Chapter 155: The Ones Above

For some reason, whenever they used that tone of voice, a deep sense of aversion welled up within me, accompanied by a rising fury that I desperately tried to suppress. At that moment, Li Ling whispered into my ear:

"Their identities are extraordinary."

Hearing Li Ling's words, it all clicked for me. The Southern Gate had gone to such massive lengths to breach this mausoleum, keeping their operations shrouded in extreme secrecy and mobilizing all kinds of resources—how could they possibly allow outsiders to enter? Besides, anyone capable of finding their way here must already possess formidable power. For these two individuals to penetrate this deep, and moreover through the main path, they must have had the Southern Gate's tacit permission. Their background was clearly shrouded in mystery.

Instantly, almost involuntarily, I thought about lowering my gun. But in the very next fraction of a second, I noticed one of them gripping the handle of his weapon. In the next second, he was about to raise the muzzle. This man intended to kill us—that was the thought that flashed through my mind.

Without a shred of hesitation, I snapped my pistol up in the next second. With a sharp "bang!", a bloody hole appeared right between the man's brows. That single shot stunned not only his surviving companion, but even Li Ling standing beside me. Perhaps no one had expected me to open fire so abruptly. Probably I was the only one who had realized that this man was about to shoot first; I had simply beaten him to the draw.

While I am not someone who enjoys killing, I will never allow anyone to threaten my life. If the other party had meant no harm, they would never have made such a move.

"You... you actually... you really dared to shoot!"

"Speak! Who on earth are you people? If you don't talk, I'll blow your head off too!" I pointed my gun straight at the remaining man's head. I had no doubt about my own resolve; if he dared use that tone again, I would pull the trigger without hesitation. I didn't care what kind of backgrounds they had—even if they were gods descended from the heavens, I wouldn't indulge them.

"You're finished! Do you have any idea who we are?! You dared to pull the trigger?! You're a dead man! I get it now! You Southern Gate scumbags want to take this place for yourselves, don't even dream about it! This time, your entire Southern Gate is dead meat! Dead meat!"

The man shrieked like a maniac, raving incessantly. Suddenly, I felt a chilling gust of wind rush in from behind. Just as I was about to spin around, Li Ling grabbed my shoulder and threw us both down to the side.

Only then did I see a thick, dark green vine lashing through the air—it was a Corpse Fragrance Flower. Fortunately, Li Ling had spotted it in time. However, the raving man was not so lucky. He had been standing right opposite me. While I had managed to dodge away in time, he failed to react quickly enough, and the thick vine impaled him straight through the chest. His body rapidly withered upon the vine, draining at an astonishing speed as if all the moisture and vitality were sucked out of him in an instant. Within the blink of an eye, nothing was left of the man except for a bare skeleton and a layer of skin.

This was no time to stand around watching a spectacle. This Corpse Fragrance Flower was easily the largest specimen I had ever laid eyes on. Even with my guard up, I probably would have barely survived that sudden strike. This place was far too dangerous to linger; we had to get out immediately.

Li Ling and I scrambled back the way we came at a dead run. As we sprinted past the man I had shot dead, Li Ling bent down and snatched up the fallen gun. I didn't understand her intention at the time, assuming she merely wanted it for self-defense.

Having absorbed fresh prey, the vine seemed to have replenished its vitality, abruptly halting its pursuit. Seizing this narrow window of opportunity, Li Ling and I bolted. We ran for a good hundred meters or so before finally coming to a halt. At that moment, Li Ling suddenly spoke up:

"Those two really did have extraordinary backgrounds."

When I asked her what she meant, Li Ling explained that the Type 95 assault rifle we had seen was practically brand-new, and the serial number on the receiver was completely intact and undamaged. This suggested that the two men most likely belonged to official government circles. When I asked why she was so certain, Li Ling told me that even a massive organization like the Southern Gate would file off serial numbers or use untraceable weapons from underground armories when deploying firearms. No faction or organization would dare use standard-issue official military hardware like that.

Those two men clearly had powerful backers, yet the weapons they carried were standard military-issue rifles. That made their identities profoundly interesting.

Hearing Li Ling put it that way sent a jolt of shock through my heart. How on earth did official government personnel get mixed up in this mess? If that was true, things were bound to get troublesome. Fortunately, we were deep underground with no outsiders around, so we didn't have to worry about immediate exposure. After all, killing someone with official ties invited endless complications. While I wasn't afraid of trouble at the moment, I certainly preferred not to invite any unnecessary headaches.

Everything that followed went relatively smoothly. The Corpse Fragrance Flower did not pursue us further. Li Ling and I made our way back along the tomb passage to the stone door, only to find it tightly sealed. Just as the two of us were preparing to retreat via the subterranean ancient river, the tomb door slowly ground open once more. Three figures emerged from within. Two of them I did not recognize, though they wore the distinctive garments of the Southern Gate. The third person, however, came as a pleasant surprise—it was Guo Fan. As it turned out, after the main forces of the Southern Gate entered, they had quickly located Shen Mingyu and his group.

Shen Mingyu needed Li Ling, and Guo Fan's team needed to find me since I was their employer. Consequently, they had mobilized manpower to search for us. Reinforced by the main force and equipped with heavy firepower, they naturally felt emboldened. Backed by heavy weapons, they had even managed to exterminate a drought demon. For all practical purposes, this mausoleum had now fallen entirely under the control of the Southern Gate.

Guo Fan and the others had joined up with the search squads to hunt us down, and right on cue, Li Ling and I were found. With Shen Shencong having successfully deciphered the mechanics of the elevator mechanism, everything else became much simpler.

We rendezvoused with Shen Mingyu back in the grand hall. By then, the main coffin had already been hoisted out, and a crowd of people was swarming around it, examining it closely. Shen Mingyu looked genuinely pleased to see us alive and well, though a moment later, he furrowed his brow and asked the person beside him:

"Have those two people been found yet?"

Hearing Shen Mingyu's words sent a fresh jolt of alarm through me. I stepped forward and asked, "What people upstairs are you talking about?"

Shen Mingyu paused, clearly caught off guard by my question. Then, with a faint smile, he replied, "Two guests with rather unique backgrounds arrived. But after entering, they refused to follow our commands—well, truth be told, we couldn't really order them around anyway. And now, they've gone missing."

Though Shen Mingyu spoke in a casual tone, I could easily read the worry in his expression; the deep creases on his brow clearly betrayed his mounting anxiety.