Chapter 302

A sense of foreboding welled up in their hearts. As they crawled forward and the distance closed, they finally saw the situation ahead: a massive ventilation fan was spinning at high speed, its blades shimmering like razor-sharp blades in the light. One wrong move would mean being sucked in and ground to pieces. They crept carefully through the ventilation ducts, where the air was dark and damp, like a forgotten corner of the world. A sickening odor permeated the air, a mixture of death and decay. Every so often, water droplets fell from the walls, creating a rhythmic "tick-tock" sound that rang out with unnerving clarity in the deathly silence of the shaft. Each drop sounded like the footsteps of death, tapping away at their strained nerves. Suddenly, they could faintly hear the sound of their enemies conferring below, muffled and shrouded as if behind a mysterious veil. It was like the whispers of demons from the depths of the darkness, as if they were guarding a vital secret—a secret capable of overturning the entire situation.