At that moment, a group of miners were fleeing in disarray.
Black shadows appeared behind them from time to time.
Whenever one of those shadows landed on a miner, it would bite off a chunk of flesh.
Some miners were bitten several times and were covered in blood. They couldn't help crying out in pain.
Others had it even worse. One was bitten on the neck and died on the spot.
As soon as his body hit the ground, swarms of shadows surrounded it. In no time, they had eaten him down to the bone.
"We're doomed!"
"We said we shouldn't go down into the mine, but you had to get greedy. Now we're really going to lose our lives!"
Countless miners regretted their decision, but all they could do was run for their lives.
Some Players were among them, running at full speed.
"Don't panic! Supervisor Yang will be here any moment!"
Chen Guoqing shouted, "Don't crowd together! Evacuate in an orderly fashion!"
Suddenly, the miners who had already run far ahead turned around and came rushing back.
"There are Mine Worms up ahead, too!"
Chen Guoqing's heart sank. How had these Mine Worms come from every direction?
Before long, all several hundred miners had gathered in a huge chamber.
Some looked terrified, others panicked. They stared fixedly at the dark branches of the Mine Shaft all around them.
Yang Ling arrived soon after. Seeing so many miners wounded, his heart sank.
The Players saw Yang Ling and finally had someone to rely on.
Li Tianye, Wang Haodong, and Chen Guoqing all breathed a sigh of relief.
"Supervisor Yang, didn't you say there was no danger in going down into the mine? What do you have to say now? A miner's already been bitten to death by a Mine Worm!"
A young miner gathered his courage to speak, his face full of indignation.
Yang Ling glanced at him.
"There have always been Mine Worms in the Mine Shaft, and there's always been danger. If you want to make money but expect everything to be perfectly safe, then stay outside. Why come down here?"
The young man was at a loss for words.
Yang Ling turned to Chen Guoqing and the others.
"What's the situation? How many casualties?"
"Did you see what the Mine Worms look like?"
"Supervisor Yang, I just finished counting. There were 433 of us when we came down into the mine."
"Now there are only 423..."
Chen Guoqing spoke quietly.
"Ten dead?"
Everyone's expressions grew even grimmer.
"One person from our group is missing, too. I'm afraid the Mine Worms bit him to death as well."
Chen Guoqing added.
Yang Ling understood that he meant a Player.
Li Tianye and the others looked grave, too.
This was the first time they had encountered anything like this since coming to the Red Gold Mine.
After all, they had only worked in the upper Ore Vein before. Apart from being tiring, it had never been dangerous.
"Brother Yang, this is too much of a coincidence. After what happened, I'm afraid the other miners will be even less willing to come down into the mine."
Chen Xu said in a low voice.
Just then, a miner cried out in terror.
"There's a Mine Worm!"
A black shadow flew toward them.
It was moving fast.
But Yang Ling's blade was faster.
Pfft!
The Mine Worm split in two and fell to the ground.
It was a black mantis about the size of a fist.
Its fangs were incredibly sharp, and its forelegs were like razors!
"That's a Red Gold Mantis! It only eats Red Gold Ore! But they usually live deep underground. The place we're mining this time is still quite shallow. Why are they here?"
An old miner nervously stepped forward, his expression strange.
"You're saying it shouldn't be here?"
Yang Ling looked at the old miner.
The old miner said uncertainly, "Supervisor Yang, I don't know much about this, but these Mine Worms really do live deep underground. Usually, even when we go down into the mine, we don't go anywhere near those areas."
Just then, several more Red Gold Mantises flew in from other Mine Shaft branches.
Yang Ling dispatched them with ease.
The old miner's expression grew even more serious.
"Red Gold Mantises go berserk when they smell blood. So many people here have been injured. They'll follow all sorts of small passages to get to us.
No matter which way we go, it'll be dangerous."
"They go berserk when they smell blood..."
Yang Ling's gaze slowly swept across everyone's faces.
"Has anyone among you been acting alone?"
"Acting alone? I don't think so."
Everyone looked at one another.
They all knew how dangerous the mines were, so they'd gone around in groups of three or five.
Alone? Who would be stupid enough to do that?
A young miner looked away nervously, but he was in the crowd, and no one noticed his odd behavior.
Chen Xu thought back carefully, then suddenly said, "Supervisor Yang, I know someone who went alone. I ran into him at the time and even asked him about it.
After all, it made no sense for someone to go alone into the depths of a Mine Shaft."
"Who was it? Can you recognize him?"
Yang Ling asked.
Chen Xu immediately scanned the crowd, examining everyone one by one.
Soon, he spotted the young miner trying to hide and pointed him out.
"You! Come out!"
"Me?"
The young miner raised his head, looking utterly bewildered.
Without another word, Yang Ling used the Insight Technique on him.
In an instant, a message appeared:
[Wang Er, hid Red Gold Ore Essence today, attracting Red Gold Mantises. Later used pig blood as bait, causing Red Gold Mantises to kill ten miners] [Today's uses have been exhausted]
Yang Ling understood.
The man had used the Red Gold Ore Essence to attract the Red Gold Mantises.
Then he had used the smell of pig blood to lure the mantises away from the Ore Essence.
Red Gold Mantises had appeared in several passages, which meant he had smeared pig blood all over the place to use as bait!
Good thing I have the Insight Technique. Otherwise, we'd be at a serious disadvantage this time.
Yang Ling thought to himself.
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