Chapter 21: Rise Up, Section 2

Another day of travel, yet the black-haired team did not reach their destination as he had expected. In fact, they spent almost the entire day fighting. Every so often, they would come under attack. The monsters attacking them kept changing—starting with mutated elephants and later, highly poisonous centipedes. There were more and more of them, and they grew stronger by the moment. Especially the poisonous centipedes—besides their huge numbers, each one possessed a corrosive venom capable of instantly melting a mech, causing the Blood Wolf Pirates heavy losses. Not only were five exploration mechs destroyed, but even an elite mech had its arms melted, rendering it completely combat-incapable. If it weren’t for Black Hair and Monkey being top-notch experts, the pirates would have been wiped out by now!
Yet even so, Black Hair never considered retreating. For some reason, his desire to meet the master of this place grew even stronger. It was as if something was drawing him forward, making it impossible for him to stop. Though he knew the closer he got to the destination, the greater the obstacles would be, he had no other choice.
After another day of arduous journeying, crossing three valleys and two giant cracks, they finally reached the area where the scanner signal was strongest. It was a huge cave—like a labyrinth built inside a mountain. You wouldn’t know its scale until you entered. Once inside, Black Hair realized just how enormous it was. Countless entrances and passages of various sizes spread like a spider web throughout the cave, making it impossible for them to find the right direction. The location of the signal source also became unclear after entering. Everything depended on them figuring things out on their own.
“Damn it, so frustrating! We’ve fought our way through thousands of enemies, only to end up playing hide-and-seek here.”
That was the complaint echoing among the pirates. And they weren’t wrong. Although they had only been on this planet for three days, they had faced more fierce battles than in the entire previous month. There were constant battles during the day, and at night, they had to be on guard against wild animal attacks. Moreover, these animals were all mutated variants—seemingly weak, but each one capable of damaging mechs. The advantage of technology here was diminishing by the day.
But these pirates were fearless. The problem now was the maze ahead.

It’s simply too big and too complicated. Without the help of scanning devices, they were like headless flies, wandering aimlessly in this vast labyrinth. Although the labyrinth could accommodate mechs, searching for so long was extremely tedious.
After all, the successive battles in the past had pushed their vigilance to its limit. So even after entering the labyrinth, they focused on systematic searches. Spreading out to search? Ridiculous—only fools would do that. Weren’t they afraid of being devoured by wolves?
Still, this cave was truly spectacular…
They were now in a winding corridor with an uneven floor, strange rocks everywhere on both sides, and stalactites covering the ceiling. It was quiet, with the occasional sound of dew dripping from the stalactites. The faint engine noise of the mechs stood out sharply in such an environment. In such a setting, the pirates suddenly felt that even speaking loudly was a form of desecration.
Under these circumstances, the pirates didn’t dare say anything to their leader. Seeing that the giant Killing Emperor showed no signs of trouble, even if they were frustrated, they had no choice but to keep moving forward.
About two more hours passed. Just as everyone thought they had ventured deep into the mountain, they suddenly heard a voice over the common channel.
“Huh? How did we end up back where we started?” The Monkey’s voice was soft, but it sounded like a thunderclap, turning all the pirates’ faces pale.
No way… Were they lost? In such a huge cave, getting lost meant certain death. Instantly, all the pirates turned their gazes toward the figure in the middle of them. Unfortunately, their hopes quickly turned into disappointment.
“Hmm, indeed. These are the markers we left behind,” Blackhair confirmed the Monkey’s judgment. His own expression wasn’t much better.
“It seems this cave is more complex than we thought. But it’s too late to try to leave now.”
“What?” The Monkey was stunned.
“Haven’t you noticed? The path behind us has changed.”
Hearing Blackhair’s words, the pirates immediately turned to look. Sure enough, behind them, the original passage had turned into an intersection of two entrances, which looked almost identical from the outside. They couldn’t tell which entrance they had come through.
How could this happen? The pirates were stunned, then panicked.

If it’s normal for a mechanical structure to change its shape on its own, then this is a cave—a genuine product of nature. How could it move or change on its own? After all, they had paid close attention when passing by; there could be no branches to the road behind them!
Was it an illusion? Or had it really changed?
One pirate, unwilling to believe it, rushed to the two cave entrances behind them and checked them one by one. When he returned, his face was pale. He muttered to himself, “It’s real… it’s all real…”
Suddenly, chaos erupted. The continuous intense battles and prolonged confinement had already made the pirates extremely nervous. Now, with such a sudden change, who could stay calm? Anger and outbursts filled the channel, completely destroying the peaceful atmosphere of the cave!
Amidst these panicked pirates, Blackhair remained silent, his brows tightly furrowed as if deep in thought. After a long while, he reached out and switched on a channel in the cockpit.
“Monkey, what do you think’s going on?”
“I don’t know,” came Monkey’s voice over the channel, sounding somewhat depressed. “But to be honest, boss, I’d prefer it to be an illusion. If the cave is alive, does that mean the whole mountain is alive too? It’s just too absurd.”
The mountain is alive?
Monkey’s words struck like lightning in Blackhair’s mind, sending a shiver through him.
Yes, why couldn’t the mountain be alive?
The universe is full of wonders, and there are many forms of life. Hadn’t he seen living oceans before? Even Mason was a living planet. If that’s the case, what’s so strange about a living mountain?
So, was he inside its belly now?
“Damn it,” Blackhair muttered, cursing under his breath.
Monkey immediately noticed and pressed further, “What, boss? Did you discover something?”
“Nothing,” Blackhair replied, momentarily stunned as an idea flashed through his mind: no matter what, he couldn’t reveal this hypothesis now. His men were already panicked enough; adding this news might cause immediate trouble. After all, they were just pirates. Even if they had exceptional individual abilities, their discipline and mental resilience were far from satisfactory.
Of course, there was nothing to hide from Monkey. After some thought, Blackhair switched off the public channel before slowly saying,
“Monkey, I’ve come up with a possibility.”

Black Hair spoke slowly, and Monkey quickly understood what he meant. When he heard that such strange forms of life might truly exist in the universe, he was stunned as well.
“You mean you’ve seen life like that?”
“Mm.” Black Hair nodded affirmatively. He glanced back once more—before long, the environment behind them had changed again. Silently, two entrances had turned into six, still arranged in the same pattern behind them. It was as if by magic.
“So what do you think should be done?” At this point, Monkey’s tone had also calmed down. Unlike those nervous pirates, he, like Black Hair, was a warrior with countless battles under his belt, his nerves extremely resilient. Since Black Hair had already made up his mind, he felt much more at ease.
At any time, a good leader is the core of a team. Monkey had always believed this, and whether on Earth in the past or in the world now, Black Hair had never disappointed him.
“It’s simple—destroy it with force.”
“What’s the reason?”
“If our guess is correct, the mountain itself should be the body of this lifeform. By destroying this environment, we’re also harming it. Any lifeform should have sensations. Now it’s just a matter of seeing if our firepower can exceed its limit.”
“What if it has no sensations? Or if its tolerance is very high?” Monkey pressed on.
“Then we’ll have to take a gamble,” Black Hair said with a hint of defiance. “To see whether its flesh is tough or our weapons are sharp.”
“Understood.” Monkey grinned. “I hope this place doesn’t collapse.”
“Hopefully,” Black Hair smiled too.
Black Hair moved swiftly. Almost as soon as he finished speaking, the weapon compartments on the Killing Emperor were fully opened, and numerous gun barrels spewed long streams of fire, blasting at the dark passages behind them. His orders were given immediately.
The pirates were even more frenzied. Indeed, in this oppressive environment, nothing was more satisfying than destruction. Black Hair’s orders were like a valve that released their madness completely. In an instant, countless fierce bursts of fire pierced the silence, racing in the direction Black Hair had designated.

Shards of rock flew everywhere, and dust filled the air. For a moment, the terrifying firepower of the Blood Wolf Pirates was fully displayed. The entire cave began to tremble. Through their mecha’s sensing systems, the pirates could clearly feel the vibrations in the ground beneath their feet. Excitement flushed their faces, and howls echoed continuously.

Just then, a loud voice suddenly rang out in the cave. “You guys, stop it!!!”