I have an Apocalypse City
Chapter 1196 - Chapter 1196 Chapter 1198 Maze of Passages_1

Chapter 1196: Chapter 1198: Maze of Passages_1 Chapter 1196: Chapter 1198: Maze of Passages_1 Song Jian took the lead, while Xin Ling followed closely behind, entering the deep passage without any hesitation.

The corridor was surrounded by thick rock on all sides, and only when they had just entered the passage was there a glimmer of light, which lessened further down, with no light penetrating the darkness.

Song Jian activated his Vertical Eye at the center of his forehead, and the surroundings immediately came into sharp focus, allowing him to see everything clearly. Just then, a beam of light shot from behind him. Turning his head, he saw that Xin Ling had donned a miner’s helmet that was emitting a blinding light from its lamp.

“Not bad!” Song Jian glanced at the miner’s helmet on Xin Ling’s head and smiled slightly. The helmet was painted with a Pikachu pattern, and the entire thing had been colored pink.

Shrugging her shoulders, Xin Ling said, “This was a reward from a level ten quest. The attributes aren’t great, but it can work continuously for ten hours!”

After walking another five or six meters, they encountered the first fork in the path. Song Jian’s heart sank, and he had a bad premonition. After a moment’s consideration, he chose the left-hand path and made a mark on the wall at the intersection.

Soon, they came across a second fork. Song Jian sighed and said, “It looks like we’ve run into trouble–it’s a maze…”

After marking the spot, they continued onward. The number of forks they encountered kept increasing: three-way intersections, four-way intersections, and the deeper they went, the more choices they had to make. Soon, they became lost in the complex labyrinth of passages.

“Why are there so many forks here?” Xin Ling asked, somewhat frustrated. They had already walked close to ten kilometers, enough to traverse the entire mountain, yet endless darkness and countless forks still lay before them.

“Hidden missions are not that easy to complete. Shall we explore one path at a time?” said Song Jian with a sigh, before turning to ask, “Or do you have a better idea?”

“If only I had those nanomachines, just a fistful could break down into a hundred thousand little robots…” Xin Ling frowned slightly and said, “I’ve seen such technology before–once I encountered a Lord-level BOSS with nanomachines, which controlled an army of monsters by releasing countless nano robots!”

The contents of this game world often confused Song Jian; at times, he felt like he lived in the ancient past, sometimes in the twentieth century, and at other times, in the era of ancient immortals.

Like the smart robots Xin Ling mentioned, Song Jian had encountered them in Scorching Gorge as well. Those must have been the robotic avatars of an intelligent entity, which had created countless copies over a thousand years to escape from the Tower of Trials. Ultimately, with Song Jian’s help, it had indeed escaped from Scorching Gorge.

Remembering his first entry into the city where the technological environment had almost instantly been invaded and taken over by the robotic avatars, Song Jian felt a chill run down his spine.

After thinking for a while, Song Jian summoned Stone Golem Gulu directly. The massive Gulu appeared somewhat constrained in the narrow passage, almost squatting to fit, and each slight movement left an indentation on the surrounding walls.

Seeing Gulu’s woeful expression, Song Jian patted its head and asked, “Gulu, can you split into an infinite number of little stone golems to explore this maze in the air?”

Song Jian remembered that the first time he had encountered the Stone Golem Gulu, no matter how many times it was killed, its shattered fragments would reform into smaller golems and reassemble.

Stone Golem Gulu nodded, and its body emitted a series of “crack and crumble” noises as it split. Within a short period, palm-sized little stone golems leaped from its form and scurried down the passages in various directions.

After a short while, hundreds of little stone men disengaged from Gulu’s body, and at this time, Gulu’s form had shrunk to roughly the same size as Song Jian.

“Is it really that powerful?” Xin Ling’s face showed a look of surprise, her eyes scrutinizing the stone creature Gulu up and down.

“Is this, is this a Lord-Level stone elemental battle pet?” Xin Ling exclaimed, her eyes brimming with envy and excitement.

“Initially, it was just a common earth elemental. It’s a battle pet I’ve raised step by step!” Song Jian patted Gulu’s shoulder and said with a smile.

Watching Xin Ling excitedly touch the stone creature Gulu and mutter to herself with envy, Song Jian thought to himself, “You’re this excited about a Lord-Level stone elemental battle pet; if you knew I also have a Lord-Level Black Dragon battle pet, I don’t know how jealous you’d get!”

More and more little stone men continued to split off from Gulu, and its size kept decreasing. When Gulu had shrunk to half Song Jian’s height, it could no longer split off any more stone men.

Just then, Gulu suddenly pressed its hand into the wall of the adjacent passage. Before long, the rocky wall of the tunnel appeared to turn into a thick liquid, which flowed along Gulu’s arm, toward its body. In no time, Gulu’s body had grown massive once more.

Next, Gulu began a second round of splitting. This time, even more little stone men popped out from its body. At first, Song Jian was counting how many there were, but soon, he gave up trying to keep track; there were simply too many. In just half an hour, the number had already surpassed three thousand little stone men entering the tunnel, and the pace seemed to be accelerating still.

Song Jian and Xin Ling could do nothing but patiently wait. After more than five hours, the number of little stone men Gulu had split off exceeded ten thousand. Just then, Gulu abruptly stopped splitting off any more stone men, stood up vigorously, and pointed toward one of the passages. It then strode toward a fork in the path, gesturing for Song Jian and Xin Ling to follow behind.

As Gulu walked, more little stone men rushed toward it, merging into its body, and Gulu’s form expanded while it moved.

When Gulu grew tall enough to reach the top of the tunnel, it finally stopped allowing more stone men to merge with it and instead had them follow behind. Shortly, a large group of palm-sized little stone men had gathered behind Gulu.

“I didn’t expect your battle pet to have this ability; it’s just like the intelligent robot BOSS I saw!” Xin Ling whispered.

Song Jian laughed and said, “After completing this mission, we’ll sell the Snake Vine Grass. You can also pick two similar battle pets from the treasure vault of the Imperial Sword Sect!”

Although they had just joined the Imperial Sword Sect, Song Jian was aware of some of its buildings. The Sect’s Treasure Pavilion was a place where various treasures were collected and sold. The Snake Vine Grass they had collected could be sold there, and the treasures inside were at least of Dark Gold level, with even Epic and Legendary Level items available. However, the price required Purple Crystals besides the sect contribution points!

This mission, in addition to the Chaotic Sword Art reward, would also earn them a considerable amount of contribution points!

Following the stone elemental Gulu deeper into the passage, Song Jian could distinctly feel that they were heading downward. After more than two hours, they finally arrived at a massive bronze gate under Gulu’s lead. Behind this door must lie the so-called Forgotten Temple!

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