The uneasy atmosphere gradually intensified, and aside from the occasional chat, Xiao Lin and the others kept silent the entire day. Lilith had probably been able to guess what Dawn Academy wanted to do, and based on her reasoning, Xiao Lin was implicated purely because of her. Even though she did not set aside her ego, her tone was somewhat apologetic.
Xiao Lin remembered that he had read similar information about how people could last up to three days without drinking water or eating. Although Lilith mentioned that their physique was better than that of Earthling after reaching the Black Iron-rank, it only lasted for two to three days.
Death was all but certain if they could not get food and water in time. Meanwhile, Ibeiya seemed even more enthusiastic about recommending Xiao Lin to become a vampire, so much so that she strived to promote the advantages of the vampire race. Although Xiao Lin had no interest in becoming a non-human entity, he had to consider such a possibility if something really could not be done.
It was evening when there was finally a development. Rather than someone coming in to rescue them or the thick fog showing signs of dissipating, they found a secret passage in the basement where the monster appeared earlier.
Neither Xiao Lin and Lilith wanted to go near that place, as it was in ruins after the monster was annihilated, along with the reeking stench of rotting flesh and internal organs.
However, Ibeiya returned there again and seemed to ignore everything. She had been afraid of the undead earlier, but her fear and disgust had been forgotten after the monster died. She said that she was looking for something to use there, and Xiao Lin wondered if she wanted to find some meat to roast for them to eat?
What a sick joke that would be. Xiao Lin did his best to hold back a desire to vomit. He somewhat guessed that the organs were probably from the townspeople of Wildfire Town. All things aside, he would rather die than eat human flesh.
Ibeiya spent more than two hours getting busy before coming back. Instead of bringing back human flesh, she brought back some surprising news. The two of them quickly followed her to have a careful look, and they pinched their noses to endure the stench.
Xiao Lin found that the basement’s ruins seemed to have traces of being cleaned up, but none of them touched anything since they left the day before. Ibeiya said that she visited just to pass the time, but it was obviously a half-hearted answer from her. Xiao Lin pondered while looking at Ibeiya, and he later noticed that Lilith was in deep thought too. When Ibeiya turned around again, their expression reverted immediately to calmness.
“Come and have a look! Come here and look! It’s here!” Ibeiya did not seem to notice anything wrong and pointed to the innermost corner of the basement. Looking through the cleared ruins, there was indeed a half-hidden wooden door there. Since half the basement had collapsed, the inside was not very dim.
The wooden door was very old and not very sturdy. There were clear signs of rotting from above, indicating that the door had been there for a long time. Their previous day’s fight with the monster probably led the doors to become loose, with the door joints being completely broken off too. Xiao Lin casually conjured up a flame bomb and blasted the door open.
Behind the wooden door was a deep, narrow tunnel. There are a few magic lamps hanging at the entrance of the tunnel, but the innermost areas were still dark. In Planet Norma, magic lamps were one of the more practical lighting tools, as they used energy ores to release energy in the form of a light source.
However, such magic lamps were an exclusive item of nobility. Of course, the nobility being referred to were the nobles among Planet Norma’s natives. Because of the rarity of energy ores, magic lamps were quite expensive, and ordinary families simply could not afford it. As a result, the entire city was pitch black except for the manors owned by nobility.
“Who’s the original owner here? Do you know?” Xiao Lin asked Ibeiya. He suddenly became a little curious about the building’s original owner. The house nearby was a three-storey building, which was relatively luxurious in the local area. Such a house was obviously out of reach for ordinary poor people, especially when magic lamps were placed at the entrance of the tunnel. It was unlikely that the local noblemen would do such an extravagant thing.
“I don’t.” Ibeiya’s big bright eyes blinked innocently.
Xiao Lin looked at her for a long time before retracting his gaze. All he could say was that Ibeiya’s facial expression was flawless and he was not quite sure what the girl was thinking.
Lilith knew a little more about the New World than Xiao Lin did. She walked to the door and glanced at it twice, then said with certainty, “This is a mine tunnel, isn’t it?”
“A mine tunnel?”
“Yes, why don’t you know anything, Uncle!” Ibeiya mocked Xiao Lin jokingly, but before the latter could get angry, she immediately changed back to an adorable tone and replied, “What else is worth developing in Silver Province? Starmetal of course. Hehe, this is the most important thing for your people. Don’t you know that, Uncle?”
“Ahem, can’t you call me by name?” Xiao Lin felt helpless when she called him uncle, especially since Lilith would easily get the false impression that he was some kind of sick pervert.
“I got a bit used to calling it. I’ve tried to call people by name plenty of times, but the humans on your side—especially the young men around Dawn Academy—seem to be very happy when I call them that. Uncle, the truth is, deep down, you really want me to call you that, right?”
Her delicate tone, coupled with her cute Lolita face, was lethal for many men, especially those otakus from Earth who had graduated in recent years. Xiao Lin suddenly began to believe that she did wander all over the world alone. Setting aside the question of strength, that ability of hers alone would probably cause anyone to willingly protect that cute—or rather, seemingly-cute—girl.
“It’s a tunnel used to develop the starmetal mines.” Lilith’s brows gradually tightened.
“Is there something wrong?”
“Everything’s wrong. You ought to know that all the mining grounds currently discovered in Silver Province have been completely divided up. As far as I know, a mine tunnel leading to Wildfire Town doesn’t exist.”
“It’s an illegal one then.”
Xiao Lin nodded. Such things occurred on Earth, so it was unsurprising that they would occur in Planet Norma. However, Xiao Lin had an instant realization as well—the current eeriness of Wildfire Town must be the doing of Asabanor’s ghost.
According to Xiao Lin’s speculation thus far, it should have been Asabanor who did something to flood Wildfire Town with death energy, and then used a necromantic eye to experiment with the newly created undead monsters and collect various data, like what Xiao Lin did during the battle.
A premeditated process like that could not be completed in one or two days. If that mine was also a part of Asabanor’s plan, then the problem might be more serious than first imagined—it would mean that Asabanor had other accomplices, of which the number was likely to be more than one person.