Chapter 1 The Beginning

Four thick, black iron chains hung from the high stone ceiling of the hall. These chains stretched from each of the four corners and were forged together in the center of the ceiling. At the intersection of the chains was a grotesque metal structure resembling the claws of some kind of demon. These claw-like, twisted metal pieces formed a cage, firmly gripping a black crystal that appeared to be over a meter long.

Just as Vivian had described: half a meter to a meter in length, a slender and irregular shape, with a black texture like smoked glass, and a faint red glow visible at one end of the crystal.

When the three of them rushed in earlier, they didn't have time to pay attention to what was hanging from the hall's ceiling. Lily had glanced up, but the werewolf girl didn't recognize it and thought it was just an ordinary decoration. But now, she and Hao Ren knew what it was: a Demon Stone.

Hao Ren felt his data terminal vibrate, followed by a flat, emotionless voice in his mind: "This unit is truly heartbroken..."

"Heh, shut up."

"It can't be this unlucky..." Lily immediately sat down on the ground, and after thinking about it, she still said the same thing, "I'm just a little wolf cub, I haven't even had a boyfriend yet..."

"Stop it," Hao Ren reached out and knocked Lily on the head, "It's just a stone right now! It might not turn the demons..."

Vivian's indifferent voice came from the side: "Why do you think the defenses in the underground palace suddenly activated? And why did all those suits of armor wake up?"

Hao Ren's forehead was instantly covered in sweat: Did he even need to ask? It was obvious that the Demon Stone was acting up!

"Do you think this counts as a huge crisis beyond human control in the mission?" Hao Ren finally remembered that he had a backer, and frantically called out to his data terminal in his mind, "Is it okay for me to request support at this time?"

"It's not time yet. Requesting support before even seeing the real enemy? Aren't you ashamed?"

Hao Ren immediately jumped and cursed, "Then the hell am I supposed to wait until I'm about to be beaten to death before I can request support?!"

"Employees of the Great Interstellar Administration basically only request support when they're about to be beaten to death."

Hao Ren almost choked and passed out, but what happened next let him know that he absolutely couldn't faint, because even more exciting things were just beginning: a low rumble came faintly from directly above, and then he felt the entire underground hall begin to shake!

Countless dust and gravel fell like rain from the dilapidated stone ceiling. Before the rumble ended, a series of liver-shaking cracking and rubbing sounds of rocks began to echo in the hall. Everything around them began to shake, and the four huge iron chains overhead also creaked and swayed. And those black claws that were fixing the Demon Stone, which looked very sturdy, were actually... actually loosening one by one, could you believe it?!

The moment the underground hall began to shake, Hao Ren had the urge to turn around and run, at least to find a corner to stay in, maybe he could survive. But when he saw the movement of the pile of iron chains on the ceiling, he even forgot to run. Including Vivian and Lily, the three of them were completely fixed on the Demon Stone hanging overhead at that moment. The small stone seemed to be directly tied to everyone's heart, and every shake made their hearts twitch as well. However, even Vivian didn't dare to fly over and catch the thing directly. They could only watch the black claws fixing the Demon Stone slowly loosen at a speed visible to the naked eye, and then the first iron chain finally couldn't withstand the centuries of weathering and accumulated decay, and with a "clang," it broke from the intersection of the four iron chains...

The heavy iron chain silently slid through an arc in the air, slowly crashing into the stone wall in the corner of the hall in what seemed like slow motion to the three of them, finally letting out a deafening bang: *clang*—

The black claws fixing the Demon Stone also disintegrated under the effect of this last straw. Along with the collapse of all the chains, the one-meter-long black crystal finally fell and emitted a dazzling red light the moment it touched the ground.

A thousand words in Hao Ren's heart converged into one sentence: So why the hell did you care about Gothic aesthetics when making such a crucial thing! It's all used to fix the Demon Stone, would it kill you to honestly build a big, dumb, and thick iron cage?! Which bastard designer came up with that pile of black claws that looked so precarious!

"Run!" The fluff on Lily's ears and tail all stood up the moment the Demon Stone landed, and then she let out a cry of alarm and pounced towards the nearest passage. However, just as she started to run, a red halo spread out from the Demon Stone in all directions, sweeping across the entire hall in the blink of an eye. Hao Ren saw countless Leta runes suddenly appear on the walls on all sides of the hall, but after a moment, these ancient runes dimmed one after another, and a series of shattering sounds like breaking glass came from all directions.

The Demon Chamber's own seal had completely collapsed after only a few seconds!

And after these Leta runes shattered and dissipated one by one, Hao Ren heard that familiar sound again: *clatter, clatter...*

Apart from the passage that had completely collapsed and was blocked, there were three other exits in the hall, and now a series of armor rubbing and collision sounds were coming from those exits. Lily only managed to run a few meters before abruptly stopping: countless pairs of blood-red glows emerged from the darkness, and even more terrifying numbers of armored undead were swaying into the hall from three directions!

When the runes of the Demon Chamber failed, these undead guards could also enter the chamber.

Moreover, the undead armor that appeared this time was clearly different from before: they were surrounded by layers of faint gray mist, and the red light behind the helmet's mask, serving as their eyes, was even brighter. Clearly, the power of the Demon Stone had affected the guards in this underground palace—just as Vivian had said, these armored heroic spirits were said to be sacred guardians, but in essence, they were still resentful spirits driven by obsession. The technology used to forge them was inextricably linked to demons. There wouldn't be any problems when the underground palace's seal was intact, but now that the Demon Stone was completely out of control, these guards had turned into another disaster in the blink of an eye.

"Those damn demon hunters," Vivian cursed angrily, but before she could take action, another rumble louder than before came from above the hall!

More soil and gravel collapsed from the four corners of the hall, and even a huge stone slab detached from the ceiling, smashing towards Lily without deviating. The werewolf girl didn't even have time to look up when she heard the wind, and she pounced to the side like a vicious dog to narrowly avoid this fatal blow—however, the stone slab still slightly caught her tail. Hao Ren only heard a scream like a dog being stepped on its tail echoing around.

"What the hell is going on up there?" Hao Ren felt that these successive rumbles didn't sound like the normal collapse of an underground palace, but rather like an explosion. "Why does it sound like bombs to me?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a cracking sound from the roof in the center of the hall, followed by a large pile of stone slabs and mud falling down with a bang. After a cloud of dust flew up, bright moonlight appeared before the three of them: a large hole had been opened in the center of the hall.

This earth-shattering commotion seemed to have startled even those tin cans around them. It was also possible that the sudden moonlight caused the guards to become confused. In short, all the hollow suits of armor stopped moving in a short period of time, and the gazes of Hao Ren and the others also turned to the large hole in the center of the hall at the same time: what was going on with this suddenly appearing hole? And it directly led to the ground?

"Can we go up this time?" Lily grinned and hopped to Hao Ren's side, her tail twitching. She looked at the hole above the hall, her golden eyes full of curiosity.

"Wait a minute, the situation is strange." Vivian used a gust of wind to blow away the dust in front of her, waved her hand to signal Lily not to act rashly, and at the same time, Hao Ren saw a rope suddenly hanging down from that large hole.

What happened next made him especially want to curse.

That "demon hunter," Nangong, slid down the rope...