NOVPUBChapter 146: Chapter 145: Contacting the Unknown
Chapter 146 -145: Contacting the Unknown
Logan had to admit, his curiosity was piqued. He had seen many managers who exaggerated their words, but this was the first time he saw one who hesitated to mine high-quality Glowing Stones.
Following the other party down the elevator, he found that the ground beneath his feet was not dirt or rock, but a smooth floor made of polished granite. This indicated that the place had once been an above-ground structure, which for some reason sank into the ground and became the current “ruin”. Mining companies often dealt with ruins, so this was nothing out of the ordinary for them.
Logan saw numerous tents appearing not far ahead, neatly arranged into about a dozen rows. Under the faint glow of the Glowing Stones, they looked like rolling hillocks. A camp of such scale could at least accommodate nearly a hundred people and was probably established by Magnificent Castle Company during their underground exploration. However, the camp was now deserted, not a wisp of smoke in sight, and the tents were even covered in a thick layer of dust.
“Be careful, don’t go any further to the left,” the security captain suddenly grabbed his arm.
The oil lamp at his waist swayed twice, casting light on a seemingly bottomless chasm.
And his foot was only a step away from the edge.
“Damn! Why isn’t there a warning barrier here?”
“Sorry… I forgot to give you a heads-up,” Dehenny quickly apologized. “There used to be railings here, but somehow they keep disappearing. We have rebuilt them several times to no avail. In the end, we could only give up.”
“Disappearing?”
“Yes, they must have fallen to a lower level of the ground. No matter how deep we drive the stakes, they always get pulled out someday.”
Logan shook off Quilla’s hand and slowly moved to the edge, taking off his oil lamp to peer down. He could see neither the other side of the chasm nor the bottom. It wasn’t pitch dark below; instead, under the faint light of the Glowing Stones, a light blue hue shimmered, looking like clouds or underground springs from above.
“So that’s why you call this place the ‘Oceanic Vista’.”
“Exactly, where we are standing is like a step, and below is the real deep well. Before, I also sent people down to explore, but they could only go as deep as a hundred meters. Any further and they would encounter toxic gas. That bluish reflection could also be related to the toxic gas,” Dehenny explained.
Poisonous gas, and railings that often vanish mysteriously, this place was like a burial ground for miners.
“Alright, let’s move on,” Logan stepped back onto the granite floor, “but going forward, you’d better warn me in advance about any dangers. Should I get injured or die here, you should know how the company would handle you.”
“Yes, yes, there will be no more issues,” Dehenny awkwardly responded.
Inspectors sent from Gaotian headquarters were all Miracle Construction users. To prevent the possibility of the subsidiary silencing them should their lies be exposed, they carried a secret Divine Artifact known as the Resonance Bone Artifact during their travels. This item could transmit the last moments perceived by the deceased back to headquarters. If it was found to be non-accidental, no matter the reason, the managers were inevitably implicated.
Thus, most managers, when meeting an inspector from headquarters, would rather break their own leg than allow anything to happen to the inspector.
The three walked another four hundred meters or so, crossed a wooden fence, and came in front of a huge rock wall. Many lines were carved on the rock wall, some resembling birds, others beasts, all looking very ancient. The luminescent Glowing Stone Mine was embedded in the strata, like the branches of a giant tree, converging downwards and merging into a thick “trunk” at the bottom. The trunk was also deeply embedded within the rock, with plenty of scaffolding surrounding it, suggesting it was carved out little by little by people.
This was somewhat beyond Logan’s expectations.
From above, he thought there were just a few scattered veins, but here, he found it was actually a massive vein! If the entire rock wall were hollowed out to fully expose the “trunk ore”, how large would that amount be? It could well be over ten thousand tons!
“When did you discover this area?” Logan couldn’t help but ask.
“It should have been three years ago,” Dehenny thought for a moment and replied.
“Three years! Why didn’t you report it to the company?” he said angrily, “This is a huge discovery. As a regional manager, you might have been promoted to the headquarters. Wouldn’t that be better than eating dirt in the New World?”
“Because I wanted more.”
“What?” He was slightly startled.
“Did you see the cave underneath the tree trunk? These ores were all born because of the thing inside the cave. Therefore, compared to a minor merit for being transferred away from Magnificent Castle, it seems more appropriate to obtain the treasure below and then report it.” Dehenny no longer concealed his intentions, “But since headquarters has already sent an inspector, it wouldn’t be quite appropriate for me to delay any longer. So, please, I ask you to vouch for me, to prove that it was indeed me who discovered all of this.”
“Heh, you’re still playing coy even now.” Logan could not be bothered to argue with him any longer, taking steps into the cave in the center of the tree trunk, “Don’t worry, if it’s a First-Rank Miracle Construction, the headquarters will definitely reward you handsomely.”
The cave was not high off the ground, only about two meters, which made it rather oppressive. Inside the cave, many oil lamps were lying in disarray, seemingly abandoned one after another, serving little purpose now. Additional illumination was not needed here, as the light of the premium Glowing Stones was brighter at close range than a full moon. In less than a dozen steps, he had already seen the “treasure” standing in the middle of the cave.
It was a filamentous crystal partially embedded in a stalagmite, with the exposed part about one meter long. The head resembled a delicate pentagonal snowflake, while below it were slender, hair-like columns of red crystalline stone, which made Logan think of something: the spinal nerves of an animal.
The way the stuff inside the spine is taken out and soaked in preservative fluid in a glass tank at the medical college, it’s quite similar to this.
Anything delicate is inevitably fragile.
Yet, it showed no sign of breaking, even though the rock encasing it was disintegrating. Not a single crack could be found on it.
This miraculous thing was undoubtedly a Miracle Construction.
In fact… most people had never seen the true form of a Miracle Construction. For convenience, Miracle Constructions are often encapsulated or covered with a suit of armor that fits their abilities. If those mechanical parts are removed, one will find that each Miracle Construction has its own peculiar form.
The key question was whether it belonged to the second rank or the first rank of Miracle Constructions.
If it was the latter, then the manager of Magnificent Castle would not only be without fault but also be meritorious—the abilities possessed by a First-Rank Miracle Construction far exceed those artificial cores made from Glowing Stones. In other words, no matter how many premium Glowing Stones there were, they would only be icing on the cake for the company, while a First-Rank Miracle Construction possessed the power to change the world. 𝒏𝒐𝒗𝒑𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝒐𝒎
Logan took a deep breath and decided to try it himself.
He had extensive theoretical knowledge but had never actually touched a First-Rank Miracle Construction. After all, these were quite rare, even the Gaotian Company headquarters had only one First-Rank Miracle Construction, which was sealed behind high walls and iron barriers, and with his rank, he had no qualification to get close.
He didn’t know if it was psychological, but Logan felt a bit itchy all over, especially on the backs of his hands and the soles of his feet. But at such a critical moment, he could not care less. If he could bring news of a First-Rank Miracle Construction to the company, he would definitely be credited with a great achievement. However, deep down he had another hope—that the Miracle Construction would approve of him and choose to coexist with him.
This was also a secret known only to a few: The biggest difference between a First-Rank Miracle Construction and other Miracle Constructions was that it possessed a certain amount of autonomous will. Some would accept many people, much like with machinery, not refusing any comers; others, however, would only choose one or two people, becoming that person’s exclusive Miracle Construction. And such individuals almost always left a significant mark in history.
