112: Chapter 112 Underground Ruins (with pictures)

Li Taiping swam in the lead.

In his line of sight, massive dark shadows were swimming slowly at the edge of the light beam.

"My god." Lin Weiyu's voice rang out in the communication channel, filled with a hint of disbelief, "What are those things?"

Less than a hundred meters to the right, a giant beast over fifty meters long was swimming by slowly.

It had a massive body similar to a humpback whale, but its back was covered in sharp bone spikes, and its abdomen had six pairs of thick, jointed crab legs.

Not far away, there was another monster with three giant snake heads but a body in the shape of a sea turtle, gnawing on glowing seaweed while perched on a protruding underwater rock.

On the other side, a creature with bird wings but dragging a crocodile tail was floating eerily in the water current.

"How come these things look like they were designed as a joke?" Lin Qingxue's mecha electronic voice came through.

Li Taiping looked at these monsters, his brow furrowing slightly.

These bizarre deep-sea behemoths had strong life auras; they started at the good grade, and many even barely reached the Excellent Grade.

But strangely, they were all neutral.

No frenzy, no desire to kill.

They turned a blind eye to the intrusion of Li Taiping and the others, simply wandering in this abyss according to some primitive instinct.

"They're practically stitched-together monsters from the classic of mountains and seas," Sa Wanwan suddenly spoke up in the channel.

Li Taiping's heart stirred.

The classic of mountains and seas.

The next stop is the Mofeng Mountain and Sea Region.

Could the ecosystem at the bottom of this abyss be an overflow of some power from the Mofeng Mountain and Sea Region? Or perhaps, this place is actually an outpost of the Mofeng Mountain and Sea.

"Captain, should we make a move?" Xia Zhi gripped the cold iron sword on her back, her sword intent faintly erupting.

"No need to mind them." Li Taiping decisively refused.

These stitched-together monsters were massive, thick-skinned, and most importantly, they were too ugly.

You can't kill them all, and since they are neutral, it's better to conserve stamina and energy in this deep sea to deal with emergencies, otherwise, we'll have to board the Mysterious Garden.

"Exactly, I can't be bothered with them; they don't look tasty," Lin Weiyu muttered in the channel. "Those crab legs are covered in green fuzz; the meat must be sour."

Li Taiping's mouth twitched slightly.

These girls, now they analyze everything from the perspective of ingredients first.

"Conserve your stamina," Li Taiping ordered. "Only if you encounter hostile Excellent Grade sea monsters should you take action to practice. I will protect you."

The group continued to descend.

On the way, occasionally a few blind, early-stage Excellent Grade sea beasts attempted to attack, but all were dealt with cleanly and efficiently by Xia Zhi and Lin Qingxue.

Li Taiping watched with arms crossed the entire time, responsible for overseeing the overall situation and providing protection to prevent accidents.

...

All the way down, the depth was over two thousand meters.

The water temperature had dropped below freezing.

A faint, eerie blue light suddenly appeared ahead.

Li Taiping raised his hand, signaling everyone to stop descending.

The five of them hovered in the dark seawater, and looking along the light, their breathing simultaneously hitched.

On the seabed, a massive city ruin stretching for tens of kilometers lay quietly dormant on the silt of the abyss.

The architectural style was eerie to the extreme.

On the periphery were ancient Roman-style giant stone pillars tens of meters high, their surfaces covered in glowing underwater vines.

Between these ancient pillars, dilapidated towers full of cyberpunk metallic texture were abruptly interspersed.

Huge metal gears and thick energy pipes were exposed; although they were rusted, they still exuded an industrial, violent aesthetic that transcended the era.

"What kind of civilization's ruins are these?" Lin Qingxue's voice carried a hint of trembling.

"Let's go in and take a look." Li Taiping took the lead and swam toward the center of the ruins.

Inside the ruins, it was deathly silent.

No sea monster dared to approach this area.

As they went deeper, three huge landmark buildings in the center of the city appeared before them.

On the left was a tilted, gigantic bronze clock tower.

The clock face was over twenty meters in diameter, with no hands, only dense, unknown runes. The cold seawater passed through the gaps inside the clock body, emitting a low, ethereal wail.

On the right stood a headless statue one hundred meters tall.

The statue was draped in heavy, one-piece armor, its hands leaning on a broken giant sword.

Li Taiping swam closer, his gaze falling on the broken neck of the statue.

The cut was as smooth as a mirror.

There were no burrs at all.

It was severed in one strike by some indescribable, terrifying power.

Along with that giant sword, it also had the same smooth cut.

Li Taiping's pupils constricted slightly; the material of this statue was clearly not ordinary stone. To cause such destruction in one strike, the attacker's strength was likely at the epic grade.

epic grade, above the Excellent Grade!

And in the very center of the city stood a crystal obelisk emitting an eerie blue light.

The obelisk was fifty meters high, its surface covered in spiderweb-like cracks.

Through the cracks, one could see some viscous, eerie blue liquid slowly circulating inside.

It was this obelisk that illuminated the entire ruin.

"Captain, look at the base." Xia Zhi swam to the bottom of the obelisk and pointed to a huge metal plaque.

Li Taiping swam over.

On the plaque, three huge numbers were engraved in an extremely ancient font that could still be automatically translated by the system: 004.

"004?" Lin Weiyu leaned in, reaching out to touch it.

"Don't touch it." Li Taiping grabbed her wrist.

Intuition told him that this thing was extremely dangerous.

What did 004 represent?

Was it the number of this city? Or the number of this type of obelisk? If it was an obelisk, where were 001, 002, and 003?

Could they be in the Mofeng Mountain and Sea Region?

Just as the group was gathered around the obelisk exchanging guesses, a sudden change occurred.

Boom!

In the distant darkness, in an undersea rift less than two kilometers from the ruins, a life aura of extreme violence erupted.

The undercurrent was torn apart instantly.

The violent water pressure formed a tangible shockwave that swept across the entire ruin.

The bronze clock tower emitted a violent roar.

"Alert!" Li Taiping shouted sharply.

In the darkness, a huge scarlet lantern slowly lit up, locking onto the five people in front of the obelisk.