1270 Danger All Around (1/2)

”How can there be a sand pit here?”

Zhang Zian was not only thinking about this problem. He also verbalized it.

Him talking to himself did not escape the sensitive hearing of the elfins.

”Why can't there be a sandpit? Don't just stand there! Hurry up! Are you deliberately delaying us?” Fina snarled violently.

”Hey! What's wrong with you? There are pits on the land, stone pits on the stones, sand pits on the sand, and many pits all over. Why do you still ask about this?” Richard, though blind, could readily run his mouth with useless talk.

”No, it's not strange for there to be a sand pit. The strange thing is where the sand pit is.” Zhang Zian gestured. ”Look carefully.”

Several cars had shot straight forward and were cut off by the sand pit for a short portion of their journey. The tracks then extended forward until they reached the sand dunes out front and then turned.

”What is strange?” The elfins still didn't understand.

Zhang Zian analyzed: ”I just rolled into this sand pit because I could not see it. However, Peter Lee and his team passed here with plenty of sunshine and good visibility. Why did he miss the bunker and roll directly onto it? Even if the driver of the first car was distracted and didn't see it, what happened to the other cars? Why did they roll over it as well? Do they enjoy the thrill of going over one?”

When a normal person drove a car, they would try to avoid these issues on the road, unless they did not see it or if there were other peculiar reasons. Doing so prevented damage to the vehicle or personal injury.

Peter Lee drove well, and there was sufficient light. They could avoid this pit, but why had his entire team chosen not to?

After he said this, the elfins felt a little embarrassed. They could not understand why.

Zhang Zian silently recalled what Fina had said and asked her again, ”You said that the ancient Egyptians used to mine gold here?”

Fina thought that he was looking for gold. ”So what? I heard that the copper mine is next to the gold mines. They are all long gone. Good luck finding them!”

”I have no plans to mine gold here!” Zhang Zian argued. ”It's just that, if that is the case, then the situation is not good…”

”What do you mean?” Fina asked.

Zhang Zian stared at the sand pit. ”It means that this pit did not exist during the day when Peter Lee passed. It was only when the explosion happened that it appeared.”

Peter Lee had not deliberately driven into a sand pit. It simply had not existed when he'd gone past the area.

”Since the mine has been completely harvested of materials, the underground may have been left with holes. The vibration from the explosion caused the structure of the mine to be damaged. The rock on the top wall may have collapsed, so this pit appeared…” He could feel a chill down his spine as he thought about the consequences.

”Peter Lee does not know that there is a mine underground. If he continues to blow things up... The worst-case scenario is that some or even the whole area will collapse…”

The ancient Egyptians had not had environmental awareness. After the mine was finished, they would not have backfilled the mine with rocks and sand. It was probably left as it was. This would not normally have been a problem. After all, the region was inaccessible. However, no one would have thought that someone would use explosives unscrupulously here more than 2,000 years later.

No one knew how deep the mine was below the surface. It could be tens of meters deep, or it could be only a few meters deep. Two thousand years had already caused the artificial support within the mine to decay, and it was unlikely to be able to withstand further shakes.

Once the collapse started, the entire Devil's Sea may sink into the ground, and everything along the surface would go down with it.