175: Chapter 175 Echoes from the Abyss, The Silent Church

Darkness.

Viscous, heavy, a darkness that felt as if it would freeze the Soul.

Ling Ye's consciousness floated in the void, unable to feel his body or time. Only the excruciating pain from his left shoulder—like it was being repeatedly cauterized by a branding iron—and the chaotic fragments of information echoing in his mind reminded him that he had not yet completely perished.

"Meltdown protocol... neutron generator... coordinates..."

"the key... Ancient Ring... "bone ring"... dual rings..."

"abyssal eye... information lifeform... contamination spread..."

Shattered images, cold numbers, grandiose thoughts, dying warnings... like countless broken mirror shards, they spun, collided, and sliced through the abyss of his consciousness.

He saw a boundless starry sky, with two Ancient Rings suspended in the void. One was engraved with the birth and death of stars, while the other flowed with abyssal shadows, circling each other and maintaining a delicate balance.

A fissure tore open between the dual rings, and a cold, greedy darkness filled with the desire for destruction seeped out from within...

He saw an ancient city in ruins, its buildings twisted into forms that defied the Law of physics. The residents had turned into pale, transparent shadows, wandering the streets and emitting silent wails.

At the center of the ruins, a massive, deep blue vortex resembling an eyeball slowly rotated, exuding a suffocating sense of "disharmony"...

He saw Su Qing standing in a pure white laboratory, with a large amount of data regarding "psychological resilience thresholds" and "psionic adaptability" scrolling across the light screen before her. Her gaze was calm and focused, her fingertips tapping lightly on a file labeled "Escapee-Zero"...

He saw Zhou Ming crouching in the shadows of an alley in Rust Town, holding a detector that flashed with red light. His brows were furrowed as he whispered into his headset: "...The energy residue points to the northwest, but the trail is very fresh. Something is wrong..."

He saw Wang Hao hiding in his bed at the academy dormitory, covering his head with a blanket. His personal terminal screen was lit up, displaying countless push notifications about "city-wide martial Law" and the "Old Factory District explosion." His face was filled with fear and confusion...

He saw Sun Li sitting alone in an empty hospital room, hugging her knees, her eyes staring blankly at the lead-gray sky outside the window. On her wrist, she wore an inconspicuous device resembling a health monitoring bracelet, which was emitting an extremely faint green light...

Countless images and fragments of information crashed into him like a tide, almost washing away his last shred of self-awareness.

Just as his consciousness was about to completely sink into this chaotic abyss—

"Hum..."

An extremely faint, yet incomparably clear hum emanated from the deepest part of his Soul.

It was the "Ancient Ring" mark!

The phantom of the Ancient Ring that had brought him through Transmigration and contained the secrets of the "Star Gate" and "Reincarnation," though dim and blurry, was stubbornly radiating a constant, cold light at the core of his consciousness, like the last lighthouse in a stormy night.

With this hum, a weak but firm warm current flowed out from the mark, beginning to slowly organize and smooth out those violent and chaotic information fragments.

It did not eliminate them, but rather gathered and settled them in an orderly fashion, like organizing papers flying all over the sky into a book.

At the same time, another more obscure and profound fluctuation, seemingly triggered from an infinitely distant place by the radiance of the "Ancient Ring" mark, produced an extremely faint resonance with another almost imperceptible mark in his Soul ("bone ring"?).

This resonance brought a trace of cold, calming power, helping him resist the cold, erosive intent belonging to the "abyssal eye" within the torrent of information.

Under this dual influence, Ling Ye's shattered consciousness began to laboriously re-coalesce and awaken.

The first thing to return was the sense of pain.

An excruciating, tearing pain came from his left shoulder; his chest felt stifled, and his bones felt as if they had fallen apart.

His mouth was filled with a metallic, rusty taste of blood.

Next was his sense of hearing.

Dead silence. An absolute, heart-palpitating dead silence.

There were no footsteps of pursuers, no gunshots, no alarms, and even the ubiquitous roar of energy and the lingering shockwaves from the collapse of the Old Factory District barrier seemed to have... vanished?

No, not vanished. They had become extremely distant and muffled, as if separated by a thick barrier.

Then came the sense of touch.

Beneath him was a cold, hard, and slightly damp concrete floor.

His back was pressed against an equally cold wall.

The air was stagnant, carrying heavy dust and a faint... scent of blood?

And an indescribable, rotten smell, as if metal had rusted and then soaked for a long time.

Finally, his vision slowly recovered.

Before his eyes, it was not absolute darkness.

There was an extremely faint, dim green fluorescence coming from nowhere, scattered in dots around him, providing light that barely allowed him to see.

He discovered he was in a narrow, low, arched passage with rough walls.

The passage seemed to be constructed from a mixture of rough stone and concrete, aged, and covered in cracks and water stains.

Those dim green fluorescent lights came from some kind of glowing organism, similar to moss or fungi, growing in the cracks of the walls and ceiling.

This was not an emergency passage of the "Cleaning" side base. The architectural style and materials were completely different. Moreover, it was too quiet.

He struggled to sit up, but an agonizing pain shot from his left shoulder, causing him to grunt and fall back down.

He looked down to check; the clothing on his left shoulder was soaked with blood, congealed into a dark red mass.

The bullet did not seem to be lodged in his body but had passed through, leaving a gruesome wound, yet fortunately, it had avoided major bones and arteries.

However, he had lost quite a bit of blood and needed to treat it immediately.

He gritted his teeth and, using his still-functioning right hand, laboriously tore a relatively clean strip of cloth from his tattered jacket, trembling as he applied a simple pressure bandage.

Every movement made his vision go black with pain, and cold sweat poured down.

After bandaging, he leaned against the cold wall, gasping for air and conserving his strength, while beginning to observe and think.

First, where was this?

He remembered clutching that broken command terminal, rolling down from the emergency passage of the "Cleaning" side North District "Main Relay Station."

But the style of this passage... it was more like some ancient, abandoned underground fortification or part of a shelter.

Could the emergency passage have connected to an even older architectural relic? Or perhaps, while unconscious, he had been thrown by the shockwave or some other force into a deeper, more ancient area?

Second, what about the "Meltdown" protocol? Had the countdown ended?

His last memory was injecting that chaotic tampering signal back into the neutron generator deployment network.

If successful, it might have interfered with the targeting or detonation commands of some generators, but it couldn't completely stop the "Meltdown."

Had the countdown ended? If it had, why hadn't he felt that devastating neutron radiation and shock? Was he too far from the explosion center? Or... had something else happened?

Third, what about the pursuers?

That "Major" and the base guards must have pursued him. But it was so quiet here; either they hadn't found this entrance, or... they had entered other side paths?

Fourth, and most importantly, the anomaly of the "Ancient Ring" mark and those fragments of thought from before the Reincarnation...

"Star Gate keeper of the key... dual rings resonate... one stabilizes order, one locks the abyss... if the key is lost, the gate opens; if the abyss moves, the world topples..."

"Find... the other... ring... "bone ring"... balance... otherwise... this world... will return to... the silence of the 'abyssal eye'..."

The amount of information was too large and full of mysteries.

Were "Ancient Ring" and "bone ring" two corresponding rings? He was the holder (or associate) of "Ancient Ring," so where was "bone ring"? In whose hands?

Did "the key" seem to be related to the "resonance" of these two rings? Was he detected as having a weak connection to "the key" because he bore the "Ancient Ring" mark?

The "abyssal eye" was the "secondary contamination source" beneath the Old Factory District, a remnant of an "information lifeform" from a higher dimension. The essence of its "contamination" was to erode and distort the rules of reality.

And the "bone ring" seemed to be related to "locking the abyss"? Could "bone ring" be the key to sealing or controlling the "abyssal eye"? Or was it the hub maintaining some balance between "Ancient Ring" and the "abyssal eye"?

"Find the other ring... balance... otherwise this world will return to the silence of the abyssal eye..."

This was a warning, and also a guide.

Ling Ye's heart sank. This meant that the threat of the "abyssal eye" in the Old Factory District might be far more than the current contamination spread and "Meltdown" Cleaning. Behind it involved higher-level secrets concerning the "Star Gate," "Reincarnation," and even the survival of the world.

And he, this "Gatekeeper" candidate bearing the "Ancient Ring" mark, seemed to have been dragged into the center of this chess game that spanned an unknown amount of time and dimensions.

And his current state: seriously injured and dying, isolated and helpless, trapped in this unknown ancient underground, with the potentially already-initiated world-ending Cleaning and the spreading "abyssal eye" contamination outside...

A desperate situation, an unprecedented desperate situation.

But strangely, in Ling Ye's heart at this moment, apart from the coldness and heaviness, there was not much despair.

Perhaps it was because the stubborn resonance and warm current of the "Ancient Ring" mark made him feel that he was not completely alone.

Perhaps it was because he had obtained the crucial "heavenly secret" in this desperate situation, giving him a more essential understanding of the situation.

Perhaps it was simply because, after experiencing so many life-and-death trials, the emotion of simple "despair" was already too much of a luxury.

He slowly exhaled a breath of stale air tainted with blood, his eyes becoming sharp once again.

No matter what, he could not die here.

He must survive. He must find a way out. He must treat his wounds and restore his strength.

Then... go find the "bone ring"? Balance the "abyssal eye"? Uncover the truth behind all of this?

It sounded like a fantasy.

But this was currently the only long-term goal he could grasp that transcended the immediate life-and-death crisis.

With a goal, there was motivation.

He endured the excruciating pain and began to check his belongings.

The multi-function knife was still at his waist. The PIT (Personal Infantry Tactical terminal) was still in his chest pocket, but it had long run out of power.

That broken command terminal was also still beside him, its screen shattered, casing deformed, obviously completely damaged and turned into scrap metal.

Besides that, he had nothing. Food, water, and medicine had all been exhausted during the previous escape.

He must find supplies as soon as possible.

He supported himself against the wall and struggled to stand up, his body swaying, nearly falling again.

The weakness from blood loss and excruciating pain was extremely intense.

He had to sit down again to perform a deeper regulation of his breath, guiding the "Qi" within his body—which was weak to the extreme—focusing on nourishing his wounds and heart meridian, while attempting to absorb the thin energy from the air.

This time, he deliberately submerged a thread of his consciousness into the "Ancient Ring" mark deep in his Soul.

The mark was still blurry, but the cold radiance it emitted seemed to have a subtle nourishing and guiding effect on the circulation of "Qi," slightly increasing its efficiency.

At the same time, the mark acted like an invisible "anchor," firmly stabilizing his consciousness, resisting the faint, uncomfortable sense of "staleness" and "inertia" in the surrounding environment—this feeling was subtly similar to the "disharmony" of the "abyssal eye," but much fainter, more like... some kind of residual "aura"?

Could this place also be related to the "abyssal eye"? Or was it just some kind of negative energy field naturally formed in the ancient underground environment?

After regulating his breath for about half an hour, Ling Ye felt his state stabilize somewhat; although still weak, he at least had the ability to move.

He stood up again, and this time he was steady.

He had to choose a direction. Both ends of the passage extended into the darkness, with no end in sight.

He closed his eyes and raised his remaining "Spiritual Sense," like invisible tentacles, extending his perception in both directions.

To the left, the passage seemed to slope slightly downward, the air was more stagnant, the "stale" smell was stronger, and his "Spiritual Sense" fed back a faint sense of repulsion and danger.

To the right, the passage was relatively flat, the air seemed to have an extremely weak flow, and that "stale" feeling was slightly lighter.

More importantly, at the edge of his "Spiritual Sense" perception, he seemed to have captured a trace of an extremely faint light source, different from the fluorescent fungi? And... a very vague sound, as if water was dripping?

Water Source!

Ling Ye did not hesitate and chose to go right.

With one hand supporting himself against the cold wall and the other clutching his injured left shoulder, he moved step by step, slowly advancing toward the faint hope in the darkness.

The passage was winding and so silent that he could only hear his own heavy breathing, his staggering footsteps, and the heavy, slow beating of his heart in his chest.

He didn't know how long he had walked; it might have been only a few minutes, or it might have felt like a century.

Just as he felt his strength was again on the verge of exhaustion and his vision was blacking out—

At the corner ahead, that faint light source became a bit clearer.

It was a stable, soft, warm-leaning yellowish-white light, definitely not something that could be produced by naturally glowing organisms!

It was an artificial light source! And very likely... an electric light?!

Was there still someone here?! Or... an automatically running facility?

Ling Ye's heart jumped, his vigilance instantly rising to the extreme.

He stopped, backed against the wall, held his breath, and focused his "Spiritual Sense" forward.

There were no fluctuations of life signs. Only the stable energy emission of the light source itself, and that faint, continuous sound of dripping water.

He cautiously moved to the corner, poked half his head out, and looked forward.

Before his eyes was a small circular hall much wider than the passage, about ten meters in diameter.

In the center of the hall, there was a small, dried-up fountain pool built of stone, with some broken pottery jars scattered around the edge.

On the walls of the hall were embedded several old-fashioned gas lamps with protective covers, two of which were actually still burning, emitting a stable and warm light that illuminated the hall.

More importantly, in one corner of the hall, there was an extremely rudimentary shelter built from stone slabs and wood!

In front of The Shelter, there was a fire pit surrounded by stones with ashes still present, and beside it were scattered several empty tin cans and damaged tableware.

Inside The Shelter, it seemed to be covered with hay and rags.

Someone had lived here recently! And very likely, more than one person!

A drifter? An underground explorer? Or... a survivor who escaped from the "Purification Net" or "abyssal eye" contamination?

Ling Ye's heart raced. The presence of someone meant there might be food, water, or medicine, but it could also mean... danger.

He carefully observed The Shelter and the fire pit. The ashes were cold, but they didn't seem completely covered in dust, suggesting they hadn't been out for long (perhaps within a few days). The production date on the empty canned food container was very recent. The person here might have left recently, or... were they just out temporarily?

He needed to make a decision. Should he leave immediately to avoid contact with an unknown survivor? Or should he risk entering the small hall to search for potential supplies and wait for the owner to return (which could mean conflict or a request for help)?

Or perhaps... there was another option: instead of entering the small hall, explore the passage on the other side that continued forward and seemed to lead deeper inside?

The sound of dripping water seemed to be coming from the depths of that passage.

For someone as severely injured and extremely thirsty as him, the temptation of a Water Source was lethal.

He had to replenish his fluids as soon as possible, or his injuries and stamina would not hold out.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Ling Ye chose to risk entering the small hall, quickly search for supplies, and then immediately head toward the Water Source.

He tiptoed into the small hall, his eyes quickly sweeping over every corner. He first rushed toward the crude The Shelter and lifted the tattered cloth—

No food. Only some blackened hay and a worn, patched-up coat.

He quickly checked around the fire pit again. Apart from the empty canned food container, he found nothing.

Just as he was about to leave in disappointment to head toward the passage where the dripping sound was coming from, his foot kicked a loose stone slab by the edge of the fountain pool.

"Click."

There seemed to be something under the stone slab.

His heart stirred; he crouched down and pried open the stone slab with his multi-tool knife.

Beneath it was a shallow pit, containing a palm-sized metal box wrapped in waterproof tarp!

Hidden items! They were very likely important possessions or supplies left behind by the previous occupant!

Ling Ye's heart pounded wildly. He quickly picked up the box and opened it.

Inside, there was no food and no water.

There were only three things: a notebook with a damaged cover and yellowed pages. A folded hand-drawn map with rough lines, drawn on some kind of animal skin or thick paper. A pendant threaded on a thin string, with an archaic design, seemingly carved from obsidian or some kind of black Ore, shaped like an eye. The pendant felt ice-cold to the touch, and a dull luster seemed to flow within it.

The notebook and the map! Information! This could be information about this underground area, or even about the situation on the outside!

And the pendant... it gave him a strange feeling, echoing the "stale" atmosphere around him, but it also seemed to have a hint of something else.

There was no time to examine them closely. He stuffed the notebook and map into his chest pocket, hesitated for a moment, and then put the pendant around his neck, hiding it close to his body.

Then, without lingering, he immediately walked quickly toward the passage where the dripping sound was coming from.

He had to find water as soon as possible!

The passage sloped downward and became increasingly damp. The sound of dripping water became clearer and clearer.

After turning another corner, the space ahead suddenly opened up, and simultaneously, a huge, rumbling sound of rushing water reached him!

Before him was a massive, naturally formed underground cavern. On one side of the cavern, a wide underground river surged violently; the water was deep black, reflecting a gloomy luster under the dim light of gas lamps (installed by who knows whom) in the distance. The river water crashed against the rocks, creating a deafening roar.

On the riverbank closer to Ling Ye, water constantly seeped out from the rock wall, converging into a small, clear spring that flowed into a naturally formed, basin-sized stone depression below. The water in the stone depression looked relatively clear.

This was it!

Ling Ye lunged to the side of the stone depression, desperately cupped the spring water with his hands, and drank it in large gulps. The spring water was ice-cold and bone-chilling, with a faint mineral taste, but to his parched throat, it was no different from nectar.

He drank several large gulps, feeling his burning throat find relief. He also used the water to wash the bloodstains off his face and hands and filled his canteen (which had been empty).

Having replenished his fluids, he felt his spirits lift slightly. But the hunger and weakness remained.

He leaned against the rock wall, panting, his gaze involuntarily drifting to the notebook and map he had just obtained.

Perhaps there was information in here about sources of food or how to leave this underground area?

He couldn't wait to take out the damaged notebook and, by the dim light of the distant gas lamps, opened the first page.

On the title page, written in scrawled but forceful handwriting, was a line of text:

"If you are reading this, it means 'it' has awakened again, or... the 'Cleaning' has finally arrived. No matter who you are, if you want to survive, keep reading. Remember, do not trust anything outside the light, do not drink water that looks off in color, and even more so... do not stare into the darkness for too long."

— "Grave Digger" John, on the Day of the Abyssal Echo.

Ling Ye's pupils contracted sharply.

"Grave Digger" John? "It" has awakened again? "Cleaning"? Do not trust anything outside the light? Do not stare into the darkness for too long?

The owner of this notebook seemed to know a lot. Furthermore, the time of its recording was likely very recent!

He took a deep breath, suppressing the tumultuous waves in his heart, and continued turning the pages.

The subsequent content was written in a style that mixed logs, observation records, warnings, and frantic ravings; the handwriting was sometimes neat, sometimes chaotic, as if the author's mental state was extremely unstable.

"New Calendar Year 217, Frost Month. The 'Big Eyeball' beneath Oak Street has been making quite a fuss lately; I can't sleep at all at night. Old Jack said he saw blue light by the perimeter wall and urged me to leave quickly. Leave? Where can I go? The 'Company' and 'police' on the surface are more terrifying than the things underground. At least here, they can't get out for now."

"Year 217, Snow Month. Not much food left. Went to the 'Old Market' and traded my last few spare parts for some synthetic paste. Heard the 'Company' is recruiting people to go down and mine again; the pay is high, but no one dares to go. The team that went down last time, only half came back, and they were insane, muttering about 'eyes', 'eyes' all day long."

"Year 218, Bud Month. Something is wrong. The 'Echo' is becoming more frequent. Not just the sounds, but... the smell. That metallic, muddy stench, I can smell it even here. New 'shadows' have appeared near the 'Grave Digger' path, and they aren't rats. They... are watching us."

"Year 218, Flower Month. The 'Cleaners' are here. They are driving unmarked cars, wearing black clothes, and grabbing people at the settlement points. Old Jack is gone. They said he was 'sick' and needed 'treatment'. Bah! They are the ones who are the most sick! They are looking for something, or rather... looking for someone."

"Year 218, Flower Month (Follow-up). I have to go. The rumors of 'Cleaning' are getting tighter. I plan to head toward the 'Deep Layer', to try my luck at the 'Silent Church'. I heard that it was a secret research institute of the 'Company' in the early years, which was later abandoned, but some old things might still be left there. I've drawn the map; whether you make it or not depends on your luck. Remember, follow the 'marked' path, and don't trust any 'voices'."

"Last note: If you also encounter the gaze of 'it', feel cold, dizzy, or see things you shouldn't... put on that 'Black Pupil' pendant. I found this in a 'Company' ruin; it seems to be able to... slightly insulate against the influence of 'it'. But don't wear it for too long, or you will become just like 'it'... cold."

The notes ended abruptly there.

Ling Ye closed the notebook, his back soaked in cold sweat.

The amount of information was overwhelming!

The owner of the notebook, "Grave Digger" John, was clearly an "insider" or "survivor" who had been lurking in the underground of Dawn City (most likely the underground network near Oak Street/Old Factory District) for a long time. He knew of the existence of the "abyssal eye" (which he called the "Big Eyeball") in the Old Factory District, knew its active cycle ("Echo"), and had also encountered the "Cleaning" operation (which he called "Cleaning").

He mentioned the activities of the "Company" (most likely referring to "Deep Space Frontier Capital") in this area in the early years (prospecting, secret research institutes), as well as the arrest operations of the "Cleaners" (the "Cleaning" side).

He had drawn a map to the so-called "Silent Church" (the abandoned secret research institute of the "Company"), as a final escape or exploration route.

And the "Black Pupil" pendant he left behind was said to be able to briefly insulate against the influence of the "abyssal eye".

All of this matched perfectly with the information Ling Ye knew, and it provided more details and a possible way out—the "Silent Church"!

It was an abandoned research institute of "Deep Space Frontier Capital", and perhaps it contained clues about the "abyssal eye", "the key", or even the "bone ring"! Moreover, it was located in the "Deep Layer", possibly relatively far from the surface area about to be swept by "Meltdown" and "Purification" contamination!

This was simply a godsend in a desperate situation!

Ling Ye suppressed his excitement and immediately unfolded the hand-drawn map.

The map was drawn quite roughly, but the main landmarks and routes were clear. Starting from the underground area where he currently was (marked on the map as "Echo Cave"), he would proceed upstream (northwest) along the underground river, pass through a dangerous area marked as "Drowned Man's Corridor", arrive at a place called "Old Lift Shaft", from where he could descend to the deeper "Deep Layer", and then follow the "Grave Digger's Path" to finally reach the destination—the "Silent Church".

On the map, at some key intersections and dangerous areas, simple markings (similar to arrows or warning symbols) were drawn, corresponding to the "follow the 'marked' path" in the notes.

The location of the "Silent Church" was specially circled on the map, with a small line of text written next to it: "The Company's deepest secret, and perhaps the origin of 'it'. Be careful, there are 'Guardians' there."

Guardians? What were they? Automated defense Systems? Mutated creatures? Or... something else?

Regardless, this had become Ling Ye's only clear goal and hope for the moment.

He put away the map and notebook and touched the "Black Pupil" pendant on his chest. The pendant remained ice-cold, but it seemed to alleviate the faint, "stale" oppressive feeling around him by a fraction.

He had to leave immediately. Follow the map's instructions and head to the "Silent Church"!

But before that, he needed food, needed to treat his wounds, and needed to recover more stamina. In his current state, traversing dangerous areas marked as "Drowned Man's Corridor" and "Grave Digger's Path" was tantamount to suicide.

His gaze turned once again to the surging underground river.

Could there be fish or shrimp in the river? Or could edible underground fungi be found nearby?

Also, was there really no hidden food supply in "Grave Digger" John's The Shelter? Perhaps he had other hiding spots?

Just as Ling Ye struggled to get up, preparing to return to the small hall to search more carefully and try to find food by the river—

"Shh... shh..."

A faint, extremely slight rustling sound, which definitely did not belong to the sound of flowing water, vaguely drifted from the darkness in the direction of the downstream of the underground river.

Ling Ye's body froze instantly!

He whipped his head around, pushing his "Spiritual Sense" to the limit, and directed it toward the source of the sound.

In the darkness, the loud roar of the rushing river covered many details. But the "rustling" sound was becoming clearer and closer... as if something was slowly approaching his position, moving along the riverbank, or... from the water.

It was not the sound of human footsteps.

It sounded more like... the sound of some kind of multi-legged, moist limb rubbing against rock and dirt.

And, there was more than one!

Ling Ye's heart suddenly stopped beating.

He remembered the warning in the note: "New 'shadows' have appeared near the 'Grave Digger' path, and they aren't rats. They... are watching us."

Could it be... underground creatures affected after the "abyssal eye" contamination spread? Or was it... something that existed in this ancient underground world itself?

The sound was getting closer; he could already hear the faint, wet, slimy dragging noise, as well as an extremely subtle, teeth-grating sound of carapace rubbing.

The information fed back by his "Spiritual Sense" was blurry and chaotic; he could only perceive several cold life signs with a faint "sense of dissonance" emerging from the dark water, closing in on him—the "target" emitting the scent of blood and life.

Run!

That was the only word left in Ling Ye's mind!

He didn't care about his injuries or weakness; he turned and scrambled, running wildly along the riverbank in the direction of the upstream of the underground river, as indicated by the map!

Behind him, the "rustling" and slimy dragging sounds suddenly accelerated! As if stimulated by his flight, the things in the darkness began their pursuit!

The ice-cold river water soaked his pant legs, and the rugged riverbank made him stumble constantly. The wound on his left shoulder burst open again during the intense running, blood seeping out, causing excruciating pain and leaving an even more obvious trail.

But he dared not stop! He could only use all his strength to flee for his life toward the darkness upstream!

Ahead, the unknown dangers of the "Drowned Man's Corridor" awaited him.

Behind him, were the unknown things from the darkness claiming lives.

And the mark of the "Silent Church" on the map in his chest pocket was the only faint beacon in the darkness.

This "Calamity of the abyssal eye", which began in the Old Factory District and swept through the entire city, had, in this deep, unknown underground, raised its bloody curtain in the most primitive and cruel way.