Descending from the entrance, it is at first a narrow and low ramp, and the rough marks of the artificial excavation are clearly visible on the surrounding rock face, but after a dozen meters, the path ahead begins to become wider, and the slope is slightly gentle.

The faint green light of the fire spread among the rocks, emitting a light that illuminated the way ahead, and Duncan's brow furrowed as he watched the path that continued to stretch into the darkness.

"These are all dug up by the cultists in the days after the sun goes out?" He couldn't help but look at Shirley, "In such a short period of time, they dug such a deep passage?" ”

"No, they just dug through the entrance to this passage and dug through the bottom stone," Shirley shook her head, "This section of the road under our feet seems to be the ...... that existed in the first place"

"A passage that originally existed deep beneath this 'Holy Land Island'?" Morris frowned slightly when he heard this, he came to the rock wall in front of him, carefully observed the surrounding stones and the ground under his feet, and said thoughtfully, "That means that before those cultists found this place, someone was digging here......"

He paused suddenly, furrowed his brow in confusion, and only after a moment did he slowly raise his head and look at the path illuminated by the faint green fire.

"No, it's not like it's been dug by hand...... This 'existing passage' was created by something else......"

Duncan stepped forward when he heard this: "What did you find?" ”

"Look at the marks on these rock formations," Morris said, pointing to the walls around him, "these smooth, undulating faults and regular rings...... It's not like it's artificial. ”

Duncan immediately noticed the unusual marks on the surrounding rock face that Morris had mentioned.

He saw that the rock wall of the tunnel in front of him was smooth, and the hard black and gray stones seemed to have been cut by something sharp as a whole, and there were a ring of raised structures that could be seen every three meters or so, distributed in a ring across the entire passage, and the ground under his feet was flat and gentle, and the large and small stones seemed to be carefully carved and inlaid on the entire ramp - this was certainly not the trace that the human tools of those cultists or their demonic spells could create, It is also clearly not the "excavation results" of anyone before this.

Even today's city-states do not have such underground excavation and construction techniques.

Morris slowly stroked the smooth rock walls on both sides with his fingers, and muttered, "It's like we're walking inside a huge pipe......"

“…… At the beginning, there were some areas of the Great Cavity under the Frost that showed such a state...... In the end, the scholars in the city-state could not explain how this smooth and flat fault was formed, and could only think of it as an 'erosion hole' left by the flesh and blood of the Dark Lord after it had receded," Duncan whispered, "but this holy island ...... It is a part of the Dark Lord as a whole, so why is there such a 'corrosive void' left in it? ”

Shirley was listening to the exchange between Morris and the captain on the side, when suddenly her mind darkened: "...... Maybe this is the rectum of the Dark Lord? ”

As soon as these words came out, Duncan and Morris's faces suddenly became darker than Shirley's aura, and Duncan glared at the girl vigorously: "Even if you say it's blood vessels?!" ”

Shirley subconsciously shrunk her neck, and while scratching her hair, she pretended to change the topic calmly: "It seems that the blood vessels are also very likely to hey......"

Duncan didn't continue to be serious with Shirley, but frowned thoughtfully after blurting out a sentence just now.

Blood vessels...... Pipes in the body?

If this holy island is really a "piece of flesh of the old gods" as described by Shirley, then is there really a so-called "blood vessel" and "nerve" in this piece of meat? If anything...... Will they really look like the "channel" in front of them?

Duncan subconsciously imagined what kind of form the Netherworld Lord had and what kind of "physiological structure" it had, and at this moment, he suddenly noticed that Alice hadn't spoken for a long time.

In the past, the puppet girl who followed the captain to explore unfamiliar surroundings would definitely be non-stop, but today she seemed extraordinarily quiet.

"Alice," he felt something unusual in his heart, and Duncan immediately looked at the figure standing next to him who seemed to be a little distracted, "What are you thinking?" ”

After screaming twice in a row, Alice came back to her senses as if she had suddenly woken up, and quickly turned around: "Hey...... Ay? Captain, what do you say? ”

"I ask you what you're thinking—you seem to have been wandering all the time," Duncan frowned, looking into Alice's eyes with some concern, "Did you see or hear anything again?" ”

Alice looked around in confusion and hesitated for a moment before she said to Duncan cautiously, "I haven't seen anything yet...... But I don't know why, but after I got here, I had a ...... Very familiar feeling. ”

Duncan and Morris said in unison: "Familiar feeling? ”

"Well, familiar, reassuring, like ......," Alice gestured, thinking for a long time before finally finding a suitable description, "It's like lying in my wooden box." ”

As she spoke, she raised her hand and pointed to the darker depths of the corridor: "And in that direction, there is a stronger sense of familiarity, as if ...... I've been to this place a long time ago, or ...... I've been in this place for a long time......"

Duncan listened to Alice's description with a serious expression, and only nodded lightly after a moment: "Let's go deeper - Alice, Shirley, Dog, whatever you see or hear out of the ordinary, tell me at once." ”

With increasing caution, the group began to walk deeper into this seemingly endless passage.

The flames spread slowly through the passageway, and after an unknown amount of time, Duncan noticed that his surroundings suddenly became more open.

They seemed to enter a huge underground cavern structure, and the passages on both sides of it suddenly expanded into a wide rock wall, and the roof of the cave above became more than ten meters high—the sudden expansion of the underground space plunged the surrounding area into darkness for a moment, but in just a second or two, the faint green flames quickly spread to the surrounding ground, and began to illuminate the spacious place.

Shirley tilted her head and looked at this underground cavern like a huge assembly hall with a look of amazement, although she had a hurried glance in the "vision", she couldn't help but marvel at the spaciousness of this place when she saw it with her own eyes: "...... ......"

“…… I suddenly felt like it would be okay for Vanna to come over," Duncan touched his chin thoughtfully, "this place seems to be big enough for her to jump......"

Morris was silent, the old scholar's attention seemed to be completely absorbed in the strange and secret cavern, and he slowly walked along the path illuminated by the spirit fire as he carefully surveyed his surroundings before suddenly stopping in front of a rock face.

"There's something up there!"

Duncan hurried over, and a "relief" scene came into his eyes.

On the dark stone wall, a creature with strong limbs, crawling, and a slender body came to life.

Shirley and Dog followed suit, looking at the "relief" on the wall with Duncan.

It was a long moment before Duncan heard Shirley whisper, "...... Is this a ghostly hound? ”

"Like...... Yes," Dog's voice was unsure, "but it doesn't look like me...... This one looks like flesh and blood, and the proportions aren't quite right......"

Before it could finish speaking, Morris's voice came from the front: "There are still here!" ”

Following Morris's lead, Duncan saw a second relief.

It was a creature floating in mid-air, shaped like a jellyfish - but instead of smoke, it had a solidified body, a more elaborate tentacle structure, and even an organ that looked like an eye on the "head".

Duncan slowly raised his head, and in the glowing cavern, more reliefs were embedded in the rock wall, as if they were extending infinitely in his field of vision.

He frowned slightly, and took another step towards another relief—

A shaky shimmer appears at the edge of the field of view.

Duncan stopped abruptly.

And almost at the same time, the light and shadow in front of his eyes changed.

Everything seemed to suddenly turn into crumbling and scattered fragments of light and shadow, and the dark cavern and ancient and mysterious reliefs silently disintegrated before his eyes, and after a moment, the falling fragments of light and shadow swarmed again, reorganized, lit, and revealed—

In the silent "roar", he saw a hall, a hall that seemed to have no bounds, it roared and reorganized before Duncan's eyes, and he saw some kind of silver-gray substance of unknown material extending into a solid ground in his vision, mysterious lines of dark blue glow all over the floor, the high dome was brightly lit, and huge pipes and cables intertwined in the dome like nerves and blood vessels.

And in this hall, there are one cylindrical platform after another.

The platforms shimmered, and there seemed to be some kind of invisible force field above them, imprisoning all sorts of things that were stuck in the force field—hound-like creatures with strong limbs, predatory beasts, all sorts of birds, and many other creatures that he didn't recognize, or could not see.

The light and shadow in front of him flickered, the lights in the hall flickered and dimmed, and in the blink of an eye, Duncan felt as if he had seen the dark cave again, and saw the "reliefs" neatly arranged on the rock walls of the cave—

But in the next second, the dim cavern collapsed into the shape of a hall again, and he saw something standing at the end of the front in front of him, as if it were a huge machine, or some kind of ...... At the end, countless pipes surrounded the intricate prism, and the pipes surged with black mud that glowed with a metallic luster, and on the prism that was the core, the lights flickered, and something like a holographic projection floated in front of it, and the lines of characters were constantly refreshed.

It was an unfamiliar character, and Duncan didn't recognize the kind of writing—but with a glance, the meaning of those words seemed to come straight into his mind—

“…… New Hope ...... The main system is offline......

"LH-01, Pilot No. 1, Ecological Reconstruction Host...... The status is abnormal.

"LH-02, Pilot II, data and master control host ...... The status is abnormal.

"LH-03, Pilot III, navigation mainframe...... Offline.

"The ship has disintegrated ......"

(End of chapter)