super species player.

Chapter 480: People Under the Nyiragongo
Within the Southern Ashes, apart from the two gods, Destruction and Greed, the most mysterious and unpredictable one is the Great Protector, whose status is second only to the two gods.

Not every member of Ashes has the opportunity to see the majestic appearance of “Fishing Alone in the Cold River”, the Great Guardian of the Ascension Ceremony.

Lin Zhuo's Adam's apple moved. He stood at the foot of the stairs for the ascension ceremony that was about to be built deep in the valley. He looked up at the man in black robe standing at the top of the stairs that were hundreds of meters high. His heart was filled with indescribable tension and shock!
In his field of vision, this great guardian, whose status was second only to that of the Lord of Ashes, was tall and broad, with a gloomy and cold temperament. He was wrapped in a pitch-black brocade robe, and his head and face were also covered by the hood of the black robe. Not only was his face unable to be seen clearly, but the distance also made it impossible for Lin Zhuo to use his own authority to detect the other party's strength...

He could only discern from the few spells he occasionally chanted that his vocal cords had been severely traumatized, causing difficulty in speaking. Therefore, every stressed syllable produced a creepy tearing sensation, which made him uneasy.

Lin Zhuo was frightened by the chanting and completely froze in that inconspicuous corner.

An internal guard who discovered his whereabouts tried his best to wink at him, asking him to squint and not move...

Lin Zhuo was very familiar with this man. He was a colleague of Huijin who had been transferred to the base to supervise the work not long ago. He had been taken care of by Lin Zhuo before, and the two had a good relationship.

Of course, this is secondary.

Lin Zhuo fully understood the other party's mentality in trying to cover up for him: once someone with a questionable identity was found at the scene, the guards would be jointly liable...it might even be a disaster!

In today's East Africa, no one dares to touch the reverse scale of the Great Protector of the Ascension Ceremony, no one!
That was why Lin Zhuo had the good fortune to be held at the scene for an hour. Not only was he not singled out for punishment, he also witnessed the "small-scale rehearsal" of the deification ceremony with his own eyes.

Yes, a preview.

Just as humans have to conduct repeated rehearsals and adjustments before holding large-scale ritual activities, the ash ascension ceremony also requires rehearsal.

No one would want anything to go wrong in such a subversive ceremony that involves so much, and no one can take the responsibility.

Those who are familiar with the ascension ceremony know that the ascension ceremony of Ashes was born after the War of Gods and is held every three years.

To put it simply, it is to deprive the life energy of the real world as a means to forcibly push the highly evolved mutants selected from the organization to the sixth state, the conceptual body, and obtain the same status as the four gods of ash.

According to this calculation, at least three new Ash Gods have been created since the ascension ceremony twelve years ago, but why are there no related rumors in the world?

That's because ascension rituals are not always successful.

For example, the year immediately following the God War, the Ashes Organization prepared for the first time for the Ascension Ceremony and made a bold attempt - this was also the first practice of the Ascension Ceremony. At that time, in the southwest territory, natural phenomena lasted for several days, a large number of wild species evaporated like a vacuum, and the wonders of the plateau became a silent hell...

But this news did not spread to the world.

The Order at that time responded quickly and had a fierce conflict with the Ashes on the southwestern border. The Ashes were severely damaged and have kept a low profile since then.

However, despite paying such a huge price, the ascension ceremony did not achieve any results.

It is said that the five-state mutant who was deified was killed on the ladder to heaven by the impact of the huge energy flow, and his whole body was torn into pieces, without even a complete corpse left.

This is why in the following two years, the Ashes Organization did not continue to attempt such risky operations as the Ascension Ceremony.

It was not until three years later, when the Ashes were divided into the North and the South, that the matter of the ascension ceremony was put on the agenda again.

The Northern Faction of Ashes is led by the God of Nothingness "Nine-headed Bird" and the God of Tyranny "Taowu". It is rooted in the north and checks and balances the Black Alliance and the lawful officials who have deep roots in the north, and is responsible for maintaining the stability of the Ashes' basic base.

The Ash South Faction is led by the "Lamprey" God of Destruction and the "Taotie" God of Greed. They are divided into small groups and sneak around in various places in the southwest, responsible for exploring endless heights!
Therefore, all subsequent Ash Ascension ceremonies were prepared by the Southern Ashes, with the Northern Ashes providing certain resource support.

In the following six years, the second and third ascension ceremonies led by the Southern Faction were not held in the local area, effectively avoiding the heavy blows from the lawful officials.

These two ceremonies, which took place in Northern Europe and South America respectively, were said to be great successes!

It is rumored within the Ashes that the Nordic's second ascension ceremony sent a five-state mutant to the "Infinite World", where he "ascended" under the watchful eyes of all the Ashes members present and became a god beyond this world.

The third deification ceremony was even more exaggerated, before the high-level mutants were sent to the Wuji World, the previous god who had "ascended" actually came to the scene and brought the latter and even many four-state and three-state mutants at the center of the formation to the Wuji World together.

This was a large-scale migration, and the scene was spectacular, and was widely discussed within both the northern and southern factions of Ashes.

At this point, the Ashes have fully believed in the power of the Ascension Ceremony!

Every Ash Mutant hopes to one day break away from the limitations of this world and find their own perfect domain in the Infinite World...

These are also the "internal culture" that Lin Zhuo gradually learned after joining the Ashes.

He almost believed it when he heard it!
It is not an exaggeration to say that this is the so-called "customized brainwashing."

It’s a pity that Lin Zhuo has an invincible advantage in this regard: he is extremely pessimistic and suspicious.

Moreover, Lin Zhuo joined Huijin not because he admired Huijin's free and easy lifestyle, but simply because of the situation... He chose to join the government not out of justice, but to leave a way out for himself...

Therefore, no matter how beautiful the Wuji world is praised by Ashes, Lin Zhuo does not have enough motivation to give up everything he has and pursue the ultimate - he is a fake Ashes!
He can disguise himself so well that you can't tell his true appearance.

So when Lin Zhuo's superior spoke passionately about the infinite beauty of the Wuji world and thought he had unified the thoughts of his subordinates, in fact he was just helping Lin Zhuo clarify how to gain the trust of Huijin.

The forest is big and there are all kinds of birds.

Lin Zhuo is a normal person among this group of idealistic psychopaths and paranoids...

So, when all the Ashes present at the rehearsal were immersed in the shock and excitement of the high-energy manifestation, Lin Zhuo was almost frightened to death.

Fortunately, the Great Protector's attention was not on an ant like him. When the small-scale rehearsal ended and Lin Zhuo returned to the ground in despair, he had already begun to doubt his life...

The scene before him made him feel like he was falling into the abyss!
The wild African land seemed to have been weathered overnight, becoming withered and dead silent, with desolation everywhere as far as the eye could see!
Even with super-species sensitivity, we cannot find even the slightest surviving creature...

Lin Zhuo stared at everything in front of him in a daze.

This is just a "small-scale rehearsal".

He could imagine what kind of bloodbath would happen in the entire rift valley area and the entire East African grasslands when the ascension ceremony was truly launched!
Lin Zhuo panted rapidly and fumbled for the notes hidden on his chest, hoping to report the news quickly.

However, the moment he took out the notebook paper, another piece of notebook paper on the other side also emitted a faint warm feeling...

Lin Zhuo quickly checked another message from Chen Bodong.

But as he watched, his expression became more serious: "How is this possible?"

The contents recorded on the notebook were extremely detailed: In the No. 2 base that Chen Bodong was responsible for conducting an in-depth investigation, a situation that was exactly the same as what Lin Zhuo had seen occurred - a ritual rehearsal!
Conclusion: Base No. 2 is the real site of the ascension ceremony!
"Could it be..."

Lin Zhuo opened his eyes wide and stared at the scribbled note paper for a long time, until it burned to ashes...

……

Jiang Qian was having a meal when he received the message from Lin Zhuo.

It had been two days since the last time I met Lin Zhuo, and it was the reporting deadline.

Jiang Qian skillfully opened the notebook page, quickly browsed the information, and fell silent.

"How about it?"

Xiao Longnu was sitting opposite Jiang Qian. At this moment, she was feeding a banana to a giraffe that had poked its head into the house to look for food.

Jiang Qian was silent for a moment, then said, "Lin Zhuo suspects that the eight points in the rift zone are all part of the ascension ceremony."

Xiao Longnu stopped and looked at Jiang Qian in surprise: "This range covers most of East Africa... What on earth does Hui Jin want to do?"

"Indeed, once the ascension ceremony is expanded, its power and consequences will double. The situation is much more serious than we expected."

As Jiang Qian spoke, his expression gradually turned cold:

"It looks like I have to use a substitute today. I want to go meet Uncle Gou and Ji Ming in person."

……

In the volcanic area of ​​Virunga National Park, 10 kilometers north of Goma, North Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of Congo, a group of special tourists were riding in off-road vehicles and excitedly discussing the local political situation.

There were sixteen people in this group, from different countries, with different skin colors and hair colors.

Except for Uncle Dog, who was curled up in a corner wrapped in a coat and wearing sunglasses, everyone else has a common and special hobby: that is climbing and exploring active volcanoes!

Some people are born with a spirit of adventure. Driven by favorable living conditions and strong curiosity, they willfully travel back and forth between extremely dangerous areas. They like to take on all kinds of harsh challenges that are far beyond human comfort zones, and gain happiness and satisfaction from them.

Other new super-species will follow their example, stimulating their potential through "adventure" in order to enhance the stability of their own energy structure foundation.

The Nyiragongo volcano, located in the East African Rift Valley, is one of the most famous active volcanoes in Africa.

These people plan to climb up to the crater tonight, and against the backdrop of the night, use high-definition cameras to capture the extremely high-temperature lava lake inside this active volcano and the dangerous factors surging in it!

When we arrived at the foot of the volcano, everyone was already chatting happily, but Uncle Gou was still calm and a little indifferent.

He is not some volcano lover.

Uncle Gou came here for only one purpose.

……

For adventurers, it is not easy to see the true appearance of an active volcano.

They need to take the huge risk of the volcano erupting abnormally at any time, climb from the foot of the mountain to the top in one go, race against time to appreciate the rare view of this gate to hell, and then ensure their safe return.

Many volcano enthusiasts met with accidents while exploring volcanoes and bid farewell to this world, melting their flesh and bones into the magma as high as 1200 degrees Celsius, and eventually turned into a silent basalt, becoming a stepping stone for later generations to continue climbing the volcano.

This is a possible outcome planned by the adventurers, but no one wants it to happen.

It's the same this time.

It takes seven or eight hours to climb to the top of Nyiragongo from the foot of the mountain. Everyone sets out in the morning and reaches the top in the evening.

No one slacked off, and everyone retained their intense excitement and anticipation until the final moment of reaching the summit.

Unfortunately, the weather was not good!

Although volcano enthusiasts have put on smoke and dust filtering masks and set up equipment, enduring the high temperature and high concentration of carbon dioxide in the hope of catching a glimpse of the exquisite face of Nyiragongo lava lake, when they look down along the crater, their view is blocked by smoke.

The thick smoke and the large-scale water vapor formed due to the climate obscured the spectacular scene that should have caused everyone to scream.

"How could this happen?" The white guy from Italy frowned and asked, "Is the weather forecast here inaccurate?"

"Okay, okay! The weather forecast is just a probabilistic prediction. Don't worry about it. Just wait a little longer, maybe the fog will clear up!" The French uncle is an old friend. He has experienced many such episodes and is no longer surprised.

Another girl from Indonesia said: "At worst, there is still a chance in the morning."

"Wait a little longer, the volcano is breathtakingly beautiful at night!"

"Ahaha, I'm feeling suffocated now... cough cough!"

These guys are really open-minded. Even when faced with the worst situation, they still smile like a bunch of fools.

Weather forecasts are prone to errors, but it is not common to see a situation as different as today.

But no one is discussing it anymore - since we are here, what's the point of complaining? Just wait!
"Oh, by the way, where is the uncle who was wearing sunglasses before?"

"Ahem! Have you gone to the cabin to rest?"

"Really? But I don't remember seeing him since I got off the bus..."

"Could he be eaten by a volcano? Haha, don't be silly, he can take care of himself!"

Several people spoke a few words at once, but were soon choked by the thick smoke and became speechless.

After waiting for nearly an hour and seeing that the fog showed no sign of dissipating, people gradually returned to the cabin where climbers could temporarily rest, preparing to see the furnace again early the next morning.

After another two hours, the three remaining young men gave up waiting and returned to the cabin to recover their strength.

At this moment, a hyena squatting in the dark stood up...

What's sad is that no one noticed the existence of this thing before, otherwise these people wouldn't be as relaxed as they are now...

After everyone left, the hyena walked towards the edge of the crater, stepping on the creaking basalt.

Mount Nyiragongo is an active volcano that has erupted 1884 times since 20 and has shown signs of erupting again in recent years. However, because the local government does not have enough budget to support the monitoring of volcanic dynamics, there is no detailed data and forecast feedback to local residents and tourists.

But if the local government had not saved this part of the budget, they would have been surprised to find from the monitoring data over the past few days that this active volcano that could erupt at any time had suddenly "calmed down"...

It seems that the data monitored in the previous period were all false, the volcano is very stable and will remain stable for a long time.

Nyiragongo in the fog is like a sleeping purgatory, and the thick fog conceals the murderous intent deep in its pupils.

But if you look through the fog, you can see two hyenas trampling on the basalt, slowly descending along the crater...

They move forward one after the other, in a coordinated manner, without fear of the high temperature, and continue to move downward.

The depth of several hundred meters did not seem to scare these two ant-like creatures. They passed through the thick smoke and steam. In their round eyes full of energy, the gate of hell gradually opened its red and dangerous prelude.

The dazzling orange-red magma is erupting!

The splashing lava flows into the slowly flowing lava lake, forming brilliant fireworks on the huge lake surface...

This place is connected to the deepest source of power inside the planet. The high temperature has remained unextinguished for tens of thousands of years. The occasional surge will destroy it into a pool of fire, and all living things will be devastated!
Even Uncle Gou, who was standing by the lava lake wearing props of a noble level, couldn't help but be fascinated by this natural wonder...

After a long silence, Uncle Gou's nostrils flared, continuing to sniff the extra smell in the air.

Even though there was thick smoke, it could not stop him from tracking his target at night.

He knew that the prey was close.

nearby!

……

underground.

A deep and dangerous passage was dug out from the cracks in the lava ash layer that no one had imagined.

The entrance to this passage has been blocked by material overflowing from the lava lake, and the heat inside it has reached a level that is unimaginable for ordinary people!

Not to mention ordinary people, ordinary super species would have difficulty even getting close to them, let alone passing through, without the help of powerful props. The high temperature of hundreds of degrees is enough to destroy all carbon-based life in an instant.

But in this high temperature environment comparable to purgatory, a living person is being imprisoned!

The man was suspended like a marionette by multiple chains through his limbs in a cylindrical area hollowed out of the lava ash layer.

Although his hands and feet were completely restrained and his strength was drained, you could still see his former heroic appearance from his muscular body and healthy tan skin.

Especially his eyes, which were like a trapped beast fighting to the death, with dense bloodshot veins gathered in the whites of his eyes, revealing his bloodthirsty cruelty at all times.

……