Buzz buzz!

In the massive geothermal pit, the rising heat waves resembled the breathing rhythm of an ancient titan. The muffled sound of metal friction was like some low chant from the distant past. The temperature conducted from underground made the entire space feel like it was being roasted;

the ground and guardrails were scorching hot. Working here required wearing high-temperature protective power armor.

“This place looks like a missile silo or some kind of secret weapon storage base, but the space has been extensively excavated. This geothermal source might even be connected to the Garland submarine volcano.”

Lin Xian stood near the center of the huge device, unable to see the full scale of the installation at a glance. Judging from the structure of this vertical shaft, at least two-thirds of the space was newly excavated.

This was vastly different from the previous military bases. Such large-scale construction was definitely beyond what any small organization could accomplish.

The first things that came to Lin Xian’s mind were the large experimental site in Qingshui Town and the SIID Foundation organization.

“What is this thing used for, geothermal extraction?”

“Looks like it’s still operational. If this geothermal energy is this large in scale, it should at least supply power to a medium-sized city.”

Ning Jing frowned. “With such immense energy, what else could it be supplying?”

“Simple. Let’s get inside, find the main control room, and find out.”

KIKI observed the surroundings carefully, pulling out the original base blueprint for comparison to find any integrated parts. But the modifications here had completely changed the original terrain. So, KIKI approached a control panel and tried to access the system.

Ning Jing watched vigilantly without relaxing. “Xiao Qing, go check over there. A Bai, watch the upper and lower passages. If you sense anything abnormal, tell me.”

“Understood!” Xiao Qing immediately moved, her figure vanishing like a shadow.

“This place is still running. If they detected us upon entry, they should have noticed us by now. Maybe they are hiding somewhere watching us.”

KIKI operated the terminal. Once connected to the system, she would quickly understand the situation here.

Lin Xian’s drones had already begun patrolling in all directions. Without Viola, he couldn’t multi-thread complex reconnaissance and could only have the drones patrol in assigned sectors.

“Since we came in, no life signs have been detected.” Lin Xian glanced back at Shiori, who shook her head as well. Her power armor had a more advanced radar system, specifically designed for reconnaissance and support. Lin Xian could also connect and control it. If even A Bai and Shiori found nothing abnormal, then no one else would either.

“Doesn’t matter. Just a bunch of rats hiding in the dark. If they dare to show up, I’ll deal with them myself.”

Fire Bro snapped his fingers, a fiery arc flashing at his fingertip, eager for action.

“Fire Bro, did you feel any pressure when you fought those Crystal Lattice evolved people this afternoon?” Lin Xian suddenly asked after hearing Fire Bro’s words.

Lu Xingchen smiled slightly, standing sideways with his hands behind his back. “They’re just heretics. How could they compare to the power we’ve painstakingly cultivated?”

“Then do you need to develop crystallization? I already have the Phoenix Society’s technology and Level 4 blood crystals.”

“Brother Lin, why didn’t you say so earlier...”

Fire Bro immediately turned his head, eyes catching the glance Xiao Qing sent from afar. He quickly cleared his throat and said solemnly, “I have also carefully considered it. This crystallization evolution seems to have similarities to the ‘Nascent Soul’ condensation during cultivation. Perhaps it’s also an opportunity.”

“But Vanessa and the others also said it’s dangerous.” Lin Xian said seriously, “I have communicated with the Phoenix Society. This kind of development carries many hidden risks.”

“Brother Lin is definitely right.” Lin Xian’s voice was firm. “If you’re going to enter hell, then who wouldn’t enter hell? In a world like this, if you can gain power to fight these weak enemies, why fear the pain and risks? Are there risks worse than the threat of extinction?”

Nian Li was speechless but then smiled. Fire Bro’s words were indeed quite illogical.

“Alright, after we solve the current problem, you’ll build the cultivation device and the replacement instrument, and lead the charge.”

“Willing to die a thousand deaths!” Fire Bro immediately lowered his voice with heroic determination.

At that moment, KIKI completed the system intrusion.

“Found it!”

She tapped her finger, and an automatic door above the passage suddenly opened.

“This door leads directly to the main control room. From what I see, this area connects to the submarine base. It really has been completely remodeled!”

With a quick leap, Lin Xian and Ning Jing flew to the upper passage, seeing the automatic door open ahead. Lin Xian sent a drone flying inside and quickly followed in. Inside was a highly automated corridor. As they went deeper, more rooms appeared in view. At the corridor’s end was a spacious hall with multiple floors, filled with many terminal devices. It looked like the central intelligent control center.

However, all the workstations were empty. Everything looked spotless, not like a place hit by a crisis, but rather orderly evacuated.

Lin Xian walked forward into the data processing center. Several large screens constantly scrolled through complicated data, dazzling to the eyes.

“These systems are still running automatically, KIKI.”

“I’ll check it out~” KIKI stepped forward, typing on the keyboard. Soon she said,

“This system device is called the Deep-3 Nuclear Thermal Inducer... The entire base is currently in self-operation mode.”

“Deep-3 Nuclear Thermal Inducer?” Lin Xian frowned upon hearing the name. “What is it used for?”

KIKI operated the system with a puzzled look. “Strange. They seem to keep this running not to supply power, but to...”

She slowly turned her head and said,

“Release...”

“Release what?”

“Just... release this kind of nuclear thermal energy into the deep sea after some kind of energy replacement.” KIKI pointed at the screen. “See, the underwater pipelines connect in many directions, but those directions are not cities;

they lead to deep-sea areas...”

“That’s weird.”

Beep beep.

At that moment, Lin Xian’s drone search sent an alert. He immediately captured the screen and found some traces.

“There were people here a few hours ago. Sister Ning, Fire Bro, search around.”

“Just about to do that!”

Fire Bro acted immediately. Ning Jing nodded, and the team quickly dispersed to search.

Lin Xian looked at the strange data on the screen, puzzled. If the current situation allowed, he would have connected his consciousness with Chu Yan immediately. These anomalies might be better understood by the Phoenix Society.

Shiori, standing nearby, scanned the surroundings. A strange expression appeared on her face.

“Lin, I feel something’s off about this place.”

“What is it?”

Lin Xian became alert.

After realizing Lin Xian misunderstood, she quickly waved her hand and explained, “I’ve seen many things in Silent City. Many of these instruments here aren’t experimental equipment, but more like...”

“A monitoring center, right.”

KIKI, who had been focused on processing data, looked up and added.

After thinking for a long time without finding a better word, Shiori nodded repeatedly.

“Monitoring?”

Lin Xian’s curiosity grew. “Monitoring what?”

KIKI exported a large amount of data on the screen. Most of it was the same, with only a small part different.

“Can you see?”

“Dates?”

“And then?”

“Nothing else.”

“...”

KIKI tapped the screen, frustrated. “This data isn’t experimental data, but monitoring specific areas based on underwater audio waves and spirit value fluctuations. And those specific areas...”

“Are the regions where nuclear thermal energy is released?” Lin Xian responded.

“Exactly.” KIKI nodded. “You guessed it. They’re monitoring abnormal entities, and it’s a very special abnormal entity.”

“Any detailed information?”

“No. The logs only have one entry. They gave it a codename...”

“Uniga No. 1.”

Lin Xian caught a lead. “They built such a huge device to extract geothermal nuclear energy only to release it into the deep sea and then monitor the abnormal entity’s movements. This sounds like... feeding it?”

“That’s what I thought too.” KIKI shrugged. “Otherwise, it’s hard to explain. But I still don’t understand the purpose.”

“Looks like we’ve uncovered another big secret.” Lin Xian’s voice turned solemn. “I wonder if that Oceanic Titan and the surrounding abnormal entities’ gathering in the sea are related to this device.”

“Very likely...”

“Can we find any other clues? Who built this base?”

“Do we even need to check?” KIKI tapped once, and a log page immediately popped up on the monitor. In the upper left corner, a clear SIID logo appeared.

As expected.

Lin Xian looked and immediately dismissed other guesses. Such a large-scale construction could only be by the Crimson World or the Foundation. According to information from Laine, the Sanctum was just a large marine gang, seemingly subordinate to Crimson World or the Foundation as pawns of the Sanctum Cult. This clarified a lot for Lin Xian.

“Do we even need to check?”

At that moment, KIKI’s voice suddenly came from behind Lin Xian, as if repeating what she just said.

Instantly, Lin Xian looked up at KIKI, who also sharply raised her head and instinctively said,

“Who’s speaking?!”

Shiori turned around in surprise. The empty metal corridor was dimly lit by warm white lights flickering softly. The hall was deathly silent, as if a few people had hallucinated hearing voices.

But judging from the reactions of the three, it definitely wasn’t hallucination.

Lin Xian immediately summoned two drones and sent them flying into the corridor.

They detected nothing.

“Shiori.”

Shiori nervously stepped back, her eyes scanning the empty monitoring hall. She lowered her voice and said, “Lin, there’s... someone here.”

Buzz!

Upon hearing this, KIKI stepped forward and raised a telekinetic shield. At the same time, Ning Jing, Fire Bro, and others heard the communication and immediately responded, moving closer to the hall.

“Be careful. It might be like that monster in the passage, some invisible guy.”

Lin Xian regretted not bringing Director Ding, the local Black Chrysanthemum, and the blood vine. This kind of optical invisibility was his first encounter and caught him unprepared.

“Can you sense the direction?” Lin Xian pulled Shiori behind him. In this situation, he could only rely on Shiori’s perception.

Shiori was also very tense, obviously never encountering this before. She furrowed her brows, scanning around, and said urgently,

“I don’t know exactly, but I can feel someone standing right beside us, watching us.”

Upon hearing this, Lin Xian and KIKI both felt a chill down their spines.

“KIKI.”

“I’ll try.”

The two moved in perfect sync. KIKI spread her telekinetic energy around. With her precise sensing, if anything abnormal appeared, she could react immediately.

“I want to see what kind of demon or ghost this is.” KIKI said.

“I want to see what kind of demon or ghost this is.”

Unexpectedly, as soon as KIKI finished speaking, the same voice appeared right in front of them.

This time they heard it clearly. The voice came from a corner of the front hall.

“Imitating me again? Come out here!”

KIKI’s eyes darkened. She immediately burst into action, unleashing a terrifying telekinetic force that smashed the tables and chairs toward the corner. The violent force blasted open the area, directly hitting the corner. A pressure wave burst out.

“Did you catch it?”

“No...”

KIKI’s expression was serious. “I clearly heard it coming from that direction.”

“Be careful.”

Lin Xian had already summoned over a hundred drones to scan and patrol the hall rapidly. Iron Rain drones sped forward. He was still summoning more drones. Unless the creature could physically vanish, it was very likely to be caught.

At this moment, Fire Bro, Xiao Qing, and Ning Jing arrived from several passages, and A Bai, who flew quickly in power armor, rushed into the hall and immediately noticed something.

“Captain Lin, someone’s behind you!”

Buzz.

Telekinetic energy reacted instinctively, opening an AT force field shield in front of him. Nothing happened in the previous moment.

“Lin!”

Shiori sensed something, turning and pointing at Lin Xian’s side. Before she could finish, a slender white figure suddenly appeared, knocking away several drones and directly pouncing on Lin Xian.

Lin Xian reacted quickly, immediately activating the hyperstring reactor phase halo, and the AT force field shield expanded rapidly, forming a wildly swirling protective sphere blocking his side.

Boom!

In the next moment, a burst of electric arcs exploded. Lin Xian saw a hand covered in electric arcs clutching the force field shield from a distance. The violent energy made him feel electricity surging, instantly realizing the sudden attack was quite powerful.

“Brother Lin, be careful!”

After Lin Xian blocked the attack, Lu Xingchen acted swiftly. A fiery thin sword shot out from his fingertips with a Mach diamond ring, piercing straight through and rushing at the monster. However, a dark gray microwave rose from the white creature, blocking Lu Xingchen’s fiery sword. Sparks flew, exploding and damaging a section of computer equipment in the monitoring hall.

At the same time, KIKI also attacked, using telekinesis to grab and control the creature.

“What is this thing?”

After KIKI captured and controlled it, Lin Xian and the others realized it was actually a person!

Though human, it was highly distorted. The figure’s skin was gray-white, the body slender and over two meters tall, resembling some kind of cloned experimental subject. Its facial features were melted and obscured by flesh, like an ice cream melting under the blazing sun. The only mouth looked like an abstract painting deliberately twisted by the artist, a black thread sewn tightly across it.

Its bare body had four arms of varying thickness, malformed and chaotic. The twisted, grotesque fingers seemed to endure immense pain and wriggled like tentacles.

Its mouth was sealed, but KIKI’s voice continuously came from its belly.

“What is this thing?”

“Imitating me again?”

KIKI said, raising her hand to crush the thing to death.

Lin Xian noticed distorted dark energy fluctuating around the creature’s four hands. Although controlled by KIKI, it didn’t seem to struggle, immediately raising his suspicion.

“Be careful!”

Lin Xian waved his hand. Dozens of Iron Curtain drones immediately deployed shields and rapidly surrounded the group, forming a defensive perimeter.

In the next moment, an extremely scorching aura suddenly exploded from inside the circle. Countless fiery sword techniques similar to those Lu Xingchen just used burst through the gaps of the Iron Curtain defense in all directions!

No sooner said than done, everyone hurried to dodge. Lin Xian pulled Shiori away, Ning Jing pushed aside the stunned A Bai. Xiao Qing and KIKI dodged nimbly. Only Fire Bro was caught off guard, standing still and blasted away by one of his own fiery swords. Fortunately, Lin Xian’s specially made high-temperature power armor shielded him from injury, but he was slammed into the wall, cracking the plaster.

“This guy... can absorb abilities?” Ning Jing pushed away A Bai and immediately reacted.