A huge hollow, located at the end of this roadway.

Vanna came to the edge of the hollow, where the alleyway came to an abrupt halt, the ground and ceiling vanished in front of them as if swallowed by something invisible, and across the neat breach, the vast and empty darkness felt a tremendous pressure even to her, the Inquisitor, and the instinctive fear of humanity in the face of such a vast dark space flooded over the mountains.

Morris followed to the empty "entrance", he raised the lantern in his hand, but the light from the special underground lantern seemed to be swallowed up directly - the light did not disappear, but because the dark space in front of him was so huge that there was nothing to reflect the light in all directions, and the light gradually faded in the darkness, and finally only illuminated a steep slope that extended downwards from the pit wall, and the rest of the place was still shrouded in darkness.

"This ...... No matter how you look at it, it can't be the structure that exists in the mine," Vanna took a light breath and looked back at the mine path that the group had walked all the way to, "The normal passage came to an abrupt end here...... This location is probably the 'stone wall' mentioned in the report. ”

Morris stooped down and scrutinized the small hollow wall illuminated by the lantern: "It feels as if there was some huge 'thing' that filled the place, but now it has disappeared into thin air, leaving a large hole." ”

"The cavity of this magnitude did not collapse, but stabilized?" Duncan couldn't help frowning, and looked up at the darkness in a worried tone, "If there is a collapse here, at least a third of the Uptown will probably have big problems." ”

Speaking of this, he suddenly glanced back at Agatha: "Are you alright?" It doesn't seem to be right from the beginning? ”

"I ...... I can't see what you're talking about by 'hollow,'" Agatha said hesitantly, "I just see a large, distorted repercussion here, and noise in the wind, is there really nothing in front of it?" ”

"Nothing, at least visually, and you can't feel the pollution left by the supernatural powers," Vana nodded affirmatively, then thoughtfully, "but you can feel it...... Maybe it's because what's left here resonates with you? ”

"I don't know," Agatha shook her head, then turned to Duncan, "what do you think?" ”

"Should go in and see what's going on here." Duncan had already made his decision, and then he waved in the air, and a dark green flame appeared beside him out of thin air, and the skeletal bird covered in flames flew out of the flames and landed on his shoulder.

Ay tilted her head and looked around: "The old driver is here!" The old driver is coming! ”

"It can't be ruled out that this 'cave' is at risk of collapsing, so take this pigeon with you," Duncan explained, "Don't disperse once you're inside, keep an eye out for signs of instability around you, keep an eye out for movement overhead, and teleport if there are signs of collapse." ”

"Yes, Captain." "Understood." "Okay." "Hey......

Duncan tapped his hand on Alice's skull, then checked the terrain at the edge of the hollow, then took a light breath and was the first to step out into the darkness.

Others followed.

Stepping into the hollow, it is a rather steep slope, and the slope is not continuous, there will be a height difference and a winding "fork in the road" in the middle at any time, every step must be taken with great care, and this winding and difficult ramp has been extending into the dark depths, as if it can reach the bottom of the hollow.

The ramp feels like a deep dent in the rock after some long-term erosion has worn off.

Duncan walked cautiously in the darkness, the green flames burning and spreading quietly under his feet, the endless spiritual fire illuminating the small space around the path, and leaving a striking "flame path" behind everyone, looking back, you could see the flowing fire like a line, winding in the darkness outlining the path to the hollow exit.

It was important to be well signposted in such a large and dark underground space, and although there were pigeon spirits as a final means of evacuation, out of an abundance of caution, Duncan left his own flames along the way - these flames also extended his senses, helping him to keep abreast of subtle changes in the inner walls of the cave.

Vanna had condensed a storm sword made of ice in her hand, she held the sword in one hand, vigilant against the monsters that might lurk in the huge darkness, Alice carefully held her head the whole time, for fear that she would be in a different place in the darkness because of the slipping of her feet, and Agatha was affected by some kind of "aftersound" in this cave, so she could only be supported by Vanna, carefully taking steps on the rugged slope.

Morris, on the other hand, was curiously observing the stones on the side of the road beneath his feet.

"Very dense rocks...... And it seems to fuse, squeeze together," he held up his lantern, his eyes shimmering with a faint silver light, and looked into the distance as far as he could, "If the inner wall of the cavern is made entirely of this rock formation, it may explain why it has been able to remain stable even after its 'contents' have disappeared - these stones form a dense and thick 'inner shell' that supports the entire structure." ”

Speaking of this, he hesitated for a moment, and said uncertainly: "But I'm afraid that only one layer of inner shell is still not enough, such a large-scale cavity, there should be other supports in the middle." ”

Vanna couldn't help but turn her head and glance at the old man: "How many fields do you know?" ”

"Mathematics, history, chemistry, occultism, physics, a little bit of geology and mining, and some knowledge of combat, firearms, machinery, and explosives," Morris said casually, "is there any problem?" ”

Vanna was dumbfounded: "You...... How? ”

"Just read a lot of books," said Morris, "and it's not surprising that I know these things, I'm a historian after all." ”

Vana looked at Morris with a strange look, and said to herself that among the many disciplines that the other party had just mentioned, except for firearms, fighting, and explosives, which could be related to the professional needs of "historians", but she hesitated for a long time and was embarrassed to say it.

Agatha's face was even more strange as she was being held by Vanna—the gatekeeper was once again shocked by the followers around Captain Duncan, and the last time she had a similar feeling was when she knew that Vanna was a "sports student......

However, Morris himself obviously did not have this kind of consciousness that caused everyone to be amazed, and his attention was once again attracted by the "stone" under his feet.

Under the light of lanterns and green fires, the surface of these stones has a slight metallic sheen, and I wonder if it is an illusion...... They seem to have some special textures on their surface.

The old scholar bent down, picked up a piece of rubble, and looked at it curiously.

He stopped suddenly.

Duncan also stopped, and looked curiously at the stone in Morris's hand: "Is there any problem?" ”

After a few seconds, Morris seemed to react suddenly, and slowly spoke in a strange tone: "...... It's boiling gold. ”

Agatha immediately turned her head: "Boiling gold? ”

"Boiling gold ore, the purity is almost to the point where it can be stuffed directly into the steam core reactor......" Morris muttered to himself in astonishment, and then quickly bent down to pick up another piece of rubble, and after inspecting it, he simply squatted down, carefully examining every rock under his feet, and the more he checked, the more frightened he became, "This is also the ...... No wonder, no wonder I thought the texture of these 'stones' was strange just now, but I couldn't notice it because it was too dim......"

The old scholar suddenly stopped, looking up at Duncan and Agatha.

The expression on his face was strangely stunned, and there was a faint excitement about a great discovery: "Boiling gold, Captain, Agatha indeed—this whole cavern is all made of boiling gold!" At least the bottom of its pit is covered with raw ore! ”

Everyone fell silent, and in this silence, Duncan could clearly feel Agatha's emotions fluctuating violently, and Vanna even felt the other party's body trembling slightly.

No one understands the meaning of "boiling gold" better than a native-born frost man.

"It's all boiling gold, and we've seen the remnants of it in the mines," Vana whispered, taking Agatha's hand, "and it looks like the frost won't have to worry too much about it, at least for a while." ”

"Yes...... Don't worry anymore...... There's a boiling gold ...... here," Agatha muttered to herself, her tone strangely complicated, "but why, why are these things......"

"Will the erosion of the Shadow Lord leave boiling gold?" Duncan couldn't help frowning, "If the speculation based on the intelligence is correct, this big hole should come to be like this......"

Everyone seemed to suddenly become serious, so much so that even Alice, who had always been unresponsive, felt the change in the atmosphere, and Miss Doll couldn't help but lean over and gently pull Duncan's arm, and said cautiously: "Captain...... What is Boiling Gold? ”

Duncan: "......"

In the case that everyone is so serious, it is really difficult for this Han Han to still be an unwavering Han Han.

He sighed: "Boiling gold is the foundation of modern industry, and it is the energy source of all steam-powered machinery - just like a person needs to eat, a machine also needs boiling gold to operate." ”

Alice listened half-incomprehensibly, and then nodded abruptly after a long time: "Oh-"

Duncan didn't care if the illiterate puppet really understood or not, and his gaze turned to the dark depths ahead again.

The huge underground cavity had completely aroused his curiosity.

If this entire cave is made of extremely pure boiling gold...... So what awaits him in the deepest part of this cavern?

(End of chapter)