Chapter 142: Murderous Vibe and Conspiracy
Chen Rui did not waste time listening to the centaur sort out his language. He walked through the door and grabbed a miner to ask.
It turned out that after Chen Rui went to Town Leia, Athena returned to Mountain Lugang and led the miners to move to the foot of Mountain Xilang. Of course, the Red Devils did not come to hara.s.s them again, nor did the spirit dragon appear, so the miners lived a stable life that was hard to come by.
Mountain Xilang was very far from the open-air mine in Mountain Lugang. Mining was extremely inconvenient, plus the open-air mine was almost depleted already. Although Chen Rui did not force the miners to finish the task, but s.h.i.+pping due date for once every three months was approaching quickly. They had to submit the amount fixed by Dark Moon City, otherwise all the miners would get badly punished. Hence, some bold miners came up with the idea of mining the main pit.
Disregarding the possibility of dangerous creatures appearing, they secretly went to the main pit to investigate.
Of course, Chen Rui knew that the so-called spirit dragon would not attack the miners, but the lower layer of the main pit was no trivial matter. Although it was extremely rich in mineral resources, the demonic beasts inside were far more terrifying. Mountain Xilang was originally the largest mine in Fallen Angel Empire, but it was slowly abandoned because it of its life-threatening dangers. Four hundred years had pa.s.sed and the problem still could not be resolved.
After the miners entered the main pit, they did not encounter the terrifying spirit dragon again.They lucked out. However, they found that the minerals in the waste ore room decreased by more than half for no reason. The reason was unknown; maybe they were carted off by bandit groups. However, the impurities on the waste ores were quite troublesome. It greatly affected the quality of the extracted minerals, so no one knew why the bandits took them for.
Of course, Chen Rui would not tell the miners that the waste ores were carted off by him and a part of it had been handed over to Shea. He was anxious to know where Athena was. “Why did Athena and Gade go to the main pit? How long since they went?”
“Sir Chen Rui!” Tink, a voice sounded. It turned out to be Deputy Captain Connor. After receiving the report from the dark elf, he had hurried down from the mine on the mountainside.
“Connor! You came at the right time. Tell me what happened, where is Athena?”
Connor frowned and said, “Sir Chen Rui, this is what happened. Miss Athena led us back to the mining office. Things were gradually stabilizing. However, a group of miners secretly went to the lower level of the main pit in order to fulfill the mine submission once every three months. Things went smoothly in the beginning. The scary spirit dragon did not appear, so more and more miners started to mine there. Then, demonic beasts appeared in the lower level and the miners were trapped inside. Athena and Captain Gade went to rescue them, but they never returned. The people sent to look for them also disappeared. I was about to make an emergency report to Dark Moon City, then I happened to run into Sir returning. Sir, please send people to Dark Moon City.”
“When did Athena go to the lower level?”
“About last night, and she hadn’t returned this morning.”
Already one night! Chen Rui’s facial expression changed. There was definitely not enough time to report to Dark Moon City. Every minute lost put Athena in even more danger. He immediately said, “Find me a miner who has been to the lower level. I will go down there and take a look.”
Connor was startled. “It’s too dangerous down there! Sir Chen Rui, we should urgently send someone to report to Dark Moon City!”
Chen Rui started to get angry. “I am the mining officer, and I am ordering you now to immediately arrange someone to bring me there. I will personally go to the lower level!”
Connor gritted his teeth. “I’ve been to the lower level; I will go with Sir!”
“Okay! It’s not too late, let’s go now!”
Connor immediately sorted out some matters with the guard, then took Chen Rui up the mountain. On the way, he saw miners looking uneasy. Chen Rui blamed himself; it was his fault for not fulfilling the mining officer job. He only planned how to take care of Red Devil bandits, but he never expected such a thing to happen because of the deadline for the mine submission. If anything happened to Athena, then all the success he achieved previously would be meaningless. He was going to bring Athena back safely no matter what!
As Connor walked, he explained the situation of the main pit to Chen Rui. It was a strange creature that attacked the lower level mines. It looked a little like a fly; it could suck flesh and blood from a body, leaving behind only a skeleton, which was frightening. The most troublesome part was that they were numerous, and they were difficult to kill.
Although the main pit was lit with magic lights, the pit still looked dark and gloomy. It was not Chen Rui’s first time entering the main pit. An idea hit him; he put on a ring of illumination. A magic compa.s.s appeared in his hand and started to record the coordinates and path along the way.
The upper level of the main pit was huge, but Connor was quite familiar with it. They pa.s.sed through many winding roads and finally arrived at a bottomless entrance.
“Sir, this is the entrance to the lower floor. Initially, there were large lifts, so getting in and out was very convenient, but because the demonic beasts broke the original seal four hundred years ago, the mining officer at the time had no choice but to destroy the large lifts. You can only go down through this one and only emergency pa.s.sage. This emergency pa.s.sage also has a seal; only creatures below Demon King-level can pa.s.s, but this seal can only inhibit demonic beasts below Demon Emperor-level. If it is greater than Demon Emperor-level, it can also break through the emergency pa.s.sage. If they destroyed the emergency pa.s.sage, then communication with the lower level would also be completely closed off, which was equivalent to giving up on the largest mine and thousands of years of mining operations. Hence, this pa.s.sage is still retained to this day, so that the demonic beast can be dealt with in the future.”
“Well, let’s go down.” Chen Rui took a look. The diameter of the entrance was less than two meters, and it was extremely deep. The miners usually took this way to secretly go to the lower level to mine.
Connor’s eyes flickered. Chen Rui did not notice it, but he keenly felt a strange vibe.
A murderous vibe?
Connor actually let outs a murderous vibe?
Although it was fleeting, Chen Rui caught it.
“You go down first, Connor. I will follow you.”
Chen Rui wanted to go down first, but he changed his mind.
As he expected, that murderous vibe reappeared. Chen Rui already activated : Race: dark elf. Comprehensive Strength a.s.sessment: E.
Connor showed a panicked look. “I won’t lie to you, sir. I’m a little scared. Can sir walk in the front?
I’ll s.h.i.+ne the light for you from the back.”
Feeling scared and exuding murderous intentions at the same time?
Chen Rui glanced at him mildly. “Connor, there are only two of us here. I don’t think you need to continue pretending.”
Connor was silent for a while, then shook his head. “As expected of the mining officer. I really can’t figure out what went wrong.”
Sure enough, there is a conspiracy! Chen Rui had originally guessed that there were Red Devils spies among the miners. At that time, the situation was urgent. It was also very difficult to detect spies in a large number of unfamiliar miners. Later, due to his efforts, the mastermind and the head of the Red Devils were basically completely eliminated, so even if there was a spy, they could not do much. He never expected to have missed out on one.
Looking at the situation, Athena going to the main pit to “rescue” the miners was due to the premeditated plan.
“It’s just my intuition.” Chen Rui frowned. “Perhaps because I don’t have much power, this intuition is usually very accurate. I’m just trying it today, but I never thought I would be right again.”
“I didn’t expect you to have this kind of sensing ability. Unfortunately, it will just make you die faster.” Connor shook his head. “You’ll die anyway if you don’t down. Instead of geting killed by the demonic beasts below, why don’t I finish you off.”
“I never expected that my intuition would lead me to my death.” Chen Rui sighed. “Before I die… I just want to ask a few questions, okay?”
“Pretending to be calm is useless, I know what you’re capable of,” the dark elf sneered and slowly backed away. He carefully distanced himself from Chen Rui. “Don’t try to use any potion. The crossbow in my sleeve is aiming at your throat. As soon as you move, you will immediately become a corpse. Now, as the winner, I can satisfy the last wish of a dying man.”
Chen Rui looked like his final scheme was seemingly seen through by Connor. He looked downcast, he maintained a stiff posture and did not dare to move. “The first question, were Athena and Gade tricked by you?”
“Strictly speaking, they were the ones who took the initiative to rescue the miners themselves. I did not trick them.” Connor looked pleased. “But I was actually the one who instigated the miners to go to the lower level to mine, so I should take full responsibility.”
“Then are Athena and Gade really still down there?” Chen Rui immediately asked the second question. “Why didn’t they come back last night?” “… That’s simple,” Connor pointed to the entrance of the emergency pa.s.sage, “When they went down, I destroyed the enchantment of the pa.s.sage. Now, one can only enter but not exit, unless they really had powers of Demon Emperor level to break the seal. Otherwise, even if you ask Dark Moon for help, nothing will help.”
One-way pa.s.sage? Only Demon Emperor powers could get rid of it! Chen Rui’s heart sank. He asked, “Are you a Demon Emperor? How do you have the power to destroy the enchantment?”
“Of course I could not,” Connor was very pleased. “But the magical instruments given by my master can! Even if Athena is a Higher Demon, there is only a dead end down there.”
Chen Rui exclaimed, “Master? Is it Joseph or Kanita? Or Red Spirit Lord?”
Connor showed contempt. “How can those little people compare with my master? Besides, how can those Red Spirit guys be so stupid as to directly murder the daughter of the Empire First General?”
Chen Rui was truly taken aback. Connor’s “master” was not Joseph or the Red Spirit Lord, but a more powerful mysterious man. There is more than one evil mastermind manipulating this small mine! Not only that, there must be another magic communication tower nearby!
“Who the h.e.l.l is your master?”
Connor said with a sneer, “You don’t need to know this. I will give you one last free answer. I have another ident.i.ty, that is, the spy of the Red Devils. Something unfortunate happened to the Red Devils.”
Leader Snowden has already set out from Red Spirit estate, and he will soon come to Mountain Xilang. When the time comes, the news that the Red Spirit estate manipulated the Red Devils to kill the daughter of the Empire’s first general will spread. General George only has one daughter, and he will definitely be infuriated. It is likely that the fragile balance of Fallen Angel Empire will also be broken. My master will be most pleased to this chaos unfold.”
“Your master is not from the Fallen Angel Empire!” The realization hit Chen Rui. Connor’s hand moved and two crossbow arrows shot towards his throat like lightning.
“I hide for so long. It’s rare to get to face a weakling.” Just as he was enjoying the feeling of victory, although long-winded, it was about to end.