The battle raged for two grueling hours, leaving the warriors soaked with sweat, sitting together and panting heavily.

Han Zhuangzhi checked their ammunition; less than half remained.

He was astonished, not because it was too little, but because he hadn't expected so much to be left. In a normal engagement, most of the ammunition would have certainly run out after such a battle, as it tends to be wasted.

Yet, during the recent fight, due to Chen Gu's commands, they had wasted very little ammunition. They shot wherever an enemy was spotted, as per Chen Gu's orders.

After the battle, they still had half their ammunition left—enough to press on. He had assumed his squad would have to withdraw from the operation.

The other warriors were tallying their kills.

"Hahaha, I got sixty-one this time! Enough for me to level up."

"Weakling!" another warrior boasted proudly. "I checked too. I got seventy-four!"

The warriors cheered up. Han Zhuangzhi checked his own count: an astonishing eighty-eight!

The chubby soldier, still gasping for breath beside his rifle, heard this. He opened his personal computer, connecting it to the camera on his chest to calculate his tally.

Soon, a number popped up, leaving him dumbfounded: fifty-one!

Previously, he had only taken down one Subterranean. This meant he had killed fifty in the recent fight!

The battle had been so intense that he had mechanically followed Chen Gu's commands—shoot, shoot, and shoot again. Although he felt he must have killed a fair number of Subterraneans, he had no idea it was this many.

A bizarre thought crossed the chubby soldier's mind: was he close to achieving the "hundred-man kill" milestone?

Fifty-one... if I round up, that's practically a hundred. That calculation works, right?

He suddenly saw Lin Xiaochen next to him and nudged him with his elbow. "How many did you get?"

Lin Xiaochen had just finished calculating. "A total of sixty-nine."

Overcome with excitement, Lin Xiaochen whispered, "I feel like I'm definitely in the top three this time!"

The chubby soldier mulled it over: Brother Chen was first, Lin Xiaochen was currently second, and he himself was third! If he put in a bit more effort and really stuck to Brother Chen's coattails, he could surpass that opportunist Lin Xiaochen—hey, wouldn't that mean he'd be sitting third but aiming for second? The situation was looking up!

"Eat something and take a rest," Chen Gu said. He then opened his large backpack, his gaze involuntarily falling onto some strange objects.

He had pried the gemstones, beast teeth, and metals from the Subterranean Shaman's corpse.

While looting the body, he'd felt an almost unbearable urge, as if some of those items were the epitome of worldly delicacies!

Now, that sensation was nearly overwhelming him again.

No, no, the mission is still underway, and this place is extremely dangerous. If I eat something that makes me vomit or gives me diarrhea, I'll be a dead man, Chen Gu thought. Isabella Wu, get lost!

He fought back the urge, forcefully grabbing twenty packs of military rations and then firmly closed his backpack.

After everyone had eaten, their strength was mostly recovered.

"Move out!" At Chen Gu's command, they continued to pick their way through the tunnel.

Several dozen minutes later, the observant chubby soldier suddenly exclaimed, "Hey, look! There's something on the surrounding stone walls."

Everyone was startled. Taking a closer look, they noticed rough, faintly visible murals on the stone walls.

As with all ancient civilizations, the murals mostly depicted scenes of hunting and daily life.

It was just that the Subterraneans' prey was also found underground: a creature resembling a giant lizard, much larger than the Subterraneans themselves.

Chen Gu examined these murals closely and suddenly noticed a peculiar one.

This mural, following a series of hunting scenes, depicted a Subterranean Shaman extracting an organ from an exceptionally large, lizard-like beast. Then, under her guidance, a young female Subterranean underwent a ritual, becoming a new Shaman.

Chen Gu stroked his chin, extracting some useful information from the murals.

"The appearance of these murals proves we're getting closer to the Subterraneans' core living area," he said.

Chen Gu motioned to the others. "Be cautious."

He then expanded his Radiation Field once more, a gun in one hand and the bone Magic Wand in the other. Enhanced by the Magic Wand, the Radiation Field's radius increased by another twenty meters, and his sensory "vision" within it became even clearer.

Yet, within a one-hundred-and-twenty-meter radius, not a single Subterranean was present.

Chen Gu frowned. That's not right.

He called out to Han Zhuangzhi at the front, "I'll take point."

Han Zhuangzhi stepped back, and Chen Gu took his place.

Chen Gu's advance slowed significantly. Traversing the complex terrain, he no longer relied solely on his abilities, instead conducting reconnaissance strictly according to tactical procedures.

Chen Gu's seriousness affected everyone. Even Qiao Shuangyi stopped joking around, gripping his rifle tightly, his nerves on edge.

After passing through a winding tunnel, they entered a huge cavern. Its scale took everyone's breath away—it was as large as dozens of football fields, with a ceiling soaring a kilometer high. In the center of this stone cavern stood an ancient altar built from massive stones.

The altar resembled a pyramid, three hundred meters tall, surrounded by other structures.

Chen Gu whispered to Han Zhuangzhi beside him, "Prepare flash grenades."

Flash grenades were an effective weapon against Subterraneans, who lived their entire lives underground. However, Chen Gu's squad hadn't needed to use them until now.

Chen Gu indicated several positions. Within my Radiation Field, these spots register as completely empty, he thought, choosing them based on his tactical judgment.

"Now!" At his command, Han Zhuangzhi and his warriors immediately launched the flash grenades.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Clusters of intense light flared almost simultaneously throughout the massive cavern, followed by agonized howls. As the light dimmed slightly, Chen Gu and the warriors, using the residual glare, could see that most of those locations indeed concealed ambushing Subterraneans!

Han Zhuangzhi silently gave Chen Gu a thumbs-up. Everyone's admiration for Brother Chen needed no words; the gesture said it all.

But Chen Gu's heart sank.

Ever since seeing those murals, I've had a bad feeling, Chen Gu thought. The squad has clearly approached the core area of Subterranean activity, yet we haven't met any further resistance.

I don't believe the Subterraneans were 'scared witless' and fled. That leaves only one possibility: they're consolidating their forces, preparing for a big move.

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