Down the Well

Are you alright?

Just as Han Dong walked back into the alley, a spider's shadow fell from above.

As the spider landed, it immediately transformed into Mia, a slender girl wearing a half-mask.

"It's nothing... just some side effects from the Destiny Space. How's your examination going? Have you found anything around Stone Well?"

"He has... a lot of hair."

"What's the meaning?"

"You'll see when you come over."

Mia tried to take Han Dong's hand, but then remembered some of the hurtful things Han Dong had said in the carriage, and withdrew her hand.

When they stepped out of the alley, the open space had been turned upside down by the team, who had pushed away a layer of soil.

In the lower soil layer, a large number of black hairs are 'growing'... just like seedlings taking root in the soil, and they will sprout above ground in a while.

It's not just the well water that's affected by the hair.

Even the area surrounding Stone Well was affected... indicating that the situation is more serious than described in the mission.

Staring at the large amount of eerie black hair rooted in the soil like plant seedlings, Wenli the Blacksmith was so frightened that she had to stay with her teammates and never let her shoes touch the black hair.

At this moment, Demps, who was squatting in the corner, used a unique magical method to perfectly pull a black hair about half a meter long from the soil and lay it flat on the white paper he always carried with him.

Using a magic circle to analyze black hair.

As the small array on the white paper was activated, wisps of foul energy originating from the hair were drawn out... and then the hair disintegrated.

"What is hidden in the well must be a medium-level or even high-level evil."

Abel frowned. "Medium- to high-level evil? Moreover, it requires us to go to the enemy's lair. It certainly deserves a three-star difficulty rating."

Moreover, shouldn't this kind of 'evil' originating from hair be considered rare?

Demps pushed up his wire-rimmed glasses and nodded:

"It's very rare... This kind of filthy corpse is mostly bones! Hair is extremely rare and may be related to something else. Before we determine the situation down in the well, going in recklessly could cause overall contamination."

Abel turned his head and looked at Han Dong and Mia, who had just returned.

"Miss Mia, please make sure you prepare a sufficient quantity of the refreshing potion... the team may need to use it extensively in the future."

Immediately afterwards, Abel looked at Han Dong:

"Nicholas, are you feeling alright?"

"Fine."

"That's good... May I ask, there's something I don't understand."

Why should we start with this challenging basic task? You can probably tell from my relationship with Aunt Bardot that I can get her to reserve all the tasks for us.

"To be on the safe side, let's take the easiest Scarecrow mission first to get used to it and warm up... Then we can tackle this more difficult mission, wouldn't that be better?"

Abel's question reveals that he has some doubts about Han Dong's Choice.

"Ahem..." Han Dong cleared his throat slightly and began to explain his Choice.

"Because I think there is a high probability that Stone Well is connected to the basement of our residence."

I even suspect that, in addition to the surface areas of wheat fields, towns, hills, and Hillside Ancient Castle, the entire Stuart Grand Manor also contains a mature, well-established, and comprehensive underground system.

The ultimate goal of this "training camp" is to uncover the truth within the manor. If we only linger on the surface, it will be difficult to reach the source.

Since our residence is connected to a bizarre "corpse basement".

Our exploration of the manor should also try to focus on the Underground Area.

If we can gradually delve deeper and touch the origins of the Underground Area, we can uncover the secrets of the manor more quickly.

Since I was the one who decided on this mission, I will go down into the well as a "scout" to conduct preliminary exploration.

Once it's confirmed that there's no danger and the pollution is within a controllable range, you can proceed in turn.

Abel immediately retorted, "Isn't it inappropriate for you to be alone?"

"When I introduced myself earlier, I didn't mention my 'pollution tolerance'... I should have a higher ' Sanity Value than all of you."

Don't worry, I won't risk my life. Just wait for my message up there.

Just as Han Dong made his decision, Mia immediately and strongly demanded:

"I'll go with you! What if the space below the Stone Well well can block signals and we can't get any information?"

I tied a strand of sufficiently strong primal spider Spider Silk to the outside. In case of any danger, we can both rely on the Spider Silk to quickly return to the outside of the well.

Abel thought this was a good idea. "That's good... It's better to be safe. Let Mia go down with you."

"Um."

This time, Han Dong did not refuse Mia.

The reason lies in the influence of previous hallucinations.

The clown's warning words influenced Han Dong's decision to some extent.

Even if he is Immune to Corruption, there may still be dangerous situations that he cannot handle.

With Mia, who is also a traitor, assisting, the danger will be greatly reduced.

"Great!" Mia's eyes widened, and she leaned towards Han Dong with a beaming smile. "When do we leave?"

"Now."

Click, click!

The group worked together to pry open the wooden planks sealing the well.

The lower the plank, the more severely it rotted, and the denser the black hair became.

Click!

When the last layer of wooden planks was pried open, it fell directly into the well.

But there was no sound of falling into the water... It was as if it had been swallowed up by something, and the level of danger was self-evident.

"Try throwing in a small kerosene lamp."

Winry handed the captain a spare kerosene lamp from her backpack.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, the kerosene lamp was dropped into the well.

First, the damp wall covered with black hair was reflected.

It fell to a depth of about seven meters, just enough to reflect the pool below, and was about to fall into the water.

Whoosh!

A dark shadow flashed by, and the kerosene lamp disappeared.

"What the hell is that?"

Due to the excessive speed and limited lighting range, the rest of the team could barely see anything... However, Han Dong's Lesser Demon Eye caught some information.

"Standing up here, we can't get any more information...prepare to go down the mine."

Hiss...

A Spider Silk as thick as a finger was spat out of Mia's mouth.

The Wenli the Blacksmith, the strongest member of the group, grabbed them... Wenley's strength was enough to easily pull the two back.

The other end of the Spider Silk hangs down into the deep well; one simply needs to climb down along the Spider Silk.

"Be careful! If the sound doesn't come out, pull the line hard!" Abel warned.

"Hmm... don't worry."

Han Dong was the first to grab the soft, highly frictional Spider Silk and slowly slid down.

When my body was submerged above the well opening, a feeling of dampness filled my entire body.

"Um?!"

The black hair on the surrounding stone walls twitched slightly, as if it had some thoughts about Han Dong, the intruder.

[Opening Eye]

Lesser Demon Eye fully activated.

In an instant, the black hair that had been covering the stone wall receded back into the well like a tide.

whee...

A woman's laughter from down in the well then faded into the distance.

Han Dong's speculation was correct; there was a relatively spacious underground space in the well.

The first Investigation Mission has officially begun.