Chapter 2183 - 2176: Leave the Rest to Me

"Boss, what do we do with these people?" Zhang Menglong pointed at the corpses and asked.

"Take them upstairs," Zelans said, "The Holy Soul Alliance has a firm stance on the incidents of attacks on explorers, and we have ample evidence to prove their actions. Solving this could also earn us some rewards."

"Tsk tsk tsk, we might even get some private fortune from this!"

"Hahaha, hurry up and get to work, I’m already starting to feel a bit tired. The sooner we’re done, the sooner we can go home and rest."

"Got it!"

After avenging themselves and collecting so many Supreme Crystals, even Soren, who was injured, felt invigorated.

Although he lost an arm, with the Holy Soul Alliance’s technology, it’s quite easy to heal, although a bit pricey—but compared to their harvest this time, this amount of money is nothing.

After half an hour of busy work, all the Supreme Crystals were collected meticulously. By now, the Senior Explorers were quite exhausted, relying on willpower to hold on, especially Soren, whose wound showed signs of worsening.

"Let’s go back for a good rest, and tonight let’s celebrate!" Zelans said with a smile.

"Don’t you feel the temperature is getting higher?" Zhang Menglong suddenly asked.

"Indeed, the temperature is certainly rising," Yasai said, "The surrounding temperature is slowly increasing, it’s 30 degrees Celsius higher than when we first arrived."

"Could there be a volcanic eruption?" Zhang Menglong conjectured, but Gou Dan didn’t seem to find any volcano in the Blood Pond while scanning the terrain.

"Could it be..." Zelans and the others exchanged glances, suddenly feeling a bit scared.

"Captain, what’s going on? Do you know something?"

"Could it be that the Blood Vortex Flow has begun?"

"Huh?" Zhang Menglong was stunned upon hearing this. He’d heard Zelans and the others mention the Blood Vortex Flow many times; supposedly, those trapped in it are unlikely to survive, either getting swept into the depths of the Blood Pond or killed by Blood Slave Beasts.

Even if they find a relatively safe spot to temporarily shelter, their limit is just a few hours—stay too long, and they’d suffocate in the Blood Pond.

"Can’t be that unlucky?" Yasai sighed.

"It’s indeed the Blood Vortex Flow," Zelans said with a serious expression, having received information from a friend via quantum transmission—it’s already started!

Although this place is relatively safe, typically the Blood Vortex Flow lasts a whole month; even one day is impossible to endure.

"What do we do?" Everyone turned to Zelans.

"Rush out!" Zelans didn’t hesitate to say, "Staying here is a death sentence!"

They swam towards the way back, in which hot currents kept surging through the passage, with extremely high water pressure—a Junior Explorer likely wouldn’t be able to swim through under such pressure.

"Goodness, this is terrifying!" At the mouth of the cave, Zhang Menglong and the others stopped in their tracks.

The Blood Pond was riddled with chaotic currents flowing at a tremendous speed, and one wrong move could slam them into the seabed or whisk them away to another location.

They’d only been down here for less than an hour, and considering those who attacked them, it seemed unlikely they’d risk robbery during a Blood Vortex Flow—it likely started within the past half-hour.

"Such rotten luck!" Zelans cursed angrily.

"Boss, not quite—you know, we wouldn’t have these gains if we hadn’t come today."

"Indeed," Zelans said, although not having yet counted today’s haul, the amount was definitely significant. Once safe above, they’d pretty much stop doing such dangerous activities.

With so many Supreme Crystals, they could even elevate their Soul Rank to an incredible level!

That’s the qualitative change from a quantitative one. Regular explorers would only sell the collected Supreme Crystals, as one or two barely impact their Soul Rank.

But these Supreme Crystals could change their future.

"Go!" Zelans leaped forward, diving first into the Blood Vortex Flow.

Despite his prowess, his body suddenly lurched, taking a full five or six seconds to stabilize himself.

Zhang Menglong could see the fearsome nature of the Blood Vortex Flow—all the streams within the Blood Pond moved chaotically. Once inside, resisting the force and quickly adjusting was critical, or they’d be swept thousands of miles away in an instant.

"Boom!" Zhang Menglong heard a loud noise; suddenly, something slammed into the cliff wall beside him.

It was a person—a fellow explorer now a bloodied pulp!

Already devoid of life, it’s unknown how many times they’d been battered before arriving here.

But in just a fleeting moment, the corpse was swept in another direction.

At this moment, Zhang Menglong and the others chose to fight desperately. With the Blood Vortex Flow freshly begun, escape was still possible, but delay any longer, and its power would intensify, making escape truly impossible.

"Damn it!" Zhang Menglong couldn’t help but swear upon entering the Blood Vortex Flow; had Zelans not grabbed him, he couldn’t tell if he’d already been swept to Northern Myanmar.

"Everyone, hold tightly onto each other, don’t let the currents tear us apart!" Zelans knew that it was difficult even for himself, let alone his teammates, whose situations would be even worse.

Understanding the gravity of the situation, they tightly gripped one another, striving to swim upwards.

Though surfacing should have been easy, in these conditions, the force from the currents even hindered ascending, with their speed barely faster than a turtle.

"We can’t make it to the lake surface!" Feeling strength slowly drain from him, Zelans seemed enveloped by despair.

The others were barely managing to keep stable—he dragged everyone upwards, but after covering just one-third distance, he knew he couldn’t sustain through the remaining two-thirds.

"Sorry, I couldn’t get all of you out." Zelans gave a regretful look to everyone.

"Hold onto me tight!" Zhang Menglong then swapped places with Zelans, "Leave the rest to me!"

At this moment, Zhang Menglong unleashed his full power, using nearly all his aces, and subtly, his strength began to surpass even Zelans!

"No giving up, okay? Tonight we still have celebrations!"