Chapter 3090: P8S
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" The crashing sounds were incessant. The first fish-beast hadn't managed to kill itself, and a second one came, then nearby fish-beasts of the same kind gathered around, crazily ramming the space barrier as if performing a ritual.
A few minutes later, the space barrier remained unmoved, but many fish-beasts had already smashed their own brains out. Then their companions devoured their corpses and continued ramming. Before long, the surrounding mutant rats had all retreated, replaced by fish-beasts drawn by the smell of blood.
Xu Huo moved outward while estimating his approximate position. Within a distance of several thousand meters, he probably hadn't even left the central city area. The rock layers beneath the sea couldn't have been completely breached; it was more likely that only a cavity had been opened around the mutant rat nest. There should be other passages for entering and exiting from beneath the island.
Fortunately, the underground nest wasn't too large. He shifted outward a bit and found the edge, then looked around the perimeter.
The entire area where the mutant rat nest was located seemed more like a huge hole dug out underground. The hole wasn't small in scope, but the vertical distance wasn't great, making it look overall like a flat pumpkin. Dozens of water channels were connected around this pumpkin. Judging by their shape, they appeared to be naturally formed. Although there were signs of impact on them, the channels were very wide, not looking like something dug out by mutant beasts.
Because Challenge Island was so vast, Xu Huo hadn't explored the area near the small island before landing, so he didn't know what the structure beneath the island was like. Generally speaking, it would be wider at the bottom and narrower at the top, like a sharp cone or a pyramid. Of course, most of the island was flat, so it could be considered a domed hill. In that case, the area covered by seawater would only be wider and larger than the island itself.
He had already seen the island's surface area, yet a relatively regular gap appeared beneath the central position. It was hard to say it was naturally formed. If it had been dug out by the mutant rat swarm, it might be plausible if the cave weren't at the island's center, but it happened to be directly underneath. The most likely possibility was that it wasn't dug by mutant beasts entering from the seabed, but rather started directly from beneath the island's center.
It was unclear just how strong the mutant rats' digging ability was, but judging by some plants growing on the cave walls, the time span was probably considerable—at least earlier than the company's mining operations.
If it was man-made, was it Dr. Wu or the district government?
Or was it merely a coincidence of humans encountering mutant beasts?
The sea beasts that had crashed to death nearby gradually increased in number. The mutant rats couldn't eat them all and began dragging these large bodies into their nests. By then, they no longer cared about Xu Huo and even found him somewhat obstructive, constantly pushing him to the side.
Xu Huo reduced the area of his defense barrier. As the sea beast corpses decreased, he noticed faint glimmers emerging from the murky seawater. Drawing closer, he saw that the blood of the sea beasts had reacted with some kind of plant on the stone wall, causing the plant to emit light.
Once the seawater cleared, these plants seemed to be lit up, glowing in patches. Instantly, the entire underwater cave turned into a sea of stars. Light points of varying intensity and color pierced through the water, creating thin, gauze-like ribbons of light in the water. A fish swam past him, its tail stirring the currents, and those gauze-like ribbons seemed to float along with it.
Xu Huo had been to many districts and seen many beautiful sights, but even so, being in this place gave him the feeling of being in a scene beyond the mundane world.
He wasn't the only one admiring the view. Many finger-length small fish swam out from rock crevices. They first lingered near the light points, then began nibbling on the glowing plants, and soon their own transparent bodies started to glow.
The ribbons of light in the sea began to move.
Xu Huo took out the ore key he had found. The faint light released by the flowing sand core attracted the small fish. They gathered around, nudged the key out of his hand, and then carried it on their backs, swimming toward their nests.
The key wasn't large, but it was still hard for the small fish to carry. Before long, it fell. Several small fish tried to rescue it but eventually gave up, and the key drifted down to the bottom of the cave.
Xu Huo moved over to pick it up. Sensing something, he looked down at the rock covered by plants. He swept away the accumulated mud, and a key-shaped hole appeared on the rock a few meters away.
Moving over, he gripped the keyhole and gently lifted upward. A regular piece of rock about two palms in size detached directly from the rock wall. When the ore key was inserted, the rock split open on its own.
Inside lay a green injection and a red gem the size of a fingertip.
The injection was marked with the letters P8S, while the red gem had chaotic time rays and twisted time rays penetrating through it, making it look like a Primordial Stone.
Xu Huo picked up the Primordial Stone and examined it. Suddenly, he understood something. It wasn't that Dr. Wu had hidden the items too well for Zone 025 to find; rather, Zone 025 had already gotten what they wanted. They had taken one set of Perfect Potion and Primordial Stone.
That's right—one set.
In the earlier replay of Curved Time, the Enforcement Team players had also searched with glowing ore, indicating they knew that ore was some kind of hint. The island was only so big. Dr. Wu couldn't have hidden the potion in the Wasteland Zone like he hid the key—that would have been found by the district government too quickly. So he placed the hint in the Wasteland Zone and the Perfect Potion at the island's center.
Zone 025's government had indeed found the Perfect Potion and Primordial Stone, which was why they handed the island over to Alton Corporation for mining. The mining shafts hadn't been drilled that deep, but the seabed channel happened to connect to the underground cave.
Xu Huo wasn't sure if the company had sent players down to search, but judging by the depth of the channel, they probably couldn't imagine Dr. Wu hiding things so deep beneath the sea.
Or perhaps this wasn't placed by Dr. Wu at all, but rather, like the Fish Feast, entrusted to a trusted friend.
Regardless, he had obtained the potion.
Returning to the underground passage through the pressure chamber, Xu Huo first stored the Primordial Stone in a special metal box, then activated his trait "Script."
He had used the "Script" trait once before in his battle with Jin Feixue. He suspected this trait was related to time power, and what "Script" wrote wouldn't necessarily be one hundred percent accurate. Changing behavior could alter the process and outcome. This seemed like a form of precognition, but it was more like another result presented after a Curved Time jump.
Time could only move forward, but Curved Time could return to the past. And returning to the past meant that everything that had already happened wouldn't repeat. So Xu Huo believed the "Script" trait was a Curved Time jump back to the present moment, presenting future content. It could be changed—this was clearly demonstrated in the battle with Jin Feixue.
Now it had another use: helping him verify the authenticity of the potion.