The Spirit of Gourmet

Chapter 399 The Gate of Black Qi
"Lo...Lomi!"

Inside the drilling rig, Liu Chuang was panting heavily, his legs aching terribly from pedaling so hard.

"How much longer until we arrive?"

"It should be soon." Lomi gritted her teeth, keeping a close eye on the numbers on the energy detector. "At most, there's a hundred meters left."

"Work harder!"

"If I, a girl, can persevere, why can't you?"

“It is possible… but…” Liu Chuang glanced suspiciously at the pedal under Luo Mi’s feet. The pedal looked no different from the one he was using, but he always felt that Luo Mi pedaled much more easily than he did.

"Um... Lomi, how about we try switching seats?"

“…Huh?!” Lomi paused for a moment, then shook her head vigorously, “No, no, I won’t change!”

Seeing Liu Chuang's suspicious gaze, Luo Mi turned her head to one side somewhat guiltily and spoke quickly, "Junior, you don't understand. My pedal is the main pedal, which requires more effort than yours."

"As a senior, of course I have to take care of... Hey, what are you doing?!"

Feeling two hands grab her waist from behind and lift her up, Lomi felt a wave of dizziness wash over her.

"I don't believe it." Liu Chuang put Luo Mi aside and quickly moved to Luo Mi's place.

After only two kicks, his eyes widened.

"You were slacking off!"

“Your pedal is just for decoration; it requires no effort at all. I’m the one putting in all the effort.”

“Haha…ahaha…” Lomi chuckled dryly, “Then how about…I’ll pedal the rest of the way.”

"It's long overdue!"

Under Liu Chuang's resentful gaze, Luo Mi sat in his previous spot, gritting his teeth and laboriously pedaling.

The drilling machine started moving again and quickly advanced dozens of meters.

"when--"

A sharp sound suddenly rang out, and Lomi felt the resistance on the pedal under her feet increase dramatically, making it impossible to press down.

"We've arrived!" Lomi's eyes lit up. "We've been digging all along, and it's all soil and gravel, but judging from this sound, what's blocking our way is probably rock!"

As she spoke, she quickly glanced at the detector again.

"The energy fluctuations have increased several dozen times; what we're looking for is just ahead."

"So what do we do now?" Liu Chuang couldn't help but ask.

"Get ready to go out." Lomi found two oxygen supply devices, tossing one to Liu Chuang. "The oxygen is thin underground, take this with you."

Immediately afterwards, Lomi controlled the drilling machine to drill a space in the nearby area that could temporarily accommodate the two of them.

After completing all this, the two put on their oxygen supply equipment, took flashlights, and stepped off the drilling machine fully equipped.

What appeared before them was a bare rock surface, with drill marks on it.

Lomi picked up a piece of gravel from the surrounding soil, compared it with the surface of the rock in front of him, then pressed his ear against the rock and tapped it for a while before excitedly saying, "This rock in front of us wasn't formed naturally, and there's a rather large cavity behind it."

"Find a way to break it!"

"Lay isn't suited to operate in this confined space, leave him to me." Liu Chuang quickly summoned Little Pi, "Use Dark Claws!"

"Hiss!" Little Pi let out a triumphant roar, gathering a pair of huge black claws with dark energy and tearing them fiercely at the rock.

"Click——"

With just one claw strike, clear claw marks appeared on the rock, along with tiny cracks around the claw marks.

"It can do it!" Liu Chuang and Luo Mi both showed surprise and delight.

"Keep going, Pi, dig a road!"

"Hiss crack!"

Little Pi responded quickly, its claws, imbued with dark energy, repeatedly clawing at the rocks in front of it. Rock fragments flew everywhere, and the rocks were visibly chipped away, eventually creating a hole.

"It's done!" Liu Chuang exclaimed excitedly. "Xiao Pi, widen the opening to a size large enough for one person to enter!"

Xiao Pi responded and continued to exert force.

Soon, Liu Chuang and his companion excitedly turned into the hole that Xiao Pi had expanded and arrived at the area behind the rocks.

Under the flashlight's beam, vast expanses of naturally formed stalactites and stalagmites appeared before their eyes, the jagged rocks forming path after path in this unknown cavern.

“Let’s go that way.” Lomi compared the changes in the energy detector’s readings and quickly pinpointed the source of the energy fluctuations.

The two carefully passed through stalactites and stalagmites, slowly advancing into the cave, and soon everything around them became clear and open.

"Look over there!"

Liu Chuang suddenly exclaimed and pointed his flashlight in a certain direction. A door made of some unknown material appeared before them.

The two fell silent at the same time, and after a moment, Lomi spoke softly.

"Junior, doesn't this scene look familiar?"

"That looks familiar." Liu Chuang muttered to himself.

They had seen similar portals in the underground waters of Bailushan City. Although the two were quite different in size and style, the materials used to make them looked very similar. It was a mysterious alloy that even the power of the Spirit Eater could not destroy.

They are also quite experienced in how to get in through such a door without a key.

If the door won't open, then just blow it off the wall!
"Lomi, shall we plant the bomb now?" Liu Chuang said casually. "This is all flat land, so there won't be any unstoppable natural disasters like the floods we experienced last time. It should be quite safe."

"Don't rush." ​​Lomi carefully examined the doorway in front of her under the flashlight beam, then her expression turned serious.

"Look over there."

As she spoke, she adjusted the beam of her flashlight to a cluster the size of a silver coin, increasing the brightness several times over while also narrowing the beam's range.

The light was aimed at the crack in the door, and under the bright light, a wisp of black smoke was quietly drifting out from inside.

However, before it could dissipate, the smoke seemed to be attracted by the door and clung to it.

As Lomi moved the flashlight, more and more black mist appeared before their eyes.

For some reason, even though they hadn't come into contact with the black energy, they instinctively felt a chill run down their spines.

"What is that...?" Liu Chuang asked with some difficulty.

“I don’t know.” Lomi shook her head. “But just to be on the safe side, let’s not get close to it for now.”

"Send the Food Spirit to investigate."

Liu Chuang nodded. "Xiao Pi, I'm counting on you."

"Go and see what that black mist is."

"Hiss~" Little Pi responded and slowly flew towards the portal, cautiously approaching a wisp of black mist.

The next instant, its eyes rolled back and it fell directly to the ground.

"Little Pi!!!"

(End of this chapter)