Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 228 "Dungeon"

"What did you find?" Others immediately gathered around.

"Look at the cave wall. There are traces of human carving." Sun Hang said, "It looks like a cross."

Just as he said, there was a cross mark about half a meter deep and in the middle of the cave entrance.

This mark seems to have been carved out bit by bit with some kind of metal tool. It is of uniform thickness. Both the vertical and horizontal strokes are one finger wide and about two millimeters deep. The upper, left and right ends of the cross are of similar length, except for the lower end which is longer.

"Isn't this a cross symbol?" Wang Xiyi said immediately, "A cross, and Cave No. 13... This seems to have some special religious meaning, right?"

Yang Lian numbered the cave entrances in sequence, starting from cave entrance number one, and this cave entrance was exactly number 13.

"Secret underground religious relics?" Zhulong showed an interested look, "Hmm, interesting."

"The cross and the number thirteen... this should be related to Christianity, right?" Yang Lian said, "I remember that Christianity was widely popular in Shuzhou in the early years, and it was also one of the main areas of activity for Western missionaries in Xiazhou..."

Yang Qi continued, "But later, with the large-scale appearance of strange things, many church organizations began to change, and a large number of cult organizations were spawned on this basis... After that, the federal government added many restrictions on religious organizations and activities in Xiazhou. A large number of churches were disbanded, and churches and temples were demolished. Only a small part of them were preserved in the form of tourist attractions and historical relics."

"It's normal for it to become a cult. After all, no one knows whether God exists or not, but those weird creatures with various magical powers do exist." Sun Hang, who has dealt with cults, said, "Even a weird creature like Tai Sui that is so weak that it can only hide and spread its faith secretly has many people worshipping it, not to mention those super weird creatures that can easily destroy a country."

The entrance to Cave No. 13 is about 1.5 meters above the ground, and there are no footholds on the cave wall for climbing. Yang Qi tried twice but failed to climb up.

"Give me a hand." Yang Qi said to Sun Hang angrily - this guy just watched her slide down the edge of the cave twice, and didn't even take the initiative to reach out and give him a hand.

"Oh." Sun Hang grabbed Yang Qi's wrist, lifted her up, and said teasingly, "I was wondering why you were rubbing against the rock wall. So you want to climb up?"

"You did it on purpose." Yang Qi glared at him but did not pursue the matter further. Instead, she took out her equipment and took more than a dozen photos of the cross carving on the wall.

Then, Yang Qi took out a steel needle from the tool kit he carried with him and carefully picked at the mark a few times.

The dust that was caked on the surface fell off, revealing a small dark red mark.

"Is this... blood?" Yang Lian asked in astonishment.

"No, the bloodstains can't be so ingrained on the rock, and they can't be preserved for such a long time." Yang Qi said softly, "It should be some kind of dye."

"Should we go deeper into this cave and explore it?" Sun Hang suggested, "Since there is a cross symbol at the entrance of this cave, it should be a special place."

"I'll recall the drones that are surveying other caves first..." Just as Yang Qi said this, the drone operating terminal hanging on her waist made a "beep beep" prompt sound.

This means that the drones sent to survey other caves have finally made new discoveries.

Yang Qi immediately picked up the operating terminal and flipped open the folding screen.

The prompt message came from Cave No. 1, which is also the snake-shaped drone that started surveying the cave the earliest and had the greatest depth.

The numbers in the lower right corner of the screen showed that the drone had penetrated 160 meters into the cave and found a relatively intact human skeleton on one side of the cave wall.

"Human skeletons?" Yang Lian also crawled into the cave, leaned close to his sister, stared at the images sent back by the drone and exclaimed.

"Something seems to be wrong..." Yang Qi switched the drone's operating mode from automatic to manual, gently pushed the joystick, and constantly adjusted the position and angle of the drone and camera.

"This is not a normal human skeleton." As the images from different angles appeared on the screen, Yang Qi came to the conclusion, "The sternum and ribs have a lot of deformation marks, and the number of vertebrae... thirty-nine, forty, forty-one... This skeleton has a total of forty-one vertebrae, seven more than a normal human..."

"Deformed child?" Ye Xuan narrowed her eyes slightly, "Or... an infected person?"

"I'm more inclined to the latter." Yang Qi murmured, "All the data of the skeleton has been recorded. I will now send this data back to the research institute. The computer will draw a reconstruction of the deceased in half a minute."

"That rusty iron ring on the wrist bone..." Yang Qi pointed to one of the photos sent back by the drone, "It looks like a shackle. Sister, look, there are quite a few broken links in the corner..."

"I saw it." Yang Qi nodded and pushed the drone's camera upwards little by little.

Sure enough, about fifty centimeters from the ground, there were two rusty iron rings embedded in the wall, with a small piece of broken chain attached to the iron rings.

Judging from the broken end of the chain, it seemed to have been broken by rust.

"This person is handcuffed to the cave wall." Yang Lian showed a thoughtful look on his face, "Is he... a prisoner?"

"Could these caves be underground prisons left over from the old days, specially used to imprison infected people?" Wang Xiyi turned her head and looked at the other caves. "But if they are prisons, why are they related to religion?"

"Old Wang, you don't know this, do you?" Sun Hang said with a smile. "In medieval Europe, church dungeons were standard facilities... Once religion became a tool for gaining wealth and power, it could never be cleansed of the blood and filth it was stained with..."

"Is there such a thing?" Wang Xiyi asked in surprise, "So you mean to say that this place is the dungeon of a church?"

"Has there ever been a church on the ground in this place?" Zhulong also asked, "Can we check the past records?"

"I checked it when I was in the car. The earliest record can be traced back to ninety years ago. At that time, this area was all wasteland. During the "Shuzhou Pioneering Movement" seventy years ago, this place was reclaimed into farmland. Sixteen years later, due to urban planning adjustments, this area was included in the Tianfu urban area, and the fields were converted into a resettlement community for the relocated households. Nine years ago, the resettlement community was demolished, and Tianfu Real Estate Group won the bidding and bought this piece of land, preparing to develop it into a high-end residential community... But they unfortunately encountered the arrival of eternal night, and the entire Shuzhou real estate market collapsed. Some time ago, the Tianfu City Management Committee bought the land back at half price for the construction of the Tianshu Tower Comprehensive Talent Training Base." Yang Qi said quickly.

"So, even if there was a church, it was ninety years ago?" Wang Xiyi smacked her lips. "Tsk, there shouldn't be many people alive who can remember such an old calendar?"

"Ninety years ago, this was a wasteland." Yang Lian shook his head. "Who would build a church in the wilderness..." "Cults that don't want to attract official attention will build churches in secluded suburbs..." Yang Qi said that although many cults have adopted the policy of "hiding in the city", some larger cults that need sufficient venues for activities will still build their bases in the suburbs far away from human habitation.

In a cult case uncovered in Tianfu City in the early years, the main base of activities of the cult members was an old-fashioned bunker built deep in the mountains and forests.

"The other drones have also sent back messages." Yang Qi said, "These caves all have similar skeletons. I'm recording the data one by one... The restoration pictures have been sent over."

This restoration picture drawn by artificial intelligence and human anatomy experts shows a humanoid creature with short limbs and a slender body. It looks like a dog with waist and ribs stretched to nearly twice its original length, hairless, no tail, and human limbs. The huge head with somewhat uncoordinated proportions is placed on top of an overly long neck, and there are no extra details drawn in the black eye sockets, making the creature in the picture look a little creepy.

"This must be an infected person..." Yang Lian insisted, "A deformed baby wouldn't be this deformed... Unless it was born by a pregnant woman who bathes in nuclear waste water every day."

"The drone has collected some bone specimens. Ah Lian, I'd like you to take these specimens to the ground and send them back to the institute as soon as possible." Yang Qi said, "Although we may not be able to detect anything from these specimens, this is the only clue we can get."

"Yeah." Yang Lian nodded.

The drone in Cave No. 1 quickly returned to the main tunnel with the bone specimens. Yang Qi first scanned the bone fragments with the equipment, and then sealed all the bone fragments in a thick specimen bag and handed it to Yang Lian.

"Based on the half-decay of the carbon element in the specimen, this skeleton is approximately 120 to 140 years old. The deceased was a male, and no residual weird memes were detected."

"In other words, the meme fragments remaining on the cave wall did not come from this infected person." After Yang Lian finished speaking, he suddenly realized a problem - he seemed to have said something nonsense.

"Send the specimens back first. The equipment in the institute is more precise," said Yang Qi.

"Sister, I suddenly feel that you just want to get me away, right?" Yang Lian took the specimen bag and walked a few steps towards the big pit, then suddenly turned back and said.

"It's too dangerous here. Although there are three hunters and one qualified person with trick equipment, they may not be able to guarantee the personal safety of everyone." Yang Qi said bluntly, "If possible, I even hope that Ye Xuan you can leave here too."

"What about you?" Ye Xuan glanced at her, "Don't you need someone to protect you too?"

"But at least one researcher must stay." Yang Qi said without hesitation, "Among the people present, I am the most qualified one."

Yang Lian hesitated several times before finally biting his lips hard and yelling to Sun Hang: "Sun Hang, I'm asking you to...protect my sister!"

"I will protect Director Yang even if you don't tell me." Sun Hang smiled, "Just go with peace of mind."

"Hey, the two of you are talking like you are entrusting your son to someone before you die." Wang Xiyi suddenly laughed. "It may be too much to protect three people, but it is more than enough to protect just one person. Yang Qi is right. Take this opportunity and get back to the ground as soon as possible."

"No, I want to stay." Ye Xuan shook her head firmly, "This is my job."

"Aren't you afraid of death?" Sun Hang glanced at her.

"Don't be afraid." Ye Xuan said.

"Here, this is for you." Sun Hang suddenly threw something to Ye Xuan.

Ye Xuan took it and took a look. It was a small ball made of mycelium. The mycelium, which was as thick as bean sprouts, looked alive and was still wriggling. Holding such a thing in the palm of her hand, one could not help but feel a little tingling.

"what is this?"

"Tai Sui's meme." Sun Hang said, "If you suffer a fatal injury, swallow this thing before you die, and it will quickly repair your damaged body parts...except for the brain. Of course, if the brain is attacked, you should not have a chance to swallow it."

"The price is... getting infected?" Ye Xuan glanced at Sun Hang and carefully collected the ball of mycelium.

"Well, but Tai Sui's memes are relatively stable, and you probably won't turn into a weird thing or a weird skeleton." Sun Hang said, "You should know Song Yarong from the research institute, she is an example."

"Okay...thank you." Ye Xuan nodded.

After seeing Yang Lian off, Yang Qi adjusted the returning snake-shaped drone and placed it into Cave No. 13.

What followed was a somewhat long wait.

The drone crawled nearly three kilometers in Cave No. 13, and after turning many corners, it finally came out from another exit - returning to the main tunnel again.

The other drones also reached their destination - except for Cave No. 13, the ends of the other caves were dead ends. Apart from dozens of skeletons with varying degrees of deformity, the drones found nothing else.

According to the movement route of the drone surveying Cave No. 13, the exit connecting to the main tunnel is about one kilometer away from where Sun Hang and his team are. There is also a cross symbol engraved on the cave wall at the exit.

The only difference is that the cross symbol is upside down.

"Inverted cross? The symbol of Satan and the devil..." Zhulong said as he looked at the picture sent back by the drone, "Things are getting more and more interesting..."

"Come to think of it, there are no skeletons in this cave, and both ends are connected to the main tunnel... There are also special markings at the entrance..." Sun Hang suddenly interrupted, "Could this be an escape route?"

"Why do you think so?" Yang Qi turned and looked at him.

"If this is a dungeon, then each cave is equivalent to a prison cell, and this may be a passage dug for escaping the prison... Following this passage, we can bypass the jailers patrolling in the main tunnel." Sun Hang said, "How about it, does it sound reasonable?"

(End of this chapter)