Enforcer Manual
Chapter 589: One-way Ticket_1

When they saw him, the iron giant clad in dark golden exoskeleton armor was surrounded by aberrant constructs. With each swing of his kinetic chainsaw, a bloodbath ensued, severing the bodies of any aberrant constructs that drew near. He was like a merciless killing machine, stomping the twitching pieces of flesh trying to reassemble on the ground into a bloody froth.

Flames shooting from his exoskeleton armor’s left arm quickly incinerated the remaining enemies.

After the iron giant had cleared the monsters nearby, his gaze shifted toward Song Lan and the rest, who were watching from a distance.

In their last encounter, Yeying had suffered at the hands of Barrosa’s elite troops; this time she did not act rashly, instead, using the tactics learned from Song Lan, she fully utilized the current environment. She hid directly behind Lu Xiang and even peeked her head out, locking eyes with the distant iron giant with a provocative look.

In her opinion, these tin cans were certainly strong, but they were nothing in front of the invincible Bug Swarm Queen.

However, in reality, the military commander, Lu Xiang, and Song Lan were all taken aback by this unexpected meeting, because theoretically, they had "secretly" rescued Yeying from the plaza; they were supposed to be hostile as soon as they met. Judging by Yeying’s reaction, she naturally regarded the other party as coming after her.

"What do we do?"

It was after some time that Song Lan finally plucked up the courage to inquire the identity of the other party, in the capacity of a Bug Swarm diplomat.

"I am the commander of the First Army Corp of the Barrosa Group, and also the overall commander of this war."

A cold, mechanically synthesized male voice came from beneath the helmet.

"We... we’re good people."

Clearly, this was a failed attempt at diplomacy.

Song Lan’s self-introduction lacked persuasion, again plunging the atmosphere into an awkward silence. Even Yeying, who was hiding behind Lu Xiang, couldn’t help but tug at Song Lan’s sleeve, whispering a reminder, "It seems we’re not exactly the good guys."

After an internal struggle, the commander of the First Army Corp, who was not adept at social interaction, finally found a reason that could temporarily turn swords into plowshares after exhausting a great deal of brainpower. To make his reasoning more persuasive, he cleared his throat before speaking, "This place is fraught with danger; now is not the time for infighting."

Having spoken these words, the commander of the First Army Corp silently made a decision.

If he survived and made it back, he would definitely find time to consult the other commanders on how to cleverly defuse such embarrassing crises.

But if analyzed from a rational and objective perspective, the commander of the First Army Corp felt the problem did not lie with him.

In fact, to avoid meeting Lu Xiang and the others, he waited an hour after the trio had entered the "mine pit" before starting his journey, yet the three appeared from behind him, giving him ample reason to believe they had been neglecting their duties and wasting precious time in the last hour.

Or perhaps the Bug Swarm had anticipated that the Barrosa Group would join the war and so deliberately stayed hidden in the shadows, looking to save energy and follow behind him.

The commander of the First Army Corp wasn’t concerned about such scheming amongst allies.

"I agree."

Lu Xiang spoke up.

After a brief exchange of information, Song Lan suddenly made a new discovery.

According to the information provided by the commander of the First Army Corp, he had entered the "mine pit" not long ago and encountered them after defeating the second wave of aberrant constructs.

Song Lan admitted that he and the others indeed had not been entirely diligent in the past hour, but even if they had been slacking off, they shouldn’t have ended up behind the commander of the First Army Corp after wandering in the "mine pit" for so long. Moreover, the efficiency of the invincible Bug Swarm Queen in clearing the monsters was undoubtedly much higher than that of the genetically modified soldier.

"The number of aberrant constructs has increased again."

Ten minutes ago, Lu Xiang thought he had reached the depths of "the mine pit," but now, the suddenly increased number of aberrant constructs made them feel as if they had returned to the starting point.

Song Lan looked ahead; the path still illuminated by the blood pools looked much the same as it did ten minutes, even half an hour ago.

"Yeying, how far are we from the Archbishop now?"

He suddenly thought of something and asked.

"Very close, the Archbishop is not far from here."

But even Yeying herself was stunned after saying this.

Because half an hour ago, Song Lan had asked the same question, and she had given the same answer then.

Afterward, she had focused her attention on looking for small animals in "the mine pit."

Now, they were still very close to the Archbishop, the psychic sensing was so strong she felt they might encounter her just a little way ahead – which was exactly the same as half an hour before.

For a moment, many scenes depicted in urban legends surged through Song Lan’s mind.

"Follow me."

This time, he chose a route completely opposite of Yeying’s psychic sensing.

This path seemed to lead them away from "the mine pit," and in less than five minutes, they saw the cliff they had encountered before diving deeper into "the mine pit" – it was from this very place they had jumped down to become surrounded by the aberrant constructs.

For ordinary people, this was a one-way ticket.

The stairway originally built for miners and Church explorers had been long destroyed, and once one fell here, there was no chance of getting back to the surface.

But this was no difficulty for the invincible Bug Swarm Queen.

Propelled by Spiritual Energy, the four of them returned to the platform in the blink of an eye.

As expected, the exit from the mine pit had disappeared.

The passageway that had originally led out of "the mine pit" turned into another platform, appearing as if the path to the depths of "the mine pit" had been stuck together by some force.

The aberrant constructs that had been obliterated by Spiritual Energy re-"spawned," letting out sharp screeches at the people on the platform from another cave leading to the depths of "the mine pit."

Looking at the writhing aberrant constructs, Yeying inevitably became confused as well, pointing in a direction completely opposite from her previous psychic sensing, "The Archbishop is over there, very close to us..."

But even she could understand this simplest of principles.

If they had been walking in the opposite direction for ten minutes now, they should have been getting farther from the Archbishop.

At this moment...

It seemed no matter which way they went, the distance from the Archbishop did not change, and they, it seemed, could never leave this place where the entrance was fused together.