Chapter 2716: Traces of Humanity
"Is this type of snake particularly strange, or have we been unknowingly affected?" Yan Jiayu issued a soul-searching question.
The spiritual interference device had been running the entire time. This was a device Pu Yu had specifically brought after her investigation, capable of alleviating some of the pressure from the zone's energy to a certain extent. Besides, aside from Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu, everyone else here was an A-level player. How could they have fallen under some influence without even realizing it?
"Grandma Qiao, Uncle Qiao, didn't you notice anything either?" Pu Yu turned to ask the two people beside her.
Both shook their heads, but Grandma Qiao offered another explanation. "With such thick mechanical suits, it's not strange that our judgment was impaired. Besides, the energy fluctuations here are unstable. Mutual interference could have caused us to overlook it."
"Your instruments can't even detect living things?" Xu Huo spoke up at this point.
Grandma Qiao fell silent. At such close range, this was truly inexcusable.
However, the only living life forms currently displayed on their instruments were the five of them. The giant python from earlier had already been killed, but there was no guarantee that other giant pythons weren't lurking nearby.
"I have an idea," Yan Jiayu said again. "Some animals, in order to survive long-term in extreme environments, evolve the ability to play dead. The grass was already growing in its belly—it might have been in a state of suspended animation, and it was only awakened by our arrival."
Such animals existed not only in the current game world but even in the pre-evolution 014 Zone. The difference lay in the instruments Pu Yu and her team had brought. If even A-level wormhole point instruments couldn't detect an animal's feigned death state, what use was carrying them?
But now wasn't the time to dwell on this. The group tacitly dropped the topic, only becoming more cautious afterward. Every time they changed paths, they would use props to test ahead, ensuring they wouldn't blindly walk into another snake's belly.
In the following hours, they indeed didn't encounter the same giant pythons, but they also didn't make any further progress.
"Let's rest for a while," Pu Yu said when they reached an underground pool.
Inside the passage, large location props were inconvenient to take out, so they split into two groups to rest.
Yan Jiayu rinsed her metal gloves, which were covered in various plant juices, by the pool before entering Xu Huo's location prop.
After taking off her helmet, she said, "I feel like they're not very reliable."
"What's the problem?" Xu Huo asked while unpacking some dry rations.
"Pu Yu said she might inherit so much property, but she only has two players following her. That's a bit strange. If she wasn't highly valued, or if this trip wasn't expected to yield anything, then the ones following her wouldn't be two strong players. Since such powerful players came along, both she and this matter should be important." Yan Jiayu said, "All their instrument analyses use professional data. We have no reference points—everything is just what they tell us."
"Maybe it's just covert sponsorship," Xu Huo said. "It might not be convenient to announce this matter before it's accomplished. The people supporting her, or those betting early, chose this low-key approach."
"They sure think a lot," Yan Jiayu said, resting her chin on one hand while pinching a piece of dry rations with the other, chewing as she spoke. "But still, being able to split a zone's inheritance means never worrying about food or drink for a lifetime. Buy whatever you want. So envious."
"If she can't find it, this trip will be a total loss for her," Xu Huo said. "It's just a high-stakes gamble."
"Gamblers always end up losing in the end."
"Can you take those two A-levels?" Yan Jiayu asked. "If it comes to a fight, I'd barely be able to hold off one person."
"Why would we fight?" Xu Huo smiled. "If they turn hostile, we'll just run. The game world is huge—where would they find us?"
Yan Jiayu chuckled along, then suddenly said, "I feel like they might not have entered with tickets. Could they be carrying cross-wormhole point instruments with them?"
"Mixing truth and lies—whatever their purpose, we're just helping out along the way," Xu Huo said. "Getting some ore back won't be a wasted trip."
Yan Jiayu knew he had lost quite a few props since leaving Clown City, so she said, "If I get any good props from high-risk instances, I'll sell them to you at a low price."
Xu Huo naturally wouldn't refuse. After a pause, he added, "Don't take off your helmet again. We've been subjected to some spiritual interference since entering. Over time, it's hard to say what might happen."
Yan Jiayu nodded solemnly.
After resting, the group set off again.
They had no idea how vast this underground passage truly was, but they never retraced their steps. By now, they were very far from the underground sinkhole, and some passages even showed signs of collapsed and shattered rocks.
This made Pu Yu's expression darken. At twenty thousand meters underground, ordinary props would never be able to penetrate such thick rock layers to return to the surface. But leaving like this was unwilling...
"Change direction," she said. "An underground ruin couldn't have left no traces at all!"
Xu Huo exchanged a glance with Yan Jiayu. They didn't object and followed the three back the way they came.
The return trip went smoothly, saving the time spent searching around. They soon returned to the vicinity of the sinkhole, this time taking the opposite route.
At first, it was the same as before—all they saw were similar snake-shaped passages. But after half a day, remnants of structures began to appear along the edges of the passages—metal or bricks pressed into the stone walls.
Pu Yu's spirits lifted, and she led her people to speed up.
After traveling further, discovering some traces of human habitation magnified this joy infinitely.
"Whether it's people left behind from this zone or stranded players from other zones, at least it proves we're on the right track. Little Aunt might have gone this way."
"Miss, be careful." Grandma Qiao stopped Pu Yu from reaching out to touch a stone wall that resembled a signpost.
Pu Yu suppressed her excitement and continued forward. After nearly another half hour, they encountered living people.
The other party appeared within their perception range—clearly alive and moving—but the instruments showed no change at all.
Before they could check if the instruments were malfunctioning, the two approaching players had already deployed their own instruments, demanding to know who they were and what they were doing here.
Pu Yu politely explained their purpose. After a moment, the two players drew closer. Judging by their clothing and gear, they came from different zones and were not original residents of this zone.
The two were also straightforward about their origins. Both were B-level players who had stumbled into this instance by accident. It was an instance with no time limit, and once they entered, they couldn't find a way out. Even after the instance upgraded, they weren't teleported out for some reason.
"We were worried we'd be directly teleported into a high-risk random instance. Who would have thought things would take a turn? Hiding underground is better than losing our lives," said Zhuo Mingfeng, one of the two.