I Run Away with the Earth to Save the World [Unlimited Flow] - Chapter 141

Lu Lingxi froze mid-motion as he was pulling out the semi-assembled explosives from his pack. “Rabbit hole?”

Jing Qizhen nodded cheerfully. “Yeah. The rabbit hole.”

Even Lu Lingxi, whose innocent Bambi-like eyes belied how ruthless he could be, fell silent.

It really was tough being that giant rabbit…

Explosives are extremely dangerous, of course, and handling them requires professional training. That’s why only Lu Lingxi and Gu Leshan carried the components in their packs. If the two of them hadn’t made it into the erosion area, letting anyone else mess with explosives could’ve led to catastrophe. In that case, it was better not to use them at all.

For safety reasons, the explosive components were stored separately, just in case anything ignited by accident.

Manman thought for a moment. “The rabbit holes the March Hare dug must be really deep.”

Jing Qizhen nodded. “The deeper, the better. If the explosion happens underground, the surface buildings will be less affected. It’ll be much safer.”

Yun Shuanghua, very familiar with the March Hare’s habits, added, “According to him, it’s not about depth but density. The whole network is very tight.”

Old Xiao: “…”

Honestly, Yun Shuanghua’s comment made him think of classic wartime movies, like Tunnel Warfare.

Jing Qizhen didn’t keep anything hidden. “At first, I wanted to see if the Babyball could wake the patient from outside. But the more I thought about it, the less feasible it seemed. This special environment has to be broken from within.”

After all, the outside world was densely populated. If they really triggered something like an earthquake, the collateral impact would be massive. And the Earth had already said even it couldn’t control its own ‘sneezes.’

Jing Qizhen thought that if the goal was to cause a disruption, why not just blow up the hospital?

A surface-level detonation would be too dangerous, but if they used the rabbit hole tunnels effectively, they could set off a calculated underground explosion that would collapse parts of the ground. The hospital might crack, but it was only two or three stories tall, and there was plenty of open space around it, so people could escape easily.

As long as they chose a precise detonation point and controlled the blast’s strength, it would look just like a minor earthquake.

What the survivors would interpret it as, though… well, Jing Qizhen wasn’t sure. But he could already imagine the dramatic overthinking.

The rest of the group, hearing Jing Qizhen’s full plan: “……” Damn, he’s really something.

Lu Lingxi had already moved beside Jing Qizhen and was studying the floor plan. He pointed out a few locations and thoughtfully said, “These spots would yield good results without triggering serious chain reactions.”

Jing Qizhen said, “But we still need to check how exactly the March Hare dug his rabbit holes.”

Lu Lingxi replied, “Absolutely.”

Jing Qizhen made a decisive call, “Alright then, let’s go check it out ourselves later!”

However, now wasn’t the right time. The reporters had just arrived on-site. If Jing Qizhen and the others went out now, they’d most likely run straight into them. There was no one else in the hospital for the reporters to interview and Jing Qizhen was worried those very same people he had invited might cling to them instead.

Holding his phone, Jing Qizhen scrolled through the feeds from the pinhole surveillance cameras, observing the situation carefully. He said casually, “Let’s wait a bit.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile, the reporters summoned by Yun Shuanghua’s call seemed to have broken some kind of mysterious boundary and the once-deserted hospital suddenly became lively. It was broad daylight, so the ghost doctors and nurses weren’t on shift yet, but outside the hospital gates, regular folks who sold vegetables or watched the commotion weren’t likely to be out in the middle of the night.

Even though Jing Qizhen had shut the cafeteria doors, with the right angle and a telescope, he could still catch glimpses of vague silhouettes moving through the fog outside the hospital entrance.

The sight instantly reminded him of the blurry figure he’d seen back at Yunhai Wancheng Department Store through the fog. At the time, he thought it was a trick of the eyes. But now, it seemed that was a real presence, likely a native species of the erosion area, much like the March Hare.

Jin Guijuan, also holding her phone, studied the camera feeds. Although the images weren’t complete, she could roughly deduce the reporters’ route from the camera angles. “These reporters seem to have a clear target,” she remarked. They had bypassed the old hospital building entirely and headed straight for the inpatient building.

Jing Qizhen replied calmly, “They’re probably locals from Binhai City. It’s not surprising they know where the inpatient building is.”

Jin Guijuan immediately understood. “Ah, that makes sense! People from the area naturally know it better.”

***

Inside the two-story inpatient building, the first floor was covered in bloodstains. As soon as the reporters stepped inside, armed with cameras and recording gear, they gasped in shock. “So much blood!”

Another reporter, holding a microphone on camera, said in disbelief, “These bloodstains aren’t fresh. We have every reason to believe something terrible happened here before!”

A staff member asked urgently, “Did anyone call the police?”

Someone hesitated. “The guy who called our office probably did.”

The mic-holding reporter nodded seriously. “I’m sure the police were alerted. We didn’t see a single doctor, nurse, or patient on our way in. This hospital’s usually packed. It must’ve been evacuated by the authorities already.”

Another crew member shivered. “Let’s be careful. The culprit might still be at large.”

The reporters nodded and stayed on high alert.

“Start taking pictures! We’ll send them back with the story right away!”

One observant person whispered, “I saw a notice on the bulletin board. It said the hospital’s on holiday…”

Another quickly countered, “Fake. With something this serious going on, of course the place is shut down!”

***

While the reporters were searching and snapping photos inside the inpatient building, Jing Qizhen’s group slipped out of the cafeteria, carefully avoiding the reporters’ line of sight, and began searching for the rabbit holes dug by the March Hare.

Thanks to the instinctive ‘three burrows for a cunning rabbit’ behavior, it didn’t take long to find. They circled around the cafeteria and soon found two dark, bottomless holes; one inside a flowerbed and another behind a wall corner.

Everyone exchanged glances.

Lu Lingxi offered, “Should I go down first to check?”

Jing Qizhen said evenly, “We’ll go together. This isn’t some fairy tale kingdom. It’s not like we’re going to drop into ‘Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland’.”

Old Xiao muttered, “This is really starting to feel like Tunnel Warfare.”

Wilcox muttered something in his signature hotpot-flavored Sichuan dialect, “Huh? What’s that?”

Jing Qizhen replied casually, “Once we’re out of this erosion area, I’ll send you the movie.”

Wilcox grinned. “Then it’s a deal!”

Lu Lingxi didn’t object. He shone a flashlight down into the hole to judge its depth, then turned and said, “It’s a bit deep. Going straight down is risky. I’ll leave a rope and carve out some footholds along the tunnel wall as I go.”

Jing Qizhen nodded. “Be careful.”

Lu Lingxi gave an ‘OK’ hand sign.

Wang Feizhou, following behind nervously, asked, “Aren’t you afraid of getting stuck in there?”

Jing Qizhen paused and then asked back, “Do you think the March Hare would dig a hole too small for himself to fit through?”

The implication was clear; if the March Hare could get through, then they, being smaller, could turn around inside without getting stuck.

Wang Feizhou immediately replied, “Got it!”

Agile as always, Lu Lingxi was the first to descend along the rope. Moments later, his voice came through their wireless earpieces. “The March Hare’s hole drops about three meters straight down. Then it slopes further downward.”

The Earth’s voice piped up in Jing Qizhen’s mind, “Only three meters?”

Manman commented, “That’s just about the height of a single floor.”

Lu Lingxi’s voice returned through the comms. “It’s roomy down here. You can come down.”

Everyone except Yun Shuanghua marveled aloud. “How did the March Hare dig this tunnel so fast?”

Jing Qizhen couldn’t help remarking, “He hollowed out all this space without collapsing the surface. That’s real skill!”

Lu Lingxi: “…” That actually makes a lot of sense.

The Earth, not to be outdone: “Karst caves are way deeper than this, and prettier too!”

Jing Qizhen wasn’t in the mood to argue with the Earth. When he wanted to placate the little ball, it only took a sentence or two. He calmly replied, “I’ll take pictures for you later.”

The Earth: “=v= Will you use a beauty filter for me too? I heard they say Douyin filters are insane! Super pretty!”

Jing Qizhen, completely unfazed: “You’re prettier than any filter.”

The Earth: “Mm! 0.0 I totally agree with you!!!”

[Inflated ego.jpg]

After humoring the Earth, Jing Qizhen was just about to go down the rope when he realized Yun Shuanghua had already stepped in front of him, eyes locked on him, not even blinking.

Jing Qizhen: “What is it?”

Yun Shuanghua blinked again. He’d wanted to ask how good ‘prettier than any filter’ really meant, but not knowing much about filters, he held back and simply smiled, “Shall we go down together?”

Jing Qizhen: “…You’re not worried we’ll get stuck if two of us go at once?”

The March Hare’s tunnels were roomy, yes, but they were still only built for one person at a time.

Yun Shuanghua: “……”

He had no comeback for that.

Soon, everyone made their way down the rope, one by one.

Once they all gathered at the bottom, with Lu Lingxi’s help, Jing Qizhen began mapping out the rabbit hole layout directly on a copy of the hospital blueprint, sketching a rough route as they explored. After a long exploration, evening had already fallen. But since the ghosts wouldn’t clock in until midnight and it was only 8 PM, they didn’t have to worry about accidental casualties from the explosion.

Jing Qizhen casually asked, “Where did the March Hare go? We haven’t seen it this whole time. Oh well, forget it!”