Chapter 4, Underground City

August in Puerto Rico is very hot, and the city of San Juan is not large, with narrow streets. The imagined scene of gunfire in the streets was not witnessed; the locals are quite peaceful, casually selling various items by the roadside under their sun umbrellas, and no one seems to mind

The path turns lightly onto a small road, the watchtower, long neglected and deserted, lacks even a proper gate

The flashlight unexpectedly went out

Daisy, after having breakfast, expressed her concerns about local security to the hotel staff during a casual conversation, and the staff recommended a gun shop to her

This is a wine cellar. It is likely that the soldiers stationed here, unwilling to endure solitude, specially excavated a pit to drink wine, usually storing the wine below.

After a short while, she found a hollow space piled up with weeds, and she slowly descended the stone steps while holding the pistol.

However, she estimates that it must be very cold and dirty in the dungeon, so it is always wise to prepare a little more

Faced with a passage where one could not see their hand in front of their face, she felt a wave of silent fear, mingled with a hint of joy

As for going to the store to buy a shovel, digging a hole by oneself, and making a cameo in the Western version of "Ghost Blows Out the Light"? It seems utterly impractical to think that way

She visited the San Juan Police Department for three consecutive days. According to her, she saw online that a couple had lost a girl here eighteen years ago, and she came to search for her biological parents based on this clue

Initially, Old San Juan was named San Cristóbal, a strong fortress built by the Spanish to control the Caribbean Sea. Over a long period, it made significant contributions in resisting invasions by the Dutch, the English, and the Americans

A more profound and smooth downhill path appeared before me

From the police department's database, she found the architectural layout of Old San Juan. Not being an architecture professional, she could not discern many anomalies. However, by combining her memory with some educated guesses, she was still able to identify several key points.

Daisy plunged into the San Juan Library, searching through various documents. It must be said that pressure brings motivation; her Spanish language skills improved by leaps and bounds during her research. Although she spoke haltingly, she no longer faced significant obstacles in reading and writing.

This feeling came unexpectedly, but with the faint illumination of the obelisk, she was able to see her surroundings clearly

Daisy was out shopping, preparing some ropes, daggers, and several glow sticks. She remembered that the dungeon had a special magnetic field that could disable all electronic devices, rendering many items useless. Nevertheless, she still brought a flashlight, as it could still serve some purpose in the early stages and could be used as a disposable item

Fortunately, this passage is not very long, and after passing through a slope, the view suddenly opens up before me

With her long hair tied into a ponytail, she carefully placed a flashlight inside her miner's helmet and donned the helmet, cautiously crawling down the passageway

The interior was filled with dust, cool and dim; she hurriedly put on her jacket

Compressed food and water were also purchased. In the television series, it takes forty minutes to complete, but it is difficult to determine how long it would actually take. After all, it is an underground city, and relying on two feet, it would take quite a long time to traverse.

At the end of the line of sight, there are more skeletal remains, including those of Spanish soldiers, indigenous people, and some small-sized animals

In the local folklore, she came across a piece of news that resembled an urban legend.

Daisy, looking disheveled and dusty, knew that she had entered the realm of the ancient underground city

She has little counter-surveillance ability, and there is no distinction between day and night. During the day, if someone is following her, she might still be able to notice it.

The method of hard digging is not suitable for her

It can be confirmed that the ancient city of the otherworldly beings lies deep beneath the castle.

Recalling the painful experiences during military training, I bought a large pack of sanitary pads. This item can be used as insoles, and it can also be used for personal needs. In any case, it is an essential item

On the northern side of the ancient castle, in the direction of the sea, there stands a watchtower. For a long time, no one dared to be stationed there, and there are records of eleven missing soldiers. Local legends say that beneath the tower lies an ancient demon

The existing architectural plans of the city are of little help for the underground city, yet Daisy still hand-drew a version to carry with her, leaving her notebook and phone at the hotel

Having identified the direction, I began to walk deeper into the city, following the guidance of the obelisk

The search for parents is merely a facade; Daisy's open and aboveboard arrival in Puerto Rico still requires a pretense, primarily to implant a Trojan horse within the police system

The passage was very narrow, and Daisy crawled for an hour in a highly unorthodox manner; in a word, exhausting

Not far beneath her feet, there lay seven or eight corpses, who had been subdued the moment they entered the outskirts of the city and ultimately perished here

The obelisk continues to shine and radiate, sending a signal to Daisy to follow its guidance

Daisy is a bit scared. Are there demons in the Marvel universe? She knows there are, but they shouldn't be here

Having eaten and drunk to her satisfaction, with everything prepared, she slipped into the watchtower, rumored to be inhabited by demons, on a sunny afternoon, carrying the obelisk

In the following days, she began to frequent local legends, stories, libraries, and online forums, searching for clues about ancient cities

At this stage, the large organization has completed half of the information gathering, and the next step is to clear the area, employing heavy machinery for deep excavation. I recall that S.H.I.E.L.D. used high-speed cutters, while Hydra was even more formidable, as they set up plasma drills. As for the unfortunate Daisy, not to mention having any assistance, she didn't even have a shovel.

The police station took a glance at the American passport she was holding and patiently cooperated in the search for three days

The records indicate that the soldiers neither saw any living person nor any corpses, which suggests that there is a passage directly connecting to the underground city. The soldiers, lacking the bloodline of the otherworldly beings, naturally did not return after venturing forth

The passage was excavated by the sentinels of the watchtower back in the day; their intentions are not difficult to discern, as they mostly believed that there was treasure or something of the sort below

Having read some tomb-raiding novels, Daisy stood outside and waited for a while. After that, she reached out her hand to sense, and a gentle airflow slowly passed through her fingers, faintly accompanied by a trace of cool breeze

After tapping the floor tiles and the wall in succession, a deep hole was eventually discovered beneath the western wall. It is likely that the final guard had sealed the gap, but it was done rather haphazardly, and she was able to open the entrance with just a few strikes

Daisy wore a beige shirt over her tank top, rolled up the sleeves, and paired it with jeans and sneakers. On her wrist, she had a mechanical watch, and her backpack was stuffed with a jacket. This outfit looked quite warm

Focus on searching diligently

Survival in the wild is not particularly friendly to women; she should purchase a sports tank top instead of wearing a regular bra. Crawling for an hour, the experience is truly indescribable.

Without using a glow stick, she inexplicably reached out and grasped the obelisk. The originally smooth and mirror-like surface of the obelisk revealed numerous orange-red stripes. After studying the layout of San Juan for several days, she immediately recognized that the patterns emerging on the surface of the obelisk formed a map. The stripes ultimately converged at a single point, which was her destination

It must be said that this strange tale is good news for her, who is all alone

Spent 1,100 dollars, took away two Glock 18s and two boxes of ammunition. This gun is convenient to carry, one tucked in the lower back and the other hidden in the backpack, theoretically capable of handling general troubles