Fantasy Game: Infinite City

Chapter 639 Submerged Ruins (7)

Han Zu stared at the churning dark red magma within the crater. The scorching heat emanating from it didn't cause him any discomfort; instead, it stirred the dormant energy within him. The fatigue from traversing the caves and dealing with the strange creatures surged up, and his energy core, like a dried-up riverbed, desperately needed nourishment. Without hesitation, he took a deep breath and swam straight towards the magma below.

The moment his body was fully immersed in the magma, a warm, soothing sensation enveloped him. This magma, located on an underwater volcano and tantamount to certain death for other creatures, felt to Han Zu like falling into the most comfortable hot spring. To him, the heat energy in the magma wasn't a destructive, violent force, but rather countless nourishing, fine currents of warmth seeping into his body through his pores, flowing through his limbs and bones, and finally converging into his energy core. The strange radiation mixed in with the heat was like precious nourishment, making his previously sluggish energy flow smoother, each cycle more abundant than the last.

He sighed contentedly, floating comfortably in the lava, even turning over in blissful ease. The temperature of the lava was just right for him, providing enough warmth to nourish his body without causing any burden. This feeling of perfect harmony with the extreme environment allowed his tense nerves to completely relax, and the fatigue of the past few days quickly faded away like melting snow.

The little mouse perched on Han Zu's head wasn't having such a pleasant time. The moment Han Zu entered the lava, the little mouse let out a sharp squeak, creating numerous bubbles in the water around its head. Its fur stood on end, its limbs gripped Han Zu's hair tightly, and its small body trembled like a leaf in autumn wind, burying its head deep in Han Zu's hair, not daring to open its eyes. It could clearly feel the terrifying heat emanating from below, an aura that instinctively filled it with despair. Each slight ripple of the lava made its body tremble even more violently.

Han Zu noticed the little creature's fear above him, reached out and gently patted its small body, the gentle energy flowing through his fingertips to try and soothe it. But the little mouse was still terrified, its claws gripping even tighter, its nails almost digging into Han Zu's scalp.

Time passed slowly, and Han Zu was immersed in the joy of his energy recovery. His energy core, like a rice paddy nourished by spring rain, gradually became full and abundant. Meanwhile, the little mouse, still gripped by fear, gradually weakened, and the strength in its paws loosened. In a moment of carelessness, one of its little paws slipped from Han Zu's hair, its fingertip lightly touching the magma surrounding his body.

The little mouse froze instantly, its fur standing on end again, instinctively trying to retract its paw. But the expected sharp pain didn't come; instead, it felt a warm, smooth sensation similar to Han Zu's skin, with a strange sense of comfort. It raised its little head in confusion, cautiously opening one eye to peek at the lava below. The heat from the dark red lava, blocking some of the seawater, flowed slowly before its eyes, radiating a soft glow. The intense heat that had previously terrified it now seemed almost welcoming.

To verify its feeling, the little mouse mustered its courage and extended its other paw, gently placing it on the surface of the lava. A warm, gentle sensation instantly enveloped its paw, and even a tiny wisp of energy seeped into its body, gradually relaxing its previously tense body. Curious, it moved its paw, causing small ripples in the lava, but without causing it any harm.

The fear receded like the tide, and the little mouse's curiosity was fully ignited. It first tentatively brought its head to the edge of the lava, carefully examining the substance that both frightened and intrigued it. Then, it cautiously climbed down from Han Zu's head, along his shoulder, and slowly onto his arm. Finally, it simply placed its two little paws on the edge of Han Zu's arm, dipping its tiny feet into the lava and gently wiggling them like a child playing in water. Occasionally, lava would splash onto it, leaving only a trace of warmth before being repelled by the faint energy that quietly emanated from its body.

Han Zu watched the little creature's transformation, a faint smile playing on his lips. He hadn't expected this newly mutated mouse to adapt to the magma environment, even finding it comfortable. This was likely due to the physical changes brought about by the mutation, granting it resistance far exceeding that of ordinary creatures. He didn't disturb the little mouse's exploration, but simply continued to close his eyes, wholeheartedly absorbing the energy and radiation from the magma.

As energy continued to flow in, Han Zu's energy core became increasingly abundant. He could clearly feel that his energy had not only returned to its peak state, but also, due to the nourishment from the special radiation in the magma, the foundation of his energy core had deepened, showing faint signs of a breakthrough. He opened his eyes, a sharp glint in them. As he stood up, magma slid down his body, leaving no trace.

Seeing Han Zu get up, the little mouse immediately withdrew its tiny feet from the lava, crawled up his arm back to his head, and settled steadily there, its little paws still warm from the lava. Han Zu reached out and patted its little head, then looked towards the entrance on the rock wall at the edge of the crater. The enormous entrance resembled the mouth of a giant beast, its dark interior radiating a mysterious aura, drawing him in to explore.

With a swift movement, Han Zu swam towards the entrance like an arrow released from a bow. The rocks around the entrance, having been baked by magma for a long time, had a smooth, glass-like texture. Some faint engravings could be seen on them, which seemed to be some kind of ancient pattern, but due to long-term erosion by seawater, their specific shapes were no longer discernible.

Upon entering, a completely different atmosphere from the outside world immediately enveloped us. Gone was the scorching heat of the volcanic crater; instead, a chilling, damp feeling permeated the air. A faint sea scent and an indescribable aroma, reminiscent of decaying plants, filled the air—not pungent, but rather carrying an ancient, weighty quality. Inside the entrance was a spacious passageway. The passageway's walls were not natural rock, but rather artificially polished into neat arcs. At intervals along these walls were embedded crystals emitting a faint blue light. These crystals, likely naturally formed luminescent minerals, provided a dim yet stable illumination for the passageway.

Han Zu slowed down, his senses spreading like a tide into the depths of the passage. The passage was long and continued to descend, seemingly leading to even deeper parts of the seabed. He could clearly feel that the passage's rock walls were exceptionally solid; even after so many years, there were no obvious signs of collapse, only a thin layer of dark green moss covering the surface, contrasting sharply with the gray of the rock walls.

Along the way, clearer carvings began to appear on the rock walls. These carvings were diverse in subject matter: some depicted strange creatures with enormous heads and long, thin limbs, their bodies covered in fine scales—clearly not any known life form on Earth; others were abstract geometric patterns, lines intertwining to form complex textures that seemed to contain some kind of peculiar rule; still others appeared to depict some kind of sacrificial scene, with blurry human figures kneeling around a large, spherical object. Han Zu carefully observed these carvings; the creatures and the style of the patterns were unlike anything he had ever seen in any known civilization's ruins.

The little mouse perched on Han Zu's head, curiously observing its surroundings, occasionally letting out soft squeaks and creating bubbles in the seawater. Its little head turned constantly as Han Zu moved, seemingly also interested in the carvings. Han Zu didn't stop its curiosity, but instead became even more vigilant, observing the surrounding activity. The energy fluctuations deep within the passage were growing stronger, carrying an ancient and gentle quality, completely different from the energy he had sensed anywhere else before.

After extending for about a thousand meters, the passage suddenly opened up. A vast underground space appeared before Han Zu, far exceeding his expectations in size, stretching as far as the eye could see, like an underground kingdom submerged by the sea. The ceiling was hundreds of meters above the seabed, and the rock walls at the top were inlaid with numerous luminescent crystals. The blue light emitted by these crystals converged, illuminating the entire space. Although the light was still somewhat dim, it was enough to clearly see the surrounding scenery. When the enormous buildings standing in the space came into view, Han Zu's eyes flickered slightly. A vague outline flashed through his mind, and a guess about this place quietly emerged. He seemed to have been to a similar place before, but he couldn't be sure. His expression remained calm; his gaze lingered briefly on the overall outline of the buildings before turning to the more detailed structures.

These buildings possess a chillingly eerie style, completely deviating from the architectural logic of known civilizations. They are not constructed of brick or metal, but rather of a dark red substance resembling congealed flesh. The surface is not smooth, but covered with fine, wrinkled lines, interspersed with tiny, sesame-seed-sized dots that shimmer with a dark red glow, like some kind of unclosed pores. The architectural forms are twisted and bizarre. Some resemble several giant pythons intertwined and climbing upwards, their "flesh" merging together, blurring the boundaries between them. Their surfaces are covered with a thin, transparent, mucus-like substance that gleams oily under blue light. Others resemble enormous organs deformed by a giant hand, with countless hemispherical bulges on their surfaces. At the top of each bulge are tiny holes, from which a drop of viscous, dark red liquid slowly seeps out every few tens of seconds. The liquid does not fall directly but hovers in the air for a moment before slowly merging into the surrounding seawater. Still others are pieced together from countless irregular "pieces of flesh." The gaps between the pieces are not completely closed, revealing a dark red substance flowing slowly like magma inside. Occasionally, tiny tentacles peek out from the edges of the gaps, as if probing the outside world, before quickly retracting. These buildings are extremely large in scale, with the smallest being tens of meters high and the largest standing in the center of the space, exceeding one hundred meters in height. Its shape resembles a giant, half-open flower bud, with layers upon layers of outer "petals." The surface of each "petal" is covered with raised lines like blood vessels, and the dark red liquid flowing in the lines is clearly visible, exuding a mysterious and heavy aura.

Han Zu's gaze swept over the colossal structure in the center, but he felt little curiosity. He had seen similar fleshy structures elsewhere, and even knew some of their internal workings, but the sheer size of these structures still made him slightly uneasy. The largest of its kind he had ever seen was only a third the size of this smallest building. What struck him even more was that these fleshy structures seemed to be bound by some force, extending only within this underground space and not growing outwards. The surrounding rock walls retained their original form, showing no signs of being eroded or assimilated by the fleshy substances—a stark contrast to the similar structures he had seen before, which constantly devoured their surroundings. The holes on the surface of the colossal structures varied in size, some large enough to accommodate several people walking side by side, others only the size of a fingernail. Each hole was surrounded by a ring of fine, white cilia, like eyelashes, which trembled gently with the extremely slow, undulating movement of the structure, as if breathing.

Han Zu carefully observed these fleshy structures. They emanated no bloody stench, but rather a peculiar smell, a mixture of damp earth and rotting wood. The smell wasn't pungent, but carried an ancient, weighty quality that seemed to transcend time. These structures weren't static; rather, they maintained an extremely slow state of motion, like giant beasts in deep slumber. Each undulation of the "skin" on the surface of the structures took several minutes, the movements so subtle they were almost imperceptible. Only by staring intently at a particular pattern for a long time could one detect even the slightest change in its position. The dark red liquid dripping from the organ-like structures didn't spread after merging with the surrounding seawater; instead, it slowly gathered as if alive, eventually seeping into the tiny cracks in the ground. The holes on the surface of the central giant structure only slowly contracted every ten minutes or so, drawing in small amounts of seawater during contraction and expelling a lighter-colored liquid with fine foam during expansion. The little mouse perched on Han Zu's head had its fur taut, its little head slightly raised, its bright black eyes filled with curiosity and wariness. Since evolving after consuming a small portion of Han Zu's flesh, its intelligence had become comparable to that of an adult. The bizarre fleshy structures before it filled it with both novelty and an instinctive unease. The heavy, solemn aura emanating from the structures felt like an invisible pressure enveloping it, causing its small body to tremble slightly involuntarily. It instinctively gripped Han Zu's hair tighter with its claws. But sensing Han Zu's steady breath beneath it, its unease subsided somewhat—this being that had always protected it, though not intentionally, gave it enough confidence. It dared not move rashly, simply burying its head in Han Zu's hair, occasionally peeking out to survey its surroundings out of the corner of its eye. This was the safest place it had ever been.