Chapter 450

Chapter 450: Boiling Gold

A huge void lay at the end of the tunnel.

Vanna reached the edge of the void. The tunnel ended abruptly here. The floor and ceiling seemed to have been swallowed by some invisible thing and vanished ahead. Beyond the neat broken edge, the vast, empty darkness pressed down even on her, an Inquisitor. The instinctive fear Humans felt when facing such an enormous dark space surged over her like a tidal wave.

Morris also came to the “entrance” of the void. He raised his consecrated lantern, but the light from the special underground lantern seemed to be swallowed at once. The light did not really disappear. The space ahead was simply too huge, and there was nothing in any direction for it to reflect off. The lantern’s glow weakened in the dark and finally only lit a steep slope running down along the pit wall. Everything else stayed buried in darkness.

“This… there is no way this was part of the original mine, no matter how you look at it,” Vanna said softly. She took a shallow breath and looked back at the mine passage they had walked along. “The normal tunnel ends here… This should be the ‘stone wall’ mentioned in the report.”

Morris bent down and carefully examined the small section of inner wall that the consecrated lantern could reach. “It feels as if some huge ‘thing’ once filled this place,” he said slowly. “Now that thing has vanished into thin air, and it left a big hole behind.”

“A hollow this big didn’t collapse but actually settled?” Duncan could not help frowning. He looked up into the darkness above with a worried tone. “If this place gives way, at least a third of the Upper City will be in serious trouble.”

As he said this, he suddenly turned his head and glanced at Agatha. “Are you alright? You haven’t seemed right for a while.”

“I… can’t see the ‘void’ you’re talking about,” Agatha said, her voice a bit uncertain. “I only see huge, twisted echoes coiled here. The wind is full of noise. Is there really nothing in front of us?”

“Nothing at all, at least to the eye. And I can’t sense any corruption left by supernatural power either,” Vanna said with a firm nod. Then she grew thoughtful. “But you can feel something… Maybe what’s left here is resonating with you?”

“I don’t know.” Agatha shook her head, then turned toward Duncan. “What do you think?”

“We should go in and see what it’s like inside.” Duncan had already made up his mind. He raised his hand and beckoned in the air. A clump of ghostly green flame appeared out of thin air beside him. A skeletal bird wrapped in roaring flame burst out of the fire, flapped its wings, and landed on his shoulder as if it knew the way by heart.

Ai tilted her head and looked around. “Your experienced guide is here! Your experienced guide is here!”

“We can’t rule out the risk that this ‘cave’ might collapse, so we’ll bring this pigeon,” Duncan explained. “Once we go in, don’t split up. Watch the surroundings at all times for any sign of instability. Pay attention to the sounds above our heads. At the first sign of a cave-in, everyone teleportation.”

“Yes, Captain.” “Understood.” “Okay.” “Hehe…”

Duncan gave Alice a light tap on the head, then checked the terrain at the edge of the void. He took a quiet breath and was the first to step out into the darkness.

The others followed close behind.

Past the edge of the void there was a steep slope. The slope was not continuous. Sudden drops and twisting side paths appeared at any time, so every step had to be taken with great care. This winding, difficult path stretched into the depths of the darkness, as if it could reach the very bottom of the hollow.

The slope felt like a deep groove left in the rock after some long-term corruption finally faded away.

Duncan moved forward carefully in the dark. ghostly green flame burned and spread around his feet. The steady spirit flame lit a small circle around the path and left a bright “trail of fire” behind them. When they looked back, they could see the line of flowing flame drawing a twisting road in the darkness that led back to the hollow’s entrance.

In such a vast underground dark space, marking the way was extremely important. Even with the Pigeon Spirit as their ultimate escape method, Duncan still left his own flames along the way out of caution. The flames also extended his senses, helping him notice any subtle change in the cave walls.

Vanna had already formed a greatsword of solid ice and storm in her hand. She held the sword in one hand and stayed alert for any Monster that might be hiding in the huge dark. Alice walked the whole way with both hands carefully holding her own head, afraid that if she slipped, she might lose it in the dark. Agatha’s senses were disturbed by some “echo” in this cave, so she could only walk with Vanna’s help, taking careful steps on the rough slope.

Morris, meanwhile, walked along curiously studying the stones by the path.

“Very dense rock… and it seems fused and squeezed together,” he said. He lifted the consecrated lantern, silver light flickering in his eyes as he tried to see as far as he could. “If the whole cave wall is made of this kind of layer, it might explain why the structure could stay stable after its ‘contents’ vanished. These rocks form a dense, thick ‘inner shell’ that supports the whole thing.”

He hesitated, then added in an unsure voice, “But an inner shell alone may still not be enough. For a cavity this large, there should be other supports in the middle.”

Vanna could not help glancing at the Old Gentleman. “Just how many fields do you know?”

“Mathematics, history, chemistry, occult studies, physics, a little geology and mining, and some knowledge about fighting, firearms, machinery, and blasting,” Morris answered offhand. “Is there a problem?”

Vanna stared, stunned. “How… did you manage that?”

“Just read more books in your spare time,” Morris said. “It isn’t strange that I know these things. I am, after all, the Historian.”

Vanna looked at Morris with a strange expression. In her heart she complained that, except for firearms, fighting, and blasting, nothing he had just listed sounded like it had anything to do with the job of “the Historian”. But after thinking about it for a long time, she still did not have the nerve to say it out loud.

Agatha, leaning on Vanna’s arm, looked even stranger. As a Gatekeeper, she was once again deeply shaken by the followers around Captain Duncan. The last time she had felt this way was when she learned that Vanna was the Athlete…

Morris himself clearly did not realize he had amazed everyone. His attention was already back on the “stones” under his feet.

In the overlapping light of the consecrated lantern and the green flame, the surface of the stones showed a faint metallic sheen. And whether it was an illusion or not… there also seemed to be special lines on their surface.

The Old Scholar bent down, picked up a piece of broken stone, and examined it with interest.

He suddenly stopped walking.

Duncan stopped as well and looked curiously at the stone in Morris’s hand. “Is something wrong?”

Several seconds passed before Morris suddenly seemed to come back to himself. He spoke in a strange, shaken tone. “…It’s Boiling Gold.”

Agatha immediately turned her head. “Boiling Gold?”

“Boiling Gold ore, almost pure enough to feed straight into a steam-core reactor boiler…” Morris muttered in shock. Then he quickly bent down and picked up another piece. After checking it, he simply squatted and carefully examined every stone at his feet. The more he checked, the more alarmed he became. “Here too… No wonder, no wonder I thought the texture of these ‘stones’ was strange just now. It was just too dark to see…”

The Old Scholar suddenly stopped, then raised his head to look at Duncan and Agatha.

His face showed stunned disbelief and a faint excitement that came with a great discovery. “It really is Boiling Gold, Captain, Agatha—this entire cave is made of Boiling Gold! At least the pit floor is covered in raw ore!”

Everyone fell silent. In that silence, Duncan clearly felt Agatha’s emotions surging. Vanna even felt Agatha’s body trembling slightly.

No one understood the meaning of Boiling Gold better than someone born in Frostholm.

“This is all Boiling Gold. We already saw remaining Boiling Gold veins in the tunnels,” Vanna whispered, holding Agatha’s hand. “It looks like Frostholm doesn’t need to worry too much, at least for a while.”

“Yes… we don’t need to worry… there is still Boiling Gold here…” Agatha murmured. Her tone was strangely mixed. “But why? Why are these things here…”

“Would the corruption of the Abyssal Lord leave Boiling Gold behind?” Duncan frowned. “If our information is right, this Great Hollow was formed that way…”

Everyone suddenly grew serious. Even Alice, who was always slow to pick up on things, felt the change in the air. The doll girl edged close and tugged on Duncan’s arm, then asked carefully, “Captain… what is Boiling Gold?”

Duncan: “…”

With everyone so serious, it really took some talent for this fool to stay such a steady, unwavering fool.

He sighed. “Boiling Gold is the base of modern industry. It’s the energy source for all steam-powered machines. Just like people need food, machines need Boiling Gold to run.”

Alice listened, half understanding. After a long moment, she finally nodded in sudden realization. “Oh—”

Duncan did not worry about whether this illiterate doll had really understood. His gaze turned again toward the darkness ahead.

The huge underground hollow had stirred his curiosity completely.

If this whole cave was made of extremely pure Boiling Gold… then what would be waiting for him at its deepest point?