The Informal Tomb Raiding Diary: She is the occupant of the tomb!-Chapter 396 - 309: Entering the City (3)

Qinghan and the others observed their surroundings carefully. Mike slightly raised his gun, ready to shoot at any moment.

I walked in the middle of the team, feeling quite at ease. Little Red mentioned that during the disaster, some people didn’t escape the city, but we checked more than a dozen houses and found no remains, neither inside nor on the streets.

A city buried by an earthquake and resurfaced, shouldn’t it be covered in dirt?

After all, it was buried, but the city is so clean. If it’s because Miss Tang’s father participated in a ’city purification’ project and came in to tidy up, there should be traces of that work.

Except for me, everyone else in the team had some skill in identifying traces. They said this city was never buried in soil, just covered in thick dust. So, the earthquake theory needs new evidence to support it. Otherwise, maybe there was a pit already dug when the Ancient City fell underground.

The city sank directly into a massive space, with a lid placed on top as if it were placed inside a box.

To be honest, their theory sparked a thought in me. Perhaps when the pollution leaked, the city’s rulers thought of a way to prevent its spread by sealing the city, like humans sealing pollutants inside a vacuum bag.

If there’s no weapon that can instantly obliterate a city, or if using such a weapon wouldn’t stop the pollution from spreading, the quickest method would be to contain the pollution source.

Although the idea of sealing a city is a bit sci-fi, given that they’ve built steam-powered trains, my imagination shouldn’t be considered exaggerated for them.

"Doctor Du, you said the rocks outside consume people, will these buildings consume people too?" I suddenly wondered aloud to Doctor Du as we walked.

"But we haven’t found any human-like traces inside or outside the houses," Doctor Du responded.

Rocks that consume people might take on human shapes, would buildings that consume people... turn them into shadows?

Pondering this, Mike, who was walking in front, suddenly paused. His gun was instantly aimed in a direction.

The streets on the city’s outskirts weren’t wide and had many small alleyways, somewhat like the alleys of the Capital.

Thus, the view wasn’t open, with many hidden corners we couldn’t see.

Mike aimed his gun at the entrance of an alley. Wang Le asked what he saw since Wang Le was walking right behind Mike, also near the alley entrance.

Apparently, he didn’t see anything. Mike said something swiftly dashed past from that direction, leaping off the rooftop and disappearing into the alley.

Wang Le asked, "Could it be an animal?"

Mike seemed unsure, "I’ve never seen an animal move so fast."

Huang Zaijiang said, "What about a mutant animal?"

No one could provide a definite answer to his question. If plants can mutate to become plant people, perhaps some animals enhanced their innate abilities, which might not be impossible.

"Be cautious." Qinghan advised us to walk closer together to prevent a teammate from being attacked without others being able to assist.

With the speed Mike described for that dark shadow, if we didn’t walk closely together, there might not be time to stop an abduction.

When I was in Giant City, I encountered predators that moved incredibly fast. He Su’s subordinates fell victim to their deadly attacks.

We’ve just reached the city’s outskirts, and we already have a small team. We can’t afford to lose any members.

With fewer people, it’s easier to maintain formation. I was surrounded in the middle. Qinghan turned to me and said, "Be ready at any moment."

I understood his meaning. Being in the middle didn’t mean I was the focal point for protection. This position actually allowed me to protect anyone in the team at any time.

Whether front, back, left, or right, I could reach out and grab someone.

After walking for seven or eight minutes, we finally saw something from modern civilization—a flashlight!

The flashlight was lying in the middle of the street, looking like bait. I picked up some broken stones on the ground and put them in my pocket. I took one out and threw it at the flashlight.

The stone landed next to the flashlight. Though it didn’t hit the target, the ground was solid, with no spikes or other mechanisms emerging.

"There’s a bloodstain," Doctor Du pointed a few steps away from the flashlight, by the roadside near the building.

There was indeed a bloodstain there—not much, only about the size of a palm and already dried.

Our gaze shifted simultaneously from the bloodstain to that house because the bloodstain was a mere half-step from the door.

The flashlight appearing in the middle of the road, with bloodstains by the door, easily led one to imagine someone was attacked and dragged inside the house.

Qinghan gestured for us to stay put while he and Mike moved forward to investigate.

If there was an ambush inside the house, at least the whole team wouldn’t be caught.