The whole nation: You're put to survive on a desolate planet, you'll be running an alien b

As Lin Mo finished speaking, the entire passageway fell into an almost suffocating silence. The "gravekeepers," who had been like mad beasts, now stood frozen in place like puppets with broken strings, their turbid eyes no longer holding the bloodthirsty red light, but only empty darkness.

Li Haotian's fingers tightened slightly around the gun, his knuckles turning white. He stared at the scene in disbelief. The oppressive feeling that had almost swallowed everyone up had been dissolved by Lin Mo's casual remark?

"What exactly are you..." Li Haotian was about to ask when an extremely dangerous premonition suddenly pierced his nerves.

"Get down!"

He roared and pushed Su Wan to the ground.

Almost simultaneously, a blinding beam of light from a flashlight ripped through the darkness like a sword, followed by a burst of rapid and violent gunfire. Bullets, carrying scorching air, whistled through the narrow passage, striking the walls and the "gravekeepers" with gnashing thuds.

"Target spotted! Repeat, target spotted! Large number of unidentified creatures ahead, requesting permission to fire! Requesting permission to fire!"

A cacophony of murderous shouts erupted from the tunnel entrance. A group of fully armed soldiers, clad in the distinctive black combat uniforms of the Divine Faith, stood there, their tactical flashlight beams crisscrossing in the darkness, creating a deadly barrage. They had clearly been drawn there by the earlier explosions, only to find themselves plunging into a horde of monsters.

"Damn it, it's the vanguard of the Divine Grace Trust!" Su Wan shouted, clutching her head. "They've targeted us too!"

The situation became extremely chaotic in an instant.

The previously stiff "gravekeepers" were enraged by the dense barrage of bullets. Although they did not attack Li Haotian and the others, they instantly launched a primal counterattack against the group of humans firing wildly behind them.

The roars echoed through the tunnel once more. The tomb guardians, their bodies mangled and covered in rotting flesh, suddenly turned and surged towards the soldiers of Divine Faith like a black tide. Bullets striking their withered bodies only kicked up black dust, unable to stop their advance. Instead, the tomb guardians' sharp bone claws easily tore through the soldiers' bulletproof vests.

Blood splattered everywhere, and screams of agony echoed throughout.

"This is the opportunity."

Li Haotian leaped to his feet, his eyes as cold as knives. Without even glancing at the brutal carnage behind him, he waved to Liu Hu and Su Wan, "While they're fighting like dogs, hurry up! The gate is at the end of the passageway, charge!"

Liu Hu carried his injured teammate on his back, panting heavily, and gritted his teeth, saying, "Great! These bastards came just in time! Brothers, stick close to the leader!"

Taking advantage of the chaos, the group moved swiftly along the wall like ghosts. The battlefield behind them was completely out of control; the soldiers of the Divine Faith were frantically using grenades and heavy firepower to try to stop the monsters' offensive. The shockwaves and debris from the explosions kept hitting their backs, but this only served as their best cover.

Little Black leaped nimbly between the pipes and stone walls, its golden eyes warily scanning its surroundings. Occasionally, it would let out a low growl, guiding the group to avoid the tentacles reaching out from the blind spots.

The distance of several hundred meters seemed exceptionally long in the race between life and death. When Li Haotian finally reached the end of the tunnel, an ancient and weathered aura rushed towards him.

It was a huge circular stone gate, ten meters high, entirely black, made of neither gold nor stone, its surface covered with intricate and strange patterns. These patterns were not carved on, but rather like some kind of blood vessels, deeply embedded inside the stone gate, faintly shimmering with an eerie purple light in the dim light.

Su Wan rushed to the stone door, quickly took out a detector to scan it, and her face instantly turned pale: "Boss, this door is completely sealed, with no electronic lock or physical handle. It's over three meters thick; explosives simply can't open it!"

Li Haotian stepped forward, his fingers tracing the cold, rough surface of the stone door. Just as Su Wan had said, the door was a seamless, perfectly fitting piece, as if it had grown directly from the mountainside.

But in the very center of the stone gate, there are nine grooves arranged in a strange array. These grooves vary in size and shape, and do not seem to be for holding keys, but rather resemble some kind of sacrificial vessel.

"Nine holes..." Li Haotian frowned, recalling some ancient alchemical formations he had seen in the documents before. "Are these keyholes, or an altar?"

The sounds of gunfire and screams behind them grew closer. Although the Divine Grace Trust troops had suffered heavy casualties, they were well-equipped and, after paying a heavy price, seemed to be stabilizing their position. Some tactical groups had even spotted Li Haotian and his men trying to escape.

"Over there! Don't let them get away! Grab that woman!"

Several beams of searchlight swept wildly across, followed by several bullets hitting the edge of the stone gate, sending sparks flying.

"No time to investigate!" Liu Hu roared, unleashing a barrage of fire from his heavy machine gun behind him to suppress the pursuers' vision. "Boss, if we can't open this door, we're all stuck here as gatekeepers today!"

Li Haotian was anxious. Just as he was about to have Su Wan try to break through the defenses, Lin Mo, who had been silent all along, slowly walked up.

Her face was almost transparently pale, her eyes vacant, as if the chaotic slaughter had left no impression on her whatsoever. Ignoring the fierce gunfight behind her, she walked straight to the massive stone door, raised her head, and stared at the nine recesses.

"I know how to open it."

Lin Mo's voice was very soft, as soft as a breeze, yet it clearly reached everyone's ears.

"You?" Li Haotian turned sharply to look at her, a strong sense of unease welling up inside him. "What are you going to do?"

Lin Mo did not answer. She slowly raised her hands—hands that were so fair and slender, so out of place in this bloody and cruel underground world. She placed her hands in the two recesses at the top and bottom of the center of the stone door.

The moment her hand touched the stone door, something unexpected happened!

The cold stone door seemed to suddenly come alive, and its nine grooves instantly lit up with a blinding red light. Several sharp bone needles shot out from within the grooves, piercing Lin Mo's palm without warning and embedding themselves deep into her flesh!

"Lin Mo!" Li Haotian exclaimed in shock, instinctively reaching out to pull her back.

"Don't touch me." Lin Mo turned around abruptly, his originally dark eyes now turning into an eerie silver-white. A trickle of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth, but he revealed a desolate and crazed smile. "This is a blood sacrifice... Only the blood of the 'vessel' can awaken the sleeping gate."

As she finished speaking, a chilling sucking sound rang out.

The nine grooves seemed to transform into nine greedy mouths, frantically drawing blood from Lin Mo's body. Bright red blood gushed from her arm, rapidly spreading and flowing through the patterns on the stone door's surface.

In just a few seconds, Lin Mo's originally rosy face turned ashen, and his body began to tremble uncontrollably, as if his life was being slowly drained away by the door.

"Buzz—"

As blood was injected, the massive stone gate, silent for millennia, suddenly emitted a deep rumble, like the panting of a sleeping beast awakening.

Immediately afterwards, the sound of massive gears turning echoed from inside the stone door. Clang, clang... The sound was heavy and sluggish, each thud causing the ground to tremble slightly. The originally dim purple patterns, now nourished by the blood, burst forth with a dazzling light, illuminating the entire underground space in a crimson glow.

"Stop! You'll die!" Su Wan shouted anxiously, trying to rush forward but was pushed back by an invisible wave of air.

Li Haotian stared intently at Lin Mo, sensing the girl's life force rapidly ebbing away. But he didn't step forward to stop her, for he knew this was their only way out. If they didn't open this door, the pursuers and the hordes of monsters behind them would tear them all to shreds.

"Ah—!" Lin Mo let out a painful growl. She gritted her teeth, her body almost hanging on the stone door, letting the bone needles tear at her meridians.

With the final, resounding clang of gears meshing, the once-imposing gate finally slid slowly open to both sides.

A gust of wind, old and decaying yet carrying a strange fragrance, howled out from the darkness behind the door, making everyone's clothes flutter.

Li Haotian picked up the exhausted and unconscious Lin Mo, feeling the faint warmth from her body in his arms, a resolute killing intent flashing in his eyes.

"Liu Hu, Su Wan, come in!"

He roared and, carrying Lin Mo, rushed into the darkness behind the door.

The instant they rushed in, several rockets, trailing flames, roared in from behind the passageway, slamming into the newly opened stone door with a deafening roar. The explosions instantly engulfed the pursuers and monsters behind them, and amidst the billowing smoke and dust, the ancient stone door seemed to be touched by some force, slowly beginning to close again.

Just as that last sliver of a crack was about to disappear, Li Haotian glanced back.

Outside the door, soldiers of the Divine Grace Trust were locked in a fierce battle with an endless number of gravediggers, the blood and fire creating a hellish scene.

Then, with a loud "boom," the stone door slammed shut.

All the chaos, killing, and noise were isolated in another world.

Here, only deathly silence remained, and ahead lay a bottomless, unknown darkness.