Chapter 289

Franca ended the 'Magic Mirror Divination,' looked at Jenna, and began to interpret the answer just now:

"Normally, that sentence means there is danger, but it belongs to a range we can withstand. If we are careful, there shouldn't be any problems."

Jenna said with a hint of surprise:

"I thought the divination result would be very clear."

Who knew that a single short sentence would require such a long string of interpretation.

"This is very clear!" Franca emphasized with a smile. "If you go to the divination club in the Memorial Hall District and find those amateur players, they will be even more vague, making it convenient to make interpretations favorable to themselves after the result comes out. Uh, have you never found anyone to perform divination before?"

Jenna nodded frankly.

Performing a divination costs quite a bit of money!

Franca's eyes turned slightly, as if thinking, and she said:

"You can subscribe to one of these magazines: 'Spirituality,' 'Lotus,' 'Arcana,' or 'Hidden Veil.' Although they all have quite a few problems and errors in specific applications, they explain many basic mystical concepts quite well.

"Ah, right, Xia Er often buys these kinds of magazines. You can go, uh, I'll help you borrow them!"

"Alright." Jenna had only heard of those mystical magazines before and had never bought them.

After obtaining a fairly good divination result, the two, who had already checked the route and environment during the day, quickly arrived at the entrance of the Deep Valley Quarry under the cover of night.

That forty-something gatekeeper was huddled in a 'small hut' naturally formed by rocks, his back against the mountain wall, covered with a dirty, old, and thin felt cloth, his head tilted, sleeping soundly.

In the black shadow to his side, a slender, fair palm suddenly reached out, covering his mouth with a white handkerchief.

The gatekeeper didn't struggle, and in just a few seconds, he went from deep sleep to unconsciousness.

Franca, wearing a black hood, walked out of the shadows and clicked her tongue in admiration:

"The effect of the 'Joyous Society's' sleeping potion is really good; it saved me a lot of trouble."

For this operation, she specifically borrowed that bottle of sleeping potion from Lentas from Lu Mian.

"Isn't it bad to just knock him out?" Jenna expressed that she couldn't understand.

"It's not that it's impossible." Franca explained casually, "But that would leave traces, and there's no way to disguise him well as still being in a deep sleep. This mission involves many bounty hunters and private detectives, and there should be more than just us eyeing this quarry. When there's a better way, being careful with details is always better than leaving hidden dangers."

Jenna, who had lived in the Botanical Garden District and Market District for many years, roughly understood Franca's meaning. While thinking carefully, she asked in return:

"Are you worried that now that it's late at night, those bounty hunters and private detectives will have bad thoughts after discovering we entered the quarry first?"

Franca nodded with satisfaction:

"Right, many bounty hunters and private detectives will seamlessly switch to being robbers, hijackers, and murderers depending on the time, environment, and surrounding situation.

"They are all risking their lives to make money, not to uphold justice. Since this mission currently has no clues and the current environment is suitable, robbing peers and killing them to silence them is very much in line with their style of conduct. Anyway, there's no one else here.

"Of course, with our strength, we don't need to fear those bounty hunters and private detectives, but what if we made a similar mistake in other matters or more dangerous occasions? Therefore, from the very beginning, you must develop the habit."

What Franca didn't say was that as a woman, the pain suffered would likely be even greater.

Jenna nodded slowly, agreeing with this reason.

She had seen criminals who killed a lonely old person for 5 Felkins.

Franca immediately revealed a smile and teased:

"You want me to just knock him out—is it because you want to take revenge on him for asking you this morning if you wanted to take on business?"

"Damn! Am I that petty?" Jenna couldn't help but curse.

Whether it was the few years helping her mother with chores or the time she spent as an underground singer in the Market District, the number of times she had been asked if she wanted to take on streetwalker business was so high that she had become numb. She would be a little angry, but not much.

To prove her own broad-mindedness, Jenna let out a breath and said:

"You using that kind of sleeping potion on others makes me think of my own experience."

She had also been drugged and almost became a missing victim. Fortunately, she met Lu Mian.

Franca said "Mm":

"I can understand your feelings, but since you've embarked on the divine path and intend to become stronger, you'll inevitably have to use various means to deal with enemies later. You can't give up better choices just because you feel a little repulsed in your heart."

Jenna knew Franca's words made sense, but she still couldn't help asking:

"Can't a Beyonder live an ordinary, quiet life without getting involved in various disputes and battles, on the premise of protecting family and friends?"

"Maybe it was possible in the past, but now it's very difficult, and it gets harder the further you go, until there's no possibility at all." Franca sighed and said.

Jenna was silent for a moment and said:

"In the future, in the very distant future, can it be realized?"

Franca looked at the 'sleeping' gatekeeper and said:

"That big shot told me that such a life has to wait until the end of the Fifth Epoch and the beginning of the Sixth Epoch—if there is still a Sixth Epoch."

Sixth Epoch... Jenna thought about this phrase in a daze for a few seconds, then suddenly laughed at herself:

"Actually, I also know that kind of life is just a delusion and cannot be realized. At least for me, it cannot be realized. After possessing extraordinary abilities and completing an assassination, when I encounter unfair things again and see family and friends become unfortunate, I will definitely want to use extraordinary abilities to do something to solve problems that the law and the police cannot solve."

"That's how it is." Franca nodded gently.

She was able to digest the 'Assassin' and 'Instigator' potions not because of this kind of dressing up, nor just by helping friends in an instigating way.

The two didn't chat anymore. Franca bent down and picked up the bunch of brass-colored keys from the gatekeeper.

"Just looking at one door, why are there so many keys? Are they from his home?" Franca muttered while leaving the hut, walking to the entrance of the Deep Valley Quarry, and trying those keys one by one.

Trying until the end, she said to herself in surprise and suspicion:

"None of them are right..."

"None of them are right?" Jenna hadn't expected such a possibility at all.

If no key can open the entrance to the Deep Valley Quarry, then what door are we looking at?

Franca said, half-teaching and half-thinking:

"Maybe this bunch of keys is a decoy, and the real key is hidden somewhere else."

She immediately said to Jenna:

"You search the surroundings, and I'll check that gatekeeper again."

Jenna had no objections. Relying on 'Dark Vision,' she started from the 'small hut' and gradually searched the nearby grass and rock crevices.

Franca squatted down beside the gatekeeper again and felt the other party's body from top to bottom.

When she reached the crotch, she curled her fingers, flicked it heavily, and sneered in a low voice:

"Jenna isn't petty, but I am!"

After the search was completed, the two met at the heavy wooden door and shook their heads at the same time, indicating no gains.

Franca clicked her tongue and said:

"This quarry really has some problems.

"That guy is really just a gatekeeper, only responsible for watching the door, without the ability to open it!"

"Do we still need to go in?" Jenna asked hesitantly.

"Let me try again." Franca extended her right hand toward the copper lock embedded in the heavy wooden door.

Dense white frost emerged from her palm, poured into the keyhole, and filled it.

The white frost continuously accumulated and pressed together, eventually turning into solid ice.

Franca used her ability to pull this ice block out, obtaining a transparent key.

It can be done like this? Jenna watched with surprise and longing.

Sensing her gaze, Franca said with a hint of pride:

"I have a friend—I really have a friend—who is very good at picking locks. We discussed how to use 'Witch' abilities to pick locks."

After making the ice block more solid, Franca reinserted it into the keyhole and gave it a gentle twist.

With a 'crack' sound, the heavy wooden door opened.

Franca retracted the ice key, let it melt, and eliminated all traces.

Before entering the Deep Valley Quarry, this 'Witch' hung the bunch of brass keys back on the gatekeeper's waist and adjusted his posture to make him look more like he was in a deep sleep.

After doing all this, Franca took out a money bag full of coins and took out a thick, iron-colored ring covered with tiny sharp spikes.

"This is the 'Ring of Discipline' I mentioned before. You wear it today.

"I've already explained how to use it specifically and what the taboos are. You only need to remember one thing: don't use it more than three times within an hour.

"Also, take it off immediately after the operation and put it back in this coin bag."

"Alright." Jenna extended her left hand and let Franca wear the iron-colored ring on her middle finger through skin-to-skin contact.

Franca was inexplicably happy, pulled up her hood, pushed open the wooden door, and walked into the Deep Valley Quarry.

After Jenna followed her in, she closed the wooden door behind her, keeping it locked.

In this way, it was almost impossible for anyone from the outside to discover that someone had already entered this quarry.

Franca and Jenna were both 'Assassins' with Dark Vision. Although they didn't bring a calcium carbide lamp, they still easily saw the scene behind the door:

This was a very dilapidated tunnel, with quite a bit of moss growing all around, and crisscrossing cracks on the stone walls above, which seemed like they could fall off at any time.

Not long after moving forward along the tunnel, there was a hollow space, which was no different in essence from those underground.

Jenna and Franca searched seriously for nearly half an hour, turning over the entire non-collapsed area, which wasn't large, and didn't find any details worth suspecting.

"I now feel that there is a big problem here." After returning to the position near the tunnel, Franca said in a low voice.

The more there were no abnormalities, the more eerie the fact that even the gatekeeper didn't have a key to open the door seemed.

Jenna thought and said:

"Maybe it's just to prevent people from breaking in here and encountering a mine collapse, so they just took the keys away.

"The gatekeeper's duty is just to intercept, not to open the door."

Franca was about to say something when she suddenly heard a 'crack' sound.

That was the sound of the Deep Valley Quarry gate being opened!

After Franca and Jenna looked at each other, they immediately hid in a concealed spot not far from the tunnel exit.

The quarry gate slowly opened, and the slightly blue light of a calcium carbide lamp shone in, dispelling the darkness in the tunnel.

Franca and Jenna peeked and saw a man wearing a gray robe.

Around the man's waist was a white apron that ancient stonemasons often wore, and his hood was hanging behind his neck, not put on.

This was the standard attire for the ascetics or monks of the Church of the 'God of Steam and Machinery.'

The monk was carrying a calcium carbide lamp that emitted light. His short hair was deep black, and around his left eye were embedded a large number of iron-gray gears, screws, and springs, which together supported an emerald-green, crystalline prosthetic eye.

PS: Seeking monthly votes for the last three days~

(End of chapter)