157: Section 157

Star Shatterer stepped forward to greet them and pointed to the carriage behind her, saying, "The items you wanted."

"Thank you!"

Quid gestured for a group of workers behind him to come forward and unload the cargo.

"Star Shatterer," Quid gave an awkward smile and said, "As for the things you need, we can only provide half!"

Star Shatterer's expression changed. "Why only half? Didn't we agree on this beforehand?"

"Don't be anxious just yet," Quid consoled her. "It's not that we're intentionally breaking the contract. There was a problem at our mine that delayed production. We guarantee that once the problem is resolved and production resumes, we will definitely make up for the missing half the next time you come."

Star Shatterer frowned and said, "General Quid, it's not that we don't trust you. It's just that we are in urgent need of this batch of supplies."

Thousand Miles stepped forward and asked, "General Quid, could it be that your mine encountered Earth Vines and Phage Beasts?"

"That's not it!"

"Then that's strange. What kind of problem could there be down here underground?"

"This..."

Quid's hesitation left the group from Dragon Bone Village feeling quite confused.

Star Shatterer's mission this time was to bring back the necessary supplies, so she could only press further, "What kind of problem did you actually encounter?"

Quid hesitated for a moment at Star Shatterer's question before saying, "I need to ask the leader for instructions before I can tell you."

Star Shatterer nodded.

Quid then turned and left for a while. When he returned, he said to the group from Dragon Bone Village, "The leader has asked me to take you to see him. Let's go!"

The four from Dragon Bone Village followed Quid toward the depths of the base with their questions in mind.

Space in the underground base was limited, so they spent most of their time walking through long, narrow corridors.

On the way, they passed through a relatively large space, similar to a plaza, where many people were active.

However, the eyes of the people here were quite numb and vacant.

Seeing these people living in the underground base, Jing Yuan was momentarily reminded of those Dust Citizens on the Lighthouse.

Jing Yuan asked Thousand Miles beside him, "This place is different from Dragon Bone Village again."

Thousand Miles whispered, "Yeah! The interior of Steel Flame Fortress is a centralized system, quite similar to your Lighthouse!"

Jing Yuan asked in confusion, "They also divide people into social classes? And control reproduction?"

"Nowadays, there isn't a single tribe that doesn't control reproduction. However, they don't divide people into Upper Citizens and Dust Citizens like the Lighthouse. They follow the survival of the fittest; as long as you have the ability, you could even take the leader's position," Thousand Miles smiled. "Their current leader is an Awakened Practitioner who also rose to power through force."

Soon, they were led into a large hall.

The hall was empty. After waiting for a while, they saw a tall, white-haired old man walking toward them.

"Leader!" Quid respectfully saluted the newcomer.

"Leader Uto!" Star Shatterer also bowed to the tall, white-haired old man.

"Star Shatterer, did Boss Bai not come this time?"

"She didn't come."

The old man's name was Uto. He sighed with emotion and said, "This happened so suddenly, and we haven't figured out the cause yet, which is why we didn't tell you in advance."

"Leader Uto, what exactly did you encounter?"

“We encountered something very bizarre in our mine,” Uto said in a heavy voice. “At first, several miners fainted for no reason. We didn't know what was happening, so we sent another group of miners to the mine where the incident occurred, but the same thing happened again.”

“How are those miners?” Star Shatterer pressed.

“They're all fine! After the miners woke up, we examined their bodies and found no abnormalities. When we questioned them, they didn't know what had happened either. However, as long as we send miners into that shaft, they faint. Therefore, our mining operations cannot proceed.”

“Did you send technical personnel to investigate?”

“Yes, but with no results. The technicians also fell into a coma.”

Hearing this, Jing Yuan and the others also felt it was eerie.

Could there be something sinister down here underground?

Uto continued, “Not long ago, I sent two Awakened Practitioners over...”

“Did they faint too?”

“They didn't faint, but they felt dizzy and lightheaded,” Uto said. “We suspect there's something near that mine that is launching mental attacks against them.”

“Could it be radioactive elements?”

“We've done radiation checks; it's not that!”

Uto hesitated for a moment and said, “I've been considering whether or not to ask Boss Bai to come and take a look for us. Because one of the Awakened Practitioners said that in his daze, he heard a voice speaking to him in the mine!”

Star Shatterer said in surprise, “You suspect this is related to the ecology?”

“That's the only direction we can consider. It can't be that we've seen a ghost!”

Thousand Miles laughed and said, “The most ghost-like person I've ever seen is No Door.”

“What is No Door?” Jing Yuan asked in a low voice.

Taciturn, who was beside him, explained, “It's the name of an Awakened Practitioner from our village. He never needs to use the front door to enter a house, so he's called No Door.”

“Oh!”

Star Shatterer said, “All supernatural events can be explained by science. Even if there really are ghosts, could they be more terrifying than Phage Beasts?”

Thousand Miles suggested, “Why don't we go to the site and take a look? Whether there are ghosts or not, we'll know then.”

Uto nodded and said, “Let's go! We'll go take a look!”

Uto led them out of the hall.

After wandering around the underground base, they arrived at a place that resembled a factory.

The workers here were busy transferring raw ore; they seemed to be using the ore to refine some kind of substance.

Jing Yuan wanted to ask what they were doing here, but the rumbling roar of machinery echoed all around, making communication impossible.

Walking out from the factory, they came to a massive space.

There was a huge excavated pit here, surrounded by transport lines for raw ore.

And on the other side of the pit were various small mineshafts they had excavated.

Uto led them to a vertical mineshaft and said with a heavy face, “It's right here!”

Chapter 161: Mysterious Mineshaft

Star Shatterer and the others stepped forward one after another to check it out, and even Jing Yuan followed to take a look.

This mineshaft was very small. Judging from the opening, it could only support two people working in the shaft at the same time.

Uto waved his hand, and several people walked over from behind him. Among them were workers and also Awakened Practitioners from Steel Flame Fortress.

“You, come here!”

Uto first directed a worker to come over.

This worker had a face full of terror. They all knew what had happened in this mineshaft, so he was extremely afraid.

However, faced with the leader's command, they did not dare to disobey.

The worker reluctantly put on the equipment.

Then Uto arranged for an Awakened Practitioner to accompany the worker.

The Awakened Practitioner wasn't very afraid because he knew that going down would only cause some headaches and wouldn't lead to fainting like a normal person.

With the help of other workers, the two of them put on their gear for entering the shaft and were then slowly lowered into the hole.

This shaft was very deep. After being lowered about a hundred meters, the Awakened Practitioner below sent word through the walkie-talkie, saying that the worker had already fallen into a coma and he himself was feeling a bit of a headache and swelling in his mind!

Uto immediately asked, “Did you hear any voices speaking?”

“No! My head just hurts a bit.”

Uto immediately ordered the two of them to be pulled up.

By the time they were pulled up, the worker had already fallen into a coma, and the Awakened Practitioner's state was not very good.

After being pulled up, the Awakened Practitioner stated that he just wanted to sleep and then sat to the side to rest.

Uto and his people had already performed such experiments many times, but they still hadn't made any progress.

Uto looked at Star Shatterer and the others.

Anyway, the situation was as it was.

Thousand Miles smiled and said, “It doesn't look dangerous, but we have to go down once! I'll go down first!”

“It's better if two people go together,” Star Shatterer said.

“Then I'll go with Thousand Miles!” Taciturn stepped forward.

The two of them put on their gear with the help of the workers and were then lowered into the mineshaft.

Similarly, after being lowered about a hundred meters, Thousand Miles' voice came through the walkie-talkie.