Chapter 350: Lively Underground (Seeking monthly votes at the start of the month)

The calcium carbide lamp shot out a yellowish light tinged with a bit of blue, illuminating the tunnel separated by stone pillars.

Lu Mian walked slowly, carrying a black canvas bag that had become popular among university students in the last two or three years slung across his shoulder. Inside were the "Torture" gauntlet and a pile of white candles.

After his many experiments, carrying it in the bag on his back had a smaller negative impact than keeping it in his coat or pants pocket. Although there was no essential difference, having it was better than not having it.

Following the route on Gardner Martin's map, just as he was about to enter the Underground Observatory area, Lu Mian suddenly tilted his ear to listen to the movement in the side tunnel.

A large amount of messy footsteps came over, barely audible.

Lu Mian glanced at the road ahead and the road to the right. Not sure which one that group of unidentified people would choose, he simply climbed to the top of a stone pillar supporting the tunnel roof, extinguished the calcium carbide lamp, and shrank into the darkness.

Not long after, a group of men approached here.

Most of them were either wearing worn-out jackets or were bare-chested, all bent over with heavy crates on their backs. More than a dozen burly men with neat clothes and evil expressions held different firearms and carried calcium carbide lamps, evenly distributed in the front, middle, and back of the team.

Smugglers, huh... Lu Mian leaned his head out slightly, using the other party's light to observe those crates. There seemed to be a metallic luster showing through.

Weapons, or something else? He muttered silently, watching this smuggling caravan enter the right tunnel.

During the journey, perhaps because a shadow moved too much like a real person, a smuggler raised his gun directly, aimed at it, and pulled the trigger.

Amidst the sound of "bang," the alarm was lifted, and the team continued forward.

Lu Mian shook his head, thinking these guys were too tense and reacted a bit over-the-top.

In underground Trier, this was very easy to cause problems!

You have to know that besides wandering university students and citizens who found places to grow mushrooms to subsidize their lives, most of the humans appearing underground were not simple. The probability of Beyonders was much higher than on the surface. If they shot at passersby whenever they met them, who knows when they would provoke members of secret organizations, evil god blessed ones, anti-government armed forces, and cave adventurers with good strength.

Thinking of this, Lu Mian drew his revolver and pulled the trigger toward the smuggling caravan that was about to disappear at the end of the right tunnel.

He didn't aim at anyone; he was just targeting the air.

Bang! Those armed smugglers either turned around quickly or rolled to one side, while simultaneously pouring bullets toward the intersection just now.

But this had nothing to do with Lu Mian, who was about to touch the top of the rock wall.

After the smugglers competed with the air for a while, they shifted positions, both vigilant, confused, and panicked.

Lu Mian looked at their backs and smiled.

No need to thank me; this is a free education!

He then jumped to the ground and relit the calcium carbide lamp.

Sniffing the air that still had the smell of gunpowder, Lu Mian smiled, holstered the revolver, and walked forward along the established route.

Two or three minutes later, he ran into a few quarry police officers wearing dark uniforms. They were holding semi-automatic pistols.

Looking at Lu Mian, who had a young face, a slung bag, and a shirt with a vest, the leading police officer cursed in a low voice:

"Son of a bitch, why is it university students again!"

After cursing, he let out a breath and asked loudly:

"Did you hear any movement just now?"

"There seems to be a gunfight over there, bang bang bang. I wanted to go over and see, but I didn't dare." Lu Mian didn't cover for that smuggling caravan at all.

A few quarry police officers looked at each other and quickly passed Lu Mian, rushing toward that intersection.

…………

Inside the "conversation room."

Seeing the skeleton host wearing an iron-colored mask walk out, the man dressed as a wizard looked at Franca and Jenna and said:

"What did you find? I said, you must find the gatekeeper or his corpse to receive the reward."

Jenna said calmly:

"We haven't thought about receiving the reward yet; we just feel that the matter is more complex than you described.

"Before, on a certain night, we sneaked into the Deep Valley Quarry..."

After hearing the term "Deep Valley Quarry," the man whose face was covered by the shadow of his hood raised his head slightly.

This subtle body language didn't escape Franca's careful observation.

She had specifically consulted Anthony Reid and knew what subconscious reactions normal humans would have in this situation.

The other party's move just now indicated that he was very sensitive to the term "Deep Valley Quarry"!

And only people who knew there were problems there would have similar reactions.

Jenna continued to talk about her and Franca's discoveries, including the monk with a mechanical prosthetic eye and the secret cave embedded with rows of arms and legs.

The man dressed as a wizard had no extra body movements, but for Franca, this further proved that the other party understood the abnormality of the Deep Valley Quarry.

After listening to Jenna's account, the man deliberately said in a sharp voice:

"I'm not sure if that has anything to do with the gatekeeper's disappearance, but if you can enter that secret cave, take a few photos, or bring out important, valuable items, I'm willing to pay half the reward to you. Maybe you can even find clues to the gatekeeper's whereabouts inside."

Do you think we look like fools? You want us to take risks for just 10,000 verl d'or? Franca muttered silently.

If it weren't for the fact that this was an occult gathering organized by her friend, she would have intended to find a way to track this client, figure out his true identity, and squeeze more detailed information out of him for Jenna to sell to the "Purifiers."

…………

"Stop!

"Ahead is the Empire of Death!"

Lu Mian had once again come to that natural archway carved with various bones, sunflowers, and steam symbols.

Before he could take out the pocket watch he borrowed from the Wind Dance cabaret to confirm the time, he saw "Madame Hela," who was wearing a widow-style mysterious black robe with dry, split light-gold hair, walk over from the other side.

This lady nodded slightly and said:

"Since you've arrived, let's go in early."

"Okay." Lu Mian opened his bag and took out two white candles.

While lighting them and handing one to "Madame Hela," he said with a smile:

"Aren't you worried that the information I got about the 'Samaritan Woman's Spring' is wrong?"

"Success is piled up by failure after failure." "Madame Hela" replied in a cold voice.

Lu Mian laughed suddenly:

"I thought you would say failure is the mother of success."

"This isn't a research society." "Madame Hela" responded simply.

Lu Mian didn't chat anymore, extinguished the calcium carbide lamp, held the white candle that had already ignited an orange flame, and walked toward that giant stone archway.

As he expected, a figure emerged from the darkness behind the door.

That figure was wearing a blue vest and yellow pants, with gray hair, few wrinkles, and light yellow eyes that were already somewhat turbid. He was an elderly man of quite an age.

The old man glanced at the white candle in Lu Mian's hand and asked with a frown:

"Didn't you find a guide?"

You... not you all? Lu Mian used his peripheral vision to glance at "Madame Hela," discovering that the candlelight around her had become dim at some point, as if it had encountered the erosion of the underground darkness or was shrouded in thick fog.

In this state, she seemed to have disappeared from the eyes of the tomb manager responsible for guarding the door.

Lu Mian smiled at the old man:

"I don't need a guide. I've been to the catacombs many times, but I'm more used to taking the entrance in the Memorial Hall area.

"Don't worry, I remember all the taboos and won't deliberately violate them."

The old man said unhappily:

"You university students! Remember, come out before your candle burns out!"

While speaking, he cleared the way and turned back into the darkness behind the door.

When Lu Mian passed through the giant stone archway and entered the "Empire of Death," relying on having "Madame Hela" as a companion this time, he tilted his head and asked the elderly tomb manager curiously:

"Why can you not hold a lit white candle?"

The tomb manager's slightly turbid light yellow eyes suddenly became dark, and his whole person exuded a cold feeling.

He replied in a low voice:

"I'm just at the door, not going deep."

Is that so? Lu Mian, who had already entered the catacombs, rationally gave up on asking further, focusing on feeling the coldness bursting from the bottom of his heart and the gazes cast from the darkness around him.

He felt that the tomb manager's current state was a bit like "Madame Hela's" temperament.

Under the gaze of the corpses placed in the rock wall pits and the bones piled on both sides of the road, Lu Mian walked in the air filled with a slight rotting smell and passed through places like the "Small Chapel Tomb" and "Memorial Pillar Tomb" with "Madame Hela."

"Which level are we going to?" After passing a group of tourists, "Madame Hela" asked coldly.

"The fourth level." Lu Mian raised the white candle in his hand and pointed to the road sign next to the tomb, without any concealment.

"Madame Hela" nodded again, quickened her pace, and walked in front of Lu Mian.

She seemed to know the first level of the catacombs very well, and after a few turns, she found the stairs leading to the second level.

Compared to the level above, there were very few tourists here, and they only occasionally ran into a few university students holding candles and singing and dancing under the "gaze" of the corpses to exercise their courage.

"Madame Hela's" speed didn't slow down at all, and not long after, Lu Mian saw a dilapidated stone door.

With the help of the yellowish light of the candle, he read the Intis language on the stone door:

"Entrance to the Old Ossuary".

"Going down from here is the third level. The entrance is the altar of the Sun and Steam, and if you walk all the way to the 'Krismanna Night Pillar,' you can enter the fourth level." "Madame Hela" said coldly.

"Do you have a complete map of the catacombs?" Lu Mian couldn't help but ask.

The ones circulating on the market usually only had the first level.

"Madame Hela" shook her head:

"The deeper you go, the less you know. Starting from the third level, you must look at the road signs and the black lines on the cave ceiling."

Lu Mian didn't say anything more and passed through the entrance to the Old Ossuary with "Madame Hela," walking down step by step along the wide stone stairs that had a sense of history.

The two had just arrived at the third level of the catacombs when they saw a cluster of candlelight and two sacrificial pillars made of mottled giant stones.

That cluster of candlelight belonged to a pale young man with black hair and brown eyes.

After discovering Lu Mian and "Madame Hela," he grabbed them like a straw, rushing over without stopping.

He shouted while running:

"I, my friends disappeared! They just disappeared like that!"

PS: Seeking monthly votes at the start of the month~

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 351 =====