166: Chapter 166 Tracing the Trail in the Desolate Region, A Secret Maneuver

With his decision made, Ling Ye hesitated no longer.

He turned off his PIT to save power and hid it close to his body.

He checked the wound on his back once more, confirming that the bandage was secure and showed no signs of worsening.

He swallowed the last crumbs of food and drank the last few sips of water.

Then, he picked up his multi-tool knife, took a deep breath, and stepped out of the rock crevice where he had been temporarily sheltering.

Following the general direction of the offline map, he set off toward the northwest.

The darkness of the underground cavern seemed to possess a tangible weight, pressing down on his senses.

Only the sporadically distributed fungi, emitting faint, ghostly green or pale white light like will-o'-the-wisps, dotted the endless darkness, providing negligible illumination.

Beneath his feet were slippery rocks, puddles of varying depths, and soft silt that had likely been accumulating for tens of thousands of years.

The air was damp and cold, carrying a rich smell of damp earth and minerals, with an occasional faint, pungent scent similar to sulfur.

Ling Ye maintained his "Spiritual Sense" at a moderate intensity, extending it forward like invisible tentacles to perceive the terrain, airflow, and any potential signs of life or geological hazards within a range of several dozen meters.

He walked with extreme caution, testing each step first and ensuring it was stable before committing his weight.

The multi-tool knife in his hand was both a tool and his final line of defense.

Time slipped away in silence and trekking.

The terrain grew increasingly complex, with the cavern beginning to feature numerous forks and undulating slopes.

He had to frequently consult the rough offline map on his PIT (daring not to turn it on too often for fear of draining power and leaking signals), while combining it with the vague directional guidance of his "Spiritual Sense" to laboriously correct his path forward.

About two hours later, he arrived at an exceptionally wide underground space.

It resembled a massive underground hall, tens of meters high, with countless enormous, strangely shaped stalactites hanging from the ceiling; some even connected with the stalagmites rising from the ground to form thick stone pillars.

The ground was relatively flat, covered with a thick layer of grayish-white sediment that felt soft and spongy underfoot.

At the other end of the hall, clear traces of artificial excavation appeared on the rock wall!

It was the outline of a regular arched doorway, about three meters high and two meters wide.

Although its edges had been blurred by the erosion of time and partially obscured by subsequently grown stalagmites and stalactites, its straight lines and standard curvature stood in stark contrast to the rugged, naturally formed rock walls surrounding it!

Found it!

There really were ancient artificial ruins!

Ling Ye's spirits lifted, and he quickened his pace, arriving before the arched doorway.

The interior of the doorway was pitch black, bottomless.

The entrance was piled with some collapsed rubble and broken stalagmites, but there was still a gap in the middle that could barely accommodate one person passing through.

He leaned in to observe.

On the rock walls on both sides of the doorway, faint traces of long-faded murals or carvings were vaguely visible, but the content was completely unrecognizable.

Scattered on the ground were some severely weathered pottery fragments and what appeared to be residues of rusted metal.

This was very likely the entrance to the "Early Colonist Underground The Shelter" ruins marked on the map!

But what was the situation inside?

Was it collapsed and blocked?

Were there dangerous creatures lurking?

Or... did something else unknown exist within?

Ling Ye did not enter immediately.

He first carefully inspected the area near the entrance, using his "Spiritual Sense" to perceive the airflow and energy environment inside the doorway.

A faint current of air blew out from the depths, carrying a more musty and dusty odor, but there were no obvious signs of biological presence or abnormal energy fluctuations.

He picked up a piece of rubble and threw it hard into the depths of the doorway.

The sound of the rubble rolling echoed in the empty passage, moving from near to far, gradually fading away, without triggering any strange noises or reactions.

It seemed... temporarily safe.

He hesitated no longer, turned his body, and squeezed through the gap into the arched doorway.

Behind the doorway was a stone passage that had clearly been artificially excavated but was also severely eroded by time.

The passage was about two and a half meters high and two meters wide; the floor and walls should have originally been smooth, but they were now covered with cracks, water stains, and thick dust.

At intervals along the walls were recesses for placing lighting devices, but they had long been empty.

The air was more stagnant, and the smell of dust was heavy.

Ling Ye gathered all his focus, carefully walking deep along the passage.

The passage was not straight but had gentle turns and undulations.

He noticed that scattered pieces of rusted metal, resembling tools or household items, occasionally appeared on the ground; in one corner, he even saw a human skeleton that had almost completely weathered and blended into the dust, maintaining a curled-up posture, with a rusted metal canteen placed beside it.

This place had indeed once been The Shelter, and it seemed to have been abandoned in a rather unpeaceful manner.

The passage continued to extend, seemingly without end.

Ling Ye walked for about half an hour before a fork appeared ahead.

One path continued forward, while the other sloped downward to the right, seemingly leading deeper.

According to the vague directions of the offline map, the path to the North District should be generally northward, which meant continuing forward.

However, from that downward fork, there faintly came a trace of an extremely weak, rhythmic, low-frequency vibration, unlike the usual underground airflow, as if some large machine were operating in the far distance.

Was it an underground river?

Or... something else?

Ling Ye stopped and hesitated.

Should he follow the map's instructions and continue exploring the main passage forward?

Or should he risk investigating this downward fork from which the abnormal vibration came?

Perhaps the source of the vibration was the true path leading to some active area (such as the city's underground pipe network or other facilities)?

And the main passage might have long since collapsed or led to a dead end?

He needed to make a choice.

Time was still ticking away, second by second.