The entrance of the tunnel was at least seven meters tall and three meters wide, filled with the scent of the level-eight creature. The scents of the other underground creatures could hardly be sensed from the tunnel. The other underground creatures might not have the courage to enter that tunnel, or they were probably not allowed.
Lin Qiao walked in; the tunnel was quiet, and the cave wall was coarse, full of bumps and dents. The level-eight underground creature was at least ten meters tall when it stood straight, but the tunnel was only about seven meters tall. Clearly, it would bend slightly to move across it.
The tunnel was long, and Lin Qiao spent a long while walking in it. From time to time, the road inclined downward, and she walked past a large circular room. The further in she went, the quieter it got.
About an hour later, she suddenly heard dog barks.
"Owooo…"
Following that came a series of footstep sounds and a wave of roars from some underground creatures.
"Roar!"
"Roar!"
"Owooo…"
At that point, Lin Qiao finally recognized the dog bark. No wonder it sounded so familiar.
'What is he doing here?' Lin Qiao wondered.
Bowwow was at level-six already. As a zombie beast, it was stronger than the mutated animals at his level. So, the underground creatures below level-six weren't able to hurt it. Of course, he was probably unable to hurt them either.
Lin Qiao had spent so long walking around in the cave. So far, she had seen a few level-four ones and a level-seven one. As for the level five and six ones, she had no idea where they were.
Hearing Bowwow's voice, she immediately ran toward the dog.
Soon, she saw the black zombie dog jumping from side to side, nimbly running about in the broad tunnel and playing with those underground creatures. The dog leaped high and thrust its legs against the wall, then jumped onto the wall on the other side. The underground creatures wielded their claws and pounced on the dog over and over again, but it always dodged flexibly.
The tunnel had provided the dog with enough space for him to play the game.
The underground creatures following behind the dog seemed to be a little frightened. Lin Qiao detected that they didn't seem to have the courage to launch fierce attacks on him. Perhaps, it was because their leader's vibe could be sensed in the tunnel, and they might be afraid of it.
Unlike them, Bowwow cared about nothing as it was happily darting around in the tunnel.
Near the dog, Lin Qiao raised a hand and released a basketball-sized, black flake of flame. The flame quickly split into numerous small fire streams, which were even thinner than a little finger. The fire streams flew past Bowwow and flashed toward the underground creatures behind it.
"Wow?" Sensing Lin Qiao's vibe, Bowwow barked excitedly. Then, he turned away from the crowd of underground creatures and let out its tongue while storming toward Lin Qiao.
Tens of underground creatures were following behind the dog, and Lin Qiao sent a stream of netherworld fire into every single one of them. Before long, they fell onto the ground one after another and started rolling and struggling.
Lin Qiao raised a hand and slowly clenched her fingers to control her power. The black fire quickly absorbed those creatures' energy and life-force. Within a few seconds, the tens of underground creatures were all drained and then burnt into ashes.
"Bowwow…" Bowwow rushed up behind Lin Qiao and jumped around her while wagging his tail crazily fast. He also pressed his body against Lin Qiao's legs.
"Alright, alright, stay far away from me! You are covered in dirt!" Lin Qiao pushed him away and said, "Where're Black and the mushroom?"
The dog was in the cave, so the snake and the mushroom were definitely there too.
"No wonder those creatures have been so nervous just now. It's you guys creating trouble here!" She glared at Bowwow as it pinched the dog's ears while speaking.
"Owoo…"
Bowwow's hair had grown much longer than before, and were smooth and shiny. The dog was large, reaching above Lin Qiao's waist. He had strong limbs and sharp claws. At the moment, he had his teeth bared and his tongue was hanging out of his mouth. Those teeth of his were shining with a cold light.
"You got separated? You left them behind and played by yourself? I'll kill you if those creatures eat Black!" Hearing Bowwow's answer, Lin Qiao immediately raised a hand and slapped heavily on his head.
"Owo!" Bowwow raised his head and barked again. He was clearly very confident about Black's power. He had suffered a slap on the head, but didn't care much about it.
"Come on!" Lin Qiao moved forward.
"Owo!"
Lin Qiao needed to find Black and the mushroom in case those two got killed. For those underground creatures, Black was, of course, super delicious. The mushroom wasn't an animal, but its scent would displease those creatures. They would figure out a way to throw the mushroom into the junkyard even if they didn't eat it.
While walking, Lin Qiao sensed the scents of many underground creatures and then saw a hole.
A large group of underground creatures was gathering before the hole, pushing each other. They seemed to want to go in, but didn't dare.
As the vibes of Lin Qiao and Bowwow were suddenly sensed, those creatures paused with surprise and then gave warning roars.
""Roarrrr!"
Lin Qiao waved an arm and released a large cloud of dark mist. The mist quickly moved toward the hole like some kind of living creature.
"Roar…"
"Roar…"
Being threatened by the power in the mist, those underground creatures started shrinking back. Some didn't manage to run, but ended up being wrapped in the mist.
"Roar!"
"Roar!"
Waves of screams could immediately be heard from the mist.
Lin Qiao controlled the mist and filled the entire hole up. As a result, the underground creatures who didn't have the time to run were shrouded in the mist. The mist devoured their energy and life-force, then vanished their bodies without leaving even a drop of blood.
With one movement, Lin Qiao cleared a large area near the hole. The other underground creatures made a few big steps forward, but didn't dare to stop running. All they could do was keep an eye on Lin Qiao.
Lin Qiao walked to the middle of the room, where the heavy earthy scent covered Black's scent. Lin Qiao couldn't sense him, so she had no choice but to spend more time and look more carefully for the snake.
She spent about ten minutes sniffing around but still didn't sense anything. So, she turned around and saw Bowwow quietly sitting by her foot, doing nothing.
"Oh, why are you still sitting here? Get up and help me find them!" Lin Qiao kicked the dog.
Owowo! After suffering that kick, Bowwow stood up and shook his body, then reached out his nose and sniffed every single tunnel entrance.