"Yes, and it could even be a man-made disease. This boy is likely one of the victims. They wanted to leave at that time but they couldn't," Ding Chongyi nodded. "If the company's think tank is right, then as long as you really get down to the parking garage and truly understand its structure, you will find a way for some special personnel to leave."
Li Chengyi understood what she meant.
Special personnel... If those like the boy in white couldn't leave, then who could leave freely?
Without a doubt, it was the masterminds behind this tragedy.
"Then, the entry plan..." Li Chengyi paused and was just about to ask.
Suddenly, a faint noise of scuffling drifted over from not far away.
Both turned their heads to look in that direction, where several men in blue security uniforms, holding batons, were arguing face to face with the construction workers.
It seemed that they wanted to enter, but were stopped by the little yellow hats, leading to a loud ruckus.
"I'll go have a look," Song Ran told Li Chengyi and the others before voluntarily walking over.
"These guys have been looking for trouble not just once. They had come twice even before your supervisor arrived," explained the little yellow hat girl in a low voice.
"Where are they from?" Li Chengyi asked.
"From a local company called Ash Real Estate. They say this land is leased by them, and the lease isn't up yet. They don't allow random people to dig around," the little yellow hat girl answered.
"Ash again?" Li Chengyi watched from a distance.
After Song Ran went over, it only took a few words for the shorter blue-clothed security guards to chicken out and back off.
Click.
Suddenly, a crisp sound came from behind them, followed by a grating noise of breaking.
Everyone's heart skipped a beat, and they quickly turned towards the sound.
A yellow excavator, responsible for digging the tunnel, was billowing thick black smoke from its engine compartment at the bottom.
A sneaky figure was sprinting away from behind the excavator, heading into the distance.
"Catch him!"
The little yellow hats shouted and gave chase.
"The machine's broken! One of the excavators is broken!" an engineer with a little yellow hat came up to inspect and suddenly yelled out, "The engine has been blown up by something! And several parts have been stolen!"
The excavators of this era were not simple vehicles with diggers; they featured advanced drilling structures. They could not only excavate soil but also bore holes and had extremely powerful functions.
The engines required were naturally very powerful, but now someone had secretly damaged one, leaving only one operational. The following tasks would become heavier, and progress would be significantly delayed.
Li Chengyi frowned at the scene in front of him. It felt as if someone was deliberately delaying their excavation progress.
It was just a hunch in his mind. He had just passed through a Blind Spot, and there was still time; he wasn't in a hurry. With company personnel present, he believed the situation would be handled well.
The halt of the excavator directly affected the progress.
Without further ado, both Li Chengyi and Song Ran settled down in temporary huts at the edge of the construction site to wait for the machine to be repaired.
These temporary huts were made with simple iron sheets, assembled quickly into readymade houses, cubic in shape, with a length and width of just over five meters, and even included windows.
Cheap in price, sturdy in structure, they provided protection against wind, rain, and sun, and were typically resided in by the workers themselves.
Both men were not concerned with comforts, their focus remained on the construction site.
They only ate the company-provided fast food that was heated up before consumption.
For three consecutive days, they waited for new parts to be delivered.
During this time, Li Chengyi also went to Tiamog once, trying out a theory on Evil Thought Absorption.
That involved provoking others intentionally, then beating them up, subjugating them, and subsequently absorbing the Evil Thoughts.
The efficacy of this method was verified through the sacrifice of two little hooligans.
Effective, but extremely weak.
Evil Thoughts rose from 45 to 49. And even for these four points, it took him an entire afternoon.
This test, carried out with Song Ran's assistance, was weak in effect.
However, it led Li Chengyi to speculate that the value of Evil Thoughts was likely related to the intensity of malice directed at him.
The weaker the will of people, even if they bore Evil Thoughts towards him, they dissipated quickly, turning into other emotions like fear or terror.
'Perhaps, I could create a game like Saw in the future, one that can fully unleash the potential of evildoers... Just beating them up stimulates too weak of Evil Thoughts.'
Returning to the construction site, on the fourth day, soon after Li Chengyi got up from his hut and opened the door to fetch water for washing,
he saw three white vans parked by the construction site, with 'Bureau of Land and Resources' printed in blue-black on the bodies.
About ten government workers in shirts and trousers were talking to Song Ran and the leading little yellow hat supervisor Huang Zhisheng.
In a short while, Song Ran came over with a frown and spoke softly to Li Chengyi.
"The local Bureau of Land and Resources insists we go register with them. They suspect we are illegally mining resources. As the highest-ranking company representative here, I have to go for record review," he said.
"How long will it take?" Li Chengyi frowned.
"I don't know, but it shouldn't take too much time," Song Ran guessed.
"Alright," Li Chengyi nodded.
"You and Expert Ding wait here for a bit, I'll be back soon," Song Ran said. He was the expert in charge of safety on this trip; without him, the construction site would be left with just a few workers, barely any fighting force.
But Li Chengyi was helpless; in Yi Country, when official departments came asking for registration, they couldn't just not go.
Song Ran and Huang Zhisheng both got into the car, following the people from the Bureau of Land and Resources to the city center tens of kilometers away.
As Li Chengyi watched them leave, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was amiss.
"It seems someone doesn't want us to keep digging..." Ding Chongyi stepped out from another hut nearby, approaching with a deep tone in his voice.
"Do these little tricks have any significance? Apart from delaying us a little, what else can they do?" Li Chengyi retorted.
"Isn't delaying us enough?" Ding Chongyi chuckled.
"....." Li Chengyi did not reply.
Yes, it was enough for him, he was already growing impatient.
After several days here, the progress at the construction site was still extremely slow.
Although Ding Chongyi had given a specific route for digging, myriad problems kept cropping up. Just as the excavator was repaired, Song Ran and Supervisor Huang Zhisheng were taken away.
His time was precious. Rather than wasting it here, it would be better to return to Suiyang to continue his training, and to find someone for Evil Thought Absorption to complete the evolution of Floral Dress—that was especially crucial.
Either option would be better than idly wasting time here.
"Without Song Ran and the supervisor, are we really unable to continue digging?" Ding Chongyi suddenly spoke up from the side.
"What do you mean?" Li Chengyi looked at her in surprise.
"Keep digging!" Ding Chongyi said with a smile, "Since some people don't want us to dig, that's exactly what we are going to do!"
She said it, and she did it.
That very afternoon, she began organizing all the little yellow hats to continue using the fixed excavator and soil pumps, carrying on with the underground operation.
The work at the site heated up once again.
Li Chengyi felt slightly relieved. The last time, the humanoid monster had become extremely strong, both in strength and speed.
If the Floral Dress hadn't completed its first evolution, he would have had no confidence in handling the monster's pounce the next time he entered.
It was important to remember that wearing the Floral Dress continuously drained his spirit and energy, so it wasn't possible to wear it all the time in daily life.
If he reacted even a bit too slowly, he could be ambushed and killed by the humanoid monster.
Even if he managed to react in time, the next time he entered the Grecius Parking Garage, there would be no one to extricate him from death. He could only rely on himself to keep fighting.
If he couldn't find a way to leave completely...
A shadow crossed Li Chengyi's eyes as he thought this, and a deep sense of crisis welled up from his heart.
He had to hurry!
The excavation work continued for a few more days.
Finally.
"It's through, it's through!" One of the little yellow hats rapidly knocked on Li Chengyi's door.
"Through!?" Li Chengyi, in his room, swiftly packed up the handgun he was inspecting on the table, stood up, and opened the door.
"Can we go in now?" he asked eagerly.
It had already been seven days since he arrived here.
He had spent a full seven days here, doing nothing but some basic training, fishing in the city to stay active; nothing substantial could be done.
The Floral Dress evolution was also stuck at Evil Thought Absorption level 55 and wouldn't progress further.
Fortunately, now there was a breakthrough.
"It's through. We're currently ventilating and reinforcing the support points. We'll be able too send people down soon," said the little yellow hat who brought the news.
"Where's Expert Ding?" Li Chengyi exhaled in relief. If they couldn't go down soon, he was ready to give up immediately and go looking for Evil Thought Absorption.
"She already went ahead." The little yellow hat answered.
Li Chengyi quickly stepped out of the metal shack.
It was already afternoon outside, and the sky was getting dark.
The sound of the waves in the distance and the sunset dying half the sky red.
Gusts of humid, hot wind made everyone's clothes flap at the site.
On the site, the machines had stopped, and two ventilation pipes were continuously pumping air out.
"The machines have already gone down to reinforce the tunnel. We'll be able to go down shortly," said Ding Chongyi, who was standing at the edge of the pit, upon seeing Li Chengyi approach, provided a simple explanation.
"How will I go down later?" Li Chengyi asked.
"That, see over there?" Ding Chongyi pointed to a coil of rope on the ground nearby, a set of sturdy clothes with a helmet, and a portable oxygen bottle.
"Tie it around your body, put on the protective suit, and wear the oxygen mask before going down."
Li Chengyi nodded, no longer speaking, just standing to the side waiting with some anticipation.
As he waited, suddenly, from across the clearing and out of the palm grove, a military green jeep approached slowly.
The jeep had no license plates and looked brand new, as if it had just been purchased.
As the vehicle neared the excavation site.
A little yellow hat split off from the rest to intercept them, shouting at the approaching party.
Whirr.
All of a sudden, the jeep's engine accelerated, and amid a roar, it charged toward the direction of the pit.
The jeep knocked the little yellow hat away, sending him flying, blood scattered everywhere. After hitting him, the jeep didn't stop but continued straight for the pit at increased speed.
"Get out of the way!!" Spotting the imminent danger, Li Chengyi quickly pulled Ding Chongyi to the side to avoid it.
The two of them swiftly climbed out of the large hole surrounding the pit and looked back.
To their surprise, there was no one in the jeep!
"Unmanned driving?!" Li Chengyi realized what was happening, but before he could fully grasp the situation.
Bang!
The jeep had already charged down the slope, approaching the edge of the pit, and a silver mechanical arm extended from the bottom of the vehicle, rolling down an object into the pit.
Boom!!
Soon after, an intense vibration spread from below.
The deafening sound of the explosion, accompanied by orange flames, erupted from the mouth of the pit.