"It seems so."
Fu Qian stepped on the ground before turning his head to follow Su Gao’s gaze, and in the next moment, he agreed with Su Gao’s viewpoint.
Despite the lingering mist, it wasn’t difficult to notice that the space before them was spacious and had a rather peculiar structure.
Like the ground beneath them, everything around was wooden, and in all four directions, besides a plain door, there wasn’t a single window in sight.
Yet, the visibility was even better than before.
This was because both the ground and the surrounding walls had streaks of luminous blue extending across them, evoking memories of encountering a luminous sea during a trip to Ye Island.
Su Gao must have felt the same.
Besides, the overall angle was slightly tilted, resembling a sunken ship, except there was no water.
Yet this situation was downright bizarre—was there a ship sunk beneath the Benevolence Institute?
Should the three-quarters platform from earlier be changed to three-quarters bow?
"Perception is greatly limited; the power level supporting this place must be quite high. Professor Fu, be careful," Su Gao timely voiced her thoughts.
"Don’t worry, I have plenty of ways to retreat. Shall we continue?"
Nodding in agreement, Fu Qian gestured towards the direction of the door.
A consultant should act like a consultant.
After all, this was Su Gao’s project, and she had self-initiated solutions without prompting; it was important to maintain her momentum.
Additionally, Su Gao’s critique was indeed accurate—even though he was Second Phase, Fu Qian’s perception was highly impaired at the moment.
"Let’s proceed; I should be able to break through this place in reverse," Su Gao said without hesitation. With a glance at the path they’d come from, she walked ahead.
...
Not only was there no decoration, but there wasn’t even a lock—the wooden door seemed to merely serve as a barrier.
And as Su Gao reached out to open it, a peculiar sound could be heard.
But that wasn’t a sound from the door; rather, it resembled the sound of a living organism, which Fu Qian confirmed.
Indeed, Su Gao’s action disturbed this place.
Unfortunately, the source of the sound was somewhat elusive, and perception beyond the field of vision wasn’t very useful.
But as the saying goes, one shouldn’t only see the bad side but try to see more of the bad—for instance, the outside view wasn’t great either.
As the door opened and they looked out, the mist became noticeably denser, the luminous blue light even blurring.
This setting, paired with potential creatures peering from the sides, necessitated heightened vigilance.
Fortunately, Fu Qian trusted that, like him, Su Gao always had the healthy habit of being cautious.
Sure enough, faced with this scenario, Su Gao stepped out without any hesitation.
When—
And with her second step, she raised her sword and struck a shadow that lunged down from above.
...
Indeed, there were indeed creatures, unfriendly to those who disturbed their peace.
Not surprised by the sudden change, Fu Qian moved forward and scrutinized the creature confronting Su Gao.
Smooth-skinned and emaciated, its skin seemed to be slathered in tar, blending with its surroundings as camouflage, making it quite inconspicuous when it was stuck to the ceiling above.
Indeed, Fu Qian had noticed it just like Su Gao did. He even confirmed that this wasn’t the creature that had made the sound earlier—or perhaps it would be better to call it ’he’?
Although its crawling posture was quite feral, the creature faintly had human-like limbs, a round cranium, and soft facial features.
It appeared somewhat human-like.
Meanwhile, Fu Qian also noticed the webbed membranes between its fingers, the gill slits behind its ears, and even fins seemingly attached to its spine.
These were rich in marine elements, representing a classic image of human evolution.
Observing its form, Fu Qian’s first thought was that humans had evolved to adapt to the environment.
The attacker wielded weapons in the form of spikes extending from its forearms, sinister in appearance.
Seemingly unafraid of humans, even after having its spikes torn off by Su Gao, it showed no sign of retreat, fixedly gazing at her through eyes that appeared to have an extra layer of membrane.
That such a creature existed in such a secretive place was indeed remarkable.
Crack...
However, despite retaining human facial features, the creature had completely lost the ability for verbal communication.
Faced with the strong presence of two High-level Extraordinary individuals, it could only emit a sound from its throat to embolden itself.
"It’s of no value."
Fu Qian shook his head at Su Gao in response to the creature’s performance.
Crack—
Almost at the same time, the criticized creature lost its patience and lunged forward again, this time splitting into two.