"That's true," Lu Siya said after thinking about it carefully.
"Leprosy Village and the gangs have viewed each other as enemies for decades, and the situation in Leprosy Village is getting worse. It won't be easy for them to work together without any grudges. If Deity Realm superhumans like Broken Sword Ye Xiaoyue weren't around, they might have even fought against each other.
"Let's figure out who exactly this so-called 'Ah Ji' is before we talk about it!"
Together with Meng Chao, they entered the dark fork in the road.
At the end of the fork was a 3D maze that looked like it was soaked in ink.
It was an air-raid shelter, a shelter, and an underground transportation tunnel that had been built on Earth. Over the past half a century, the lair citizens had been digging out tunnels day and night. It was enough to make even the pests living underground feel dizzy.
On the walls around him, mottled words left behind on Earth were flashing. Sometimes, there were emergency lights that were blinking crazily like ghost eyes. Sometimes, there were rock walls that were carved randomly and were full of cracks.
Occasionally, a few deformed insects with two heads and three tails crawled out of the cracks, but they did not dare to provoke the two superhumans. Soon, they crawled away while wagging their heads and wagging their tails.
Along the way, they ran into at least eight forks in the road.
Fortunately, Meng Chao had left Red Radiance Jade powder on A 'Ji's shoulder. Otherwise, even if more than one hundred people came down, they would still be trapped in the bewitching formation.
Even if they sensed the ripples from the Red Radiance Jades, they still had to climb up and down, and they had to go around in circles for a long time.
In the end, they ran into a dead end.
Aside from the path behind them, there were only black walls in front of them, to their left, right, and above them. There were no signs that they were man-made.
The ripples from the Red Radiance Jades were cut off here. It was as if A 'Ji had miraculously vanished after he came here.
"Strange. My senses shouldn't be wrong."
Lu Siya frowned a little. "A 'Ji must have run in this direction. There aren't any holes in the walls around us. Even if he turned into smoke, he wouldn't have anywhere to run."
"I sensed the energy released by the Red Radiance Jades too."
Meng Chao looked around and said with a contemplative expression, "Big Sis Ya, do you know our exact coordinates?"
Lu Siya used to be a mine explorer.
As a specialist who had to spend ten days to half a month or even longer around the underground mother lodes and search for the mother lodes and exits in the interconnected, maze-like caves, her sense of direction was naturally ten times better than that of a normal person.
No matter how complicated a man-made maze was, it was still inferior to a natural karst cave that stretched for hundreds of miles.
Hence, Lu Siya remembered the path they took and drew a 3D map based on the path they took. Then, she clearly marked their current coordinates.
"Even though we've been wandering around underground for a long time, we haven't been too far from the Mutual Gold Coliseum. At most, we're three to four hundred meters away. It's … right here."
Lu Siya pointed at a spot on the 3D map and said, "But this place is really deep. It's at least two hundred meters underground."
Meng Chao had also studied the map of the lair.
Mutual Gold Coliseum was located at the busiest spot in the lair, so he knew the terrain and the important facilities around it like the back of his hand.
Hence, he could tell with just one glance. "Huh? Then, aren't we right under Golden Tooth's headquarters?"
Lu Siya was a little stunned. Once Meng Chao said that, she noticed it as well. "That's right. We're right under Golden Tooth. Is this … a coincidence?"
"I'm afraid not."
A thought appeared in Meng Chao's mind. "Su Lun said that ever since his mother died, there were no more powerful pharmacists who could create medicine to suppress Jin Wanhao's injuries based on his condition. Jin Wanhao's body condition plummeted, and his personality became even stranger. Aside from really important occasions, he rarely went out and avoided meeting people.
"It was especially so during his seventieth birthday last year. His injuries acted up in front of the guests from the gangs, and he coughed up a lot of blood. He showed a really weak side.
"Ever since then, he became really sensitive, hot-tempered, and surly.
"He had been working with Su Lun's mother to build a large lab with very advanced facilities and a high degree of automation right under Golden Tooth's headquarters to help him heal and cultivate.
"When he realized that he didn't have long to live, Jin Wanhao didn't leave his house at all. He locked himself in this underground lab and even reinforced and sealed the lab. He turned the lab into an airtight secret room. In fact, it was like his … grave.
"Among all the middle and higher management in Golden Tooth, only Red Brows Su Lun received special favor from him. Sometimes, he could enter the periphery of the lab to help him deliver orders and news, deliver resources, and so on.
"The others, even Song Jinbo, who had been with him for decades, couldn't easily meet Jin Wanhao.
"And even Su Lun couldn't open the final door leading to the lab and see Saber Jin Wanhao's haggard and dying face. He could only communicate with Jin Wanhao through a special device through a wall.
"Jin Wanhao told Su Lun that the final door leading to the lab had to be opened from the inside or wait for him to die and sense that his heartbeat, breathing, and brainwaves had all returned to zero before it would open on its own. There were only two ways.
"Perhaps, for this ambitious and ruthless person who has killed too many people and made too many enemies, this is the only way for him to feel a shred of safety?
"At that time, Su Lun had already joined the monster civilization and was determined to help the Vortex destroy the lair. Jin Wanhao handed over his power and hid underground, which was exactly what Su Lun wanted. He was overjoyed, so he had no reason to stop Jin Wanhao from doing this.
"Hence, he only pretended to give Jin Wanhao a few words of advice before he stopped caring about the heavily injured and slightly deranged Underground Emperor.
"In any case, the underground lab was filled with the best food and cultivation resources. It was enough for Jin Wanhao to consume for a long time, and the fully automated medical facilities could constantly monitor his physiological parameters so that Su Lun would know his condition.
"Based on the changes in his physiological parameters, Jin Wanhao fell into a coma a few months ago. Right now, his condition is even worse than a vegetative state. Before long, he might die from multiple organ failure.
"After Song Jinbo and the other Golden Tooth members learned of this news, they rushed to the entrance of the underground lab to take a look. It was indeed a really sturdy door. Unless they used a few high-purity crystal bombs to blow up the alloy door and the buildings around it, it would be really difficult to open it.
"We seem to be under Jin Wanhao's' grave '. Isn't this a little too strange?"
"Meng Chao, come over and take a look."
While Lu Siya listened, she searched the area. She seemed to have found something, and she beckoned Meng Chao over.
Meng Chao bent his back and crawled over to take a look. He noticed that Lu Siya had found another Red Radiance Jade powder stuck to the black wall.
"It … seems to be hollow inside."
Lu Siya pressed her hands against the stone around the Red Radiance Jade powder and spoke uncertainly.
Meng Chao moved his fingers and rubbed them against the stone.
As a harvester, his fingers had really sharp senses. He could use the slight differences in his sense of touch to identify the minuscule bumps on the surface of an object.
He could even find bumps that were difficult to be found with a microscope.
"There's … a crack here, and another one. There are four cracks in total. It's like a door frame. This isn't a stone, but a secret door!"
Meng Chao tried exerting force on the stone.
The stone did not move.
He exerted force from the left and right in an attempt to make the stone spin or suck outwards in an attempt to "pull" it out.
The stone still did not move, as if it had become one with the wall around it.
"No, there's a really intricate mechanism inside. Unless you're a machine master who's skilled in this field, it'll be really difficult to open this secret door," Meng Chao said gloomily.
"Let me try."
Lu Siya pressed her hands against the stone again.
Spirit tattoos spread out from her palm lines and crawled into the secret door through the cracks that could not be seen with the naked eye.
Soon, the stone quietly turned into a pile of black sand that flowed away like sticky mud to reveal a new tunnel.
Meng Chao scratched his head.
Meng Chao had nearly forgotten that Lu Siya was an expert at controlling stones.
There was no need for her to know how to open the mechanism or the structure of the mechanism when she faced it. She could just use the simplest method — brute force to open it.
She craned her neck and cast a glance at the tunnel behind the secret door.
Meng Chao smelled a rotten stench with a hint of blood.
It was like a torture chamber that had been used for decades or a prison where hundreds of wronged souls had died tragically.
Meng Chao could not help but shudder.
He accidentally touched Lu Siya's arm.
He noticed that Lu Siya had goosebumps as well.
Their perception of danger caused them to take a step back at the same time. They looked at each other and tensed their muscles.
"If my guess is correct, this secret tunnel should lead to Saber Jin Wanhao's underground lab, which is also where he died," Meng Chao mumbled.
"If the Underground Emperor of Dragon City had a feeling that he didn't have long to live and wanted to rest in the tomb he meticulously created without being disturbed, then why is there a secret tunnel that leads to the outside world aside from the main entrance of the tomb?
"And who is A 'Ji? Why does he know about the secret tunnel that leads to Saber Jin Wanhao's tomb and how to open it?"
"I'm curious about your question as well," Lu Siya said airily.
"But I have a rather immature suggestion. We shouldn't continue forward. We should go back the way we came and look for Phantom Bear Xiong Wei and Broken Sword Ye Xiaoyue. Then, we should bring hundreds of lair fighters down. It'll be safer that way. What do you think?"
"I agree."
When the cold wind at the end of the secret tunnel blew at him, Meng Chao felt a stabbing pain in his bones, as if he was being stabbed by needles.
He nodded and curled up with Lu Siya. They faced the dark entrance of the secret tunnel and slowly retreated.
At that moment, a piercing scream suddenly came from the end of the secret tunnel.
Meng Chao's expression changed swiftly.
"It's A 'Ji!"
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