179: Chapter 179 Searching for Lost Secrets to Seize the Initiative

The map marked by "Grave Digger" John identified this place as a key node. Chen Yan's nameplate was handed over here, indicating this was by no means a simple passageway. It was highly likely that tools, ropes, or more detailed instructions used by miners of that era or later explorers (like John) remained here. Spending time to search carefully was worthwhile; if he could find descent equipment (ropes, anchors, or even a simple lift device), it would greatly increase the safety of descending the shaft. If he could discover hints about the cracks or the shaft, it would help him make the right choices. As the saying goes, sharpening the axe does not delay the woodcutter; in a desperate situation, any preparation and intelligence could determine life or death.

Ling Ye suppressed the urge to explore immediately, took a deep breath, and began a thorough, carpet-style search around the mouth of the "Old Lift Shaft".

He first took the shaft mouth as the center and checked the ground, corners of the rock walls, and those overturned discarded cargo boxes and mine carts inch by inch within a ten-meter radius.

Aside from gravel, rusted metal fragments, and aged dust, there were no special discoveries on the ground. Most of the cargo boxes were empty or contained Ore samples that had long since rotted into dregs.

Just as he was about to give up, a damaged wooden toolbox half-buried under gravel on the other side of the shaft mouth caught his attention.

One corner of the toolbox was pressed down by rocks, and the exposed part was covered in mold, but the shape was basically intact. He struggled to move the stones pressing on it and lifted the already rotten lid.

Inside, there were no ropes or lifting equipment as he had expected, and most of the tools were rusted and damaged. However, at the bottom of the box, pressed down, was a relatively intact leather scroll wrapped in tarpaulin, along with a few thick, short metal crowbars sharpened at one end and a large, rusty but structurally sound pipe wrench.

The crowbar and pipe wrench could serve as weapons and tools, which was quite valuable.

He was more interested in that leather scroll. Carefully unfolding it, he saw a more detailed local structural map of the mining area drawn with waterproof black grease, which seemed to be engineering maintenance blueprints specifically for the "Seventh Mining District Deep Shaft and Auxiliary Tunnels"!

The blueprints clearly marked the depth of the shaft (about 350 meters), the locations of platforms at each level, main maintenance passages, ventilation ducts, and... several backup paths marked with dashed lines as "Emergency Evacuation / Sample Transport Channels"!

The starting point of one of the backup paths was right near the rock wall crack that Ling Ye had discovered! The blueprints noted that this channel was secretly excavated back then to deal with "sudden geological risks," connecting to the middle maintenance platform of the shaft (at about -150 meters), from where one could reach the bottom level via another maintenance ladder. The channel was narrow, but it was much safer than climbing the entire shaft wall!

And that rock wall crack was very likely the entrance to this "Emergency Evacuation Channel"! The recent traces might have been left by the "Grave Digger" John or other later arrivals!

Truly, heaven never seals off all exits! The value of these blueprints was immeasurable!

Not only that, the blueprints circled a large area at the bottom of the shaft (-350 meters) in red ink, with a note next to it: "B7 Sample Main Storage Room / Elementary Analysis Station (Abandoned, High Risk)." This was likely the predecessor of the "Silent Church," or a part of it!

And next to the "B7 Storage Room," there was another mark in finer handwriting that seemed to have been added later, depicting a small church symbol with a word written next to it: "Silent."

As expected! The "Silent Church" was the "B7 Sample Main Storage Room / Elementary Analysis Station" abandoned by "Deep Space Frontier Capital"! That was the place where samples related to the "abyssal eye" were stored and studied back then! It was also the place where the secret of "the key" might be hidden!

The blueprints also marked other areas on the bottom level: the generator room, sewage treatment pool, employee rest area (sealed), and a channel leading to unknown deeper areas, marked as "Main Exploration Tunnel - Collapsed (Do Not Approach)."

The information was extremely detailed! With this map, he had a clear concept of the structure of the "Deep Level" and was no longer a blind man feeling an elephant!

Ling Ye carefully rolled up the blueprints and placed them together with his notebook, map, and nameplate. Then, he tucked the sturdiest crowbar into his waist and held the pipe wrench in his hand (although heavy, it could serve as a heavy weapon or a tool for breaking barriers if necessary).

Now, he had a clear and relatively safe path: go through the rock wall crack, enter the "Emergency Evacuation Channel," reach the middle maintenance platform of the shaft, and then descend to the bottom level from the maintenance ladder there.

But the situation inside the crack was still unknown, so he needed to be extremely careful.

He walked to the crack and sensed it carefully again. The airflow inside the crack was stable, carrying a musty smell similar to that of the shaft, but there was no obvious biological aura or premonition of danger. He turned on the last glimmer of light from his PIT and squeezed sideways into the crack.

The interior of the crack was more orderly than he had imagined; it was clearly excavated by human hands, wide enough for only one person to pass, and about two meters high. There were obvious chisel marks on the rock walls and a few remaining lighting cable troughs (no longer functional). The ground was rough stone slabs covered with a thin layer of dust.

He carefully moved diagonally downward along the channel. The channel was not straight but had gentle turns. After walking for about fifty or sixty meters, a simple metal staircase leading downward appeared ahead. The staircase was heavily rusted, but the structure looked relatively solid. He tested it and slowly moved downward.

The staircase spiraled down for about the height of three or four stories, and the view suddenly opened up as he arrived at a metal grid platform of about thirty square meters embedded in the rock wall of the shaft—exactly the middle maintenance platform marked on the blueprints (-150 meters)!

On one side of the platform was the bottomless abyss of the shaft, with cold air whistling from bottom to top. On the other side, on the rock wall, there was a closed, heavy explosion-proof sealed door with a manual handwheel on it, labeled "B7 Area - Authorized Personnel Only." This should be one of the official entrances to the "B7 Storage Room / Silent Church" area. But the door seemed to be locked from the inside or had lost power, and the manual handwheel would not budge.

On the other side of the platform, close to the rock wall, there was a vertical metal maintenance ladder with a protective cage leading straight to the bottom level. The maintenance ladder looked much more intact than the rungs on the shaft wall; although rusted, the structure was complete, and there were rest platforms embedded in the rock wall at intervals.

This was it!

Ling Ye did not try to open that sealed door (that might require authorization or power); his goal was the bottom level. He walked to the maintenance ladder and looked down. The ladder extended into the darkness below, bottomless, but the blueprints showed it was about another 200 meters to the bottom level.

He had to go down.

He checked the stability of the ladder, tapped the key connection points with the pipe wrench, and confirmed there was no serious looseness. Then, he tied the crowbar and pipe wrench to his back with cloth strips, took a deep breath, and began to climb down.

The climbing process was extremely exhausting, both physically and mentally. Every rung had to be tested for stability first, and the cold, rough metal made his palms ache. The whistling upward airflow carried away his body heat, and his wounds sent waves of stinging pain with every continuous exertion. He could only rely on his tenacious will and persistence in "Star Visualization," moving downward slowly and firmly, one rung at a time.

The rest platforms became his precious breathing points. Every twenty or thirty meters, there was a small platform where he could rest temporarily. He dared not stay long; after catching his breath and tending to his burst wounds, he continued downward.

Time passed in silence, darkness, and repetitive mechanical movements. He did not know how much time had passed; just as Ling Ye felt his arms go numb and was almost exhausted, his feet finally felt the solid ground!

He had reached the bottom!

He released his almost numb hands, slid down from the last section of the ladder, and his feet landed on the solid concrete ground. His body swayed, and he leaned against the cold rock wall, gasping for breath, almost collapsed.

Success! He had reached the "Deep Level"! He had arrived at the deepest part of the "Deep Space Frontier Capital" Seventh Mining District, which was also the floor where the "Silent Church" was located!

He leaned against the rock wall and illuminated the surroundings with the last glimmer of light from his PIT.

This was a relatively spacious tunnel intersection. Under his feet was a flat concrete road, the walls were solid concrete, and the ceiling had old-fashioned explosion-proof lamp covers (extinguished). The air was more stagnant, and that "musty" smell was mixed with a stronger scent of chemical reagents, engine oil, and... an indescribable, weird odor similar to formalin mixed with something sweet and rotten.

Several tunnels extended from the intersection into the darkness in different directions. According to the blueprints, to the left was the way to the "Generator Room" and "Sewage Treatment Pool," to the right was the "Employee Rest Area (Sealed)," and the widest tunnel directly ahead led to the "B7 Sample Main Storage Room / Elementary Analysis Station"—which was the "Silent Church."

And that weird sweet and rotten smell was drifting from the depths of the tunnel directly ahead.

Ling Ye adjusted his breathing and recovered some strength. He took the crowbar from his back, held it in his hand, and walked step by step toward the tunnel directly ahead.

On both sides of the tunnel, doors to some rooms began to appear, most of them tightly closed, with the labels on the doors having blurred lettering: "Sample Pre-treatment Room," "Low-Temperature Storage Room," "Disinfection Channel," "Danger! Biohazard!"...

Everything indicated that this had once been a fully functional, heavily guarded research area. But now, there was only dead silence and decay.

The further he went, the stronger the sweet and rotten smell became, almost nauseating. Strange stains began to appear on the walls—some were spray-like dark red (long since dried), some were flowing, glowing dark blue slime residues, and some seemed to be huge, wet dragging marks.

The warning from his "Spiritual Sense" was also getting stronger. A heavy, unsettling "sense of oppression" permeated the air, as if something was sleeping, and his intrusion was disturbing this stagnant water.

Finally, at the end of the tunnel, an extremely heavy circular airtight door cast from some silver-gray alloy appeared. There were no markings on the door, only a complex mechanical combination lock made of gears and latches, and a huge, eye-shaped observation window in the center of the door. The glass of the observation window was specially made, and it was pitch black looking in from the outside.

This was the main entrance to the "B7 Sample Main Storage Room / Elementary Analysis Station."

It was also what was marked on the "Grave Digger" John's map—the "Silent Church."

Ling Ye walked to the door. The mechanical combination lock on the door was complex, with twelve rotatable dials, each with numbers and strange symbols. Without the blueprints or the code, it was almost impossible to open.

He leaned close to the observation window, trying to look inside, but he could see nothing.

Could it be that after going through all this trouble to get here, he was blocked by a door?

No, there must be another entrance. The blueprints marked this as the "Main Entrance," but usually such facilities would have backup passages, such as... ventilation ducts? Maintenance tunnels? Emergency exits?

He stepped back a few steps and observed the walls and ceiling around the door. Soon, he discovered a ventilation opening covered by a grille on the ceiling above the left side of the door frame. The grille screws were rusted, but it seemed it could be pried open.

A ventilation duct! Another ventilation duct! This seemed to be the ultimate way to sneak into various facilities.

He inserted the tip of the crowbar into the edge of the grille and pried hard.

"Creak—" The rusted screws snapped, and the grille fell off.

He caught the grille and set it aside. The vent was pitch black, just big enough for him to crawl in.

He took a deep breath, suppressed the unease in his heart and that increasingly strong sweet and rotten smell, grabbed the edge of the vent with both hands, pulled himself up, and crawled in.

The inside of the duct was narrower than the previous one and filled with a thick, dizzying, weird smell. He could only crawl forward.

After crawling for about ten meters, a downward turn appeared ahead, and there was a vent at the turn. He looked down through the grille.

Below was an extremely vast circular hall with a ceiling height of over ten meters. In the center of the hall was a huge cylindrical isolation chamber made of transparent material (it seemed to be some kind of high-strength glass or polymer), with a diameter of over twenty meters, occupying almost half of the space in the hall. Inside the isolation chamber, thick, dark blue mist was slowly churning; in the mist, countless suspended, indescribable shadows and twisted outlines that looked like biological organs or mechanical wrecks could be vaguely seen.

And the base of the isolation chamber and its surroundings were connected to countless thick pipes, cables, and mechanical arms, most of which were rusted and damaged. Scattered around were various control consoles, surveillance screens (shattered), and some overturned experimental equipment.

The walls of the hall were covered with a thick layer of constantly wriggling, glowing dark blue fungal mat! On the fungal mat, countless pale white eyes of different sizes, without pupils, were slowly turning, as if "observing" everything in the hall!

This was the storage and analysis center for the "abyssal eye" samples! These fungal mats and eyes were derivatives that had grown here after the power of the "abyssal eye" leaked!

And what made Ling Ye's scalp tingle even more was that in one corner of the hall, where the sweet and rotten smell was strongest, dozens of damaged culture chambers were stacked. Most of the chambers were shattered, with dried, dark blue viscous substances flowing out. And in the middle of these broken culture chambers, something seemed to be slowly, rhythmically... heaving and wriggling.

As if it were... breathing.

Ling Ye's breath almost stopped.

This was the beginning of everything, and also one of the nests of the "abyssal eye" pollution on the surface.

The secret of "the key" might be hidden in some corner of this terrifying hall.

But how to get down? How to search under the gaze of those "eyes" and the threat of possible living things?

He had to find a way down, and he had to be extremely careful, never to disturb the thing that was "breathing" in the hall, nor those weird "eyes" on the wall.

The ventilation duct extended along the top of the wall, seemingly leading to different directions of the hall. He needed to choose an exit as far away from the central isolation chamber and that "breathing" thing as possible.

Just as he was observing carefully, looking for a suitable exit—

"Plop."

An extremely slight, yet incomparably clear sound of liquid dripping in the dead silence came from outside a ventilation opening not far below him.

Immediately after, a thicker, almost suffocating sweet and rotten smell rushed in from that ventilation opening!

Ling Ye's heart sank to the bottom in an instant.

Outside that ventilation opening... there was something.

And, it was very close to him.