The first grim tidings arrived—the First Search Battalion had been ambushed by a monstrous octopus, resulting in over a dozen casualties. An hour later, the command center received even graver news: the Second Search Battalion had also been assaulted, with an entire company trapped within an uncharted cavern. Sakamoto Kazuo immediately dispatched a reserve force to scour the surface for cave entrances. After three arduous hours, more than thirty survivors, including Shi Rusong, were rescued. Upon personally hearing Shi Rusong's report, Commander Sakamoto was not only incensed but plunged into panic. Since the establishment of the East Tai colony, no crisis of this magnitude had ever arisen. A man who called himself Li Zhui, together with a half-human, half-serpent siren, had annihilated the majority of a mobile company. Such a catastrophe was utterly intolerable—it demanded immediate resolution on site. After careful deliberation, Sakamoto Kazuo sought the counsel of Fujiki Sadato in person, petitioning to mobilize the fuel company's drilling team to obliterate the entire cave system. Without hesitation, Fujiki assented. It mattered not if it meant demolishing an entire ridge—if it achieved the objective, he cared not if Mount Yueping itself was leveled. Following the orders, the guards swiftly destroyed the cave entrance. The command center promptly issued a requisition, urgently summoning the fuel company's drilling contingent. Hashizume Kunihashi was once again entrusted with this grave task. Leading the drillers to Mount Yueping's Masao Ridge, he bored thirteen shafts, piercing the cave system from top to bottom. Next came the injection of liquid explosives—a staggering fifty-five tons. Before detonation, Hashizume requested the esteemed presence of the two distinguished commanders to witness the event firsthand. To his astonishment and delight, Fujiki Sadato agreed. On the evening of June 27th, the administrative headquarters received a call—the office director himself summoned the vice president back immediately. Needless to say, a major incident had erupted in Kyoto City. At precisely six o'clock on June 28th, Northern Calendar Year 102, Sakamoto Kazuo gave the command. Hashizume Kunihashi pressed the ignition switch. Amid a series of thunderous detonations, an entire mountain ridge vanished, replaced by a colossal trench stretching over a kilometer in length. But where were Li Zhui and his companions? Beneath the southwestern corner of the honeycomb cave lay a vast subterranean chamber. The earthquake had rent fissures between the two, but no ordinary man could traverse them. Ma Yongxian secured a camera and flashlight, then rappelled down by rope into the cavern. It was a large water-filled chamber—a perfect natural sanctuary. Their mission was clear: to widen the crevices and carve out a passage.
Li Zhui opposed the demolition, fearing it would trigger a collapse.
Leading the way was Yongzi, who fastened the rope around his waist and used an engineering pick to widen the fissure. After ten minutes, another worker took over, and they continued in shifts.
Half an hour passed, yet they had advanced less than three meters. Li Zhui halted the effort and called for an air cylinder, which he promptly filled with water.
Swinging the water-filled cylinder like a battering ram, he struck the rock face, shattering a large section as if it were dry rot. Within thirty minutes, he had carved out a thirty-six-meter passage.
The water chamber twisted like a serpentine sausage, extending some two hundred meters in depth and broadening to about thirty-five meters at its widest point. Li Zhui surveyed the space with satisfaction before retreating momentarily.
Equipped with a compressed air tank and steel spear upon his back, he descended once more into the abyss. Yaoyao wished to accompany him, but he forbade her.
He tethered the water cylinder to the climbing rope, clasped it tightly, and allowed four comrades to lower him gently. The spear he wielded had been fashioned by Yongzi moments earlier—a steel pipe salvaged from the gantry, welded with a steel pry bar.
Though unwieldy, the weapon was vital against foes like the octopus monster—an instrument of survival.
The water, cold and still, brought Li Zhui great comfort. He released the cylinder and let himself drift downward naturally.
After a while, he closed his eyes, fully relaxing every pore. The water's temperature was perfect for healing, yet now was not the time for hibernation.
Slowly, he descended to the chamber's floor. The crushing pressure at two hundred meters exceeded normal human endurance, but to him, it felt like a soothing natural massage.
Fifteen minutes later, he sensed something silently approaching from behind. When it halted about ten meters away, he spun around swiftly.
There, a humanoid salamander darted toward the rock wall, attempting to slip into a crevice.
But it was too large. While male humanoid salamanders typically reach lengths of 125 to 135 centimeters, this specimen neared 150 centimeters and was robustly built. It could only squeeze halfway inside, its bulk stuck outside.
Li Zhui swam closer, grasped one hind leg, and gently tugged. The giant salamander struggled fiercely to burrow further inward. Amused, he planted his spear tip into the chamber floor and cradled the creature's abdomen, massaging it tenderly.
The salamander, unable to endure the sensation and unable to break free, panicked. It twisted its body, arching back, and with eight claws latched onto Li Zhui's arm, claws sinking deep into flesh.
Li Zhui did not retaliate. Instead, he flexed his arm muscles, clamping down on the claws to prevent them from retracting. The creature, both startled and alarmed, opened its elongated mouth wide, emitting menacing hisses.
With a sudden flex of his left arm, Li Zhui flung the salamander aside. Drawing his spear, he wedged it beside the crevice and pried. A large chunk of limestone tumbled down. With several more thrusts, he had doubled the opening's width.
Pointing his spear toward the crevice, he stepped back. The salamander indeed slipped inside, then turned its head, its eyes rolling restlessly.
Suddenly, humanoid salamanders erupted from every crevice, first gathering in a tight cluster as if whispering conspiratorially, then scattering in all directions, darting into every fissure only to quickly retreat again.
Li Zhui understood—they were desperately seeking an escape, but clearly not because of his presence.
Without hesitation, he surfaced, clutching the water-filled cylinder and vigorously shaking the rope. The comrades above hastened to haul him up.
"Brother, the enemy has deployed a drilling team; this cavern will soon be pierced through!" Yongzi warned anxiously.
"Gather your men—everyone must descend into the water chamber," Li Zhui commanded calmly.
He knew his kin all too well; if they didn't act swiftly, it would spell disaster.
He instructed Yongzi to collect all available supplies, especially the compressed air tanks, and bring everything down into the chamber.
Following his orders, after gathering the provisions, everyone donned breathing masks, strapped on their air tanks, and were lowered one by one into the watery abyss. Only one man lay thrashing on the ground, stubbornly refusing to descend.
Li Zhui seized Shen Jilan by the waist with a rope and tossed her down without hesitation.
"Yongzi, if the enemy pours gasoline, that's one thing. But if it's explosives, you must dive as deep as possible to survive," Li Zhui warned.
"Understood, Brother. You all go first—I'll watch here and see what the enemy intends," Yongzi replied.
Li Zhui patted Yongzi's shoulder gently before descending into the water chamber with Yaoyao.
About twenty meters below, Yongzi's comrades found a natural hollow they were widening.
Li Zhui shook his head, paying them no heed, and dove straight to the chamber floor. Yaoyao's arrival terrified the salamanders, who scrambled frantically into every crevice.
Half an hour later, Yongzi grasped his waterproof pack and plunged headfirst into the water. At twenty meters, he shone his flashlight to signal the others to continue their descent.
At around fifty meters, his ears buzzed incessantly, and sensing this depth was sufficiently safe, he glanced back. His comrades lagged far behind; none had passed forty meters. Shen Jilan, taking advantage of their inattention, quietly began ascending.
Just as Yongzi hesitated whether to pursue her, someone grabbed him, flipping his body upside down and forcing him deeper into the abyss. It was not until they reached a large hollow at the bottom that Li Zhui released him.
The immense pressure crushed Yongzi's lungs, robbing him of breath. Li Zhui patted his back vigorously, helping him regain composure.
Suddenly, the earth trembled violently; the water churned as if boiling, and massive chunks of rock from the chamber ceiling crashed down like shattered walnuts.
The turbulent water surged wildly, smashing the workers against the cavern walls. Some were caught beneath falling stones, crushed onto the chamber floor.
Terrified, Yaoyao dove headfirst into the silt, while the salamanders burst from the fissures, frantically burrowing into the mud.
Yongzi had long since lost consciousness—not from fear, but the crushing pressure at two hundred meters was beyond his endurance. Li Zhui was helpless, resigned to fate.
He lowered Yongzi gently, then embraced Yaoyao as she curled tightly in his arms, her serpentine body entwining around him.
Suddenly, the entire cavern ceiling collapsed with a force like a ten-thousand-ton hydraulic press. The powerful water surge slammed them into the rock face, squeezing them mercilessly.
Li Zhui faced inward, pressing his arms and head firmly against the stone, striving to shield them both, though the omnipresent pressure rendered his efforts mostly symbolic.
Yaoyao, a genetically modified being bearing python DNA, was impervious to such water pressure.
Yongzi, however, was merely a strong mortal. The intense compression roused him from unconsciousness, but he immediately felt as if caught in a high-pressure washing machine, battered and kneaded relentlessly.
Led by the giant salamander, the others swarmed in, surrounding Li Zhui. In this moment, he was revered as their savior.
The entire underwater chamber twisted like a sinuous sausage, its middle section alternating between concave and convex surfaces. When colossal slabs of rock from the collapse struck the protruding rock face, they shattered like cracked walnuts, tumbling down in massive chunks—an ominous harbinger of further collapse.
As the first round of the collapse subsided, Li Zhui drew several deep breaths, now relying on compressed air to sustain himself. He gently shifted Yaoyao behind him and lifted Yongzi into his arms. No sooner had he moved than a series of explosive crashes echoed above.
The convex rock face at the chamber's center, already riddled with fractures from the initial blast, was now relentlessly battered by falling debris. The fissures rapidly widened, unable to resist gravity's pull, heralding a thunderous second collapse.
Li Zhui's sole recourse was to press deeper into the cavern's deepest recesses. He knew that even if they escaped being crushed, they would be trapped—but the instinct to survive compelled him to cling to every fleeting second of life.
When the second collapse finally ceased, fortune smiled upon them—they remained unscathed, confined within a cramped corner spanning merely a few square meters.
The humanoid salamanders pressed close behind, some juveniles even attempting to burrow into his embrace, only to be repelled by Yaoyao's piercing hiss. In an instant, they scattered, most retreating into the crevices of the stone.
Li Zhui gently shook Yaoyao's shoulder and signaled her to quiet down. She calmed, though her arms remained tightly wrapped around his waist, her head nestled against his thigh, softly rubbing back and forth.
He activated his diving flashlight, scrutinizing their surroundings before extinguishing it. Closing his eyes, he pondered their precarious predicament, searching for a means of escape.
Suddenly, Yaoyao and the salamanders grew alarmed once more, and Li Zhui perceived an unfamiliar sound.
Without hesitation, he drew a length of rope from his pack, affixing hooks every two meters. He then secured himself, Yaoyao, Yongzi, and two backpacks to the rope.
Indeed, the sound was the tearing of rock—but emanating from below rather than above. Was the very earth fracturing beneath them?
The ripping noise grew more distinct; the salamanders, abandoning their fear of Yaoyao, gathered close, clutching the backpacks and Yongzi's bulletproof vest with their claws.
The ground fractured without warning—the deafening third collapse commenced.
Summoning all his strength, Li Zhui thrust his steel spear into a fissure in the rock face, bracing his arms on the shaft. With a deft movement, he lifted himself clear of the ground, suspending his entire weight upon the spear. Beneath him hung Yaoyao, Yongzi, their supplies, and the salamanders.
The rock could not withstand such strain and a massive slab broke loose, tumbling down with them.
Yet this momentary reprieve granted them a chance at survival, for the initial fall of boulders lessened the likelihood of being crushed—though the risk of being struck remained ever present.
They seemed to plummet into an endless abyss, with a hundred thousand tons of stone beneath their feet and two hundred thousand tons of water bearing down from above, cascading ceaselessly as they hurtled downward.