Gold Miner

"Cough cough cough—"

The development of the territory is proceeding in an orderly manner.

Linsey, far to the south of the Banyan Forest, while dealing with the Insectoid Tribe, took time each day to carve tunnels through the mountains.

The underground is flickering with firelight.

With each swing of the Meteorite Pickaxe, a piece of rough stone in front of Linsey was shattered, and a square rectangular passage stretched forward.

Linsey swung his pickaxe again.

Behind the rock was a patch of brittle, silty soil, which caused dust to fly everywhere, filling the mine with a cloud of dust.

"Damn it—"

"Is there still uncompacted soil deep inside this mountain?"

"If I weren't Constitution strong, I'd probably develop occupational diseases in just a few days if this continued."

Linsey wiped her face and muttered a complaint.

He casually sprinkled some water into the air, and after the air in the cave returned to normal, he stuck a torch next to him before continuing to dig and clear a path under the light.

Fifteen minutes passed.

Linsey was still faced with a solid mountain, but when he casually opened the map, a look of joy instantly appeared on his face.

"A mine shaft?"

"We're almost there!"

The map shows that there are complex underground passages ahead.

This gold mine is hidden deep in the mountains.

However, it was not unknown before; rather, it had gone through a long period of mining.

"An abandoned gold mine."

"Or rather, a gold mine that was helplessly abandoned under the crisis of the end of the world?"

Linsey took a breath.

With his target in sight, he swung his Meteorite Pickaxe even faster.

I started calculating the distance in my mind.

"It normally takes 5 days to get from the canyon of the Insectoid Tribe to here, crossing mountains and valleys."

"But now we will follow the path I have pioneered."

"Even an ordinary person could complete a round trip within a day, which is much more efficient!"

Linsey was motivated and accelerated her digging.

He quickly and completely dug through the last gap.

Click—

As the earth and rocks crumbled, a hole appeared in front of Linsey.

He didn't have time to widen the tunnel, so he ducked forward and crawled straight in.

What appeared before Linsey was first a patch of ground illuminated by the Meteorite Pickaxe, and then another hand carrying a torch entered, and the scenery inside the mine tunnel became clear.

"This is a gold mine..."

Linsey looked around.

He is currently not in an area that is being mined, but in a tunnel leading underground.

On the straight passageway floor, there were some rusty iron objects placed either horizontally or vertically.

Linsey stepped forward to examine it closely:

"Nails, iron sheets, and right-angled iron..."

"Are these things used to secure the supporting frame?"

Linsey picked up the junk, examined it closely, and found that it was just some normal rusty iron parts.

He raised the torch in confusion, glancing upwards.

Sure enough, there were traces of the mountain being supported by wood on the top and surrounding walls of the mine tunnel, and each trace corresponded exactly to these rusty iron pieces that had fallen to the ground.

"The support structure that was once used to stabilize the tunnel."

"Now these iron objects are lying on the ground, but the wooden supports that were supposed to be there are nowhere to be found?"

Linsey looked around in confusion.

He had done similar soil reinforcement when he excavated some underground sites, so he was not surprised.

But things are different inside the mine.

Decades have passed, and the wood has become rotten and fragile, which Linsey can understand, but it shouldn't disappear completely.

Even if it gets taken away by some idle person.

But why are these iron fittings that connect the wood left here?

The scene before my eyes defied all common sense.

"..."

"Indeed, let's explore it more carefully."

Linsey made up her mind and continued deeper into the gold mine.

After settling things here, Linsey plans to have his people come and mine for ore. That way, he can address any potential problems that might arise underground in advance.

Linsey continued downwards, opening a map along the way.

Even though he expanded his search area, he still couldn't find anything dangerous in the mine.

Only a few cave creatures roam here.

When they hear Linsey making a sound, they are often immediately frightened away and do not show any initiative to be aggressive.

A few more minutes passed, and finally things looked different ahead.

Those were white objects scattered haphazardly on the ground, arranged in a completely irregular manner.

"Bone?"

"And they're human bones?"

Linsey stepped forward, her expression becoming even stranger.

Human bones were scattered across the mine shaft.

He switched modules, and the [Decryption Game] presented more specific information.

[Human skeletons—the remains of a human who fell to the ground during their escape, ultimately struggling and dying in agony.]

"..."

Linsey silently Clue Combination.

Too much time has passed, making it impossible to trace the footprints.

Fortunately, there were enough skeletons on the ground, and one by one, human phantoms appeared under the influence of the skill. They ran in terror into the depths of the mine, howling in despair, as if something was chasing them.

"..."

Linsey followed the illusory figure downwards.

The terrain in the gold mine tunnels is chaotic.

These phantoms are running around, and they could easily get lost in the chaos.

Once they fall to the ground, they quickly begin to struggle in pain, then fall silent and turn into white bones on the ground.

"..."

Linsey looked serious.

The further he went, the more he saw, and the more doubts he felt.

[Decryption Game] The feedback on the case is always accurate, and there will also be some traces of the attacks suffered by the deceased.

But these phantoms did not exist.

They fell to the ground, their fingers flailing wildly across their bodies or in the air.

There was no biting from wild beasts, no attacks from clubs or swords, and no obvious influence from Source Material Skill.

It was as if the air inside the mine was poisonous; they could only struggle and slowly die.

"..."

Linsey looked around again.

As more footage of the escape emerged, the supporting structures of the surrounding mines began to appear.

His deduction was correct; there was indeed a supporting structure here originally.

But just like the dead humans, the wood supporting the mine quickly decomposed and rotted for no apparent reason, eventually disappearing.

Iron components originally used to secure and connect pieces of wood.

As a result, it fell to the ground and ended up in its current orderly arrangement.

"..."

"Could this phenomenon be the Corruption Poison?"

Linsey's first thought was of the Insectfolk Canyon not far away.

If the Corruption Poison there were to erupt here, it would certainly cause a similar result.

But Linsey carefully examined the surrounding air and ground.

Every detail here is spotless, showing no signs of the Corruption Poison that plagues the valley.

"This... it can't be some kind of haunted gold mine, can it?"

Linsey continued downwards, almost reaching the very bottom of the tunnel.

The further he went, the more human skeletons he saw; it was like a huge burial ground hidden in the mountain.

But apart from that, Linsey really couldn't find any other clues.

Buzz—

Just as he stood at the bottom of the tunnel, at a loss for what to do.

After months of silence, the Sky Compass began to tremble, alerting him to Hidden Space nearby!

Linsey's eyes widened in surprise at first, then her expression brightened:

"Ah?"

"Finally, something!"