Chapter 599: Pig Chop's Underground Exploration

Gordon patted Anshil's shoulder.

Anshil, who had always been in a light sleep, opened his eyes. He seemed to have never slept at all. He picked up the heavy crossbow that had never been put away without any confusion, and locked the scope to the golden color in his sight.

It was an unknown insect monster, which looked like a combination of a beetle and a mantis. It was not too big, about four or five meters long, barely reaching the edge of a large monster, and was about the same size as a beetle.

"Bang."

The muzzle of the fierce moment [Shiyu] flashed with fire, and a dye bullet shot out, hitting the target accurately, leaving a pool of bright pink marks on the shell that seemed to be cast in gold.

"Ji——!" The mysterious monster suspected to be a beetle was frightened, let out a sharp hiss, and began to drill into the ground.

"Leave it!" Anshil shouted.

Liefeng roared, turned into a residual shadow and rushed up.

Unfortunately, it was still a step too late. The golden monster drilled into the ground very quickly, and it had already drilled into the ground before Liefeng bit it.

It even used its sharp hind legs to move the sand and buried the tunnel it dug when it went underground.

"Woo, woo, woo--"

The empty-handed Liefeng roared angrily and frantically dug at the slightly loose sand.

Some tooth hounds are indeed good at digging, but the sturdy Liefeng is obviously not that kind. When Gordon and the others ran to it, it barely dug a shallow pit that was big enough to put its big head in.

Pork Chop looked at Gordon, and his intention was obvious.

Before Gordon had time to say anything, Ansel spoke first, "At present, it is basically certain that the bottom layer around this building is relatively solid, so there is no need to worry about quicksand, otherwise that thing would not come here specifically to drill in and out.

But it is not appropriate to chase it now, and there is no need. I have already put dye bullets on it, so I don't worry about it running away.

My suggestion is to go back to the camp first, rest and adjust the state, and replenish props. We can't be sure whether and when we will encounter mechanical monsters during the pursuit, so it is important to stay in shape."

Gordon thought about it and agreed with Ansel's suggestion.

"Let's go back to the camp first."

In the camp prepared by the advance team, they slept until the afternoon, and ate a hot meal after waking up. Gordon and others immediately felt full of energy.

Pig Chop took the initiative to ask for an attack again, and this time Gordon did not object.

Among the two people, the cat and the dog, only Pig Chop was good at digging underground. It was a pity that Xianglan and Amber were not here, otherwise they could still help.

With Gordon and Anxier's repeated instructions, Pig Chop set off alone.

It first came to the building where the golden beetle was found last night, sniffed left and right, and found nothing unusual.

Tightened the fixing belts of the cat armor and cat sword, and finally checked the condition of the portable props. After confirming that everything was correct, Pig Chop drilled into the ground.

The smell of dye bombs mixed in the sand guided the route of the golden beetle when it drilled into the ground.

Pig Chop dug down along this route. After a few minutes, there was nothing in front of it, and it almost fell directly.

"Meow!"

Pig Chop screamed and quickly used his sharp claws to grab the cracks outside the cave to avoid falling.

This is a dark underground cave.

At this time, it was hanging upside down on the rock wall at the top of the cave, swaying.

Pig Chop calmed down, and his focused cat eyes quickly scanned around. For the time being, he did not find any danger or living things, which made him feel a little relieved.

Climbing down the rock wall, Pig Chop shook off the sand on his body and observed the surroundings.

As Gordon guessed, the underground near the ruins of the ancient fortress was empty.

Big and small caves, caves, and corridors are connected in series, forming a huge and complex underground space.

Similar landforms are very common in desert areas.

It can be said that the sand sea on the surface and the underground lava caves together form an ecosystem that looks barren but is actually full of diversity in the desert.

After taking out a small notebook and simply recording the terrain with a compass, Pig Chop followed the smell of the dye ball and tracked it.

Every two or three hundred meters, it would stop and continue to draw a topographic map. At the same time, according to its number of steps and the direction of advance, it would roughly confirm the position of the surface of the area where it was at this time.

This would help it to complete the main purpose of this reconnaissance - to find an entrance and exit suitable for Gordon and his team to enter the underground cave.

In this way, while chasing the smell and moving forward according to the map, Pig Chop couldn't tell how long he had been in the underground cave.

The dark environment always makes people forget the passage of time, and the sense of direction gradually becomes blurred in the darkness.

Pig Chop continued to move forward and finally found the trace of the golden beetle in a very wide underground cave that probably covers tens of thousands of square meters.

It was lying on the rock wall motionless, as if it was sleeping.

There were more than one golden beetle similar to it. In this giant cave and several caves in the nearby area, Pig Chop also encountered several monsters of the same kind.

They should be the "masters" of the nearby caves. I don't know if they have any relationship with the mechanical behemoth?

After a little hesitation, Pig Chop began to explore - it tried to approach these creatures.

These golden beetles have vision and very keen vibration perception. They move slowly and are not very aggressive. Even if they attract their attention, they can easily escape.

After playing with these unknown monsters for a while, Pig Chop suddenly raised his body.

The sensitive whiskers trembled twice, and it felt a breeze.

The presence of wind often means there is an entrance or exit.

It looked carefully, and soon found a huge crack in the rock wall nearby.

The breeze came from there.

This rock wall is not vertical, and the surface is uneven. Even for humans without claws, it is not difficult to climb.

If the crack can really lead to the surface, Gordon and his team should be able to come down through here.

Pig Chop made a mark on the topographic map again, and then climbed along the rock wall to the crack.

When it got closer, it found that due to the observation angle, the crack was wider than it thought. It was not an exaggeration to say that it was a corridor. Even the big gale should be able to pass freely.

"I hope it will go smoothly, meow." Pig Chop drilled into the passage inside the crack and ran up.

A few minutes later, it saw light at the end of the passage.

Pig Chop was very excited and his pace accelerated further.

".Which meow is this?" After getting out of the crack, Pig Chop looked around for a while, and a question mark appeared on his head.

There were brick and stone walls more than ten meters high all around, but the clear sky could be seen above his head, and the moonlight was shining down, illuminating this place.

Pig Chop scratched his ears, climbed up the wall, and soon came to the surface.

Looking back, Pig Chop suddenly realized and said to himself: "It turned out to be a well meow, and it's quite big."

Observing the mottled and weathered buildings around, Pig Chop was very sure that they had never been to this place before, but it must still be within the scope of the ancient fortress ruins.

Climbing up the wall to a higher place and looking around, Pig Chop finally figured out where it was at this time.

"It has actually run to the castle in the center of the ruins, meow?"

After confirming the direction, Pig Chop slid down the wall and ran towards the direction of the camp.

Ps.

Those who like to know the setting should have guessed that these two chapters I wrote about the male mantis, which has never appeared in the game, but only in the setting.

In the initial draft, the male mantis was going to appear as a vassal monster, but it was later cancelled. Regarding the male individual, I did not find any pictures, so I can only write vaguely.

There is a setting that I am not sure whether it is an official setting. It says that the male mantis is golden and the female is brown. As the female eats more and more males, the color will become more and more golden. It is a way to judge its age. This statement was mentioned by two ups who did the MH ecosystem, but I have not found such information myself, so I have not applied it yet.