Chapter 184: The Strange Tunnel (1/2)
Chapter 184: The Strange Tunnel
After staying there for a while, they did not find anything of note. Then the two of them started to head towards another group of miners. Along the way, they did not dare to be careless. If there was any mishap and they got spat on by a Spirit Swallowing Worm, they would be in trouble.
The morning pa.s.sed in similar fas.h.i.+on, and the tunnel was frighteningly calm. The eighth layers of tunnels were much smaller than Xiao Chen had initially imagined.
The dense lines on the map gave off a menacing appearance, but most of them were actually dead tunnels. They had few places to patrol. In hindsight, this was probably why they only needed two people to patrol this layer.
In fact, in Xiao Chen’s opinion, there would not be much of a problem even if the two of them were not here. They only needed to send two of the ten Martial Saints standing guard in the headquarters to do the job. They would be able to easily deal with their work.
The two of them managed to complete their patrol before noon. Following that, they took out their dry rations and took a break.
Mu Xinya was a chatterbox, talking without end. Right as they sat down, she asked, “Senior Brother Ye, do you think there is a pattern to the appearance of the Spirit Swallowing Worms?”
The two of them had discovered some Spirit Swallowing Worms after completing their patrol earlier. The worms quickly fled before they could make a move, leaving them with no choice than to give up their pursuit.
Xiao Chen had not notice any pattern at all. He could not help but ask, “Did you notice any?”
Mu Xinya laughed out loud and said, “This lady is very perceptive! Of course I noticed one. Where do we normally discover the Spirit Swallowing Worms? Is it the places with mining going on or places without?”
Xiao Chen’s eyes lit up, as though he had connected something in his brain. From what it seemed like, they never encountered a Spirit Swallowing Worm in areas where the workers were mining.
The Spirit Swallowing Worms were not like the corpses. When those corpses came out, they moved quite slowly, allowing the miners some time to run and seek help. When the worms attacked, they would spit out a few mouthfuls of venomous fluids and kill these miners easily.
It seemed like nothing like this had happened with the Spirit Swallowing Worms before. However, what did this have to do with the pattern of the Spirit Swallowing Worm’s appearance?
Mu Xinya sported a c.o.c.ky smile as she said, “Have you figured it out? Seeing that your face is filled with doubts, you probably have not figured out the key point yet.
“Let me tell you then; the Spirit Swallowing Worm naturally relies on raw ores of Spirit Stone to survive. You have not seen it before, so I can only describe it as your resting time being different from theirs.”
Xiao Chen suddenly felt enlightened, and he immediately understood the most important point. He said, “The both of us rest when the miners are also resting. That is to say, when we are resting, the Spirit Swallowing Worms are active.”
Mu Xinya nodded, “Actually, you can look at this from another angle. After the Spirit Swallowing Worms start resting, we and the miners come out to do our work. When the Spirit Swallowing Worms become active, we start our rest.”
Mu Xinya’s words were only flipping Xiao Chen’s words upside down. It may seem to mean the same thing, but when examined carefully the emphasis was different.
Xiao Chen was not a fool; he quickly figured out the most important part. The time when the miners and us are at work is not something that is decided casually. Instead, it is the people in charge who decided this using the timing of the Spirit Swallowing Worms’ activity.
It was done so that we could avoid the Spirit Swallowing Worms’ active hours. However, what is the point of this? The Spirit Swallowing Worms are not strong. If we could gather them together and deal with them all in one go, wouldn’t that be better?
Ye Wen once said the greatest enemy in the mines were not the corpses. Instead, it was the Spirit Swallowing Worms that ate the raw ores of Spirit Stone.
Could it be that Ye Wen was lying then? Xiao Chen thought, Could these small Spirit Swallowing Worms be hiding something?
Mu Xinya leaned over in a bizarre manner and said, “Senior Brother Ye, how about we go out tonight and earn some contribution points. I can guarantee that we can obtain at least a hundred points. All we need is one night of time.”
This should be the reason why Mu Xinya came back so late last night. Xiao Chen felt excited at the prospect of her suggestion. However, he soon rejected the idea. He said, “These are only your guesses. Don’t speak of this again without any evidence.”
“But I…” Seeing that Xiao Chen did not believe her, Mu Xinya’s cute face turned anxious.
Xiao Chen interrupted her, “Don’t say ‘but’, just complete this one month peacefully. I keep feeling it is not safe here. It is best to not get distracted and avoid getting involved in more problems.”
“Hu Chi!”
A piercing alarm went off from the mines. The two of their complexions changed. They quickly ended their conversation and rushed towards the origin of the alarm.
Before long, they ran into the fleeing miners. These miners were running with an unsteady gait in panic; it was incredibly strange.
Xiao Chen was surprised, as the low grade corpses should not be very powerful. To think it actually scared the miners to this degree. He quickly looked for the supervisor to question him.
The supervisor said with a pale face, “Sir and Madam, run quickly. I am not sure what we dug out this time. Two mutated corpses appeared at the same time. Half our members died.”
Two mutated corpses… Xiao Chen frowned deeply and fell deep in thought. The so-called mutated corpse was the one that Ye Wen had spent a lot of effort to kill the other day.
To think two appeared at the same time today. What in the world did they dig out to attract two at the same time? Could it be a raw ore of Superior Grade Spirit Stones?