Chapter 2714: Twenty Thousand Meters Underground
Pu Yu, however, gave a helpless smile. "Why would you think this abandoned district would have something more valuable than my family's inheritance?"
Xu Huo raised an eyebrow slightly. "I've heard that game districts can be bought and sold. Surely your family's inheritance doesn't involve an entire district."
"It's not that exaggerated, but it's close." Pu Yu said, "Before my grandfather passed away, all his assets were in his hands. From what I know, his business spanned nearly a hundred districts across eight wormhole points."
"While he didn't control the economic lifeline of any single district, if he withdrew his business from a district, that district's commerce would shrink by at least a third. With that leverage, he could make any unreasonable demand to the district's Archon."
"My youngest aunt was very favored by him during her lifetime. Before she died, he once said that aside from the portion for the family heir, the rest of his inheritance would be distributed among his other descendants. As his beloved youngest daughter, if she hadn't died, she would likely have inherited a larger share than anyone else."
"Even if it's just a third of the total assets, if distributed evenly, the amount each person would receive is still considerable."
"An even distribution is unlikely. At that point, it comes down to who holds a more important place in his heart."
"In the early years, some family members did come looking, but a skeleton, and in a place like this—that's far harder than simply destroying the district. As people searched and gave up, Grandfather seemed to lose hope as well."
"But I know that if I truly brought back my youngest aunt's remains, I wouldn't just gain more inheritance—I would also rise in status within the family."
Pu Yu paused here. "When an elder dotes on their descendants, they naturally take good care of them. Our food, clothing, and daily needs are all top-notch. But these things are our public face—they can't be directly exchanged for other items. If we did that, we'd lose face in the family, and the elders would think we were immature."
"The assets I can freely control aren't that much."
"You're being modest." Xu Huo said, "The instruments you've equipped—every single one is top-tier. They must have cost a fortune."
Pu Yu didn't deny it. The accumulation of a player family from an A-level wormhole point wasn't something later wormhole point district families could compare to. So in the eyes of ordinary players like Yan Ping, a casual wave of her hand was worth a sky-high price. But compared to the inheritance, this was just a drop in the bucket.
Besides, it wasn't just about money.
Holding the economic lifeline of a district in one's hands could extend into countless amounts of wealth and unimaginable power of control. Perhaps with just a casual word from her, any corner of a district could bloom with her favorite flowers.
The struggle wasn't just over inheritance—it was over power and status.
"Even if there's a Subclass Stone vein here, it can't compare to the inheritance in my eyes." Pu Yu smiled.
Xu Huo thought a bit more. The upper echelons of the Game Government were clearly a certain kind of people. The inheritance struggle among the heirs of A-level wormhole points likely also represented a struggle for game authority. Wasn't Carol Field a case of being exiled by a major family before becoming the Grand Archon of the E27 wormhole point?
These player representatives from A-level wormhole points had carved up all the game's authority.
"What do you want to do after you inherit?" Xu Huo's topic suddenly shifted as he looked at this ambitious woman.
Pu Yu raised an eyebrow slightly. "What about you? What do you want to do after becoming a Super Player?"
The two locked eyes in the faint light emitted by the glowing insects. After a moment, they both smiled and dropped the subject.
Talking about things that haven't happened yet was a waste of words.
By now, Xu Huo and the others had sunk nearly twenty thousand meters underground. At this distance, they could no longer sense anything on the surface.
The detection instrument emitted a rhythmic ticking sound. Even at this depth, the circular sinkhole hadn't changed shape.
"Oxygen is sufficient, no toxic gases." Pu Yu looked at the feedback data from the detection instrument. "The impurity content in the air is relatively high, but it won't cause too much harm to players."
That was the theory, but for safety's sake, no one took off their helmets.
Soon they hit the bottom. Beneath their feet were large chunks of broken rock, likely caused by a collapse. Dozens of meters below the rock was a cavity. Looking around, it seemed more like a passageway. In fact, there were indeed passageways on both sides, and they were quite spacious.
The group opened a hole and descended. Below was very spacious—the passage was about ten meters wide and ten meters high. Dense plants covered rocks that were marked with long, chisel-like scratches. Some were old, with corrosion in places, and plants had taken root and grown from the damaged areas.
"This is very likely a space carved out by survivors." Pu Yu said, "If the underground ruins could be easily accessed, my youngest aunt's remains probably wouldn't be outside."
At least here, there was hope of finding them.
Xu Huo took note of the plants growing on the walls. He found that almost all of them had very small colored spots, like sand mixed into them. The spots were sparse on the front and more abundant on the back.
"It might be a characteristic of the rock." Pu Yu looked at the two behind her. "Uncle Qiao, please."
The man among the two stepped forward, casually broke off a piece of rock, and took out instruments from the luggage compartment. He processed and filtered it, then performed a detailed decomposition of its components.
"This is indeed a type of ore component, but it's not native to this stone path. The rock of the stone path is just ordinary Class B rock. This one is Class A, with mining value." Uncle Qiao said, "It's distributed fairly evenly, likely brought up by plants, or possibly by some kind of mutated animal."
"Are you saying there might be a giant reptilian species here?" Pu Yu was somewhat surprised. "The scale of this tunnel is not small."
If it was dug by a mutated animal, its size would definitely be enormous.
"The worst-case scenario is a snake." Uncle Qiao said, "The difference between ultra-high energy districts and ordinary districts is enormous. Snakes could grow to this scale."
"The sinkhole outside..." Xu Huo frowned.
"That shouldn't be the case." Uncle Qiao glanced at him. "The scale and shape of the sinkhole violate biological characteristics. It's more likely caused by a weapon."
"There's a strange smell in the air." Yan Jiayu, who had quietly taken off her helmet, spoke up. "It's a bit like a fishy smell, but mixed with a peculiar fragrance. It's not the fresh scent of the plants in the passage, and it's different from the fishy smell of a snake. How strange. Can the detection instrument identify what this odor is?"
"The air analysis results here and in the sinkhole aren't much different." Uncle Qiao said.
Xu Huo thought of the Nuwa Stone and the abnormally large mutated plants in this district. He then said, "Forget the geological survey. Speed it up."