Chapter 334: Fox-style Tunneling

An explosion occurred inside the Xiao Tao Ceramic Factory; though no forest rangers or logistics personnel were harmed due to its unmanned operations, all members of the forest ranger and logistics teams were rapidly retreating backward.

The explosion zone covered only a few hundred square meters of kiln area, but the collapsed area affected may have reached over a thousand square meters; the self-destruct mechanical dogs buried within the factory grounds could detonate at any moment, making it unsuitable for ordinary personnel to continue operations inside.

But there were exceptions: a man with fluffy golden fur on his cheeks and exceptionally developed pectoral muscles, and a woman with snake scales along her neck, upon seeing the factory explode, pushed against the fleeing crowd and sprinted at high speed toward the core of the blast zone.

Their speed was like a thundering wind—they could’ve easily kept up on a highway.

Wang Qiqi and Jin Qianbao, already far exceeding speed limits, had arrived at the ceramic factory’s blast core long ago; they completely ignored the still-burning buildings, their faces dark as ink, grimly staring at the sunken ground.

Enhance electromagnetic shielding and radiation barriers; request electronic warfare coordination from airborne early warning aircraft via higher command.

Wang Qiqi, seeing the scene, didn’t hesitate a moment—she immediately pulled out her radio and requested military-grade electronic warfare specialists for technical support from logistics.

Seeing the sunken ground and the shape of its collapse path, which resembled a tunnel, Wang Qiqi instantly realized a problem.

The entire area is under electromagnetic shielding; unless interfered with by a warning aircraft or reconnaissance-ship-level system, it’s impossible to breach the Anquan Bureau’s information lockdown—the detonation signal must have originated from a manual trigger inside the ceramic factory.

Yet after the ceramic factory exploded, no enemies were seen breaking out amid the chaos.

Then

The most likely scenario is that the gang hidden inside the ceramic factory hadn’t finished excavating the Lingli Ruins; upon sensing the Anquan Bureau’s raid, they detonated the explosives to buy time!

Wang Qiqi couldn’t deduce why they needed time—whether to destroy the Lingli Ruins utterly or to buy time transmitting related documentation outward.

What the motive was didn’t matter; the priority was to lock down the entire area.

The Lingli Ruins were important.

But preventing the leakage of their information was even more critical.

“What’s the current situation?”

An Sheng arrived slightly later, scanned the blast core, then asked Wang Qiqi.

“The enemies have been roughly located, but they’re hiding within the collapsed tunnel ruins; we can’t excavate the collapsed zone yet—but it’s not a problem.”

“The entire area is signal-locked; once we bring in heavy engineering machinery, we’ll drag those thieves out,” Wang Qiqi told Fu Li Lao Ye.

In electronic warfare, Xia’s technology isn’t unmatched globally, but if it’s not first, only Bóluóduō can claim second.

The warning aircraft has taken off; electronic interference and countermeasures are already active, and soon reconnaissance satellites will join in. Data can’t escape, and neither can the enemies—now we just wait until heavy machinery arrives to catch those rats.

Once caught, we can interrogate them and find out what they’re doing in these ruins.

“Wait?”

“Wait for what? Tell Wang Ya to bring her compass— I’ll dig straight through.”

Hearing they needed heavy machinery to excavate, An Sheng’s face darkened; he snapped an order to Wang Qiqi and immediately ran into the factory grounds.

The enemies are right inside; spiritual energy is calling out. An Sheng understood well: delay breeds change. If it didn’t land in his hands tonight, he wouldn’t sleep a wink.

Hiding in a burrow? Big deal?

Who says a fox can’t dig?

“He seems even more eager than we are,” the snake woman said, standing beside Wang Qiqi and watching Fu Li Lao Ye, who was searching frantically amid the collapsed factory ruins.

“Fu Li Lao Ye is as kind-hearted as ever,” Wang Qiqi said, though she didn’t know what he was doing—no matter what, his ultimate goal was surely to smash the enemies’ faces.

“Boom.”

After searching the rubble for a moment, Fu Li Lao Ye pulled out an I-beam and planted it vertically in the debris; the lumberjacks frowned in confusion, but Fu Li Lao Ye stood still, thought briefly, then pulled out several more I-beams.

When five I-beams were aligned, he twisted them like a rope, binding them tightly together.

Then he swung his massive hammer and smashed one end of the bundled beams—sparks flew wildly, and the end visibly deformed.

“Got it? Use your archaeology knowledge to point me a path, Fu Li Lao Ye.”

While Wang Ya was on her way, An Sheng hammered more deformation into the bundled I-beams, giving them a slight spiral drill shape.

“Right beneath that spot, at a forty-five-degree angle, about two to three hundred meters forward?” Wang Ya frowned, scanning the surroundings; three years had passed, and the terrain had changed due to the factory’s construction.

Still, Wang Ya opened her phone compass and gave a precise location moments later.

“Go!”

Fu Li Lao Ye stared at the spot Wang Ya pointed to, lifted the bundled I-beams, and slammed them straight into the ground, adjusting to a forty-five-degree angle.

Like a pile driver, he swung his massive hammer and drove the I-beams deep into the earth, then alternated his hands to twist the end, pushing the beams forward.

As the bundled I-beams advanced, large amounts of soil flowed into the grooves and piled up at their rear end.

In the blink of an eye, Fu Li Lao Ye had already pushed the I-beams deep underground.

“Ancient manual shield tunneling machine?”

The lumberjacks and spirit beasts, who had been watching in confusion, now stared blankly as they realized the I-beams’ purpose; even the Monkey King, partnered with the Qinling Golden Snub-nosed Monkey, gaped in utter shock.

“Damn! Fu Li Lao Ye not studying engineering is a total waste of talent!”

Wang Qiqi’s eyes widened, muttered the comment, then immediately called for her companions to help haul away the dirt.

With Fu Li Lao Ye’s ancient shield tunneling machine leading the way, the mere few hundred meters felt absurdly short—he had literally bored a hole through the ruins’ crown.

“Sssssss—”

“What’s that?”

The two men standing before the ruins’ main hall suddenly heard a piercing scraping sound; they froze, instinctively looking up at the rock ceiling above.

A metal rod, its tip glowing red-hot and smoking, over half a meter thick, pierced through the rock layer and spun violently into the ruins’ interior.

“???”

The two men stood dumbfounded—what they saw defied all understanding, like witnessing a beast-warrior for the first time, their minds utterly blank.

(End of Chapter)