Train Survival: You're really trying to survive!

Walking to the pillar of light, Su Li and Ivan jumped off Ember's back.

The sight before them made them hold their breath—a magnificent man-made structure stood at the source of the pillar of light, its style ancient and solemn, as if it had stepped out of an ancient Greek myth.

Huge stone pillars support the towering dome, with intricate patterns carved on them, while the temple walls are covered with lifelike giant stone sculptures.

“Cats, birds, wolves, rabbits… each species has a corresponding statue.” Su Li’s gaze swept over the lifelike stone statues. “The one in the very center is a lion. That king must be a lion.”

The temple was filled with a unique sense of solemnity, and every stone seemed to be telling Zuli and his companions an ancient story.

Scattered on the ground were some miscellaneous objects and still-warm dining utensils, indicating that people had once been here. However, these people had long since been transformed into mechanical life forms by the volcanic ash, becoming part of that giant robot.

There were some bloodstains on the ground, which turned into scratches halfway down the road, and also contained a few bits of metal fragments, proving that a person had struggled.

Zuli and Ivan carefully made their way through the temple toward the center of the pillar of light.

The source of the beam of light was a spiral staircase leading downwards, with a deep and mysterious opening that seemed to lead to another world.

Su Li peered down and found that there was no red volcanic ash below; the area appeared unusually clean.

Su Li and Ivan exchanged a glance. "Let's go!"

The two people walked down the spiral staircase.

As they ventured deeper, the surrounding air grew increasingly heavy, and the concentration of magical energy rose sharply.

"Such high magical energy, but it's almost impossible to utilize," Su Li exclaimed. "His personal traits are too strong."

He suspects that if this magical energy were to advance further, simply being infected by its energy could induce a tendency towards evolution.

"No wonder demigods rarely come into contact with mortals in their true forms. Their power of influence is too strong." Su Li sighed. This setting reminded him of the demigods in the Cthulhu Mythos—once mortals get close to a demigod, they are infected by their power and gradually become their followers.

"Do ordinary demigods have such a strong infectious power?" Ivan asked with some curiosity.

Su Li shook her head. "I don't know. I've only heard some rumors from my senior brother, but this corrosive ability has exceeded the rumors I've heard."

The two looked down and saw a long, rectangular mechanical object lying quietly on the ground.

“This is…” Su Li’s expression became subtle.

They went down to the bottom and saw many instruments placed around the demigod fragments.

They approached the instruments and examined them closely.

There are two sets of equipment here. One is an energy-absorbing device that guides the saturated energy from the demigod fragments to the adjacent launch center, from which it is then launched. The core of the launch equipment consists of several crystallized fragments of world power, emitting a faint glow.

Su Li carefully examined the equipment and discovered that its technology seemed to be from another world. The equipment included a device that converted fire-attribute magical energy into water-attribute energy to stabilize its mechanical properties.

This technology involves elemental transformation and requires a high level of understanding of water and fire magic. However, water magic is so rare in this world that it's as scarce as beef in Lanzhou noodles, making it insufficient to support such in-depth research.

"Players are helping them? Why?" Ivan frowned, looking somewhat confused.

Su Li, however, took it in stride. "What's so strange about it? Maybe it's for trading these gems, or maybe it's just for fun."

The level of confusion within the player community is something those in the know understand.

It can only be said that Ivan is young and well-behaved, focusing on his studies on Earth and not yet exposed to the chaotic online world, so he has limited experience.

The other device was much simpler and has now ceased operation. This device drew liquid from energy pipes on the demigod fragment and injected it into the magma. The liquid mixed with the magma to form the reddish volcanic ash.

“It seems this is the source of the volcanic ash,” Zuli said.

Ivan possesses modified tactical nuclear warheads, which they can deploy here if things go wrong. The downside is that they don't know if this might provoke the demigod fragments and cause disastrous consequences.

"Let me take a look at it first." Su Li walked to the equipment, took a few photos, and sent them to Shi Lei's team of mechanics via the manual.

Then Zuli put down the manual. "They're studying it. Let's wait. Nuclear warheads are a last resort."

While waiting, Su Li couldn't help but look at the demigod fragment. This fragment was over 3 meters long.

Su Li casually cast a system appraisal spell on the demigod fragment.

【Demigod xxx's Cyber ​​Bull - Heated Electric Shock Version MK2】

[Damaged during a fierce battle with the goddess of beauty due to intense clashes of divine power. If found, it can be used to contact the goddess through her altar.]

Because she was reading so fast, it was too late by the time Su Li realized what she had seen.

"My eyes!" Su Li cried out, covering her eyes. "Can't you gods have any decency?! All you ever do is engage in vulgar and obscene acts! It's so low-class!"

This is actually a survivor bias. The gods who like to do low-class things have personalities that are all incredibly frustrating. Every single one of them is a problematic god, which is why they cause all sorts of accidents.

The real, legitimate gods who make up the majority don't do anything reckless, so there won't be any accidents that Su Li and the other players would see.

Ivan also cast an appraisal spell, saw the description, and looked up at the sky speechlessly.

They almost got screwed over by something like this? What was supposed to be an exciting adventure suddenly lost all its prestige, and they didn't even want to promote it anymore.

Furthermore, this also explains why this demigod fragment has such a strong corrosive ability; it turns out it's a perfect match for its profession.

Just as Su Li was about to use physical amnesia to erase this memory from her brain, Shi Lei sent her a message.

—Cut off all the parts circled in these circles; these are the energy supply pipes.

Zurich—I have a bad feeling about this. Could I really cut the power line with a metal knife?

—Trust the professionals. They checked it using a remote attack!

Su Li looked at the picture that was sent and found the corresponding location according to the circles on the picture.

Then, Su Li transformed into the Moon Wheel Sword and, from a great distance, unleashed several icy sword energies at those parts.

The sword energy swept across the energy transmission pipe, severing it in two. Then, visibly, all the bright red runes on the machine came to a standstill.

The energy transmission device has stopped working.

The next second, the beam of light disappeared.