Chapter 93: Firepower
As his body fell, Su Xiao immediately let go of the broken iron ladder he was holding.
At this moment, anyone with weak mental fortitude would have shut their eyes, but Su Xiao's eyes were wide open, staring intently ahead.
His hand hooked out, and he tried to grab onto something ahead. The sensation of contact with a solid object appeared, and his palm immediately clenched tight.
Creak—
The iron ladder he grabbed bent under the strain, his right arm aching from the pull. The downward momentum changed, becoming a forward charge.
With a bang, Su Xiao slammed into the iron ladder.
The crisis was over. Su Xiao rolled his eyes. The iron ladder he had grabbed actually broke—what terrible luck.
As for whether someone had tampered with it, Su Xiao immediately dismissed the thought. They hadn't gone deep enough underground yet; it wasn't time for infighting.
Looking down, the others had already climbed quite far below. Perhaps hearing the noise, all four of them looked up.
No greetings, not even a word spoken. The four lowered their heads and continued climbing down.
Su Xiao didn't care about their attitudes either. Everyone had their own agenda; when disaster strikes, each fends for themselves—that was normal.
However, they should be able to continue cooperating for a while longer. All five of them needed each other's strength.
The long climb began. Su Xiao had already lost track of how long they had been descending. Half an hour? An hour? Either was possible.
After a long time, a strong flashlight beam shone up from below. Takatsuki Sen had already reached the bottom of the shaft.
When Su Xiao's feet touched the ground, he felt his arms aching and sore. He also took out a strong flashlight to observe the surroundings.
The bottom of the shaft was spacious. Occasionally, he could see piles of bones half-buried in the dirt—likely the remains of Primordial Species that had fallen to their deaths while climbing up. Later, the top of the shaft had been blasted shut, causing dirt to fall and partially bury these bones.
On one wall of the shaft, there was a metal door several meters in diameter. The door was covered in rust, and at its center were four patterns.
A strange fish with a fat head and thin tail, a snake with its mouth wide open, an exquisite crown, and a line of English letters: CCE.
These four patterns were carved into the center of the metal door. Su Xiao stepped closer and found that the patterns could be moved, with dozens of tiny sliding tracks beneath them.
Kuki Kuran stepped forward and moved the crown pattern to the top, followed by CCE below, then the strange fish, and finally the snake in fourth place.
Rumble. The metal door shook and slowly opened.
Crown, CCE, fish, snake. What did this sequence represent? The CCE in particular seemed related to CCG.
Too few clues; these things couldn't be connected yet.
Stepping through the metal door, Su Xiao found a hidden world inside.
An underground space appeared before Su Xiao's eyes. This area was at least dozens of meters high and stretched endlessly. The ceiling was covered in vines with glowing flowers, keeping the underground space from being completely dark.
Ahead was a sparse stone forest, and among the stones were densely coiled Primordial Species.
The sound of the metal door opening drew the attention of some Primordial Species. Aside from Su Xiao, everyone else raised their various firearms.
The Primordial Species were startled, triggering a chain reaction. At first, only a few dozen charged, but their roars alerted those farther away.
"Roar!"
Countless roars echoed. Upon seeing the five people, the Primordial Species seemed to go berserk, charging on all fours.
"Rat-tat-tat..."
Without much thought, the others pulled their triggers. Su Xiao took out a bomb, activated it, and tossed it.
"Boom!"
The explosion echoed far through the empty underground space, sending some Primordial Species flying high into the air.
Relying on their overwhelming firepower and the advantageous terrain of the metal door, the group managed to hold off the charge of over a thousand Primordial Species, killing many in the process.
The bombs Su Xiao threw attracted even the distant Primordial Species, and they gathered in greater numbers.
Gunfire never ceased. Explosions rang out one after another. The battle had reached its climax as soon as they entered the underground space.
Smoke from the gunfire drifted up, and the acrid smell of burning gunpowder stung their olfactory nerves.
Perhaps anticipating this situation, Kuki Kuran and the others had brought a large amount of ammunition. The dense bullets almost formed a curtain of fire.
"Rat-tat-tat, bang, bang."
The barrage lasted a full five minutes. Not far away, a large pile of Primordial Species corpses had accumulated.
After this overwhelming firepower, the number of Primordial Species quickly dwindled. Before long, no new ones appeared.
Indeed, high-powered firearms were the best way to deal with Ghouls.
Kuki Kuran discarded his gun, whose barrel had turned red-hot. Everyone's ammunition was almost depleted. Su Xiao only had three bombs left in his bag.
"Good results. Fortunately, we came prepared."
Takatsuki Sen also threw away her gun. For the battles ahead, they would have to rely on their Kagune and Quinque.
As for why they didn't bring more ammunition or members of the Aogiri Tree, it was because of the dozen-meter gaps in the steel passage and iron ladder.
The steel passage wasn't wide enough to bring in large equipment. Those without sufficient strength couldn't jump the dozen-meter gaps, and even if they did, they might not catch the iron ladder.
Moreover, in the subsequent journey, insufficient strength could drag others down.
Kuki Kuran led the way, and the group entered the stone forest. He seemed to know the route, heading straight east.
As they passed an upright stone pillar, Su Xiao pressed his hand against it. Rustle—stone fragments fell. This place might have existed for many years.
"Compared to my last visit here, this time is really smooth. Indeed, the weapons humans develop are far more terrifying."
The Priest sighed. This old bastard had also been here before. Judging by his tone, his last visit hadn't gone smoothly.
"Getting through here isn't hard. The next checkpoint is the real hell—a scorching hell."
Takatsuki Sen's expression was grave, as if recalling some unpleasant memories.
After about ten minutes of travel, the group emerged from the stone forest. Su Xiao could clearly feel the temperature rising; sweat had already formed on his forehead.
As they continued forward, Su Xiao noticed the glowing vines above were withering, their numbers decreasing.
Although the glowing vines were thinning out, the surroundings weren't dark. A dark red glow came from somewhere in the distance.
The temperature grew higher and higher. Su Xiao even felt short of breath. He took off his coat, discarding the windbreaker covered in rust and green moss.
Taking out a bottle of fresh water, Su Xiao drank it all in one go. As he finished drinking, he noticed the other four were all staring at him.
"I never expected Mr. White Night to bring drinking water. How about sharing some with me?"
It seemed the Priest was also suffering from the heat; his old face was covered in sweat. The four of them had carried too much ammunition and had no room for water.
"I only brought one bottle, and it's all gone."
With that, Su Xiao casually tossed away the cloth bag he was holding. The temperature around them was rising, and if the bombs inside exploded, it would be ridiculous.
After a few more minutes of travel, the underground space grew narrower, eventually shrinking to just a few dozen meters wide.
When they reached this point, Su Xiao finally understood why it was so hot. Before them lay a lake of magma.
The dark red magma was blinding, illuminating everything around with a red glow. Bubbles occasionally rose to the surface.
Su Xiao was drenched in sweat. If they stayed any longer, he risked dehydration.
The magma lake blocked their path. Kuki Kuran's intention was clear: continue forward. But how were they supposed to cross this magma lake?
Use their Kagune to endure? Don't even think about it. The magma would burn through a Kagune in three seconds. Before the power of nature, Ghouls were utterly insignificant.
Scanning the area, Su Xiao thought he spotted a possible route.
"We're not going to cross through there, are we?"
Su Xiao pointed to a steep cliff face beside the magma lake. On the cliff was a stone path only twenty centimeters wide. Though narrow, the path was neatly carved, suggesting it had been chiseled out later.
On the cliff, a few iron pipes could still be seen. There had likely been a bridge here originally, but after years of being baked by the magma, the bridge had vanished, leaving only the twenty-centimeter-wide stone path and a few iron pipes.
"Two years ago, the bridge was still here. It seems our luck is bad. That stone platform over there should be our final destination. I've searched everywhere else except here."
Kuki Kuran pointed to a stone platform several dozen meters away. The platform was quite large, at least a few hundred square meters. Due to the angle, Su Xiao couldn't see what was on it.
"As the leader, I'll go first."
Takatsuki Sen was the first to climb onto the cliff face. After climbing about a dozen meters high, she stepped onto the narrow stone path, which was only twenty centimeters wide. Her posture was back against the cliff, moving sideways step by step.
About ten meters below was the magma. The scorching heat made it hard for Takatsuki Sen to keep her eyes open, and soon her face was flushed red from the heat.
The formation remained the same. Kuki Kuran climbed onto the cliff second, followed by the Priest and Kirishima Arata, with Su Xiao bringing up the rear.
When Su Xiao pressed his back against the cliff and stepped onto the narrow path only twenty centimeters wide, he finally understood what Takatsuki Sen meant by "scorching hell."
If someone had less than 10 points of Stamina, they might even pass out from the heat.
This was even more thrilling than the earlier shaft jump. One misstep and they would fall into the magma. Su Xiao was certain that the magma below would turn him into a pile of charcoal in two seconds.
PS (Recommending a friend's book, "I'm a National Treasure, Who Dares to Touch Me," pretty good.)
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