"What nonsense are you speaking? Thunder Wolf and the others aren’t friends," Lin Tian immediately retorted. He could believe in no male friends, but equating male friends with boyfriends was completely out of the question for him.

Ning Wenbin extended a finger and waved it, "No, no, you’ve got it wrong. Go and ask Thunder Wolf; would he dare call himself the young lady’s male friend? They’re comrades in battle, superiors and subordinates, but definitely not male friends."

"Is there really such a thing?" Lin Tian was taken aback, now he was the one confused.

"Oh, by the way, did the young lady ever send you to the hospital at first?" Ning Wenbin nodded affirmatively, then asked with a gossipy tone.

Sent to the hospital? Lin Tian’s mind flashed back to his first meeting with Ning Luoxi. That time, Ning Luoxi taught Lin Tian a lesson about what combat and fiery temper meant. Luckily, he was strong, or he’d really have been hospitalized.

"No, because your cousin couldn’t beat me," Lin Tian said very confidently.

"Hehe, now I understand," Ning Wenbin chuckled, but didn’t explain what he understood, wearing an expression that he thought was mysterious, but to Lin Tian, it just looked lecherous.

"Damn, I almost forgot, you guys still haven’t told me what that smoke earlier was about?" This guy shouted again, still not forgetting the earlier smoke.

Lin Tian exchanged a glance with Wu Xiuluo and Xiao Manxuan, then said, "That wasn’t smoke at all, but extremely tiny insects, as thin as hair. Countless insects flying together looked like smoke."

"Insects?" Ning Wenbin was puzzled and asked, "How could there be such tiny insects here?"

"Who knows, maybe they crawled out of hell. But don’t be fooled by their tiny size; they’re extremely dangerous. If it weren’t for Senior Sister Xiuluo pulling you back just now, you might be covered in insects, either eaten, poisoned, or infected with some unknown virus—very dangerous."

Lin Tian wasn’t just trying to scare him; these insects were likely affected by Jiang Chen, making them so strange.

The thought of being covered in insects made Ning Wenbin shiver, and he took a few steps away from the crevice. Seeing him like this, Lin Tian shook his head amusedly, ignoring him, and walked toward the ground fissure.

"Lin Tian, don’t go..." Ning Wenbin tried to stop Lin Tian, frightened by his words.

Of course, Lin Tian didn’t stop and instead approached the edge of the fissure, shining his flashlight into it. Xiao Manxuan and Wu Xiuluo also approached the fissure, shining their flashlights into it as well.

Ning Wenbin gritted his teeth, "If I die, then so be it!" and also walked over, doing the same.

The four flashlights shone into the fissure simultaneously, but to their shock, the fissure was so deep that they couldn’t see the bottom!

"I have a 500-meter high-intensity flashlight, and I still can’t see the bottom," Xiao Manxuan exclaimed.

Lin Tian frowned slightly and activated his super vision, scanning downwards. His super vision was far superior to a flashlight, covering several kilometers with no problem.

But even with a sweep, Lin Tian was astonished again—even his super vision couldn’t see the bottom! Could this fissure really lead to hell? Such a bizarre thought emerged in Lin Tian’s mind.

"Buzz buzz buzz..."

The sound of insects flapping their wings echoed again, coming from the fissure, and this time, the sound was even denser.

"More insects are coming!" Lin Tian loudly reminded them, simultaneously pushing Ning Wenbin away, and pressing his hand to the ground, purple flames burning along the ground toward the fissure.

Even though they had already seen Lin Tian use the purple flames, it was still shocking. As soon as the purple flames swept in for just over ten meters, they met with the "smoke."

With a hissing sound, the purple flames burned the insects, making a sizzling noise, and then the insects were incinerated and destroyed.

"Xuanxuan, send Little Zi in. These insects are a great tonic for it, perfect as feed," Lin Tian thought suddenly, and withdrew the purple flames.

Xiao Manxuan tossed Little Zi, and it flew up, "Little Zi, go ahead, feast away."

Little Zi was a combination of the Soul-devouring Gu, Zombie Gu, and Golden Silkworm Gu, and had absorbed Lin Tian’s zombie blood, making it immune to all poisons and untouched by fire and water, biting through steel like it was tofu.

So, even if these tiny insects were poisonous, they couldn’t harm Little Zi. Now Little Zi was the king of Gu insects.

Little Zi flapped its wings and flew into the fissure, where it became a purple lightning bolt, flashing around. The buzzing inside the fissure grew quieter, finally disappearing.

A few minutes later, Little Zi flew out, Xiao Manxuan extended her palm, and Little Zi landed in her hand.

At this moment, Little Zi had undergone new changes, its purple color became more pure, its patterns more complex, and the spikes on its legs sharper. Especially its two little eyes, Lin Tian seemed to sense a bit of spirituality.

Compared to before, Little Zi was more agile.

"Alright, go inside," Xiao Manxuan said, and Little Zi flew up and entered the guardian necklace, enough to digest for a long time.

Ning Wenbin said with surprise, "It’s amazing, there actually exists such an intelligent insect in the world, capable of understanding its owner’s commands."

Lin Tian just smiled, without explaining what a Gu insect was.

"Lin Tian, the insects we saw in the spider web passageway were also likely crawling out from the fissure. Who knows how many such fissures have appeared in this old area?" Wu Xiuluo slightly frowned, seeming to worry about something.

Lin Tian knew what she was worried about. If there were many such fissures, then there was also a high probability of these insects inside, which were extremely dangerous to ordinary people.

While they were concerned about this problem, in another passageway, two people were sprinting as if something terrifying was chasing them.

"Brother Zhao... Brother Zhao, wait for me..." The two were Xiao Zhao and Zhao Weitao, with Zhao Weitao having a better physical condition running fast, leaving Xiao Zhao far behind.

Xiao Zhao kept looking back, which slowed him down even more, but in fact, his passageway was empty, with nothing chasing them. Yet they kept sprinting as if an invisible ghost were at their heels.

Zhao Weitao stopped, not because of Xiao Zhao’s call for help, but because he realized there really was nothing chasing them.

Xiao Zhao also stopped, hands on his waist, gasping for breath. In this underground passageway, oxygen was scarce, making it difficult for him to breathe.

After several minutes, Xiao Zhao calmed his breath and said with lingering fear, "Brother Zhao, what were those ghostly things just before?"

"Insects," Zhao Weitao said with a frown, his eyes trembling slightly, though he hid it well.

"There were too many of them, where did they come from?" Xiao Zhao said, still on edge.

"It’s normal for insects to be in a place that’s been abandoned for so long," Zhao Weitao frowned, speaking lightly, though his mood was far from relaxed.