Chapter 451 – Boiling Gold
Chapter 451 – Boiling Gold
A huge hollow was located at the end of this alleyway.
Vanna came to the edge of that hollow, the alleyway came to an abrupt end here, the ground and the roof disappeared in front as if they were swallowed by something invisible, and across the neat break, the huge and empty darkness even made her, the Inquisitor, feel a huge pressure, the instinctive fear that humans feel when facing this kind of huge dark space came pouring out of the mountains.
Maurice also followed to the empty “entrance” in front, he raised his hand lamp, but the light emitted by the special well lamp seems to be swallowed up directly – the light does not disappear, but because the dark space in front of him is so huge that there is nothing to reflect in all directions. But because the dark space in front of him was so vast that there was nothing to reflect the light in all directions, the light gradually diminished in the darkness, and finally illuminated only a steep slope extending downward from the wall of the pit, while the rest of the place was still shrouded in darkness.
“This …… can’t be a structure that was originally in the mine no matter how you look at it,” Vanna breathed in softly, looking back at the mine tunnel that the group had traveled all the way down, “the normal passageway comes to a screeching halt at this point …… This location should be that ‘stone wall’ mentioned in the report.”
Morris, on the other hand, bent down and scrutinized the small piece of hollow interior wall illuminated by the lifting lamp, “This place gives off the feeling as if there was some kind of huge ‘thing’ filling this place, however, now that thing has disappeared out of thin air, leaving behind a large hole.”
“Such a massive cavity has stabilized instead of collapsing?” Duncan, on the other hand, couldn’t help but frown, his tone a bit worried as he looked up into the darkness above, “If this place collapses, I’m afraid that at least a third of the uptown area is going to be in serious trouble.”
Speaking of this, he suddenly looked back at Agatha, “Are you alright? The state doesn’t seem to be quite right since just now?”
“I …… can’t clearly see the ‘hollow’ you guys are talking about,” Agatha’s tone was a bit hesitant, “I can only see a huge and twisted coiled here remnants of rattles, and the wind is filled with noise; is there really nothing ahead of this?”
“Nothing, at least visually, and there is no perceived contamination left behind by transcendent powers,” Vanna nodded with certainty, followed by a thoughtful look, “But you can feel …… perhaps because what is left here something resonating with you?”
“I don’t know,” Agatha shook her head, then turned to Duncan, “What do you think?”
“Should go in and see what’s going on in here.” Duncan had already made his decision, and immediately afterward he beckoned in the air again, and a cloud of ghostly green flames appeared out of nowhere beside him, and the skeletal bird, wrapped in flames, lifted its wings out of the flames and landed lightly on his shoulder.
Aey cocked his head and looked around, “The old driver is here! Here comes the old driver!”
“We can’t rule out the risk of this ‘cave’ collapsing, so take this pigeon with you,” Duncan explained, “Don’t spread out once you’re in there, keep your eyes peeled for any signs of instability, and pay attention to the movement overhead. At the first sign of collapse, all teleport.”
“Aye, Captain.” “Understood.” “Good.” “Hey ……”
With a casual tap on Alice’s skull, followed by a confirmation of the terrain at the edge of the hollow, Duncan took a soft breath and was the first to step out into that darkness.
The others followed close behind.
Stepping into the hollow, is a rather steep slope, and the slope is not continuous, in the middle at any time there will be a difference in height as well as winding “fork in the road”, every step must be doubly careful to do, and this winding and difficult to walk on the slope has been extended to the depths of the darkness, as if it can directly reach the bottom of the hollow.
The ramp felt like a deep indentation in the rock after the effects of some long-term erosion had worn off.
Duncan walked cautiously in the darkness, while the green flames burned and spread quietly under his feet, the unceasing spiritual fire illuminated a small area of space around the path, and also left an eye-catching “flame path” behind the crowd, looking back, one could see the stream of fire like a line, winding in the darkness, outlining the path leading to the exit of the hollow.
In such a huge dark underground space exploration, good signposting is very important, although the pigeon spirit as the ultimate means of evacuation, but out of caution, Duncan still left his own flames along the way – these flames also extend his perception, helping him to grasp the subtle changes in the inner wall of the cave at any time.
Vanna’s hand has already condensed a storm sword made of ice, she single-handedly carries the sword, alert to this huge darkness may lurk in the monster, Alice throughout the whole process of carefully holding his head, afraid because of a slip in the darkness of the body head, Agatha because of the perception by the cavern of some kind of “residual sound” influence, can only be supported by Vanna. Agatha, on the other hand, because her senses were affected by some kind of “residual noise” in the cave, could only be assisted by Vanna, carefully taking steps on the rugged slope.
Maurice, on the other hand, was curiously observing the stones under his feet all the way.
“Very dense rock …… and it seems to be fused and squeezed together,” he said, lifting his carrying-lamp, with a faint silver light glinting under his eyes, and observing as far as he could, “If the inner walls of this cavern are composed entirely of such rock formations , it might explain why it was able to remain stable even after its ‘contents’ had disappeared – the rocks formed a dense and thick ‘inner shell’ that supported the entire structure .”
He hesitated for a moment, and then said uncertainly, “But I’m afraid that an inner shell alone is still not enough, there should be other supports in the center of such a large cavity.”
Vanna couldn’t help but twist her head to look at the old man, “Just how much do you know about the field?”
“Math, history, chemistry, the occult, physics, a little bit of geology and mining, and some knowledge of fighting, firearms, mechanics, and explosives,” Morris said casually, “Any questions?”
Vanna was dumbfounded, “How did you …… do that?”
“Just read a lot of books in general,” Morris said, “It’s not surprising that I know this stuff, I am a historian after all.” Vanna looked at Morris with a strange look, saying that the other party just mentioned a large number of disciplines in addition to firearms, fighting and demolition of which can be related to the professional needs of the “historian”, but hesitated half a day did not have the heart to say it.
Agatha, who was being supported by Vanna, had a strange expression on her face – the Gatekeeper was once again deeply impressed by the followers of Captain Duncan, and the last time she felt similarly was when she learned that Vanna was a “gym student”! ……
Maurice himself, however, was not aware of the fact that he had caused the crowd to marvel, and his attention was once again drawn to the “stone” at his feet.
In the lamp as well as the light of the green fire, the surface of these stones are flooded with a slight metallic luster, and I do not know whether it is an illusion or not …… they seem to have some special lines on the surface.
The old scholar bent down, picked up a piece of broken stone, curious to see.
He suddenly stopped his steps.
Duncan stops as well and looks curiously at the stone in Maurice’s hand, “What’s wrong with it?”
It took several seconds before Maurice, as if suddenly reacting, spoke slowly with a strange tone, “…… is boiling gold.”
Agatha immediately turned her head, “Boiling gold?”
“Boiling gold raw ore, the purity is almost to the extent that it can be directly stuffed into the steam core reactor ……” Morris muttered to himself in astonishment, followed by quickly bending down and picking up another piece of rubble, and after inspecting it simply squatted down, carefully checking the feet of Every rock, the more he examined the more alarmed he became, “Here too …… No wonder, no wonder just now I felt that the texture of these ‘rocks’ was strange, just because it was too dim to find out ……”
The old scholar suddenly stopped and looked up at Duncan and Agatha.
The expression on his face was strangely startled, and vaguely tinged with a certain excitement at having made a great discovery, “Boiling gold indeed, Captain, Agatha – this entire cavern, all of it, is formed of boiling gold! The bottom of its pit, at least, is paved with raw ore!”
Everyone fell silent, and in that silence, Duncan could clearly feel Agatha’s emotions rising and falling violently, and Vanna felt the other woman’s body shivering ever so slightly.
No one understood the meaning of “boiling gold” better than a native Frostbite.
“It’s all Boiling Gold here, and we saw the remaining veins of Boiling Gold in the mines,” Vanna whispered as she grasped Agatha’s hand, “It looks like Frost won’t have to worry too much for at least a while.”
“Yes …… no need to worry …… there’s still boiling gold here ……” Agatha murmured, her tone but strangely complex, “But why, why are there these things ……”
“The erosion of the Profound Holy Lord would leave behind boiling gold?” Duncan, on the other hand, couldn’t help but frown, “If the speculation based on the intelligence is correct, this is how this big hollow should have come about ……”
Every one of them seemed to be suddenly serious, so much so that even Alice, who had always been slow to react, sensed the change in the atmosphere, and Miss Mannequin couldn’t help but come over and gently pull Duncan’s arm, speaking cautiously, “Captain …… What is boiling gold?”
Duncan: “……”
With every one of them being so serious, it’s really hard for this Bean to remain an unwavering Bean.
He sighed, “Boiling gold is the basis of modern industry, the energy source for all steam-powered machinery – just as a man has to eat, so a machine needs to have boiling gold in order to run.”
Alice listened half-intelligently for a long time before nodding in a daze, “Oh-“
Duncan didn’t care if this illiterate mannequin actually understood or not, his gaze was once again cast into the dark depths ahead.
This huge hollow in the ground had completely piqued his curiosity.
If this entire cave was made up of extremely high purity boiling gold …… then what would be waiting for him in the deepest part of this cave?
(End of chapter)