Chapter 496: Underground Cavern
Relying on its instincts, the mutated ape instantly stole the water ring around Ai Ping and weaponized it. Before Ai Ping could react, the water condensed around him in a sudden squeeze, trapping him entirely.
It was as if he had been plunged into a deep lake—his body felt the crushing pressure of the water, and the suffocating sensation crept in. Ai Ping struggled to regain control of the water element, but he couldn’t overpower the mutated ape’s superior strength.
Of the others, only Lu Weiyi wasn’t a wood-type user. Even though Li Ze wanted to help, any attack from his vines would pass through the water membrane and hit Ai Ping instead, leaving welts and doing more harm than good.
Realizing this, Han Fei canceled the power surging to his fists, refraining from striking. The two of them could only watch as the water membrane pressed tighter against Ai Ping’s body, sticking to his skin like a second skin. At this rate, he would eventually be compressed into a ball of flesh.
Military training kept him from passing out immediately, but the growing pressure contorted his face in pain. His arms flailed helplessly, but the membrane didn’t budge.
Lu Weiyi, meanwhile, was scanning the underground ape with his mental power. Once he realized the ape was in a do-or-die state, any thoughts of retreat vanished.
It likely saw their crystal cores as its last hope for survival. At this point, it would rather die than let them escape easily. This had to be settled now.
No one knew how far the underground cavities extended. The ground beneath them seemed solid, but just a few meters away were more voids. If they used heavy weapons, it might collapse and bury them all.
No time for second-guessing—Lu Weiyi swiftly wrapped the mutated ape in a psychic barrier, cutting off its ability to emit powers. This immediately relieved Ai Ping’s crisis.
The water surrounding him lost control and splashed to the ground, forming a large puddle. Ai Ping clutched his throat and coughed violently, while Han Fei rushed over to help him move and stretch. Li Ze remained vigilant, watching the surroundings closely.
Now would be the best time to leave—but…
Lu Weiyi’s mental scan showed the ape still below. The ground around it was soaked in blood, attracting countless bloodthirsty bugs. The ape had crushed many of them, leaving behind piles of insect corpses. Its legs were impaled by sharp stone spikes—escape was impossible. This was the perfect opportunity to kill it.
Li Ze saw what Lu Weiyi intended. “Or we wait until it dies, then come back.”
“The blood is attracting more creatures. If we wait, something else might snatch the crystal core before we can get to it.”
An S-class mutant beast core was a rare treasure. Missing this chance would mean a brutal fight next time they wanted one. For both Lu Weiyi and Half Moon Bay Base, this was too valuable to give up.
Lu Weiyi scanned his spatial storage, adjusted some supplies to free up a large space, and said to the others, “Move back. I’ll go down and handle it quickly.”
“I’ll help,” Li Ze offered.
“No need. I’ll call if I need backup.”
Li Ze thought for a moment and nodded. “We’ll stay ten meters away—ready to support at any time.”
“Good.”
Once the others had retreated, Lu Weiyi turned off his headlamp. In the darkness, he relied entirely on his enhanced vision granted by his abilities. Silently, he sent out a thin vine—Little Green Vine—to touch the mutated ape.
However, the ape didn’t appear in the specific position he’d prepared for in his spatial pocket. Instead, it sensed the intrusion and swatted at the vine. Luckily, it was as fine as a hair and wasn’t damaged.
Whenever Lu Weiyi encountered high-level mutants or zombies, he preferred direct combat. It sharpened his skills and gave the team practical experience. Rarely did he resort to pulling them directly into his static space to deal with later.
This situation was one of those rare exceptions.
It was his first time encountering a situation where something couldn’t be stored, and Lu Weiyi was quite surprised.
He withdrew Little Green Vine, flicked it to wrap around a nearby branch, and swung himself over, quietly descending into the underground. Even though he was already holding his breath, the mutated ape still sensed his presence instantly—despite the fact that the psychic barrier still enveloped its body.
Its deformed, freakishly long arms reached out while he was still a few meters away, fingers curled like the Buddha trying to catch Sun Wukong. Fortunately, the size difference wasn’t quite that exaggerated.
If it actually caught him, just one section of his shin might be crushed into pulp. Lu Weiyi agilely dodged and at the same time, grabbed onto it.
At the moment of contact with the ape’s arm, he activated his psychic power to cover the entire creature, assisting in pulling it into his storage space.
The instant the whole mutated ape was absorbed into his space, Lu Weiyi felt like a massive force exploded inside his brain—like a bomb had gone off within his body, releasing energy in all directions.
It was the first time he had clearly felt the sheer magnitude of energy from an S-class crystal core being absorbed completely. Even though he himself was SS-class, the overwhelming impact sent him crashing violently to the ground, into the blood-soaked earth.
Thankfully, the stone spikes that had pierced the ape’s body were pulled into the space along with it, sparing Lu Weiyi from being impaled and turned into a human sieve.
With his brain on the verge of exploding, his psychic energy nearly spiraled out of control, making it incredibly difficult to focus. What should’ve been an easy kill turned into a serious struggle.
Only after Lu Weiyi completely extracted the S-class crystal core from the mutated ape did the chaotic energy in his mind finally settle. He passed out holding the core, as if he’d just survived a deadly battle without a single shot fired.
The voice that woke him was Zhuang Aiyi’s, tearful and panicked, calling out for him over and over. A damp cloth kept rubbing his face and occasionally covered his nose—if it weren’t his own son crying so pitifully, Lu Weiyi might have suspected the kid was trying to smother him.
“Aiyi,” Lu Weiyi grabbed his hand and realized he was back inside his personal space.
“Papa, what happened to you? Little brother said you were hurt,” Zhuang Aiyi used all his strength to try to help him up.
With Lu Weiyi quietly applying some force himself, he finally sat up.
He checked the time—only about an hour had passed since they’d engaged the ape. It was still the middle of the night.
“I’m fine. Just a little injured, but I’m alright now.” The crystal core that had been in his hand had already been fully absorbed.
Even though it wasn’t his matching element, just absorbing the S-class core significantly boosted his powers. If he had more cores now, he could probably break through to the next level.
Upgrading now would indeed go more smoothly—but in his previous life, he had never experienced the SSS-class breakthrough, so he had no idea what would happen.
In his memory, the only one who had successfully advanced—Zhuang Mingxu—had been in a coma for an entire month. Many healing-type ability users had declared him brain-dead. As for how he eventually woke up, Zhuang Mingxu never explained, nor did he ever talk about what it felt like to advance. Not long after that, he died in a zombie swarm.
That memory alone made Lu Weiyi hesitate to try upgrading under these conditions.
“I’m fine. You guys go back to sleep. I’m heading out to find your godfather.”
Zhuang Aiyi bit his lip for a long time but obediently nodded and pulled his little brother away. With tears still in his voice, he reminded, “Papa, take care of yourself.”
“Don’t worry, Papa will.”
Watching the two little ones leave the space, Lu Weiyi also stepped out.
He emerged at the spot where the mutated ape had disappeared. Without that S-class creature suppressing the area, the number of mutated beasts had clearly increased. They moved through the forest above, making eerie noises that sent chills down the spine in the darkness.
“Master Lu, where’d you go?” Han Fei’s voice came from between the dense stone spikes, followed by a beam of light cutting through the darkness. “Li Ze, Ai Ping, I found him! Come quick!”
Footsteps came from a bit farther away as someone squeezed through the stone spikes to reveal themselves. Seeing everyone had been looking for him, Lu Weiyi apologized, “Sorry. My psychic energy was drained. I had to shield myself while absorbing the core and didn’t notice anything else.”
“As long as you’re okay. We came over when we didn’t hear anything and saw you and the mutated ape were both gone. We thought something happened to you,” Li Ze said as he approached, then raised an eyebrow. “Do you feel unwell?”
“Hmm?”
“You’re bleeding from all your orifices,” Ai Ping said, conjuring a water bubble and soaking a towel to help him wipe off.
Lu Weiyi took out a mirror. He hadn’t felt anything at first, but upon seeing himself, he realized his face was smeared with dried blood. It seemed Zhuang Aiyi’s little handkerchief had only made it worse, spreading it evenly. There were even traces of blood by his ears.
He hadn’t expected absorbing an S-class creature into his space would cause such a strong backlash.
Fortunately, the energy had stabilized, and his psychic power was no longer in danger of spiraling. He was back to his usual calm state.
“I feel fine.” Lu Weiyi wiped his face casually and looked around. “How big is this place?”
“Haven’t found the end,” Li Ze shook his head. From below, it was clear the area had not only upward-pointing stone spikes but also stalactite-like ones hanging down. It looked like a cave system formed before the apocalypse. “Who knows where it leads.”
“Did you notice? There aren’t any mutated creatures down here,” Han Fei asked.
“What about those?” Ai Ping pointed with his chin at some bloodsucking bugs wriggling in a puddle of blood.
“Those probably fell in from above. I haven’t seen a single native mutated creature around here—not even a rat,” Han Fei said.
“Now that you mention it…” Li Ze frowned and seemed to agree.
“Whatever. Let’s head back up and keep searching. We don’t want to miss the rescue team.”
“Right. Let’s go.”
For wood-type ability users, climbing up dozens of meters was easy. Even the injured Song Xiao didn’t struggle too much. After relocating Xu Sa’s trail, the group once again set out in a hurry.
