New concept of the mysterious way to ascend to immortality

Chapter 85 Underground World
Early in the morning, Yuan Zhu got up early.

It was another overcast day, and the whole city was shrouded in fog. White mist and black smoke intertwined in the sky. The north wind blew, forming a picture of ink dripping into water, which had a unique gloomy beauty.

He got up, packed his belongings, pocketed the small glass bottle of evil spirit crystal sand, and ate the breakfast prepared by his younger brother. He took the bus to [Fang of Fire] to submit yesterday's demon-slaying mission.

Seeing Yuan Zhu report in early in the morning, the boss asked with interest, "How was yesterday's mission? Did it go well? This is your first time to perform an independent exorcism. What do you think?"

Yuan Zhu wanted to lash out at the man, asking his boss to give him a raise and compensation for mental distress. But then he thought about how he still planned to keep the garden and hide the truth about the haunted house, so he had to play it safe. "It's just okay. This little evil spirit is easy to catch."

Snapped!
He slammed a glass bottle containing a small amount of evil spirit crystal sand on the desk and continued, "It has been purified into slag by my holy light."

The boss picked up the vial, turned it over to shine it towards the light, and sighed, "Holy Light is indeed very effective, especially against evil spirits like this. It has already formed a restraining relationship. It's a pity that it burns lives and treats people like candles, only a momentary brilliance. You, a newcomer, can also kill evil spirits with Holy Light. It seems that they are really weak. But remember to be moderate and don't indulge in the joy of burning weak lives, or you will fall from the seal."

Yuan Zhu felt his fist harden, too lazy to pay attention to the other party, and continued, "Oh, by the way, Boss, I lit Buddhist incense to force out the evil spirit. Afterwards, just in case, I opened three more cans of chlorine gas to continue the sterilization. It's still sealed. Can you reimburse me? And what about the haunted house? I've inquired, and no one lives there. How will the client accept our exorcism results? Do we need to enter the villa for a second inspection?"

The last two sentences were what he really wanted to ask.

The boss thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No reimbursement, but you can go to the company warehouse and replenish your supplies, but don't go too far. As for the inspection... the property management company for that residential complex has already paid a deposit. We'll observe the situation for a week. If the residents don't experience nightmares again, the balance will be paid in installments over three months. Don't worry about the details. Our company has a long-term contract with this property management company and has been working together for several years."

Yuan Zhu curiously asked, "Does this community often have problems?"

"How could that be? Our main business is garbage removal, pest control, and monster extermination and prevention. Twice a year, we carry out professional pest control, which requires professionals and equipment to perform large-scale poison gas injection on rat holes in the community. If ordinary people don't handle it properly, they might poison themselves to death."

Yuan Zhu nodded thoughtfully. He hadn't been with the Fang of Fire long, but he'd heard about the violent tactics of his colleagues. They'd resorted to tactics similar to those used in World War II, donning gas masks, isolation suits, and isolation tape, and frantically pumping poison gas into holes in the ground, killing everyone in their path.

Sometimes, other flammable and explosive gases are mixed into the poison gas. At the end of the poisoning, a fire is lit to detonate, poisoning, roasting, or exploding the animals inside. The poison gas is also decomposed and transformed during the combustion reaction, becoming safe and harmless.

This kind of suicidal behavior truly requires a certain level of professionalism. Even within the [Fang of Fire], explosions often occur, killing employees. After all, who knows if these holes might be connected to a biogas tank?
"If you need to revisit the villa, the company can arrange it for me, and it's free of charge. After all, it's my first time buying it, and it's very commemorative, and I want to see it through to the end." Yuan Zhu said lightly.

The boss looked nonchalant. "Okay. If there's any trouble later, I'll leave it to you. We haven't had any big orders lately, so if you have something to do, you can drive to a designated recycling point or clean up corpses and blood on the road. Last night, there were six hunting incidents. Enthusiastic citizens formed teams to kill wild animals that appeared out of nowhere at night, including a four-meter-long shark. They cut off the flesh and heads and left, leaving behind a mess of organs and offal. The city hall just sent a cleanup commission."

Yuan Zhu shook his head. As a part-time worker, he had no interest in doing dirty work.

Instead, he had figured out the reason why local citizens were hunting large wild animals at night. Running's spatial structure was extremely active, constantly connecting with other lands, oceans, and even the [Spiritual Realm] of Duling.

Once connected to the wilderness, wild animals would be drawn in, running wild in panic through the streets for a while. As long as they were alive, they would be kicked back out when the time was up. If they died, their bodies would be left behind to support the people of Running.

Therefore, more and more poor people are eager to make a fortune by hunting at night and selling the fur and heads of rare and exotic animals.

Furthermore, goblins also go out hunting and stealing at night; wild animals from the Misty Mountains also come into the suburbs in large numbers after dark to rummage through garbage. Add to that hidden monsters, the random appearance of two-way space connections, and the local gangs' nighttime fights and trades...

Running's nightlife was quite rich, and his cleaning company had a lot of business. But he had never imagined that even a giant shark could be teleported here?
Yuan Zhu suddenly asked again: "By the way, have you been working on catching goblins recently?"

The boss's face suddenly turned unhappy when he heard this. "No! Some mercenaries just appeared out of nowhere, specializing in digging through sewers, braving the dirt and tiresome work, capturing goblins for pharmaceutical companies to use as experimental samples. Their prices are lower and their efficiency is higher, leaving our company uncompetitive. I'm now considering whether we should shift our focus to 'murder scene cleaning'."

Seeing that there were no suitable part-time tasks, Yuan Zhu went directly to the company warehouse, exchanged a few tools at the internal price, stuffed them into his shoulder bag, and left.

Passing by the market, he found a pet food shop and bought a batch of cheap mice. They were supposedly live food for snakes, eagles, and cats. Each one looked fat, with big ears and shifty eyes. They were quite resilient, but their smell wasn't very good.

So he bought eight glass bottles from his boss. The bottle mouths had a honeycomb pattern, allowing air to circulate while preventing the rats from escaping. He divided the meat batteries into bottles, added some rations, and was ready.

Finally, he went to a used car market, rented a beat-up pickup truck, started the engine, stepped on the accelerator, and drove in the direction of his memory.

As a curly dog, his previous life involved frequent delivery jobs for a lighting factory, where he honed his truck driving skills. Now, having absorbed a wealth of relevant memories and combined them with his Earth driving experience, he quickly mastered the art of driving a pickup truck. Even the accelerator, clutch, and brakes are similar to those on Earth?! The influence of time travelers truly is pervasive.

The only difference is that the junky pickup truck doesn't burn much oil, and the engine is replaced with an "alchemical element device." However, its usage is not much different from a gasoline truck.

After going around in circles, he drove the pickup truck to a remote abandoned factory area.

This was once a factory, but after a fire, it was reduced to a scorched earth. Rumors arose that the feng shui was flawed. Furthermore, the nearby sewer system, connected to a natural underground cavern fissure, made it a breeding ground for goblins.

As a result, no company was willing to take over the renovation, and it was abandoned over time. There were even two cases of goblin-related murders, and even homeless people were unwilling to sleep here.

Yuan Zhu kicked open the half-open, broken iron door, startling several stray cats and dogs. He put on gloves as he advanced, pulling out a gas mask from his bag, then a pair of windproof glasses with weak night vision. Once ready, he pulled open a slanted, square iron door to the underground inspection entrance and descended the steps.

This is one of the several entrances that the Firefangs often use to clear out goblins.

Entering the underground passage, he turned on a lantern, illuminating the red and green arrows on the wall. These were markings left by previous generations, with red indicating the direction of entry and green pointing to the exit, making it easier to go deeper or escape.

Many arrowheads were now smeared with mud, blood, and filth by the goblins, but they were still recognizable, and from time to time someone would add new markings.

After turning left and right, Yuan Zhu entered the sewer area. The air became noticeably turbid and smelly, and even the temperature rose.

He was too lazy to activate the Holy Light special effects in the gutter. It wouldn't give him a sense of superiority, and it would only attract moths and mosquitoes to buzz around him. Holy Light, this extraordinary pollution that burns life, is a deadly temptation for moths that are attracted to light.

I wonder if this phenomenon has any direct connection with the Big Moth, one of the Eight Holy Kings?

The shadow uniform was ready to move, and with the fear of the [Stigmata], it extended a large number of shadow threads, weaving a racing suit to protect Yuan Zhu, stepping on the mud on the ground and striding forward.

With the four-carved [Sanctuary (Seal)] as a comparison, he realized that the power of this shadow uniform was indeed somewhat weak. The power of the uniform alone was gradually being surpassed by the Holy Light.

He had a plan to upgrade the Shadow Uniform. He planned to force a [Ghost] into the suit as a supernatural trait, and then feed it further, forcing the uniform to upgrade again, thereby indirectly increasing its strength.

Unfortunately, his four minions were planted in the haunted house, forming a mountain defense formation. Lacking resources, the upgrade plan had to be put on hold.

"Zhizhi, Zhizhi..."

As he continued to go deeper, Yuan Zhu also attracted the attention of local residents. He could feel the "stares" increasing in number.

He had been here before, but back then, he had experienced veterans leading the way. Now, being alone was quite refreshing, and he had plenty of time to observe the sewer environment.

Occasionally, frogs would be startled by him and leap into the sewage to hide. Or, ignoring his presence, they would flick their tongues to catch the insects crawling in the mud and walls. Occasionally, a sturdy rat, as big as a cat, would peek from a corner, its eyes glowing red.

The walls, nourished by the moist sewage, formed large clumps of colorful fungi and mosses, and in some places glowing mushrooms grew.

Woodlice, cockroaches, earthworms, mosquitoes, bats... can be seen everywhere, and the ecosystem is extremely rich. Even he, a person without mysophobia, can't help but want to use his unparalleled holy light to purify everything!
The elf asked, "Boss, are we entering Boss mode now? This is a perfect place for the Tiger Demon to shine. It's not easy to catch the Goblins with just Holy Light."

"No hurry, walk a little further inside."

As he went deeper, he discovered that there were creatures such as catfish in the sewage, and centipedes as long as 20 centimeters were crawling across the top of the curved wall... Why were they getting bigger and bigger?

The deeper you go, the more extreme the underground ecosystem in Running becomes. It's only a few notches stronger than the Disease Garden, thanks to the lower concentration of air pollution. He wouldn't be surprised if a Skaven appeared, teaching four turtles karate.

(End of this chapter)