After the teleportation ended.

  Xia Li found himself in pitch-black darkness, his body unable to move, as if trapped in a space custom-made for him.

  Through tactile feedback, Xia Li quickly understood his situation.

  The texture he felt was rough, hard, and cold—stone!

  He was currently embedded in underground rock layers.

  "Where did this send me? Underground?"

  Xia Li frowned. After Spirit Qi Resurgence, the random teleportation of the Chaos Phase Sphere wasn't too bad if it sent you high in the air—with his Foundation Establishment cultivation, falling wouldn't kill him.

  But ending up underground was troublesome. Breaking through rock consumed massive amounts of spiritual energy, and there was no oxygen underground either—that too required spiritual energy to maintain.

  "Perform gravity detection..."

  Xia Li immediately had Heaven Chip detect gravity. He needed to know which direction was "up."

  If he was currently head-down toward the depths, digging upward would only take him deeper.

  【Gravity detection complete. Enable directional display?】

  "Enable!"

  A spherical indicator immediately appeared before Xia Li's eyes, showing east, south, west, north, up, and down clearly.

  He was currently facing east—essentially embedded sideways in the rock layers.

  "Scan the rock layers and find the optimal route back to the surface."

  Rock layer density wasn't uniform everywhere. Encountering areas with concentrated mineral veins would be even harder to dig through.

  So Xia Li needed to scan.

  Several minutes later, Heaven Chip responded.

  【Nearest route marked. Additionally, abnormal spatial fluctuation detected five thousand meters below】

  【Abnormal fluctuation has disappeared. Location recorded.】

  "Abnormal fluctuation?"

  Xia Li frowned. He was already underground, and based on Heaven Chip's calculations using New Tokyo's elevation and current gravitational difference, it determined how deep he was.

  He was currently eight thousand meters underground, yet Heaven Chip was telling him there was a problem five thousand meters below!

  Some kind of spatial phenomenon at thirteen thousand meters underground.

  "Could it be phase resonance?"

  Xia Li immediately realized something. When he'd used the Chaos Phase Sphere to teleport here, the spatial fluctuations probably resonated with something deep below.

  The resonance just didn't last long. After it vanished, Heaven Chip couldn't scan it anymore—and he'd had Heaven Chip scan the rock layers just in time to catch it before the resonance disappeared.

  Only...

  Should he go investigate?

  "Could be some treasure... I should check it out."

  Xia Li decided to explore. After Earth's Spirit Qi Resurgence, just like the cultivation world on the other side, spiritual objects began appearing naturally between heaven and earth.

  A spiritual object that could produce spatial fluctuations couldn't be low quality.

  Even the most ordinary spatial crystal—a fist-sized crystal could make hundreds of storage rings.

  Though worthless on Earth with its phase technology, it was valuable on the other side. A single storage ring could sell for over a thousand spirit stones there.

  A fist-sized spatial crystal should be worth at least seventy or eighty thousand.

  If he got lucky and found a larger one—head-sized—that would be true overnight riches!

  Unfortunately, these things were too rare. On Earth, their research value exceeded their practical value, so there were none on the market.

  Otherwise, bulk purchasing them to resell in the cultivation world would be another path to wealth.

  Feeling he was about to strike it rich, Xia Li immediately dug downward with full force.

  His method was simple—smashing through with his right prosthetic arm.

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  Without earth-traveling techniques, moving underground was indeed troublesome. He couldn't even connect to the network to learn in real-time.

  This meant Xia Li would consume massive spiritual energy and time just to descend another five thousand meters.

  But Xia Li believed it was worth it.

  One day and one night later...

  Xia Li finally dug to his destination. In a three-meter square space before him wasn't some spatial crystal, but a worn circular metal platform.

  【Phase teleportation gate detected】

  【First-generation technology】

  【Integrity at sixty-eight percent, operational】

  Heaven Chip told Xia Li what the circular platform was—a product of phase technology.

  However...

  Xia Li recalled that current phase gates were third-generation. Phase gates weren't like Heaven Chips where lower generations could still work.

  First-generation phase gates consumed dozens of times more spiritual energy per use than second-generation, and nearly a hundred times more than third-generation.

  On Earth where spiritual energy was scarce, this outdated technology that wasted excess spiritual energy had no continued usage value.

  In other words...

  This was a phase gate leading to an abandoned location. Beyond the gate lay a forsaken independent space.

  Xia Li now had to calculate whether going in was worthwhile.

  First-generation gates couldn't be opened and closed at will. Once opened, they needed to be maintained. If closed and reopened later...

  "How many spirit stones to open a first-generation gate?"

  【Approximately one thousand. Maintenance costs after opening are generally low, so closing after opening is not recommended.】

  "Tch..."

  Xia Li frowned. If he opened it and found nothing but junk inside, it would be a pure loss.

  Earth's current archaeology focused on studying Spiritual Era artifacts. This was clearly something recent and abandoned—how could there be anything good inside?

  But...

  One reason made Xia Li want to investigate.

  This was a dead zone! And an Infant Wail gathering place. There might be unknown secrets from the past buried here.

  No more hesitation.

  Xia Li took out spirit stones and began dropping them into the platform's energy input port.

  The spirit stones converted to energy immediately upon entering, and the platform slowly began glowing faintly.

  After Xia Li had dropped in over nine hundred spirit stones...

  The platform suddenly flashed, and a mirror-like spatial rift appeared above it, revealing what the connected space looked like inside.

  "This is..."

  The interior appeared to be a laboratory. On the outer wall was a prominent red symbol that Xia Li recognized.

  The biochemical hazard symbol!

  This was a goddamn biochemical laboratory!

  Could there be zombies inside?

  Wait—even if there were, did he need to fear them?

  Even if movie-style Tyrant zombies emerged, would they dare challenge him?

  One punch and he'd scatter their ashes!

  After a moment of thought, just as Xia Li prepared to step through, Heaven Chip suddenly prompted him:

  【Enable spatial fluctuation concealment? This gate has a built-in function that requires manual activation】

  "Enable."

  【Please press the button】

  Heaven Chip highlighted a button on the platform. After Xia Li pressed it, his curiosity deepened.

  A hidden function—clearly meant to avoid detection. A biochemical laboratory built in an independent space—how many secrets lay within?

  And why was it abandoned? The only phase gate entrance buried deep underground.

  Mentally prepared, Xia Li gripped his blade tightly, then stepped through decisively!