CH 20

Level 4 mutant animal

Heise is worthy of being a space ability mutant animal. Its flying speed is very fast. Even if they are an hour behind Xu Kai and others, they quickly catch up with them.

From a distance, they could hear the explosion or whistling sound that comes when the ability is used and as they got closer, they found that the others were in front of a large cave. Currently they were cleaning up some low-level mutant animals in front of the cave entrance.

After the battle with the human devouring Gu worm, there were only 18 people left from the original 51 people, this can only be described as a heavy loss.

“You guys are here!” Xu Kai walked over with a smile, looked up and down Shen Qingjia’s body and was a little puzzled, “You…”

“Have you found the guardian beasts of the secret realm?” Zhu Ai interrupted his words.

Xu Kai nodded, “If we are right, the secret treasure and guardian beast are inside this cave.”

This forest is inherently connected to numerous mountains with treacherous peaks and undulating terrain, and by the time you reach it, a series of peaks have cut off the area ahead, and a dark, unknown cave at the foot of the mountain leads off in an unknown direction.

The trees are tall and lush on the peaks of the distant mountains, yet not even the slightest sound of insects and cicadas can be heard, so quiet that it looks like a graveyard where all living creatures are buried. So odd, it seemed that even if this was not the destination there were high level mutant animals inside.

It was a dark night, and the cave entrance had swallowed up all the light in its path. Even when a torch was lit and peeked into the cave, only a flickering light of two or three metres in circumference could be seen. She didn’t know if it was an illusion, Shen Qingjia felt that the darkness here was so thick that it gave off a strange vibe.

“Deputy head, the torch burns normally and the rabbit is normal. It is preliminarily judged that the cave contains oxygen suitable for human survival and there is no large amount of toxic gas.” A team member pulled out the rabbit that was thrown into the hole after tying its hind legs with string, checked it for a moment and reported.

Xu Kai glanced at the weird hole, suppressed the uneasiness in his heart, said with a smile, “Since we’re all here, let’s go in.”

No one objected, the crowd followed Xu Kai in.

The moment she stepped into the entrance of the cave, Shen Qingjia felt a cold wind blowing past her, blowing out the burning torch, causing a slight noise and chaotic footsteps. The chilly wind blew across Shen Qingjia’s cheeks and seeped into her bones, making her whole body shudder and Shen Qingjia subconsciously took a step back.

“Are you okay?” Zhu Ai held her shoulders.

Shen Qingjia shook her head and nodded without speaking, Zhu Ai held her palm accurately in the dark and led her forward, “Don’t be afraid, I am here.”

In the thick, almost invisible darkness, all of them tensed their muscles and bones and worked their powers to the point of emitting a faint glow on the surface of their bodies. All of them were like jellyfish floating fragilely in the deep sea, trying their best to emit light, not only failing to dispel the darkness around them but foolishly revealing their positions.

No one dared to speak in the darkness, the small and messy footsteps were soft, Shen Qingjia held Zhu Ai’s cold and dry palm and the heartbeat in her chest slowly calmed down.

After a long, long time, too long to remember clearly, Shen Qingjia later will explore countless ghost caves in secret realms, The City of the Dead in the Underworld [1]. The monstrous flames in her palms were enough to burn countless powerful mutant animal to ashes. But still, not even for a moment did her heart feel so peaceful as it does now. It was like a small boat had returned to the harbour, and from then on no great storm was of any concern to her.

Shen Qingjia heard Zhu Ai’s calm and indifferent voice, “Xu Kai, it’s better not to use torches here.”

Xu Kai, who was about to rekindle the torch, was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly realised, “Offensive ability user, throws away the torch and wears night vision goggles.”

The human eye is unable to see properly for a few seconds when the surroundings suddenly go dark, and it would be bad if the enemy took advantage of this time to sneak in! However, the cave was so full of twists and turns that it really needed some defensive abilities to see the way.

Shen Qingjia also put on the night vision goggles assigned to her, and the only colours left in her field of vision were red and green. The red heat-emitting living objects and the green inanimate heat-less objects were all the time.

In general, there are two types of night vision goggles and gadgets: image intensification and thermal imaging.

The image intensification goggles amplify the otherwise weak light to make the picture clear under the night vision goggles. Although the image is clear enough, this also leads to the fact that the image intensification goggles can not see anything in the absence of light, if you want to use it in the wild, the environment at least has to have moonlight and starlight.

They are using thermal imaging goggles this time, which detect targets based on the difference in temperature or thermal radiation between the target and the background or parts of the target, work over long distances, can identify camouflage and interference based on infrared light which distinguishing them from image intensification vision goggles, where it can work even in extreme darkness without a trace of light.   

After walking for less than fifteen minutes, Xu Kai, who was in front of the team, suddenly stopped, exclaimed, “I heard something!”

Startled by his sudden shout, everyone listened attentively, “It seems… the sound of something crawling.”

Hissing and rustling were mixed together, coming from not far away. Like a beast mourning, like someone whispering.

Someone turned pale, “Could it be that group of monsters again…”

“Wu Li, shut up, don’t jinx it!” Someone immediately yelled in fear.

The strange sound was getting closer and closer, everyone was tense and moved forward one step at a time, ready to fight to the death.

As she walked forward, Shen Qingjia felt that the rustling sound became louder and harsher, as if someone was scratching on the blackboard with sharp fingernails. She almost cover her ears with her hands.

Suddenly, the leader stopped. The main road ahead separated into three forks. Xu Kai thought for a moment, “Let’s take the path where the weird sound come from.”

Shen Qingjia gave him a blank look, the more dangerous the situation, the more he pushes forward, he really is a professional in courting death!

In reality, it was not Xu Kai is a daredevil. The thing is, he had been sent out by Luo Sihai to explore the secret realm and at the same time he also sent more than 30 ability users to keep an eye on him, with the aim of getting the secret treasure and preparing to get him killed at any time. Although he had killed those 30 ability users with the help of the human devouring Gu worm, if he failed to obtain the secret treasure of the secret realm this time, whether he started another base or defected to another base, he would not have enough strength to do it.

As soon as they turned a corner, everyone suddenly found that they had walked into a wide and bright room and their vision suddenly widened.

This is a very wide cave. The top of the cave is about eight or nine metres above the ground. The light from nowhere illuminates the huge cave and the thick darkness that almost drowns people has been completely dispelled.

Shen Qingjia looked forward, stunned, said in a low voice, “That…that’s a secret treasure…?!”

In the centre of the cave, a fist-sized crimson pearl floats in mid-air, emitting a bright, soft glow. It is as bright and dazzling as the rising sun and as brilliant as a jade carving. It is this light that illuminates the cave as if it were daylight, and adds an air of dignity to the humble stone cave.

With this kind of purity of energy, there is a high possibility that this is the secret treasure of this secret realm. However, before they had time to revel in the treasure, the next second almost everyone at Hope Base’s face went white and all of a sudden they didn’t even dare to breathe.

Less than half a foot below the orb, a mutant animal was lying on the ground. The orb sprinkled a small light that fell on it, which was then absorbed by it. The mutated animals kept hissing and howling, which became the strange sound that people heard just now through the expanded partition or distortion of layers of cave walls.

The mutant animal is about the size of an adult bull and its eyes are red from bloodshot. The body is covered in fine, dark, shiny scales the size of fish scales. The head is huge, the face broad, and the mouth opens to hiss showing sharp teeth stained with interlocking canines, and even the surface of the tongue is covered with many keratinised, inverted spikes. It is evident that this mutant animal was probably a feline before it mutated, with some resemblance to a leopard.

Its body is so strong, its claws are so sharp, its body is tall and muscular, the muscles are beautiful, showing an explosive power, its movements are agile, every part of its body is born for hunting.

This powerful mutant animal, whose entire body exuded level 4 intimidation, hissed and was giving birth to the continuation of life that belonged to it.

Xu Kai muttered to himself, “It’s giving birth to a cub… I see, no wonder it doesn’t have time to take care of us.”

At that very moment, the ferocious crimson vertical pupils of the level 4 mutant animal snapped open and stared at the crowd, a tyrannical aura sweeping out!

Translator’s notes :

[1] 阴墟死城; yes I also paused when I translate this. I seriously hope this is just a metaphor but remembering the hint about the separation…

Honestly my motivation to continue translating this novel is low, like really low. But since I translate while reading and I want to read the story until the end I will continue….for now.

Just, seriously, admin of lighnovelreader[dot]org, why can’t you be like others’ websites and host the MTL version instead of stealing from hard-working-unpaid translators like me? Why?

Well at least you guys now don’t have to read chapters mixed with pictures since I don’t care anymore. I probably will stop translating after this project is done.