Chapter 143: Uplink

"There really is a subterranean river!"

Ji Cheng emerged from beneath the water's surface and hoisted himself up onto the bank.

Due to atmospheric pressure, although the altitude of this underground riverbed was lower, the water only covered less than half of the channel, leaving plenty of room for Ji Cheng to walk straight out of the water and onto the shore.

This location was approximately sixty meters below ground level, and unlike the scorching heat of the outside world, the temperature here hovered around minus ten to twenty degrees Celsius.

And that was only because the saline-alkaline river water slightly diluted the chill; otherwise, it would have been even colder.

The radiation detector also beeped persistently, signaling that the radiation intensity was steadily climbing.

"Still within the boundaries of the RX-23 mining area. This mining zone is indeed much larger than I imagined; my last visit was basically just lingering around the front gate."

Ji Cheng glanced at his watch. Swimming to this spot had taken a total of seven seconds, indicating that the actual depth of RX-23 must be at least another hundred meters deeper.

"Let's keep going."

With a sweep of his flashlight beam, he gazed ahead into the swirling mist.

This underground subterranean river was over eight meters wide, and when combined with the rocky banks on both sides, the total diameter exceeded ten meters.

In many places along the sides, limestone blocks jutted outward like eaves, supported beneath by stalactite-like pillars. It looked precisely like the portico of some ancient temple.

Using the flashlight illumination, Ji Cheng snapped a quick photo and transmitted it back to Chen Qian.

The earpiece crackled with a reply:

"Do you remember? The surface landmark of the RX-23 mining area looks like an open mouth, the downward passage functions as the esophagus, and the cavern where the half-body salamanders dwell can be regarded as the stomach."

"What are you trying to say?" Ji Cheng pressed the intercom button.

"The subterranean river channel you are currently in should correspond to the intestines, and those limestone blocks and stalactites are the folds of the intestinal wall."

So if I keep walking, I'll eventually reach the anus?

Ji Cheng abruptly stopped in his tracks.

"The uplink I'm looking for shouldn't be built too far from the underground river, but since I'm still inside the mining zone, the terrain might have undergone drastic shifts as a result."

The formation of the mining zone would inevitably cause topographic alterations—this was explicitly recorded in Port South's textbooks.

"So it's entirely possible that geological changes have caused the underground river to divert its course. If I just follow the river blindly, I might never find the uplink."

The moment this thought popped into his head, a wave of irritation washed over Ji Cheng.

"Screw it, I'll just forge ahead and look around first."

He proceeded along the riverbank, consciously refraining from moving at maximum speed to guard against sudden ambushes by mutated creatures.

Before long, he encountered a nest of armored ants—dome-like bumps inverted upon the ground of the shore. Without context, one could easily mistake them for iron woks used in stir-frying.

Of course, there was also a distinct possibility that they were literal iron woks the armored ants had scavenged from somewhere.

"Screee—"

Just as Ji Cheng located an obelisk-shaped energy crystal ore jutting from the rock face, a sharp, piercing cry echoed from the darkness ahead.

"Hm?" Sounded somewhat familiar.

Ji Cheng's mind raced, and he quickly realized, "This sounds remarkably like the call of a half-body salamander..."

Commonly known as giant salamanders, they bore the character for fish in their local name yet weren't fish at all, but rather amphibians whose cries resembled the wailing of human infants.

"Screee-screee—" Now, the piercing cries of half-body salamanders erupted simultaneously from all directions, even echoing from behind the rock walls.

Ji Cheng activated the pinhole camera on his earpiece and pressed the comms button, intending to ask Chen Qian a question, when suddenly, with a resounding crash, the rock wall beside him shattered, and a half-body salamander burst straight through the stone.

It still possessed sharp fangs, protruding muscles, and a body slathered in thick mucus, but embedded within this half-body salamander's torso was the front half of a transport truck.

This meant its physical strength would surpass the one he had encountered previously.

"Watch out!"

Because the camera was active, Chen Qian inside the aerial drone clearly witnessed the scene unfolding on her screen.

Ji Cheng took a half-step backward, effortlessly dodging a snapping bite.

Simultaneously, he sensed an unusual disturbance in the water. Instinctively turning his head, he saw another half-body salamander lunging out of the current, its massive, razor-sharp claws targeted directly at his groin.

"What a dirty low blow!" Ji Cheng grew furious.

Swish!

A metallic-glinting arrow transformed into a lingering afterimage as it shot forward. The half-body salamander's claw had barely crossed the halfway mark when the whistling arrow arrived with biting intensity.

Splat! With unstoppable force, the arrow penetrated the creature's massive head from beneath its jaw, bursting out through the top of its skull with a trailing splash of pulpy brain matter.

As if unsatisfied, the arrow spun mid-air, its tip unfurling to a width of three fingers with a mechanical whir, continuing to pierce—or rather, slice—through that skull at a terrifying velocity, darting back and forth over a dozen times in the blink of an eye.

A half-body salamander, a creature that easily reached the Class rank, renowned for its formidable defense and requiring the coordinated efforts of multiple awakened individuals to slowly grind down, was effortlessly killed by Ji Cheng, its severed head rolling away across the ground for several meters.

Swish! Before the creature's corpse even hit the ground, Ji Cheng pivoted and hurled his dagger at the second half-body salamander.

The opponent seemed equally unyielding, lunging forward with jaws agape to clamp down on his dagger-wielding wrist.

Yet Ji Cheng's neurological reflexes and muscular explosive power were no longer what they used to be. The dagger executed a nimble twist, deftly carving a chunk of rotting flesh from the interior of the creature's open mouth. The moment its teeth were about to brush against his skin, his veins bulged, and the flesh from his forearm downward instantly transformed into a deep, metallic dark iron.

Tyrant Serum, activated.

With his current cellular activity, he could squeeze twelve-fold efficiency out of the serum. Naturally, this bite yielded nothing, leaving only a few white scratches on his wrist.

Before the behemoth could attempt another bite, Ji Cheng had already executed a short bound, latching closely onto its side.

Specifically, the side embedded with the transport truck.

His dagger flicked sharply against the vehicle's hood, while the fingers of his left hand snapped in succession, unleashing several rapid blades of compressed air that viciously embedded themselves into the exposed engine unprotected by the hood.

The half-body salamander shrieked in agony, clearly struck in its vital spot.

The tough, scabby hide of this mutated creature possessed a highly defensive, self-repairing layer of mucus; by comparison, the automotive components embedded in its body were far more vulnerable.

As for chemical reagents capable of dissolving that mucus, they required temporary heating and formulation, and he simply didn't have a free hand to prepare them right now.

"Screee—"

Just as Ji Cheng prepared to deliver the finishing blow, yet another half-body salamander burst through the rock wall, brandishing its claws as it lunged at him.

"Why are there so many?"

If he insisted on finishing off the previous one right now, he would likely have to take a vicious blow himself.

In a split-second decision, Ji Cheng advanced instead of retreating. He stepped forward, leaned backward, propped himself up with his elbows, and arched his spine until it nearly kissed the ground.

Swish!

The whistling whistling-arrow flew back through the air behind him, whistling past the exact spot Ji Cheng had occupied a moment prior.

The half-body salamander, having calculated its trajectory for that lunge, flew straight into the path of the arrow. The razor-sharp arrowhead pierced cleanly through the junction of its chest and neck, sending blood spraying in all directions.

The perilous and unpredictable situation was thus effortlessly dismantled by Ji Cheng.

"This..."

Chen Qian, who had watched the entire sequence via the earpiece camera, was too stunned to even speak.

She knew Ji Cheng would undoubtedly be powerful after advancing to a Tier 2 awakened being, but this was absurdly, freakously strong!

An onslaught of three half-body salamanders—if it were any other council member, they would have turned tail and fled in sheer panic!

Yet Ji Cheng, in a flurry of swift movements, had killed one and crippled two.

"Gulp."

Chen Qian hard-swallowed a mouthful of saliva. When she looked back at the screen, Ji Cheng was already cleaning up the battlefield.

"The boss..." Chen Qian hurriedly rewound the combat footage.

The resolution of the pinhole camera was too low to render the precise details of the exchange, but she could count seconds.

"The boss wiped them all out in under five seconds?"

Inside the underground river channel, Ji Cheng wiped his dagger clean and re-sheathed it into the tactical holster on his thigh.

He sensed a lingering oddity.

"The conditions for spawning half-body salamanders are quite harsh. You not only need actual salamanders, but also abandoned vehicles. Having one or two here makes sense since it's not far from the pre-disaster Feng'an City, and a few cars passing by is normal."

"But counting the first time I came here, I've already run into four of them, and judging by the sounds, there should be several more."

Ji Cheng slapped his thigh as realization dawned on him!

He bolted straight into the breach in the rock wall where the half-body salamander had broken through, groping his way down a few steps along the smooth, curved stone crevice until his toes finally touched solid ground.

Fourteen minutes later, within a vast underground chamber, Ji Cheng stepped out from a massive rock fissure.

"The uplink!"

Ji Cheng paused, a peculiar smile playing on his lips.

"Coincidence?"