Chapter 40: Heading to the Underground Tunnel

Inside the Humvee, utter silence.

Gui Ying and his Night Blade team members sat stiffly in their seats, their eyes vacant as they stared at the scenery outside the window.

Aside from the unusually clean cement floor and some cobwebs torn apart by the terrifying suction, there was no trace of any living thing left.

It was as if they had never existed.

Only the thick, nauseating smell of blood lingering in the air reminded them that what had just happened was no hallucination.

They ate……

Just like that……they ate everything?

Nearly a thousand fierce, brutal corpse spiders, just like that……gone?

"Captain……Captain……"

The rookie's voice trembled slightly.

"We……we just now almost……also became that big guy's snack?"

No one could answer him.

Gui Ying's Adam's apple rolled with difficulty, a complex light flashing in his eyes.

Shock, apprehension, lingering fear……and a hint of excitement he himself refused to admit!

"Mr. Lin……"

Gui Ying picked up the communicator, his voice somewhat hoarse,

"The……threat on the outskirts has been cleared."

"Hmm, got it."

Lin Yue's calm voice came through the channel.

"Stay where you are, rest and maintain vigilance."

"Yes!"

Gui Ying instinctively straightened his back.

But he immediately realized and hurriedly asked:

"Mr. Lin, where are you headed……?"

"To that abandoned subway tunnel."

Lin Yue's voice remained calm.

"No way!"

Gui Ying objected without a moment's thought,

"Mr. Lin, the Night Blade squad's mission is to assist you in the mop‑up; we must go with you!"

Gui Ying's attitude was unusually resolute.

This was his final stubbornness as captain of the Night Blade squad!

Maybe they can't help much, but letting them sit here doing nothing is impossible!

However, Lin Yue's reply was extremely brief.

"You can't keep up."

"Besides, if you go, you'll just be dead weight."

The channel fell into a deathly silence in an instant.

The two words "dead weight" struck like invisible slaps, stinging the faces of Gui Ying and every Night Blade member.

Who are they?

They are the supreme combat force of the Third Prison Refuge, Soldier Kings who fought their way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood!

Yet before this man, everything they prided themselves on was actually labeled "dead weight"?

Humiliation, anger, resentment……various emotions surged in Gui Ying's chest; he clenched his fists so tight his joints cracked from the strain.

He wanted to retort, to prove himself, to tell the other side that Night Blade had no cowards!

But when the words reached his lips, not a single one could be uttered.

Because he knew Lin Yue was stating the facts.

Before Black Tortoise's near‑godlike power, their strength really……wasn't enough to matter.

"Mr. Lin, I……"

Gui Ying still wanted to fight for it.

"Listen, Captain Gui Ying."

Lin Yue's voice grew a bit colder,

"This isn't a discussion, it's an order. Your task is to stay here, understood?"

"Also, a reminder."

His tone eased slightly:

"Also, a reminder: if the shopping mall's central load‑bearing pillar is destroyed, the whole building will collapse instantly. The commotion won't be small. By then, you outside might be in even greater danger than down below."

Having said that, Lin Yue unilaterally cut off the communication.

"Captain……"

"Shut up!"

Gui Ying let out a low growl and slammed his fist hard onto the control panel, the hard alloy surface actually denting from the blow.

After a long while, he slowly lifted his head,

"Obey orders, stay put and prepare to support Mr. Lin at any moment! Lie Gou, you're on watch!"

"Yes!"

At this moment, every member of the Night Blade squad held a breath in their chest; they wanted Lin Yue to see that they were absolutely not dead weight.

……………

Meanwhile, Lin Yue had already stood atop Black Tortoise's head, his gaze falling on the subway entrance covered in countless spiderwebs.

It was a pitch-black hole, like the maw of a giant beast.

"Let's go, Black Tortoise."

Lin Yue said calmly,

"Let's go see what good stuff is hidden down there."

"Roar—"

Black Tortoise let out a low growl, its massive body began to move.

It did not enter through the spiderweb-sealed entrance, but instead walked straight to an open space on the side of the shopping mall.

"Boom—"

Under Lin Yue's command, Black Tortoise's Earth Control ability activated.

The hard cement floor instantly collapsed like quicksand, a huge pit over a hundred meters in diameter appearing out of nowhere.

At the same time, an extremely foul stench emanated from the pit.

Lin Yue's brows furrowed tightly.

Black Tortoise's massive body slowly sank into the ground.

Inside the tunnel, it was wider than imagined, and even more... shocking.

Walls, ceiling, rails—everything in sight was covered in thick grayish spiderwebs.

Moreover, various gnawed, incomplete skeletons hung from them—human and mutant creature alike.

What's even more chilling is that, the closer one got to the area directly beneath the shopping mall, the more human remains appeared on the ground.

Shredded clothing, scattered shoes, and even some backpacks and weapons stained with blood.

It's not hard to imagine that, after the apocalypse broke out, many survivors tried to flee via this abandoned subway line, only to end up as food for the subterranean predators.

Lin Yue looked at all this expressionlessly, yet his heart was icy cold.

The apocalypse is just this cruel.

Just then, Black Tortoise, which had been advancing steadily, suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?"

Lin Yue felt a stir in his heart and immediately inquired via the spiritual link.

The next second, Black Tortoise's voice echoed in Lin Yue's mind.

【Master... ahead... there are living people.】

【Many... living people.】

"Living people?"

"Many living people?"

Lin Yue's heart jumped violently, his face showing an expression of disbelief.

How could there possibly be any living people here?

However, Lin Yue did not doubt Black Tortoise's perception; since it said so, there must indeed be someone alive ahead!

"Take me over to have a look!"

"Roar—"

Black Tortoise let out a low roar and slowly moved forward in the direction it sensed.

As they went deeper, the foul stench in the air grew stronger, nearly to the point of suffocation.

The spiderwebs underfoot grew thicker as well, feeling sticky and elastic when stepped on, like walking on a huge carpet of rotting flesh.

In the darkness, occasional "drip-drip" sounds could be heard—the noise of mucus dripping from the ceiling onto the ground; in this silent tunnel, they sounded especially clear and eerie.

Finally, after rounding a bend, the view ahead suddenly opened up.

However, the sight before them was such that even Lin Yue, who had grown accustomed to the horrors of the apocalypse, couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air.

However, the sight before him—even Lin Yue, who had grown accustomed to the apocalyptic horrors—couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air.