Super Soldier

Chapter Nineteen: The Subterranean Palace

Just as Lin Fei had sunk into despair, a deafening series of explosions erupted from the crystal mine below. The metallic struts and rocky supports began to crumble, cascading down like a landslide. The mutated sand dragon, still prowling the tunnels, was caught off guard by the blasts—its massive body tossed aside, battered by falling stones and metal rods.

Though resistant to extreme heat, the crystals within the mine stored immense energy and lacked material stability. Bombarded by the dragon’s continuous stream of searing flames, their temperature reached the critical threshold, triggering a chain reaction of detonations throughout the subterranean labyrinth.

This, perhaps, was why the heavily armed prison guards stationed above never dared to descend after reports of a fire-breathing dragon in the mine.

Lin Fei, unfamiliar with the volatile properties of the crystal ore, had ventured in unprotected, unaware of the terrifying consequences when these stones encountered intense heat.

The explosions echoed without pause. The mutated sand dragon, now battered and bewildered, abandoned its pursuit of the surviving prisoners. Its once-imposing body, stretching nearly sixty meters, had been torn into grotesque segments. The head, still attached to a portion of its upper torso, writhed deeper into the mine in a desperate bid to escape.

Lin Fei clung tightly to the metal rod embedded in the dragon’s skull. Thankfully, the beast’s massive body shielded him from the worst of the concussive blasts from above, sparing him from severe injury. Yet, he dared not release his grip.

The sensation was akin to riding a roller coaster—without the safety bar.

Wounded and frenzied, the sand dragon surged back into a tunnel once dug by a prisoner using an industrial drill. It burrowed into the sand with terrifying speed.

Holding his breath, Lin Fei lay flat on the dragon’s head, gripping the metal rod with white-knuckled hands. The pressure of the surrounding earth bore down on him, threatening to crush him at any moment.

Fortunately, the mutated creature needed to surface every few minutes to draw breath before diving back underground. Lin Fei seized these precious seconds to gasp for air. But at such velocity, the window was brief and perilous—if he let go, best-case scenario, he’d be flung skyward and break half his bones. Worst-case, he’d be buried alive and suffocated beneath the sand.

So he clung on, driven by raw survival, praying that the dragon, bleeding and broken, would exhaust itself soon and slow down enough to allow escape.

But the beast showed no signs of surrender. It raced through the earth like a phantom, and Lin Fei, barely conscious, kept his grip with sheer will. His eyes fluttered shut—he could only sense the shifts in pressure around him and time his breathing accordingly.

Then, with a thunderous clang, the rampage halted.

But misfortune persisted—the sand dragon hadn’t emerged onto solid ground. Instead, it had crashed into a cavern deep below the earth, slamming into a massive silver-white gate embedded in the rock—a door forged of some unknown, gleaming alloy.

Yes, it was a gate. A metallic barrier buried beneath the surface of the Sinless Star.

Ding-dong. Mutated Sand Dragon terminated. Host has completed the “Hero Slays the Dragon” mission with a 60% success rate. Grade: C.

Ding-dong. Discovery: One unidentified subterranean technological structure. One sealed metallic gate detected. No matches found in database.

Reward granted: To increase host’s chances of survival, a single-use Master Key has been issued.

Master Key: Can unlock any mission-related door-shaped structure. No door can bar your path.

Tip: Would you like to use the Master Key to unlock the mysterious technological gate ahead?

Sore and battered, Lin Fei slid off the dragon’s lifeless corpse. As his feet touched the ground, the system’s voice rang in his mind.

He looked around—no telling whether he was dozens or hundreds of meters below the surface. Aside from the glowing silver-white door before him, the cavern was shrouded in darkness.

He reached out to touch the metallic gate. Its surface was threaded with tubing—like mercury-filled circuit patterns—fluid and luminous.

“Damn it all,” he muttered. “I nearly died killing that monster, and now I’ve been dragged into this hellhole. Nothing here but this damned door, and the system only gives me a one-use key.”

After all that, he had risked his life only to end up empty-handed, relying on a single golden key to progress.

Lin Fei sighed inwardly. He had no real choice. If he didn’t use the key now, he’d die trapped beneath the earth. It was better to see what lay beyond the sealed gate and hope for a path to escape.

“System, activate the Master Key,” he said.

A product of War God Systems—excellence guaranteed.

A golden key the size of a clenched fist materialized in mid-air and plunged into the center of the metallic gate before him.

Ka-cha, ka-cha—

As the key turned, the silver-white gate split open. Beams of blue-white light burst from the cracks, only to be absorbed into the golden key like sparks short-circuiting from a live wire.

Moments later, the gate was entirely enveloped in golden radiance and vanished without a trace.

“What the hell?” Lin Fei muttered. “The Master Key’s like a damn black hole... So much for some divine relic—it’s just brute-force demolition!”

Before him now stretched a narrow, gleaming blue-metal corridor. Strange, alien runes twisted and spun around its surface like sentient glyphs.

There was no other path. Like a dead pig unafraid of boiling water, Lin Fei stepped forward. Finding nothing amiss, he ventured deeper.

After walking for about twenty meters, the corridor ended.

Before him rose a vast, ancient structure—an edifice resembling a glass pyramid built from countless steps, towering like a forgotten temple of the gods.

Suspended within the transparent core of the pyramid floated a crystalline coffin.

Inside the coffin lay a girl, appearing no older than eighteen or nineteen, unclothed, with cascading silver hair, a delicate face shaped like a teardrop, a small, pursed mouth, and eyes gently shut in eternal slumber. Her expression was devoid of emotion—beautiful, yet chilling, like a statue carved of frost.

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