Deshui and his group made their way along the B5 corridor towards the shaft leading to the seventh underground level. Their footsteps echoed in the empty passageway, like a tap dance performance for some unseen audience.
The walls on either side of the corridor were no longer mere metal and concrete. They had grown textures resembling "skin," occasionally bulging with small lumps as if holding their breath.
On Li Yuan's forehead was a band-aid dug out from technician Wang Wei's pocket—printed with a smiling penguin. She suspected it was a prop from the base's mental health department meant to relieve stress, but now, the penguin's smile seemed to be mocking them.
"Do you ever feel... this corridor is breathing?" Zhou Ming asked in a low voice, spinning the screwdriver in his fingers like a windmill.
"Breathing, my ass," Zhang Yifan panted. "It's digesting us."
Lu Xiao's tactical dagger was stained with the hound's mucus. He tried wiping it with his sleeve, only for the sleeve to corrode into strips of cloth hanging from his arm like instant noodles.
Just then, a strange sound came from around the corner ahead—not the roar of monsters, nor the rumble of machinery, but... music.
Yes, music.
An old-fashioned, electronically synthesized square dance accompaniment, so cheerful it made one wonder if Void energy had taken up artistic endeavors.
"Square dance?" Deshui narrowed his eyes. "Square dance in a Void nest?"
"Maybe it's the Void creatures' entertainment," Li Yuan said with a straight face. "Even they need cultural life, after all."
They cautiously peeked around the corner. At the end of the corridor was a spacious shaft platform, and on the platform stood a group of... beings.
They looked like uniformed human technicians, but their limb joints were bent in reverse, their heads as round as watermelons, and their faces bore stiff, frozen smiles.
They were arranged in a square formation, swaying their bodies up and down in time with the music, their movements perfectly synchronized as if performing some sacred ritual.
Even more bizarre, each held a glow stick—the tips flickering with a violet-black light, as if cheering for the Void energy.
"What the hell... is this?" Zhang Yifan's jaw nearly dropped.
"Could be the 'cultural troupe' of the Void nest," Zhou Ming speculated. "To soothe the hounds' moods, or put on shows for them."
"I think they're rehearsing a welcome ceremony for us," Lu Xiao said, tightening his grip on his dagger.
Deshui gestured for everyone to hold their position. He slowly approached the platform, trying to figure out what these "square dance aunties" were all about.
When he was about five meters from the formation, the music suddenly stopped.
All the beings simultaneously ceased moving and turned their heads to look at him in unison. Their smiles remained stiff, but their eyes gleamed with an eerie expectation.
"Hello," Deshui ventured a greeting. "Could you tell us how to get to the command center?"
A lead dancer stepped out from the formation. The name tag on its chest read: Liu Cuihua – Fourth-Grade Cultural Troupe Member.
It replied in a mechanical, saccharine voice: "Greetings, leadership~ Please dance with us first to pass through~"
"Dance?" Deshui was taken aback.
"Yes~ It's a rule of the Void nest~" Liu Cuihua waved her glow stick. "No dance, no entry to the shaft~"
Li Yuan muttered under her breath, "Who made this rule? Does Void energy manage cultural activities too?"
"Maybe the nest's central processor—that mass of violet-black energy—likes performances," Zhou Ming analyzed.
"Do we dance or not?" Lu Xiao asked.
Deshui was silent for two seconds, then decisively shook his head. "No. Our mission is to reach the command center, not to audition for a talent show."
Liu Cuihua's smile stiffened momentarily before recovering. "Then... we must ask you to stay and dance with us~"
As soon as the words were spoken, the other members of the formation suddenly quickened their pace, closing in on Deshui's group. Their glow sticks drew violet-black arcs in the air, like weaving a giant dreamcatcher.
"Open fire!" Deshui shouted.
But their ammunition was long depleted. They could only fight with melee weapons.
Lu Xiao's dagger slashed across an "auntie's" shoulder, only for the skin to bounce back like rubber, unscathed.
Zhang Yifan struck another's head with an iron rod. The being merely swayed and continued advancing.
"These things are immune to physical attacks!" Li Yuan exclaimed.
Zhou Ming suddenly noticed that at the joints of these beings was a hair-thin filament of violet energy, connected to a small energy orb on their backs.
"Target their energy orbs!" he yelled.
Deshui immediately thrust his iron rod toward the orb on Liu Cuihua's back—the moment it made contact, the orb burst like a punctured balloon. Liu Cuihua's movements instantly halted, her face taking on a confused expression before she collapsed to the ground with a thud, like a robot losing power.
Seeing this, the other "aunties" panicked, frantically checking their own orbs. Some even began stepping on each other's feet, creating a scene of utter chaos.
Seizing the opportunity, Deshui rushed to the shaft, kicked open the safety door, and revealed the metal ladder leading down to the seventh underground level.
"Move!" he called to his teammates.
They had just started climbing down when they heard Liu Cuihua's voice from the platform: "Leadership... you will regret this... We will keep dancing... until the end of the universe..."
Deshui ignored it and continued descending. The ladder was long, seemingly leading to the earth's core. Occasionally, they could hear a massive heartbeat from below, as if the entire base were a slumbering giant beast.
Seventh Underground Level: The Command Center Encounter
Finally, they reached the seventh underground level.
The air here was colder than above, carrying a scent of metal and disinfectant.
At the end of the corridor was a heavy blast door inscribed: Command Center – Unauthorized Entry Prohibited.
But the door was open, emitting a soft blue light from within, as if inviting them in.
Deshui pushed the door open. The sight before him made him wonder if he had stepped onto a sci-fi movie set.
The command center was a vast circular hall. At its center hovered a translucent sphere, within which complex data streams flowed like luminous rivers.
The walls of the hall were covered with display screens, but they didn't show surveillance footage. Instead, they depicted little straw-hatted figures farming, fishing, and building houses, as if some virtual agriculture experiment were underway.
"This... is the command center?" Zhang Yifan was dumbfounded.
"Looks like it's been turned into a farm simulator," Li Yuan frowned.
Zhou Ming walked up to a display and found an options menu. One button read: Sow Void Energy.
"My God, they're really planting... planting Void ener.