A Post-Apocalyptic Journey to Another World

The underground cave was pitch black; even with Zhang Xi's eyesight, he could barely see anything more than five meters away. An hour earlier, Zhang Xi had finished collecting his spoils and was preparing to leave when Amber led him into this underground cave. This time, the cave entrance was not far from where they had fallen off the cliff, hidden by dense bushes and difficult to spot.

Amber must have discovered something here. Based on his previous guesses, Zhang Xi decided to go into the cave to find the large teleportation portal that should have existed but whose whereabouts were unknown.

Zhang Xi took out the recording magic stone and looked at the records on it. He realized that he had been underground for nearly an hour, and the path they had taken on the recording magic stone was almost a tangled mess.

Perhaps because there was too little olfactory information available here, Zhang Xi wasn't sure if the amber tracked itself by scent. In any case, the intricate underground caves greatly hindered its tracking, and it even led the wrong way several times, having to turn back and start over.

This was Zhang Xi's first time entering an underground cave. Some of these cave passages were as big as several rooms, while others were only wide enough for one person to barely pass through. As he went deeper, the light became less and less, and even his bronze-level vision could no longer see anything.

Although they had walked for a long time, they were not too far from the ground. It was estimated that the straight-line distance from the ground was less than 200 meters. Most of the journey was spent winding through caves.

Zhang Xi sat on the stone pillar and composed himself. Spending an hour alone in the pitch-black underground wouldn't be easy for anyone. Normal people might be fine, but those with claustrophobia probably couldn't stand it for even a moment longer. Fortunately, Amber seemed to be getting closer to its target; its speed suddenly increased, then it stopped at a fork in the road, refusing to go any further.

Zhang Xi understood Amber's reaction, because he smelled a faint stench, which, to Amber's nose—thousands of times more sensitive than a normal person's—was undoubtedly poisonous gas.

Zhang Xi told Amber to wait there and walked alone into the side passage. It was an upward-facing passage, very low, only wide enough for one person to pass by bending over. Zhang Xi slowly felt his way forward, and he noticed a sliver of light gradually appearing in the passage. Even more noticeable was the stench that filled the air!

"Damn it!" Zhang Xi cursed, covering his nose. He finally recognized the stench—the stench of orc excrement. Could this be an orc latrine? Had he stumbled into one? In his previous life, Zhang Xi had never even crawled into an orc latrine, despite his miserable existence. He felt a pang of regret, but his feet didn't hesitate for a moment.

Fortunately, the anticipated scene of walking through excrement did not occur. This was not an orcish sewer; it's just that most orcs don't have the concept of toilets, so they simply find a secluded corner to relieve themselves.

The cave was in a good location, but it was frequented by many orcs. Although the stench was overwhelming, it wasn't a big problem as long as you watched your step. His final efforts paid off; before Zhang Xi even left the cave entrance, he discovered his long-sought target: a large teleportation portal!

This was a vast cavernous space, the size of several football fields, with a dome hundreds of meters high. At its center stood a massive blue portal of light. Numerous orcs bustled about around the portal, most of them orc shamans, who were prostrate on the ground inscribing stabilizing magic circles. From time to time, well-organized groups of orcs emerged from the portal.

Finally found it: the larger the spatial rift, the more stable it is. However, even so, it is difficult to withstand the passage of too powerful individuals or a large army. Therefore, it is necessary to continuously stabilize the rift through the energy-gathering array and transform it into a stable teleportation portal.

More orcs were expanding the road in a large cavern on one side of the space. Zhang Xi observed that there were hundreds of holes of various sizes on the walls of this space. He was hiding in one of them. It was not a good place to stay. He checked the recording magic stone again, then turned around and quietly left.

……

He took many detours when entering the cave, but the speed was much faster when he came out thanks to the recording magic stone. However, Zhang Xi hesitated because the cliff he fell from was between two mountain peaks, and the orcs outside must be searching for humans all over the mountains.

Going out now would be unwise, so Zhang Xi simply found a comfortable place to rest. For him now, going without food or water for three to five days would be no problem. It would be much safer to go out after the orcs had finished causing trouble.

Zhang Xi sat on the almost naturally formed stone platform, took out a bag of field rations to replenish his strength, and fed Amber a large piece of cooked beef. Amber's favorite food was beef, and perhaps because it had been spending so much time with Zhang Xi, it now basically refused to eat raw meat. It imitated Zhang Xi's actions in a very strange posture for a dog, squatting on the ground, its back against the stone wall, its two front paws holding the piece of beef and gnawing on it.

Zhang Xi was already used to Amber's imitative behavior. Many of Amber's behaviors were unlike those of a dog. In other words, perhaps it was never a dog to begin with.

Amber had only eaten half of her beef when she suddenly became alert and gave Zhang Xi a low warning. Zhang Xi immediately tensed up. Had the orcs discovered them? He immediately gestured for Amber to lead the way to see what was going on.

As the target drew closer, Amber relaxed, and finally sped up, dragging a human figure out from a distance.

Zhang Xi looked and realized it was this guy, Li Chengyu! At this moment, Li Chengyu was in a terrible state, his camouflage uniform was covered in mud, and he had lost his gun while running away. However, there were still two grenades in the belt around his waist. There was a large red swelling on his forehead, and he had already lost consciousness. It was estimated that he had been knocked unconscious in the dark while panicking.

Why would Li Chengyu appear here fully armed? This guy is all bark and no bite, a coward, and comes from a wealthy family; there's no need for him to take such a risk. Could he be connected to the armed groups causing trouble outside? The reason he hired someone to attack the army just because they don't get along with him seems far-fetched.

Moreover, even if Li Chengyu had this idea, he didn't have the ability. At best, he was just a rich second-generation who liked to show off. He didn't have the capability to lead a team to the wilderness to carry out a sneak attack. Not many people knew about Xue Gang's operation this time, so this attack must be related to the military.

Zhang Xi searched Li Chengyu's body and found no valuable clues other than two hand grenades and a few magazines. He simply stepped on Li Chengyu's thigh and twisted it gently. The man on the ground immediately screamed like a pig being slaughtered and jumped up.

Zhang Xi covered Li Chengyu's mouth, lifted him up and threw him to the ground again, saying, "Li Chengyu, you didn't expect this, did you? We had your plans covered from the very beginning."

The moment he was lifted and thrown had made Li Chengyu fully understand the current situation. Coupled with the fact that he couldn't see anything in complete darkness, his panic intensified. He didn't even pick up on the probing in Zhang Xi's words and immediately replied, "I was tricked into coming here too, it has nothing to do with me! It was those soldiers who started it all, I didn't fire a single shot at you! Let me go!"

“A soldier?! That’s more like it.” Zhang Xi looked at Li Chengyu with a half-smile and kicked Li Chengyu’s knee again.

Under Zhang Xi's subsequent torment, Li Chengyu spilled the beans, revealing almost everything. Normally, this kind of thing wouldn't implicate Li Xianda. After all, the Li family is a large clan in Pingyuan City, with a large group of cousins ​​and other relatives. But things changed because Zhang Xi happened to encounter Li Chengyu.

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