"Look at those statues. They are like loyal guards of the mausoleum. I don't think we are their opponents!" Jia Lan pointed to the other side, where "statues" made of white marble stood in disorder in the hall, as if with a touch of red lines.

  Jia Lan said slowly, "I'm afraid that the ruins we found are an even older 'Twilight Ruins'. According to my understanding, the 'magic' technology of the early civilization, the Dawn Age, is far from the level of building such a magnificent underground temple!"

  The mercenaries looked at each other, and Captain Kenmet asked hesitantly: "So, what you mean is... we should retreat?"

  "Yes, retreat temporarily. Before we have enough power to thoroughly explore this place, it's best not to come back... Otherwise, I can't guarantee that there won't be accidents like the one in the hall."

  Jia Lan nodded heavily and continued, "To be honest, with my ability, I can't understand the magic mechanism in this ruins at all. Just like the complicated 'magic circle' in the hall just now, I can't even tell its type... We are lucky. We just activated a teleportation circle inside the ruins."

  Looking at the mercenaries who seemed a little disappointed, Jia Lan shrugged: "If the summoning array or the sealing array is triggered... we may face a monster summoned from another world, or be sealed here forever, just like... those statues!" He pointed to the "statues" of various shapes on the other side, and the mercenaries couldn't help but feel creepy. Could it be that those "statues" were once alive?

  Captain Kenmet swallowed his saliva. Although he felt sorry for the fact that he had gained nothing from this trip to the ruins, considering that even Jia Lan, an unfathomable magician, did not dare to go deeper, he decided to retreat for safety.

  Since they decided to retreat, everyone did not linger too much and quickly left the hall full of weirdness and danger and returned to the circular hall.

  They discussed that Captain Kenmet would keep the bronze spear, and Jia Lan would keep the key copper ball.

  In this way, even if one party lost the "key", it would not be easily invaded here.

  In fact, everyone knew that the magic door hidden behind the secret door was the most important of the two levels in the circular hall.

  Even if you have the key copper ball, you can't open the magic door without knowing the opening spell.

  The reason why the "keys" were kept separately was just a gesture made by the partners to show mutual trust.

  Looking at the slowly closing secret door, Jia Lan and the others breathed a sigh of relief, as if as long as they closed the magic door, they could reseal the strange danger in the ruins.

  However, they didn't know that after they left the Rock Bridge Hall, among the "statues" on the opposite bank, a tall statue with double horns on its head, a thick tail behind it, and a pair of wings on its back suddenly trembled, and while sprinkling a lot of dust, it slowly opened a pair of scarlet eyes...

  After exiting the Rock Bridge Hall, everyone took a short rest in the circular hall.

  Jia Lan went to check the passage of the "Nine Lights Hall". As Hugo said, after they were teleported away, something happened and the entire passage collapsed.

  Now, even if they want to return to the "Nine Lights Hall", they need to gather enough construction workers and spend a long time to dig the passage again.

  Perhaps unwilling to return empty-handed, under the instigation of the gold thief Hugo, everyone decided to open the two secret doors in the east and west to have a look.

  Even if they don't explore immediately, at least they can know what is behind the secret door, satisfy their curiosity, and be mentally prepared.

  However, when they opened the secret door in the east direction, they found that the back had collapsed long ago, and the soil and rubble blocked the entire secret room.

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  When the secret door sank into the ground, what appeared in front of them was just a mud wall.

  And judging from the rubble mixed in the earth wall, even the magic door with the dragon head relief was broken under the huge pressure.

  Behind the secret door in the west, although the secret room is well preserved, strangely, there is no magic door with the dragon head relief in this secret room.

  A secret array is engraved on the ground. After careful analysis by Jia Lan, it is determined that this is a miniature teleportation array inside the ruins.

  Unfortunately, I don’t know if it is due to the local geological changes caused by the collapse of the "Nine Lights Hall", this internal teleportation array has been destroyed by a rock crack about three meters wide from the ceiling to the ground.

  Fortunately, the rock material of this circular hall is unusual. They are made of "magic" materials strengthened by secret methods and are of excellent quality.

  Even after such drastic geological changes, the main structure of the circular hall still stands, avoiding the tragedy of people being buried alive underground.

  Everyone was secretly glad, and Jia Lan quickly took out a "communication mirror" and contacted Casey and Dave on the ground.

  However, the news was puzzling - Casey and the others did not notice any vibration, and the Castle of Doom was still safe and sound!

  Could it be that this geological change was limited to the underground? Or was this crack not related to the collapse of the "Nine Lights Hall"? Or was it that some unknown force limited the geological change to the underground?

  Everyone looked at each other, including Jia Lan, and no one could solve the mystery.

  The bottom of the crack was not deep, filled with collapsed rubble, only two or three meters deep. With their strength, it was no problem to cross it easily.

  On the other side of the crack, there seemed to be another huge space hidden, with fluorescent light flashing, and the scene on the opposite side could be vaguely seen.

  "Hush! Listen!" Old Jimmy suddenly raised his finger, signaling everyone to be quiet, "There seems to be movement on the other side!"

  Everyone held their breath and listened carefully. Sure enough, there was a faint sound coming from the space on the other side of the crack, like air surging, or like a whisper.

  "Go and have a look? Maybe those giant rats? Or that flying head barbarian?" Captain Kenmet looked at Jia Lan inquiringly, pointing to the collapsed rubble in the circular hall, "Maybe this crack has existed for a long time! Those giant rats and flying head barbarians came in from the opposite side!"

  Jia Lan hesitated for a moment and nodded. As the new owner of the Castle of Doom, he could not tolerate monsters like giant rats and flying head barbarians hiding under the castle.

  The two thieves took the lead, tied with ropes to prevent the rubble at the bottom of the crack from collapsing again. No one dared to be sure of the depth of the crack and the stability of the rubble.

  Jia Lan climbed up and down with the mercenaries, showing great agility.

  The group carefully passed through the rock crack.

  Opposite the crack was a natural rock cave, which was humid and filled with the strange smell of rotting plants.

  There must be an underground water source nearby.

  The walls of the cave were covered with mosses, emitting a faint fluorescence in the dark.

  Jia Lan reached out and touched the slippery moss, sniffed the juice on his fingers, and shook his hand in disgust.

  Although this luminous moss is similar to the "moonlight moss", it exudes a disgusting stench and is covered with sticky mucus.

  The ground is also covered with this moss, and every step will make a disgusting sound.

  After a few steps, the shoes are covered with thick gray-white sticky substances.

  The group resisted nausea and passed through the moss area.

  On the walls and ground of the cave, they found some large and small holes, with soil and gravel scattered around, which were obviously dug out by giant rats and dark demon rats.

  Captain Kenmet's guess was confirmed.

  The rat holes in the circular hall are connected to these rat holes. The giant rats drilled into the hall through these rat holes and then jumped into the dungeon warehouse from the top of the rubble.

  The real body of the Flying Head Barbarian might have accidentally flown out of these holes.

  Although it is still unclear whether the main body has returned underground, judging from the instinct of its infected bodies to return to the nest after being injured, their origin has been basically determined.

  After turning a few corners in the complex and ever-changing cave group, the view in front of us suddenly opened up.

  There is actually a huge underground cave hidden here!

  Everyone also found the source of the strange sound they heard before - an underground river that fell into the underground crack!

  The roaring sound of water echoed between the rock walls, and when it reached their previous location, it sounded like the sound of wind.

  Although the humid environment created by the underground river is harsh, it provides space for mosses and giant fungi to grow.

  The huge fungi are piled up in the underground cave like big umbrellas. Not only are their figures densely covered on the ground, but there are also clusters of huge mushrooms on the walls and domes.

  It seems like there is an underground forest of fungi here, and occasionally you can hear the sharp cries of giant rats.

  These fungi provide them with a natural food source, allowing them to reproduce into large populations and turn this place into a huge rat's nest!