Miss Witch Doesn't Want to be a Diva

Yang Che held his electromagnetic rifle, continuously aiming and firing. His brows were furrowed, while several teammates in the same uniform lay around him.

"When will the reinforcements arrive!?"

"Still an hour away." From a corner of the cave behind him, Lude occasionally popped his head out to fire his pistol, helping to fend off the stragglers.

"We're too far from the surface, and the SWAT team from Payin City isn't familiar with the terrain, so they can't get here quickly."

As Lude panted, he spoke, and when his pistol ran out of ammo, he simply tossed it aside. He then groped for a heavy machine gun lying nearby on the ground; it was Pascal's. Now the old man had passed out from shock, and the rudimentary bandaging Lude had managed was only enough to prevent his immediate death.

"It would be better if Pascal hadn't been hit. Who would have thought we'd encounter an attack of this scale, an ambush from both sides." Lude, unfamiliar with the equipment, adjusted the machine gun, complaining and praying as he worked.

"Is this guy raising an army underground? Hundreds of these monsters have died, and they're still coming."

He set up the heavy machine gun, nervously and carefully adjusted the fuel and power ratio, checking and operating each of the several knobs that glowed with different lights. Finally, making up his mind, he closed it and pressed down the lid.

Lying prone on the ground, he swiveled the machine gun's mount and aimed at the flesh monsters approaching in the distance before pulling the trigger.

Bang—

The crisp sound of the ammo bursting forth was followed by a golden-red glow that shot out and then exploded.

The blaze from the explosion momentarily lit up the underground cave, and the wave of heat that hit their faces was suffocating and oppressive.

"Don't use that! It's going to suffocate us." With the oxygen already low underground, a few more shots like that, and they would all suffocate.

After Yang Che yelled out, Lude had no choice but to adjust the machine gun's fuel and power formula again. Thankfully, the burning fire provided a barrier, and the scene quieted down somewhat.

After dragging his severely injured and unconscious teammates to the rear, Yang Che gathered the remaining usable weapons and began checking and restocking them.

They had encountered numerous mutated and frenzied monsters while they chased them to this location. Thankfully, it wasn't long before seven colleagues from the office arrived at their position to set up a defensive line and then push forward in layers.

Things had been going smoothly up to this point. After reporting to those on the surface, they continued to search underground until they recently discovered some man-made underground facilities.

Transparent cultivation chambers lay horizontally in a crude room, with robots performing basic maintenance and surrounded by monitoring cameras.

They had just arrived when they triggered an alarm. Then, the cultivation chambers opened, and misshapen flesh monsters crawled out, ambushing their small team.

Continuous gunfire drew their attention, but unexpectedly another group of creatures sprang from behind, disrupting the formation and causing teammates to get injured.

In the dire situation, Yang Che and the others covered their teammates as they retreated to this cul-de-sac in the cave, where, free from the worry of an attack from the rear, they could take advantage of the terrain to fight back.

After checking everything, Yang Che and Lude began to re-establish the defensive line and had the two who could still move fire the electromagnetic rifles in support from the rear.

"Things look pretty bad, boss," Lude said, having repositioned the machine gun.

"These monsters clearly lack intelligence, but they move without attacking each other and even know simple tactics like pincer attacks. There must be someone commanding them from the shadows."

"The problem is, we haven't figured out how they're being commanded, and we haven't even seen a shadow of anyone."

"Could they be using some kind of invisibility method?" Yang Che pondered calmly, then walked over to a teammate and pulled out a brand-new Eight Mountains Plate from their backpack.

The 'Wind Seeking Eight Mountains Plate', octagonal with bronze exteriors; on opening the case, one found inside an exquisitely complex structure, like that of a clock. The Aijeika Particles, as indicated by the gold and silver branding, streamed into it, were continuously diverted for analysis, moved around in the intricate construct, and finally yielded some result.

This was a scanning and detection device made specially by the 'Xuanzhi Workshop'. Though well-crafted, its obscurity meant that only a few professionals utilized it, so it was seldom countered specifically.

After adjusting the parameters of the Eight Mountains Plate, Yang Che inserted the designated silver liquid column. A wave of faint silver ripples then spread in all directions.

Projected on the Eight Mountains Plate, the 3D layout of the surroundings underground appeared, and within it floated points of light representing living things.

Closer to the center were stable blue lights of varying intensity, while not far away, several red agitated points clustered, indicating the chaos of these entities' vibrations. Among these red points, a deep purple light flickered and then disappeared.

"They've noticed us," Lude said, looking at the display.

"Right, but this might also be a good thing—it could deter the enemy."

Yang Che carefully observed the edges of the image, looking for potential escape routes. Soon after, he noticed an area on the upper side that seemed to be a different color.

"That is..."

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On the other side of the underground, Hexia finished checking the wounds of several people in the room. She first separated the less serious cases that were still half-conscious behind a curtain and then began to work.