153: Chapter 153 Ghost Realm Spying on People, Hidden Dangers

Ling Ye pressed his body tightly into the shadows inside the pipe exit, ensuring he was completely swallowed by the darkness.

He closed his eyes, pouring the vast majority of his concentration into his "Spiritual Sense," condensing it into extremely fine "tentacles," and slowly, cautiously "probed" toward the corner in the center of the cavern that looked like a place of human habitation.

It was about thirty meters away.

Between them lay gelatinous stalactites emitting a cold, ghostly green light and uneven ground.

The information fed back by his "Spiritual Sense" gradually constructed a clear picture in his mind:

That corner was located in a recess of the cavern wall, relatively dry, with a thick layer of unknown, dry moss and some kind of soft lichen spread on the ground to serve as a "bed."

Beside the bed were scattered a few empty, old military ration cans (the labels were already blurred), a dented, deformed little metal cup, and something roughly bundled with some kind of flexible tubing that looked like a "pillow."

Beside the "bed," leaning against the wall, were a few things: a rusted iron pipe with a sharpened piece of metal tied to the head, used as a spear; a "container" made from a damaged helmet, filled with some murky liquid (possibly collected condensation); and the most eye-catching one—a flat metal box about the size of a notebook, carefully wrapped in a tarp, with vague traces of paint on its surface, though it seemed to have been deliberately scratched off.

There were no signs of any fire or heating.

No remaining clothing.

No recent food scraps (the ration cans were very old).

The human aura remaining in the air was extremely faint, as if the owner had left a long time ago.

However, Ling Ye's "Spiritual Sense" captured a trace of an extremely faint, yet definitely existing, non-natural energy fluctuation near the metal box.

That fluctuation was very subtle, with a peculiar frequency, different from the "incongruity" of the Old Factory District he had perceived, Su Qing's instruments, or even the scanning fluctuation of Zhou Ming's disguised recording pen; it was closer to some kind of... low-power standby electronic device?

Could this metal box be a device that was still working?

Or, did it contain an active item?

He continued to expand the scope of his perception, scanning the entire cavern.

Except for the pool of stagnant water in the center, which emitted a faint, uncomfortable feeling of "inertia" and "staleness," and the weak biological fields (similar to fungi or lichen) carried by the glowing gelatinous substances themselves, there were no other signs of life.

On the other side of the cavern, there seemed to be a few more pitch-black cracks or small caves that led to unknown places.

Preliminary judgment: Someone (possibly more than one person) had lived here short-term or intermittently, possessed certain survival skills and vigilance (weapons, water storage), but seemed to have left for some time.

The abandoned metal box was the biggest point of suspicion.

Was it some "urban explorer" or "doomsday prepper" who had hidden here before the incident broke out?

Or a "sensitive person" who had escaped from the blockade or screening after the incident?

Or perhaps... a secret stronghold or observation post of some force related to the secrets of the Old Factory District, the "Cleaning" operation, or even "Deep Space Frontier Capital"?

It was impossible to determine.

But that metal box was like a silent invitation, and also like a dangerous trap.

Ling Ye hesitated.

Should he continue to lie in wait and observe, waiting for the possible owner to return (risk unknown)?

Or should he take the risk to go forward, check that metal box, and obtain possible key information (risk clear but potentially huge)?

Or, there was a more middle-ground choice: do not directly touch the box, but try to find other clues in the cavern, such as scratches on the walls, information that might be hidden in discarded items, or even analyze the energy fluctuation characteristics emitted by the metal box more deeply through his "Spiritual Sense" to infer its purpose and origin.

He needed to make a decision as soon as possible.

Every moment he stayed in this eerie underground space, there was one more variable.