Chapter 142: Exploring the Sinkhole, Encountering the Abyssal Creatures

Chapter 142: Exploring the Sinkhole, Encountering the Abyssal Creatures

After venturing ten kilometers into the mist, the mist concentration continued to increase, and visibility dropped to below eight meters.

The tracked vehicle came to a halt in front of a sinkhole.

Wu Weibing, responsible for terrain sensing, held up a map and said to Lu Heng, "Ahead is the Peak Forest Sinkhole in the Sulfur Valley area. It's 352 meters in diameter and 377 meters deep, with a complex internal structure. The mist is too thick, and we can't see the conditions below. If we want to determine whether there are abyssal rifts inside, we might have to go down and investigate."

Su Muyu raised her hand and said, "I'll do it, but it'll take some time."

"Use the Scout Eagle to go down and investigate, while the rest of the team stays on alert. If you've been sitting for too long and want to stretch your legs, you can get off the vehicle, but don't go out of the Seer's sight," Lu Heng instructed the team.

Su Muyu agreed and closed her eyes, controlling the Scout Eagle to fly into the sinkhole for exploration, confirming the presence of an abyssal rift.

Due to the presence of the mist, the Scout Eagle's vision was also greatly restricted.

Therefore, it was necessary to have the Scout Eagle fly into every crevice in the sinkhole to determine if there were any rifts.

The team had been traveling for half a day, and their legs were numb from sitting.

So, everyone got off the vehicle to stretch their legs.

However, they didn't dare venture too far, staying close to the tracked vehicle.

Lu Heng walked to the edge of the sinkhole, picked up a stone, and threw it into the abyss.

It took six or seven seconds to hear the stone hit the ground, and the impact wasn't at the bottom of the sinkhole. They also heard the faint sound of the stone rolling down.

From the time it took for the stone to fall, they could tell that the sinkhole was indeed very deep.

It would take some time to complete the exploration.

Lu Heng returned to the vehicle and sat next to Su Muyu, providing her with a sense of security.

After about ten minutes of exploration...

Su Muyu suddenly spoke in a hurried tone, "I see eggs! Big eggs!"

Hearing her voice, the team immediately became alert and gathered back by the tracked vehicle.

"What kind of eggs?" Lu Heng asked with a frown.

"They're oval-shaped, very large, even bigger than a football," Su Muyu said, her voice tense as she saw the massive eggs through the Scout Eagle's vision.

Eggs larger than a football couldn't possibly be from Bluesphere.

"Are there irregular patterns on the surface?" Lu Heng asked.

"Yes, they're stuck to the stone wall. Should I break one open?" Su Muyu took a deep breath, ready to smash the egg.

"Break one open," Lu Heng nodded in agreement.

Although the goal of entering the mist was to find the abyssal rift, encountering the eggs of abyssal creatures was an opportunity to eliminate a potential future problem.

Su Muyu controlled the Scout Eagle to use its claws to break an egg. Her body trembled as she said, "When I broke it open, something rushed out, and it looked like the larvae of an abyssal alien."

"Then it's the eggs of abyssal aliens. These creatures can lay eggs or parasitize," Lu Heng had already guessed as much.

Since they had already encountered abyssal aliens in the mist, finding their eggs wasn't surprising.

"What should we do now?" Su Muyu asked anxiously.

"Continue exploring the sinkhole to confirm if there's an abyssal rift. If not, check the number of eggs. If there are too many, we'll burn them," Lu Heng ordered.

Su Muyu nodded and continued to control the Scout Eagle to explore deeper into the sinkhole.

"How much longer will it take?" Lu Heng asked about the time.

"Probably half an hour," Su Muyu replied, having only explored a third of the sinkhole; it would indeed take some time to complete the task.

Just then, Wu Weibing shouted, "Something's moving in the mist!"

The team became alert, and everyone took out their weapons.

Wu Weibing quickly climbed onto the vehicle, set up the 20mm machine gun, adjusted its direction, and aimed at the misty forest.

However, due to the dense mist, even with the sensing skill, they could only perceive something moving in the mist.

Moreover, this thing wasn't charging in a straight line.

So, Wu Weibing kept adjusting the aim of the machine gun.

The other soldiers also set up their machine guns, ready for combat.

In this tense atmosphere, time ticked by.

Wu Weibing didn't fire, and the others could only wait anxiously.

After about half a minute, Wu Weibing's breathing calmed, but he still held onto the machine gun's handle.

As they had been waiting for a while, Lin Ze Yu couldn't help but ask, "What's the situation?"

Wu Weibing exhaled and said, "That thing was just in the forest ahead, moving around. I thought it was going to charge at us, but now it's disappeared."

Hearing this, the team became even more tense. "Does it have invisibility abilities?"

Lu Heng explained, "This is a hunting tactic of the abyssal aliens. They will make multiple attempts, then retreat. After repeating this a few times, when the prey becomes complacent and lowers its guard, they will launch a real attack. So, we must remain vigilant at all times."

"This is too difficult to deal with," Lin Ze Yu's heart was pounding with tension. Facing an abyssal alien head-on was one thing, but this invisible torment was far worse.

After about five minutes, Wu Weibing became alert again, turning the machine gun's barrel but still not firing.

Everyone tensed up, preparing for the impending battle.

But after half a minute, Wu Weibing sighed and said, "It's gone again."

The group collectively exhaled in relief, even though Lu Heng had just reminded them to stay alert. In such situations, despite knowing better, their bodies still tended to relax.

After several back and forths, the team's frustration grew, but whatever was in the mist didn't charge out.

Lu Heng spoke up, "It should be almost time. Hang in there."

Chen Zihan chimed in, "Come on, let's shout to stay alert!"

"Unity is strength!" Wu Weibing led the group in singing the song, keeping their spirits high and focused.

Lu Heng whispered to Su Muyu, "If fighting breaks out, prioritize combat."

"Okay," Su Muyu nodded in agreement.

The scouting could continue after the battle; the key was to face the terrifying creatures lurking in the mist.

Everyone waited, anticipating the lyrics.

At that moment, Wu Weibing snapped to attention, turning the machine gun's barrel.

This time, he clearly felt the creature was about to charge, and as he prepared to fire, he was startled and exclaimed, "Battle! There are many, a large number of them!"

He didn't have time to count how many there were; he just sensed numerous terrifying creatures rushing out of the mist.

As he shouted, he simultaneously opened fire.

The machine gun rattled, spewing bullets into the misty forest, with loud bangs, unsure if they hit their targets.

Another Seer, a firearms-enhanced metahuman, also raised his machine gun and fired into the mist.

Lin Zeyu felt a tingling sensation in his hands. As a firearms-enhanced metahuman, he couldn't see anything in the mist.

Moreover, the sniper rifle had only ten bullets, and the key to using it was accuracy. If used like an assault rifle, the ammunition would be depleted quickly.

However, there were other firearms on the vehicle.

He quickly grabbed an assault rifle from the weapons box and fired in the direction the Seer was shooting, without knowing what he was shooting at.

Su Muyu immediately opened her eyes, recalled the Scout Eagle, and fired the crossbow into the misty forest.

"Five... no, six. Six Abyssal Aliens," she counted as she shot.

Upon hearing this, Lu Heng's heart skipped a beat.

The number was indeed alarming.

Lu Heng shouted, "Disperse the mist! Widen the field of vision! Throw the Primal Energy Shock Bombs, and throw them further!"

The mist wasn't impossible to disperse, but it would quickly re-form after a short while.

Additionally, high-temperature explosions could temporarily dissipate the mist.

The team had a metahuman capable of dispersing mist, who immediately went to work, clearing the mist in the vicinity.

Lin Zeyu also used a Primal Energy Shock Bomb, throwing it in the direction the Seer was shooting.

Bang! Bang!

Several consecutive explosions cleared the mist in a small area.

The team's visibility increased to twenty meters.

Soon, the first Abyssal Alien burst out of the mist, revealing its hideous form at a distance of twenty meters.

Although the team knew what was in the mist and had seen the larvae of the Abyssal Aliens, they still found it disgusting.

However, aside from Lu Heng, no one else had witnessed an Abyssal Alien up close.

When the Abyssal Alien appeared before them, it still shocked the group, its hideous form and terrifying claws sending chills down their spines.

This Abyssal Alien stood three meters tall, with sharp teeth and claws, resembling a mutated velociraptor.

Wu Weibing controlled the machine gun, firing at the Abyssal Alien.

The 20mm bullets struck the Abyssal Alien, exploding into segments of mucus.

This machine gun had a firing rate of 450 rounds per minute, capable of firing seven rounds per second.

The concentrated gunfire rained down on the Abyssal Alien, tearing its body apart and creating large holes.

The Abyssal Alien, unable to withstand the assault, collapsed and slid forward within ten meters.

At that moment, several more Abyssal Aliens burst out of the mist, surrounding them from different directions. The largest was three meters tall, and the smallest was two and a half meters.

The machine gun had just taken down one Abyssal Alien, and there was no time to adjust the direction to engage the other targets.

Lu Heng knew that if these five Abyssal Aliens reached the vehicle, there would be casualties.

In the team, there were three Seers, as well as gunners, mental-type, and support-type metahumans, but only three were close-combat metahumans.

This meant that aside from those three, the rest of the team lacked the ability to directly confront the Abyssal Aliens.

Therefore, it was crucial to quickly eliminate one or two Abyssal Aliens to reduce the pressure on the team.

Lu Heng pointed at one of the Abyssal Aliens and shouted, "Go!"

The Mechanical Tiger immediately pounced, launching an attack on one of the Abyssal Aliens.

When the Mechanical Tiger landed on all fours, its shoulder height was 1.3 meters, but when it stood upright, it reached over three meters tall.

Combined with its weight, comparable to a car, its charge generated tremendous kinetic energy, and a single pounce was enough to knock down an Abyssal Alien, leading to a fierce struggle.

Lu Heng drew the Aurora Blade and rushed towards another Abyssal Alien, directly unleashing Source Essence energy to perform the Rift Slash.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end