"Good grief."
"Where the hell did that send us?"
"We're already at the mine?"
Jiang Qiao hadn't expected that when he turned around, he would find himself standing at the entrance to the mining area. The Icefield was indeed strange, and its space might have been heavily distorted.
But wasn't it a bit much to skip even the pretense?
"What do we do?"
Shen Boxia looked at the enormous pit—or perhaps it could be called a canyon. There was no vegetation within it, nor any frozen soil. Only massive boulders lay scattered everywhere, along with fissures that plunged deep underground.
Steel-gray iron ore filled those fissures, and it looked to be of quite high grade.
In his opinion, they obviously should not enter the canyon.
That was what most normal people would choose.
But Jiang Qiao was the one calling the shots now, so naturally Shen Boxia had to follow his lead.
"Go down."
"We've already been noticed."
"We can't run."
"Better to go in and see what's really going on."
Jiang Qiao made his decision quickly.
From encountering the Grave-Weeping Ghost, to the strange old grave, to the canyon appearing behind them, none of it seemed like a coincidence to him. But that did not necessarily mean they had been targeted by some evil entity.
By his guess, it was more likely an unconscious way for the Icefield to clear out outsiders.
"Go down?"
"Fine."
"You're the boss. Your call."
Shen Boxia shrugged, not particularly surprised by Jiang Qiao's choice. This was the same man who had killed the Grave-Weeping Ghost at the slightest disagreement and had even tried to overturn the ghost grave.
"That grave is changing too." He glanced at the battered old grave.
More and more blood flowed from the holes Jiang Qiao had blasted into