Card maker? No, I'm a mechanic!

"Phew... I finally made it out."

Su Man braced herself against the edge of the pit with both hands, and somewhat awkwardly rolled over onto it, then collapsed onto the cold ground.

At this moment, her once smart black combat suit was now in a terrible state.

It was covered in various yellowish-green slimes and unknown filth, and emitted a strange smell.

Not only that, the viscous liquid seeped in through the wound and clung tightly to the skin.

The slippery, icy sensation sent a shiver down her spine.

"This is absolutely terrible."

She disgustedly shook the filth off her hands and tried to wipe the liquid that had splashed on her face, but instead she only made it spread wider.

"Can you still walk?"

Jiang Zhe also jumped out right after him.

He glanced at Su Man, who was lying on the ground, and his gaze lingered for a moment on the parts that were soaked in mucus.

"No problem, just a bit nauseous, my stomach is churning."

Su Man took a deep breath and forced herself to stand up despite the discomfort. Although her legs were still a little weak, her emotions had stabilized.

"There's nothing we can do, we have to conserve water here, we can't rinse, so just bear with it."

Jiang Zhe casually reassured him, then began to check his equipment.

"There are only two water-cutting cards left..."

Looking at the charred card that had just been destroyed in the card box, Jiang Zhe couldn't help but frown slightly.

In my haste, I forgot to switch, which caused the card to overload and burn out.

The remaining two cards are fine, but they definitely can't be used arbitrarily; they must be used as a trump card.

He secretly calculated to himself, 'My mental energy has been depleted by nearly half.'

"Aside from the Water Cutter, the Armguard, while practically a perpetual motion machine, still consumes resources for starting and ignition."

"In the current situation, if we encountered Ah Wei 2.0, things probably wouldn't be so simple."

"Let's go, it looks like they're still alive."

Jiang Zhe took out the stone tablet and checked it again.

Although the two points of light close together moved slowly, and sometimes even paused for a moment, they were at least still moving.

Moreover, the scarlet dot representing Ah Wei around them seemed like a ghost.

It always maintains a position that is neither too close nor too far, neither attacking nor leaving.

"Is this guy... playing cat and mouse?"

A cold glint flashed in Jiang Zhe's eyes. "Or are you waiting for something?"

"Wait, Jiang Zhe."

Just then, Su Man suddenly grabbed him and pointed to the edge of the stone tablet's projection.

"Have you noticed that there are more tiny points of light around here?"

Jiang Zhe looked down and saw that it was true.

The previously sparse edge area now had seven or eight faint points of light, which were rapidly converging on them.

"Is it because of the stone tablet?"

Jiang Zhe immediately realized what was happening.

The stone tablet, when used with crystals, can function as a radar, but it is itself a huge energy source.

Like a torch in the dark, it can provide light but also attracts moths.

"A double-edged sword..."

Before he could finish speaking, a very faint whooshing sound suddenly came from the darkness ahead.

"call out……"

If you don't listen carefully, you could almost mistake the sound for the wind.

"Watch out on the left!"

Jiang Zhe gave a low shout, and with the help of thermal imaging through the eyepiece, he keenly detected a rapidly approaching heat source.

But strangely, to the naked eye, it was just empty darkness.

"Invisible?"

Suman reacted extremely quickly, without needing to think at all, and the card in her hand was activated instantly.

"Wind barrier!"

The next second, an invisible wall of wind rose up beside her.

"Bang!"

Almost simultaneously, a ripple spread across the wind wall, as if something had crashed into it.

Immediately afterwards, the obstructed figure revealed a slightly distorted outline.

It was a slender, mantis-like strange insect.

"Two o'clock, joint," Jiang Zhe quickly reported.

"good!"

Su Man snorted coldly, a fierce glint flashing in her eyes.

She didn't take a single step back, and the card in her other hand instantly lit up.

"Pfft pfft pfft!"

Several cyan wind blades whistled out, striking the mantis's joints with pinpoint accuracy.

Green blood splattered, and before the mantis could even dodge, it was instantly torn to pieces and scattered all over the ground.

"Luckily, it's just a low-level enemy that relies on stealth attacks; it's very fragile."

Su Man breathed a sigh of relief and put away the cards.

Seeing that the points of light seemed to be getting closer, the two dared not stop and continued forward.

After winding and turning along the passageway, we finally arrived at a relatively open underground cave.

This place appears to have once served as a temporary camp.

There were some broken wooden crates and tools scattered on the ground, and even a few collapsed tents.

Has anyone been here?

Su Man looked around at the traces with some surprise.

"Judging from the state of decay, it seems like this happened only in the last few months?"

Jiang Zhe stepped forward, kicked open a broken wooden crate, and several empty cans rolled out.

"No, that's not right."

He suddenly stopped and fixed his gaze on two dark figures in the corner of the cave.

There were two corpses sitting back to back, as if they were putting up a final stand before they died.

Their flesh and blood had long been devoured, leaving only bare bones.

But what truly made Jiang Zhe's pupils shrink was the tattered clothes they were wearing.

Although it was torn to shreds by something and covered in filth and dirt.

But on the remaining fabric, a familiar logo is still clearly visible.

That's the emblem of a card disposal company!

"Is this...the company uniform?"

Jiang Zhe quickly stepped forward, squatted down, and examined the area carefully.

That's right, these are the special protective suits used in the treatment plant, and he even has one.

"How could this be? How could someone from the company die here?"

Su Man also came over, and when she saw the badge, she couldn't help but show a look of shock.

"Could it be...?"

A flash of inspiration struck Jiang Zhe.

A corpse in uniform, and the secret new project Chen Ming mentioned...

"It seems we've stumbled into this so-called new project by sheer accident."

Jiang Zhe stood up, his face terribly gloomy.

"This is probably not a new historical site, but rather a testing ground developed by the company!"

"What? A testing ground?"

Su Man was startled by what she heard.

"But if what you say is true, then why not report it?"

"Because some things cannot be seen in the light."

Jiang Zhe's gaze swept over the two corpses.

"There's not even anyone to collect the bodies. It seems the situation here is likely out of control."

"That's why they went through the files and brought in a lot of card masters to be cannon fodder."

"What about Chen Ming..."

Jiang Zhe's heart tightened. If this was really the case, then Chen Ming's situation was probably dire.

"We must find Shi Jingcheng and the others and get them out of here as soon as possible."

He took a deep breath, stood up, and forced himself to calm down.

"The water here is deeper than I imagined."

"Rumble..."

However, just as Jiang Zhe was preparing to dig a pit.

Suddenly, a violent tremor came from deep within the cave.

Along with the tremors came a chilling roar, as if some enormous creature was awakening.

"Over there!"

Jiang Zhe looked in the direction from which the sound came, which was exactly where the light on the stone tablet indicated.

"Walk!"

Without further hesitation, the two quickly ran towards the epicenter.

However, they failed to notice one thing.

Shortly after they left.

The two motionless skeletons suddenly trembled slightly.

Immediately following, a black beetle, no bigger than a fingernail, appeared.

It actually emerged from that empty eye socket.

It shook its wings and let out a soft chirp.

Then it silently flew in the direction Jiang Zhe and the other person had left.