Chapter 421: Shadows Beneath the Iron Door

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The iron door creaked open.

A fleeting shadow passed by.

Inhaling the faint scent of blood from the room, Liang Lie, appearing like a ghost behind Yenir, silently observed the crouching Yenir.

It was only upon noticing the body on the floor that the usually unflappable Middle-Aged Man wore a strangely odd expression.

He knew Yenir was taking big risks, but this scene was even messier than usual…

“Uncle Liang, you’re here?”

“Aren’t there any monsters on your end?”

A surge of spirit energy coursed through him; after shaking off the grime from his hands, Yenir stood up wearily.

Within ten minutes of Uncle Liang’s arrival, he had already dissected the monster cleanly.

The internal organs matched perfectly – same structure, same number of bones…

Apart from its bare lower half, every other part was indistinguishable from a human. Still, Yenir managed to find one suspicious tooth in the creature’s stomach.

“Before you come after me again, did this monster really swallow a human alive?”

After a muttered remark to himself, Yenir ceased overthinking and turned his gaze to Liang Lie.

“No, but I’m in the same boat as you.”

Concise and matter-of-fact, Liang Lie finished his sentence and habitually fell in step behind Yenir, waiting for his next move.

He hadn’t stepped into a dungeon in a long time.

“Really? Then it seems they’ve been assigned by squads…”

“If that’s the case, Yinglong probably has only one on his side.”

“Not sure if, with his level of alertness, he’ll notice a monster… If he doesn’t, this could be a pretty good trump card.”

A glint in his eye, Yenir quickly rethought his plan and headed straight for the door.

On his way over, Liang Lie had already surveyed the area.

The whole place was enormous—an all-metal underground shelter equivalent to two sprawling cities, carved about thirty meters beneath the surface. It was nothing short of a subterranean marvel.

According to Liang Lie’s map, the shelter had roughly twelve levels: the top three were absolute safe zones, while the following three bore signs of monster incursions.

The remaining six levels, once human territory some forty years ago, had been utterly transformed into a ‘graveyard of corpses’ due to the monster invasion, frequented only by a few scavengers and monster hunters.

All in all, these twelve levels formed one cohesive underground world. Beyond lay the natural subterranean realms—rumored to have been excavated by early monsters—the true dungeon: the Monster Battlefield.

Yenir and his team were on the sixth level, at the fringes resembling a slum.

Moving toward the core led to the central control area of the underground city, said to be home to no less than forty million people.

“There are plenty of surveillance cameras—infrared and visual imaging…”

“They might be a bit outdated, but they’re spread throughout this area; other regions must have even more…”

Stepping out of his small room, Yenir casually surveyed the overhead metal pipes and surveillance cameras.

Before him lay a scene reminiscent of a slum building interior—garbage littered the corridors, and rusted metal pipes dominated the view, radiating heat. A few scavengers in tattered coats slumped in corners with vacant stares.

Occasional droplets falling from above only made their dull eyes shift slightly.

The pipes appeared to be part of an aging heating and sewage system, on the verge of collapse.

Constant drips of yellow water from above—no one knew if it was waste or copper rust.

“Twelve levels in total—we’re on the sixth… and Yinglong should be on the sixth too…”

“Based on the current design, even if the bottom six levels are overrun by monsters, a surveillance system should still be in place.”

“If we can get access to the surveillance, we can track Yinglong’s movements early on…”

“And with Blood Nightingale… if even Yinglong can’t keep tabs, then that’s just absurd…”

After gathering his thoughts, Yenir pulled out a stone and immediately contacted Blood Nightingale.

In the dungeon, system communications are limited to teammates, and he had exchanged a good deal of reputation for this stone.

First, he needed to check in with Blood Nightingale to see what was happening with Yinglong.

……………

“Buzz—buzz”

Two almost imperceptible vibrations echoed through the corridor, startling Blood Nightingale.

Feeling a tremor in her lower abdomen, she glanced around to ensure it was safe before quickly retrieving her communication stone. With no spatial tools at her disposal, she had to hide the stone Yenir gave her near her stomach.

That spot was, by far, the safest place on her body.

“You made it in!?”

“I thought you weren’t coming in!”

Clutching her communication stone tightly, Blood Nightingale exhaled nervously as she read Yenir’s message.

Deep down, she feared both that Yenir might not have made it and that his arrival could spell trouble.

After all, confronting Yinglong was extremely risky—even if Yenir was full of confidence, her anxiety lingered.

“Can’t you feel it?”

“I came in, and you didn’t notice?”

Huh? What’s coming in without anyone noticing?

Confused by Yenir’s odd response, a nervous Blood Nightingale couldn’t immediately decipher his meaning.

How was she to know if Yenir had arrived? This dungeon wasn’t a PvP arena; no system alert appeared when another team entered…

Unable to settle on an interpretation, she subconsciously pondered Yenir’s intent until, seconds later, her face flushed with a mix of embarrassment and indignation.

That bastard was taking advantage of her again!

Yet it seemed he was completely at ease, even in good spirits. At a time like this, was he really still flirting?

Ignoring Yenir’s lecherous hints, Blood Nightingale couldn’t help but blurt out:

“Just how many people did you bring… or arrange to come in?!”

“A few peak Third-Stage warriors? When do you plan to make your move?”

After sending her message, Blood Nightingale’s anxiety deepened even further.

Yenir kept insisting he had brought a host of peak Third-Stage warriors, yet before entering, she had noticed no anomalies. Particularly during the final moments—entering last with nine seconds to spare—she hadn’t sensed any powerful presence nearby.

To be honest, she almost thought Yenir wouldn’t make it!

“Forget that—you just need to tell me about Yinglong’s situation.”

“Are you guys also on the sixth level? Which area exactly?”

“Did you come across any system-assigned NPCs?”

Seeing that Yenir ignored her questions, Blood Nightingale furrowed her brow before finally replying:

“We’re on the sixth level, in… Zone B?”

“I haven’t pinpointed the exact location yet—I just received Yinglong’s message. I’m on my way to join him.”

“According to him, it seems we’re supposed to undergo some sort of test before moving to the next level.”

“System-assigned NPCs? What do you mean? I didn’t see any…”

Not fully grasping Yenir’s last question, Blood Nightingale realized he didn’t intend to reveal his plan, leaving her with no choice but to let it be.

Sighing quietly, she simply hoped that Yenir truly had things under control.

“A test… Didn’t you come across any NPCs yourself?”

“Zone B…”

On the other end, Yenir’s eyes narrowed as he swiftly deduced key intel from Blood Nightingale’s message.

“Yinglong probably hasn’t detected that the NPC is actually a monster.”

“The test likely means he’s following standard procedure.”

“If that’s the case, he’ll probably linger on this level for at least half a day.”

“Perfect—this gives me enough time to shadow him and run a little test of my own.”

With that in mind, Yenir sent a brief message to Blood Nightingale to keep watching, then fell silent.

Right now, he needed to secure funds, people, and permissions.

And, incidentally, gather some intel on the monsters.