary casual jacket.

He was not wearing a combat suit.

He was not carrying any weapons.

He was even holding half an unfinished apple in his hand.

"...You're going down wearing just that?"

Ling Shuanghan looked at his thin jacket, the corner of her eye twitching slightly.

According to Xia Muqing's calculations, the temperature three hundred meters underground had reached a terrifying minus 350 degrees.

At this temperature, steel would become as brittle as a cracker, and the oxygen in the air would turn into liquid.

"What else? Should I wear a down jacket?"

Lin Yuan took a bite of the apple.

"It's too bulky; it would affect my sword-drawing speed. Let's go, the sooner we get there, the sooner we get back."

After saying that, he jumped directly into the tunnel.

Ling Shuanghan and Shen Bingtong exchanged a look.

In each other's eyes, they both saw a deep sense of helplessness.

Following this commander on a mission always gave them the illusion that "we are going to war, but he is going on a spring outing."

The two took a deep breath and jumped down right after him.

The descent was faster than they had imagined.

They had already explored the first 250 meters of the area; it was a large region of frost crystal stone veins and the habitat of C-rank Ice Frost Evolved Body.

Ling Shuanghan walked in the lead, her Frost Emperor Domain partially opened.

Those low-level Ice Frost Evolved Body were frozen into ice shards the moment they poked their heads out, crushed by the pressure of her domain.

"This path is actually quite easy to walk," Lin Yuan commented as he munched on his apple while walking in the middle.

"It's more spacious than I imagined."

"It's different past 250 meters," Ling Shuanghan said without looking back, her voice echoing in the empty tunnel.

"Xia Muqing's data shows that below 250 meters, the temperature will plummet, and we will enter the territory of high-level Evolved Body."

As soon as she finished speaking, the three stepped onto the 250-meter depth line.

The surrounding environment changed instantly.

The originally deep blue ice walls turned into a black that seemed to swallow light.

A bone-chilling cold surged in from all directions.

Even under the protection of Ling Shuanghan's Frost Emperor Domain, this chill was still like a maggot on a bone, trying to drill into their bodies.

Minus 350 degrees.

This was not a low temperature in the physical sense, but a "frost curse" with strong corrosive properties.

Ling Shuanghan let out a muffled groan, her Frost Emperor Domain being suppressed and shrinking by half.

She was about to warn Lin Yuan to be careful, but she noticed something strange.

Shen Bingtong, who was walking at the very back, not only didn't feel cold but instead closed her eyes, an expression of near-enjoyment appearing on her face.

Her light gray eyes had now completely turned silver.

In the dark tunnel, this sliver of silver light appeared exceptionally dazzling.

"What's wrong with her?" Ling Shuanghan gripped her sword hilt.

"It's nothing," Lin Yuan said, casually tossing the finished apple core into a spatial rift.

"The environment here resonates with the cleanser fragment inside her. For her, the energy here is more comfortable than on the surface. Let her lead the way."

Shen Bingtong opened her silver eyes, nodded, and walked past Ling Shuanghan to the very front.

"Turn left," her voice became somewhat ethereal.

"I can feel it; that thing is fifty meters below."

The three continued deeper.

Three hundred meters deep, the tunnel suddenly opened up.

They entered a massive underground ice cave.

The dome of the ice cave was as high as a five or six-story building, and the area was as large as three football fields.

But what was truly shocking was not the scale of the ice cave, but the dense shadows in it.

Ice Frost Evolved Body.

Not the C-rank cannon fodder from above, but all of them were massive and terrifyingly powerful Evolved Body of A-rank or higher!

A rough estimate suggested at least a thousand of them.

Ling Shuanghan gasped.

Thousands of A-rank or higher Ice Frost Evolved Body.

If they rushed to the surface, it would be enough to instantly level ten large Shelters!

"Prepare for battle!" Ling Shuanghan gripped her sword with both hands, her Frost Emperor Domain running at full capacity, preparing to face a fierce battle.

But strangely, those Evolved Body did not attack them; they didn't even glance at them.

They were all facing the center of the ice cave, prostrating on the ground in an extremely eerie posture, as if... they were worshipping.

A fanatical and pious worship.

"What are they doing?" Ling Shuanghan lowered her voice.

"Praying to that thing," Shen Bingtong said, pointing her finger toward the center of the ice cave.

Following the direction of her finger, Lin Yuan saw this "same-city delivery."

It was a massive, near-perfect spherical ice crystal.

Its diameter exceeded fifty meters.

Like a tiny deep-blue planet, it was suspended in mid-air.

Inside the ice crystal, a deep blue energy vortex was slowly rotating.

Every ten minutes, the ice crystal would emit a pulse.

"Thump."

This was the "Frost Heartbeat" detected on the surface.

With every pulse, the temperature in the ice cave would drop by a few degrees.

Those prostrating Evolved Body would emit low hisses, as if responding to their "god."

"It's the same in the Everwinter World," Ling Shuanghan said, looking at the massive ice crystal, her hand gripping the sword trembling slightly.

This was a fear carved into her bones; a hundred years ago, her father died in front of something similar.

"These Ice Frost Evolved Body will instinctively gather around the Icebound Body, like believers surrounding a temple. Anyone who tries to approach will be torn to shreds by them."

Ling Shuanghan took a deep breath and turned to look at Lin Yuan.

"We need a plan. Should we use wide-area lethal weapons to clear out these believers first, or—"

Her words were not yet finished, but Lin Yuan had already taken a step and walked straight out.

He did not conceal his aura, nor did he draw his weapon.

He looked just like an old man taking a walk in the park.

He swaggered right into the "pilgrimage site" of thousands of A-rank monsters.

"Lin Yuan!" Ling Shuanghan was so scared her heart skipped a beat.

It was over; if they disturbed these monsters, the three of them would all be done for here today!

Ling Shuanghan was even prepared to burn her life force and release her ultimate move to cover Lin Yuan's retreat.

But nothing happened.

Lin Yuan walked through the crowd of A-rank and even S-rank monsters just like that.

His footsteps on the ice made a crisp sound.

Some monsters even had their tails kicked by him.

But all the Evolved Body, as if blind, remained prostrate on the ground, worshipping the ice crystal in the center.

Not a single monster dared to lift its head; not a single monster dared to stop him.

Lin Yuan walked all the way to the Icebound Body without any obstruction.

He reached out, as if picking a watermelon at a wet market, and patted the surface of the giant ice crystal twice.

"Thump, thump."

"Pretty sturdy."

Ling Shuanghan watched from behind, dumbfounded, her mind blank.

She couldn't help but turn to ask Shen Bingtong, "Did he... did he use some kind of stealth Superpower? Why can't those monsters see him?"

A complex light flickered in Shen Bingtong's silver eyes.

"It's not that they can't see him," Shen Bingtong said softly, "it's that they don't dare to look."

"In front of a god, how would believers dare to look directly at an existence more terrifying than the god?"

Ling Shuanghan was stunned, looking at Lin Yuan, who appeared extremely small standing in front of the massive Icebound Body.

At this moment, she finally understood why Lin Yuan had been so relaxed when they came down.

Some source of the apocalypse, some mission with no chance of survival—to this man, this was truly just going downstairs to pick up a delivery.

Lin Yuan patted the ice crystal, feeling the massive energy coming from within; it was indeed very nourishing.

Although the energy was relatively chaotic, its advantage lay in its sheer quantity and satisfying nature.

"Alright, enough playing," Lin Yuan said, turning around to look at the thousands of monsters still lying on the ground playing dead behind him.

"I'll give you three seconds."

His voice was not loud, but in the dead-silent ice cave, it clearly reached the ears of every monster.

"Those who don't want to turn into ice shavings, now, immediately, right now."

Lin Yuan coldly spat out one word: "Scram."

Boom!

Along with this word "scram," an indescribable and terrifying pressure erupted from within Lin Yuan!

This was not frost energy; this was the majesty of the master of space, standing above all rules!

The entire ice cave three hundred meters underground trembled violently at this moment.

The air was twisted; space was groaning.

The thousands of A-rank Evolved Body that were originally prostrate on the ground let out screams of extreme misery.

Their ice armor, which they prided themselves on, shattered like paper under the pressure of the Spatial Power.

The hundred or so Evolved Body in the front row didn't even have a chance to escape; they were instantly crushed by an invisible force in mid-air, turning into ice shavings that filled the air!

The remaining hundreds of monsters finally reacted; this was no mortal here to tear down the place, this was a god of death here to eat their "god"!

Thousands of terrifying monsters that could destroy a large city outside, at this moment, were like sheep driven into a sheepfold by a pack of wolves, scrambling, trampling over each other, and fleeing wildly into the surrounding tunnels.

In less than ten seconds, the originally crowded ice cave became empty, with only a floor of crystal-clear ice shavings remaining.

Lin Yuan nodded with satisfaction.

"Area cleared."

He turned to look at the two women still standing at the tunnel entrance and waved.

"What are you standing there for? Come here."

"Ready to have a big meal."

Ling Shuanghan mechanically moved her legs and walked to Lin Yuan's side.

She looked at the ice shavings covering the ground, then at the defenseless Icebound Body in front of her.

The despair she had prepared for a hundred years, the sacrifice she had prepared for a hundred years, in the face of Lin Yuan's word "scram," seemed like a joke.

"Lin Yuan," Ling Shuanghan swallowed, "are you... a human or a monster?"

Lin Yuan smiled and pressed his hands onto the ice crystal.

"I'm a delivery man."

"It's just that I'm only responsible for collecting, not delivering."