Chapter 125: Firepower

As his body fell, Su Xiao immediately dropped the broken iron ladder in his hand.

At this moment, someone with weak nerves would instantly shut their eyes—but Su Xiao's eyes remained wide open, fixed ahead.

His palm hooked forward; he tried to grasp something, felt solid contact, and immediately clenched his hand tight.

Creak

The iron ladder he grabbed bent under tension; his right arm burned with pain as the falling force shifted into a forward surge.

With a thud, Su Xiao slammed into the iron ladder.

The crisis passed; Su Xiao rolled his eyes. The ladder he'd grabbed had broken—what bad luck.

As for whether someone had tampered with it, Su Xiao immediately dismissed the thought. They hadn't gone deep underground yet; internal betrayal wasn't due yet.

Looking down, the others had descended far ahead—perhaps hearing the noise, all four had lifted their heads.

No greetings, not even a word; the four lowered their heads and kept climbing down.

Su Xiao didn't care about their attitudes; everyone had their own agenda—it was normal for people to scatter when disaster struck.

But for the next stretch, cooperation would likely continue; all five needed each other's strength.

The long climb began; Su Xiao had lost track of how long they'd descended—thirty minutes? An hour? Possibly both.

Long after, a powerful flashlight beam shot upward—Takatsuki Izumi had reached the bottom of the vertical shaft.

When Su Xiao's feet touched the ground, his arms ached and swelled; he pulled out his own flashlight to survey his surroundings.

The bottom of the shaft was vast and empty; occasionally, piles of half-buried bones could be seen—remains of Original Species who had slipped and fallen while climbing, later partially covered by soil after the shaft's top was blown in.

On one side of the shaft wall stood a metal door several meters high, rusted all over, with four patterns carved at its center.

A strange fish with a fat head and thin tail, a serpent with its mouth wide open, an intricate crown, and a row of English letters: cce.

The four patterns were carved into the metal door's center; Su Xiao stepped closer and found they could be moved, resting on dozens of tiny tracks below.

Ma Gui walked forward, shifted the crown pattern to the top, followed by cce, then the fish, and finally the serpent.

Boom—the metal door shuddered and slowly opened.

Crown, cce. Fish, serpent. What did this sequence mean? And cce—looked unmistakably related to CCG.

Too few clues; nothing could be connected yet.

Stepping through the metal door, Su Xiao found a world within.

A vast underground space appeared before him—at least dozens of meters high, stretching endlessly, its ceiling covered in glowing vines that banished darkness.

Ahead lay a sparse forest of stone pillars, where dense clusters of Original Species coiled.

The sound of the door opening drew the attention of some Original Species; all except Su Xiao raised their various firearms.

The Original Species were startled into a chain reaction—first dozens charged forward, but their roars triggered others far away.

"Roar!"

Countless roars echoed; upon seeing the five, the Original Species went berserk, charging on all fours.

"Brrrt…."

Without hesitation, all fired their weapons; Su Xiao pulled out a bomb, triggered it, and hurled it.

"Boom!"

The explosion echoed far through the cavernous space, hurling several Original Species high into the air.

Relying on overwhelming firepower and the defensive advantage of the metal door, they held back a thousand charging Original Species and slaughtered them in droves.

The bomb Su Xiao threw drew Original Species from far away; they kept gathering in greater numbers.

Gunfire never ceased, explosions kept detonating—the battle had reached its peak moments after entering the underground space.

Smoke from fired bullets rose, the stench of burning gunpowder stung the olfactory nerves.

Perhaps anticipating this, Ma Gui and the others had brought vast quantities of ammunition; the dense bullets nearly formed a curtain of fire.

"Brrrt, bang."

The firepower lasted five full minutes; a large pile of Original Species corpses accumulated nearby.

After this overwhelming firepower, the Original Species numbers dropped rapidly; soon, no new ones appeared.

Indeed, high-power firearms were the best weapon against Kappas.

Ma Gui tossed aside his overheated rifle; everyone's ammunition was nearly spent; Su Xiao had only three bombs left in his sack.

"Good results. Good thing we came prepared."

Takatsuki Izumi also discarded her gun; future combat would rely solely on Kaku and Quinque.

Why hadn't they brought more ammo or people from Bronze Tree? Because of the ten-meter gap across the steel passage and iron ladder.

The steel passage wasn't wide enough to carry large equipment; those without sufficient strength couldn't jump the ten-meter gap, and even if they did, they might not grab the ladder.

Moreover, in the journey ahead, weakness would only drag others down.

Led by Ma Gui, the group entered the stone forest. Ma Gui seemed to know the route, walking straight east.

Passing a vertical stone pillar, Su Xiao pressed one hand against it—crumble—the stone dust fell; this place had likely stood for many years.

"Compared to last time I came here, this trip was smooth. Indeed, human-made weapons are terrifying."

The priest sighed—he'd been here before; from his tone, last time hadn't gone well.

"Passing through here isn't hard. The next trial is hell—the scorching region."

Takatsuki Izumi's face grew grim, as if recalling unpleasant memories.

After about ten minutes of walking, the group emerged from the stone forest; Su Xiao clearly felt the temperature rising—sweat already beaded on his forehead.

As they advanced further, Su Xiao noticed the glowing vines above began to wither, their numbers dwindling.

Though the glowing vines grew sparse, the surroundings weren't dark—a deep red glow emanated from afar.

The temperature climbed higher; Su Xiao felt suffocating, so he stripped off his shirt and discarded the windbreaker, now caked in rust and green moss.

He pulled out a bottle of fresh water and drank it all; after drinking, he noticed the other four were staring at him.

"Never expected, Mr. Bai Ye, you brought drinking water. Mind sharing some?"

Clearly, the priest was also sweltering—his aged face glistened with sweat. The four had carried too much ammo, leaving no room for water.

"Only brought one bottle. Finished it."

After speaking, Su Xiao casually tossed away his sack—the temperature kept rising; if the explosives inside exploded, it would be hilarious.

After a few more minutes of walking, the underground space narrowed until only dozens of meters remained.

Here, Su Xiao finally understood why it was so hot—in front of them lay a lake of magma.

The dark red magma was blinding, casting everything crimson; bubbles occasionally burst forth.

Su Xiao was drenched in sweat; if they stayed any longer, he risked dehydration.

The magma pool blocked their path; Ma Gui's intent was clear—press forward. But how to cross this lake of magma?

Use Kaku to endure it? Don't dream. Magma could burn through Kaku in three seconds; against nature's power, Kappas were insignificant.

After scanning the area, Su Xiao thought he'd found a route.

"We're not seriously going to cross there, are we?"

Su Xiao pointed to a steep rock wall beside the magma pool—a narrow stone path, twenty centimeters wide, neatly carved, clearly man-made.

Faint traces of iron pipes could be seen on the wall; there had once been a bridge, but prolonged exposure to magma had destroyed it, leaving only the twenty-centimeter path and a few iron pipes.

"The bridge was still here two years ago. Looks like our luck's bad. That stone platform across the way is our destination—I've scouted every other spot. Only this remains."

Ma Gui pointed to a stone platform dozens of meters away—its surface was large, at least several hundred square meters; due to the angle, Su Xiao couldn't see what lay atop it.

"As team leader, I'll go first."

Takatsuki Izumi climbed the rock wall first; after ascending ten meters, she stepped onto the narrow twenty-centimeter path, her back pressed against the wall, sidestepping forward.

Ten meters below lay magma; the searing heat made it hard for her to open her eyes, and soon her face glowed red from the heat.

The original formation held: Ma Gui climbed next, then the priest and Kiri Shima, with Su Xiao bringing up the rear.

When Su Xiao pressed his back against the rock wall and stepped onto the twenty-centimeter path, he finally understood what Takatsuki Izumi meant by "scorching hell."

Anyone with less than ten points of stamina might faint from the heat.

This was more intense than jumping down the shaft—any misstep meant falling into magma; Su Xiao was certain the magma below could turn him into a pile of charcoal in two seconds.

ps (Promoting a friend's book: I'm a National Treasure, Who's Afraid of Me? It's really good.)