CHAPTER 663: CHAPTER 660: DISASTER

Boom——

Ronald had been moving nimbly through the tunnel with Yanni.

However, their journey had only lasted half an hour when a huge noise erupted from the icy cold on their right.

"Something happened?"

"It’s coming from the direction of the ice lake..."

Ronald and Yanni exchanged glances, realizing together that there was a problem with the vast ice lake.

At the same moment,

even more startling changes continued to occur.

The noises did not come alone but were accompanied by exceptionally violent tremors!

It was like the earth-quaking, land-shattering kind of tremor which continued relentlessly, with increasing intensity that showed no signs of weakening—it nearly overwhelmed their every sense.

Neither natural earthquakes nor explosives caused such tremors!

Ronald felt his mood sinking.

The physical inconvenience in this situation was equally embarrassing.

After all, this was an utterly frozen environment!

Even though they wore anti-slip shoes, Ronald and Yanni could not keep their balance amid such violent tremors. All they could do now was pull out their ice axes and wedge them into the ice, relying heavily on the corners of the ice tunnel’s walls.

And in this laborious and difficult manner,

they barely managed to keep themselves from being thrown off by the vibrations.

"Squeak, squeak—"

"Roar—"

Just then.

More complex and chaotic noises came from farther away.

Ronald instantly realized these were the cries of many types of creatures, other lives dwelling in this environment, struggling against the vibrations.

"Yanni, how are you?"

Ronald shouted to inquire about Yanni’s condition, who was not far from him.

This was the only form of care he could afford now.

Further actions, like physical contact to stabilize their positions, seemed nearly impossible!

Yanni shouted back just as loudly,

"No problem here, be careful yourself!"

Crack, crack—

The tremors around the ice lake didn’t stop due to their mutual encouragement; on the contrary, they continued escalating.

Finally, accompanied by a noise—or rather a series of massive cracking sounds,

the ice, which had stood steadfast for thousands of years, began to collapse under the relentless tremors.

And even more fatally,

Ronald watched helplessly as a crack in the ice widened and then spread towards them!

Ronald knew, with his mere mortal body, he couldn’t put up much of a fight now.

At that moment, he recalled the equipment he had on him.

So Ronald gripped his ice axe with all his might, then hooked it firmly into the ice in front of him:

"Yanni, watch out for the crack on that side!"

Amid the violent shaking, Ronald, while keeping his eye on the spreading crack, timed the vibrations and bravely unhooked his safety rope with one hand, throwing it towards Yanni:

"Catch it!"

Snap—

Yanni was quick to react.

She reached for the safety rope Ronald threw, but the shaking interference was too great, and she failed to catch it.

"..."

In the cold, dangerous ice tunnel, Yanni’s expression darkened.

Although she didn’t catch it at first, Yanni immediately made a decision. Risking everything, she flattened her body against the ice, using the force of the vibration to bravely grab the rope and then clasp it onto her waist buckle.

Boom——

The trembling of the ice continued.

The minor struggles of the two did not stir up any waves.

This terrifying vibration persisted for nearly a quarter of an hour before it finally began to show signs of fatigue, eventually disappearing in a gradual decline.

At this moment—

The environment of this underground ice lake,

Perhaps could no longer be referred to by the method used just before.

Due to the continuous shaking, this force shattered the ice lake along with the surrounding massive ice blocks into pieces of various sizes, with the original lake water seeping into the crevices of these fragments.

Subsequently, the buoyancy of water caused these fragments to float on the surface.

The expedition team’s lights, previously placed in the ice ring tunnel and of extremely high quality, also floated sparsely along with the floating ice here.

The flickering ice chunks, thus reflected on the deep blue lake.

If one were to set aside the disaster that just happened,

This place could truly be described as a breathtaking scenery usually seen when stars are reflected on the ground.

"..."

"Old Yang, how are you doing?"

In such a dreamlike scene, on a larger chunk of ice, Yani asked Ronald weakly.

It could be considered a stroke of luck amidst misfortune.

In this environment, which could definitely be termed as a natural disaster, the ice ring tunnel where they were located happened to be completely fractured due to the shaking, and after securing themselves on the broken ice, they floated up to the surface with the buoyancy.

If it hadn’t been just right.

If the cracks had bent in another direction, then the two of them could very likely have been trapped in the ice ring tunnel and stuck in the surrounding lake water.

By then, whether it be lack of oxygen or other problems,

Those would be things capable of killing!

Not far from Yani, Ronald first untied the safety rope that connected them and then lay down on the fragmented ice, panting:

"I haven’t sustained any injuries apart from the physical exhaustion."

Ronald and Yani’s experience could be termed miraculous.

Having gone through such a dangerous and terrifying disaster, the two of them, apart from bruises and abrasions caused during collisions with the ice, remarkably hadn’t suffered any evident injuries.

All they needed now was an ample rest period.

To stand up again, and then to look for a way out would not be a problem.

—One must realize that it was different now.

—After the intense shaking, the structural terrain around the relic had been completely shattered!

No matter the creatures in blue skin from before, or those ice crystals, or other entities Ronald encountered later, none could adapt immediately to this new Floating Ice Lake Water environment.

As long as they swiftly found a way out.

Escaping from this completely destroyed underground relic would definitely not be a difficult task.

However, Ronald and Yani did not ponder over this.

Both being knowledgeable professionals, they knew there was an issue that must be addressed.

They exchanged looks,

With Yani starting to inquire:

"Old Yang, what do you think caused this vibration?"

"It definitely wasn’t natural,"

—The evidence was very clear.

Although the ice lake surroundings had completely shattered under the tremors, the underground contours that maintained this space were still intact. If it had truly been a natural disaster, then even this underground space should have been destroyed along with it.

There’s absolutely no reason why there would be no changes at all!

Subsequently, a natural speculation emerged in their minds.

"Could it possibly be Airen..."

"..."

Suddenly, the two tacitly stopped their conversation and simultaneously turned their heads towards a certain direction.

The direction of their gaze.

A figure was approaching!