Chapter 2715: Snake Path
Three against two, it was never his turn to make the decision here, but thinking of his talent, Pu Yu and the other two didn't say much either. Of course, they also wanted to find the remains and leave as soon as possible.
Since everyone agreed, they didn't waste any more time. Instead, they used short-distance teleportation items to quickly shuttle along the passage. But after a full ten minutes, their surroundings were still the same passageways. These channels coiled underground like snakes, extending in all directions and intersecting with each other, with no end in sight no matter which direction they took.
"We're already very far from the sinkhole," Uncle Qiao reminded Pu Yu.
If this wasn't the entrance to an underground ruin, there was no reason for so many passages to exist. So it was highly likely they were dug out by mutant animals. However, they had walked for so long without encountering any mutant animals, nor had they seen anything resembling snake sheds or snake scales. This wasn't a good sign.
Because generally, creatures that could survive underground for so long wouldn't suddenly all die off. It was more likely they were hiding or had been driven away. What kind of thing could drive away these dominant creatures? Perhaps it was related to the reason why the instance had been upgraded to A-rank.
"We've walked out of the positioning range," Pu Yu closed her eyes. Regardless of whether this was an underground ruin, they were already very far from the location left by her aunt.
"Don't you people from the A-rank Wormhole Point have special chips implanted in your bodies?" Xu Huo said. "Even if they're damaged and can't be located, the materials used to make them shouldn't disappear easily. Can a detection device find them?"
"It's very unlikely," Pu Yu said. "The materials used to make the chips are very special. Their function is positioning, not for recovery after death, so this function was excluded during production."
"If the sinkhole was deliberately created by someone, perhaps the underground ruins really were once inhabited. Since we haven't seen any buildings or people now, it's possible they were all eaten by mutant animals." Xu Huo looked at Yan Jiayu. "Can you still smell the scent from when we first came in?"
Yan Jiayu would occasionally take off her helmet to sniff. She distinguished for a moment, then pointed at a passage and said, "The smell is strongest here."
Pu Yu looked at her detection device. According to the analysis report, the air impurity content in all passages was similar. There wasn't such an obvious difference as Yan Jiayu claimed.
At this moment, another A-rank player also took off her helmet. She was a middle-aged woman with a buzz cut. She also used her sense of smell to distinguish and nodded to Pu Yu. "The passage the young lady pointed out is indeed different from the others. It might be an area where mutant animals are active."
If the underground ruins had been swallowed, they could only try to find the mutant animals first.
"But if the bones were eaten so long ago, they've probably been digested by now," Yan Jiayu looked at Pu Yu. "Can you just take her belongings back?"
"Better than taking nothing back," Pu Yu said.
The group continued forward, but this time they slowed down. The distance they covered each time wasn't too far either, to avoid charging headfirst into a snake nest.
Along the way, Xu Huo was studying the plants in the passage, while Yan Jiayu was looking around at the rocks. After a moment, she suddenly stopped. "So that's how it is. Old Xu, come here quickly."
Xu Huo quickly walked over, only to see her pick a flower, squeeze out the juice, and extend it toward him. "Smell this."
"It's indeed a fishy smell mixed with a fragrance. This scent comes from the plants, not the mutant animals?"
"It's this," Yan Jiayu pointed at the colorful spots inside. "The plants absorbed the ore components on the rock surface, forming this special smell. The ore must have a scent. Maybe it's the excrement of mutant animals. After a long time, we can't smell it anymore, but the plants that grew on it long ago have preserved this odor."
"Isn't it amazing? The mutant animals here can digest ore."
That was the key point she wanted to make.
If even ore could be digested, it was very possible that the belongings left by Pu Yu's aunt had also become nutrients for the plants. Props and instruments might not have been preserved either. In that case, she could only dig up a piece of rock and take it back.
Having encountered no good news along the way, Pu Yu was already unfazed. She planned to follow her earlier idea and look first before deciding.
"Better put the helmet back on," Xu Huo said. "Although we have instruments, it's still good to be cautious."
Yan Jiayu quickly put her helmet back on.
"It's been a few more days. When are you going into the instance?" Xu Huo asked.
"Probably within a day or two," Yan Jiayu wasn't too sure either. "According to the time conversion in our district, that's how it is. I don't know if there will be any discrepancies in random instances and ultra-high energy districts. But I heard there will be a system notification before the teleportation. I'll let you know then."
The group was passing through a fork in the road when suddenly, from the side passage, a shape lunged forward. Its mouth closed shut, swallowing the female player in an instant. But the next second, two more cut marks appeared on the closed passage mouth. The female player burst out from inside, teleported to the side, raised her sword, and cut the entire passage in half!
Blood flowed from the fallen section of the "passage," and its back turned into large patches of snake scales—this was actually a snake head!
The passage beside them was actually a giant python waiting with its mouth open!
"Auntie Qiao, drag it out and take a look," Pu Yu said to the female player.
The female player called Auntie Qiao stepped forward, felt around the edge of the passage just now, then used both hands to pull hard. A giant snake corpse that had been pressed tightly against the stone wall was dragged out.
Looking at the building-high snake corpse lying in front of them, Pu Yu frowned and said, "This snake actually used its abdominal cavity as a passage."
Although the stone path deeper in wasn't as wide as the one just below the sinkhole, it was still about ten meters across. This snake had wrapped its body around the stone path, reaching a thickness of about ten meters. According to the general proportions of snakes, it was probably several hundred meters long. Snakes of this size weren't completely unheard of in other districts, but a length of several hundred meters was still within their perception range. Yet they hadn't sensed at all that this thing was alive. Where were its internal organs?
Auntie Qiao peeled off a layer of membrane that had spilled from the cut, then used a prop to create a space inside. "Unexpectedly, this snake's internal structure is unusual. This thick membrane can form a cavity. The internal organs must have been squeezed to the side."
"This snake is really strange," Yan Jiayu leaned in to look. "The membrane inside its belly is completely covered in rock, and there's even grass growing on it. Has it been lying here with its mouth open for many years?"
Snakes hibernating wasn't strange, but she had never seen one hibernating in this posture. And why had such thick rock grown inside its body? Also, none of them, including Xu Huo, had detected its heartbeat... This was too abnormal!