Chapter 1142: Black Fog
“What kind of sound is this?” Yu Yanluo exclaimed as her face turned extremely pale. She subconsciously moved closer to Zu An, as if only then could she feel a bit more at ease.
Zu An frowned. He had never heard such a sound before. It was practically a soul-shaking noise. He wasn’t even sure whether it was the roar of a beast, or something created by the wind blowing through such a massive cave. However, he replied, “This is your Yu clan’s cave; why are you asking me?”
Yu Yanluo was a bit embarrassed. After thinking for a bit, she said, “I do not know too much about this place, but from what I do know, this kind of thing should not have happened before.”
“Then we have to be careful.” Zu An’s expression turned strange as he spoke. “In my opinion, something isn’t right. I have strength comparable to a master rank now, and you’re the infamous monster Medusa. If there really is something strange, it should be scared of us.”
“What you say makes sense,” Yu Yanluo replied, subconsciously nodding. But she immediately pinched him out of embarrassment, retorting, “You are the infamous monster; that sounds so awful!”
Zu An chuckled. He wrapped his arm around her waist, then jumped down. He had to admit that the woman’s waist was slender and fine. It was narrower than those of basically all the other girls he knew. It was also much more supple. Because Yu Yanluo was half fiend race, her waist was more slender than those of other humans.
“Hm? Something is not right,” Yu Yanluo suddenly said.
Zu An grew vigilant, asking, “What is it?”
Yu Yanluo stared at the pit below and said, “The miners should still be working at this time, but I cannot sense a single person. It is far too strange.”
Zu An was shocked, remarking, “It’s already so late at night, but you still make them work? What a heartless capitalist…”
Yu Yanluo said in annoyance, “There is no day or night down there; there is no difference whether they go in during the day or night. Of course, we do not make them work day and night, but rather have them work in different shifts.”
Zu An realized that his own thoughts had been off. He replied, “If you put it like that, something is indeed wrong. Did something happen down there?”
“Apart from these miners, I am more worried about Maid Xing and the others. I had them escape down there, but if something really has ended up happening, they may be in danger,” Yu Yanluo said worriedly.
“Let’s take a look first,” Zu An replied. The two had already arrived at the bottom while they were talking.
…
The air at the bottom was comparatively heavier than the air up top. But it wasn’t too big of a deal for cultivators.
Everything around the two was pitch-black. By borrowing the luminescent pearl’s radiance, they could see many simple and crude wooden houses wherever they looked. There were many tools and miner’s carts all over the place.
“This is the mine’s supply station, which distributes the goods from the surface to different supply points farther down. At the same time, the ores that are excavated can be picked up and brought back to the surface…. There should be a lot of guards watching this place. It seems as if something happened here after all,” Yu Yanluo explained as she looked around them. She didn’t see any signs of people present.
“There’s an announcement post here,” Zu An said, pointing at a board off to the side.
Yu Yanluo walked over and read, “The vibrations below are abnormal and several unexpected events have taken place. Out of consideration for everyone’s safety, all personnel are to evacuate to the surface and wait until the clan sends an investigation squad before continuing…” She was shocked when she read that, exclaiming, “Why have I heard nothing about this?”
Zu An investigated his surroundings a bit and said, “Judging from these traces, they probably evacuated recently. Furthermore, you were locked up by Xu Yu for a while, and the Yu clan’s elders were arrested too. The clan has no leader right now, so it’s natural that you don’t know what happened.”
“Something major definitely happened,” Yu Yanluo said, looking worried. “In all these years, these mines have never stopped. Furthermore, these workers stopped without permission from the clan. The workers must have realized that they absolutely had to stop working, or else no one would have dared to issue this kind of order.”
“Judging from how there are tools scattered everywhere, they clearly left in a hurry. The situation was probably pressing,” Zu An remarked as he looked at the tools scattered all over the ground and the overturned mine carts. There were even several ki stones that hadn’t been collected in time, scattered across the ground like discarded scrap.
He stood up again and asked, “Should we ask the people stationed outside? There seemed to still be people guarding this place when we entered before.”
Yu Yanluo thought for a bit, then shook her head. She replied, “It would be way too troublesome to go back up, and I do not want to trouble them either. Based on the current circumstances, they probably experienced something like an earthquake collapse. Let us look for Maid Xing and the others first. We can think about the rest after we find them.”
“That works too,” Zu An replied. He had thought that the earthquake and strange noise were pretty scary. It made sense for ordinary miners to be scared, but the two of them were already powerful individuals in this world. They naturally didn’t have quite as many misgivings.
“Ah Zu, follow me closely. This mine has many side roads, and we cannot see too well. It is easy to get lost,” Yu Yanluo reminded him.
“Ah, it’s that dangerous? Then I guess I have to stay closer to you,” Zu An replied. He looked worried and quickly moved closer. He naturally grabbed her hand.
Yu Yanluo was speechless. Her heart pounded, a red blush crossing her cheeks in the darkness. However, she didn’t shake him off and instead said, “Mm, holding my hand is fine too. That way, we will not be easily separated.”
…
At first, the tunnel was quite spacious, but the further in they went, the narrower the road became. Many places were only the height of a single person. But since it was a tunnel used to transport ore, the width was fine.
Zu An had completely calmed down now that he had Yu Yanluo’s soft little hand in his. The surrounding darkness even seemed to have become bright and beautiful.
Yu Yanluo was a mature woman. After her initial alarm, she had a relieved smile on her face too. Her fair fingers wrapped around his, and she even unknowingly moved a bit closer to him. The two of them headed deeper into the mine just like that.
…
This eerie and silent cave was even starting to feel warm and charming. Yu Yanluo had begun hoping that the path wouldn’t end that quickly. Unfortunately, happier times always ended quickly. She suddenly stopped, exclaiming, “Huh?”
Zu An knew why she was shocked. There was a strange black fog in front of them. Even though the surroundings were pitch-black, their cultivations were powerful. The light coming from the luminescent pearl was already enough.
“This black mist is a bit strange,” Zu An said, looking at the beauty beside him.
Yu Yanluo knew what he wanted to ask. She replied, “This fog has never appeared before in the mines.”
Zu An tried to sense it with his soul, but discovered that his soul actually couldn't penetrate the black fog.
That was something completely unprecedented. Ever since his soul had been condensed, every single blade of grass within a range of several dozen zhang had been within his perception. And yet now, he couldn't even sense something a few meters away!
He wasn’t willing to give up and used the jade badge, trying to summon any surrounding little creatures. He figured there had to be a lot of rats in places like the mines. But he was bitterly disappointed. There wasn’t a single living thing nearby!
“Looks like the evacuation of those miners has something to do with this black fog,” Yu Yanluo said. She began walking into the black mist, intending to personally look around.
Zu An quickly stopped her and said, “Let me go first!”
Yu Yanluo smiled sweetly and replied, “Do you really think I am a weak and helpless girl? For better or worse, I still have the Medusa’s bloodline within me; my body is much sturdier than those of ordinary humans. Furthermore, I have some resistance to poison, or at least more than you.”
Zu An still grabbed her and said, “In terms of sturdiness, not even a dragon might be able to compare to me. If you’re talking about poison immunity, if you really are that formidable, why were you poisoned by Xu Yu’s tea?”
Yu Yanluo was hard pressed to respond, but said, “That was specially made to target me! It is not a normal poison at all.”
Zu An chuckled. And said, “Just let me go first. My body is already poison immune. At the very least, it’s stronger than yours.”
“Poison immune?” Yu Yanluo exclaimed, feeling shocked. What kind of special constitution was that?
“You don’t believe me? Why don’t you bite me and give me a try?” Zu An asked as he brought his hand over to her mouth.
Yu Yanluo flung his hand away with an annoyed laugh, replying, “I am not a venomous snake!”
The two teased each other for a bit, then Zu An gently touched her cheek with his hand. His voice was unquestionable. “I don’t want your beautiful skin to be ruined by poison. Wait here for me.” He walked into the black fog as soon as he spoke.
As she watched his figure disappear into the black fog, Yu Yanluo’s heart pounded crazily. She called out to him, asking, “Are you alright?”
But there was no response.