Fish-Transformed Dragon rode his mechanical horse forward. Twenty meters from the two giant Mithril doors, he lightly waved his hand. KRAK KRAK KRAK...

The two giant doors, forged from Mithril, seemed to be made of glass as cracks materialized on their surface.

Watermelon gasped, her face filled with disbelief.

Fish-Transformed Dragon slowly advanced. The closer he got to the giant doors, the more cracks appeared, gradually forming a spiderweb.

"Shatter!"

Fish-Transformed Dragon reached the giant Mithril doors and placed a palm gently against them. An immense force suddenly erupted. KRAK KRAK KRAK KRAK! The two giant Mithril doors shattered on cue, breaking into fist-sized fragments and revealing the Alloy Deck passage behind them!

"Collect!"

Fish-Transformed Dragon waved his sleeve again, and all the fragments vanished, absorbed into his Storage Realm.

’Good. As expected of my student!’

Wang Yi nodded nonchalantly, thinking, ’Fish-Transformed Dragon’s technique is incredible. He truly lives up to the name Gods and Ghosts Avoidance.’

"He... He actually shattered the giant doors... Oh my god..."

Miss Xigua felt as if her entire worldview was shattering.

Fish-Transformed Dragon wore a cold, arrogant expression, as if he had just done something completely ordinary. He gazed ahead and asked, "Teacher, there are many good materials for forging weapons here. Should I collect all of them?"

"The walls and the floor? No rush. Let’s go inside and explore first."

Wang Yi rode forward on his Jade Jiaolong. Ahead of him was what looked like an underground base. He could see several corpses lying haphazardly in the passage. It was impossible to tell how long they had been there; upon contact with the air, they instantly disintegrated into ash, leaving only their ancient clothes behind.

Fish-Transformed Dragon commanded, "Western Factory Brocade Guard, clear the ground and scout ahead!"

"Yes, sir!"

The six Feng Yuxiu acknowledged the order and hurried into the passage to dispose of the corpses, search for any leftover items, and scout ahead.

Soon, a Feng Yuxiu carrying a Yellow Springs Lock on his back returned to report. "Great Boss, Supervisor, there is no danger ahead!"

Wang Yi’s eyes lit up. He chuckled and looked at the Huajin Fengyu Cultivator, thinking, ’Not bad. This guy’s pretty smart, even giving me an upgrade to "Great Boss."’

Fish-Transformed Dragon, however, just nodded faintly and said, "Teacher, it should be safe to proceed."

"Good!"

Wasting no time, Wang Yi saw that the passage was quite spacious and rode his Jade Jiaolong inside.

The moment he entered the passage, things changed—lights flickered on.

[DING! Congratulations, you have discovered an ancient ruin, Building Number C49, designated as an ancient experimental base. Danger Level: Average. Exploration Value: Average. Please explore with caution.]

Wang Yi heard the system prompt and thought to himself, ’I’d almost forgotten this was a game world.’

’Danger Level: Average... that means there is still some danger here. The strategy of having the Brocade Guard scout ahead was the right call.’

Wang Yi steadied his nerves and continued forward.

Watermelon followed cautiously behind him, clearly filled with curiosity about the Divine Suffering Place.

Soon, Wang Yi discovered that in addition to the decaying corpses, the passage walls, which resembled Alloy Deck, were covered in numerous bullet holes and massive, beast-like claw marks. It looked as though a fierce battle had once taken place here.

After a forty- to fifty-meter-long passage, the view suddenly opened up. Wang Yi had arrived in a large hall. The hall was a complete mess, its floor littered with debris, broken electronic equipment, and more decaying corpses.

Lined up around the hall were many tall, cylindrical glass jars.

And inside each and every jar, a Mummy was soaking.

The hall had the distinct feel of a bio-lab.

The Brocade Guard began to scavenge and clear the area. Watermelon grew flustered, her face pale. The scene inside the Divine Suffering Place was clearly nothing like she had imagined. She stared at a glass jar and asked, "So many Grass Blades... What is this place?"

’So these Mummies are called Grass Blades?’

Wang Yi stepped forward curiously to take a closer look. There were labels at the bottom of the glass jars, but the information on them was illegible. However, there was no doubt that these things called Grass Blades were experimental subjects.

"Why is this place called the Divine Suffering Place?" Wang Yi asked calmly.

"It’s been passed down by word of mouth. That’s what it’s always been called," Watermelon said, shaking her head. "The previous generation said this place affects the Earth Deities and keeps them from entering, making it the safest sanctuary. Unfortunately, we tried everything but could never push open the giant doors, so we were never able to make it our shelter."

"And what are Earth Deities?"

"They’re the beings from the red grasslands! They are terrifying, malevolent, and powerful. They hunt humans and all animals. No one can fight them head-on. The humans remaining on the surface can only struggle to survive, and the Sky Refugees... sooner or later, their Sky Ships will run out of energy, and they’ll have to return to the ground..."

Wang Yi listened quietly to Watermelon’s account, rapidly processing the useful information in his mind.

’This world must have possessed some technological power,’ he mused. ’Perhaps the appearance of the Earth Deities triggered an apocalypse, leading to a collapse in many fields like technology and culture. As a result, the Indigenous People here were split into ground survivors and Sky Refugees.’

’The ground survivors live on the surface, eking out an existence in the margins, while the Sky Refugees use things called Sky Ships to fly in the sky, safe from the Earth Deities’ attacks.’

’However, the threat of the Earth Deities, combined with dwindling food and energy, is gradually dragging the people here into an abyss of ever-growing despair.’

’Watermelon’s storyline is probably connected to this Divine Suffering Place. There should be more information hidden here. I’ll need to search thoroughly. I might even find some clues on how to clear this world.’

As Wang Yi mulled this over, he ended his conversation with Watermelon and focused on directing the Brocade Guard to clear the site.

His current location was clearly just an antechamber; three more passages led deeper inside.

However, those three passages were blocked by piles of debris and corpses and needed to be cleared before they could be entered.

Before long, the first passage was cleared.

That passage was also riddled with bullet holes and claw marks, and it led to a warehouse at the far end.

The Suffering Place’s power system was still operational. As Wang Yi stepped into the warehouse, the lights immediately flickered on.

[DING! You have discovered an armory. There are weapon supplies inside!]

Wang Yi’s eyes lit up. The warehouse ahead was spacious, but a green Treasure Chest sat in the very center.

’It seems this was prepared especially for a Player,’ he thought. ’Well then, I’ll help myself!’

Wang Yi went forward and opened the green Treasure Chest. Three items immediately floated out.

[Material Exchange Voucher · Grizzly Tank: Use to redeem one Grizzly Tank!]

[Material Exchange Voucher · Fuel: Use to redeem one ton of Universal Combustion Fuel!]

[Material Exchange Voucher · Cannon Shells: Use to redeem ten adaptive Universal Cannon Shells!]

’A tank, fuel, and shells!’

Wang Yi was overjoyed. ’Exciting,’ he thought. ’Getting all this from a single green Treasure Chest is not bad at all.’

His curiosity about the other two passages immediately intensified.

A moment later, the second passage was cleared. Wang Yi rode his Jade Jiaolong inside, and a system prompt immediately sounded: [DING! You have discovered the living quarters of Experimental Base C49. The calamity slumbering within has been awakened. Please explore with caution!]

"Monster ahead! Prepare for battle!" Wang Yi called out, instantly on alert.

Just then, a sinister laugh echoed from the dim passage, followed by a sharp, scraping sound like metal on metal. "One hundred years... Who has awakened me? Come... who will merge with me and become a god!"