The hills to the east of Oak Town are not high. The entrance to the abandoned mine is hidden behind a mess of shrubs and vines. If the townspeople had not specially carved out a trampled path for treasure hunting, it would be difficult for anyone to notice its existence.
The thick wooden beams that were supposed to support the mine tunnels had long since decayed and were covered with damp moss. Several of them had even broken and were leaning crookedly against the cave walls. In the open space in front of the cave entrance, the soil was trampled into a mess by countless messy footprints, and some old tools that had been hastily discarded could also be seen - shovels with broken handles and rusty pickaxes, silently telling the story of the greed-driven mania not long ago.
There was a strange smell in the air that was mixed with earth, rotten wood and some kind of cold fishy smell.
Moria stood at the entrance of the cave with a solemn expression.
Li Wen was half a step behind him, his eyes calmly scanning the traces on the ground. From the depth and density of those footprints, she could roughly judge that the number of townspeople who had poured into the mine was far more than the old woman knew. The person who set up this trap obviously had a big appetite.
"Let's go." Li Wen's voice broke the silence.
Moria nodded and took the lead into the deep darkness.
As soon as he stepped into the mine, a chill that was far more piercing than the outside invaded him, as if he had stepped from early autumn to winter in an instant. The light was quickly swallowed up by the outline of the cave entrance, and it was only a few steps away that he could no longer see his fingers.
Moria Take out the candle and the flame will light up automatically. The light was not dazzling, but it was enough to illuminate the road more than ten meters ahead. Under the restrictions of the curse, he could only illuminate in this way.
The mine tunnel is wider than expected. It seems that this place was once a large-scale mine before it was abandoned. There are still traces of old mining on the rock walls, and the rails laid on the ground have long been rusted into disarray.
The two of them walked deeper in silence, with only the sound of footsteps and the sound of water drops dripping from the cracks in the rock wall echoing in the empty mine tunnel, which seemed particularly clear.
After walking about a hundred meters, they found the first body.
It was a young town citizen. His body was sitting on the rock wall, his eyes wide open, and his face was filled with extreme fear and pain. The pickaxe in his hand fell to his feet, and there was an empty sack next to him. What made Moria's heart sink the most was that the deceased's outer skin was covered with black patches that were the same as those of the boy named Jamie.
However, the color of these black spots is darker, almost pure ink color, and has completely stopped moving. The corpse itself was as shriveled as dried bacon, as if the life force and moisture in the body had been completely sucked dry by something.
Moria squatted down, closed his eyes, and whispered a prayer for the deceased. Li Wen just glanced at it and then looked away. She has obtained enough information from this corpse - the source of the curse will draw life force, and the power of this curse will continue to increase over time. The boy can survive until now simply because he was exposed to the curse for a short time and escaped from this place in time.
Continuing deeper, the mine tunnel begins to branch. The intricate paths are like a maze, each leading to unknown darkness.
Moria looked at Li Wen and asked for her opinion with his eyes. In this environment, Li Wen's extraordinary perception and calm judgment are far more reliable than his pastor, who is dominated by emotions and sense of responsibility.
Li Wen didn't speak, just closed her eyes. Path of Light Chasing gave her the ability to more easily capture Radiance and the power of darkness. She quietly felt the flow of the increasingly dense dark atmosphere in the air. After a moment, he opened his eyes and pointed to the narrowest and most inconspicuous fork on the left.
"This way."
They turned into a fork in the road, and the road began to become rough and difficult to navigate. The rails under their feet had long since disappeared, replaced by slippery, gravel-covered ground. The feeling of the rock wall also changed. It was no longer hard and cold rock, but a sticky, slippery touch, as if touching the skin of some huge creature.
The candle in Moria's hand illuminated the scene ahead. The rock wall was covered with a layer of mucous membrane that constantly oozed black liquid. Some fungi and plants that had never been seen before, emitting blue phosphorescence, grew out of the gaps in the mucous membrane, illuminating the entire mine tunnel in a strange and eerie way.
The fishy smell in the air became thicker and thicker, and even began to be mixed with a faint sweet smell.
Li Wen is no stranger to this. It is a unique environment created by the dissipation of power when certain dark creatures transform their own nests. This shows that they are very close to their goal.
Along the way, they saw three more corpses. Their death conditions were exactly the same as the first one. They were all with shriveled flesh and blood and were covered in black spots. One of the corpses fell next to an overturned mine cart. His hands seemed to be clutching an old leather bag tightly at the last moment of his life.
The mouth of the leather bag had opened, and a gold coin rolled out, lying quietly on the ground, shining with a dangerous luster.
Li Wen's footsteps stopped.
She ignored the tragic corpse and the unbearable flash in Moria's eyes, walked straight forward, bent down and picked up the gold coin.
The gold coin feels cold to the touch and is much heavier than an ordinary gold pound. Under the candlelight, Li Wen could clearly see the patterns on it.
That's not a crown.
Rather, it is a crown made of countless twisted and intertwined thorns. The shape of the thorns is extremely lifelike, and every spike and every turn reveals a chaotic and malicious sense of order. It does seem a bit majestic at first glance, but as long as you take a second look, you can feel a disgusting falseness and depravity coming from the depths of the soul.
Li Wen's pupils shrank slightly under the shadow of the hood.
She recognized the emblem.
In the late game of the previous life, when the doomsday the Tide swept across the entire continent, countless ancient forces that had long perished in the long history reappeared in the world like debris. Either to survive or to accelerate destruction, they stage their final madness on the stage of doomsday.
Among them, there is a secret sect that believes in the "false king" and spreads lies, creates chaos, and subverts order. Their followers are spread across all walks of life, from beggars to nobles, from soldiers to priests, from mortals to extraordinary beings. The token they use to identify each other is this special gold coin engraved with "Crown of Thorns".
It is both bait and key. It is the ticket for mortals to fall into the abyss, and it is also the medium for believers to start rituals.
And that sect has a well-known name among the players in the game.
Li Wen's fingers caressed the cold lines on the gold coin, and a gleam of understanding flashed in his eyes. She put away the gold coins and murmured in a low voice that only she could hear.
"False Court."
"What did you say?"
Moria had just finished praying for the last corpse. He stood up and happened to hear the vague whisper of Li Wen.
He cast a doubtful look, but before Li Wen could reply, a harsh "click" sound, accompanied by the sound of some heavy object dragging on the ground, suddenly came from the depths of the dark corridor ahead.
The sound came from far to near, clearly echoing in the silent mine.
Something was coming towards them.