Chapter 1 Repairing the Car

While repairing the car, Han Xiao reflected on the problems exposed in the previous battle.

His current combat mode was mainly sniping. The best tactic was kiting, but his own movement speed wasn't fast, so he should create some gadgets to increase his speed.

Powered legs were a good choice, but Han Xiao felt they were too bulky. Fortunately, with his current level and knowledge, he could create a more flexible new item.

He felt he could further improve his combat mode, such as building a robot team to provide fire support and make up for the slow attack frequency of sniping.

Anyway, the Mechanic class was all about mass-producing equipment. Self-reliance, filling gaps with whatever was needed.

Quickly repairing the car, Han Xiao drove the Thorns, following the radar coordinates back to the entrance of Philonia. He immediately saw a string of footprints beside it, extending to the edge of the cave and disappearing. With a little thought, he knew that the wanderers had gone down first.

If it were ordinary people, they might worry that the good things inside would be taken first, but Han Xiao felt that it was better this way, someone to help him scout for danger.

Standing at the edge of the cave, he poked his head down to look. The rock walls were clearly layered, and at the boundary between sunlight and darkness, he could vaguely see rusty metal extending downwards.

"There are traces of artificial excavation on the rock wall, and there's a fishy smell in the wind... the smell of rust. I've never seen this place before. Let's go down and take a look."

Han Xiao took all his equipment, bit a flashlight in his mouth, and climbed down the rock wall, occasionally shining the flashlight below.

As the distance from the ground increased, the sunlight gradually disappeared, and he realized that the rock wall was curved.

Soon, the sunlight disappeared, and the surroundings were pitch black. Only the flashlight was the only source of light. This eerie atmosphere made Han Xiao involuntarily alert, feeling a trace of coolness appear out of thin air, entangled in his heart, wishing he could slow down his heartbeat to relieve the tension.

After climbing down for about three minutes, the flashlight finally illuminated the ground, which turned out to be a hollow metal floor, covered with dust, with thick cobwebs in the gaps, untouched for a long time.

Han Xiao flipped over and landed, making a thud, and the echo traveled far away, appearing very empty and eerie in this pitch-black environment.

The surroundings were empty and deep. The light of the flashlight was like an isolated island in the dark ocean. There was a rustling sound in the darkness, as if the sound of landing just now had attracted the attention of some unknown existence.

The flashlight swept around, and he was in a metal corridor, like the architectural style of a base, everywhere was reinforced concrete, the walls were covered with yellow-green rust oxides, and there were vaguely strange soft worms crawling in the rust.

The hollow metal plate on the ground was covered with dust, and a series of new footprints extended forward, presumably the pilgrims who had gone ahead.

There should be more space below the metal hollow floor.

Han Xiao turned the flashlight and shone it under his feet, seeing the scene below.

Through the hollow metal plate under his feet, countless dense red compound eyes silently stared at him in the darkness!

"Holy crap!"

Han Xiao's scalp went numb, and he hurriedly retracted the light, classifying the lower level as a restricted area.

He carefully followed the pilgrims' footprints forward. The surroundings were silent, and there was a faint rustling sound of creatures crawling. When he calmed down to listen, it disappeared without a trace, which was very strange, making people involuntarily nervous.

After walking a short distance, a fork in the road appeared, and the pilgrims' footprints disappeared on the right fork.

Just as he hesitated, rapid footsteps sounded on the right fork, as if many people were running in panic, quickly approaching.

Han Xiao hurriedly dodged to the other fork in the road, turned off the flashlight, and put on the night vision goggles wholesale from Fariane.

"Run, run!"

"Monsters!"

The pilgrims ran out of the fork in a panic, as if they were evading some indescribable existence, their clothes stained with a lot of blood, and the number of people had decreased.

"What are they running from?" Han Xiao wondered.

Suddenly, a low, beast-like roar came from the other fork next door, hoarse, heavy, like the sigh of a giant, the echo buzzing, just hearing the sound made his blood boil, and he felt disgusted in his chest, secretly startled.

"This is a high-level beastification pressure, definitely over level 40!"

The group of pilgrims looked terrified, not knowing what terrifying existence they had seen, using their hands and feet, and crawling back in panic.

However, the monster did not seem to come out, and the pilgrims slumped down, looking like they had survived a catastrophe.

That monster didn't even make a sound when it walked, Han Xiao kept it in mind.

"Joel was eaten by the monster, sob..."

"This place is terrible."

The old pilgrim trembled, his expression dejected, as if his energy and spirit had been drained, and said, "This is not Philonia, there is nothing we want here, let's get out of here quickly, let's go find the real ruins."

The legendary magic ruins should be full of mysterious and ancient aura, carved with countless incomprehensible and mysterious patterns, with stone as the main body of the ruins, but this place is just a man-made steel base. He saw the emblems of the dead country on the wall. This was a secret military base of the old kingdom.

The pilgrims were silent, and a young man said, "Maybe this is the real Philonia. The motherland found the ruins and built a base here to study the Treasure of the Desert."

The Treasure of the Desert, the legendary treasure of Philonia, which could control the Somal Desert.

The old pilgrim shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Impossible, if the old kingdom possessed the Treasure of the Desert, how could it have been destroyed?"

"This is not the place we are looking for, the real Philonia ruins are still hidden in a corner of the desert!"

The old pilgrim said decisively.

The pilgrims supported each other and left.

Han Xiao finally solved some of his doubts after listening to their discussion. As far as he knew, there was no magic on Aquamarine, and the so-called miracle of the Treasure of the Desert was likely just the effect of some technological weapon.

But people always have an inexplicable confidence and unrealistic fantasies about mysterious things they don't understand. It made him inexplicably think of a story. When the flood came, a man prayed to the gods for help on the roof of the house. God sent a boat to save him, but he just wanted to wait for a miracle.

He didn't know why the pilgrims were convinced that Philonia was related to magic, but it didn't seem to have anything to do with him... or was this another hint for a hidden mission?

Steadying his mind, Han Xiao waited for the pilgrims to go far before showing up, and was caught in hesitation in front of the fork.

The pilgrims found a monster on the right, which was very dangerous, but the left was unknown, which might be even more dangerous. How should he choose?

"According to experience, this group of pilgrims are playing the role of dungeon guides, hinting that there is a monster on the right. This is a clear signal, but it may have two meanings. The first is to warn not to go to the right, there is a monster, and the second meaning is to deliberately mislead me to go to the left..."

Han Xiao gritted his teeth and resolutely chose the right side. The unknown was more terrifying than the monster. He still remembered the dense red eyes on the lower level. If he encountered those things, he would be left with a layer of skin even if he didn't die.

He put on the electric heating cutting gloves, didn't use a flashlight, only used night vision goggles, and entered the right fork. The field of vision was dark green, barely able to see the road ahead.

There were huge footprints on the ground that were different from humans, presumably left by the monster. It also had two legs and five toes. If based on the height ratio of humans, this monster was about three meters tall.

After walking for a while, a room with an open door appeared in front of him, and the monster's footprints stopped abruptly at the door.

Han Xiao quietly approached the door, smelled a stench, like rotten meat for many years, and a trace of fresh blood.

He poked his head inside.

A pair of copper bell-sized eyes were staring at him condescendingly, only half a meter away!

Han Xiao's hair stood on end.