Chapter 24: Trapped in the Cave |
Xunyang City sits in the northwest corner of Gan Province, not very far from the provincial border.
According to Yang Chunsha, even winding through the underground passages, it would take only four hours to reach the neighboring Xiang Province.
“I have a safe house in the next county. I can drop you off there and I’ll find some channels to get you new documents.”
“After that, you can take a plane out on your own, and my job will be done.”
Wu Zhong frowned slightly: “New documents? Really? What channels?”
Yang Chunsha said proudly, “They’re real documents, not some cheap knockoffs. Of course I’ve got my connections.”
Unexpectedly, when she said they were genuine, Infinite Summer sneered instead: “Genuine? That’s exactly why you shouldn’t use them.”
“I don’t care what channels you used. All of them are channels controlled by Unit 985.”
“Huh?” Yang Chunsha was stunned. “What do you mean?”
“Containment through surveillance — they deliberately leave some routes, even covertly pose as pathways that can provide convenient new identities for outsiders.”
“That way, any special documents used by people from the disaster world during domestic operations will be known to Unit 985.”
“No matter where you go or what you do, there will be traces.”
“They won’t recklessly spook you; they’ll deliberately let you exist.”
“But the fact you obtained those documents is basically the same as having registered with Unit 985. Once a major incident occurs, they can trace you directly. You’ll never know where your trail leaked from and will suspect a mole around you.”
Yang Chunsha’s pupils constricted in shock—she had no idea about any of this.
Actually, most disaster operatives didn’t know. Many had used the same IDs for years without issue.
They never suspected that all of it was Unit 985’s fishing line, waiting for a big catch.
“What? Really? Is that true?” Yang Chunsha couldn’t hold it together. Didn’t that mean she’d been operating right under Unit 985’s nose all these years?
The reason she hadn’t been arrested was because she was too low-level?
Wu Zhong was surprised too. Damn, the official side was manufacturing fake documents themselves — that was more real than real. Most people thought they were being secretive.
They were actually informants without realizing it.
Yang Chunsha took a deep breath. “Then… then I won’t use other documents.”
“So according to your mission, if I get you out of the province and to the safe house, that should suffice, right?”
Infinite Summer lightly nodded.
Yang Chunsha asked, “One thing I need to make sure of — you and your people didn’t kill anyone from Unit 985, right?”
Infinite Summer raised an eyebrow: “No.”
Yang Chunsha nodded in relief. “Good. Otherwise, if the Skyfire Squad is mobilized, even if we dig three feet down we couldn’t escape.”
Infinite Summer’s lips lifted slightly. “Those telepaths? Heh. Whether or not I’ve killed people, they’ll all eventually be sent to Mount Lu.”
Yang Chunsha was startled: “Why?”
Infinite Summer merely said, “They’re needed for long-term garrison duty at Mount Lu.”
Yang Chunsha’s eyes spun. “Could it be because of Bastet Metal…? You mean Mount Lu’s incident needs Bastet Metal for long-term defense?”
“Then… then… sigh, doing business across northwest Gan will be even harder from now on.”
She felt very uneasy at the news. After all, this region was her turf; anyone wouldn’t be happy knowing a crew of outsiders would stay long-term.
“The Skyfire Squad hasn’t arrived yet, right?”
Infinite Summer shrugged: “They weren’t there when I left, but they should be close now, so we must get out of Gan Province as soon as possible.”
Yang Chunsha inhaled deeply. “Don’t worry. My Dim Passage is deep. Their telepathy can’t reach in.”
“Unless they’re exactly above and their psychic probe extends downwards.”
Infinite Summer said slowly, “In short, hurry. Speed up.”
Yang Chunsha stilled. The tunnels were narrow with many branches; they were already driving fast.
But since Infinite Summer said so, she immediately braced and accelerated.
The car navigated turns expertly through the tunnel, but the speed made Wu Zhong nauseous.
It was the middle of the night; he was exhausted and sleepy.
Seeing Yang Chunsha had everything under control and Infinite Summer beside them, Wu Zhong relaxed and finally fell into a deep sleep.
While sleeping, he seemed to be dreaming.
Suddenly, an icy suffocating chill jerked him awake!
He opened his eyes and found himself surrounded by water.
The car was still in the tunnel, but the glass had shattered and soil and rocks were pouring in with the water.
“The tunnel collapsed! Groundwater’s flooding in!”
Yang Chunsha shouted, holding her spellbook in her hands, a glow emitting from her chest.
The surrounding earth and stones writhed violently, pushing upward and blocking the opening above.
They did plug it, but the water kept rising.
Because the tunnel ahead had collapsed! And the tunnel behind had collapsed too!
Booming rumbles followed as what seemed like chained mudslides trapped the small car in the narrow passage, with floodwater and debris both in front and behind.
Wu Zhong looked toward the hood and saw a huge rock had already fallen and crushed the front of the car.
“What the hell!” Wu Zhong shouted, not knowing what to do.
He watched as Infinite Summer activated Multivariate Moment, his body forming a suit of nano-gear made of purple viscous streams.
With a ripping sound, he tore open the deformed door and hood with his bare hands, dragging Wu Zhong out and standing on the car roof.
But after that, even he didn’t know what to do next.
Clearly, his abilities couldn’t stop a flood. Should he blast a few times and cause the rock roof to collapse harder?
“In Yang Chunsha — block both ends with your magic!” Infinite Summer roared.
Yang Chunsha clambered out of the window in a mess, soaked in water and plastered with mud.
Both ends of the tunnel were collapsing in a chain reaction; good thing she had patched the top earlier.
But somewhere the tunnel linked to an underground river; the flood of water and mud surged violently through the narrow passage, spiraling forward with unstoppable force.
The entire tunnel reverberated with terrifying roaring.
At the critical moment, Yang Chunsha waved her hand: “Earth Escape · Earth Array Wall!”
With a thunderous boom, solid rock walls rose and sealed both ends of the passage, immediately holding the flood back.
The scene went pitch black.
Only Infinite Summer’s faint purple glow lit the environment with an eerie hush.
“You holy fool, your tunnel’s safety hazards are too severe,” Wu Zhong said, sopping wet and bedraggled.
Now they were in a very small cavern.
Its width barely fit one and a half cars side by side, and front to back at most three cars.
All around were rough, irregular rock walls, and the accumulated water had already covered half the cars.
“This makes no sense, it can’t be.”
Yang Chunsha didn’t expect this accident. She climbed on top of the car, mud plastering her hair to her face.
“My tunnels are inside rock strata. How could a collapse be so easy?”
Wu Zhong said, “When you dig tunnels you have to reinforce layer by layer. If you only dig a road and don’t fix it, it will collapse.”
Yang Chunsha wiped her face. “I reinforced it! I used magic to reinforce it!”
Wu Zhong froze, then said, “Then it must be too deep. The pressure above was too great. In short, it collapsed.”
“Unlucky!” Yang Chunsha gritted her teeth, not daring to claim the tunnel was impossible to collapse.
But she still muttered, “It doesn’t make sense. Even if it collapsed, it should only be a local collapse.”
“When I dug, I specifically prospected. The nearest underground river should be at least a hundred meters away. Even if the rock cracked, the fissure shouldn’t extend that far…”
Infinite Summer said, “Stop theorizing. Now that the underground river has poured in, will your Dim Passage be completely flooded?”
Yang Chunsha adjusted her glasses, shaking her head. “No, it won’t.”
“The Dim Passage is huge. I estimate this underground water only fills channels within a hundred kilometers at most.”
“The tunnel sections have different elevations. This stretch happens to be a low valley. We can open a new passage to bypass the flooded area.”
Infinite Summer urged, “Then open a path with your magic.”
Yang Chunsha clutched her book and shouted, “Earth Escape · Earth—what?”
The pages in her hands flipped rapidly, but the book was already waterlogged and caked with mud.
The sudden flipping made them all soak and fall apart into mush.
The glow in her chest vanished. She stood frozen.
“Ah?”
Yang Chunsha paused, then felt panic.
She glanced timidly at the two men; her glasses slid down her nose.
Infinite Summer’s purple armor glinted, casting shifting shadows on her face.
“What’s wrong? Your book fell apart and you can’t cast?” Infinite Summer asked coldly.
Yang Chunsha hurried, “No way! I have other casting methods!”
She trembled.
“Why are you shaking?” Infinite Summer’s tone turned stern.
Yang Chunsha stopped shaking. “It’s cold. Look, this civilian is trembling too.”
Wu Zhong was indeed shivering. It was summer, but underground the temperature was low; soaked in water, it was freezing.
“Don’t waste my time. Use your method to open a path.” Infinite Summer ordered.
Yang Chunsha patted her body and, despite the cold, dove into the water and crawled into the car to search.
She felt around and pulled out another book, but it was definitely drenched and ruined.
Half-submerged, her face streaked with mud and hair matted, she held the sodden pages and theatrically mouthed words while furtively glancing at the man on the roof.
“Stop pretending! If you can’t cast, just say you can’t!” Infinite Summer barked.
Yang Chunsha flinched in fright, her glasses askew, pitifully whimpering, voice breaking: “I… I don’t have any more books.”
Her casting medium was the book. Without it she couldn’t cast.
Even Wu Zhong could see this; she had tried to fake it.
He shook his head slightly. This woman was terrified: without her earth-escape spells they couldn’t leave and would die trapped here. She also feared angering Infinite Summer without any means to save herself.
Infinite Summer said coldly, “You’re just a multivariate awakener, you don’t have any other traits?”
Yang Chunsha’s face fell. “I wish I had more, but I’m not one of those naturally fortunate people.”
Her only ability was multiversal power. Add a casting medium; without it she was a plain civilian, completely at the mercy of others.
Infinite Summer frowned as he scanned the rock walls and asked, “How many meters underground are we?”
Yang Chunsha’s voice trembled, “Very deep…”
Infinite Summer snapped, “How deep exactly!”
“Four… four thousand meters underground…” Yang Chunsha said in a terrified voice. She knew how hard it would be to dig out. Trapped here meant certain death.
Hearing the number, Infinite Summer gave up the idea of digging upward.
Even with his strength to bend iron and open paths with steel arms, he could not dig four thousand meters up — it would take an impossibly long time.
“Do those magic books have anything special about them?”
Yang Chunsha answered honestly, “The paper from that other universe is no different. The book must be bound with leather, and the pages must have no words.”
Infinite Summer’s tension eased when he heard the book wasn’t anything extraordinary.
Humph.
He of course had a way out, as simple as how he left the Mount Lu base… in emergencies, that was how he’d act.
After hesitating a moment, Infinite Summer seemed to toss something into the water, then in a flash he disappeared into the cavern.
With the only light source gone, the surroundings plunged into total blackness!
“Ahhh!” Yang Chunsha screamed, thinking Infinite Summer had suddenly moved to attack her; his instantaneous disappearance was shockingly fast.
Gulping, she pinched her nose and dove into the water, crawling under the car.
Wu Zhong was stunned. He thought he had gone intangible—but no, it was teleportation.
He had guessed correctly.
No wonder Infinite Summer had been so calm in the cell; he could teleport away any time he was captured.
He even fled to another hiding spot to wash and change before meeting up at the Mourning Hall—so flamboyant!
Once Wu Zhong worked that out, he wrung water from his clothes in the dark; the splash of cloth was loud in the stillness.
He knew Infinite Summer had teleported off to fetch a book; he didn’t know where, but since blank leather books would work, he’d return soon.
That ability was extremely handy. If not for Infinite Summer, they’d be trapped to die deep underground.
Crack… crackle…
Besides the water, Wu Zhong heard the sound of rock splitting, which was especially clear in the silent chamber.
“What? The rock wall is breaking?”
Wu Zhong panicked. “Is the water pressure that strong?”
He dove underwater and felt along the rock wall, listening closely.
Sure enough, somewhere had burst open—a hole had formed and water was gushing out.
“Shit!”
Wu Zhong waded back in the dark searching the car for materials.
“Get out, stop hiding.”
He shouted for Yang Chunsha, but she was stubborn. He didn’t have time to waste: rummaging in the glove compartment, he found a skirt and a pen and hurriedly used them to patch the wall.
He stuffed the cloth in, jammed the pen to hold it, and welded it shut.
In normal circumstances the water pressure would have ripped that pathetic patch away, but Wu Zhong had a particular skill: blocking doors was his specialty. Treating the breach like a doorway, he sealed it like welding a door shut.
Even with only a skirt as a plug, the water wouldn’t easily burst it open.
The sound of rushing water faded; though he could still feel water seeping through the cloth, the flow had been slowed. To fill this chamber would now take a long time. Wu Zhong feared the magically created rock walls wouldn’t hold and that the whole cavity might collapse from a small leak.
When Wu Zhong worried about the wall’s stability, suddenly a chilling wind swept through.
A coldness on the back of his neck made him sense heavy dampness all around.
The feeling was familiar!
Then—boom—the world shoved him down, like someone in the dark pressing him hard.
He was forced beneath the water, cold and suffocating.
There was a ghost! No… it was a deity. Damn it—the Night Wandering Deity!
“What the hell, they’re everywhere.”
His eyes bulged as he thrashed in the water, but this time the Night Wandering Deity’s strength was clearly greater.
These things grew stronger over time. Last time they could lift him; this time it felt like two grown men pressing him down.
“It’s over!”
In the darkness they held him under, and no matter how he struggled or tried to use his iron-clad fists, it was useless.
He couldn’t feel anything to grab; he could touch nothing. He was completely suffocating.
Fear, anxiety, icy despair.