Chapter 40: 39 Beixiang Tunnel

39 Beixiang Tunnel

He Jia'an hurriedly issued orders to local organizations to recover the feathers; at the very least, before the birth of the second uncontrolled Guhuoniao that scatters feathers, they must recover as many other Guhuoniao feathers as possible.

A curse known as a "Blessing" has already been spread across the world once; the curse of the Guhuoniao must never be spread into the world again.

This seemingly prosperous human world cannot afford such turmoil!

And what kind of sacred being is that Lin Laoban, anyway? Is he a truly deranged human, or an Alien God wearing human skin?

The Mysterious Investigators did not expect that this night would be incomparably busy...

The matter of the Guhuoniao feathers could still rely on the help of branch organization members, and He Jia'an and the others could only try their best not to think about the potentially severe consequences, because they still had to focus on dealing with the current matter of the Fire Bird.

Of course, saying they were "dealing with it" did not mean He Jia'an and the others had a one-hundred-percent certainty of resolving the abnormal affairs related to the Huogu; after all, they were facing an unknown interdimensional race, and without even knowing the other side's background, how could they speak of the probability of success?

However, this is the work and duty of the Mysterious Investigators: to bet their lives on tackling the unknown variable of success, so even if they never return, they must proceed without hesitation.

According to Huang Qitao, the location where he and the sacrificed Enforcers encountered an attack by bio-engineered creatures under the Huogu was situated within an abandoned tunnel in Shenzhou called Beixiang Tunnel.

Back then, Huang Qitao followed the clue of the members of the mysterious society his late wife had joined, and by following the trail, he finally managed to find information regarding "Beixiang Tunnel" from documents left behind by a deceased member.

The first president of the mysterious society appeared fifty years ago; at that time, Beixiang Tunnel had not yet been opened and it was still a nameless mountain. When he led the society members to camp and cook in the wilderness where Beixiang Tunnel is now located, one of the members accidentally discovered a suspicious cave in the mountain.

Led by the president and a few bold members of the society, they decided to venture deep into the cave to explore. By a stroke of luck, they discovered that beneath the cave lay an abyss that seemed bottomless. They descended the spiraling stairs for a full hour before finally reaching the underground, where they discovered that beneath the earth lay tomb after tomb engraved with unknown runes. In one of the tombs, they found an altar and an Ancient Book left inside, and from the shocking illustrations and text in the Ancient Book, they obtained "advanced" knowledge related to the Huogu.

Relying on their intelligence and astonishing perseverance, these people later deciphered from the Ancient Book left by the Huogu the Sacrificial Ritual for trading and making wishes with this interdimensional life race. After they attempted to hold a ritual once, even though some of them were frightened by the strange phenomena that appeared during the ritual, they could never forget the pleasure of having their wishes granted after tasting it once.

It is only regrettable that they discovered each person seems to be able to participate in this ritual only once in their lifetime.

In order to share this secret, the first president decided to pass the secret down through the generations within the society. However, as time passed, by the generation of Huang Qitao's wife and Li Jiahong's wife, because the president was promiscuous and died in the very wish he had once made before he could hand it over to the next president, the society's lineage was broken.

After flipping through old maps at the local Tushuguan in Shenzhou City, Huang Qitao only confirmed after much comparison that the mountain where Beixiang Tunnel is located was the very same mountain that the first president and his group had explored, only that the cave had long since been filled in and hidden during the process of developing the tunnel.

After the tunnel was completed, because the tombs were disturbed by human interference, it angered the Huogu, and thus, ever since the tunnel opened, strange things happened constantly and bad luck followed, eventually forcing the tunnel to close.

There is no need to repeat the subsequent events; Huang Qitao and the accompanying Enforcers violated the resting place of the Huogu race and were mercilessly slaughtered by the bio-engineered creatures sent by the Huogu.

Next, what He Jia'an and the others will likely face is everything Huang Qitao encountered back then, or perhaps even worse.

Although they are Mysterious Investigators with rich experience in dealing with abnormal affairs, this does not mean they are omnipotent and can remain unscathed in all unknown abnormal affairs.

Finally arriving at the entrance of Beixiang Tunnel, the car stopped before the entrance. After the three of them got out, looking at the pitch-black tunnel entrance before them, their inner sense of unease began to stir again. Yu Lianyun even felt as if she heard some strange language drifting in the air; the sound was noisier than flying mosquitoes, disturbing one's peace of mind.

Before they had even officially begun their operation, the three of them felt their nerves tighten. They opened the car trunk, fully armed themselves, and with anxious hearts, slowly stepped into the tunnel, which was as deep and dark as the mouth of a worm.

Before leaving, Yu Lianyun did not forget to look back at the sky. The giant bird suspending Li Jiahong was currently circling in the air, far from the earth, watching them quietly, as if waiting for them to leave first before it would descend.

Sure enough, after Yu Lianyun and the others had all entered the tunnel, the Guhuoniao, transformed from Jiang Gu, finally landed on the ground with her husband.

Li Jiahong looked at the car He Jia'an and the others had parked, discovering that the trunk door had not been closed, and inside were several sets of complete tactical gear; it was obvious that He Jia'an and Yu Lianyun had left them for him on purpose.

After Li Jiahong put on the tactical gear, he said to his wife, who had transformed into a strange bird: "Wife, let's go too."

It was unknown whether the consciousness of the person still existed within the Guhuoniao; those eyes that ignored everything at every moment were daunting, but Li Jiahong still insisted on calling her "wife" and sought her opinion.

Perhaps the Guhuoniao did indeed still possess the will of Li Jiahong's wife, so she obediently followed Li Jiahong into the tunnel.

It was pitch black before them. Li Jiahong held the flashlight he had taken from the car trunk, its light illuminating the path ahead with limited reach, while the Guhuoniao led the way, taking him deep into the bottom of the tunnel; it seemed the Guhuoniao could sense the correct route.

Walking was slow. Li Jiahong followed behind the Guhuoniao, curious that despite the Guhuoniao having the sharp talons of a bird of prey, she could still walk steadily on the descending stairs. Her pair of pitch-black giant eyes also allowed her to see in the night, so following behind her, he did not have to fear bumping into things in the darkness or missing a step and falling into an "abyss."

It is unknown how much time had passed; Li Jiahong, whose whole body was sore from descending the stairs, finally reached the underground. It was a pitch-black space, yet it was an underground tomb chamber filled everywhere with mysterious runes.

As if sensing something, the Guhuoniao turned her neck and looked toward a tomb chamber where light was leaking from the doorway, then she flapped her wings and flew low at high speed. Li Jiahong followed behind her and entered the tomb chamber from which the light was coming.

Before Li Jiahong lay a coffin that had just been pushed open, with the corpse of a tall rat-man lying inside. Under the illumination of the light, the shadow beneath the rat-man's corpse rippled with activity, like a black lake.

Just as that letter said, He Jia'an and the others had already successfully passed through the shadow of the Huogu corpse into another dimension—a world where the Huogu exist.