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Daisy had breakfast and, during a casual conversation with the hotel staff, expressed her concerns about local security, with the other party recommending a gun store to her.
She spent $1,100 and walked away with two Glock 18s and two boxes of bullets. These guns were easy to carry, one at the small of her back and one in her backpack. In theory, she was now prepared for general trouble.
In the following days, she started frequenting local legends, stories, the library, and online forums, searching for clues about the ancient city.
For three consecutive days, she visited the San Juan police station. According to her, she had seen online that eighteen years ago, a couple lost a girl here. She came following the leads to find her biological parents.
The police station took a high look at the American passport she held and took the trouble to cooperate with the search for three days.
Searching for parents was just a cover; Daisy had come to Puerto Rico openly for a reason, more to implant a Trojan horse into the police system.
She found the architectural layout of Old San Juan in the police database. Not being an architecture expert, she couldn't see anything abnormal. However, combining memory and guesswork, she identified a few key points.
Originally named San Cristóbal, Old San Juan was a sturdy fortress built by the Spaniards to control the Caribbean Sea. Over time, it had made significant contributions by resisting invasions from the Dutch, English, and Americans.
It can be confirmed that the ancient city of aliens was deep underground under the fortress.
Having gathered information, the next step for any large organization was to clear the area using large machinery for deep excavation. SHIELD used high-speed cutting machines, while Hydra, even more impressive, set up plasma drills. Poor Daisy let alone helpers, didn't even have a shovel.
As for going to the store to buy a shovel, go dig a thief hole yourself, and make a guest appearance in the Western version of the ghost blowing out the lamp? No matter how you think about it, it's unreliable...
The method of brute force digging wasn't suitable for her.
Daisy delved into the San Juan library, searching through various documents. It had to be said that she was motivated when she was under pressure. Her Spanish level improved by leaps and bounds while reviewing the materials. Although she stuttered when speaking, reading and writing presented no major obstacles.
In local folklore, she came across a message that sounded like an urban legend.
Legend has it that on the north side of the ancient fortress, facing the sea, there is a watchtower. For a long time, no one dared to station there, and there were records of eleven missing soldiers. Local legends suggest that beneath the tower resides an ancient demon.
Daisy felt a bit uneasy. Are there demons in the Marvel world? She knew there were, but they shouldn't be here.
According to the documents, soldiers disappeared without a trace, indicating there was a passage directly connecting to the underground city. And since the soldiers lacked the bloodline of Inhumans, they never returned.
It must be said that this urban legend was good news for her who was alone.
August in Puerto Rico was scorching, and San Juan wasn't a large city. The streets were narrow, and the imagined scene of gunfire and combat all over the streets wasn't seen. The locals were very peaceful. They set up parasols, casually selling items, some of which weren't well taken care of, on the roadside, and no one paid much attention.
Daisy made various purchases, preparing some ropes, knifes, and a few glow sticks. She remembered that the underground city had a special magnetic field that could disable all electronic devices. Many things might be useless, but she still brought a flashlight. In the early stages, flashlights still had some utility and could serve as disposable items.
She also bought some compressed food and water. In TV shows, everything wraps up in forty minutes, but in reality, it's hard to judge how long it would take. After all, it's an underground city, relying on two feet, and no matter how you think about it, it would take a long time.
Thinking back to the painful experiences of military training, she bought a large pack of sanitary pads. This thing could be used as insoles and now could also be used for its intended purpose. In any case, it was a necessary item...
The existing city architectural map was of little help for the underground city, but Daisy still hand-drew a portable one. She left her laptop and phone in the hotel.
Daisy wore a beige shirt over her tank top, rolled up at the cuffs, paired with jeans, sneakers, a mechanical wristwatch, and a jacket stuffed in her backpack. This outfit looked hot, but she estimated that it would be cold and dirty inside the underground city. It's always good to be more prepared.
Fully fed and watered, with everything ready, carrying the obelisk, on a sunny afternoon, she sneaked into the rumored demonic-occupied watchtower.
She had no counter-surveillance abilities; day and night made no difference to her. During the day, if someone was following her, she might still notice.
Skipping up a small path, the deserted watchtower was already abandoned, without even a decent gate.
The interior was full of dust, cool and dim. Daisy quickly put on her jacket and focused on searching.
After a short time, she found a hollow covered in weeds and walked slowly down the stone staircase with her pistol in hand.
This is a wine cellar. Apparently, the soldiers stationed there were not willing to be lonely. To drink here, they dug a hole and usually stored their alcohol below.
Tapping on the floor tiles and walls, she eventually discovered a deep hole beneath the west wall. Presumably, the final guard had blocked the entrance, but it was done haphazardly and easily opened by her.
Having read some tomb-robbing novels, Daisy waited outside for a while. Afterward, she reached out and sensed a slow airflow through her fingers, accompanied by a faint cool breeze.
Her long hair tied in a ponytail, flashlight tucked into her miner's cap, she carefully climbed down the passage.
The passage was the one the watchtower guards had excavated, and their intentions weren't hard to guess—they probably believed there was a treasure or something below.
The passage was narrow, and Daisy crawled in a highly unconventional posture for an hour. One word: exhausting!
Wilderness survival wasn't particularly friendly to women. She should've bought a sports vest; crawling for an hour was an indescribable experience.
Fortunately, this stretch of passage wasn't long. After passing a slope, the scene in front of her suddenly cleared up.
A smoother downward slope appeared before her.
The flashlight went out as expected.
The disgraced Daisy, covered in dust, knew she had entered the ancient underground city.
Faced with the pitch-black tunnel, she felt a silent fear, tinged with a hint of joy?
Instead of using a glow stick, she reached out and grabbed the obelisk by accident. The once smooth surface of the obelisk now displayed numerous orange stripes. After studying the layout of San Juan for a few days, she immediately recognized the map appearing on the obelisk's surface. The stripes converged at one point—her destination.
The obelisk was still glowing, sending a signal to Daisy to follow its guidance.
This inexplicable feeling, coupled with the faint illumination from the obelisk, allowed her to see her surroundings clearly.
Just a short distance from her feet lay seven or eight sets of bones. They had been controlled the moment they entered the city's edge and ultimately died here.
At the end of her sight were more skeletal remains, including Spanish soldiers, indigenous people, and some small-sized animals based on their clothing.
Identifying the direction, she began to walk deeper into the city following the obelisk's guidance.
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