thefictionvixens Chapter 24 Sewer Rats
Chapter 24 Sewer Rats
The return journey was unremarkable.
What caught Luo Lan's attention was that the charred wound on his right index finger, which he had recently injured by touching the rune gate, had begun to grow new muscle fibers under the influence of his specialty, [High-Speed Metabolism], and was already showing signs of improvement and recovery.
Inside his chest, the rhythmic beating of two hearts brought a strange sense of cadence and a vitality to his body that exceeded Luo Lan's expectations.
With unhurried steps, Luo Lan descended the winding stone steps. The entrances to the first and second floors of the underground palace castle were still blocked by heavy, rusty iron gates.
As Luo Lan passed through the iron gate, his scarlet single eye scanned the rusty fence a few times. In the field of vision of [thermal vision], there were only large areas of red and purple stitched corpses with heat source reactions, wandering around listlessly.
[A mob farm, huh? Every floor looks exactly the same.]
Having no time to deal with these monotonous mobs, Luo Lan continued walking down the stone steps.
The first floor of the underground palace is not the end of this circular stone staircase.
Continuing down from the first floor, the slope of the stone steps gradually decreases, and at the end of the steps connects to an extremely spacious circular hall.
The hall is perfectly circular, with a ring of niches carved into the stone brick walls. Dozens of rusty iron candlesticks are embedded in the niches, burning quietly, clearly also [Eternal Flames].
The flames flickered incessantly in the damp air, casting swaying shadows on the walls and floor.
The place was unusually empty. There were no superfluous furnishings, no stitched-up corpses guarding the area, only a huge rusty iron manhole cover embedded in the floor in the very center of the hall.
The manhole cover is nearly three meters in diameter, and its cast iron surface is covered with dark red rust and blackish-green mold.
Luo Lan walked to the center of the hall, tapped the manhole cover with the spider spears on his back, and produced a hollow echo.
[Is there still a sewer system?]
Luo Lan gripped the groove on the edge of the manhole cover and lifted it up with all her might. The heavy iron cover was lifted by one corner, and a cold wind mixed with the smell of putrid water and wet mud rushed out from underneath.
Below the manhole cover was an endless expanse of darkness; in the thermal vision, there was only a cold, deep blue. In this dark environment, one could see nothing with normal vision.
Luo Lan thought for a moment. Although he could make his way forward in a completely dark environment with the help of [thermal vision], the structure of the sewer was unknown. Relying solely on heat source feedback would make it easy to miss many environmental details that lack temperature. Conventional vision was equally important.
Looking at the rusty candlestick beside him, the candlelight flickered, but Luo Lan knew that the [Eternal Flame] inside the candle would not be extinguished easily.
"Click."
Luo Lan walked to the wall, grabbed a rusty iron candlestick handle fixed to the ground with her left hand, and violently broke it off the stone slab, base and all.
Then, he casually hoisted the heavy iron candlestick, which was over a meter long, onto his shoulder. This sturdy long-handled candlestick could not only be used for lighting, but also, in case of an emergency, could be swung out as a kind of heavy-duty long-handled weapon.
[Human hands are still the most useful.]
Feeling the firm grip from his five fingers, Luo Lan couldn't help but mutter to himself.
The giant armored spider's shell, while possessing the mobility of an arthropod, lacked fingers, making even picking up something difficult.
Otherwise, how could we say that Earth's ancestors evolved hands first, gaining the ability to use tools and manufacture weapons, thus standing out from the brutal struggle of nature and reaching the top of the food chain?
Back at the manhole cover, Luo Lan pushed the opening wider, leaving enough space for his two-meter-tall body to pass through.
"Clatter".
Luo Lan jumped off the edge of the manhole cover, splashing water as her feet sank into the shallow sewer water.
The water at the bottom of the sewer wasn't deep, only about ankle-deep, mixed with silt and unidentified debris, creating a slightly stagnant feeling in the damp and cold environment.
The rusty candlesticks were held high. Their dim light illuminated the decaying space deep beneath the underground palace, dispelling the surrounding pitch-black darkness.
The architectural style of this giant sewer is exactly the same as that of the underground palace above, resembling the style of medieval times on Earth.
The dome has a semi-circular arch structure. The stone bricks on both sides have turned black and soft due to long-term dampness. The surface is rough and uneven, and the gaps between each stone brick are filled with black and green slime mold.
The only difference between this place and Earth was that these slime molds gleamed moistly in the candlelight, expanding and contracting with the flickering flame, as if breathing. This served as a constant reminder to Luo Lan that this seemingly tranquil environment might harbor hidden dangers.
Stepping through the viscous, shallow water, Luo Lan slowly made her way through the secluded passage.
Alternating between normal vision and thermal vision, it warily scanned every shadow behind the corner.
Just as Luo Lan turned a corner, a series of fine splashes of water suddenly rose from the surface of the water beneath her feet.
A small creature suddenly rushed out of the darkness at great speed, its four paws pawing at the shallow water, making rapid splashing sounds.
"call out."
The eight spider spears on Luo Lan's back moved in response, and one spear shot out from his shoulder, its tip piercing the dark shadow with precision.
"squeak--"
A short, sharp scream rang out. Luo Lan held the spider spear up to her eyes; a large, shiny black rat hung from the tip.
This rat was a whole size larger than any rat on Earth, its fur glossy and shiny, reflecting a black light in the candlelight. Its teeth were unusually long and serrated, clearly indicating it wasn't a herbivore.
[As expected of a mouse, even in the extraordinary world, it can make a living in the sewers.]
Luo Lan casually pulled the giant rat's corpse off the spider spear and placed it on his chest near his cervical vertebrae. The rat's corpse instantly disintegrated, turning into a cloud of blackish-purple particles that were absorbed by Luo Lan.
[Chaos Essence +1]
[Current Chaotic Essence: 778]
Now Luo Lan was certain that this black rat was also a low-level monster occupying a low-level ecological niche.
Although the amount of source material provided is pitifully low, it's not surprising that a monster like it can survive in this perilous dungeon.
Shaking off the remaining black ash from his hands, Luo Lan continued walking forward.
As they walked further down the sewer, the shallow water beneath their feet became increasingly murky, a thin layer of grease began to float on the surface, and the remains of rat monsters gradually appeared on the ground.
Grayish-white bone fragments were scattered in the water, with clear tooth marks on the broken bone ends, and some bones still had torn pieces of fur attached to them.
These remains were all badly mangled, as if they had been torn apart by something much larger.
A faint smell of blood wafted over from ahead, mingling with the damp, musty smell of the sewers.
A faint light appeared at the end of the previously pitch-black sewer.
Luo Lan gripped the long handle of the candlestick, slowed her pace, and cautiously stepped out of the dimly lit tunnel, where a bright and clear view suddenly appeared before her.
A huge natural cavern cavity is revealed before us.
At first glance, the terrain here bears a striking resemblance to the cave leading to the outside world, which features a spider's nest, a giant centipede monster, and a narrow stone bridge.
All of them have dome-shaped ceilings and stalactites hanging upside down.
But a closer look reveals something unusual about this place. The cave shows very obvious signs of human excavation.
On the ceiling of the cave, there is a deep, square passage, about three meters on each side, whose destination is unknown.
Several neat holes were carved into the cave walls, each containing a rusty iron brazier. The oil in the braziers crackled and burned, casting a play of light and shadow over the entire cave.
The sewer canals extend all the way here, and the sewage flows along the stone-lined drainage ditches into a bottomless dark river at the bottom of the cave.
This underground river is clearly connected to the pool of black water under the stone bridge that Luo Lan saw next to the stone bridge cave.
Now, Luo Lan has finally reached the edge of this bottomless water.
The surface of the pool was eerily calm, and the reflection of the brazier stretched into several trembling bands of light on its surface.
There were more skeletal remains scattered along the edge of the pool than in the sewers, including not only grayish-white rat bones but also some large skeletons of unidentifiable species.
The broken bone surfaces were covered with dark green mold; these bone fragments had been dead for who knows how long, from their lives to the present.
Even with the naked eye, it's clear that something dangerous lives in this pool of black water.