“So, what’s the deal here?”
“Maybe they like swimming in sand?”
Anyway, we kept walking until we reached this giant sand pit.
“What’s it for?”
“Who knows? Maybe a tourist attraction?”
“That’s way too boring.”
“Then they must like swimming in sand.”
I estimated the pit was about three hundred meters long and two hundred meters wide. For my team members, jumping across it was no big deal.
“Alright, let’s jump over.”
“Hold on a second.”
Ou Mi You suddenly stepped in front of me, her eyes darting back and forth across the walls.
“What’s wrong?”
“I feel this itching sensation crawling all over me. I’ll go first, you guys wait a bit.”
Ou Mi You backed up, accelerated, leaped from the edge of the sand pit, and landed steadily on the other side.
“Looks like nothing’s wrong.”
“Captain, you and Leng Qiongling go first. I’ll stay here and cover the rear.”
“Then I’ll leave it to you.”
“Eh?! Do I have to carry the Captain?!”
“What’s the matter? I took a good shower!”
“No, that’s not the point… Ah, forget it. Come on, Captain.”
“Here I come.”
I flopped straight into Leng Qiongling’s arms, but she held me at arm’s length with a look of disgust, hooking me under her arm like a pillow.
Leng Qiongling kicked a dent into the ground and leaped, carrying me almost to the ceiling that seemed to touch the ground.
But just then, the walls from all sides suddenly collapsed.
The ceiling above us shattered instantly, along with heavy steel plates, tons and tons of yellow sand burying the space we were in.
Immediately after, the Daizers hidden beneath the sand struck like invisible assassins, countless deadly sharp horns aimed straight at Leng Qiongling and me.
“Captain!”
Ou Mi You and Le Paxi saw this and wanted to rush over, but from the path we came from, sand and rocks surged forward as if they wanted to bury the entire space.
The sand falling from the ceiling also formed a curtain blocking both sides.
Trapped in midair, Leng Qiongling began to fall helplessly, doing her best to shield me behind her, her legs kicking out bursts of wind.
But without a weapon, even if Leng Qiongling could fend off the Daizers, she couldn’t deal them fatal damage, making it hard to reverse the outcome.
In the original sand pit, a massive whirlpool nearly ten meters in diameter gradually formed in the center, greedily swallowing everything.
And while airborne and unable to resist, Leng Qiongling’s only option was to dodge the Daizers while keeping me from being knocked away by the sand, out of her protection.
With the last bit of resistance, Leng Qiongling and I fell together into that huge sand whirlpool, devoured and buried by it.
Just before I blacked out, I could still hear Leng Qiongling shouting loudly in my ear, but I really couldn’t make it out.
Probably too much sand in my ears.
***
“Captain, Captain, wake up.”
“Mmm… ptoo… got sand in my mouth…”
“Forget about that for now. Look where we are.”
“Huh? Where?”
I tried to force my eyes open, but there was sand in them too.
Mmm, it hurts. Can’t open my eyes.
“Blow it for me.”
“Honestly…”
Despite the complaint, Leng Qiongling still pulled my eyelids open, pursed her lips, and blew a gentle breeze.
Though I didn’t feel like there was less sand, I could open my eyes.
Amazing.
“So we’re in an underground cave now?”
I looked around.
Above us was an opening, with sand constantly flowing down. Beyond that was a sand waterfall, continuously pouring down and merging into the same stream, flowing further down.
All around us were rocks dyed like withered branches, standing there since who knows when, undiscovered by anyone, just going through their material cycle.
“The problem now is how do we get back. Going back through the opening we came from is clearly impossible.”
“Mmm… then go down? Looks like that’s the only path.”
“Won’t this lead us somewhere weird?”
“Let’s see.”
We decided to head down, but just as we started, we felt the ground shake.
The cascading sand became chaotic, spilling out of its original groove and piling up beside it.
“Whoa! What’s happening?!”
“An earthquake?”
“No way, right now?!”
I quickly leaned against a wall to avoid being tossed around by the shaking.
Leng Qiongling suddenly noticed something, her eyes fixed on the sand waterfall.
I followed her gaze and saw, gradually emerging from behind the sand waterfall, a towering figure.
The silhouette nearly pierced through the entire underground cave, like the body of a giant from fantasy stories, sending chills down my spine.
A pitch-black hand pierced through from behind the sand waterfall, causing the sand to momentarily stop flowing.
Then it swept inward, tearing the entire waterfall open.
Countless tons of sand poured down from above, burying the surrounding ground and forming a new sand field.
Only then did I see the figure’s true form.
Nearly eighty meters tall.
A body like a landmark skyscraper.
Completely black, like a demon scorched by flames.
Cleos.
The culprit who destroyed the City of Change.
Leng Qiongling’s hatred, her fury, all stemmed from it.
“You… came.”
“You…!!”
After a moment of daze, Leng Qiongling gritted her teeth and growled almost in a whisper,
“Cleos… it’s you… it’s you!”
“It… is me. We meet again…”
Faced with Leng Qiongling’s rage barely restrained, Cleos only responded calmly.
“What’s with that attitude…? What are you after this time?… No… no, that doesn’t matter now. What matters is that you’re in my sight, and I can kill you!”
A misty red gas began to drift around Leng Qiongling.
It was high-concentration Mad Contagion!
That meant if I didn’t calm her down quickly, she would enter a Berserk State!
I hurriedly called out to her,
“Leng Qiongling! Calm down! If you let your emotions run wild, you’ll be in danger!”
But my shout had almost no effect.
Leng Qiongling didn’t even glance at me.
Her eyes held only hatred.
“This is bad…”
Although a berserk Leng Qiongling could unleash power far beyond normal, an uncontrolled her was just a mad beast, incapable of even using half her strength.
“What do I do?”