Chapter 357: Doctor, Don't Do That! Doctor! — Underworld

Inside the pyramid ruins.

Its passage is the same as the outside; the walls are smooth and tidy, unlike Earth pyramids that contain various murals and hieroglyphs, so in this respect it indeed lacks the research value of Earth pyramids.

Laura led the plague doctor into a hall, and from that moment everything finally ceased to be "monotonous"; there were four colossal load‑bearing columns, each bearing inscrutable wedge‑shaped symbols.

At the same time, the hall displayed numerous strange rock sculptures, much like the stone tablet that caused the Yudola incident.

It was precisely because of the Yudola incident that Laura, using the authority granted by Sui Bian, requested a company of Dark Angel reservists to protect the archaeologists working here.

"Ah! Fantastic!" The plague doctor, upon seeing the rock sculptures, became excited again, hurried to the nearest serpentine sculpture and exclaimed, "These… these are excellent material!"

"Material?" Laura asked, puzzled.

"Exactly, kid." The plague doctor rummaged in his small bag, produced an old‑fashioned magnifying glass, and while examining the sculptures explained, "These things look like stone, but they are… um… how to describe… ah! Actually they might be living or dead, but the common point is they all come from an alternate dimension, the dirtiest, most chaotic products, merely restrained in activity by some external force."

As for the stone tablet that caused a group of children to die, it was because it was far from this pyramid that its activity intensified, pulling those children into the alternate dimension.

"Doctor, so you're saying this place can suppress the alternate dimension, right?" Laura pressed.

"You can think of it that way. Fine, stop bothering me. Hmph—hmph—oh, so that's it! Need to record it."

The plague doctor waved at Laura, humming a cheerful tune, returned the magnifying glass to his bag, then pulled out a leather notebook and a fountain pen, muttering to himself as he wrote.

Next, the plague doctor either jogged to the far end of the hall and poked a dragon‑shaped sculpture's toe with his pen, or ran to the opposite side and hammered the smooth wall with a hand‑hammer.

"…"

Laura watched the plague doctor, whose actions were chaotic and even a bit nonsensical, and felt he was unreliable, but recalling that this eccentric doctor had developed the vaccine that benefits all humanity and its allies, she could only wait patiently.

"Dong, dong."

At that moment, Laura heard the sound of magnetic boots behind her, turned, and saw Artemis, already equipped with a powered armor and a Holy Shield Terminator, along with the Gray Knights, strolling out of the passage to the outside and entering the spacious hall.

There were not many Gray Knights—only ten squads, sixty men in total—but they were elite of the elite, far beyond what reservists could match.

Their Holy Shield Terminators had storm‑type parallel‑burst arrow guns, plasma cannons, and thermal melt cannons mounted on their left arms, and some Gray Knights even nailed the Human Truth onto their shoulder plates.

As for Artemis, who had her helmet unfolded and a ponytail tied, weapon‑wise she merely had Thunder and a Full Moon Bow attached to her left waist, decoratively she nailed a flat spread of Human Truth onto her right shoulder plate, and beneath her powered backpack hung a pristine white cloak embroidered with gold thread.

With the intermittent Spiritual Energy fluctuations, Artemis now finally regained the aura befitting a "goddess."

Upon seeing Artemis and the Gray Knights arrive, the reservists each raised their right fists and saluted across their chests.

Artemis likewise nodded in return, stepped beside Laura and asked, "How's the situation?"

"Seems fairly smooth…" Laura glanced at the plague doctor studying a column, then looked straight at Artemis and proactively asked, "Chief, is there some unexpected situation that requires you and the Gray Knights to stand ready?"

"Uncertain." Artemis's gaze, still on the plague doctor, twitched slightly at the corner of her right eye, then her tone deepened a bit, "But my perception tells me the doctor's next actions may be dangerous; I'm warning you to prepare for the worst and evacuate quickly if needed."

"Understood, Chief." Laura, showing no reaction to Spiritual Energy, asked nothing further and immediately gestured, "Everyone stay on high alert and be ready to evacuate at any moment!"

With those words, the archaeologists on site promptly packed away their tools in obedience, ready to withdraw orderly should a sudden change occur.

The plague doctor, however, was too lazy to heed the call for vigilance, or rather, fully immersed in his work he didn't hear it at all, focusing only on a few noteworthy symbols on the column, then, as if he understood them, spoke to himself:

"Fresh… fresh blood can open the road to the Underworld? Oh? Underworld? Interesting, let's try it."

Speaking, the plague doctor pulled a scalpel from his bag, sliced his right index finger without hesitation, and flung the dark red blood onto the symbols that Laura's team had long been unable to decipher.

But there was no reaction.

"Did I get it wrong? Or need more?"

The plague doctor was startled, but quickly flung his hand at the symbols again, splashing more blood onto them, but…

Still no reaction.

??!! "You want more?! Isn't this enough?!" The plague doctor, flustered, immediately tried to strike his own wrist hard with the scalpel.

"Doctor! Don't get worked up, doctor!"

Seeing this, the soldiers tasked with keeping the plague doctor safe rushed forward to block him, preventing further self‑harm.

However, just as the soldiers tried to stop the self‑injury, the symbols suddenly absorbed all of the plague doctor's blood and emitted a crimson glow.

"Doctor! Look, it's working!" a soldier called out.

"Oh?" Hearing that, the plague doctor finally stopped harming himself, scanned the remaining columns, and instantly realized, "So that's it! Kids, let me go, I know how to open the gate to the Underworld!"

And Artemis, watching from a short distance, saw the plague doctor sprinkling blood onto the remaining three columns one by one; her unease grew increasingly intense, so she sternly said, "Supervisor Kelaofu, have the people who summoned you withdraw from here immediately."

"Understood."

Receiving the order, Laura promptly dispatched the archaeological team out of the hall, while Artemis swung her left hand left and right, signaling the Gray Knights to immediately surround the columns.

The company of Dark Angel reservists, without needing explicit orders, voluntarily coordinated with the Gray Knights, positioning themselves on the outer rim and pointing their barrels toward the center of the columns.

At this moment, with a group of soldiers "crowding" the plague doctor, he had completed a series of operations; when he freed himself and his attention, he saw the prepared crowd and calmly said in his magnetic voice, waving his hands, "Don't be nervous, kids, rest assured, based on my observation there will be no danger…"

"Doctor, careful!!"

Before the plague doctor could finish the word "danger," the nearby soldiers hurriedly hoisted him, trying to flee toward Artemis's direction.

It turned out that while the plague doctor was confident that opening the road to the Underworld was no big deal, the four massive columns had already fully absorbed his blood, then sequentially…

Immediately thereafter, between the four columns—in the very center of the hall—a vortex of blood light about six meters in diameter erupted, a crimson passage. Then countless suction‑cup‑covered, varying‑size, blood‑colored, viscous tentacles burst from the vortex, lashing toward the nearest plague doctor and soldiers.

That explains why the soldiers hurriedly fled with the plague doctor.

"Oh… heavens, I think I miscalculated this time." The plague doctor, shouldered by a soldier in powered armor, saw the approaching tentacles getting overly brazen, pounded the soldier's shoulder plate and grumbled, "Kids! Put me down, I want to teach them a lesson!"

But before the plague doctor could forcefully break free, a green flash of light streaked past them, accompanied by a "Siu—!" whooshing sound, incinerating all the tentacles and then shooting into the vortex.

"Boom…!"

"Roar…!"

Then faint explosions and anguished roars came from the vortex direction, indicating the green flash had severely damaged, even killed, the source that released the tentacles.

Following the green afterglow, Artemis was seen just after releasing an arrow; her left hand still clutched a Full Moon Bow that emitted a faint green glow.

"Roar!!"

However, just after she dispatched a 'tentacle monster,' countless other demonic creatures—beastly or humanoid, all with blood‑red skin—howled out of the vortex.

Clearly these demons were somewhat 'young'—no, rather lacking any 'common sense'—unaware of the giant identity they were about to face, so they charged recklessly, fearless.

Only heard;

"Blast these ugly bastards to pieces!" Artemis's voice boomed.

"Yes!" "Die, scum!!" The metallic response and battle cry.

"Papapap!!!" and the satisfying, steady volley of explosive bolts.

"Pfft! Pfft!" synchronized with gunfire are bodies exploding and shattering.

"Howl?? Howl…!" plus the demons' howls ranging from bewildered to terrified.

They came.

They left.

However wildly the demons surge out of the vortex, they flee back just as wildly, not daring to step even half a pace out of their chaotic domain.

"Cease fire, stay alert, reload."

After confirming the demons wouldn't rush out anytime soon, Artemis issued another brief order, then she lowered her full-moon bow and walked slowly to the plague doctor, asking: "Doctor, can you explain to us what exactly is going on?"

"Don't rush." The plague doctor, set back on the ground by the soldiers, tidied his clothes, then turned to look at the crimson vortex and explained to Artemis and everyone present: "According to my understanding, the race that built this relic did so to commemorate a great spirit who once aided them in resisting the plague's invasion; sadly, that spirit could not escape the evil god's pursuit and was ultimately imprisoned deep in the underworld."

"I see." Laura, who remained here together with the armed personnel of the Archaeology Department, nodded in agreement.

Their archaeology team had spent a long time trying to decode, but could not decipher what those symbols meant; however, they also guessed that this pyramid relic was probably meant to commemorate some "great person."

"The underworld?" Artemis frowned, sensing a familiar spiritual-energy fluctuation at the far end of the crimson vortex; she immediately opened communications and contacted the bridge of the Round Moon: "Report the situation here to the chairman."

Then she turned to the left and ordered: "Ran Min, Xiji Si, Ke Luo Yi, Sen Kai, Huo Yi De, you five lead the teams and follow me deep into this so-called underworld."

Then she turned to the right: "Li Mu, you stay here as backup, guarding against any scum that might escape."

"Yes, ma'am." The Grey Knights obeyed the order.

"Ah, kid, wait a moment." The plague doctor slung his small pack, hurried to keep up with Artemis who was about to step into the vortex, and said: "If I come with you, maybe we can find excellent experimental material—hehe, well, time waits for no one, let's go!"

Without waiting for Artemis's reply, the plague doctor once again hummed a little tune and went first through the vortex; it seemed he regarded the foray into the underworld as a mere outing, utterly unafraid.

"Doctor? Ah… doctor…"

"Forget it, we're going too."

The soldiers tasked with protecting the plague doctor weren't in a good mood, but they had no choice but to follow their odd superior.

However, Artemis raised her right hand to stop those soldiers, saying: "Stay here; the underworld might be a chaotic region of an alien space, and even with vaccines your bodies couldn't withstand it."

"Well…" the leading second lieutenant hesitated a bit, but then thought, with Artemis and the Grey Knights present, the plague doctor should face no mortal danger, so he replied acquiescently: "Yes, sir."

"Hmm."

Artemis also gave a soft reply, leading half the Grey Knights through the crimson vortex, disappearing from the sight of Laura, the soldiers, and everyone else.

——————

…

The other side of the vortex.

"Whooo—!!" The wild wind raged.

"Moan… moan…" intermittent wailing sounds surrounded them.

All that could be seen was an expanse as vast as the desert on the surface of Sokoyang, but the sky burned with flames, the air constantly twisting; combined with the flames and wailing, it incessantly struck at people's spirits…

But Artemis and her companions were no ordinary folk; these whispers and corruptions had no effect on them whatsoever, and furthermore, the Human Truth they wore as ornaments began to emit bursts of golden light upon entering this space, helping to block out the whispers and corruption.

In the distance, there were also demon-like creatures unwilling to approach or fleeing, and at the limit of everyone's vision stood a colossal, inverted three-sided pyramid.

"Ah, another pyramid—do all so-called spirits just love this kind of architecture? Don't they get aesthetically fatigued?" the plague doctor blurted out in exasperation.

(End of chapter)