Chapter 576: The Golden Miner
Chapter 576: The Golden Miner
"Cough, cough, cough—"
The development of the territory was proceeding smoothly.
Far south of the Banyan Forest, Lindsey was taking time out of his dealings with the Insect Tribe to dig tunnels in the mountains every day.
The underground was illuminated by flickering flames.
With each swing of the meteorite pickaxe, Lindsey shattered a piece of raw stone, and a rectangular passageway extended forward.
As Lindsey swung his pickaxe again, a layer of friable powder soil was exposed behind the rock, causing dust to fly and fill the air in the mine.
"Damn—"
"There's still loose soil this deep in the mountain?"
"If it weren't for my strong physique, I'd probably develop occupational diseases in just a few days."
Lindsey wiped his face and muttered a complaint.
He casually sprinkled some clear water in the air, waited for the air in the cave to return to normal, then stuck a torch on the side before continuing to dig forward under the glow of the light.
A quarter of an hour passed.
Lindsey still faced the hard mountain, but when he casually opened the map, a look of joy instantly appeared on his face.
"A mine?"
"It's finally almost here!"
The map revealed a complex network of passages underground ahead.
This gold mine, although hidden deep in the mountains, was not always obscure. It had gone through a long period of excavation.
"An abandoned gold mine."
"Or, a gold mine that had to be abandoned during the crisis of the end of the world?"
Lindsey took a breath.
With the goal in sight, he swung his meteorite pickaxe faster.
His mind began calculating the distance.
"Normally, it takes five days to travel from the Insect Tribe's canyon to this side, crossing mountains and valleys."
"But now, with the route I've opened up—"
"Even ordinary people could make a round trip in one day. This efficiency is so much faster!"
Lindsey was motivated, and he continued to dig forward at an accelerated pace.
The final distance was soon completely excavated by him.
Crack—
As the earth and rocks shattered, a cave entrance appeared in front of Lindsey.
He didn't have time to widen the tunnel and instead ducked his head and stepped forward, directly entering the cave.
The first thing that appeared before Lindsey was the ground illuminated by the meteorite pickaxe, and then another hand holding a torch entered, making the scenery inside the mine tunnel clearer.
"So, this is the gold mine..."
Lindsey looked around.
His current location was not in the mining area but a tunnel leading underground.
On the ground of the straight passage, there were some rusty iron tools lying either horizontally or vertically, looking out of place.
Lindsey approached and examined them closely:
"Nails, iron plates, and angle irons..."
"These things were used to secure the tunnel."
Lindsey picked up the broken items and inspected them. They were just normal rusty iron parts.
He held up the torch and looked up.
On the top and walls of the mine tunnel, there were indeed traces of wood that had once supported the mountain, and each trace corresponded to the iron plates lying on the ground.
"These iron tools were once used to secure the tunnel, but now they're on the ground, and the wood that was the main support is gone?"
Lindsey looked around in confusion.
He had done similar soil reinforcement when digging underground, so he wasn't surprised.
But the mine was different.
Decades had passed, and the wood had become rotten and fragile, which Lindsey could understand, but it shouldn't have completely disappeared.
Even if someone had taken it away out of boredom.
But why were these iron connectors left behind?
This situation completely defied common sense.
"..."
"I guess I'll have to explore carefully.
Lindsey made up his mind and continued deeper into the gold mine. After dealing with this matter, he also planned to bring his citizens here to mine for minerals. If there were any hidden dangers below, he wanted to address them in advance.
As Lindsey descended, he also opened his map, expanding his reconnaissance range. However, even with this, he couldn't find anything dangerous in the mine.
There were only some cave creatures roaming around.
When they heard Lindsey's movements, they would immediately run away, showing no signs of aggression.
After a few more minutes, something different appeared ahead.
It was a white object, scattered on the ground without any pattern or order.
"Bones?"
"And human bones at that?"
Lindsey approached, his expression growing more peculiar.
Human skeletons were scattered on the ground in the mine tunnel.
He switched modules, and the Puzzle Game revealed more specific information.
[Human Skeletons—Humans who fell while running, struggled, and eventually died in pain.]
Lindsey silently pieced together the clues.
The passage of time made it impossible to trace footprints.
However, there were enough skeletons on the ground, and under the influence of his skill, ghostly figures of humans appeared one by one. They ran in terror deeper into the mine tunnel, wailing in despair as if something were chasing them from behind.
Lindsey followed the ghostly figures downward.
In the chaotic terrain of the gold mine tunnel, the figures ran back and forth, constantly at risk of getting lost in their panic.
Whenever they fell, they would start struggling in pain and soon become still, turning into skeletons on the ground.
Lindsey's expression turned solemn.
The deeper he went, the more he saw, and the more puzzled he became.
The Puzzle Game was always precise in revealing the circumstances of the deceased and would show traces of the attacks they had endured.
But these ghostly figures showed no such signs.
They fell, their fingers flailing in the air or on their bodies.
There were no signs of beast bites, no attacks from clubs, knives, or guns, and no apparent influence of Essence Arts.
It was as if the air in the mine tunnel was toxic, and they could only slowly die in their struggles.
Lindsey looked around once more.
As more images of the fleeing figures appeared, the support structures of the surrounding mine tunnel also began to emerge.
His deduction was correct; there had indeed been support structures here.
But just like the humans who died, the wood that supported the mine tunnel had inexplicably decomposed and corroded, eventually disappearing.
The iron fixtures that were once used to secure the wood also fell to the ground, now arranged in this orderly fashion.
Lindsey's first thought was of the Corruption Toxin from the Bug Folk Canyon not far away.
If the Corruption Toxin had erupted here, it would have undoubtedly led to similar results.
But upon closely examining the air and ground, he found that every detail was clean and tidy, with no signs of the infection from the Corruption Toxin in the valley.
"Could this be a haunted gold mine?" Lindsey continued downward, almost reaching the bottom of the tunnel.
The further he descended, the more human skeletons he saw, as if this were a hidden mass grave within the mountain.
However, aside from this, Lindsey couldn't find any additional clues.
Hum—
Just as he stood at the bottom of the tunnel, feeling helpless—
The Sky Compass, silent for months, began to tremble, alerting him to a hidden presence nearby!
Lindsey was first surprised, then excited:
"Ah?"
"Finally, something!"
(End of Chapter)
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