Chapter 345:Signal

Chapter 345: 345:Signal

The fight had damaged the bank badly. He noticed that while retrieving his equipment and changing into drier clothes. Large chunks of mud had collapsed into the stream and the water now flowed differently. More importantly, the route ahead looked worse.

He followed the bank another fifty meters, then stopped. The stream disappeared, not literally, it entered a low flooded passage.

Silver crouched.

His headlamp illuminated water filling almost the entire opening. Maybe thirty centimeters of air remained near the ceiling at first. Farther in, even that disappeared.

He activated Spatial Sense.

[Spatial Sense Lv2 Activated.]

The flooded tunnel continued down, then forward and finally beyond his comfortable detection range. There was no visible air pocket.

Silver stared in contemplation before coming to an absolute conclusion. He had no specialized diving equipment, or no idea how long the submerged section lasted, and after everything he’d survived, drowning because he stubbornly followed a stream would be ridiculous.

He deactivated Spatial Sense.

"That’s where we separate."

He looked around.

There had to be another route. The chamber wall above the flooded passage contained several cracks. There was one that widened higher up.

Silver activated Spatial Sense again. There was a steep passage, narrow at first, then larger. Most importantly... it climbed.

He smiled.

"That’ll do."

He found a stable section of rock. He took out his climbing kit, anchor, and rope, then began ascending.

The first twenty meters were miserable; his boots were wet, mud made everything slippery, and his arms still felt heavy from fighting the serpent.

But compared to the queen’s route, the climb was straightforward; it actually up. Silver almost enjoyed it. The narrow passage eventually became large enough for him to stand.

He retrieved the rope, then continued even though the tunnel climbed at a steep angle. The mud was eventually replaced with stone.

Silver’s mood improved. He walked for perhaps thirty minutes before the route opened into another broad passage.

He stepped out and stopped. His headlamp moved across the wall where three deep gouges ran through the stone.

"No."

His expression went blank. He moved closer and saw more scratches, fresh enough that dust still sat around some edges.

Silver stared blankly.

"Seriously," he said in a tired voice.

He used Insight on nothing in particular out of sheer disbelief, then Spatial Sense. The tunnel extended both directions. It was very wide, large enough for something enormous.

Silver looked back at the route he’d just climbed, then at the tracks.

"The stream brought me back to you."

He couldn’t decide whether to laugh or start swearing. The queen’s route had somehow intersected with the stream network on a higher level.

At least that meant his detour hadn’t been wasted since he was much higher. Silver checked the direction of the scratches and chose the route that appeared to continue upward.

He started walking, his wet boots squeaking with each step. His headlamp illuminated the queen’s marks. He didn’t like seeing them again but they provided direction.

He followed it with barely any of the earlier excitement. The tunnels started to gradually rise at the twenty minute mark. He stopped to drink water. Silver was just opening the bottle when something beeped.

He froze.

The sound came from his storage interface. His heart jumped. He closed the water bottle and pulled out the Portable Network Restoration Module so quickly he almost dropped it.

The device screen was lit.

[External Network Fragment Detected.]

He stopped breathing as another notification appeared.

[Signal Strength: 4%.]

He stared in disbelief, his eyes widening. He looked around wildly but the indicator fluctuated hoping he wasn’t hallucinating.

[Signal Strength: 3%.]

"No, no, don’t do that."

Silver took one step backward. ℴ

[Signal Strength: 2%.]

He immediately moved forward again, it went back to three then four. He lifted the module higher, four percent held for several seconds.

His phone suddenly displayed a faint connection indicator. His pulse accelerated. He walked toward the left wall; it went down to three, then back it went to four. Toward the right, it went to one again then back again to four.

He looked ridiculous moving around like some weirdo but he didn’t care.

"Come on."

The module flashed.

[Connection Status: Unstable.]

[Signal Penetration: Intermittent.]

Silver’s fingers tightened around it.

"Can I send something?"

The system answered through the device assessment.

[Recommended Transmission Type: Short Text Packet.]

[Voice communication not recommended.]

[Large data transmission not recommended.]

[Connection loss probability: High.]

Silver was already pulling out his phone. His hands suddenly felt more nervous than they had while fighting the Tier Four Cave Stalker.

Ravenna.

He opened her contact and the message history appeared. He stared at the empty typing field. There were too many things he wanted to say.

Sorry.

I’m alive.

Are you safe?

Did Antony get you out?

Are you in Alpha Three?

Did you find Shawn?

Don’t worry.

Don’t come back.

I miss you.

But the signal dropped before he could decide.

[Signal Strength: 2%.]

Silver’s eyes widened. He moved half a step and it went back to four. He didn’t have time for a paragraph.

His thumbs moved.

Ravenna, I’m alive. Still underground but climbing out. Don’t come back. I’ll find you.

He read it once and found it good enough, then pressed send. The message greyed, as a loading indicator appeared.

Silver stopped moving completely.

One, two please just go.

[Signal Strength: 3%.]

The message remained pending. Silver’s jaw tightened.

"Come on."

The indicator spun. He couldn’t breath from the sheer tension of everything.

The phone vibrated a three seconds later.

Sent.

Silver stared at the word. For a moment, nothing else existed as he stared in disbelief. The message had gone through. Ravenna finally knew he was okay.

His shoulders dropped, then the module beeped again.

[External Signal Lost.]

The connection vanished and his phone returned to zero bars but he didn’t care. He looked at the message one more time and stared at the sent icon. That was enough.

He slowly smiled.

"Now you know."