Dimensional Hotel
Chapter 364 Convergence (Passive)

Chapter 364: Chapter 364 Convergence (Passive)

The flickering Fox Fire floated like drifting fireflies, spreading and hovering in the unbelievably vast underground cavern. The light illuminated the slippery ground covered with glowing moss nearby, the rocky cave walls entwined with bizarre vines, and the underground lake not far away. Yu Sheng and his party cautiously explored within the lit area of the Fox Fire, occasionally stopping to collect samples of nearby rocks, plants, and water.

The voice of True Man Yuanling emanated from the Lingxi Mirror floating in midair: "Truly strange... Have such colossal caverns been noted among the many ’scenes’ in this Exotic Realm mentioned in previous reports?"

"There have been mentions of underground caverns, but none on this scale," Xuan Che responded immediately, "and the reports didn’t mention any underground lakes either."

"So this is another new scene then?" Erin, sitting on Yu Sheng’s shoulder, casually commented while tightly gripping his head, "Just like that desert before..."

"This Exotic Realm only recently appeared, and many of its characteristics have yet to be fully explored. It’s normal for previously undiscovered changes to occur or new areas to appear," Xuan Che said, "Everyone, be careful with your footing; it’s very slippery around here. Don’t fall into the lake."

"Rest assured, young ones, I’m watching over this side," True Man Qianji walked on the other side of the group, with a light clicking sound occasionally coming from his head and a red glow sometimes flashing in his eyes, as if scanning for something, "This lake water is indeed peculiar, and even Divine Sense cannot penetrate it. I can’t ’see’ what’s underneath either; there must be something going on deep down."

As he spoke, he fished out a peculiar little brass ball from his pocket. The ball was engraved with talismans and had several hollow spots emitting faint light, with a ticking sound like a clock emanating from within. True Man Qianji casually tossed the ball on the ground, which then cracked open, sprouting several pairs of agile mechanical arms and legs, quickly scampering and jumping into the lake.

A moment later, a red glow flickered in the lake, and the ball jumped out of the water not far away, swiftly flying back into its owner’s hand.

"The Mechanical Ball lost contact at less than ten meters deep and returned according to its automatic program," True Man Qianji said, pressing a few more times on the ball, which made a few clicking sounds and opened a side of its shell, projecting a beam of light that displayed the underwater footage in midair.

The blurry footage only showed the water, with some floating luminescent debris. Before losing contact and returning, the Mechanical Ball even changed direction to shoot the lakebed, but it only captured deep darkness, revealing nothing.

Yu Sheng felt Erin’s body tense up a little.

"This place is giving me the creeps," the little puppet muttered, "At first, the glowing moss and glowing vines were quite beautiful, but the longer we stay, the more suffocating it feels down there... Just uncomfortable."

Hu Li joined them, rubbing his big fluffy tail against Yu Sheng’s arm: "Savior, I’m feeling a bit creepy too."

Erin rolled her eyes: "You’re furry!"

"She’s feeling creepy, her fur’s all fluffed up," Yu Sheng said casually, his brows slightly furrowed, "I feel it too, like the atmosphere here has changed a bit from before, can’t say... Luna, can your radar work? Did it scan anything strange nearby?"

Luna paused, and the Artificial Saintess’ built-in radar scanned the surroundings again at high power, then she slowly shook her head: "No, active targets."

Yu Sheng still frowned, then seemed to sense something, looked up into the air—

The space there seemed to suddenly become a bit unstable.

...

"Holy cow! Salted Fish, did you see that thing just now? That big goose flying by in the sky..."

"That’s an immortal crane—the long-haired princess, you should read a book sometime?"

"Eh, they’re about the same. The point is that thing is so beautiful!" The long-haired princess stood excitedly on a hanging gallery at the edge of a cliff, looking at the vast sky in the distance, "It just burst out from the clouds and greeted us, was it dancing just now? It flew around the corridor... I want to raise one!"

"Are you sure you can raise this kind of ’Immortal Bird’? Its intelligence might not even be lower than yours," the Mermaid glanced at the long-haired princess, "You can’t even take care of a dog."

"Hey—I just don’t enjoy keeping dogs; they always remind me of Red Hat’s wolf, makes the back of my neck hurt," the long-haired princess grimaced, then turned to Zheng Zhi, who acted as a guide, "Hey, hey, young man, do you know if they allow adopting these immortal cranes?"

"That one just now definitely isn’t allowed; it’s True Man Yuanling’s pet. The other immortal cranes shouldn’t be either; they’re basically final assignments from the Beast Taming Peak," Zheng Zhi shook his head, "Also, it’s about time you two head back—despite it being the weekend, you don’t have homework in freshman year?"

The long-haired princess inhaled sharply at that, slumping completely.

"I finished mine last night," the Mermaid said casually, "But we should really head back now. I just picked a lot of wild fruits; they’re quite delicious, and I’d like to bring them back for everyone to try."

"You finished it last night?!" The long-haired princess widened her eyes instantly, "No way, Fish, isn’t your memory only supposed to be seven seconds? When did you get so good at studying? Weren’t you not like this in middle school, you used to copy my homework back then..."

The Mermaid looked helpless: "Long-haired princess, you should read a book sometimes... And don’t casually give me setups!"

The long-haired princess continued to droop, and with another sigh, waved her hand: "Alright, alright, let’s go back—let me copy your math paper when we return."

The Mermaid was about to turn back, but upon hearing this, she froze: "We have math papers too?!"

"...What did I just say about you!"

"Ah ah ah, hurry back! I haven’t finished my homework... Where are we going!"

Zheng Zhi looked at the situation with mixed emotions, quickly taking the lead, while feeling a bit nostalgic—

High school days were really wonderful, he even started to miss his own high school life; there were really few worries at that time... though even now, there aren’t too many.

It’s important to keep a wide heart.

It’s said that these "Fairy Tales" kids would hardly survive to adulthood in the past, but now they have to worry about exams, university graduation, and career prospects.

That’s quite good too.

Who knows if Brother Yu and the others are doing well in Exotic Realm exploration, last time they seemed to have a fight with a dangerous group, luckily everyone was unhurt, otherwise, he wouldn’t know how many reports he’d have to write upon return.

It’s vital to be able to fight.

Yesterday, Li Lin messaged saying he had to go on another field assignment these two days, and Captain Song was personally leading the team, who knows what tricky case they’ve encountered, anyway it’s not something a newbie like him can meddle in, to be honest, he felt a bit sympathetic towards Brother Li.

Slacking is nice.

Zheng Zhi’s thoughts drifted aimlessly as he walked towards the Cloud Viewing Platform, following the route from his memory.

Until the surroundings gradually darkened, until the wind carried a chilly, damp feeling.

"Something’s not right," Changfa noticed something amiss first, she raised her head and looked around, her black hair transformed into a waterfall of golden hair reaching the ground in a blink, "This path didn’t look like this when we came, right?"

The Mermaid also grew nervous, she sensed the moisture in the surrounding air: "We were still going uphill just now, when did we start going downhill?"

Zheng Zhi suddenly snapped out of his daze.

He looked in shock at the mountain path beneath his feet and how the walls of the canyon on both sides suddenly felt oppressive and enclosing, then quickly turned around—

The once wide mountain path had turned into a steep narrow downhill, the cliffs on either side had seemingly morphed into cave walls, the sky above vanished, the thick rock layers obscured vision, and immediately after, the last sliver of daylight from the "outside" disappeared at the edge of his sight.

Right then, Zheng Zhi felt his feet slip, simultaneously hearing the long-haired princess’s startled cry, "Whoa...!"

...

A fluffy golden ball appeared suddenly in view, accompanied by a somewhat familiar exclamation as it quickly enlarged and approached.

Yu Sheng hadn’t even had time to react to what was happening, instinctively taking two steps forward to catch the fuzzy ball creature that was making a familiar sound.

The next second, the hairball fell solidly onto him, despite Yu Sheng’s current body strength being far superior to human, he was knocked over, hitting his head on a rock, causing it to bleed.

The golden hairball bounced off him, rolling and jumping several times before bumping into a rock wall nearby and coming to a stop.

At nearly the same moment, a splash echoed nearby, in that underground lake illuminated by glowing algae and Fox Fire, scattering a large spray of water.

The sudden commotion startled everyone, even True Man Qianji didn’t react in time (of course, the main reason being he was using a Mechanical Incarnation, and his transmission bandwidth was half occupied by True Man Yuanling’s Lingxi Mirror), originally sitting on Yu Sheng’s shoulder Erin was thrown out, loudly exclaiming in mid-air, rolling four or five times upon landing before coming to a stop.

The puppet struggled to get up while bewilderedly exclaiming, "What the heck is going on here? What’s falling from the sky and why didn’t I sense any killing intent, ow, bit my tongue... What’s going on?!"

As she spoke, Hu Li had already rushed over to protect Yu Sheng, while Luna quickly equipped all her Fingertip Blades with a few clicks, Xuan Che immediately summoned his attack-oriented Ice Long Sword, adopting a Medical Path Killing Fist stance, looking at the fluffy golden object that had just stopped near the stone wall as if facing a formidable enemy, and at this moment, the hairball finally opened.

The long-haired princess, dizzy from tumbling but unharmed, emerged from her hair looking bewildered at the scene before her.

Everyone froze, the cave descending into silence for a moment.

Thus the splashing sounds from the lake nearby became particularly noticeable.

The long-haired princess immediately realized the situation upon hearing the noise, "Boom!" and jumped to her feet, "Crap, the fish fell into the water! She can’t swim!!"