Chapter 72: Underground Tunnel

"It's nothing, it's what I should do," Gu Chen said.

"The meat's ready!" Dongfang Po took the roasted boar meat off the grill and tore it in half. Instantly, the rich aroma of the pork wafted through the air.

Dongfang Po tore off a big chunk and handed it to Gu Chen.

Gu Chen accepted the roasted meat and thanked him. Honestly, compared to compressed biscuits, this wild boar meat tasted so much better.

"By the way, do you guys eat this kind of thing?" After finishing the boar meat, Gu Chen took out a pack of Weilong spicy sticks from his system backpack and asked.

"What is this?" Dongfang Po was intrigued by the exquisite packaging of the Weilong spicy sticks.

"Spicy sticks. They taste really good," Gu Chen said as he handed out one to everyone, finishing off the entire pack.

Gu Yue Na and the others, unsuspecting, put it in their mouths and immediately their eyes lit up.

Yuan Ye, on the other hand, gave Gu Chen a long, thoughtful look and didn't eat his. Instead, he handed it to Zhang Yixuan beside him.

Zhang Yixuan took it immediately and popped it into her mouth like she was afraid someone would snatch it from her. Simply put, the spicy stick was just too delicious.

"Brother Chen, got any more?" Gu Yue Na licked her fingers, her big eyes gazing at Gu Chen.

Gu Chen felt his young man's heart melting from her cuteness. Without hesitation, he pulled out a fresh pack of spicy sticks from his system backpack and handed it to Gu Yue Na.

Her eyes lit up like bright moons as she eagerly tore open the pack and began munching happily.

"Bro, give me a pack too!" Dongfang Po looked at Gu Chen with puppy eyes.

Gu Chen shot him a look, "No more!"

"Aw, come on! I only had one!" Dongfang Po wailed.

"System, show attribute panel."

Ding!

System Character Panel:

Name: Gu Chen

Age: 12

Strength: 1,150,000

Spiritual Power: 8,130

Bloodline: Golden Dragon King Bloodline 99.125%, Dragon God Bloodline 0.875%

Level: Level 48 Soul Ancestor (4 seals unlocked)

Soul Rings: Purple, Black, Black, Black

Overall Evaluation: Displayed strength is on par with a Soul Douluo, but true power is unimaginable.

System Backpack:

Gold Soul Coins × 61,980

Soul Power Amplification Cards × 8

Low-Level Subjugation Talismans × 4

Night Cloak

Original Puppets from Yuan Ge × 5

Original Paper Chu Luan from Yuan Ge × ∞

Original Steel Wires from Yuan Ge × ∞

Scorpion Pistol Bullets × 920

Bronze Sword × 1

Weilong Spicy Sticks × 7 packs

Raptor Egg × 1

Secret Techniques: Bajiquan Crash, Xuan Tian Treasure Record (Immortal Herb Chapter)

500 System Points

"System, show Dongfang Po's attribute panel."

Ding!

System Character Panel:

Name: Dongfang Po

Age: 18

Strength: 6,970

Spiritual Power: 1,200

Bloodline: 100% Human

Level: Level 52 Soul King

Soul Rings: Yellow, Yellow, Purple, Purple, Black

Loyalty: 50%

Overall Evaluation: A youth of average strength, straightforward personality, easy to deceive.

"Not bad. Once I get a mid-level subjugation talisman, I might try to enslave him," Gu Chen thought. The Dongfang family had produced two elders in the Spirit Hall, and Dongfang Po happened to be the only son of those two. While they might not dote on him unconditionally, they definitely supported him.

"System, show the quest panel," Gu Chen said.

Ding!

System Quest Panel:

Accepted Quest: Kill 10,000 abyssal creatures.

Quest Rewards: Revolver × 1, Revolver Bullets × 1000, Low-Level Subjugation Talismans × 3, Mid-Level Subjugation Talisman × 1

Progress: 3821/10000

"Still quite a way to go," Gu Chen sighed. Truthfully, if not for that swarm of over a thousand Abyssal Bomb Wasps earlier, he wouldn't have even made it this far in progress.

Night fell. Everyone returned to their rooms to sleep, leaving Zhang Yixuan and Yuan Ye on night watch.

Due to the limited number of dry wood cabins, all nine members had to squeeze into one room, making it feel very cramped.

Since there were only two dry wooden beds, Jin Zi, Hua Bu Luo, Xuan Mo, and Luo Chen voluntarily chose to sleep on the floor.

Ling Xiaojiu, Feng Xiaoyu, and Xue Youyou squeezed onto one bed.

Gu Chen originally planned to let Gu Yue Na have a bed to herself and sleep on the floor himself, but she stubbornly dragged him onto the bed. Fortunately, the beds weren't too small, so the two weren't cramped.

Suddenly, Gu Chen felt the urge to pee, so he decided to get up. To avoid waking Gu Yue Na, he carefully lifted the small hand she had subconsciously placed on him and tiptoed off the bed.

Luckily, Gu Yue Na only furrowed her brows slightly and didn't wake up.

Whew—

Gu Chen let out a breath of relief, quietly opened the wooden door, and slipped out before gently closing it behind him.

He walked to the bottom of another building, where there was an outhouse made of dry wood.

After relieving himself, Gu Chen intended to return to his room. But on the way back, he faintly heard the sound of arguing.

The source of the voices came from beneath a nearby dry wood plank.

Gu Chen lifted the plank and was surprised to see a metal door — something unheard of in these unnamed mountains!

He threw out a puppet, which silently sliced through the metal door with its claws. After retrieving it, Gu Chen jumped down.

As for why he didn't use his Golden Dragon Claw, it was because the aura it released was too powerful and easily detectable. Only the puppet could do such things quietly and efficiently.

Thanks to inheriting Yuan Ge's legacy, Gu Chen had excellent control over noise. He moved silently all the way to the source of the voices without alerting anyone.

Beneath the metal door was a narrow underground tunnel. Gu Chen had been here for days but had never discovered this underground area below the survivor base.

Peeking ahead, he saw that the argument was between Yuan Ye and Zhang Yixuan.

"It's those damned things again! You knew they'd come for us! You knew all along!" Zhang Yixuan shouted — a shocking sight, given her usual gentle demeanor.

"You... calm down! I confirmed it. Other than the nine newcomers, there are no suspicious people near the survivor base," Yuan Ye replied.

"Confirmed? You said the same thing last time, swearing it was true!"

"That's enough! Shut up already!" Yuan Ye roared.

What's going on?

Gu Chen was puzzled and tried to get closer, but accidentally brushed against a dried branch on the tunnel wall.

"Who's there? Come out!" Yuan Ye, being a Soul King, immediately picked up on the sound.

He raised a handmade lantern and shone it in Gu Chen's direction.

"It's me." Seeing no way to hide, Gu Chen stepped out.

"Zhang Yixuan and I were just out for a walk, chatting a bit. It's late, go back to sleep," Yuan Ye forced a creepy smile and said.