175: Reptiles

Chapter 174: Reptilian Clan

Xu Jingzhe's footsteps were unsteady as he approached, picking up the scattered parts of his sniper rifle and staring at the viscous blood on them.

His heart... it hurt, like a dull knife slicing away at his flesh.

Tang Ruyi stepped forward, not knowing how to offer comfort.

Because she simply did not know how to comfort anyone.

Xu Jingzhe set down the parts in his hand and, disregarding the danger, jumped straight into the bottomless abyss.

Tang Ruyi, standing on the edge, was stunned. Before she could react, her legs involuntarily followed Xu Jingzhe and jumped down.

The bone-chilling cold cleared her head, and she couldn't help but twitch the corner of her mouth.

He... was he committing suicide for love? Why did she follow him down?

Was she out of her mind?

During the descent, Xu Jingzhe's werewolf vision allowed him to see further. Through the black, chilling aura spewing from the massive fissure, he locked onto a protruding boulder.

Engaging his waist, he grabbed it with one hand and performed a grand rotation, landing on the cliff face.

Accompanied by the harsh screech of metal against the cliff, Tang Ruyi also landed steadily beside Xu Jingzhe.

Seeing him with red eyes and a grim face, she remained silent.

Fine, she was already down here; there was no use saying anything more.

"Why did you come down?" Xu Jingzhe asked.

"Maybe... I consider you a friend," she muttered to herself.

Xu Jingzhe was deeply moved. Although Tang Ruyi had deliberately concealed her family and identity, if it weren't for her help along the way, how could he have obtained the Ritual Arts?

He decided that this was a friend he would keep.

In the massive fissure, black mist permeated the air, accompanied by a wailing, miserable wind that made one's skin sting.

After falling a hundred meters, both had to use the energy within their bodies to ward off the cold.

The erupting black mist was far too strange, containing all sorts of radioactive elements.

"Can your body handle this? The nuclear radiation here is severe, as if a nuclear bomb had just exploded a few years ago. It’s not just nuclear bombs; I've also detected radioactive elements from weapons even more powerful than nuclear bombs." Tang Ruyi held a peculiarly shaped metal plate, used to detect various data.

Xu Jingzhe stared at her intently and said candidly, "I don't know which of the Four Main Cities the Tang Family is in, but I have to tell you, being my friend is dangerous."

"Because... I am a Contaminator."

"The dense radioactive elements here are a huge boost for me. Every inch of cells in my body is very active right now."

"They are leaping, excited, pores dilated, crazily absorbing various radioactive elements."

"I dare say, if we were to fight here, a Contaminator would have a natural advantage, with a continuous supply of energy to sustain the battle!"

Tang Ruyi gave a blank "Oh."

Regardless, when she made friends, she didn't look at backgrounds, strength, or status—only whether they clicked.

The two descended in turns, remaining on high alert.

Suddenly, Xu Jingzhe stopped.

On a stone as sharp as a bull's horn, a piece of torn fabric was hanging. It was stained with blood, and one look told him it had been ripped from a complete garment.

He didn't know if it belonged to Ye Zi or Dilisi, so he carefully put the scrap of fabric away.

At the same time, his mood became even heavier.

In a place like this, the longer one stayed—unless one was a Contaminator—the more severe the bodily damage would be.

Descending to the five-thousand-meter mark, it was still bottomless. The two were enveloped by nearly viscous black mist, with visibility not exceeding one meter.

Looking up, it was pitch black, as if they were in hell.

"Could this be a fissure leading to the legendary Gate of Hell?" Tang Ruyi's body surface shimmered with a silver luster; this was an ointment to isolate radiation and radioactive elements.

One could see that when the ointment came into contact with the black mist, a chemical reaction occurred, causing dense, pin-sized blisters.

This forced Tang Ruyi to stop and reapply it every so often.

Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to continue the descent.

"You should go back up. The various elements here are too harmful to your body," Xu Jingzhe advised.

Tang Ruyi replied expressionlessly, "Since I'm already here, if I don't go to the bottom to take a look, I'll have regrets."

"Besides, even if it does cause some partial damage to my body, the medicinal fluid from my family can perfectly repair it without leaving any sequelae."

When the two had descended a full ten thousand meters, they finally landed on the ground. The black mist below was much thinner compared to the middle section, and visibility had increased from less than a meter to about ten meters.

This made both of them slightly relieved.

"Ye Zi!"

Xu Jingzhe took a deep breath and shouted suddenly. It was deafening, echoing endlessly within this fissure.

The sound exploded in Tang Ruyi's ears, and she, whose body had been tense the whole time, was so startled that she drew her Tang saber, thinking some "monster" had appeared.

She lowered her voice and said, "Why are you shouting? This place is so strange and terrifying, like the underworld. You made such a big commotion, you could have scared the dead back to life."

Xu Jingzhe rubbed his nose, feeling a bit awkward, and said, "Sorry, I was anxious. I feel uneasy not being able to see Ye Zi."

However, his shout actually had an effect.

The mist at the bottom of the fissure slowly dissipated, and the view before them gradually cleared, as bright as day.

Around them appeared four passages, leading to the east, west, south, and north, while the fissure itself ran north-south.

And they were standing exactly at the crossroads of these four passages.

Tang Ruyi pondered slightly. Looking at the design of this crossroads, she suddenly felt it looked familiar.

As if she had seen it somewhere before.

She walked straight to the south without a word, and Xu Jingzhe quickly followed.

After walking about ten miles, another crossroads appeared, identical to the previous one. Tang Ruyi's expression changed, becoming somewhat grave.

Continuing south, exactly ten miles—not a mile more, not a mile less—another crossroads appeared.

Xu Jingzhe naturally also discovered the unusual nature of this place; these crossroads were definitely not formed naturally but were carved out by human hands.

"Wasn't this clan wiped out fifty thousand years ago? Why would they appear in the Heavenly Abyss?" Tang Ruyi muttered in confusion, drawing her Tang saber and turning east at the crossroads.

This time, they had only walked a few miles when the stone walls on both sides changed abruptly, revealing one stone cave after another.

The two quickly walked through them and discovered that every stone cave contained a stasis pod, and without exception, a 'person' was lying inside each one.

Only, this person was somewhat different from a normal human; they were naked, extremely handsome, and their bodies were covered with fine scales.

However, these scales did not affect their appearance at all; instead, they added a touch of eerie beauty.

Xu Jingzhe was greatly shocked and asked, "Are these... people?"

Tang Ruyi shook her head and said, "They are not humans; they are the Reptilian Clan from the ancient era, which had thrived on Blue Star for at least hundreds of thousands to millions of years."

"But clearly, they were wiped out by all the major families fifty thousand years ago. Why would there be so many here?"

Tang Ruyi lowered her head and, through the special glass on the stasis pod, carefully observed the Reptilian Clan member inside.

Only then did she discover traces of some dried liquid inside the stasis pod, and the embedded energy stone had already cracked, which meant that the Reptilian Clan member in this stasis pod was already dead.