Chapter 88

Such a series of pits, how many lives must have been buried in these massive pits?

Zhao Xi saw this and felt a chill run down his spine.

Behind them, Chu Nan's team, following Fang Xiaobo's team, finally arrived at the first massive pit.

Seeing the bones in the pit, Chu Nan was equally shocked. Although the thick fog made it hard to see clearly, he could still tell that the color of these bones was abnormal, not like the bones left by normally deceased humans.

"The color seems too gray, even black in some places... not like normal bones... could it be poisoning?"

Chu Nan mused, but because the team in front moved quickly, he didn't have time to think much. Soon, he led his team to the second massive pit of bones.

Witnessing one pit of bones after another, everyone was filled with shock. How many humans had been buried in this underground land?

Moreover, so deep underground, why were there so many massive pits, and so many human bones buried? What kind of horrific event had once taken place here?

All sorts of doubts surfaced in everyone's mind. In the thick fog, everyone felt a chill.

The temperature around them was dropping, and the cold, eerie air seeped through their skin, making their bodies and hearts feel icy cold.

When the leading Zhao Xi saw the massive pits and the large number of ruined buildings, he was almost speechless, unable to believe his eyes.

In the fog, these ruins of buildings, having endured countless years, were rusted and eroded. Looking at the tall walls topped with barbed wire, though now in ruins, one could still faintly see the grandeur and splendor of these buildings.

Wang Zhi came up behind Zhao Xi and muttered, "It's really unbelievable. Such a vast complex of buildings underground, and it seems to have been well-defended, even with barbed wire. Perhaps it was once a national secret base, but it has been abandoned for a long time."

Zhao Xi nodded, agreeing with Wang Zhi's view. The team continued forward, and the call of the Life Stele grew stronger, confirming that they were on the right path. As long as they reached the end, they would surely see the Life Stele.

As for who would obtain it, no one knew. And whether they would safely navigate the final stretch of the journey, or encounter danger, no one could answer.

Zhao Xi's team of over thirty people entered the cluster of buildings first. The original barbed wire was easily broken, clearing a path.

Upon entering, they found the buildings filled with spider webs.

On these webs, there were objects that looked like cocoons.

However, these cocoons were each as large as a rugby ball, swollen and translucent, seemingly filled with a clear liquid.

The translucent, snow-white cocoons stuck to the spider webs all around, looking extremely strange.

Zhao Xi led the team in carefully, followed closely by Wang Zhi's team of about thirty people.

"What are these things? So strange." A teenager of about seventeen or eighteen, curious about the translucent, snow-white cocoons, wondered what they were and what their purpose was.

The teenager, holding a steel bar about a meter long, couldn't resist poking one of the cocoons.

"Stop, don't touch anything randomly!" Wang Zhi, who was behind, saw this and couldn't help but raise his voice in a stern warning.

In this eerie and terrifying underground fissure, anything could be lethal. Seeing the teenager's action, he immediately shouted to stop him, but it was too late.

The teenager's steel bar lightly poked the cocoon, and it burst, spewing out a large amount of liquid.

Caught off guard, the teenager had no idea the cocoon would burst so easily, and the liquid spurted out so quickly that he couldn't avoid it, getting it all over his face and head.

The teenager let out a cry of surprise, stumbling back and wiping his face with his sleeve.

Hearing the cry, everyone stopped. Zhao Xi turned back and asked, "What happened?"

Wang Zhi also rushed over but didn't get close to the teenager, fearing any sudden changes.

Fortunately, after wiping the liquid off his face, the teenager seemed fine, with no burning sensation on his face or in his eyes.

"How are you? Do you feel any discomfort?" Wang Zhi asked, fearing the liquid might be highly toxic. However, seeing the teenager's current state, it seemed harmless.

The teenager shook his head and said, "I'm fine, just scared." He lightly patted his chest, still feeling a bit frightened by the thought of the liquid being toxic.

Seeing he was fine, Wang Zhi relaxed and said, "Be more careful next time. Don't be so reckless. Anything that seems curious should not be touched lightly, as it could be life-threatening."

The teenager, somewhat taken aback, nodded without a word.

Seeing everything was fine, Zhao Xi continued leading the team forward.

After this small incident, everyone became even more cautious. However, they felt more relaxed about the large number of cocoons stuck to the spider webs, knowing the liquid inside was non-toxic.

Two minutes later, the team had delved deeper into the ruins. Besides the large number of spider webs and the translucent, swollen cocoons, they also saw many strange instruments wrapped in spider webs.

These instruments were rusted and decayed, and they even saw many operating tables with glaring bloodstains and severed limbs still on them.

"Damn, what is this place? Look." Zhao Xi, leading the team, stopped in front of a row of glass tanks, feeling a chill run down his spine.

Wang Zhi, who was behind, also saw this and felt his hair stand on end.

In each of these glass tanks, various human organs were immersed.

There were hearts, eyeballs, livers, brains, and even severed hands and feet. After so many years, these organs had swollen like balls, looking extremely ugly and terrifying.

Just what had this underground site been used for, to have so many terrifying things? Combined with the massive pits of human bones they had seen earlier, had this building once been used for human experiments?

Many people had this thought, feeling their scalps tingle as they looked at the dried, withered limbs on the operating tables and the various organs in the glass tanks.

"Li Hui, what's wrong with you?"

Suddenly, someone behind Zhao Xi let out a stifled cry of shock, their voice stuttering from the surprise.

Hearing the cry, Zhao Xi turned back.

Li Hui, the teenager who had poked the cocoon earlier, was fine after being sprayed with the liquid, so everyone had almost forgotten about the incident. Li Hui himself had also put it out of his mind and continued to follow Zhao Xi's team, moving forward with everyone else, and he had shown no signs of discomfort.

Li Hui had a friend with yellow-dyed hair, two years older, named Du Tiande. They were good friends and often hung out together. When the earthquake hit Jiangtian City, turning it into ruins, Du Tiande and Li Hui survived and continued to fight against the zombies and undead, now both having reached the peak of the third level of awakening, just one step away from becoming fourth-level awakeners.

While moving forward, Du Tiande, in the thick fog, noticed that Li Hui's body had swollen significantly, his clothes tightly stretched, and his body had somehow inflated, but Li Hui himself had not noticed anything unusual.

This sudden discovery made Du Tiande pale with shock.

Hearing his cry, Li Hui looked at Du Tiande with a puzzled expression.

Seeing this, Du Tiande drew a sharp breath, a chill running down his spine.

Li Hui's face was completely swollen, his skin stretched to a snow-white transparency, through which one could clearly see the dense network of blood vessels and even the bones beneath.

His entire face was so swollen it no longer looked like a normal human face, but rather like a balloon about to burst. His eyes were bulging out of their sockets, hanging there, and a transparent white liquid was slowly oozing from his nose, ears, and the corners of his eyes. Li Hui, however, seemed completely unaware.

"Ah—"

Du Tiande finally couldn't hold back a cry of shock and stepped back.

His former friend Li Hui, in his mind, was now more terrifying than any monster.

"Du Tiande, what's wrong with me?" Li Hui was still puzzled, reaching out to grab Du Tiande, who was retreating.

Around him, others also turned to look at Li Hui, then let out cries of shock and screams, stepping back.

Li Hui, reaching out, was puzzled. Suddenly, he looked down and saw that his hand, which he had extended, was not a normal human hand but a swollen, deformed thing, the skin almost bursting.

"Ah—"

At this moment, Li Hui let out a horrified scream. Almost instantly, his entire skin burst open, as if it couldn't contain the excessive liquid inside, and his body exploded.