I am the Clone of a Death Row Inmate

Chapter 124: Chapter 123: Going Deep Underground

’Mr. Ya completed his third evolution and became a Butterfly Stage evolver?’

Su Ze’s heart filled with joy. With this, his confidence in hunting the Gravity Demon increased significantly. At the very least, he no longer had to worry about their safety.

Back when he was at the Cocoon Stage, Mr. Ya was known for being able to escape even from a Saint-level expert. Now that he was at the Butterfly Stage, a Tier 3 Gravity Demon certainly wouldn’t pose a threat to him.

Everything was ready.

”Then let’s move out tomorrow!”

...

The next day, the new students formed teams of twenty and began their first hunt in the wild. Each team was escorted by an instructor or a teacher.

They wouldn’t intervene to help, only stepping in if the students’ lives were in danger. But if they did intervene, that team’s mission would be considered a failure.

Su Ze and Mr. Ya, however, proactively declined a teacher’s protection.

Pei Wuhua didn’t insist. He knew Mr. Ya’s escape ability was second to none. Besides, the teachers and instructors responsible for protecting the students were only at the Cocoon Stage; in terms of strength, they might not even be a match for Su Ze.

”Let’s go.”

Su Ze called to Mr. Ya, and the two vanished on the spot with an Earth Escape.

After completing his third evolution, Mr. Ya’s stamina had clearly increased dramatically. After just two consecutive Earth Escapes, they had already arrived near the Thousand Heroes Tomb.

”You should rest for a bit. Let’s walk the rest of the way,” Su Ze said.

The area around the Thousand Heroes Tomb was said to be somewhat strange. A thousand evolvers had been buried there back in the day, along with countless beast corpses. The evolutionary power and Evolutionary Material had seeped into the soil, causing inexplicable and bizarre events to occur frequently.

However, some of these strange events might not have actually happened and could just be rumors. Still, to be on the safe side, Su Ze didn’t have Mr. Ya use his Escape Technique to go there directly.

After a short rest, Su Ze and Mr. Ya arrived at the Thousand Heroes Tomb.

The Thousand Heroes Tomb was about the size of several football fields combined.

Within the bounds of the Thousand Heroes Tomb, the soil was pitch-black. It wasn’t a pure black, however, but rather the color of blood that had soaked into the earth and congealed.

While other areas were lush with vegetation, not a single blade of grass grew in the Thousand Heroes Tomb. The ground was pockmarked with holes from digging, and bones—whether human or beast, it was hard to tell—were scattered everywhere.

Rather than the Thousand Heroes Tomb, it was more fitting to call it a mass grave.

The legends of the Thousand Heroes Tomb attracted countless Treasure Hunters. Some believed that treasures belonging to those who died in battle were still buried beneath the soil. Others thought that under the prolonged influence of evolutionary power and Evolutionary Material, the bones themselves could have transformed into miraculous items.

And indeed, some people had actually dug up treasures here before, which in turn attracted even more people to try their luck.

Even now, a quick glance showed Su Ze three to five figures digging around on the black soil.

But Su Ze didn’t expect to dig up any treasures. Hundreds of years had passed, and countless people had turned this place upside down countless times. Even if some treasure had been missed, Su Ze didn’t think he’d be the one to find it.

”Let’s use the Escape Technique to get three or four thousand meters underground and take a look,” Su Ze said to Mr. Ya.

He planned to get straight to the point and search for the Gravity Demon directly.

Mr. Ya nodded and, grabbing Su Ze, was about to activate his Earth Escape.

But his expression suddenly changed. ”The Earth Escape won’t work.”

Mr. Ya kicked at the ground. ”This black stuff on the ground isn’t soil—at least, not pure soil.”

Su Ze frowned. ’I can’t even use Earth Escape inside the Thousand Heroes Tomb. This area really is strange.’

”Then let’s use the Escape Technique from the normal ground next to the Tomb,” Su Ze said.

There was no telling how deep the black soil of the Thousand Heroes Tomb extended, but it couldn’t possibly reach several thousand meters underground.

Their target wasn’t the Thousand Heroes Tomb itself, but the Gravity Demon beneath it. Taking a small detour to go around from the side wasn’t a big deal.

The two moved to the edge of the Thousand Heroes Tomb, and Mr. Ya once again brought Su Ze underground. This time it went smoothly, but Mr. Ya stopped after descending only a dozen or so meters. He had discovered that the space was empty; someone had dug a tunnel.

Su Ze and Mr. Ya stood in a subterranean tunnel, discovering it was part of a sprawling network with several forks leading toward different parts of the Thousand Heroes Tomb.

They walked forward a few steps and saw a hole, just big enough for one person to pass through, dug into the black soil ahead. It led into the interior of the Thousand Heroes Tomb.

It seemed someone had used an Escape Technique to get here, then dug a tunnel to enter the Thousand Heroes Tomb in search of treasure.

Although the Earth Escape Skill was a rare S-rank skill, it wasn’t unique to Mr. Ya. If Su Ze and he could think of using Earth Escape to enter from the side, then any Treasure Hunter with the same skill certainly could as well.

Su Ze knocked on the black soil in front of him and found its texture was significantly harder than the surface soil. It didn’t feel like earth anymore, more like rock.

’Just as the rumors said,’ he thought. ’The deeper you go, the harder and more difficult to excavate the soil of the Thousand Heroes Tomb becomes.’

Digging straight down from the surface would be time-consuming and laborious. Using the Earth Escape Skill this way saved a lot of effort.

Su Ze stepped into the dug-out tunnel, took one look, and immediately backed out. He had no interest in exploring it.

The ground beneath the Thousand Heroes Tomb was riddled with holes like a sieve!

Inside was a maze-like network of tunnels branching in every direction.

Just looking at it, you could tell that if there had ever been any real treasures, they would have been dug up long ago.

Mr. Ya continued to lead Su Ze deeper underground, only to find that the entire area was filled with excavated tunnels.

The two circled the area beneath the Thousand Heroes Tomb and discovered that its black soil extended downward in a funnel shape. It wasn’t just a few dozen meters deep as Su Ze had thought; a rough estimate placed its depth at several hundred meters at least.

The entire Thousand Heroes Tomb was like a giant black cone thrust into the earth.

The upper part of this cone was already riddled with holes, but the lower part was made of exceptionally hard soil that tested the strength and patience of any excavator. Thus, the deeper they went, the fewer signs of digging they found.

Su Ze and Mr. Ya continued exploring deeper underground. At a depth of about a hundred meters, they began to encounter more and more subterranean beasts.

There were Giant-Toothed Moles, Lava Earthworms, Burrowing Mice, and more. All these subterranean beasts had the ability to travel through the earth.

These beasts seemed to be drawn by the black soil of the Thousand Heroes Tomb. They lay lazily beside it, occasionally taking a bite of the black soil and chewing on it.

This black soil was a mixture of various evolutionary powers and Evolutionary Material. It was too chaotic for humans to absorb, but it held a strong attraction for these subterranean beasts.

At two hundred meters deep, the number of beasts increased noticeably, and they were more powerful. Most of them were Tier 2 beasts.

”Someone’s here!” Mr. Ya said suddenly, on alert.

Su Ze heard the commotion too.

Two hundred meters underground, they saw a chiseled-out tunnel in the side of the Thousand Heroes Tomb. The sounds of a chase and a fight echoed from within.

A moment later, four people emerged from it. The three in front were young people in school uniforms. Su Ze’s vision had improved significantly after his second evolution, and by the light of their evolutionary auras, he could clearly see the words ”Lin Hua Noble Academy” written on their uniforms.

Following the three youths was a middle-aged man with a crew cut, who was clearly a teacher from Lin Hua Noble Academy responsible for protecting the students.

One of the students was carrying a large, squirrel-like beast. He laughed and said, ”With this Treasure Hunting Mouse, our chances of finding something good are much higher.”

The Treasure Hunting Mouse was a Tier 2 beast evolved from the Burrowing Mouse. Compared to a Burrowing Mouse, it didn’t have many other abilities, but it was extremely sensitive to Evolutionary Material and evolutionary power. This ability was perfect for finding treasure, which was how it earned its name.

Although the Treasure Hunting Mouse was only a Tier 2 beast, it was extremely rare. Tier 1 Burrowing Mice were everywhere, but 99.9% of them would evolve into the Tier 2 Mountain-penetrating Rat. Only a tiny fraction evolved into Treasure Hunting Mice.

These students were quite lucky to have caught a Treasure Hunting Mouse.

The next second, the group of four—the teacher and his students—also spotted Su Ze and Mr. Ya.

In the pitch-black underground, everyone was channeling their evolutionary power to emit an illuminating aura, so the evolutionary stages on both sides were clear at a glance.

The three students from Lin Hua Noble Academy—two male, one female—consisted of two who looked about eighteen or nineteen, emitting a red evolutionary aura, and one in his early twenties, emitting an orange one.

As for the middle-aged teacher with the crew cut protecting them, he emitted a yellow evolutionary aura.

Four people: one at the Butterfly Stage, one at the Cocoon Stage, and two at the Pupa Stage.

The middle-aged man with the crew cut glanced warily at Su Ze and Mr. Ya, discreetly moving to shield his three students behind him.

He couldn’t help but be cautious. After all, the yellow evolutionary aura emanating from Mr. Ya was quite intimidating.

Su Ze didn’t know if this group of four was the one who had harmed Mr. Fang and his team, but whether they were or not, it had nothing to do with him.

Although he had no favorable impression of the students and teacher from Lin Hua Noble Academy, he wouldn’t go so far as to avenge Mr. Fang’s team. After all, he had no relationship with Mr. Fang.

The key point was, he might not even be able to beat them.

Mr. Ya’s yellow evolutionary aura was just for show; in a real fight, all he could do was run.

”Let’s go.” Without any exchange, Su Ze and Mr. Ya continued deeper underground.

At a depth of about three hundred meters, Su Ze and his companion began to see Tier 3 beasts.

Some of the beasts were extremely aggressive, like the Hell Centipede and the Earth Abyss Snake. The moment they spotted Su Ze and Mr. Ya, they would attack immediately.

Fortunately, Mr. Ya was fast, and the two of them proceeded without any real danger despite the scares.

Four hundred meters underground, they discovered a colony of Burrow Spiders. Most spiders are solitary creatures, but this species had actually evolved to live in groups.

The area around their nest was densely covered with sticky webs, which Su Ze and Mr. Ya narrowly avoided touching.

Once stuck in these webs, escape would be difficult. A trapped prey would quickly attract a large number of Burrow Spiders, who would eagerly inject their venom into the victim before wrapping it in webbing to store as food.

”Let’s just use the Escape Technique to go straight down to three thousand meters. We should find the Gravity Demon first. If we keep exploring slowly like this, who knows what else we’ll run into,” Su Ze said.

Mr. Ya nodded in agreement. ”Alright, let’s just go three or four thousand meters deep in one go and see what the situation is like.”