Inside the classroom.
Bai Ruoxi continued, “Previously, some things were only taught when a student reached Rank-3.
“Why Rank-3 specifically you may ask?
“Because a Rank-3 martial artist who has honed all his limbs is the perfect warrior in battle. They can easily defend their lives while attacking their enemies.
“A Rank-1 or Rank-2 martial artist, however, is much weaker comparatively.
“Even though one has completed honing their upper or lower limbs, there is a huge gap in skill between them and Rank-3 martial artists.”
The instructor specifically wanted to emphasize the significance of a Rank-3 martial artist.
“Even so, everyone here is considered an elite amongst the newcomers. Whether you end up as a Rank-3 martial artist is just a matter of time. So that was why we’ve decided to just tell you upfront.”
“The value of being a martial artist, the existence of a martial artist, the radical recruitment, the privilege...
“All of these were born because of the need for martial artists!”
Bao Ruoxi’s expression turned serious. She blatantly said, “It’s not those in power who need us. The bigger picture is, in fact, society needs us. The human race depends on us!
“The foundation of the building of martial arts universities had been built because of this, and it is the same as the privilege that comes from being a martial artist.”
All of a sudden, the classroom was dead silent.
The students stopped being rowdy, almost as if they could all feel the tension in the air.
“Has anyone heard of the Catacombs?
“I’m sure that even if you have, your understanding of it is limited.
“We wanted all of you to grow up strong and healthy without too many worries. We didn’t expose much of it to ease the stress of your parents.
“Stress should only be managed by people who have the ability to do so. If you don’t have the ability to handle it, you’re better off without it.
“That is my way of thinking anyway. But I don’t know what others think of it. Everyone has a different way of thinking.”
“Nobody can really tell what the Catacombs are.”
“Nobody knows how it had first come about. Maybe some may know but I don’t. I was only aware of its existence after I had made a breakthrough to Rank-3.”
“What I want to talk about is the relationship between the Catacombs and martial artists.”
...
The only voice that could be heard in the entire classroom was Bai Ruoxi’s.
Bai Ruoxi had not said too much yet but it was mainly about the Catacombs!
The truth was, even Bai Ruoxi did not understand the Catacombs fully.
What she knew was that the Catacombs were located beneath the ground as if it were an underground world. However, they were not exactly beneath the ground. It was just different. When the government tried to dig for it, there was no trace of it even at ten thousand meters below ground.
It was not an astral plane either.
When there was movement in the Catacombs, the surface of the earth would dance along with it. Hence, the most obvious scenario was in the form of earthquakes.
According to scientific research, it was most likely due to a problem in the space-time continuum. That was what baffled Bai Ruoxi the most.
As claimed by Bai Ruoxi, the Catacombs spanned all over the world and was not only limited to Sino Nation.
At the moment, there were a total of 22 discovered gateways that led into the Catacombs in Sino Nation.
However, the gateways moved from one location to another and could pop up in places where one did not expect.
The huge earthquake that had happened in 1920 was when the third gateway into the Catacombs was found. Throughout the following 88 years, 19 other gateways were found slowly and surely.
Humans could only enter and exit via the gateways. It was impossible to enter it from other places.
The Catacombs world posed all sorts of danger. Every second and every moment, there would be some kind of danger ready to pounce onto the surface of the earth.
That was the main reason why martial artists who possessed considerable strength existed.
That was why the policies had favored the heightening of the status of martial artists.
...
The moment Bai Ruoxi finished her sentence, someone in the classroom cleared their throat and asked, “Teacher, are you saying that there is a different world right beneath our feet?”
Bai Ruoxi shook her head and said, “I can’t say for sure. It may not be exactly under our feet. Even if the entryways are underneath the earth, the world itself may not be below it...”
It was as complicated as it seemed. Even so, the students were smart enough to understand what she meant.
The Catacombs could be located on a different plane while its entryways were located below the earth.
So where was the place exactly?
It could be under the ground or in a different dimension. It could even be in a completely different universe.
“Teacher, if the need for martial artists increased when the Catacombs was found, does that imply that only martial artists can enter the Catacombs?”
Bai Ruoxi shook her head and said, “Not necessarily. Normal people can enter as well. However, once someone enters the Catacombs, all firearms cease to function...
“Let’s put it this way, things are different in the Catacombs.
“After entering it, one can only use their own strength that comes naturally from their body!
“Not only are you limited to fists and kicks, but swords and crossbows are effective as well.
“It is fine as long as the source of energy comes from oneself and not from heat or electricity or wind or solar energy. Over the years, experts have analyzed that in the Catacombs, the only type of energy that is able to deal damage is one’s Vitality.
“It seems that all types of energy sources lose their function in the Catacombs.
“Any sort of weapons with modern technology becomes useless when it reaches the Catacombs. That is the real reason why the status of martial artists rose after they had found out about the Catacombs.”
“Teacher, what exists inside the Catacombs? Is it humans? Zombies? Monsters? Or other strange creatures?”
“It is a world...”
Bai Ruoxi’s eye wandered elsewhere as she thought about the complexity of it. She continued, “It’s a completely different world, and it’s not quite a monster cave in the pure sense of the word.
“There’s everything inside. Humans, animals, strange creatures...
“In short, it’s like a newly discovered world with everything except for the modern civilization we have on earth.
“The Catacombs world is not purely a savage world either... But I’ll elaborate more on it next time.
“To summarize, the Catacombs world has some humans and strange beasts that reside in it. However, those creatures sometimes try and escape through the entryways to get into our world.
“Once, an entryway was destroyed because a strange beast had tried to escape from it and caused havoc!”
“Teacher, if they come up to the earth’s surface, can we try and use our firearms or nuclear weapons to kill them?”
The question was straight to the point. Bai Ruoxi blatantly answered, “Yes, we can. The government has successfully tried it before.
“At that time, all the strange beasts that came out were instantly killed. When they were killed, they vanished into thin air.
“But...”
Bai Ruoxi’s tone grew serious. “But, for some unknown reasons, those beasts that came from the Catacombs resurrected from the dead!”
“Resurrected?”
“Yes, but not on earth. In the Catacombs world.
“I mentioned that there are people in there too. However, they might not be the sort of humans we know of even though our physical appearance and insides appear to be the same.
“The instances were noticed by a few martial artists who recognized their familiar faces. They were people who had been killed on the surface of our world, but they were walking and living back in the Catacombs. It was then they realized that they had been reincarnated in the Catacombs world!
“They are practically invincible in our world!
“Let me correct myself. They can be killed, but they can only be defeated by a martial artist. Once a martial artist kills them, they do not resurrect themselves anymore.
“Moreover, if a martial artist kills a beast in the Catacombs, it won’t resurrect either.
“Based on research analysis, they found out that the energy from one’s Vitality is very effective in defeating the creatures from the Catacombs. Therefore, all large scientific institutions have been focusing on developing weapons that are able to magnify the energy from one’s Vitality in recent years.
“However, Vitality can only come from the human body. Once it leaves the body, it is merely blood. That’s the biggest obstacle scientists have encountered on this subject matter!
“At present, there are a few countries that have achieved breakthroughs, but the results haven’t been conclusive.
“Therefore, we can only wait for an effective solution to defeat the monsters of the Catacombs. If any of the monsters manage to enter our world before a grand scheme has been deduced, the human race is doomed!
“It would be unreasonable to use nuclear bombs every time they emerged!
“If it continued that way, the whole world would be destroyed.
“Hence, the only way we can control the situation is to let martial artists guard the Catacombs. By entering the Catacombs and nipping the bud by killing off creatures that may attack, it’s the best strategy we currently have for the survival of the human race!”
Fang Ping had kept quiet the whole time, but at the spur of the moment, he decided to voice out his questions. In a low voice, he asked, “Teacher, why do the creatures from the Catacombs rush out onto the surface of the earth? Is it because the environment in the Catacombs is horrible?”
“No!”
Bai Ruoxi answered as she shook her head. She replied, “The Catacombs is not exactly a sunless world. It looks pretty much the same as our world.
“In fact, they have a better living environment than us.”
“So why...”
“We’re still unsure as to why they’ve been doing so. However, throughout the past few years, we’ve managed to capture a few creatures that once emerged from the Catacombs. However, both parties can’t seem to understand each other due to the language barrier...
“Of course, there are people right now who are working on learning the language of their species.
“The main thing is we still don’t know what their purpose is, coming to our earth.
“The creatures in the higher hierarchy are harder to capture, and when we do manage to apprehend them, their brains, or cerebrum of a sort, seem to stop functioning every time.
“We’re still unsure if it’s a self-destruct mechanism or if they’re being controlled by something. At this point, we’re still investigating it.”
Fang Ping continued his question as he asked, “So what you’re saying is that we humans have not found a better way to control the living creatures of the Catacombs yet. The only way is to employ martial artists to capture and kill them in order to lower the probability of those creatures from coming up to the surface of the earth?”
“Exactly.”
Bai Ruoxi nodded her head and said, “Otherwise, the breach of even a single gateway would cause havoc among the human race.
“One of the horrible consequences of a breach is a high magnitude earthquake!
“When the creatures of the Catacombs break through an entryway, it results in natural disasters along with high numbers of casualties!
“Moreover, the creatures from the Catacombs are extremely destructive. If we’re not careful, the whole city could be destroyed.
“There are such recorded tragedies in history. Eventually, they had to be destroyed with weapons of mass destruction. As a result, the environment deteriorated. It left the city, the human beings, and the creatures of the Catacombs completely annihilated.
“However, all of the strange creatures were then seen revived in the Catacombs. It was as if to drink poison to quench one’s thirst. If we continue to do things in that same way, the entire world will be destroyed by our own hands.”
“Magic City seemed to have experienced tremors last night...” Fang Ping added.
The color drained from Bai Ruoxi’s face ever so slightly. She sighed. “You’re right. It seems that the phenomenons are becoming more obvious and frequent.
“There seems to be some shifting between the 22 gateways lately.
“The creatures from the Catacombs have been attacking the doorways, and every time they do, it causes some shifting in the earth. As the shaking grows more violent, it means that they are nearing us. Therefore, every time we feel movement underground, we ought to dispatch a large number of martial artists to immediately fend them off!
“After we kill enough of them, they start to retreat.”
“Is it true that Tiannan experienced this a few days prior as well?”
“Yes, and that time, it was worse for them. Their entryway was almost destroyed and a huge number of martial artists had been called in as reinforcements. Even so, many of the martial artists suffered heavy injuries, and the casualties were worse for normal citizens...”
Fang Ping hastily asked, “Normal citizens?”
Bai Ruoxi’s voice grew even more serious this time. She said, “There are ordinary people in the Military Department, remember? Not everyone is a martial artist in the Department of Defence.
“The Military Department consists of mostly ordinary people, and quite a number of them are stationed outside the entryways of the Catacombs. When they’re called on to defend, they rush toward the Catacombs as well.
“Even though ordinary citizens aren’t as strong as martial artists, the totality of the entire army can do enough damage too.
“Otherwise, simply relying on martial arts, even a million of us wouldn’t be enough for defense.
“Even so, not all 22 entryways to the Catacombs are guarded by martial artists. Furthermore, most of our martial artists are only Rank-1 or Rank-2.
“The number of martial artists stationed at the Catacombs isn’t much either. The only time martial artists are called into the Catacombs is during dire situations.
The lethality of a Vitality attack in the Catacombs is much more powerful. For example, a Rank-3 martial artist could easily defeat a normal army of creatures from the Catacombs... ”
“What?”
This time the comment did not come from Fang Ping. Instead, there was a student who was shocked by the statement. He said, “Creatures from the Catacombs have their own army?”
Bai Ruoxi repeated herself, “They’re an entire civilization and not zombies like you would’ve thought. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
This time it was Fang Ping who commented, “Civilization? Teacher, you mentioned that all forms of energy lose their function in the Catacombs. How can they form a civilization without using any resources?
“Do they live without food?
“Without fire?
“What about sunlight?
“If they didn’t have the Sun to provide heat energy are they really alive?”
“That is where you’re mistaken. They do have energy and resources, just not like ours.
“In the Catacombs, the creatures have their own specialized power system. I assume you guys have read science fiction novels or seen television shows right?
“Think of it as mineable energy. They’re able to use this energy ore for illumination or cooking, as well as the construction of weapons. ”
Fang Ping’s eyes grew big as he asked, “Can we use that energy ore to build modern weapons and kill them?”
“We can!”
Bai Ruoxi confirmed it but sighed. “However, the energy mine is the most important resource point for the creatures of the Catacombs. Hence, it is closely guarded.
“Previously, 3 Rank-9 Grandmasters had wandered deep into the Catacombs world to try and seize it forcibly.
“As a result, a large number of creatures came running and attacked them. In the end, the last Rank-9 Grandmaster fell while the other two were left severely injured.
“It is too dangerous as all the energy mines are located deep within the Catacombs.
“Over the years, we did think of breaking into their territory but only as a last resort. As we venture deeper, the creatures that reside in the deeper parts of the Catacombs that don’t normally attack the entryways will start to notice us.
“When they realize that we’ve been venturing deeper, they might be triggered to attack us as well which means more trouble for us!
Fang Ping did not have any questions after that. All in all, he knew that the humans had the shorter end of the stick.
They had to always be on guard!
By striking the creatures near the gateways, it had effectively reduced the impact of the attacks on the entryways of the Catacombs.
Even though Fang Ping had halted his questions, Fu Changding had thought of an important question, and he immediately asked, “Teacher, how strong are the creatures from the Catacombs exactly?”
“Very strong!”
Bai Ruoxi answered solemnly, “Their ordinary army, also known as cannon fodder, usually has the strength equivalent to a Rank-1.
“On the other hand, their Rank-2 or Rank-3 armies are even more.
“Of course, the middle-ranks and top-ranks are fairly-numbered as well.
“But they are conscious of their territory...”
Everyone was listening.
“That is to say, the creatures near the Catacombs’ gateway in Tiannan hardly ever go to the other gateways in different locations. This is also the main reason why we’ve been able to keep everything in place.
“Human martial artists, on the other hand, have the flexibility to combine all our defenses into one place. So, that’s one thing we don’t have to worry about them doing.”
From Bai Ruoxi’s introduction of the Catacombs, everyone in the classroom eventually had a rough impression of it.
At the end of it, the students were left stupefied, anxious, frightened, but some were also left eager...