A Journey of American Comics Starting from the Zombie Universe

Chapter 653

Bai Ye and the soldiers stood in the ruins left by the radioactive bookworms. After a short respite, they set out on the journey of exploration again. The depths of the bunker were still an unknown area. Under the dim light, every step seemed extremely heavy and cautious.

"Everyone, be careful, keep searching forward to see if there is any valuable information or clues." Bai Ye's voice echoed in the empty corridor. He held the flashlight tightly, his eyes were sharp, and he scanned the surroundings. Hearing this, the soldiers nodded, reorganized their equipment, and followed Bai Ye closely.

The walls on both sides of the corridor were mottled due to age, and some places even showed mottled rust. The soldiers used flashlights to illuminate every corner, trying to find any possible clues. However, except for the occasional sound of dripping water and the unknown sound of wind in the distance, this place seemed to have been completely forgotten by time.

"Bai Ye, look here!" A soldier suddenly stopped and pointed to an inconspicuous corner on the wall. Bai Ye immediately went forward to check, and saw some patterns and words scribbled with black charcoal, which looked like some kind of improvisation, with no rules at all.

"What is this?" Bai Ye frowned and carefully identified the graffiti. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't decipher any meaningful information from it.

"It looks like a child's graffiti." Another soldier said with a bit of disdain in his tone, "How can there be such boring things in a place like this?"

"Don't underestimate these graffiti," Bai Ye shook his head, "Sometimes, the most inconspicuous things can reveal important information. We have to look carefully, maybe there are other similar graffiti."

Upon hearing this, the soldiers dispersed again and began to search the surrounding walls carefully. However, as time went on, they only found more similar graffiti - messy and meaningless. These graffiti seemed to be just the random works of someone who was bored and had nothing to do with their mission.

"Bai Ye, are we going in the wrong direction?" a soldier couldn't help but ask, with a bit of frustration in his tone, "There's nothing here except these graffiti, why should we waste time?"

Bai Ye was silent for a moment, looking into the distance with deep eyes. He knew that the soldiers were exhausted, but the mission was not yet completed, and they could not give up easily. "Hold on a little longer," he said in a deep voice, "Since we have come here, we can't turn back easily. Perhaps there is some secret hidden behind these graffiti that we have not yet discovered."

Although the soldiers were unwilling, they chose to move forward after seeing Bai Ye's determined eyes. They continued to go deeper into the corridor, and the beams of flashlights drew faint rays of light in the darkness.

Just when they were about to give up hope, a soldier suddenly exclaimed: "White Night! Here! There's more graffiti here!"

Bai Ye immediately led the soldiers to the place the soldier pointed to. They saw a huge wall covered with dense graffiti. Unlike the scattered graffiti before, these graffiti seemed to form a complex pattern or text. Bai Ye looked closely and found that although these graffiti seemed to be messy, a certain pattern could be found in them after careful observation.

"Quick! Focus all the lights here!" Bai Ye shouted excitedly. Upon hearing this, the soldiers immediately focused the beams of their flashlights on the wall, and the entire pattern suddenly became clearly visible under the strong light.

However, when Bai Ye tried to decipher these graffiti, he found that they were still full of mysteries. These graffiti seemed to be an ancient text or symbol, completely different from modern language. He tried to decipher them in various ways - from the perspective of linguistics, from the perspective of history, and even from the perspective of mysticism - but to no avail.

"What the hell is this?" Bai Ye couldn't help cursing, "What on earth did we find?"

The soldiers also shook their heads in confusion. They looked at the graffiti-covered wall, their hearts filled with confusion and frustration. They had originally thought that they would find useful information or clues here, but now it seemed that they had only found a bunch of meaningless graffiti.

"Bai Ye, what should we do?" a soldier asked, "Staying here will only waste time and energy."

Bai Ye took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. He knew the soldiers were right, but they couldn't just give up. He looked around and suddenly noticed a detail on the wall - there seemed to be a tiny crack under the graffiti. A faint light shone through the crack, as if hinting at some possibility.

"Everyone, step back!" Bai Ye shouted loudly. Upon hearing this, the soldiers immediately stepped aside and looked at Bai Ye vigilantly. Bai Ye walked carefully to the crack and used his flashlight to carefully illuminate the inside of the crack.

As the light penetrated deeper, the scene in the crack gradually became clear. It was a secret door leading to another room, and behind the secret door was an unknown area. Bai Ye had a strong premonition in his heart - maybe that was the answer they had been looking for.

"Found it!" Bai Ye shouted excitedly, "Everyone follow me!"

The soldiers were all excited when they heard this, and they immediately followed Bai Ye through the secret door and entered the unknown room. However, the moment they stepped into the room, they realized that the exploration had just begun.

Passing through the secret door, everyone stepped into a darker and more depressing space. The room was empty, with only a few dim emergency lights flickering in the corners, barely illuminating this unknown area. The air was filled with a stale and musty smell, which made people frown involuntarily.

"This... what is this place?" a soldier asked in a low voice. His voice echoed in the empty room, sounding particularly empty.

Bai Ye did not answer immediately, but looked around, trying to find a clue from this desolate place. However, except for a few mottled walls and dust scattered on the ground, there seemed to be nothing left here. He frowned, and an ominous premonition surged in his heart.

"We... seem to have been fooled again." Another soldier said in frustration, his tone full of disappointment and exhaustion. The long period of exploration and fighting had exhausted them physically and mentally, and the fact that they had gained nothing at this moment made them feel unprecedentedly frustrated.

"No, we can't give up." Bai Ye shook his head firmly, his eyes scanning the room, trying to find any possible omissions. "Since there is such a secret door here, it means there must be some secret hidden here. We have to keep looking."

The soldiers heard this, although they still had doubts in their hearts, they still managed to cheer up and continue searching in this desolate place. They used flashlights to illuminate every corner and listened to every sound with their ears, hoping to find some useful clues.

However, time passed by, and they still found nothing. Those graffiti, those cracks, those seemingly unusual details, all lost their original meaning here. This place seemed to be a corner forgotten by time, with nothing left except dust and silence. "Bai Ye... do we really have to keep looking?" A soldier finally couldn't help asking, with a trembling and uneasy voice. The long exploration had exhausted all his patience and perseverance, and he just wanted to leave here as soon as possible and return to that relatively safe world.

Bai Ye was silent for a moment, then slowly turned around and faced the soldiers. His eyes were full of determination, as if an invisible force was supporting him. "We can't give up," he repeated again, "Our mission is not yet complete, our mission is not over. As long as we have a breath left, we can't let these efforts go to waste."

The soldiers looked at Bai Ye's determined eyes, and they could not help but feel inexplicably moved and admired. They knew that Bai Ye was not only cheering them up, but also cheering themselves up. In this world full of unknowns and dangers, they can only survive by uniting as one and facing it together.

"Okay," a soldier finally spoke up to break the silence, "We'll listen to you. But...what should we do next?"

Bai Ye smiled slightly, then walked to the center of the room and began to study the walls carefully. He swept the beam of his flashlight over the walls, trying to find any unusual clues. However, these walls looked very ordinary and plain, and there was nothing special about them.

"Maybe..." Bai Ye suddenly stopped what he was doing, and his eyes fell on a tiny scratch on the wall. "Is there some kind of mechanism here?"

The soldiers immediately gathered around after hearing this, and they carefully observed the scratch. However, no matter how hard they looked, they could not see any clues. The scratch looked like a random mark, nothing special.

"Are you sure?" a soldier asked, "Is there really a mechanism here?"

Bai Ye did not answer immediately, but gently touched the scratch with his hand. His fingers moved slowly on the scratch, as if he was looking for something. Suddenly, his fingers stopped at a place and did not move - there seemed to be a tiny depression there.

"Found it!" Bai Ye shouted excitedly, "There really is a mechanism here!"

The soldiers immediately surrounded him upon hearing this, and they looked at Bai Ye nervously. Bai Ye carefully pressed the depression and then quickly stepped aside, looking at the wall vigilantly.

However, as time went by, the wall showed no reaction. The soldiers began to get impatient and urged, "Bai Ye, check to see if there is a mistake."

Bai Ye ignored their urging and continued to wait patiently. He knew that this kind of mechanism often takes a certain amount of time to trigger and he couldn't rush for it.

Finally, just when the soldiers were about to give up hope, the wall suddenly made a slight noise. A seemingly ordinary stone wall slowly moved to the side, revealing a hidden hole.

"Success!" Bai Ye shouted excitedly, "We found it!"

The soldiers cheered upon hearing this and rushed into the cave eagerly to see what secrets were hidden inside. However, when they actually entered the cave, they found themselves in a bigger mystery again...

After entering the hidden cave, the sight in front of them made everyone hold their breath. This was a more spacious and complex space, surrounded by intricate mechanical devices and glimmering dashboards. In the center, a heavy metal door stood out, with a seemingly ancient combination lock inlaid on the door, covered with dense scales and buttons, as if it was a portal to an unknown world.

"This... what is this place?" a soldier asked in a low voice, his voice full of awe and curiosity.

Bai Ye did not answer immediately, but walked quickly to the combination lock and observed it carefully. He knew very well that this combination lock might be the key to the real secret and must be treated with caution.

"Everyone, don't move," Bai Ye said in a deep voice, "This place may be full of traps. Let's crack this combination lock first."

The soldiers immediately quieted down after hearing this, and they stepped aside to give Bai Ye enough space. Bai Ye took out a small calculator from his pocket, which he prepared specially for this mission, to handle complex mathematical problems and encrypted information.

He took a deep breath and began to carefully study the scales and buttons on the combination lock. These scales and buttons seemed to be arranged according to a certain pattern, but he could not tell what the pattern was. He tried to enter several possible combinations, but the combination lock did not respond.

"It seems that this combination lock is not simple." Bai Ye muttered to himself. He frowned and fell into deep thought.

The soldiers gathered around him. Although they did not understand the complicated encryption technology, they could help Bai Ye in their own way. Some of them counted the possible number combinations on their fingers, while others tried to recall any clues they had seen before that might be related to the password.

"Bai Ye, look at this," a soldier pointed to an ancient mural next to the combination lock and said, "There seem to be some strange symbols and numbers on it. Could it be related to the password?"

Bai Ye immediately raised his head upon hearing this. He looked in the direction the soldier pointed and indeed found a mural depicting an ancient scene. The characters and scenes on the mural looked extremely mysterious and strange, with symbols and numbers interspersed in them vaguely.

He immediately walked to the mural and observed it carefully. He tried to match the symbols and numbers with the scales and buttons on the combination lock, but soon found that it was not easy. These symbols and numbers seemed to have been processed by some complex encryption, which required great wisdom and patience to decipher.

(End of this chapter)