As the diving depth continued to increase, the numbers on the gauge kept jumping. 10 meters, 50 meters, 100 meters... 109 meters.
109 meters was the deepest point of the Three Gorges Reservoir, yet the diving bell kept sinking.
"Report, abnormal conditions detected at the bottom. Reservoir depth is increasing," the young man said into the intercom.
"Shen Ming, continue descending... And watch your safety," the team leader's voice came through the intercom.
"Understood!" Shen Ming operated the diving bell to continue descending, stopping only when he reached two hundred meters. He turned on the searchlight, revealing the pitch-black lake bed as another world.
Crystal-clear algae clung to the rocks, looking dreamlike under the illumination of the lights. Ghostly white silverfish darted from the darkness into the beam, approaching this unknown behemoth.
"This world is truly wondrous..."
No sooner had Shen Ming sighed in admiration than the fish suddenly opened its mouth wide and viciously bit into the glass. Shen Ming could clearly see its disk-shaped mouthparts and knife-like sharp teeth. Fortunately, the glass of the diving bell was extremely thick and showed no cracks. After struggling for a moment, the fish perhaps lost interest and swam away.
Shen Ming let out a sigh of relief; he was genuinely afraid of any accidents happening. They had come here precisely to investigate the algal bloom incident, as it was rumored that the massive amount of nutrients at the bottom might indicate potentially dangerous geological activity.
By the light of the searchlight, Shen Ming soon discovered an even deeper pit. Bubbles constantly emerged from it, indicating that there was likely an even larger space underneath.
"Senior, the diving bell cannot descend any further."
"..." The man in the back seat opened his eyes and cast a casual glance. "Then blow it open."
"Blow it..." Shen Ming's face twitched. "Senior, blowing it open is too dangerous. We haven't explored the underwater conditions beforehand, and doing so rashly might lead to bad consequences."
"What, you won't listen to me..." The man's expression turned gloomy, a fierce glint flashing deep within his eyes.
"No, I must report this to the superiors."
Shen Ming reported the underwater situation to the team. Most of them disagreed with doing this, but in the end, the vice mayor made the final decision: blow it up!
No one dared to question his decision, and those who had previously objected remained silent. Once Shen Ming learned of this decision, he didn't dare to voice any objections either—after all, he still had to make a living in this city and certainly couldn't afford to offend the vice mayor.
Yet this kind of operation carried an extremely high risk factor. The vice mayor understood practically nothing, and making such an impulsive decision was simply disregarding human life.
Shen Ming cautiously operated the robotic arm, taking out the pre-prepared C4 explosives. As a professional mountain blaster, Shen Ming understood everything. He only needed to place the explosive charges around the cave entrance; in reality, it was just that simple.
However, this assumed the premise of thorough preparation, whereas they had made no preparations whatsoever and could easily be caught in the blast.
Under extreme tension, Shen Ming nevertheless completed the task methodically. Seeing that no major disaster had occurred, Shen Ming breathed a sigh of relief.
He glanced sideways at the man again, finding his expression as calm as usual, and couldn't help but admire the demeanor of an expert.
"Senior, what should we do next?" Shen Ming had already decided to completely obey the man's instructions.
"Senior?" Shen Ming called out again, but this was his last call in this World...
The lights of the diving bell went out. Through the faint glow, the hellish scene was revealed. The young man's limbs were severed from his body, and his entire corpse was pinned to the wall by bone spikes, blood soaking into the steel. The young man's remains were hung atop the bell, eyes bulging, dead with lingering resentment...
"Heh..." The man stood in the darkness, only a small fraction of his face caught in the dim light, a single drop of blood sliding down his sharply defined cheek...
"So, you heard it too." The man picked up the intercom.
"You—you—just who on earth are you?!"
"Remember it well, I am Enyi... Holy Spirit Cult — Soul of Evil." Without waiting for the other party to speak, Enyi crushed the intercom.
Enyi walked to the exit and cast one last glance at the place.
"Hey, how are things on your end?"
"Heh heh heh... You found me..." Shen Ming's body reassembled amidst a spine-chilling sound, as if forcibly pieced together by some mysterious force.
"Shen Ming" pulled the bone spikes from his body and walked up to Enyi with a relaxed expression.
"This power of yours is truly bizarre—I really want to cut you open and see." A smile appeared on Enyi's gloomy face.
"Come on! I also want a puppet that I can play with longer..."
"Now... time to get down to business."
Bone spikes erupted all over Enyi's body, and the diving bell was reduced to scrap metal in the next second. The explosion stirred up violent undercurrents, and silt filled the entire area.
A dark shadow flashed, plunging into even deeper darkness...