This thing seems highly poisonous, with mucus on its teeth that can be deadly at any moment.
"The teeth of this creature are full of potent venom. The red bats from the town are ordinary ones. What emerges from the old man's mouth is unlikely to be anything good," the metaphysics professor explained. The others found Zhou Lin's situation quite troublesome.
Just then—
One of the red bats was charging towards their protective shield, its sharp teeth emitting black fumes.
The red bat was about to bite the mercenaries, the archaeological team, and the others.
But the shield blocked it, with only black fumes spreading across its surface.
Seeing the situation unfold, everyone's hearts tightened, their eyes fixed on the condition of the shield.
At this moment, Zhou Lin saw the red bats and a look of disdain flickered across his lips.
The red bats, seeing Zhou Lin, opened their mouths wide and lunged towards him.
Zhou Lin gently struck his shaman drum, and the bells on his hand chimed in unison with the drumbeats.
But this time, the ringing of the bells was more prominent than the drumming.
The red bats' heads spun. They had been heading for Zhou Lin, but in the end, they turned and charged towards the bat elder.
The elder was surprised and eyed Zhou Lin warily. With a wave of his hand, the bats vanished into streaks of red smoke.
The elder flapped his wings, and an invisible gust of wind blew towards Zhou Lin and the mercenaries.
He then leaped backward, disappearing into the darkness.
Zhou Lin's ears twitched as he intently listened to the surrounding environment and situation.
"Quickly cover your mouths and noses, don't breathe."
Captain Bai spoke first, raising his hand to cover his mouth.
The others behind him followed suit, not daring to exhale, fearing that their breathing might disrupt Zhou Lin's search for the old bat.
In the live stream:
"Holy cow, is this the legendary 'listening to sound to discern location'? Is that what it means?"
"It seems so. This expert is like a god, truly amazing."
"We're all on edge just watching."
"This old man is really good at using the terrain to hide. We haven't heard a single sound."
"Is he planning a stealth attack?"
...
Netizens' comments flashed by incessantly, leaving no room for the American Eagle country to speak.
Inside the tomb:
Zhou Lin's eyes suddenly sharpened as if he had seen something. He whipped his lash towards the left.
*Crack—*
"Ah..."
The elder's voice echoed from the side, and he staggered out from a hidden space, a red whip mark on his back.
He collapsed onto the ground. Zhou Lin's strike had precisely hit the elder's bat wing, drawing blood.
"What other tricks do you have? Bring them on."
Zhou Lin's anger flared as he thought of the bat's repeated provocations. With a cold sneer, he looked at the old man.
The elder, seeing Zhou Lin's demeanor and the shaman drum and Wen Wang whip in his hands, felt a pang of fear.
The sting of the recent strike still sent tremors of pain through his bones.
"I will leave here immediately. Please let me go."
The elder's greatest strength was defense. His offensive capabilities were merely due to his numerous bats, but now they were all dead.
How could he fight? He could only beg for mercy.
"Leave? You didn't consider letting us leave before."
Zhou Lin found the elder's plea amusing. His tone was laced with frost and killing intent as he looked at the old man.
The elder's brow furrowed. Knowing that Zhou Lin did not intend to let him go, his expression turned cold.
"Don't push me too far, or no one will benefit."
Seeing that pleading wouldn't work, the elder resorted to threats.
"You can try."
Zhou Lin scoffed.
Seeing this, a look of desperation flashed in the elder's eyes. He muttered something unintelligible, and cracks began to appear on his body.
"I will take you all down with me. You will all be buried here."
The elder's expression turned manic, and his body began to swell.
"This is bad, this guy is going to detonate himself to kill Zhou Lin!"
The metaphysics professor's heart leaped into his throat as he observed the elder's transformation.
"If this explodes, this tomb will be destroyed, and a massive amount of seawater will flood in..."
Guo Liang said with shock and worry in his eyes. If that happened, then...
Wouldn't everyone be in grave danger?
They would drown if they weren't killed by the explosion.
The protective shield hadn't mentioned being waterproof, had it?
"Holy crap, this old geezer is really risking it all?"
"What do we do? We still have the shield protecting us, but what about the professor? If it really explodes, won't the professor be in great danger?"
"Can't you think of a way? Let's talk this out."
The students' minds reeled, instantly overwhelmed by the news, their reason vanishing.
Several students, imagining themselves drowning, turned deathly pale.
They couldn't utter a coherent sentence.
The viewers in the live stream, upon hearing this news, also became restless.
"Aren't you people from Great Xia very capable? How should this situation be resolved?"
"The explosion is one thing, but how will you leave this tomb when the seawater floods in later? You people from Great Xia are truly amazing. If you had agreed to the old man's plea earlier, it wouldn't have come to this."
"You disgusting people, can you hold your tongues? In this situation, your American Eagle country would only have one option: wait for death. But Great Xia won't. Open your dog eyes and watch carefully."
"Didn't your American Eagle country's chemical plant explosion also kill many people? It's said that you bullied an honest person, and when you pushed them too far, this is what happened. If you had appeased that honest person back then, wouldn't things have turned out differently?"
"You deserve to suffer too, don't you?"
In the deans' conference room:
Everyone watched the live stream, unable to sit still.
The other professors and experts looked at the elder's body, which seemed like a bubble about to burst.
The outcome was clear to everyone.
"This old man is truly wicked. He's still causing trouble at this point. It's right that Zhou Lin isn't letting him go," Professor Hu said, his heart filled with anger at the elder's actions.
"If they had let him go back then, he wouldn't be in this predicament. Perhaps everything would be fine now."