Shen Feng waited with his people at the gathering point and discovered Qin Kewei and Yue Hengyi appearing there. He quickly waved for the two to come over and asked, "Are you also participating in this plan? It's very dangerous underground."
Qin Kewei smiled and said, "Don't you forget that I can change the terrain at any time. If the situation turns bad, I'll escape through the earth. Besides, isn't Xiao Yue still by my side?"
Yue Hengyi clenched his fists and said confidently, "My ability is crowd control. I can now use four times the gravity, which can directly crush zombies. Even speed-type zombies won't be able to get close to me. With me here, we won't encounter any danger."
Shen Feng shook his head helplessly and said, "Your ability is good, but it has one particularly terrible drawback: besides yourself, everyone else will be affected by gravity. Don't end up crushing Sister Qin to death while crushing zombies!"
Yue Hengyi's ability was very strong, but its weakness was also obvious: it easily injured teammates.
"This is indeed a problem. It seems I need to be careful underground and not use too much gravity!" Yue Hengyi nodded and said seriously.
Suddenly, Chu Chaoyan excitedly grabbed Shen Feng's hand and said, "Shen Feng, Shen Feng, look carefully, there's a bird-man over there!"
Chu Chaoyan had never seen such a strange person. In her excitement, she blurted it out to Shen Feng. Everyone quickly looked in the direction Chu Chaoyan indicated. They saw a 1.8-meter-tall man standing on a rock in the distance. The most eye-catching thing was the pair of pitch-black wings on his back. These wings grew directly from his back and were not decorations.
Shen Feng said solemnly, "Chaoyan, this isn't a bird-man, it's an angel, understand? An angel!"
"Hmph, how can angels have such black wings? Angels are all snow-white, descending from the sky in flowing white robes. Look at that person, how is he like an angel?" Chu Chaoyan said with disdain. She had a good impression of angels, but the person in the distance had wings like a crow's and didn't deserve the title of angel at all.
"That's because you haven't heard of fallen angels!" Shen Feng said with a serious expression. "I remember there's also a chant to become a fallen angel. What was the chant called? 'Darkness condenses the soul, only through falling can one be free.' Therefore, he's called a fallen angel, not a bird-man."
Chu Chaoyan pouted, not satisfied with Shen Feng's explanation.
Qin Kewei smiled and explained, "The person you're talking about is Zhang Jue. He's a body-strengthening ability user. He doesn't have many other skills, and his only advantage is that he can fly. However, this advantage is too prominent. As far as I know, there aren't many ability users worldwide who can fly."
Zhang Jue was a member of the Ability Administration Bureau, so Qin Kewei knew him. Shen Feng, apart from the six geniuses in the bureau, only knew Ke Yiming. Seeing Zhang Jue now, he didn't recognize him at first. Fortunately, Qin Kewei, as the captain, explained.
Shen Feng rubbed his chin and murmured, "There are very few ability users who can fly? My brother-in-law can also fly, and he can ride clouds. This is quite promising for the future!"
The few of them chatted at the gathering point. After a while, the researchers appeared. They brought detection equipment, a small box with two straps. As long as it was worn, it would automatically detect the surrounding terrain. The detected underground terrain would be automatically uploaded, and the person who detected the largest area would receive generous rewards.
Qin Kewei sighed helplessly and said, "A general's success is built on the bones of countless soldiers. I don't know how many of these people going underground will come out alive. Shen Feng, you all take care too."
Everyone wanted to get rewards, but most people ignored the dangers of going underground. They only saw the generous rewards and the possibility of getting rich overnight, but they overlooked the number of zombies underground. Before the snow, the sheer number of zombies had forced over ten million people to hide behind the city walls for defense. Now, there were still over a hundred million zombies underground. With so many zombies, once they launched an attack, those underground wouldn't even be able to escape!
Not to mention that Shen Feng had brought Lu Xian, an ability user who detected heat, to predict the situation with zombies in advance, nor that Qin Kewei and Yue Hengyi, two fifth-tier ability users, were also teaming up. Even Wang Ao Ye, a fourth-tier ability user, had to bring six subordinate ability users before daring to set off, which showed how serious the danger underground was. Yet, many ignorant evolvers also participated in this operation. It could only be said that ignorance was bliss.
Shen Feng, along with Chu Chaoyan and Lu Xian, collected the detectors from the researchers and set off after wearing them. After walking a long distance on the snow, Shen Feng saw a cave from afar, but he didn't go in directly. Instead, he continued on his way.
Chu Chaoyan was very confused by Shen Feng's actions and quickly asked, "Shen Feng, shouldn't we choose the cave closest to Yan Jing to explore? If we encounter danger, we can return to the city as quickly as possible. Isn't that safer?"
Shen Feng shook his head and said seriously, "No, the closer the cave is to Yan Jing, the more likely it is to be targeted by others. If our exploration route overlaps with others, and they upload the terrain inside the cave first, we will have wasted our time. Therefore, we must choose terrain that very few people can find, to avoid exploring the same area as others."
Hearing Shen Feng's analysis, Chu Chaoyan nodded. Indeed, it was best not to overlap exploration areas with others, otherwise, they might have walked a long distance underground only to get very little terrain data.
Shen Feng led Chu Chaoyan and Lu Xian into the mountains. He chose the direction of the western mountains. After entering the forest, Shen Feng often saw caves on the slopes and the ground. Near the caves, there were also loose piles of soil. These soil piles were casually placed on the surface, clearly indicating that the ground had been hollowed out, and this soil was what was excavated and brought out.
Shen Feng was very suspicious of the zombie situation because the ventilation underground could not be very good. With so many zombies living underground, wouldn't the oxygen consumption be particularly severe? Then, for zombies to obtain enough fresh air, they would inevitably have to create many ventilation shafts, otherwise, the air problem alone would easily suffocate the zombies.
Shen Feng didn't rush to go underground. He led the two behind him for more than twenty kilometers, all the way into the deep mountains and old forests, before stopping and searching for caves leading underground. Unexpectedly, even at such a distance, there were still many cave entrances on the ground.
Chu Chaoyan exclaimed, "That's amazing! So many cave entrances, and we can still see them after walking twenty kilometers. How many caves have they dug? Tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands?"
Lu Xian had been observing the number of surrounding caves all the way. In his opinion, the number of caves was decreasing, and they were likely reaching the edge of the underground tunnels dug by zombies. However, the underground tunnels stretched for more than twenty li and completely surrounded Yan Jing City. The scale of these underground caves was such that it was impossible to explore them in a single day.
Shen Feng found a relatively wide cave entrance and went in first. The entrance led straight down. After entering the cave, the three had to turn on their flashlights. Sunlight could not penetrate the underground caves, so it was pitch black underground, and the air was exceptionally turbid. Without turning on the flashlights, they couldn't see their surroundings at all.
The temperature at the cave entrance was very low, only about two or three degrees Celsius. After all, it had just snowed, and now it was melting. The temperature was even lower.
However, after walking twenty meters underground, the temperature gradually increased. This was due to the insulating effect of the soil. Underground caves were naturally warm in winter and cool in summer. For example, the cave dwellings in northern Shaanxi were not as inhabited now, but in the past, living in cave dwellings was very comfortable. The temperature was not too high in summer, and they could insulate in winter. If aesthetics were not considered, living underground was also a good option.
At this point, there was a fork in the tunnel, with two paths, left and right. Both paths were very dark, and they had no idea what the situation was like further ahead.
"Let's make a mark, so we don't lose our way when we come back!" Shen Feng suggested.
Lu Xian quickly took out his dagger from his body and drew an arrow at the intersection. Then, he set off from the left fork.
Shen Feng and the other two each carried a backpack containing batteries and food. It was easy to starve to death in the wilderness without food. Shen Feng had brought enough food for a week. Although most of it was compressed biscuits, as long as it could fill their stomachs, nothing else mattered.
As for water, Shen Feng only brought large bottles of mineral water, with a capacity of 2.5 liters, which could only last for one day of drinking. Therefore, Shen Feng planned to explore one cave each day and camp outside underground at night. Although it was warm underground, no one could guarantee that zombies wouldn't rush out while they were sleeping.
The three of them walked underground for half an hour without encountering any zombies. However, Lu Xian suddenly waved his hand and said in a low voice, "Stop, I sense a high thermal energy reaction ahead. Be careful, we might encounter zombies!"
Shen Feng immediately became vigilant and gently drew out the Guai Li sword at his waist. He slowly moved forward, constantly guarding against potential dangers ahead. However, after turning a corner in the tunnel, he discovered that in front of them were zombies lying on the ground. These zombies had entered a dormant state, reducing their energy consumption to a minimum. Even their breathing had become slow. In this state, as long as they didn't make too much noise, the zombies wouldn't act much.
Shen Feng made a gesture to Chu Chaoyan and Lu Xian, telling them to stay away. He was about to test the zombies' state. The two quickly retreated, both prepared to flee at any moment. If the situation turned bad, they would all flee quickly. As for Shen Feng, his speed was already fast, making escape even easier.
Shen Feng took a deep breath and shouted loudly, "Hey, a bunch of idiots!"
"Hey, a bunch of idiots!" "Hey, a bunch..." "Hey..." Echoes reverberated continuously in the cave. Shen Feng was ready to bolt at any moment. As soon as any zombie moved, he would turn and run. He didn't know how many zombies were dormant underground. If he alerted them all and they ganged up on him, even Superman couldn't withstand it.
However, Shen Feng was surprised to find that these dormant zombies showed no reaction at all, as if they hadn't heard his loud shout.
Shen Feng became suspicious and turned to shout at Lu Xian, "Lu Xian, come and examine these zombies. Use your ability to detect their state!"
Lu Xian quickly stepped forward to examine the zombies. After using his ability, he pondered, "These zombies are all in a dormant state, and it's a deep dormancy, almost like a coma! They can't be woken up by us. Perhaps the Corpse King ordered them to enter a dormant state to save energy!"
In Lu Xian's perception, the heat emitted by the group of zombies was very low, which was to avoid energy consumption. Apart from maintaining the necessary body heat, no excess energy was produced, hence they entered dormancy.
"So, besides the Corpse King's order, these ordinary zombies won't act!" Shen Feng mused.
Now Shen Feng felt troubled. So many zombies were crowded underground. If they continued to advance and alerted the Corpse King, he would be besieged. But if they didn't advance, it seemed the exploration of the tunnel would end here. It was truly difficult to decide whether to advance or retreat.
At this moment, Chu Chaoyan stepped forward and said confidently, "Now, it's my turn to take the lead. Don't forget what my ability is!"
Saying that, Chu Chaoyan found salt from her backpack, mixed it with the purified water from her backpack, and began to produce chlorine gas on the spot. The blue-green gas appeared and immediately spread forward. The surrounding ordinary zombies were killed one by one, and Shen Feng and the other two followed behind the chlorine gas.
"As long as we kill these dormant zombies, we'll have no worries. It's not like zombies can come back to life, right?" Chu Chaoyan said proudly, her expression clearly seeking praise.
"Alright, alright, you're the most amazing!" Shen Feng said perfunctorily.