Several minutes later.
He emerged from the jungle and arrived at a wide, open space.
Not far away was the entrance to a civil defense project.
The once steel-reinforced concrete gate was enveloped by moss and vines layer by layer.
The open gate resembled the gaping maw of a ferocious beast.
Countless Cleaners poured into it, yet it seemed they could never fill it.
'According to the information displayed, as long as there is no A-Z type synthetic protein in the body, the Cleaners will not attack proactively.'
'Since arriving on this planet, I've only eaten some of the dry rations initially provided by the system. The crops I planted were burned before they could mature, and I haven't even found a stable water source.'
'Therefore, these Cleaners will not attack me.'
Actually, there's no need for this kind of self-hypnosis.
All the way here, countless Cleaners have flown overhead, yet none have pounced on him.
Clearly, the Cheat System's prompts are absolutely accurate.
Taking a deep breath, Zhao Feng slowly walked towards the entrance.
One step, two steps, three steps...
Until he reached the gate, the Cleaners still showed no intention of looking at him.
They all indifferently poured into the passage.
As he stood at the gate, these Cleaners still had no intention of attacking.
They all chose to bypass the location he was blocking and continued to surge inside.
By now, Zhao Feng's constantly suspended heart had finally settled.
But even with the certainty that they wouldn't attack him.
At such close range, observing these sanity-eroding creatures, Zhao Feng felt immense pressure!
An instinctual urge to retreat surged through his body.
But it was then forcefully suppressed by his firm will.
Sometimes, he had to take risks.
Just like that terrifying ancient whisper.
This time, he endured it and reacted quickly enough to save Ruolan.
What about next time? Or the time after that? No one could say if the whispers would strengthen.
That thing could not only take his life but also the lives of those he loved.
This was unacceptable!
He had to become stronger quickly. If he didn't, he wouldn't be able to protect everything he cherished.
Recalling the message that suddenly popped up from the system while he was rushing earlier...
【Current surviving human players on the planet: 305,647. Population deceased exceeds half, difficulty increased by 30%.】
Actually, whether the difficulty increased or not was irrelevant. For Zhao Feng, this world had never shown him any kindness anyway.
But the fact that a full 700,000 people died within a single day was quite horrifying.
As expected, the number of people who died in that mental attack was at least 600,000.
600,000! Not beasts, not zombies, but all people with thoughts and intelligence. Earthlings!
He was also an Earthling. To avoid becoming one of the 600,000 who died during the next danger,
Zhao Feng had made up his mind; he had to go all out.
As for the idea that this wave of bizarre attacks was triggered by his attribute point allocation, Zhao Feng didn't buy it.
The information from the Cheat System had already made it clear: the "ancient whispers" descended periodically.
Then again, even if he had caused it, so what?
Having been an orphan since childhood and experiencing the coldness of human relationships, Zhao Feng was no saint.
Besides those he cared about, for others... perhaps he would feel pity, but his will would absolutely not waver, absolutely not!
He slowly stepped into the underground facility.
Darkness gradually engulfed him. He clicked on the Rocket Gauntlets and selected the illumination function.
Instantly, the entire passage became brightly lit.
The surrounding area within a 20-30 meter radius was clearly illuminated.
He tried to ignore the Cleaners constantly flying past him.
Zhao Feng focused all his attention on the structure of this underground bunker.
The civil defense projects of the Daleross Civilization were no different from those of Earth Civilization.
If there was any difference, perhaps it was just larger and more spacious than Earth's.
Of course, Zhao Feng had never been to any civil defense project; in peacetime, there was no opportunity.
He had only seen some footage of doomsday fortresses and underground great walls in documentaries before.
Following the passage, after passing several turns and descending a few hundred meters, he arrived in a massive plaza. The ground of the plaza was densely covered with headless corpses.
Clearly, even more than 100 meters underground, they were still within the range of the "ancient whispers" attack.
At the end of the plaza stood a gate over 10 meters high.
The closed gate blocked the path forward.
Countless Cleaners clung to the surrounding walls and the gate, showing they desperately wanted to get in.
Additionally, he noticed a strange phenomenon: no matter how many Cleaners entered, there was no sign of crowding.
Upon closer inspection, Zhao Feng was surprised to discover that when they reached a certain quantity, they would actually fuse with each other.
Although he was very curious about how their attributes would change after fusion,
he wouldn't easily attack them now, unlike when he was in the Safe House.
Before, he didn't know their characteristics; the fear of the unknown could only be suppressed by overwhelming firepower.
Now, with so many familiar Cleaners around him, and so many of them fused and upgraded, who knew if these fused Cleaners would fight back if he attacked them proactively?
He didn't want to Court Death over an irrelevant question.
Moreover, these Cleaners could protect him in a sense, so it was better to be cautious.
Getting back to the point, he stopped observing the Cleaners.
His actions were now blocked by a large gate, and he temporarily had no idea how to proceed.
However, just standing around and doing nothing wasn't his style.
Standing in place, Zhao Feng began to replay and review all his actions since entering.
'All the way in, the walls of the tunnel were extremely smooth, not looking like they had hidden doors. Instead, such a large space could easily hide tens of thousands of zombies, which explains the source of some of them.'
'However, this is a full 5 kilometers from my Safe House. They couldn't have gotten there that quickly, so there must be other tunnels or ruins around my Safe House.'
Pulling his slightly straying thoughts back, Zhao Feng continued to recall the scene after entering.
'There was nothing unusual upon arriving in the underground hall. There was no security room in front of the gate, nor any small doors. If only a few people were to enter or exit, opening and closing such a large gate would be too wasteful.'
'Even if the Daleross Civilization's energy was inexhaustible, opening and closing the gate would definitely require mechanical or console control, which would necessitate a gate access system, right? Even civil defense facilities wouldn't be entirely manually operated, would they?'
With this thought, he began to explore the surroundings, searching for possible clues. Finally, in a corner, he found a skeleton.
He gently used his gauntlet to drive away the Cleaners crawling around, then stepped forward to touch the corpse bones, hoping to find something useful.
With a "clatter," the skeleton scattered on the ground.
He silently apologized in his heart.
His gaze, however, was locked onto the exposed wall, where a metal card was inserted.
Raising his eyebrows slightly, Zhao Feng stepped forward and pulled it out.
As he obtained the item, the system prompt sounded in his ear.
..
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