Chapter 197: Exploring the Soul Crystal Mine

Upon hearing Wu Guangzhou's agreement, Zhou Chu felt a surge of joy and his spirits lifted: "Yes, Chief! I guarantee the mission will be completed!"

Long Aofei sighed helplessly and said: "You two are just too willful! You must be cautious during this operation. Inside your combat suits, there is an independent Storage Space containing sensors and some essential items; do not be stingy with them when needed."

Subsequently, the two activated the teleportation device and stepped into the Soul Crystal Mine.

This time, as they were positioned within the mine, the surrounding darkness seemed to have a life of its own, constantly pressing in.

Before them was actually a long, winding tunnel that extended into the darkness in the distance.

Based on his memory of the virtual map, Zhou Chu knew that after passing through this tunnel, it would branch into five paths.

It was on these five branches that the members of the First Squad had encountered trouble.

Thinking of this, Zhou Chu decided to split into five groups as well.

Thus, after passing through the tunnel, five pitch-black passages indeed appeared before them.

In the darkness, these five tunnels extended into the depths of the mine like a giant hand, unfathomable and filled with unknown danger.

He immediately performed Soul Entanglement with the Vampire Queen, and at the same time, summoned Ganas the Lord of Treacherous Poison, the Void Assassin Gadi, and the Hunter Xina from the Emperor Tomb.

Having done this, he walked into the leftmost tunnel himself, while Li Er took the second, and the remaining three contracted servants were responsible for the other three.

To save time, Zhou Chu transformed into his bat state again and flew rapidly deep into the tunnel.

As he flew, his sonic sensing instantly spread deep into the narrow, long tunnel.

Not long after, Zhou Chu reached the location where the first group of the First Squad had disappeared.

At this moment, except for the sensor planted on the ground emitting a faint red light, those two members were long gone without a trace.

Zhou Chu landed back on the ground and quickly transformed back into human form, searching the ground for a moment, but still found no clues.

This could not help but make Zhou Chu frown.

How did those two members disappear into thin air? Had they evaporated from the face of the earth here?

Or perhaps they were snatched into the depths of the mine by something, leaving them no chance to plant the sensors.

Thinking of this, Zhou Chu transformed into his bat form again and continued deeper into the mine.

At the same time, Zhou Chu would plant a sensor every certain distance.

Before this, Zhou Chu had also distributed the sensors from his Zhanfu Chucun Kongjian to the three contracted servants, arranging for them to plant a sensor every certain distance as well.

Meanwhile, on the virtual projection outside, as Zhou Chu and the others continued to go deeper, the map that had previously been stagnant began to extend inward again.

Moreover, the speed was several times faster than that of the First Squad; in the blink of an eye, it had extended a long distance forward, and the paths in the mine were spreading out like the blood vessels of a human body.

Standing outside the mine, Wu Guangzhou and Long Aofei were both incredibly astonished to see the rapidly constructing map.

Two people doing the work of ten, and with such efficiency—if they had known this, they should have let these two be the First Tier, and it wouldn't have cost them ten Mental Officers.

Although Wu Guangzhou was full of regret at this moment, seeing Zhou Chu and his companion moving through the mine without obstruction, a glimmer of hope could not help but rise in his heart.

He stared fixedly at the virtual projection and could not help but ask Long Aofei: "Is Zhou Chu's Soul Profession a Necromancer?"

Long Aofei nodded and said: "That's right. His Soul Profession has the ability to control Calamity monsters and use them for his own purposes. He must have already controlled the Calamity monsters inside to help him scout the path."

Wu Guangzhou nodded as if enlightened.

Previously, in Zhou Chu's relevant files, this unique ability of his had been mentioned, but he hadn't realized that this Soul Profession had any substantial use.

After all, the files showed that Zhou Chu's Soul Profession was only the lowest F-Grade.

Even if he had the ability to control Calamity monsters, it was estimated that he was only controlling the lowest-level Calamity monsters.

Furthermore, according to the assessment and analysis of the Soul Crystal Mine, it contained two different kinds of evil auras.

They were Calamity Aura and a heavy Dark Aura.

These two different auras were intertwined, and even had a complementary effect.

That is to say, the fusion of the two auras would cause the creatures within to undergo bizarre changes, and their strength would also be greatly enhanced.

Therefore, in Wu Guangzhou's view, even if Zhou Chu could control Calamity monsters, if he encountered the powerful entities within the mine that had been strengthened by the evil auras, it might not be of much use.

But now, seeing that Zhou Chu and his group were progressing so smoothly in the mine, Wu Guangzhou had to re-examine Zhou Chu's abilities.

He frowned and said to Long Aofei: "It seems we underestimated Zhou Chu's abilities before. The danger level in this mine is far beyond imagination; ordinary Calamity monsters are not so easy to deal with under the influence of the two evil auras, yet Zhou Chu and his group are able to go deep all the way. I have to look at this kid's abilities with new eyes."

Facing Wu Guangzhou's praise, Long Aofei felt very happy inside; after all, Zhou Chu could be considered someone he had watched grow up.

Although he was no longer under his direct leadership, he had, to a certain extent, come out from under his command, so he said with some gratification: "This kid Zhou Chu always manages to surprise people. From the fact that he displayed Full-Element Power, one can see that his growth speed simply exceeds that of most people."

"Perhaps his fortuitous encounter in the God-Fallen Land not only allowed him to obtain Full-Element Power but also greatly improved his Soul Profession ability."

Wu Guangzhou nodded again, lost in thought.

Long Aofei's thoughts were exactly what he was thinking. The reason for Zhou Chu's rapid growth must be inseparable from his fortuitous encounter in the God-Fallen Land.

At this time, inside the mine, as Zhou Chu went deeper, he found that apart from the numerous crisscrossing tunnels, there seemed to be nothing else present.

Moreover, he hadn't found a single hair of the exploration teams or the First Squad that had entered before.

Even if they were dead, at the very least, one should be able to find their bodies.

Zhou Chu did not believe in any "evaporation from the face of the earth."

In his view, there must be something like secret passages in this mine, and at the same time, some unknown things must be hidden.

It only took half an hour for the entire map of the mine to be completely drawn through the efforts of Zhou Chu, Li Er, and the three contracted servants.

Finally, they met at the very center of the mine.

Zhou Chu looked at the intricate tunnels all around, his brows locked in deep thought.

Since it was a mine, he hadn't even seen a single piece of Soul Crystal ore, only these intricate tunnels left behind.

Could it be that the Soul Crystal ore here had long been mined clean by some unknown force?

Leaving behind only these abandoned tunnels in the end.

But where did those people go, and why did they disappear into thin air here?

There were truly too many suspicious things here.

The more Zhou Chu thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong; he decided to carefully inspect the surrounding environment again, perhaps he could find some overlooked clues.

Thus, they scattered one after another and began to search the surroundings.

Just at this moment, the God of Nature appeared once again on Zhou Chu's shoulder in the form of a Guardian Elf, saying with some exasperation, "You have been wandering around in these dilapidated tunnels for so long; do you not know how to be flexible?"

"What?" Zhou Chu stopped his footsteps and asked with some confusion.

The God of Nature revealed a helpless expression and said, "Forget it, I had better help you!"