Qiao Shuangyi laughed heartily without a care. "Chen Gu, I've made splendid gains in battle! I've already killed three Subterraneans!"

Chen Gu smiled and complimented, "Well done. You must have the fewest battle merits in the entire team. Your father will certainly be proud of you. Now you'll have something to brag about when you get together with friends."

Qiao Shuangyi stammered, "Er... really? Even Lin Xiaochen, that old-profession reject, did better than me?"

Lin Xiaochen was furious. "You, who can't even shoot straight! What gives you the right to look down on this young master?"

"PFFT—" Qiao Shuangyi scoffed. "The impotent fury of old professions."

The two bickered for a while until Han Zhuangzhi came over to ask Chen Gu, "Chen Gu, I've sent someone to look ahead. There are four cave entrances. Which one should we choose?"

Chen Gu didn't answer immediately. He walked to the front of the four entrances and once again used "Mind Belief" to sense his surroundings.

"Are you all rested? If so, let's set out." He led everyone into the second entrance on the left.

Han Zhuangzhi noticed that of these four entrances, the first one on the right showed the most traces of Subterraneans; most of those who had just retreated had entered this one. The traces left in the other three were roughly the same.

If Han Zhuangzhi himself were leading the team, he would have definitely chosen the first entrance on the right. If Zheng Zhixing had made the same choice as Chen Gu, he might have questioned the commander's decision. But now, everyone had complete faith in Chen Gu, so they executed the order without hesitation.

However, after entering this tunnel, even though they pursued for a long distance, they did not encounter any more Subterraneans.

Chen Gu reminded everyone, "Be careful. The Subterraneans' tactics are definitely not limited to what we've seen!"

Chen Gu remembered that there were powerful Shamans among the Subterraneans.

Not long after Chen Gu had spoken, they walked into a dead end—just like when Zheng Zhixing was leading, the path ended abruptly, and they faced a stone wall.

"Chen Gu, let's turn back," Han Zhuangzhi suggested. He didn't complain, as no one can always make the right choice.

Chen Gu, however, shook his head slightly. He stepped forward, raised his hand, and touched the rough stone wall. His "Radiation Field" could sense that just over a meter behind the stone wall, there was another passage.

Chen Gu mused internally, Has a Subterranean Shaman made a move? A powerful Shaman, unwilling to confront us head-on, conjures up a stone wall out of thin air, merely wanting us to turn back... What lies hidden behind this stone wall that makes the Shaman so cautious, not daring to take the slightest risk?

Chen Gu turned back to look at everyone and smiled. "Dare to take a risk?"

Qiao Shuangyi, habitually timid, shrank his neck, not daring to respond.

Han Zhuangzhi and the warriors all laughed. "Chen Gu, when has war ever been without risk?"

Chen Gu laughed heartily. "Don't worry, I'm confident."

He knocked on the stone wall and said to Han Zhuangzhi, "Set the explosives and blow up this wall. The wall is 1.34 meters thick; control the yield carefully."

Qiao Shuangyi quickly interjected, "Chen Gu, don't mess around! What if the whole cave collapses and we're buried alive?"

Of course, Chen Gu had already used "Radiation Field" to check the geological structure within a hundred-meter radius. He was confident enough to instruct Han Zhuangzhi to proceed.

He waved his hand. "Trust me."

Han Zhuangzhi immediately and faithfully executed the order, leading his warriors to quickly calculate the necessary amount of explosives and then set up the charges.

"Retreat thirty meters," Han Zhuangzhi commanded. After everyone had moved back, Han Zhuangzhi detonated the explosives without hesitation.

BOOM—

In the confined space of the cave, the power of the explosion was magnified, sound waves echoing back and forth in the surrounding tunnels. Everyone felt the ground beneath their feet shake several times as debris rained down.

Qiao Shuangyi let out a sharp scream, like a startled little girl. Lin Xiaochen, though also frightened, managed not to cry out. This alone made Lin Xiaochen feel he had the right to look down on Qiao Shuangyi, suddenly filling him with a sense of superiority!

Once the aftermath of the explosion had completely subsided, the warriors brushed the dust from their clothes and all looked towards Chen Gu. Holding his gun in one hand, Chen Gu straightened up and strode first towards the newly blasted entrance. "Stay close to me."

Beyond the newly revealed opening, it was pitch-black but seemed very calm.

Han Zhuangzhi and the warriors, however, had a vague sense that innumerable dangers lurked within that darkness.

Chen Gu walked through the opening into a moderately sized chamber. Its walls were punctuated by a dozen or so tunnel entrances at various heights.

In each of these tunnels, the dark red, glowing eyes of Subterraneans glinted in the shadows!

In the center of the chamber stood a relatively slender Subterranean. Her neck was adorned with a necklace of red and green gemstones, and her forehead was inlaid with a piece of metal of unknown material. On her wrists were bracelets made from the fangs of some beast. In her left hand, she held a Magic Wand fashioned from some sort of snow-white bone, its shape twisted and bent, making it look exceedingly strange and eerie.

The moment Chen Gu sensed the Shaman's presence, his unreliable heart began to THUMP-THUMP-THUMP wildly!

Those ornaments on her body are all incredibly precious materials! Each one emits rare energy fluctuations and could be used to create powerful artifacts!

That bone Magic Wand... it smells so good. I really want to take a bite...

Damn that Isabella Wu, get out of my head!

Those battle merits are the warriors' spoils, but these precious materials are my prize from this trip!

When Chen Gu was at the base and saw the drawing of the Subterranean Shaman presented by Wang Chengqian, he had never imagined that a "live" Shaman would be so "expensive."

Therefore, Chen Gu took the lead, heading straight for the Subterranean Shaman!

HISS HISS HISS—

From the surrounding tunnels, the threatening roars of Subterranean warriors immediately erupted. In the darkness, several Subterranean archers aimed at Chen Gu. He, however, remained unmoved, his eyes fixed solely on the Shaman before him.

TWANG—

The sound of a bowstring, and several swift arrows shot through the air. Chen Gu didn't even raise an eyelid. With a mere thought, "Entanglement Control" activated, and the arrows instantly froze in mid-air.

A hint of surprise flickered in the Shaman's blood-red eyes, quickly replaced by solemnity.

She swiftly raised the white bone Magic Wand in her hand, chanting a spell in a guttural growl that sounded almost animalistic to human ears.

POP POP POP...

The arrows frozen in mid-air by Chen Gu's "Entanglement Control" instantly shattered.

Then the Shaman waved her Magic Wand again, her unique incantation continuing. A gale-like force surged, yet it carried a peculiar "heaviness."

From beneath the ground, a sound like muffled thunder emerged. Suddenly, the floor beneath Chen Gu cracked open, and countless palm-sized stone knives and swords shot out, their speed no less than that of bullets!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.