178: Chapter 178 The Shadow Asks for Directions, Subtly Conveying a Mystery

Ling Ye forcefully suppressed the trepidation in his heart, retreated half a step slowly without changing his expression, slightly angled his body, maintaining a posture ready to exert force at any moment, his gaze locked tightly onto the eerie man in work clothes.

He did not speak immediately, but instead elevated his remaining "Spiritual Sense," attempting to "transmit" a simple question toward the other party using an extremely faint and peaceful intent:

"Who are you?"

There was no language, only ripples of intent.

The man in work clothes seemed to pause slightly. His greyish-white eyes appeared to turn for an instant with extreme slowness, focusing on Ling Ye.

Yet he still did not make any sound; only the arm he had extended reached forward by an insignificant fraction, as if determined to hand what was in his hand to Ling Ye.

At the same time, Ling Ye felt an extremely faint, cold throbbing coming from the remains of the "abyssal eye" pendant on his chest.

And the "Ancient Ring" mark deep within his Soul emitted a faintly clearer sense of alertness—not direct hostility, but an instinctive repulsion and caution when facing a "non-living, non-dead, twisted, abnormal existence."

In the perception of his "Spiritual Sense," the cold "sense of existence" radiating from the other party was not substantial life energy, but more like a solidified afterimage of information filled with intense obsession, sharing the same origin as the "stale" atmosphere in the surrounding environment, yet more concentrated, and more... "vivaciously" "deadly silent."

Could it be... a miner who died here years ago? Because of the influence of the "abyssal eye" power, his residual intent created some kind of eerie combination with this underground environment, forming an existence similar to a "land-bound spirit" or "information ghost"?

"What... do you need?" Ling Ye attempted to communicate via intent again, while gesturing with his gaze toward the object in the other's hand, "What is that?"

This time, the man in work clothes' lips moved extremely slightly, as if rusted gears were struggling to turn, yet no syllable was produced.

But his pair of greyish-white eyes were fixedly "staring" at Ling Ye's face, especially... the bloodstains and wounds smeared on it?

Ling Ye's heart stirred. Could it be that he was attracted/triggered because of the scent of blood on his body, or his injuries?

Or perhaps... he "recognized" some quality on Ling Ye? For instance, the aura of having contacted the "abyssal eye"? Or the faint glow of the "Ancient Ring" mark?

The hand the man in work clothes extended began to tremble slightly.

The object he held tightly in his hand, under the dim light, vaguely revealed a corner—it seemed to be a small, metallic, rectangular object, like an old-fashioned ID tag or data storage card?

At the same time, Ling Ye felt that the "stale" atmosphere in the surrounding environment seemed to be quietly increasing.

In the air, it felt as if countless tiny, inaudible "whispers" were gathering, coming from the rock walls, from under his feet, from that bottomless Old Lift Shaft... vaguely pointing toward this man in work clothes, and also pointing toward the object in his hand.

Danger was accumulating!

He could not remain in a stalemate any longer!

Ling Ye's thoughts raced. The other party seemed determined to hand over the object, and his very existence was closely related to the secrets of this area.

Perhaps accepting the item in his hand was the key to triggering the next event (or trap)?

But taking it directly with his hand carried unknown risks.

His gaze swept across the ground, and he saw a palm-sized, relatively flat piece of rock debris.

Perhaps... he could use this?

He crouched down slowly, his movements as gentle as possible to avoid provoking the other party.

He picked up the rock fragment with his left hand, then slowly stood up, extended the stone fragment flatly, and placed it under the trembling hand of the man in work clothes.

The meaning was clear: put the thing on this.

The man in work clothes' greyish-white eyes seemed to "look" at the stone fragment, then "look" at Ling Ye.

There was no change in expression on his stiff face, but that trembling hand slowly moved down, placing the small metal square he was clutching tightly onto the rock fragment in Ling Ye's hand.

The moment the metal square left his palm—the man in work clothes' body, like a sandcastle whose last support had been pulled away, suddenly collapsed and dissipated!

It did not turn into dust, but like a holographic image with a bad signal, it flickered a few times, then immediately turned into countless wisps of extremely faint, dark blue light dust, silently merging into the surrounding air and rock walls, leaving no trace.

Only that cold, obsession-like "sense of existence" also completely disappeared along with it. As if it had never existed.

Ling Ye stood there holding the rock fragment with the metal square on it, his back soaked in cold sweat.

He looked down at the object on the stone fragment.

It was indeed an old-fashioned metal ID tag with a magnetic strip and a chip.

The surface of the tag was covered with scratches and stains, but the writing on it was still legible:

"Deep Space Frontier Capital - Seventh Mining District - Security Rank: Gamma"

"Employee ID: SF-7719"

"Name: Chen Yan"

"Position: Deep Geological Sampler"

Chen Yan! This was the name of that man in work clothes? He was a deep geological sampler for the "Deep Space Frontier Capital" Seventh Mining District (Old Factory District)!

On the back of the tag, a smaller line of writing, seemingly hand-carved, was crooked, filled with haste and despair:

"The sample... is alive... It is watching us... Everyone was wrong... the key is at..."

The subsequent writing was destroyed by a deep scratch and could not be recognized.

"The sample is alive"? Does this refer to the "sample" taken from underground related to the "abyssal eye"? "It is watching us"—this matches the "gaze" characteristic of the "abyssal eye"!

"Everyone was wrong"—does this refer to "Deep Space Frontier Capital" misjudging the "sample"? Or does it mean the nature of the entire event was misunderstood?

"the key is at..." —the part after was destroyed; this is key information! Where is the key?!

Ling Ye's heartbeat accelerated. This tag was the final piece of information left by a survivor of the incident back then! It was of immense value!

He carefully picked up the tag from the stone fragment; it felt cold and heavy in his hand.

The moment his fingers touched the tag—

Hum!

Inside the tag, some kind of extremely faint energy seemed to have been activated!

An extremely dim, dark-blue halo shone through from beneath the stains on the tag's surface, flashing and then vanishing!

At the same time, Ling Ye felt a cold and chaotic "fragment of information," filled with fear and despair, rush violently into his consciousness through his fingers!

"Run! It's awake!"

"Professor! Don't touch that thing!"

"Ah—! My eyes! My eyes!"

"Help... me..."

"the key... must not... be given... to the company..."

Countless fragmented shouts, screams, and chaotic images—dark mining tunnels, flashing emergency lights, flowing blue slime, twisted figures, and a cold, huge, deep-blue eye slowly opening in the darkness—flashed crazily in Ling Ye's mind like snippets of a fast-forwarded nightmare!

These were the final memory fragments of Chen Yan before he died! They had been recorded by the tag in some way!

"Ugh!" Ling Ye groaned, his head splitting with pain, nearly dropping the tag.

He forcibly steadied his mind and activated "Star Visualization" to resist this wave of mental shock.

The memory fragments soon dissipated, but the information they brought was Soul-shaking.

The incident back then was indeed caused by "Deep Space Frontier Capital" triggering the "abyssal eye" (or something related to it) during deep-layer exploration, leading to the disaster.

Chen Yan was a survivor; he seemed to know more information about "the key," and might even know where "the key" was! But the final information was destroyed.

Furthermore, from the memory fragments, Ling Ye could feel that Chen Yan was full of distrust and even hostility toward "Deep Space Frontier Capital" ("the company"), believing that "the key" must not be given to the company.

This tag was what he left near the "Old Lift Shaft."

Perhaps he originally intended to take it and escape, or leave it for those who came after?

But in the end, he couldn't leave; his residual intent combined with the tag and this environment, which had been infected by the power of the "abyssal eye," forming the eerie "information ghost" from earlier, which was only "triggered" when Ling Ye, who bore the "Ancient Ring" mark and had contacted the power of the "abyssal eye," arrived, thus completing this final "handover."

Ling Ye solemnly put away the tag, placing it with his notebook and map.

Now, he had more clues about the incident back then and "the key." But the most critical part was still missing.

He looked up at that pitch-black, bottomless "Old Lift Shaft."

Chen Yan's tag was here; could he himself (or rather, his remains) also be down below?

Or, was there something more important down there that he hadn't been able to take out?

The map indicated that one had to pass through the "Old Lift Shaft" to get down to the "deep layer" and head toward the "Silent Church."

But the lift was long broken, the steel cables were snapped, and the car was nowhere to be found.

How to get down?

He walked close to the shaft opening and looked down.

Inside the shaft was pitch black, bottomless, with only cold, upward-surging air currents carrying a heavy scent of rust and decay.

The shaft walls were rough rock, with some remaining metal brackets and ladder rungs, but most were severely corroded and spaced very far apart.

Climb down with bare hands? Given his current state, that was practically suicide.

Perhaps there were other passages on the shaft walls? Or a backup maintenance ladder?

He carefully inspected along the edge of the shaft opening.

On the other side of the shaft opening, at the junction of the rock wall and the shaft, he discovered a narrow, man-made crack extending diagonally downward.

The entrance of the crack had fresh (relatively) scrape marks; it seemed someone or something had entered or exited recently!

The crack was very narrow, allowing only one person to pass through sideways. It was pitch black inside, leading to who knows where.

The map did not mark this crack.

Was it a shortcut discovered later by "Grave Digger" John? Or a passage for something else?