Chapter 449: inside the pipe

Seeing an entrance open up inside the huge metal pipe, the tourists audibly heaved sighs of relief as they rushed inside with Mr. Sandstorm who deactivated the exotic shield in the process.

The lady mercenary stayed outside to fend off the attacks of the Scavenger rats until everyone entered the pipe before she also jumped in.

Clang!

With a pull of a lever by Mr. Sandstorm, the opened parts of the metal pipe closed shut again with a loud sound. With the metal pipe closing up, the huge noise made by the ravaging Scavenger rats became muffled and suppressed.

Bam! Bam!

The Scavenger rats immediately started bashing hard at the metal pipe from outside but they couldn’t breach it, it stood as solid and heavy as a wall of metal.

Seeing that everything was fine, no complications happened and they were safe now, a tense-hearted Mr. Sandstorm staggered as he leaned against the walls of the metal pipe to rest from the exertion of the past few minutes.

Seeing him like this, the tourists heaved another sigh of relief as this confirmed that they were temporarily safe.

Some of them felt like singing a song but they couldn’t bring themselves to. Without hesitation, the family of 4 fell down directly to the metal floor while the others leaned at the wall to rest.

Though their encounters from first hearing the galloping sounds, to retreating, to seeing the maneater snake, and then going back through the Scavenger horde only took about 30 minutes, they felt like it was lifetimes already.

The intense emotions in their hearts throughout the encounter now left them shaking in either fear or excitement, the thrilling encounter was a first in their lives though they already expected it.

The only thing about the previous encounter that really made them feel afraid was the fact that 5 of them died. It felt like a nightmare, but it was real and 5 humans died so nonchalantly like they were mere animals.

It was a horrifying reality that they found hard to believe.

Like in horror movies, they knew that some of the side characters always died but they didn’t expect to see this so early into their expedition inside the world of gold which was undoubtedly nightmarish.

In this era, the numerous wars, invasions, and internal civil wars in countries already made most civilians develop extreme views towards life.

For most rich people now, with the knowledge that even their money could not save them if the mad soldiers decided to start a war, why not enjoy that money and gamble with their life ahead of time by seeking thrills.

If they died, it meant that they were unlucky but if they survived, they would hathe an experience to brag with for the rest of their lives.

Then, even if a war swept through their country, killing them in the process, they would die and sleep in peace knowing that they already enjoyed their money to the fullest by seeking thrills across the world.

This was the main reason why despite this being an era of war, tourism was still a main facet of every economy and most rich people still went on tourism expeditions.

“Hahaha”. The Casanova youth suddenly laughed loudly, attracting attention and alarming the other tourists in the team. “I survived, I f*cking survived, that was f*cking awesome!”

Hearing what he said, the other tourists heaved sighs of relief before having different reactions to it. In the end, as they were all exhausted, they simply lay on the cold metal floor of the pipe.

Like the others, Clark sat on the floor to rest so as not to draw unnecessary attention to himself. While doing this, he constantly kept an eye on the 4 people who participated in the treasure hunting.

Though none of the other tourists said it, he knew that they were now already afraid of the lady mercenary who got the treasure which was evident in their reactions since entering inside the pipe.

All of them, including the locals, kept a certain distance from the cold lady who no longer bothered with disguising her real self since entering the pipe.

With the leader of this expedition being a 2nd rank high-grade soldier, and him also being scared of this lady indirectly revealed her rank to each tourist which only made them grateful and wary of her.

They were grateful for her strength which helped them tide through the storm, while they were wary if she would use it to harm them.

As Clark silently observed all these, he could not help but sigh. The description from his implant about the found treasure still occupied his mind.

Though he already confirmed before coming that treasures which were relics from the great battle decades ago laid randomly in the desert, he did not expect to encounter one so early in.

“Perhaps, this is really a world of gold in figurative and realistic terms”. He muttered silently with a sigh.

So smoothly, this lady already pocketed a treasure worth approximately 500 million Spartan credits. Of course, he didn’t give up on the treasure yet, the time was just not right yet.

“I say we just rest for the whole day here to replenish our strength completely. What do you all think?” Mr. Sandstorm suddenly asked, breaking the eerie silence inside the huge pipe interior.

During this time, Clark also observed the interior of the pipe. Most parts of its walls already showed signs of rust but it was still a sturdy, mechanical functioning tunnel-connecting huge pipe.

He already confirmed that it could deal no damage to them which was the reason why he was able to sit down so freely.

As soon as the tourists heard the question of the leading guide of the team, they did not hesitate to give their consent but they suddenly paused like they remembered something, then they turned to look at the lady mercenary.

“Let’s rest”. The lady simply commented coldly which made them all heave sighs of relief. But before they could lay back down, she asked a question.

“Who fought and injured the maneater snake?”

As she asked, her cold pair of eyes were already scrutinizing the tourists as if she was a judge in a courtroom. When her eyes swept past Clark, the tourist responded exactly like the others.

“The maneater snake was injured?” The other tourists were surprised.

Seeing their reactions, the lady kept quiet with no intention to say further as she folded her hands and finally closed her eyes. Unlike the others, she didn’t sit down on the floor, she remained leaning on the wall.

The tourists observed each other warily as they could make some deductions from the lady’s question. In the end, they simply succumbed to their exhaustion and laid down to rest.

[Sorry for the late release.]