Hidden Dead Ends

Chapter 33

“Survivor!? How did he get out!?” Li Chengyi’s heart surged with hope as he asked hurriedly.

“It was someone who rescued him, found by the official earthquake rescue team. When he was found, he had already lost his mind. If it weren’t for the name you gave, we might not have found him. Wait, let me check. The company is also investigating!” The signal from Ding Chongyi got much better, clearly, there was a big difference between being inside and outside of the crevice.

As Li Chengyi waited, he remained vigilant of his surroundings.

Soon after, Ding Chongyi’s voice came through again.

“There’s little information about this person, looks like it has been tampered with. But wait, found it! Found the address! You can come out now, he’s still alive! This might be the only clue to escape from the core of Grewus!” Ding Chongyi said quickly.

“Okay, I’m coming out right now!” Li Chengyi’s spirit lifted, and he quickly ran towards the direction he came from.

Something felt off about this place, the mysterious disappearance of the engineering spider made him even more uneasy.

Better to get out first.

“Move quickly, Song Ran still hasn’t returned, and we’ve lost contact. I suspect he was led away intentionally. You-”

Suddenly, a deafening explosion interrupted Ding Chongyi’s words.

The AR communication buzzed, making it impossible to hear anything.

A few seconds later, the buzzing slowly dissipated.

“Hurry, hurry!! Get up here, someone is going to bomb the caves!!” Ding Chongyi’s voice came in fits and starts, exceptionally anxious, as if the signal on that side was severely interfered.

Li Chengyi felt a heavy weight in his heart. The long period of tension and movement had soaked his undershirt.

However, over a month of training had made him not as fragile and easily exhausted as before.

Fortunately, this time leaving, he encountered no further trouble.

He quickly exited the Grewus parking lot, following the dark hole back to the initial vertical shaft that had been drilled.

Securing the rope around his waist again, he gave a thumbs-up gesture in the AR view.

Hiss.

The rope started to retract automatically, pulling him upwards.

Click.

Suspended in mid-air, Li Chengyi suddenly heard a crisp sound from below.

He hurriedly looked down.

At the mouth of the dark hole, a pale hand was grabbing the remaining engineering spider and slowly retracting back into the hole.

The white light went out.

From then on, both engineering spiders were missing.

Li Chengyi’s pupils shrank, he clenched his teeth, and did not utter a word, allowing the rope to continuously pull him upwards.

He didn’t know what that hand was, nor if he could deal with it. The key now was to quickly get to the surface.

Without the spider’s illumination, his surroundings were pitch dark, only the faint green indicator lights on the AR provided some visibility.

* * *

On the surface.

The two machines at the construction site were emitting thick smoke, obviously further damaged in the recent explosion.

This time, the damage to the excavator machines was significantly worse than before. The tracks were blown apart, and the metal sides of the machines were deformed.

The construction site was desolate; the bodies of several yellow-hatted workers lay scattered around, along with a few grey-dusted, cap-wearing gunmen.

It was clear the attackers also incurred losses.

The remaining people were hiding in various nooks and crannies.

The only ones still moving were the occasional sounds of gunfire and clashes, mixed with some roars and growls.

Ding Chongyi hid behind a metal shed, using some weeds as cover, peeking out.

The sun had completely set below the horizon.

Only the bright clouds provided some light.

A few dispersed grey-clothed gunmen, all wearing caps and black masks, were steadily advancing in this direction.

The leader was bulky, wearing dark blue AR glasses, holding a knife in one hand and a fiery red pistol in the other. His skin was dark, and he sported dreadlocks, which made quite the flamboyant figure.

Li Chengyi’s right hand clamped around the fat man’s neck, smashing him to the ground.

Thump!!

He forcefully dragged the fat man’s head across the ground, leaving a yellow dirt trail.

“Who!?” The fat man, Genan, was bloody and dazed, his eyes nearly popping out.

Before his eyes, a figure clad in sinister purple-black armor appeared.

The armor had electric-line like floral patterns all over it, with tiny purple-black spikes on the shoulders, elbows, and palms.

The helmet was a full-coverage design, leaving no skin exposed.

“Cyborg! A complete Cyborg!!” Genan growled in fear and shock.

Bang!

A distant gunshot exploded, a bullet sparking off Li Chengyi’s back before disappearing.

He suddenly grabbed Genan’s throat, lifting him as a shield, and rushed forward.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

In a few swift steps, he burst into the woods behind, where a grey-clothed gunman emerged, shooting.

In the gunman’s eyes, filled with terror and distortion, a reflection of a metallic purple-black monster rapidly approached, enlarging.

Puff.

A sharp arm pierced through the gunman’s chest, exiting from the back.

All was quiet once again.

Li Chengyi stiffened for a moment, then straightened up, withdrew his hand, and nonchalantly wiped it off on Genan’s face.

“Sorry. I was just trying to knock you out.”

He stood in the woods, looking down at the slowly collapsing gunman, feeling indescribable.

He didn’t want to kill. Really.

He really just intended to knock the opponent out.

But the evolved armor, amplifying his speed too much, halfway through raising his hand, it reached the opponent’s chest. Then, just like that, it pierced through.

‘Luckily, I still have one left.’ Li Chengyi was relieved he hadn’t been harsher; now he could interrogate and learn about the mastermind from the other’s mouth.

He lifted the other hand holding the fat man, Genan.

But Genan’s head was tilted to one side, his eyes white, mouth foaming with blood, already gone.

His entire neck had been completely broken in the sudden halt.

Li Chengyi fell silent. Gently letting go, he allowed the body to drop to the ground.

“Now, what should I do?”

He felt somewhat at a loss.

After the evolution, the flower scale armor, still consuming as much as before, but his physical and mental strength had also increased somewhat. This enhancement seemed not merely the result of his training but also some strengthening from the armor itself.

At least now, he felt wearing it for another twenty minutes wouldn’t be a problem.

Bang.

Distant gunshots rang out again.

‘A complete cyborg, this appearance does look similar.’ Li Chengyi turned towards the direction of the gunshots.

‘Maybe I can always pretend to be a cyborg?’

He walked towards that direction.

“Forget it, since I’ve already taken action, might as well clean them all up.”

He only wanted to find an exit method before entering the Dead End next time.

Just a simple goal.

And anyone trying to stop him.

No matter who, must die.