FI CH 31

Chapter 31: Underground Labyrinth (I)

The next day, a six-person rescue team set out fully equipped. What Bai Hua didn’t expect, however, was that An Shi would also be joining them.

An Shi had somehow heard about the dispute between them and the Sentinel-Guide Association. He privately told Bai Hua, “If anything happens, I’ll stay close to you two…”

Hearing this, Bai Hua didn’t even know how to respond. But it seemed that An Shi’s participation in this mission wasn’t a coincidence—he must’ve received orders from higher up. After all, he was one of the few who had been there during the previous incident and was in the know. He might even know about the derivative abilities Bai Hua and Kurosawa possessed.

Still, Bai Hua appreciated this side of An Shi—he addressed things objectively without unnecessary words or personal emotions, making things less awkward. Bai Hua admitted his curiosity about An Shi and Wei Yang stemmed purely from a friend’s concern, but clearly, now wasn’t the time for such topics.

The group landed atop the ruins of an ancient abandoned city.

It was said that this place had once been submerged in a massive flood and turned into a lake, buried underground for decades. Later, someone fishing here accidentally hooked a golden goblet, which led to its discovery. Now, the lake had been drained and the ruins exposed—mostly crumbled walls and broken structures. Due to its lack of archaeological value, the site had been abandoned in this remote and desolate desert.

No one would’ve guessed the enemy’s base would be hidden in a place like this.

Bai Hua scanned the surroundings. The environmental conditions weren’t too harsh—there was an oasis with a forest just over ten kilometers away, and farther out, he could even smell the scent of the sea.

At that moment, a guide from their team waved them over. Everyone gathered around and found a sentinel’s mark at the corner of a dirt wall. The symbol indicated: Exit or entrance located.

Upon seeing it, Kurosawa immediately instructed everyone to begin searching the nearby area.

Not long after, the team discovered a passage beneath a collapsed mound of earth. The symbol marking the entrance was extremely rudimentary—just a heavy stone slab. The slab had cracked for unknown reasons, and it was etched with some indecipherable symbols or script. A faint trace of psychic energy lingered on it.

The group worked together to push the stone slab aside. Bai Hua moved closer to the opening and sniffed—it carried a damp scent, a mix of freshwater and saltwater.

He determined that the air inside was still circulating and no harmful gases were present. “We can go down.”

One of the sentinels took the lead, jumping down first. Judging by the sound of his landing, the drop was only a few meters. The rest followed one by one, with An Shi taking the rear.

The bottom of the passage was pitch dark—completely devoid of light. The lead sentinel turned on a flashlight. After walking down a narrow path, he suddenly stopped. The rest caught up to him and were left speechless at the sight before them.

There was an entirely hidden world underground. The space stretched out vast and boundless; the dim flashlight beam couldn’t even reach the farthest darkness. This place was several times the size of a standard training facility. They were standing on the edge of a cliff, overlooking structures below.

It was an underground city.

Someone in the team gasped in awe, “No one’s ever discovered this place before?”

Kurosawa suddenly realized that the symbols and psychic energy on the entrance slab might have served as a concealment mechanism. If the slab hadn’t been damaged, perhaps this place would’ve remained hidden forever. Just from that one clever entrance design, he could tell that there were likely many more such tricks deeper inside.

Just then, someone called out, “There’s a marking here!”

Everyone crouched down to inspect where the person pointed, finding several etched lines along the cliff’s edge. Following the markings, Bai Hua looked down and spotted a narrow trail along the cliffside, appearing to lead toward the underground city. “We go down this way.”

The trail was extremely narrow—only wide enough for one person to move sideways. The cliff wall was practically vertical, almost a ninety-degree angle. There was barely any room for handholds, and the trail was no more than half a foot wide. A single misstep would send someone plummeting straight to the bottom.

The sentinels were used to paths like this—they’d been through worse—so they didn’t see it as much of a threat. Bai Hua glanced at Kurosawa at that moment, and Kurosawa said, “I can handle it myself.”

Guides who needed assistance would be paired with sentinels for support, descending in pairs with safe distances between them.

Originally, Bai Hua intended to go down first. In unknown terrain, the front was always the most dangerous spot, and he was used to leading. But just then, An Shi suddenly moved ahead of him and said, “I’ll go first.”

Without waiting for Bai Hua’s response, An Shi leapt down, prompting the guide assigned to him to quickly follow in surprise.

Bai Hua said nothing and simply followed behind them.

The journey down hadn’t been particularly dangerous. Following the trail of markings left by the previous team, they reached the base of the cliff without incident. Now up close, the underground city appeared even more massive—its grayish-yellow earthen walls and stone structures still bore the mottled, weathered traces of history. Judging from its state, it had likely been buried beneath the ground for many years.

The city gate was a large stone slab etched with strange symbols and writing. There was no visible mechanism to open it. One of the sentinels stepped forward and pushed hard, but it wouldn’t budge. An Shi also came up to help, yet the stone gate remained completely immovable. It was clear this wasn’t something that could be opened with brute force.

Kurosawa studied it for a moment before stepping forward. As he approached, he could feel a wave of psychic energy rushing toward him—as if responding to his presence. Remembering the mechanism at the entrance to the tunnel, he instinctively pushed at the gate using his spiritual power. He didn’t even exert much force; with just the slightest touch, the gate opened on its own.

“It’s activated by psychic energy,” Kurosawa confirmed.

Everyone was shocked, including Kurosawa himself. While a guide’s psychic field had long been applied in many areas, this was the first time he’d seen it used directly in architectural design.

Kurosawa had many questions and was eager to explore the mechanisms behind it, but he didn’t forget their mission.

“Let’s go.”

He stepped through the gate first, and in that moment, a strange sensation wrapped around his entire body—like passing through an invisible, transparent film. The other six who followed also experienced the same feeling.

They recognized it instantly: it was a mental landscape.

Bai Hua could hardly believe it. “The entire underground city… it’s all within the mental landscape?”

“Yes,” Kurosawa replied. “But it’s not just artificially created. It’s fused with the memory of this city itself.”

“Like the battlefield memories?” Bai Hua asked.

“Mm. Except battlefield memories are fragmented traces of will—they’re dead. But this mental landscape is half artificial, half naturally formed—alive. However, finding a place that meets the conditions for this is no easy task. This place is like a naturally formed battlefield. For comparison, a battlefield where countless lives were lost—like the Wild Mountains during the Rebellion Campaign—would be an ideal location to create such an environment. As long as a guide stays in a place like that, they can recreate the scenes of the past using their own memories and perception. But the key is—they must be deeply familiar with that place.”

Bai Hua asked, “So the one who created this mental landscape might know the origins of this underground city?”

“That’s right,” Kurosawa said.

“Can we find out who it was?”

Kurosawa glanced at him before replying, “It was Lin Yuan.”

Bai Hua was momentarily stunned. Although Kurosawa had previously mentioned that Lin Yuan was skilled at using mental landscapes, he had never considered this possibility. “But he’s just a Sentinel.”

“Yes,” Kurosawa replied. “Which is why I’m guessing those strange symbols on the stone gate, as well as the mechanism that requires psychic energy to open it, were all designed to store or compensate for elements lacking in the mental landscape. But aside from Lin Yuan, I also sensed the presence of a Guide’s psychic energy. It was extremely faint, though—I couldn’t tell who it belonged to. The only thing I can be sure of is that the aura didn’t belong to a watcher or a captor.”

Bai Hua noticed Kurosawa had said “couldn’t distinguish,” not “unfamiliar.” So he asked, “Is it someone we know?”

Kurosawa didn’t deny it. “It felt familiar.”

His words naturally led to all sorts of speculation, but Bai Hua didn’t want to jump to the worst conclusions.

While the two of them were speaking privately, the rest of the group had already found the next marking left behind by the previous team. Bai Hua quickly pushed aside his stray thoughts and followed after them.

(To be continued…)