"But, but..."

"There's no 'but'. Even if a battle does erupt, the resulting property damage won't be on your head," Sun Hang said. "It's been twenty seconds, and you have nine minutes and forty seconds left. I suggest you hurry up."

"I—I'll evacuate the personnel now!" The man in the white hat hurriedly adjusted the white hat on his head and took the people with him back to the surface using the elevator.

Aside from Sun Hang and the others, only a dozen fully armed soldiers remained at the bottom of the pit.

These were military personnel responsible for site security. Theoretically speaking, they weren't considered "non-combatants," so they were staying behind, which wasn't unreasonable.

However, in Sun Hang's eyes, having them follow along would only result in unnecessary casualties.

"You all should head up as well," Sun Hang said to the leading officer. "Establish a security perimeter within a five-kilometer radius centered on the construction site and prohibit any unauthorized personnel from entering."

"Yes, sir!" the leading officer responded immediately.

One has to admit, communicating with soldiers, whose duty is to obey orders, is more straightforward than dealing with other units. After giving a standard salute, the officer promptly withdrew with his troops from the pit.

Eight minutes later, the man in the white hat reported back. All non-combatants in the construction area had been evacuated, security lines were drawn outside the construction zone, and security drones responsible for protective surveillance had all taken flight, bringing the entire air space under control.

"We've received operational clearance from the institute and the countermeasure committee," Yang Qi informed the others. In fact, Sun Hang's level of authority allowed him to give orders to these units to grant operational clearance instead. He just did it because they had spare time while waiting for the evacuation.

The symbolic significance was greater than the practical significance... or to put it bluntly: it was more about notifying them than seeking their permission.

"Let's go," Wang Xiyi said, glancing at Sun Hang. The dragon wings on her back spread slightly, and a bluish flame flickered at the tip of her tail, illuminating the dark tunnel in a dreamlike blue world.

"Right," Sun Hang said as he drew the pistol, chambering a round.

"You're still using a gun...?" Seeing Sun Hang's actions, Yang Lian couldn't help but comment.

"Guns are handy tools. When it comes to dealing with threats that can be killed with bullets, or in other words, human criminals and animals, you just need to pull the trigger lightly," Sun Hang replied. "Why not use such a good tool if I can?"

"Ah Lian, focus on your own tasks," Yang Qi said sternly. She took out a device similar to a temperature gun and pointed it at the tunnel wall. A pale green beam shot from the device, focusing on the rock wall.

"These memetic fragments seem to have been here for a very long time..." Yang Qi muttered as she examined the data displayed on the device screen. "Based on preliminary detection results, they've been left on these rock walls for at least several decades."

"Decades? Isn't it said that memes become inactive shortly after leaving their host entities?" Sun Hang was slightly taken aback. "Isn't the device malfunctioning?"

"No... Although most memes can't exist independently in nature, there are still a few special ones," Yang Qi explained. "They're like ancient bacteria preserved in Antarctic ice layers, capable of surviving for tens of thousands of years."

"Can we identify what kind of entity these memes originated from?" Sun Hang asked further.

Yang Qi shook her head, "Only fragmented, incomplete segments are present, carrying a pitifully small amount of information... To be frank, I'm also quite curious about how these memes could persist in fragment form for so long..."

"We can't possibly say this tunnel itself is a host entity, right?" Sun Hang said as he walked forward, observing the surrounding rock walls. "Could it be another Geng-type entity?"

"My equipment hasn't detected any presence of a host entity. How about you?" Yang Qi looked at Sun Hang. "Your sensory abilities should be sharper than this portable equipment, right?"

"The same," Sun Hang replied. "Otherwise, I'd make a statement rather than ask a question."

The group continued along the tunnel for about a hundred meters before the fork mentioned by the man in the white hat came into view.

These so-called forks were actually holes cut into the main tunnel wall — compared to the wide main tunnel that could accommodate an off-road vehicle, these forks could only allow single-person passage, requiring one to hunch over.

There weren't a few such holes. In a span of just thirty meters, at least nineteen holes were found. At each hole, Yang Qi used a paint pen to mark numbers, while Yang Lian and Ye Xuan were responsible for photographing and measuring the diameters of the holes.

"The largest diameter is the third hole, with a measurement of 109 centimeters; the smallest is the fifteenth hole, at 97.5 centimeters..." Ye Xuan noted as she kept records.

"So, they're all roughly the same size?" Sun Hang walked to one of the holes, pointing the tactical flashlight mounted under his pistol into it — the beam extended for about ten meters before being blocked by a bend. To find out what lay beyond, one would have to crawl in.

"I've deployed six archaeological snake drones to survey the first, third, fifth, sixth, tenth, and fifteenth holes," Yang Qi said. "Currently, all drones are functioning normally. The one probing the first hole has reached the deepest, moving 84 meters in, but it hasn't found anything apart from bare rock walls."

"Sis, could this really be some sort of host entity's lair?" Yang Lian rubbed her arms uneasily. "Do you think a lot of entities will suddenly pour out from these holes later..."

"Don't scare yourself," Yang Qi snapped at her sister. "Detection results show that the last mods on these rock walls were at least twenty years ago. Even if it was a lair, it would be an abandoned one."

"What if it's one of those entities with a long dormancy period, like... cicada pupae?" Yang Lian couldn't help recalling her initial speculation upon hearing the news.

"I think these main tunnels and branching holes... are like a primary blood vessel and its branches," Candle Dragon mused. "It's as if we're inside an ancient giant beast, its remains transforming into rock-like fossils over the ages, and these tunnels are the beast's blood vessels..."

"Speaking of which, does the Shuzhou Region have any myths related to giant beasts?" Ye Xuan suddenly asked.

"Such myths are present in various regions, nothing specific," Yang Qi shook her head. "If we are indeed inside the fossilized blood vessels of a giant beast, this beast's size would far exceed the entire city of Tianfu."

"It's just a thought I had," Candle Dragon chuckled. "I recently revisited the Classic of Mountains and Seas and instinctively thought of those prehistoric mythical beasts described in the book."

"I actually hope it's not a giant beast," Yang Lian said. "Having memetic fragments from decades ago... doesn't that mean the giant beast showed signs of life just decades back?"

"Not necessarily," Yang Qi shook her head. "There could have been other entities parasitizing within the giant beast, much like bacteria in the human intestines."

"Do intestinal bacteria survive so many years after a person's death?" Sun Hang scoffed.

"It's just a metaphor, just a metaphor!"

"Enough with the metaphors, come over, I made a discovery!" Sun Hang, who had somehow already crawled into the thirteenth hole, was crouching at the edge of the opening, waving at the others.

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