Interstellar: Return of the Villain
Chapter 90: Underground World

Chapter 90: Underground World

The chosen three were gearing up to go down into the underground, with others helping them get suited up.

"The underground should be a vast area. If you don’t locate the energy crystals, make sure you find a safe drilling spot," the professor advised the three who were about to head down.

Lyra stood still with her arms outstretched as the technicians fitted her gear, her eyes fixed on the pitch-black abyss below.

"The safety ropes are ready. You can begin the descent," someone announced. The three of them stood at the edge, tense and silent.

"I’ll go first. You two follow me slowly and wait for my signal," Lyra instructed through her protective helmet, her voice slightly muffled.

She summoned a bright green light with her fingers. "Since communication devices might not work down there, we’ll use my powers as the signal. Three flashes mean it’s safe, two flashes mean pause, and one flash means we retreat immediately."

The other two had initially been uneasy about relying on an intern for protection, but seeing Lyra’s preparedness and willingness to lead, they felt reassured.

With a particle gun strapped to her waist and a dagger secured to her leg, Lyra tightened the safety rope and leapt into the hole.

The tunnel was rough, with rocks and dirt occasionally breaking loose. The opening above shrank from a wide circle to a small dot, until all light vanished.

The darkness was overwhelming, and the sensation of weightlessness as they continued their descent was unnerving.

It felt like they were dropping into the fiery depths of the earth.

The sound of their breathing apparatuses echoed loudly in the confined space, and as they neared the bottom, the temperature displayed on Lyra’s electronic glasses climbed from 17 degrees Celsius to 40.

Just as Lyra began to question whether their equipment could withstand the heat, her psychokinesis picked up on something below. She quickly grabbed the rope and signaled a pause with two flashes of her light.

The two above her halted immediately, hearing static in their earpieces. One of them whispered, asking what was happening.

"There’s something down there. I’m going to check it out," Lyra responded.

Before they could say anything else, a sharp burst of static filled their earpieces, then silence.

At the bottom of the shaft, Lyra clung to the rope, staring at a glowing purple entrance below. Her eyes sparkled with a mix of excitement and caution.

She had finally found it.

Letting her psychokinesis relax slightly, she frowned but continued her slow descent. What she encountered was an otherworldly landscape.

Violet energy crystals, shaped like three-sided pyramids, jutted out from the gray rock like clusters of radiant flowers. The crystals varied in size, resembling a garden of luminous plants.

Ahead, a vast underground river stretched out, its surface eerily calm and dark, broken only by mineral columns rising from it.

These eroded columns ranged from nearly three meters in diameter to some so slender a person could wrap their arms around them. Sparse clusters of energy crystals bloomed along the columns.

But what stood out the most was an unfamiliar orange substance connecting the columns, dotted with enormous hives.

It turned out the swarm that had flown over their heads earlier had made their home here, constructing hives the size of rooms.

The creatures appeared to be sleeping, clinging to their hives.

Seeing them up close sent a shiver down Lyra’s spine.

Her gaze shifted to the columns, where numerous dug-out holes revealed plants the monstrous bees had gathered and stored.

...

The other two researchers were hanging mid-air, suspended halfway down the shaft. They felt more hopeless with each passing minute.

It had been seven minutes since they last heard from Lyra, and they were starting to question if anything was happening at all.

"Is she dead? Should we keep going?" the young man muttered, his face drawn with worry.

The woman wasn’t ready to give in to that kind of thinking. "She said she’d signal us. Let’s give it a little more time."

Just then, a faint green light flickered up from below—three quick flashes in succession.

Both researchers exhaled in relief, their tension melting into excitement. No danger meant they were halfway to success.

As they continued their descent, the glow from the energy crystals became more pronounced. They felt an almost irresistible urge to let go of the rope and dive straight down.

Lyra’s green light band guided them the rest of the way.

"You—" the man began, but the green light swiftly wrapped around his helmet, silencing him. Lyra raised a finger to her lips, signaling for quiet.

It was then that the woman noticed the enormous beehive hanging above the underground river. She gasped and tugged on the man’s arm.

The man, upon seeing the hive, opened his eyes wide in shock.

Even through their helmets, the terror in his eyes was clear.

Lyra tapped her electronic glasses, and a screen appeared, enabling them to communicate via text.

"I’ve checked the area. The creatures are temporarily asleep, but we need to be extremely careful," she typed out.

The researchers’ earlier excitement was now mixed with anxiety. They nodded in agreement.

"You two can start your work. I’ll keep an eye on the hive," Lyra instructed.

The researchers began their tasks. They moved like thieves in the night, quietly sampling and analyzing the minerals. But when they tried to send their data, they realized that all signals to the surface had been cut off.

"It’s probably interference from the energy crystals. Save the data, and we’ll do a full analysis once we’re back up," the woman calmly wrote on her tablet.

She turned to find Lyra standing behind her, watching intently. Startled, she instinctively tried to hide the screen, but Lyra had already taken the tablet, flipping through the data.

The woman noticed something different about Lyra’s eyes. They had been lifeless before, but now they glowed with a strange, almost unsettling light.

"How powerful are these energy crystals?" Lyra asked, her voice calm but with an undercurrent of intensity.

With just the three of them down here, the woman didn’t bother with formalities. "So far, they’re at least a level-seven," she typed quickly, her excitement evident. "In areas with higher energy concentration, we might even find level eight crystals, but that usually means the reserves are smaller."

Such high-grade energy crystals could power a large passenger ship for three years or provide the flight energy for a military spacecraft carrier for six months. But of course, the Alliance would never squander such precious resources in that way.

"Is that so? That’s amazing," Lyra replied, handing the tablet back.

The woman watched as Lyra slowly turned around, pulled out an odd-looking dagger, and began cutting the crystals.

The woman opened her mouth to say something, but she held it back. Anyone would want to collect a few of these valuable crystals.

After all, Lyra had risked her life to protect them; it seemed only fair that she took some for herself.

Yet, she couldn’t help but notice that Lyra, with her Space Button, was gathering an impressive amount of crystals, almost like she was harvesting a crop.

Meanwhile, the man returned from exploring the energy distribution. He discreetly tugged on the woman’s sleeve and pointed toward the holes in the stone pillars, writing a quick note.

"They’re all plants, but nothing high-grade."

He nodded subtly in Lyra’s direction, making it clear what he meant: She must have taken all the best stuff.

The woman frowned. "Focus on your work. If you want something, go get it yourself."

The man forced an awkward smile. Unlike the woman, he was struggling financially, so her words hit a nerve. But her message was clear: if he wanted a piece of the prize, he’d have to take the risk himself.

Once they had pinpointed the location of the energy crystals and gathered most of the data, the young researcher made his move. He stepped into the water, and with a splash, dove in.

Lyra reacted instantly, extending a light band to pull him back, but he dodged it on purpose. His diving gear kicked in automatically, adjusting to the sudden submersion.

As the seconds ticked by, the woman’s frustration grew.

Just as she was about to jump in after him to wring his neck for being so reckless, he surfaced near the water’s edge, holding up a purple fan-shaped crystal with a smug grin. He didn’t say a word, but his look said it all—he wanted to show off his find.

"Get up here, you idiot!" the woman barked.

He climbed out of the water, still grinning from ear to ear.

Suddenly, a sound from behind him made them all freeze—the unmistakable buzzing of wings.

The hive had awakened.